Editor: Atlas Studios
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"What’s so good about the Shanyin Liu Family?" Chen muttered incessantly, "Each one of them looks down on others, always scheming and plotting. If you ask ..."
The Shanyin Liu Family and the Shanyang Gongsun Family were separated only by a Dragon Ridge Mountain, abundant in resources and minerals, leading to frequent friction between the two families. Naturally, their relationship was not on friendly terms.
"Enough! Old lady, how dare you recklessly comnt on the marriage alliance between the Wang Family and the Liu Family?" Gongsun Mo could no longer sit still, hurriedly standing up and shouting, "Gongsun Qiang, help your mother back to rest. I have sothing to discuss with Shouzhe."
Gongsun Qiang quickly assisted the old lady who was still mumbling as she walked, while Gongsun Hui said, "Zhe’er, have a good chat with your grandfather. I’ll go talk to Mother for a while."
Gongsun Hui had achieved her purpose of diation today, and with her status, it was inappropriate for her to be involved in the conversation between Gongsun Mo and Wang Shouzhe. She then left, holding Wang Luojing’s little hand.
After everyone had left, Wang Shouzhe saluted Gongsun Mo and said, "Shouzhe greets Grandfather."
"No need for formalities, Zhe’er. Co, taste the spirit tea that your grandfather personally cultivated," Gongsun Mo had prepared for Wang Shouzhe’s visit and promptly ordered spirit tea and spirit fruit to be served.
Spirit tea and spirit fruit were luxuries within the Black Tortoise Clan, relying on spirit fields for cultivation. These fields were strategic resources for each family. Gongsun Mo cultivated a few acres of spirit fields, specifically to entertain distinguished guests.
As for the Ping’an Wang Family, they had only enough spirit fields left to grow White Jade Spirit Rice, insufficient for the clan’s consumption. Naturally, they wouldn’t use them to plant spirit tea and spirit fruit, which had poor economic returns.
"Thank you, Grandfather." With spirit tea and spirit fruit offered, Wang Shouzhe naturally didn’t hold back and began to enjoy them after sitting down.
Inside the tea cup carved from Spirit Jade, the tea was red and fragrant, its aroma refreshing, invigorating upon inhalation. Taking a sip, the slight bitterness filled his mouth, yet in the next mont, a sense of coolness surged through his head, making Wang Shouzhe feel clear-minded and dispelling any gloomy thoughts.
"Good tea." Wang Shouzhe couldn’t help but praise, "This spirit tea is rich, aromatic, and leaves a lasting aftertaste. It helps calm the mind and clear away distractions."
"Haha, I didn’t expect Zhe’er to be soone who appreciates tea," Gongsun Mo felt gratified, realizing his gifts were appreciated, and proudly introduced, "This tea is called Shanyang Small Spirit Species. I unintentionally discovered its wild spirit tea seeds deep in Dragon Ridge Mountain during my youth. After decades of careful cultivation, now it can stably produce over a pound each year, even beloved by the two family ancestors. I’ll allocate you one liang each year."
When ntioning allocating a liang, Gongsun Mo’s mouth twitched slightly, clearly feeling so reluctance. Understandably so, for cultivating spirit tea was unlike White Jade Spirit Rice, not like the abundant tea seeds on Earth.
Typically, only a few spirit tea trees could be planted per acre of spirit field, requiring ticulous cultivation and maintenance. The processes of picking, rolling, and fernting were also very particular.
Therefore, even a liang of spirit tea cost dearly.
"Thank you, Grandfather. Zhe’er humbly accepts." Wang Shouzhe knew Gongsun Mo intended to support him and naturally didn’t refuse.
Currently, in the Wang Family, only Wang Shouzhe was worth Gongsun Mo’s investnt, just as Gongsun Mo had once married his daughter to Wang Dingyue as a second wife. If one day, Wang Shouzhe could advance to the Spirit Platform Realm, he would surely rember this kindness.
Moreover, Gongsun Mo and his wife were very fond of Gongsun Hui. And Wang Shouzhe, being Gongsun Hui’s legitimate son, was her future reliance within the Wang Family. So, in consideration of his daughter, Gongsun Mo would find ways to squeeze out resources to support his grandson Wang Shouzhe.
Of course, all this was built on Wang Shouzhe’s decent potential and his harmonious relationship with Gongsun Hui.
If Wang Shouzhe were an ungrateful person with no self-awareness, Gongsun Mo wouldn’t bother with him. If the Wang Family were to completely decline, at worst, he would bring his daughter and granddaughter back to the Gongsun Family.
After exchanging pleasantries, they finally got to the main topic.
After drinking a cup of tea, Gongsun Mo’s expression grew serious: "Zhe’er, after receiving your letter this morning, I initially had so doubts. But after personally inspecting the farm and consulting with the experienced farrs, I confird it. As you said, there is indeed a potential honey bee infestation, which could reduce the yield by over sixty percent compared to last year. Zhe’er, on behalf of the Gongsun Family..."
"Grandfather, there’s no need to speak as an outsider," Wang Shouzhe interrupted, "Even if I hadn’t issued a warning, with the speed of the honey bee outbreak these past few days, all families would inevitably notice it within a day or two."
Aphid symptoms weren’t obvious at first, as each year sees so reduction due to aphids. So initially, when aphids appeared, farrs would usually accept it as normal. But once they broke out, the aphid eggs buried in the soil would quickly hatch, catching everyone off guard.
"That’s not true," Gongsun Mo shook his head and said, "The Shanyang Gongsun Family itself has sixteen thousand acres of good fields. This season’s winter wheat harvest is calculated at fifteen Large Copper per acre, totaling two hundred forty thousand Large Copper, equivalent to two thousand four hundred Qian Gold. Now, it’s the early stage of the honey bee outbreak. Even reducing the loss by twenty percent would recover four to five hundred Qian Gold worth of loss. Moreover, I also followed your arrangent, sending clan mbers and household generals into the mountains to capture the Grasshopper King and the Nine-Star Insect."
Despite being the Insect King, Grasshopper and Nine-Star insects are, in the end, commonplace, not even tier one spiritual insects and generally ignored. In the deep mountains around Shanyang, so can still be found.
While they were speaking, a household general ca to report, saying that the first batch of captured Grasshopper Kings and Nine-Star Insects had been delivered back.
"In that case, there’s no ti to lose. Please have Grandfather dispatch trusted household generals to accompany us," Wang Shouzhe rose and said, "Disaster relief is as urgent as putting out a fire, leaving no room for delay."
Soon, a maid went to fetch Gongsun Hui and Wang Luojing, and together they rode horses to the largest farm of the Gongsun Family, a huge estate with seven thousand acres of good land.
This shows how the foundation of the Shanyang Gongsun Family far exceeded that of the Ping’an Wang Family.
The tenant farrs at the entire farm were in frantic motion, using traditional plant ash mixed with twice the dosage of insecticide powder in pest control. Such asures had a decent effect. With enough insecticide powder, they seed able to curb the outbreak.
Unfortunately, the Gongsun Family had only stockpiled a limited amount of insecticide powder, proving inadequate to control the overall situation.
"Fourth Brother~" Wang Luojing spent over an hour taming three Grasshopper Kings and one Nine-Star Insect King, looking very tired. "Because ti was too tight, I could only simply ta these Insect Kings to make them follow orders, so let’s have the household generals release the wild Grasshopper and Nine-Star insects."
"Luojing, you’ve worked hard," Wang Shouzhe said with concern, gently patting her head and handing her a spirit fruit he had conveniently brought, "Take this to energize yourself, disaster relief can’t be delayed."
"Don’t worry, Fourth Brother." Wang Luojing nodded obediently. After eating the spirit fruit, she regained considerable strength. "As long as the Insect Kings are controlled, the Grasshopper and Nine-Star insects won’t run wild. But getting them to gather other insects on their own and then co back isn’t possible."
Subsequently, Wang Luojing clumsily imitated commands for the Insect Kings and insects to enter the thousands of acres of wheat fields. After the struggle, night had already fallen.
At this point, Gongsun Mo personally ca to the scene, bringing with him cooks and a fair amount of spiritual food, preparing dinner on site. They cleared a room in this farmstead, with the Clan Leader, Young Clan Leader, and a clan mber nad Gongsun Zhong and his wife Wang Liuyu accompanying them.
Wang Liuyu was a mber of the Wang Clan. By this ti, she should be about forty years old, but due to good maintenance, she looked only slightly over thirty, and her attire and appearance suggested she was living well.
"Shouzhe greets Third Aunt and Third Uncle." Wang Shouzhe first saluted with a hand gesture.
"This, this, Shouzhe, no need for so much formality," Gongsun Zhong, who was rather dark and according to rumors, managed the mines of the Gongsun Family, held a significant position among the direct lineage clan mbers, but was quite simple, taciturn, and not adept at socializing.
Wang Liuyu also returned the salutation repeatedly, showing great respect for Wang Shouzhe. Although she was of an older generation than Wang Shouzhe, Wang Shouzhe was of the direct lineage and Clan Leader of the Wang Family.
anwhile, Wang Luojing leaped into Wang Liuyu’s embrace, sweetly calling out, "Aunt."
Compared to blood relations, Wang Liuyu was indeed the second daughter of the fourth old master Wang Xiaozhi, making her Wang Luojing’s true aunt, naturally leading to affection.
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