The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 109 Sky-high betrothal gift
Li Yi went to see Li Er Niang in confusion and left in confusion again.

He originally thought that the other party had some ulterior motive, but in the end he was just saying goodbye to him.

Li Yi seriously suspected that Li Erniang had a masochistic tendency, and that the last time she was scolded by him, it aroused the masochistic nature in her body.

Or is it Stockholm syndrome?

But no matter what, Li Yi's betrothal gift problem was solved, and he didn't even need to mention it. Li Er Niang understood that he must have other purposes for agreeing to the invitation.

Otherwise, as a general of the imperial guards, he can't be so idle that he can go to every appointment when someone calls him, right?

So Li Erniang took the initiative to ask Li Yi about his needs, and Li Yi tactfully expressed his purpose, and the two naturally reached a consensus tacitly.

Li Yi actually likes dealing with smart people like Li Er Niang... Thinking about how he scared the girl when they first met, but not only did Li Er Niang not take it to heart afterwards, she also gave him enough face and money when they met this time.

Of course, Li Yi would not take advantage of this opportunity for nothing, and he would only promise to give the other party more alcohol, not less.

As the saying goes, one who receives favors from others will be grateful, and one who eats from others will be soft-hearted.

Li Yi couldn't be so shameless as to just eat and leave, so naturally he would exchange benefits for each other.

It is said that talking about money hurts feelings, and talking about feelings hurts money, but if you and the other party don’t have a certain level of friendship, it is more realistic and reliable to talk about money.

After returning home, Li Yi called Chen Yaer.

"Ya'er, I'm going to assign you a very important task. Do you have the confidence to complete it?"

After hearing this, although Chen Ya'er didn't quite understand, she knew that Li Yi had something to tell her, so she nodded vigorously.

"Very good!" Li Yi touched her head approvingly. However, this unintentional action made Chen Yaer blush. She lowered her head and hummed, unable to speak.

Li Yi then realized that something was wrong. In his subconscious, he still thought of the other party as a little girl, but in this day and age, a fourteen-year-old girl can already be a mother, so she should indeed be more careful.

He quickly withdrew his hand, coughed lightly, and said, "I'll arrange two more people to help you tomorrow. Can you distill at least fifty jars of alcohol a month?"

Chen Ya'er replied softly, "As Alang ordered, I can definitely do it."

Her tone was soft yet firm, and the Hedong accent was very faint.

Li Yi was a little surprised, but then he thought about it and realized that he didn't care much about Chen Ya'er on weekdays. After bringing her back to Tokyo from Northern Han, they had only spoken to each other a few times.

But I didn’t expect that Chen Yaer had such a strong ability to adapt.

In less than a year, he could speak the Central Plains Mandarin very well, and the rustic air in his words and deeds was no longer obvious. His manners and etiquette were also very proper.

Considering that she was able to quickly master the tricks of distilling alcohol after learning from me for a few days, maybe this little girl really has some talent... It seems that I can cultivate her well when I have time in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Yi nodded and said, "Just do your best, and don't push yourself too hard."

His casual words made Chen Yaer happy. After a slight nod, she left with light steps.

Li Yi shook his head and went straight into the inner courtyard to find Guo, asking her to send two trustworthy maids to help Chen Yaer tomorrow.

Mrs. Guo didn't ask any more questions and asked someone to bring the remaining food over.

After dinner and a shower, Li Yi hugged Guo and talked to her in bed for a while, and then they turned off the lights and went to bed.

A night without words...

The next day.

Just as the sky was getting light, more than a dozen carts loaded with valuables were delivered to Li's house, almost filling up the entire warehouse.

There were dozens of boxes of various sizes, hundreds of pieces of Shu brocade and silk, as well as tea, wine, spices, antiques, treasures, etc., of various kinds.

Li Yi took Guo to check them one by one.

He casually opened a box, which was filled with high-quality copper coins.

Looking at the other one, it was a finely cast silver ingot. He opened another one, and golden light shot out, so bright that it made it impossible for people to open their eyes... A box full of gold cakes.

Li Yi picked it up and looked at it. Neither the gold cake nor the silver ingot had any inscriptions or stamps engraved on them. It looked like they were smelted privately, but the quality seemed to be very pure.

"Ah——" Guo suddenly exclaimed.

Li Yi quickly turned around, only to see her covering her mouth and looking at the box in front of her in shock.

"What's wrong, Yulan..."

Li Yi quickly stepped forward, followed Guo's gaze, and then was also stunned.

A sandalwood box, one meter square, was opened, revealing a dazzling array of gold and jade jewelry. In the middle, three lychee-sized gems were placed on a brocade cloth.

Li Yi stretched out his hand, picked it up and looked at it. The lustrous luster was shining. He couldn't help but wonder if this thing was the legendary night pearl... Judging from its appearance, it must be priceless.

"Erlang, where did these things come from?" Guo finally couldn't help but ask the question in her heart.

"Don't worry, Yulan, it's definitely not stolen..."

Seeing Guo's eyes full of resentment, Li Yi had no choice but to explain, "Didn't I go to see the wine seller, Madam Li Er, yesterday? I traded all these goods with her for alcohol."

"How can a few jars of alcohol be exchanged for so many treasures... Besides, where would a woman selling alcohol get all these treasures?"

Listening to Guo's grumbling, Li Yi said helplessly, "We can't control how wealthy others are. As for the alcohol, there aren't just a few jars. We'll have to send her more over time. I asked Yu Lan to send someone to help Chen Ya'er for this very reason."

He said this, but inwardly he was thinking: Li Erniang was so generous, it seems that I can't repay such a big favor in such a short time just by exchanging alcohol. It seems that I will have to come up with some more small inventions in the future, such as transparent glass, soap perfume, etc.

Not only can it be used to repay favors, but it can also earn some extra money... Marrying Fu Er Niang made Li Yi suddenly realize that you can never have too much money.

I originally thought that my generous salary was enough to provide food and clothing for my whole family.

However, plans cannot keep up with changes. When it comes to spending real money, I suddenly feel that I can't withstand the pressure.

Hearing this, Guo was half-believing and half-doubting, and asked, "Erlang is not trying to trick me?"

"When have I ever lied to you, Yulan?"

As he was speaking, Li Yi caught a glimpse of a hairpin made of pure gold, engraved with patterns and inlaid with pearls and jade in the jewelry box. His eyes lit up and he picked it up.

"I forgot. I promised Yulan last year that I would give you a beautiful hairpin. I think this one suits you very well."

Guo immediately shook her head and said, "This is too expensive. I can't accept it..."

Li Yi put the hairpin on her head without hesitation, looked at her carefully, and praised her, "It really suits Yu Lan."

Guo said embarrassedly, "These are the betrothal gifts prepared for the daughter of the King of Wei. How can Erlang just give them away?"

She said this, but the expression on her face betrayed her and you could tell at a glance that she was very happy.

"There are so many gold and silver jewels, it's no big deal if one or two are missing. Besides, Yulan is my woman too. Even if her status isn't as noble as the King of Wei's daughter, I still deserve to buy her a few pieces of jewellery."

As he spoke, Li Yi simply put the pearl in his palm into Guo's hand, and then took out two pieces of jewelry from the box and handed them over.

"Yulan, please keep these pearls and jewelry as well, as a way to save some wealth for us."

It is said that men need to be bluffed and women need to be coaxed... Guo was not greedy for these jewelries. She cared more about Li Yi's intentions. After much hesitation, she finally accepted them.

Li Yi gently held Guo's hand and soothed her, "I won't forget the old one just because I have a new one. I will still treat Yulan well in the future."

Sweet words are meant to be said. Put aside whether they are fickle or not. At least on the surface, you should treat the woman equally. You want to enjoy the happiness of having two wives, but you don't have to spend time coaxing women.

Wouldn't it be easier for you to just spend money on prostitution?

Next, the two of them took inventory together.

But he couldn't help but be shocked... The gold and silver cash alone was more than 10,000 strings of cash, plus those gold and silver jewelry, silk, spices, etc., the value was unknown.

Li Yi looked at the things in front of him and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: No matter in ancient times or modern times, marrying a wife is always a huge expense.

As a dignified general of the imperial guards, he would have the status and treatment of sitting at the top and making speeches during meetings in later generations.

Even so, he almost emptied his family savings and couldn’t afford to marry a wife... Are you kidding me?
Of course, with Fu Erniang's noble birth, she is completely worth the price. Not everyone can marry her with these betrothal gifts... Even if you can use money to buy a high-ranking official position, you can't buy the emperor's brother-in-law.

In comparison, Guo's got it easily, basically like picking it up for free... No, Guo even paid money to Li Yi to repay the compensation.

People really can't be compared...

Once the betrothal gifts are ready, it is natural to pay the betrothal gifts and ask for a date.

Late February.

The matchmaker appointed by the Queen to assist in the marriage, the eunuch Qu Tai, led a team of more than a dozen large carts to Daming Prefecture to deliver the betrothal gifts.

When the gift-delivering convoy arrived at Prince Wei's Mansion, the entire Fu family was surprised.

Because the betrothal gift Li Yi prepared was too generous!
In his opinion, there was indeed a lot of gold and silver in cash, more than ten thousand strings of cash, and those treasures, antiques, jewelry, jade and the like seemed to be quite valuable, but he didn't know much about those things.

He just thought it should be valuable, but he had no idea of ​​its actual value.

What’s more, there is a famous saying in later generations: antiques in prosperous times, gold in troubled times.

Li Yi naturally felt that in the context of the chaotic Five Dynasties period, those treasures that could only be used as decorations had a limit to their value no matter how valuable they were.

But he forgot what it means that scarcity makes things valuable.

Many treasures were rare in ancient times. In addition, in troubled times, everyone hid the good things, so you couldn’t buy them even if you wanted to.

So this leads to cognitive bias.

On the other hand, when the Wei Wang family saw more than ten carts of betrothal gifts and the dazzling treasures inside, even the wealthy Fu family was blinded by the money.

At the Fu family's family dinner that night, Prince Wei Fu Yanqing looked at his daughter with a smile on his face and couldn't help but speak well of Li Yi:

"Second Mother, Brother Yi really treats you like a treasure. After you marry him, don't act out of temper and embarrass him. Your parents and brothers can tolerate you at home, but when you go to someone else's house, you must learn to control your temper and be a good wife and mother."

"What are you talking about, Alang? Isn't Er Niang the treasure of our family?"

Yang, the second wife of the Prince of Wei, who was sitting nearby, continued, "But it's clear that Li Du Yuhou is very concerned about Second Lady. I'm afraid he would have to spend all his money to afford these betrothal gifts."

"Does my daughter seem like a person without any sense of propriety?" Fu Erniang said dissatisfiedly.

But she couldn't hide her excitement. That man valued her to this extent. He had only been rich for a short time. How could he have come up with such a large betrothal gift? He must have put a lot of thought into it.

Which woman doesn’t want to have a grand wedding?
Seeing that Li Yi spent such a huge price and sent such a generous betrothal gift to marry her.

Fu Erniang would be lying if she said she wasn't moved... She was eager to meet that man as soon as possible, and even hoped that he would come and marry her home soon.

But she only dared to think about these words in her heart. If she really had to say them out loud...how could she do that?
(End of this chapter)