He could at least show some sign, now or later, of appreciating the gesture ...

Idk, I think he did okay. Shen Wei hit a hard DNW, and Kunlun left a "Thank you for making me this gift" comment and moved on. (Given ZYL's assessment of himself as an animal rights activist, I think this was probably a really hard DNW. Like, "you... killed a bunch of creatures for me?") LOL, now I'm thinking of Jonathan Coulter's "Skullcrusher Mountain":

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you
But I get the feeling that you don't like it
What's with all the screaming?
You like monkeys, you like ponies
Maybe you don't like monsters so much
Maybe I used too many monkeys
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?

I do find it fascinating that there are fewer differences now than in earlier chapters!

Maybe none of this matters so much because it's partly lies? ;-p