Ice Crystal Dew

…

"Who are you?" Lu Xiaoxiao hugged Wang Shouzhe's arm and glared at Wang Luojing. "Hurry up and let go of Cousin Shouzhe's hand. You're shameless for a girl."

In the Changning Wei area, most of the daughters of noble clans were not always named according to generation names, and were named rather freely. The Wang Clan of Ping'an had a long history, and Ancestor Zhouxuan had personally set the generation names of daughters. Naturally, this rule was passed down.

"I'm Fourth Brother's sister. Fourth Brother dotes on me the most." Wang Luojing held onto the other side without giving in at all. She said mockingly, "I think you're the one who's shameless enough to throw yourself into Fourth Brother's arms the moment you see him."

"You're lying. Cousin Shouzhe dotes on me the most," Lu Xiaoxiao said angrily. "Every time we meet, Cousin Shouzhe brings me gifts."

"I'm the one Fourth Brother treats the best. He even gave me an Amethyst Spirit Beehive to play with the day before yesterday. It's worth more than 200 gold." Wang Luojing held her head up high as if she was showing off.

"Cousin Shouzhe, I want the Amethyst Spirit Beehive too." Lu Xiaoxiao had a feeling that she was being outdone all of a sudden. She started to tug at Wang Shouzhe and act spoiled. She was always pampered and spoiled, and probably did not even know what Amethyst Spirit Bees were.

"Uh…" Wang Shouzhe was a little speechless. Why were the two little girls fighting over him as soon as they met? Especially Luojing. In terms of age, she was actually one year younger than Lu Xiaoxiao. She was usually quite docile, but at this moment, she was fighting to win favor.

"Shouzhe, did you really buy an Amethyst Spirit Beehive for the kid to play with?" The accompanying Uncle Lu Zhengjie was also extremely shocked. "That's just too extravagant and wasteful. I'll see how you can explain it to your cousin this time."

To both the Wang Clan and the Lu Clan, 200 gold was already a huge sum. For instance, the 10 fishing boats in Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai's fishing fleet had to toil through the wind and rain for a year to earn about 200 gold.

For one of the mainstay industries of the Wang Clan, the Bountiful Farm, which consisted of 200 tenant farmers and a few thousand acres of farmland, the annual profits from operating on such a scale were only about six or seven hundred gold. And this was only in terms of book interests.

He had also prepared some gifts for his trip to the Lu Clan, but they were indeed all small things.

"Uncle, there are more nuances behind this matter." Wang Shouzhe smiled weakly. "Why don't you persuade Cousin? Even if you sell me off now, I won't be able to buy an Amethyst Spirit Beehive."

"I don't have the ability to persuade her." Lu Zhengjie hurriedly shook his head and said, "This girl is usually the most favored one. Even the Ancestor dotes on her, and even Big Brother doesn't know how to deal with her. Shouzhe, you'd better pray for your own luck."

Even the Ancestor doted on her?

Wang Shouzhe was a little stunned. The Patriarch of the Lu Clan, Lu Mingsheng, was a main descendant of the Lu Clan's Ming generation. He was already over a hundred years old, right? In terms of seniority and bloodline, he was Wang Shouzhe's maternal great-grandfather.

Most of the various patriarchs of the Arcane Martial Clans did not like to show their faces. Normally, all of them were in immersed in secluded cultivation, fully focused on advancing further. They would only appear in some major events to control the situation.

Wang Shouzhe had lived for 18 years, and he could vaguely remember that the number of times he had seen Ancestor Mingsheng could be counted on one hand. He had only been summoned unsolicited once, when he was seven years old and showed good aptitude from testing. Ancestor Mingsheng had summoned him to give him a few words of praise and some resources.

One had to remember that Wang Shouzhe's qualifications were already close to Middle Tier, but this was all the treatment he received. What did this little girl called Lu Xiaoxiao do to deserve her great-grandfather's favor…

However, now that things had come to this, he couldn't afford a gift worth 200 gold. Even if he could afford it, he wouldn't be willing to give it away. He could only say perfunctorily to Lu Xiaoxiao, "Xiaoxiao, I bought that beehive for cheap…"

"Boohoo! Cousin Shouzhe doesn't like me anymore. Boohoo, Cousin is bullying me." The moment she heard that she didn't have one, Lu Xiaoxiao instantly felt completely outdone. She wailed and ran back to the house.

On the other hand, Wang Luojing was holding Wang Shouzhe's arm with a smug look on her face, as if she had defeated the "bad guy". This made Wang Shouzhe roll his eyes. What a little girl. She actually got jealous over such a minor thing.

However, this was just a small interlude. Wang Shouzhe did not pay much mind to it.

Then, led by his uncle, Lu Zhengjie, Wang Shouzhe and Wang Luojing arrived at the main hall of the Lu Clan's main residence.

At the same time, the Patriarch of the Lu Clan, Lu Zhengxiong, and his main wife, Madam Wang, had already put on formal wear and were waiting there.

Lu Zhengxiong was already in his fifties. He had a square face and three strands of beard, giving him an extraordinary bearing.

As for his main wife, Madam Lu, she was Wang Shouzhe's eldest main aunt, Wang Liuling. She was actually in her fifties, but with good maintenance and way of dress, seated upright, she appeared like a middle-aged beauty.

"Shouzhe brings my fifth sister, Wang Luojing, to greet Eldest Uncle and Aunt." Wang Shouzhe stepped forward and bowed according to the etiquette of a junior meeting an elder. Previously, he had sent his clan guards to inform them that he was making this trip to pay his respects to his elders, and not to meet them as the Patriarch.

"Shouzhe, don't stand on ceremony." Lu Zhengxiong stepped forward to support Wang Shouzhe and sized him up. "It's been a while since we last met, but Shouzhe, you've actually grown so much."

"Zhe'er, Zhe'er." Wang Liuling also stepped forward and held Wang Shouzhe's hand. She was very affectionate. "You've just become the Patriarch, and you're already so busy. It's been really hard on you."

Eldest Aunt Wang Liuling had personally attended the Wang Clan's funeral. She had cried for her brother's death, and the deceased was gone. Now, she was more concerned about her nephew, Wang Shouzhe.

"Eldest Uncle, Aunt, there's nothing hard about this matter," Wang Shouzhe said. "The Wang Clan and the Lu Clan are connected by blood. It's our duty to watch out for each other."

As his biological mother was the main daughter of the Lu Clan, Wang Shouzhe had a deep affinity with the Lu Clan since he was young. The intermarriage between the direct lineages of the two clans in the previous generation also made the bloodlines of the two clans extremely close.

After some small talk, Aunt Wang Liuling pulled Wang Luojing aside to talk.

Lu Zhengxiong, on the other hand, sat opposite Wang Shouzhe to converse. However, what he served was not ordinary spirit tea, but the specialty of the Lu Clan, Ice Crystal Dew.

The Lu Clan occupied the territorial advantage of the Xiuying Lake. Not only did they have some achievements in aquatic cultivation, they also circled out a piece of "spirit water" and specially planted an underwater spirit plant—Crystal Dew Grass. The Crystal Dew Grass would produce a kind of spirit fruit the size of a thumb. It was shaped like a grape, but was as transparent as cicada's wings. After the pulp inside was iced, it could be made into an excellent drink.

As soon as he drank it, a cold and refreshing feeling entered his stomach through his throat. Immediately, a cool feeling spread throughout his entire body. His entire being jolted, and he felt a sense of comfort throughout his body, like he'd been cleansed down to the hair and marrow.

Speaking of which, this was Wang Shouzhe's third time drinking Ice Crystal Dew. This was because it was a rare spirit drink. Just this cup alone cost a few gold. Even the main descendants of the Lu Clan rarely drank it.

The Lu Clan of Yingxiu was not a very powerful clan, and they only had one Ancestor overseeing them. However, their Ice Crystal Dew was a major specialty. Currently, most of the production was exclusively provided to the Violet Palace Academy, and a small portion was shared by some powerful main descendants of the clan.

Wang Shouzhe did not know how much net profit it would earn in a year, but he estimated that it would not be less than 800 to 900 gold.

Apart from Wang Shouzhe's cup, Wang Luojing also got a cup. This was the first time she had such a good drink. Her eyes were fixed.

After drinking the sumptuous drink, they were served with another round of spirit food. The siblings ate until the blood and Qi in their bodies were exuberant.

Then, they naturally got to the main topic. Wang Luojing would work with the Lu clansmen to carry out the pest eradication operation. The method was simple as well. They could just follow the method of disposal at the Gongsun Clan in Shanyang. Moreover, the Lu Clan didn't have many fields in Yingxiu. There were only six or seven thousand acres, so dealing with them wasn't too difficult.

Initially, Wang Shouzhe wanted to go and help. However, before he left, he received a message from Ancestor Mingsheng, summoning him to meet him.

This made Wang Shouzhe anxious and doubtful. Could it be that Lu Xiaoxiao had actually run over to Ancestor Mingsheng to make an unjust complaint, making Ancestor Mingsheng unhappy with him now?

However, this absurd thought only flashed through his mind for a moment. Ancestor Mingsheng was the mainstay the Lu Clan of Yingxiu. How could he possibly participate in a small conflict between youngsters?

…