Chapter 2354 - 2084: Greater Responsibility

Anyway, Lul Jun could now see the situation clearly: the trend toward Unity under heaven basically had become a foregone conclusion, and Liu Bei held an absolute advantage in it. And a Seventh Generation Ship wasn’t something that could be built in a short time. Since that was the case, he might as well take the chance to sell the Seventh Generation Ship construction technology in his hands a few times—there should be plenty of people interested.

[Looks like I need to think through who would be interested in a Seventh Generation Ship. Hmm, the Gongsun Family definitely would be. Their shipbuilding tech is only one step behind the Lul Family’s; spend ten billion to patch up that gap... Hmm, I just don’t know if they have that much money.] Lul Jun thought silently. [No, better ask for a bit less first, grab whatever I can get.]

[Hmm, the Zhen Family seems to have some interest in shipbuilding. They’ve opened a small shipyard in the Bohai Region, but their tech is absolutely trash. They probably badly need more advanced technology. How about I bundle up the Fifth-Generation Warship, Sixth Generation Ship, and Seventh Generation Ship building techniques and sell them to the Zhen Family? That clan has money, and I’m short of cash.] Lul Jun pondered in silence.

But thinking about how the Xingba Vessel’s kind of repeatedly‑neutered Seventh Generation Ship construction tech was probably only worth six to seven billion, Lul Jun felt a bit torn—he really was too short on money. For a True Seventh-Generation Ship with an all‑steel structure, just the material cost would be at least fifty billion, and that wasn’t even counting anything else.

[Looks like I need to talk things over with Gongsun Xu, bring the Gongsun Family and the Zhen Family together for a face‑to‑face discussion, and then sell them the castrated Iron Birchwood Seventh Generation Ship manufacturing tech. That should be worth around fifteen to twenty billion.] Lul Jun mulled it over; tech was meant to be sold, wasn’t it.

As long as he could realize the dream of a True Seventh-Generation Ship, Lul Jun deeply felt that there was no technology he couldn’t sell. Besides, these all counted as "his own people." He had to hurry and sell it off to earn a wave of profit before Chen Xi reassigned him, so he could start work on the Seventh Generation Ship.

[On Shixie’s side, first sell one batch at the Xingba Vessel level, then another batch at the Iron Birchwood level. I heard Shixie is actually loaded, but stuck in some god‑forsaken remote corner and can’t get out. I figure he should really need someone to teach him how to run maritime transport.] Lul Jun’s imagination was already exploding.

In short, first scam some money—oh, not scam money. How could you call it scamming between aristocratic families? It was clearly mutual consent, jointly discussing grand plans for the future, a joyous thing for everyone.

So after thinking all this through, Lul Jun quickly started sorting the materials he’d need, planning to launch a big tech clearance sale while all the rich folks were gathering in Ye City.

Spurring his horse at full speed along the way, Lul Jun managed to catch up in time for Lub Su’s wedding feast. The biggest difference from those previous two weddings was that Lub Su was marrying two at once.

It was only with this wave that Sunx Ce finally reacted: the Xu Ning whom Lub Su was marrying was his cousin, and a very close one at that—Sunx Ce’s own aunt was Xu Ning’s mother.

Only with this wave did Sunx Ce realize why Zhou Yu had sent him along to come take a look. After all, in terms of kinship, he was someone who absolutely had to be present.

As for the other one, Ji Xiang, she was a distant cousin, someone he’d met a few times—cool and aloof, but still somewhat familiar. Sunx Ce was a bit annoyed: why was Lub Su marrying both his cousins?

Compared to Zhang Fei’s wave, far more people came to Lub Su’s wedding this time, and the heavyweights now included Sunx Ce and Zhou Yu. After all, the Xiahou Brothers still had to watch the military parade and couldn’t leave, and Lub Su was a heavyweight figure under Liu Bei, so sending some gifts while they were at it was no big deal.

Thus, the people attending Lub Su’s wedding were clearly far more than Zhang Fei’s wave. Many who were interested in Liu Bei’s military parade and important enough in status showed up early without being invited. And since they were already there, they naturally weren’t going to fuss over the gift situation for Lub Su’s wedding.

The next day, during the visit to the aunts and uncles, Sunx Ce was standing with his cousin Xu Kun, waiting to take advantage of Lub Su. Xu Kun didn’t mind at all; he had an excellent relationship with Sunx Ce. Back when they first attacked Jingzhou, he had followed Sunx Ce everywhere in battle. The two were both cousins, and Sunx Ce was full of Qi and loyalty, so naturally their relationship was good.

That said, in the official history, Sunx Quan’s queen, Madam Xu, was actually Xu Kun’s daughter. By blood, that made her Sunx Quan’s niece. It always felt a bit messy.

"Ga ga ga, Lub Zijing, call your uncles." Sunx Ce said excitedly.

"Greetings, uncles." Lub Su said calmly.

"Bofu, get over here." Zhou Yu grabbed Sunx Ce’s shoulder and hauled him away. He’d discovered that the moment he relaxed his guard, Sunx Ce’s brain went offline.

The Xu Family marrying their daughter to Lub Su like this—while they had mentioned it to Sunx Ce, it had only been in passing, just a couple of casual sentences. But even with the situation like this now, Sunx Ce still didn’t understand what was going on?

"Uh, Gongjin, what’s wrong?" Sunx Ce looked at Zhou Yu in confusion and asked.

"..." Zhou Yu stared at Sunx Ce’s utterly bewildered expression, not even sure what to say. After a moment, he said, "Bofu, don’t worry. I’ll definitely find a way out for you."

Sunx Ce looked at Zhou Yu completely baffled. What was this even about, how did they suddenly get to saying that?

Although the Xu Family had only gone along with the flow to bring this about, there were already some other implications mixed in. The Matriarch of the Xu Family was Sunx Ce’s aunt, yet she’d still made such a choice. Her view of the future had begun to waver—in clear terms, she had already started leaving a back road.

After visiting the Xu Family, Lub Su then took Ji Xiang to visit the Ji Family, and it was obvious that the Ji Family showed much more warmth than the Xu Family—half the household, men and women, old and young, all turned up, and as soon as Ji Xiang appeared, a whole crowd just stared at her wide-eyed.

The Ji Family knew the "facts" Guo Jia had sent over, so everyone in the family was very grateful that Lub Su had left them some face, and they also hoped Lub Su would treat Ji Xiang kindly. Then they produced a booklet that listed in detail the things Ji Xiang liked and disliked.

After that, the Head of Ji Family told Lub Su that they had already dismantled Ji Xiang’s nest; the original materials, along with the craftsmen who took it apart, would be sent over in a few days. When the time came, they would use those original materials to build Ji Xiang an identical one—"our daughter is very attached to old things," or something like that.

All in all, compared to the Xu Family, where there were many things that couldn’t be said, the Xiahou Family, who were purely in a military general mindset, and the Jiangg Family of Fufeng, who had been in a poor position to handle these matters back then, the Ji Family clearly placed far more weight on all this.

"Xiang’er, is there anything else you want?" After the Head of Ji Family finished talking with Lub Su, he turned to ask his own daughter.

"No." Ji Xiang tilted her head. "I’m curious why you came. As I remember it, you should hate me. Every time I showed up, you’d have people grab me and drag me away, and yet this time you came in person."

"Because back then you were to serve as Chief Priestess. The less you came into contact, the less pain there would be. Now that you’re no longer the Chief Priestess, I need to see what kind of husband you’ve chosen. If he’s a bastard, then you won’t be leaving through this door today." The Head of Ji Family sat up straight as he spoke.

"Oh." Ji Xiang nodded and didn’t say anything more.

"Live well with your husband. I don’t know what exactly happened, but it’s obvious he’s protecting you." The Head of Ji Family gave Lub Su a long, searching look, then spoke slowly.

Guo Jia’s story had indeed muddled things enough to get past the Ji Family, but once they arrived in Ye City, they could see what was going on with their daughter at a glance, so naturally they had their suspicions.

Thus the Head of Ji Family had been waiting—for Ji Xiang’s return-to-family visit. If someone had coerced her into this, then even though the wedding ceremony had already been held yesterday, the Ji Family wouldn’t have minded making Ji Xiang a widow today.

Yet from what the Head of Ji Family saw now, it was very likely that this whole mess had once again been stirred up by his own daughter, with Lub Su shouldering it all alone; Ji Xiang marrying Lub Su was even Lub Su’s way of shielding their daughter.

"Did you stir up trouble again?" The Head of Ji Family sent a voice transmission to his daughter.

"Anyway, you don’t have to handle it anymore." Ji Xiang tilted her head and looked at Lub Su as she sent a voice transmission to her father. "From now on you’ll never need to handle it."

"Enough, cause less trouble. As far as the man beside you is concerned, marrying you is a responsibility. If you don’t want that responsibility to turn into a burden for him, then you behave yourself. Even if a lot of your emotions were cut off, if you truly value him, then imitate the way he handles things." The Head of Ji Family said irritably; with his own daughter, how could he not know what kind of temperament she had?

"Oh..." Ji Xiang dragged out the sound as she replied.

"Remember, the man beside you is your husband, not a butterfly or bug you caught; you can’t just toss him aside or kill him once you lose interest." The Head of Ji Family started nagging his daughter. To be honest, the moment he learned his daughter was married off, his liver ached.

As Ji Xiang and her father exchanged via voice transmission, the room naturally quieted down, and the atmosphere grew much more still, but for no reason Lub Su felt a chill run through him.

"Oh, the one I can’t kill." Ji Xiang deliberately put on that same calm, natural expression she’d had a few years ago. Back then, because she’d received the complete natural education of the Xuanyuan High Priest, her innocence was almost childlike—she could kill things she’d lost interest in with a pure, guileless smile.

No cruelty, no right or wrong, no concept of good or evil—but in other people’s eyes, Ji Xiang’s tranquil, water-like gaze at that time was terrifying, and, oddly, also pitiable.

"You absolutely cannot kill him. Even if you lose interest, you cannot kill him. He is your husband." The Head of Ji Family warned his daughter with a massive headache. What he feared most now was that his daughter had married Lub Su on a whim, and once she lost interest after some time, Lub Su would end up dead...

Just imagining that this might happen made the Head of Ji Family clutch at his liver. Given his daughter’s condition, this was highly likely.

"Oh, don’t worry." Ji Xiang looked at her father with a bright, mischievous smile as she spoke.

"Uh, Zijing, about Xiang’er—because of her childhood education, she’s missing some things inside. You need to pay attention to that." The Head of Ji Family said with a resentful tone.

Lub Su silently nodded. Everyone among Liu Bei’s top ranks knew that Ji Xiang was missing certain emotions, or that some of her feelings were attenuated. Lub Su marrying Ji Xiang was partly to keep watch over her. As for romantic love—responsibility weighed heavier, both toward others, and toward Ji Xiang herself.