Chapter 40: Obsession With the Golden Finger 1

Translator: 549690339             ^b —

The following five or six days passed peacefully.

for the grain transportation line, Gongsun Qiang and Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai were the first to complete their tasks. As a reward, Wang Shouzhe promised Gongsun Qiang that the final wave of old grains could be transported back to the Gongsun Clan. Of course, that would cost money and it would be sold to the Gongsun Clan at the market price.

As a result, this “cheap uncle” turned out to be a “hard man”. He squeezed three thousand sacks back home with overloaded carts and miners carrying them on their shoulders. The next day, he hastily sent over two hundred Qian Gold for the gram purchase payment, looking as if he feared Wang Shouzhe would renege on his promise.

It’s no wonder he is so eager. The famine in the whole Changning defence area is getting worse. The prominent familys of Profound Martial, who can afford to hire an Insect Master or spend a lot of money to buy a massive insecticide, can still hold on.

However, most minor families are not so lucky. Insect disasters are rampant in the fields. They can only rely on a large amount of ash juice to kill insects, but faced with more and more honey bugs, its effectiveness is limited. Large scale reduction in yield is inevitable.

Wang Shouzhe also heard some even worse news. This disaster is likely to spread beyond Longzuo County. In that case, having grain in hand becomes even more valuable.

At the same time, Wang Shouzhe was not idle either.

Daily cultivation was essential. Recently, due to his good diet, his bodily vigor was exuberant. Every day, he could clearly feel his cultivation base steadily progressing towards the seventh level of the Qi Refinement Realm.

Of course, the path of cultivation is not easy. It is a process of gradual transformation and strengthening of the body, requiring persistent effort to make steady progress.

He also wished he could be like the protagonists in those mythical novels, who consumed medicinal pills every day and casually broke through realms, or who simply killed a chicken or a dog and saw their experience points soar.

However, in his world, all these were pure fantasies. No matter who it was, their cultivation realm was achieved through persistent cultivation.

Besides cultivation, Wang Shouzhe was also tinkering with his system panel.

If transmigration does not come with a system, then he had to create some earth-based system panels himself.

The first was the family expenses.

Before understanding the panel, Wang Shouzhe’s idea of clan expenses was quite vague. But after comparing it with his wife’s account book, he was really shocked to realize how huge a family’s expenses were.

Let’s take the tributes and resources Wang Shouzhe enjoys as the clan leader as an example.

The allocated ordinary materials every year include:

300 catties of fine rice (24 copper coins), 150 catties of fine noodles (15 copper coins), 200 catties of various vegetables (8 copper coins), 400 catties of fruits (48 copper coins), 20 catties of candied fruit (20 copper coins), 250 catties of pork (75 copper coins), 150 catties of ordinary beef and mutton (60 copper coins), too chickens and ducks (60 copper coins), 30 geese (45 copper coins), 100 catties of eggs (20 copper coins), 20 catties of pork fat (8 copper coins), 20 catties of premium bean oil (12 copper coins), 10 catties of high-quality soy sauce (20 copper coins), 5 catties of fine salt (20 copper coins), 1 catty of snowflake salt (10 copper coins), 10 catties of snowflake sugar (20 copper coins), 1 catty of aromatic seasoning (10 copper coins), 5 catties of incense (25 copper coins), 500 catties of fine wood charcoal (15 copper coins), 30 rations of firewood (6 copper coins), Expense for clothes and bedding (100 copper coins), and other daily necessities (20 copper coins).

Just for the partial ordinary items Wang Shouzhe consumes, it adds up to a total cost of 6 Qian Gold and 51 copper coins every year. He looked at the list and felt that he was a big eater. But indeed, his appetite is truly impressive. He is now almost at the seventh level of Qi Refinement realm, his food intake is far beyond ordinary people. Moreover, cultivation is not only about sitting in meditation and refining Qi but also practicing Profound Martial techniques, movement techniques, swordsmanship, bow control, and horse riding. All of these consume a huge amount of physical energy.

Those ordinary foods can just about satisfy him now. His wife, Gongsun Hui, often uses some of her salary to supplement Wang Shouzhe’s meals.

Of course, that’s just a small part of it. The big part is the annual allocation of cultivation resources for Wang Shouzhe.

60 catties of Spirit Rice (12 Qian Gold), 60 catties of Spirit Fish (20 Qian Gold), 60 catties of Spirit Meat (20 Qian Gold), 12 Little Pei Yuan Dan (120 Qian Gold). A total of 172 Qian Gold of cultivation resources every year for him alone. And as his cultivation realm advances, this part will have to continue to increase. Otherwise, it won’t keep up with his consumption.

This is why Wang Shouzhe, at such a young age, is about to reach the seventh level of the Qi Refinement realm. It’s not just because of his outstanding talent for cultivation but also because of the resources the family has invested in him. Just think about it, the Wang family’s output of Spirit Fish is only about 400 catties per year on average, and he Wang Shouzhe alone takes up 60 catties. As for the Spirit Meat, the sources are more varied. They are usually obtained through hunting or purchasing, as the Wang family does not have the financial power or capability to breed Spirit Horned Yaks. As for hunting, after the autumn harvest each year, the family organizes an autumn and winter hunt with the primary goal being to train the younger generations of the family and also to supplement some meat.

But because they dare not venture deep into the wilderness, they rarely catch any Fierce Beasts. At least, for the past five years, the Wang’s autumn and winter hunts have not killed any Fierce Beasts. Therefore, the main source of Spirit Meat for the Wang family is purchased from outside, which is a huge expense.

In addition, as the current clan leader, Wang Shouzhe also gets a monthly allowance of 5 Qian Gold, which adds up to 60 Qian Gold a year. This personal fund can be used at his discretion. As clan leader, there are many places where he needs personal money.

Iherefore, just Wang Shouzhe’s direct consumption in a year costs about 240 Qian Gold. This does not include the maintenance of family houses, the cost of carriages and horses, the expenses of dedicated servants, because those are calculated under other family expenditures.

So when you calculate all these expenses, it’s a staggering sum.

If he takes a formal wife, she certainly won’t be allocated so many resources for cultivation, probably about one third. However, the consumption of clothing and food and the maintenance for the wife of the clan leader will be the same as that for the clan leader, which will result in an additional expense of a hundred or so Qian Gold.

Furthermore, the rest of the family clan’s expenses were also staggering. All bloodline family members, including Wang Shouzhe, had an annual average spending of around 1800 Qian Gold. The total expenditure and benefits of the nine clan generals along with their families also amounted to close to 350 Qian Gold.

Furthermore, there were seven underage or child generals being nurtured, the cost of resources for this section was around 80 Qian Gold. Additionally, there were over a hundred family servants, divided into various rankings, with an annual total expenditure of around 170 Qian Gold.

Just the personnel in the main residence of the prominent family consumed 2400 Qian Gold per year. Of course, this 2400 Qian Gold was not entirely spent on Qian Gold, a significant part of it was resource allocation, using Qian Gold as a measure.

For instance, the Bai Yu spiritual rice produced in the spirit fields of the Prosperous Farm, when this batch of resources entered the family, it would be accounted for in the farm income accounts and when it was distributed to someone as a resource, it would ultimately be reflected in the value of Qian Gold.

Similarly, the fish, fresh fish, spirit fish, etc., produced by Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai’s fishing team were also recorded in the income account when they entered the family, and the clan would also record an expenditure account.

Of course, such accounts only deal with the exchange of goods, and there would be no real Qian Gold transaction on paper. Therefore, what the fishing team calls ‘profit’, usually refers to a paper profit, not actual tangible Qian Gold earned. This part of the profit has already been converted into supplies for the family clan.

However, it is unavoidable for such a large Profound Martial Family to have a huge consumption of goods. In fact, because the Ping’an Wang Family is too poor, their total expenditure is already considered low, Longyan Old Ancestor and those clan elders of the “Night” generation have all been economizing and trying to save expenses.

Fortunately, within the family’s industries, there are still three major pillar industries.

Among these, Fenggu Farm, which is purely an agricultural industry, currently has the lowest income on paper, while other industries like the Prosperous Farm have a higher value due to having 20 spirit fields.

Also, Xinmao Silkworm Farm primarily produces raw silk and provides Changnmg’s Xu family with a long-term stable supply. The overall income is mainly in Qian Gold.

Moreover, the other two family businesses, the Ping’an Wang’s Fish Stall and the Fishing Team, are managed by the younger generation. In the past, their income was far behind that of the three major pillar industries.

However, this year, after Wang Shouzhe’s turmoil, the Fishing team and Wang’s fish stall will inevitably take off. It wouldn’t be surprising if their profits even surpass the pillar industries.

Moreover, as the largest grain-producing farm this year, Fenggu Farm will also have its glorious moment with the arrival of the pest disaster.

Even more crucial is that, with a little information about the pest disaster, Wang Shouzhe boldly made a big move. That one deal with a pure profit of over ten thousand Qian Gold was enough to bring a qualitative change to the tight-living Wang family.

Thinking of that large stack of Da Qian Gold notes and the grains piled up in

the backyard, Wang Shouzhe felt a bit ambitious!

The Ping’an Wang family will definitely take off!

He gathered his thoughts, and Wang Shouzhe focused his attention on the self-built earth system panel.

The main interface appears first.

(Family Name]: Ping’an Wang Family of Longzuo Changning

[Family Level]: Rank 9

(Family reputation]: (Township Reputation (75) – Extremely Famous][County Reputation (21) – Somewhat Famous]!Prefectural Reputation (00) – Unknown] (Family business]: 5 (Click to view details)

(Family Members]: [Inside the Clan (35)](Married out (10)] (Click to view details)

(Family In-Laws]: 6 (Click to view details)

I Family Generals]: [Adults (9)](Minors (7)] (Click to view details) (Family Servants]: [Adults (U2)][Minors (32)] (Click to view details) I Balance Sheet]: (Click to view details)

Even after finishing this, Wang Shouzhe felt that he played too many games and read too many system novels in his previous life. He didn’t feel comfortable unless he created a “system panel”.

However, this system is relatively rudimentary, it is just composed of paper panels, and many templates need to be slowly added.

“Click to view details,” Wang Shouzhe pretended to touch the clan industry’s section, then jumped to the [Family Industry] details page.

In actuality, he just took out the little notebook of the family industry… which he had punched holes in and assembled himself…