Like Qi Xiao, the Lin family has also been worried about the Emperor's birthday banquet recently.

Lin Weiming is now, after all, the title of Earl of Ning'an bestowed by the Emperor himself. Although it is the lowest rank among the court's noble titles, and even the Emperor would sell a few earl titles when the court was short of money.

However, to outsiders, the Lin family was indeed favored by the Emperor and the Regent, and their business on Jinbao Street was thriving, bringing them great wealth.

Such a family, deeply favored by the Emperor, naturally received an invitation from the palace.

Since I've been invited, there's no way I can refuse.

However, deciding what to send to the emperor to celebrate his birthday became a major headache for the Lin family.

With the help of Consort Xiao and his maternal grandparents, Qi Xiao was always able to find something suitable and precious.

But Lin Weiming didn't have such a good maternal grandfather, so he could only discuss it with his mother and wife.

Tonight, with the oil lamp lit, the room is still somewhat dim.

The servants had been busy in the shop all day and went home to rest early.

Lin Zhongyuan obediently lit a stick of incense for his grandmother, so that his grandfather Lin Xiangwu could stay by her side, along with Laifu and Fuzi, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

The family sat around the oil lamp, drinking smooth, sweet rice wine and discussing the matter.

“Speaking of which…” Xuefu took out a small abacus, fiddled with it for a bit, and told her family, “Our shop is making quite a bit of money these days. After deducting the costs, we still have about a thousand taels of silver at our disposal. But we really don’t know what to buy.”

The young couple looked at Liu Junlan and Lin Xiangwu together, waiting for them to make a decision.

Liu Junlan had indeed seen more of the world than her son and daughter-in-law, but that was still very limited. She had no precedent of sending gifts to the emperor.

So she scratched her head and looked at her husband with some difficulty, "I don't know what to give as a gift. Logically speaking, a thousand taels of silver is not a small amount... but what could the emperor possibly lack?"

These words stumped Lin Xiangwu. "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the emperor," meaning everything under heaven belongs to the emperor. Even their lives belong to the emperor, so what could the emperor possibly lack?

"How about we go for a stroll on Jinbao Street tomorrow? I've heard there are lots of good things there, maybe we can find something suitable," Lin Xiangwu said tentatively after thinking for a while.

The rest of the Lin family thought it was a good idea, since they couldn't imagine what they could give as a gift.

“That works too. It just so happens that Zhongyuan doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow. Our whole family has been in the capital for so long now, but we haven’t even had a chance to explore it yet. So let’s go out as a family tomorrow and broaden our horizons.” Liu Junlan nodded in agreement.

The family went to bed early and got up early the next day. They took a carriage and headed straight for Jinbao Street.

Jinbao Street was indeed very prosperous, selling gold, jade, silk, satin, and stone carvings, all of which were extremely exquisite. This immediately broadened the horizons of the Lin family, who were country bumpkins from the countryside.

"This small piece of jade is worth more than eight hundred taels of silver?" Lin Weiming stared at the jade pendant, which was not much bigger than his palm, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets in shock.

The shopkeeper chuckled and said, "This is a piece of Hetian jade. Look how fine the material is, and most importantly, there's a little black in the eye area, making it so lifelike, and the carving is so excellent. I'm only selling it to you for eight hundred and seventy taels of silver, which is a very fair price."

"And this isn't even the best. Look at our prized jade pendant. When Prince Zheng'an came last time, he offered ten thousand taels of silver, but our manager wouldn't sell it."

"I don't care about all that, but eight hundred taels of silver is too expensive! I'd better go look at the next shop." Lin Weiming had never worn any jade pendant on his belt, only two sachets embroidered by his wife for carrying things. Hearing that a jade pendant could sell for tens of thousands of taels of silver, he just thought those people had money to burn! What a waste.

"Wait!" Liu Junlan made the decisive move and stopped Lin Weiming: "This jade pendant is really nice, and the carving is quite lifelike. Let's buy this one!"

"Mom, this thing is so expensive, are we really going to buy it?" Lin Weiming was a little reluctant.

Xuefu quietly pinched the flesh on his waist and whispered, "Let's just buy this one. I've looked at them all along the way, and none of them are cheap. At least this one is decent-looking, and the price is acceptable!"

"I understand now, you two, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, are of the same mind." Lin Weiming couldn't bear to part with the money, so he simply ignored it and went back to the carriage.

Xuefu and Liu Junlan haggled for a while longer, and finally settled on a price of 820 taels of silver. They then returned to the carriage with their belongings.

The children didn't care about those things. They took out the loose change they had and bought some food, which they had been eating all the way.

"Fool." Liu Junlan poked Lin Weiming's forehead with her finger when she saw his sullen expression. "This is a gift for the emperor. Many people don't even have that kind of connection. And you're still unwilling to spend the money?"

"It's not that I'm unwilling to give His Majesty a gift, it's just... I'm unwilling to spend so much money on that thing." Lin Weiming sighed helplessly and could only admit to the matter.

After all, the carving is quite good, and it's presentable enough that it's not too bad.

However, this was only what Lin Weiming and his family thought at the moment. When they saw how those imperial relatives and ministers presented gifts to the emperor, how they racked their brains and had a thousand and eight hundred tricks up their sleeves, they had to admire them and felt that the eight hundred taels of silver seemed to be well spent.

At least it didn't require him to put in so much effort.

...

The whole family squeezed into one carriage. Lin Weiming looked at Lin Wanyue, who was eating roasted meat skewers with her brothers, and teased her: "Wanwan, your brother Yuan is usually so good to you and has given you a lot of things. Have you prepared any gifts for his birthday this time?"

Before Lin Wanyue could answer, the two younger children, Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu, looked up and said, "Dad, aren't we family? Doesn't giving us everything you gave us mean we've given you everything?"

Neither of them had prepared anything for Qi Yuan.

But then Lin Wanyue said, "I'm all ready."

As he spoke, he pulled out a small, fully movable golden dragon from his sleeve. It wasn't made of gold, but the gleaming brass was dazzling enough to blind anyone.