Dream and Reality

…

Wang Liuyu also hugged Wang Luojing and asked her many questions. It was obvious that she felt quite sorry for her obedient niece, who had lost her father at a young age. She had even specially given her a bill of ten gold.

"Auntie, Jing'er can't accept it. I heard that Cousin Zhuo is currently attempting to break through to the third level of the Qi Refining Realm. Please keep it for him." Wang Luojing waved her hands repeatedly, adamantly refusing to accept it.

Normally, the cultivation resources of young clansmen were mainly provided by the family. Apart from that, some relatives who were closer to them, such as their parents, would think of ways to assist the younger generation.

However, Wang Luojing's father, Wang Dingbang, had died five years ago, so Luojing was at a disadvantage in this aspect.

"Jing'er, just take it if Auntie wants you to," Wang Liuyu said with slight frustration. "Your father is no longer around. As your biological aunt, how can I not help you a little?"

"Luojing, just accept it," said Wang Shouzhe with a smile at the side. "Don't let Third Aunt down."

Of course he knew that after Wang Luojing and Wang Shouzhe had both displayed their great value, Gongsun Mo, his "cheap maternal grandfather", had intentionally invited their third aunt and third uncle over to accompany them in order to strengthen the bond between the two of them again and play the family card.

Moreover, Wang Luojing was a future Spirit Insect Master. There was no better time to rope her in than now. Wang Shouzhe was naturally happy to see the relationship between the two parties become closer. After all, the Gongsun Clan's overall strength was much stronger than the Wang Clan of Ping'an.

"Yes, Fourth Brother. Thank you, Third Aunt." Wang Luojing accepted it obediently.

Then, the two families sat down to eat in harmonious happiness.

However, the main person receiving the praise this time was not Wang Shouzhe, but Wang Luojing.

"Luojing," Gongsun Mo said amiably as he personally served her a bowl of white jade spirit rice, a large piece of Spirit Horned Yak meat, and a large piece of spirit fish. "You've worked too hard today. Eat more. Don't stand on ceremony."

Wang Luojing was a little at a loss for what to do. She looked meekly at Wang Shouzhe. The resources of any clan were distributed uniformly. As a daughter from the direct lineage of the clan, Wang Luojing was not very high in the sequence of nurturing in the clan. The spirit food she was allocated every month was very limited. How could she eat so extravagantly?

She pursed her lips. She wanted to eat it, but didn't dare to.

"Go ahead and eat. Don't let Grandfather down." Wang Shouzhe patted her head, feeling sorry for her. "Brother will work harder in the future and try to let everyone in the clan lead a good life."

"Yes, thank you, Fourth Brother. Thank you, Grandpa Gongsun." Wang Luojing picked up her chopsticks obediently and ate the white jade spirit rice in big mouthfuls with a satisfied expression.

Seeing her eating so happily, Wang Shouzhe felt both gratified and heavy. He felt the pressure of being the patriarch of a clan.

"Zhe'er, it's all thanks to you this time." Gongsun Mo poured a cup of spirit wine and said to Wang Shouzhe, "Our people have assessed it. Due to your support this time, our production is reduced by 20% at most compared to last year, and we have prevented the loss of over a thousand gold."

A thousand gold was a huge sum for both the Gongsun Clan and the Wang Clan. What caught Gongsun Mo's attention even more was Wang Shouzhe's kind gesture towards the Gongsun Clan.

It was also for this reason that the Gongsun Clan showed their greatest sincerity in hosting Wang Shouzhe and the others. They provided abundant spirit wine and food. This meal would cost at least a dozen gold.

"Grandfather, you're too kind to me." Wang Shouzhe took a sip of the spirit wine and said humbly, "Speaking of which, our clans are quite lucky to happen to encounter my sister, who has comprehension over some insect mastery techniques."

Beside him, the young patriarch, Gongsun Qiang, had a spirited look in his eyes. "Speaking of which, you're really lucky, Shouzhe. As soon as you became the patriarch, you discovered a spirit insect master within the clan. I wonder if Luojing has an in-law clan yet? Would you like to consider our Xiaoyan?"

"Huh?"

Wang Luojing was tucking in on the rice and meat. When she heard this, her eyes widened as if she was frightened.

"Uncle, Luojing is only 12 years old." There was a hint of discontent in Wang Shouzhe's tone. "Besides, Cousin is from the main line of descent of the Gongsun Clan. Our Luojing is only from the direct line. I'm afraid they're not compatible."

"It's fine, it's fine." Gongsun Qiang acted as if he did not hear the implied meaning in Wang Shouzhe's words. He kept saying, "Our clan wouldn't look down on the bloodline of a good girl like Luojing."

Wang Shouzhe rubbed his forehead. 'You might not mind, but our clan does.'

Fortunately, Gongsun Hui came out at this moment to block the attack. "Brother, don't think too highly of yourself. Our Luojing is a Spirit Insect Master with boundless potential in the future. Take her method of controlling the Nine-spotted Beetle King for example, in the future, it'll make her the hot favorite of the entire Changning Wei. With such a huge fluke in the insecticide powder of the Violet Palace Academy, no one would want to use it anymore, right?"

Pausing for a moment, Gongsun Hui continued, "Take the 16,000 acres of fertile fields in the Gongsun Clan for example. By using insecticide for once a season, twice a year, the annual cost of insecticide powder would reach 300 gold. If our Wang Clan charges the Gongsun Clan 200 gold for the Spirit Insect Master to personally come to expel the insects, would you be willing to make the deal?"

Gongsun Hui's words seemed to have enlightened everyone.

Even Gongsun Mo gasped. The way he looked at Wang Luojing was extremely solemn, as if he was looking at a gold mine.

Spirit Insect Masters were really good at earning money.

In reality, Wang Shouzhe had already considered this business. However, Luojing was only one Spirit Insect Master. The amount of work she could cover in a limited short period of time would definitely be limited. At most, she would be able to maintain about 50 or 60 thousand acres.

But even so, it could make an earning of at least 700 to 800 gold a year just by helping the various clans repel the bugs, and that was at a discounted price.

Moreover, Spirit Insect Masters were talented at cultivating spirit insects. There were many economical spirit insects among spirit insects, such as spirit silkworms and spirit bees.

Therefore, Madam Gongsun Hui had said what was on Wang Shouzhe's mind. Gongsun Qiang was fantasizing too much. No clan would be willing to give up such a golden goose for marriage.

"Shouzhe, you're really lucky." Gongsun Qiang now looked at Wang Shouzhe with envy and jealousy. He really wished that his clan could produce such a Spirit Insect Master too.

Unfortunately, it was not that easy to produce a Spirit Insect Master.

Firstly, there were too few people with the natural talent to become Spirit Insect Masters. One must have the natural talent to communicate with insects. That was a rather unorthodox natural talent.

Secondly, the major families did not have a legacy for Spirit Insect Masters. It was very difficult to screen out the natural talent for Spirit Insect Masters among their clansmen.

According to the information the Gongsun Clan had, there were only three Spirit Insect Masters in the entire Changning GuWeiard region. They were from the Liu Clan of Shanyin, the Xu Clan of Changning, and a consecrated Spirit Insect Master from the City Guard Residence.

The information was more detailed than Wang Shouzhe's. After all, the Gongsun Clan of Shanyang was relatively powerful among Spirit Tower clans.

As the Gongsun Clan and the Wang Clan both had the intention of befriending each other, the dinner was harmonious.

The next day…

Having recovered her spirit, Wang Luojing continued to tame the newly captured Lacewing Kings and the Nine-spotted Beetle Kings. With a lot of experience now, Wang Luojing seemed to have improved quite a bit. She tamed several insect kings in just an hour.

In the afternoon, she had already sent the insect kings to the other two farms. Next, she only needed the clan guards of the Gongsun Clan to continue capturing the wild lacewings and nine-spotted beetles for adding to the wheat fields.

With the restraint and leadership of the insect kings, the lacewings and nine-spotted beetles would not leave.

"Fourth Brother, the level of taming of those insect kings is too shallow." After Wang Luojing finished doing all of this, she said in a somewhat exhausted state, "I'm afraid that in a few days, their wild nature will recover, so we have to do it again in a few days. Fourth Brother, let's go to the Lu Clan of Yingxiu first."

"Luojing, you look a little tired," Wang Shouzhe said concernedly. "Why don't you rest for a night before going?"

"Fourth Brother, I'm fine." Wang Luojing shook her head and said, "The signs of the pest outbreak are becoming more and more obvious. If we go tomorrow, the Lu Clan will suffer huge losses. Fourth Brother, I know your relationship with the Lu Clan of Yingxiu…"

That's right, the relationship.

In reality, purely in terms of bloodline relationship, the Lu Clan of Yingxiu was very close to Wang Shouzhe. This was because his mother, who had passed early due to illness, was the young mistress of the Lu Clan of Yingxiu. At the same time, she was the younger sister of the current patriarch of the Lu Clan, Lu Zhengxiong.

Moreover, Lu Zhengxiong's main wife came from the sixth generation of the main lineage of the Wang Clan, and she was Wang Shouzhe's biological aunt, Wang Liuling.

This kind of intermarriage custom was common among the Arcane Martial Clans. The intermarriage between the main lineages of both clans would allow the two clans to reach the peak in terms of affinity.

The only accident was that Wang Shouzhe's biological mother, Lu Mengxue, died of illness when he was six years old, leaving behind her young son and daughter. Of Wang Shouzhe's memories, memories of his biological mother had always been the most tenacious. Up until now, his heart still ached when he thought of his biological mother.

Fortunately, his stepmother, Gongsun Hui, had treated him extremely well since he was young. She treated him like her own son. This gradually allowed him to accept his stepmother, which abated a lot of emotional wounds.

As his memories and feelings fused deeper and deeper, Wang Shouzhe gradually felt that he was becoming more and more integrated into this world. It was as if he had grown up in this world, and the memories of Earth gradually became like a dream instead.

…