Chapter 67: Li Laosi’s Flattery

Chapter 67: Li Laosi's Earnest Efforts

“What is it? Let me see.”

Jiang Wan extended her hand. Jiang Han pouted, pulling the broken cuckoo toy from her pocket and handing it over.

It was a small, colorful ceramic toy.

“Third Brother, did you break this?”

Jiang Yaozu timidly shrank his neck, his earlier arrogance completely gone.

“I didn’t mean to, Big Sister. I just wanted to borrow it and play for a bit, but Second Sister was being stingy and wouldn’t let me. I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally dropped it.”

“Sister, listen! He’s the one who broke it!”

The pretty little girl looked very aggrieved.

“Qingqing specially brought this from our hometown; you can’t even find it here in the capital! She only gave it to me because we’re good friends, and now Jiang Laosan, that annoying brat, has broken it!”

Alright, the case was clear. The fair judge would deliver a just verdict.

“Third Brother, apologize to your second sister. You won’t get your allowance for this month or next month—it will go to your second sister as compensation.”

“Why, Big Sister? I’ll apologize, but how is this little toy worth two months’ allowance?”

“This is your punishment. If you dare snatch other people’s things again, I’ll break your legs! Do you understand?”

The sister’s ferocity made the brother cower.

“Understood. Second Sister, I’m sorry.”

“Hmph!”

Having won her case again, Jiang Han triumphantly lifted her little chin, her eyes clearly conveying one message:

You think you can compete for Big Sister’s affection?

Not a chance!

“Lao’er, you…”

“Sister, I’m here.”

Jiang Han eagerly rushed over to give her sister a back rub.

Seeing her younger siblings so carefree, Jiang Wan swallowed the reminders she had been about to give. *Forget it,* she thought. *After all, in this life, I, their eldest sister, am here to shield them. They don’t need to worry too much for now.*

Just as she was about to suggest taking her siblings to the training ground, Hong Zhu, who had been waiting outside, came in to report.

“Miss, Qing Zhu is here with a message. She says the Fourth Prince has arrived, and Mother asks if you would like to go over.”

“What is he here for?”

“It seems he brought quite a few gifts.”

Jiang Wan raised an eyebrow and stood up.

“Alright, I’ll go take a look.”

“Sister, I’m coming too!”

“Big Sister, I’m coming too!”

The three Jiang siblings hurried to the main courtyard, where, sure enough, Li Chengxiu was sitting, awkwardly staring at the three elders of the Jiang family.

“Wan Jie’er!”

The young man stood up happily. Though not very robust at thirteen or fourteen, he seemed to change and grow daily. Compared to his time in Maocheng, he had clearly grown taller.

After Jiang Wan greeted her grandparents and mother, she turned to Li Chengxiu.

“What brings you here to see me?”

“Nothing much, it’s just… that imperial decree of marriage… for the two of us…”

Surrounded by the Jiang family, young and old, the smitten young man found it difficult to speak openly. He stammered and mumbled, his ears turning crimson as if they might bleed.

Fortunately, Jiang Wan didn’t make it harder for him.

“I’ve received the imperial decree. It’s kept safe at home. Did you want to see it?”

“No!”

He stole a quick glance at Wan Jie’er’s expression, and upon confirming she didn’t seem annoyed with him, Li Chengxiu relaxed and broke into a wide grin.

“As long as you’ve received the decree, that’s what matters. What’s so interesting about that document? Even if it gets lost, it’s fine—I’ll just ask my father to write another one!”

He pointed to the large pile of gifts he had brought, scattered on and under the table, clearly hoping to earn some praise.

“I prepared some gifts for you last time, but you didn’t have a chance to take them home. These past few days, I added a few more things and brought them over. Take a look—do you like them?”

Not content with just addressing his fiancée, this overly familiar fellow also warmly greeted the rest of the Jiang family.

“Grandpa, Grandma, Mother, and also Lao’er and Laosan—I prepared gifts for all of you. I also brought plenty of good wine for Father—it’s all out in the courtyard!

Take a look and see if you’re satisfied. If there’s anything you don’t like, just say so, and I’ll arrange to bring something else next time.”

From the miscellaneous pile of items on the ground, he dug out an exquisitely crafted long sword and presented it to the girl he liked with a flattering smile.

“Wan Jie’er, I stole—no, I *asked for*—my father’s favorite sword. Try it out and see if it feels good in your hand. If it doesn’t suit you, I’ll go back and get another one!”

This attitude of plundering his own father’s treasures without a hint of remorse truly exemplified the phrase “prodigal son.”

Though everyone who has ever grown cabbage knows how irritating it is when wild boars come to ruin your crop, when that wild boar is one that is falling all over itself to please you, it’s genuinely delightful!

Xu Shi didn’t know what the Emperor and the Imperial Noble Consort were thinking, but she herself was utterly charmed by this newly appointed son-in-law-to-be.

It wasn’t that she was shallowly impressed by the gifts themselves, but rather that she saw the Fourth Prince’s heartfelt effort toward her daughter. Since there was no other choice, as a mother, she naturally hoped her daughter and son-in-law would grow fonder over time and eventually live together in mutual affection.

If the matriarch was pleased, it went without saying that the grandfather and grandmother and the completely won-over Lao’er and Laosan—who were already calling him “brother-in-law”—were even more delighted.

Jiang Wan glanced at her family, then at the blushing young man in front of her. A hint of a smile slowly crept into her eyes as she reached out to accept the gift.

“Thank you, I like it very much.”

“Hehe, glad you like it!”

The days that followed basically became a chapter of Li Laosi going all out to win favor.

He bent over backwards daily to visit the Jiang family, and whatever the Li family had that he could get his hands on, he would eagerly pack up and send over, as if his own parents were nothing to him.

This infuriated the Emperor, but there was no stopping his good-for-nothing son from hauling load after load to his in-laws' place!

Lately, whenever he saw Jiang Huailiang beaming like he’d won the son-in-law lottery, the Emperor found everything about him irritating.

“Duke of Ling, you seem to be living the high life lately, huh?”

Jiang Huailiang immediately wiped the smile off his face.

“I get by.”

“Hah, how can you not be sure?”

The Emperor ground his teeth, pointing at the jade pendant hanging from the other man's waist. Jealousy was making him reckless with his words.

“Have you come into some fortune lately? You’ve changed your jade pendant three times in three days, and each one is finer than the last! But how come this looks so damn familiar? Doesn’t it look just like the white jade Ruyi pendant that was stolen from me by some little thief last night? The one with a little flower carved on the Ruyi!”

He wished he could describe every last detail, hoping to make this shameless man blush and return his beloved possession.

But since he had already given away a daughter beautiful as a flower to Li Laosi, Jiang Huailiang figured he’d already taken a big loss. What was wrong with accepting a few things from the Li family?

It’s not like I stole it anyway!

With his thick beard to hide behind, he felt no embarrassment whatsoever.

“Well, that’s quite a coincidence! But this pendant of mine was a gift from my son-in-law, who waited for me at the palace gate this morning to offer it to me. I really didn’t want to accept it, but how could I reject the boy’s filial piety and embarrass him?”