Chapter 164: A Light He Li, Heavy Affection

Hearing these words, Lin Waner'er finally understood why Fan Xian had wanted to meet these six in private.

Her face flushed red, she hesitated for a moment, then finally summoned her courage, stood up, and gracefully bowed, saying:

"Mortal woman Lin Waner'er greets all True Lords!"

... True Lords?

Exactly what did you tell your sister-in-law?

Xiang Yunye's expression turned strange, and he couldn't help but glance at Fan Xian.

Fan Xian remained unmoved, simply smiling at them as if to say, "Since my Lin Waner has shown such courtesy, as good brothers, shouldn't you quickly show your appreciation?"

Both Xiang Yunye and Su Su Haoming instantly understood Fan Xian's meaning, immediately averted their gazes from Lin Waner'er, and gave Fan Xian an eye roll.

Lin Yu, however, didn't mind at all; he smiled slightly and spoke gently, "Sister-in-law need not be so polite. We are on equal footing with Fan Xian, and as for your elder brother and sister-in-law, we share the same surname and clan. If sister-in-law does not disdain it, simply address me as elder brother!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Waner'er was momentarily stunned, then felt deeply honored and surprised.

Fan Xian took her hand and whispered with a smile, "As the saying goes, respect is better than obedience. Since Elder Brother Lin has said so, what is there to be so reserved about? Just claim this clan connection!"

... How could that be proper!

Lin Waner glared at him with a flushed face, then turned her head, speaking somewhat embarrassedly, "In that case, Lin Waner will be presumptuous!"

"Not presumptuous, not presumptuous!"

Su Su Haoming chuckled and said, "Just as your husband said just now, the guests outside are merely for official socializing; everyone present here are true insiders..."

"Stop with all this nonsense!"

Fan Xian glanced at him without ceremony and asked, "Is the gift money ready?"

Su Su Haoming rolled his eyes and said grumpily, "Rest assured, it was prepared long ago... Shall I go first?"

Lin Yu stepped forward and said with a smile, "Let me go first—"

"No, no, no!"

Everyone hurriedly stopped him, smiling bitterly and advising, "Elder Brother, you should save your appearance for the finale!"

"If you present your gift first, the rest of us won't be able to show ours!"

Lin Yu blinked, thought for a moment, found it very reasonable, and nodded, saying, "Then you go first."

Li Li Shimin, the 'poorest' among them, quickly said, "I'll go first!"

Everyone exchanged glances, had no objections, and made way.

Facing the gazes of Lin Waner'er and Fan Xian, Li Li Shimin spoke somewhat shamefacedly, "The event happened suddenly, and I, Li Mou, am short of funds, so I can only prepare some common gifts. I hope sister-in-law and Brother Fan do not disdain them!"

Fan Xian smiled and said, "Brother Li, what are you saying? The so-called gift money is just for good luck and to share in the joy; how could I, Fan, truly covet the wealth of my brothers?"

Speaking here, he quickly added, "Of course, Elder Brother and Old Su are exceptions!"

Hearing this, Su Su Haoming was stunned, then said with a dark face, "What does this have to do with me?"

Fan Xian stated confidently, "You stayed shamelessly at Elder Brother's dojo for so long; surely you've fleece him quite a bit!"

Su Su Haoming's eyes widened, and he looked at him in disbelief, saying:

"That was the reward for my hard work as a nanny; even you covet that?"

"Of course!"

Fan Xian said without ceremony, "If you know what's good for you, hurry up and hand it over to your brother; we all share what we see!"

Watching the two 'friendlyly interacting' before her, Lin Waner'er pondered deeply, realizing that the relationship between this Su True Lord and her husband must be even closer than with the other True Lords...

Of course, this closeness was only relative.

In fact, the relationships among all group members were quite good.

This was mainly thanks to the chat group mechanism; group members had to log in daily to chat, or at least maintain their activity level.

Under such conditions of daily high-intensity chatting and high-intensity conversation, relationships couldn't possibly be bad...

Returning to the main topic, after a brief verbal sparring between Fan Xian and Su Su Haoming, they quickly fell silent and turned their attention to Li Li Shimin.

"In that case, I, Li Mou, will present my humble offering!"

Li Li Shimin waved his sleeve, and five small mountains instantly appeared on the floor of the bridal chamber.

Among them, the first two small mountains were clearly gold and silver mountains built from gold ingots and silver ingots.

The third small mountain consisted of various natural jade stones, jade pendants, jade bi discs, jade ruyi scepters, and other precious jade artifacts.

The fourth small mountain was piled with coral, agate, jadeite, and other items; judging by its exquisite layout, it was clearly designed by a master, and at first glance, it was quite shocking.

As for the fifth small mountain, it was the famous economic hard currency of the Three Kingdoms world—Shu brocade!

These five small mountains were so massive that their tops already touched the ceiling.

The various gold, silver, and jewels shimmered with luxurious light under the red candles of the bridal chamber; the visual impact was so strong that even Lin Waner'er, a princess who had grown up in silk and fine food, couldn't help but slightly open her small mouth, staring in shock at the scene before her.

No wonder Fan Xian said the common gifts from outside could be declined, but the True Lords' congratulatory gifts must not be missed!

This is far too valuable!

Putting aside the other four small mountains for now, just the one gold mountain alone was worth far more than all the rewards given during the day, enough to fuel a local war between the current Southern Qi and Northern Qi!

This... can we really accept it?

Lin Waner'er felt at a loss, unable to help but look at Fan Xian beside her.

Before Fan Xian could react, Li Li Shimin said shamefacedly, "The gift is a bit light, so I, Li Mou, have additionally prepared some other congratulatory gifts; I hope Brother Fan and sister-in-law do not disdain them..."

Disdain?!

Who could possibly disdain this?

Lin Waner'er's almond-shaped eyes widened roundly, looking at Li Li Shimin in disbelief, as if her past worldview had been severely shaken.

But Li Li Shimin, who had sent the gift, seemed to truly believe his present was not precious, so he reached into his sleeve, took out a magnificent brocade box from his storage bag, and handed it to Fan Xian.

"What is this?"

Fan Xian curiously took it.

Li Li Shimin's face showed hesitation, as if he had something to say but stopped himself.

Lin Yu glanced at the object in the brocade box, smiled, and explained for him: "This is the Imperial Decree from Old Li ennobling your first child, along with the jade tally proving their status as Princess or Imperial Prince!"

It turned out to be this thing!

Fan Xian's face showed surprise, then he accepted it with great care and reverence.

Lin Waner looked somewhat bewildered and instinctively asked: "Imperial Decree?"

Fan Xian smiled and explained: "Wife, you should not know this, but Brother Li's identity in the mortal world is Emperor. His Great Han is located in another world—the theory of the Three Thousand Worlds, you should still remember, right?"

"So that's how it is!"

Lin Waner's face showed sudden understanding; she quickly rose and, together with Fan Xian, solemnly thanked Li Li Shimin.

Seeing this scene, Li Li Shimin finally showed a smile, skillfully recited the wedding blessing he had specially asked Zhuge Liang to write, and then retreated into the crowd of members behind Lin Yu.

Su Su Haoming watched Fan Xian packing away mountains of gold and silver and clicked his tongue, saying: "Old Li, he really went all out this time. With so much wealth, did he not empty the national treasury?"

"Then you are underestimating Brother Li!"

He He Jingfeng, standing nearby, smiled and said: "Don't forget, Brother Li has been doing business with me for nearly a month and has already made a fortune; what are these few coins worth?"

Li Li Shimin smiled and nodded: "Brother He speaks the absolute truth!"

For this past month, he had been acting as an inter-dimensional trader, exchanging various jade, jewels, antiques, and cultural relics from the Three Kingdoms period for firearms, grain, and a large quantity of cheap glass products of modern craftsmanship from He He Jingfeng.

The former had long since filled the granaries and armories; even if a great disaster struck for three years, it could guarantee the people three meals a day, with ample clothing and food.

The latter replaced gold, silver, jade, and gems, becoming the symbol of luxury and wealth, and with a cost that was nearly zero, it plundered massive amounts of wealth in trade with the Wei and Wu states.

It can be said that the current prosperity of Shu Han far exceeds Su Su Haoming's imagination.

Of course, even so, Li Li Shimin would not take wealth from the national treasury to give as a gift just for the sake of a little face.

The five small mountains he gave were actually his personal property.

The geological structure of Sichuan is inherently complex, and mineral resources are extremely abundant.

Thanks to He He Jingfeng, Li Li Shimin obtained the map of mineral distribution across the land of Huaxia, so he immediately set out and personally found many undiscovered mineral veins in Shu.

Even more coincidentally, he possessed both Fire and Earth dual spiritual roots, allowing him to extract ores with Earth-element spells and smelt them directly with Fire-element spells.

After the entire process, the original ores became wealth in his storage bag.

The mountain of gold he just gave away seemed huge, but in reality, it was only the tip of the iceberg in his storage bag.

Precisely because of this, Li Li Shimin believed that gold, silver, and wealth were the least valuable gifts.

After all, other members could also become suddenly rich by searching for mineral veins just like him; the only difference was whether they wanted to or not!

Li Li Shimin and the members' mindset was certainly something Lin Waner could not understand at the moment.

She felt that this gold, silver, and jewelry were already shocking enough; what kind of wedding gifts could the other True Lords have prepared to make such a wealthy Li Li Shimin claim he was short of money?

Thinking of this, Lin Waner felt a bit hesitant and thought that the various brothers really did not need to spend so much.

But the members did not care and were still preparing to present their own wedding gifts.

Xiang Yunye sighed and said: "Brother Li's opening was so shocking that I feel embarrassed to bring mine out..."

As he spoke, he took a bracelet made of Lantian jade from his sleeve and smiled as he handed it to Lin Waner.

"This bracelet is my recent masterpiece; if Sister-in-law wears it, it can ward off water and dust, nourish the body, and extend life."

Upon hearing this, Lin Waner immediately widened her eyes in surprise.

But this time, it was not just her; all the other members were also extremely surprised.

Fan Xian couldn't help but ask in the group: "When did you learn artifact forging?"

Xiang Yunye curled the corner of his mouth and said proudly: "Not artifact forging, it's talismans!"

(End of this chapter)