Protect Our Chief - Chapter 40

Chapter 40 Obsession with a Cheat System

The next five or six days passed without event.

On the food transportation line, Gongsun Qiang and Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai completed their mission first. In return, Wang Shouzhe promised Gongsun Qiang that the last batch of aged grain could be transported back to the Gongsun Clan. Of course, they had to charge a fee for that and sell it to the Gongsun Clan at a flat price. In the end, his “convenient uncle” was also a “ruthless figure”. He got a total of 3,000 quintals on overloaded carriages and carried by mining workers. The next day, he eagerly sent 200 gold over for the grain purchases, as if he was afraid that Wang Shouzhe would go back on his word.

It was no wonder he was so ruthless. The disaster in the entire Changning Wei was becoming more and more violent. The Arcane Martial Clans which had the ability to hire a Spirit Insect Master or had connections to purchase a large amount of insecticide powder at a high price could still hold out. However, most of the last-rate noble clans were not so lucky. Their fields were flooded with bugs, and they could only rely on a large amount of wood ash water to kill the bugs. However, the effects were limited against the increasing aphids, and a large-scale reduction in production was inevitable.

Wang Shouzhe also heard some even worse news. It was very likely that this disaster had spread beyond the Longzuo County. Then, the food in their hands would become even more “valuable”.

At the same time, Wang Shouzhe did not idle about.

Cultivating every day was mandatory. As he had been eating too well recently, the Qi and blood in his body were exuberant. Every day, he could clearly sense that his cultivation was firmly advancing towards the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm step by step. Of course, the path of cultivation was not easy. It was a process of gradually metamorphosing and strengthening the body. It required time and effort to proceed little by little.

He also wished he could like those protagonists in fantasy worlds in novels, popping pills every day to increase his level effortlessly, or simply kill some chickens and dogs with a sword for his experience points to skyrocket.

However, in his world, all those were fantasies. Everyone’s cultivation level was obtained through perseverance and continuous cultivation.

Apart from cultivation, Wang Shouzhe was also designing his system interface.

Since his transmigration did come with a system, he could only rely on himself to create some crude system interfaces.

First would be for the clan’s expenses.

Before sorting out the interface, Wang Shouzhe was rather confused about the clan’s expenses. However, after checking with Mother’s account book, he was really shocked. It turned out that the expenses of a clan were really huge.

Consider the allocations and resources that Wang Shouzhe enjoyed as the current Patriarch.

Annual allocation of general supplies:

Three hundred catties of refined rice (24 large coppers), 150 catties of refined flour (15 large coppers), 200 catties of various vegetables (8 large coppers), 400 catties of fruits (48 large coppers), 20 catties of preserved fruit (20 large coppers), 250 catties of pork (75 large coppers), 150 catties of ordinary beef and mutton (60 large coppers), 100 poultries (60 large coppers), 30 geese (45 large coppers), 100 catties of eggs (20 large coppers), 20 catties of lard (8 large coppers), 20 catties of refined soybean oil (12 large coppers), 10 catties of high-grade soy sauce (20 large coppers), 5 catties of high-grade refined salt (20 large coppers), 1 catty of snowflake salt (10 large coppers), 10 catties of snowflake sugar (20 large coppers), 1 catty of condiments (10 large coppers), 5 catties of incense (20 large coppers), 500 catties of fine charcoal (15 large coppers), 30 quintals of amortized firewood (6 large coppers), amortized purchase of clothes and bedding (100 coppers), other amortized living necessities (20 large coppers). Just a portion of Wang Shouzhe’s ordinary supplies alone cost a total of six gold and 51 large coppers per year. He looked at the list and felt that he was eating a bit too much. However, on careful thought, he really could eat a lot.

He was already about to reach the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm, and his appetite was far beyond that of ordinary people. Moreover, cultivation did not just involve meditation and Qi refinement. He also needed to cultivate the Arcane Martial combat technique, movement technique, sword technique, control of the bow, and riding technique. Those consumed a great deal of physical strength as well.

These ordinary food items could barely satisfy his current state. Madam Gongsun Hui would often transfer some of her allowance to Wang Shouzhe.

Of course, this was only the minority. The majority was the annual allocation of resources for Wang Shouzhe’s cultivation.

Sixty catties of spirit rice (12 gold), 60 catties of spirit fish (20 gold), 60 catties of spirit meats (20 gold), and 12 Small Essence Enhancing Pills (120 gold). Cultivation resources worth 172 gold were provided to him alone every year. Moreover, as his cultivation level increased, this portion had to continue increasing. Otherwise, it could not keep up with his consumption at all.

This was also why Wang Shouzhe was already about to reach the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm at such a young age. It was definitely not just because his cultivation aptitude was outstanding, but because the clan had invested a lot resources in him.

Just think about it: although the clan’s spirit fishes were produced by their own fishing fleet, the average amount was only about 400 catties per year. Wang Shouzhe’s share alone would take up 60 catties. As for the source of spirit meats, there were more. They were usually hunted or purchased, because the Wang Clan did not have the financial resources and ability to rear Spirit Horn Yaks. For hunting, the clan would organize an autumn-and-winter hunt a month after the autumn harvest every year. It was mainly to train the abilities of the clansmen and replenish some meat at the same time.

However, because they did not dare to go deep into the wilds in the Outland, they rarely caught dire beasts. At the very least, the Wang Clan had not hunted dire beasts in the autumn-and-winter hunt for five years. Therefore, the Wang Clan’s main source of spirit meat was external purchases. This was also a huge expense.

In addition, Wang Shouzhe was now the patriarch. He had a monthly allowance of five gold, which added up to 60 gold a year. He could use this sum of private money at will. As the patriarch, there were many places where private spendings were needed.

Thus, just Wang Shouzhe’s direct annual expenditure alone reached about 240 gold. This did not include the clan’s amortized expenses for maintenance and repair of housing, expenses for the carriages and horses, and the expenses allocated to the specialized menservant, because those were all included in the clan’s other expenses. Therefore, when some accounts were calculated, it was an astronomical figure.

If he married his main wife, he definitely wouldn’t be able to give her so many cultivation resources, only about a third of it. However, the expenses for the main wife of the patriarch were proportional to that of the patriarch. This would be another expense of over a hundred gold.

In addition, the rest of the clan’s expenses were also very astonishing.

The average annual expense of all the clansmen of the bloodline, including Wang Shouzhe, was about 1,800 gold. The expenses and treatment of the nine clan guards and their families added up to nearly 350 gold. There were also seven clan guards who were minors or children in the midst of cultivation. The cost of this resource was about 80 gold. In addition, there were more than a hundred clan servants. They were divided into several levels, and their total annual expenses were about 170 gold. The total consumption of the personnel in the main residence of the clan reached 2,400 gold annually. Of course, this 2,400 gold wasn’t all expenditure in gold. A considerable portion of it was provided as resources, and gold was just the measuring unit.

For example, the white jade spirit rice produced by the spirit fields in the clan’s Prosperous Farm would be included in the farm’s earnings account when the resources entered the clan. When it was distributed to someone in the form of resources, its value would ultimately be reflected in gold.

Similarly, when some live fishes, fresh fishes, and spirit fishes produced by Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai’s fishing fleet entered the clan, they would also account for the profits, and the clan would also account for the expenses.

Of course, such accounts only had supplies coming and going, and there would be no real transfer of gold on the accounts. Therefore, the so-called profits from the fishing fleet usually referred to the profits on the accounts, and not the earnings in the form of real money. This portion of the profits had already been converted into supplies for the clan.

However, in such a huge Arcane Martial Clan, huge expenditures of resources were obviously unavoidable. In fact, because the Wang Clan of Ping’an was too poor, their overall expenses were already considered low. Ancestor Longyan and the elders of the Xiao generation had already cut corners and tried their best to save on expenses. Fortunately, the clan still had three main industries for business.

Among them, the Bountiful Farm, which practiced ordinary agriculture, was the industry with the lowest income in terms of accounts at the moment. Other farms like the Prosperous Farm were more productive because they had 20 acres of spirit fields. Apart from that, the Flourishing Silkworm Farm mainly produced raw silk cocoons and provided a long-term stable supply to the Xu Clan of Changning. Overall, most of the profits were in gold. As for the other two family businesses, the “Wang Clan of Ping’an’s Fish Stall” and the “fishing fleet” were all managed by juniors. In terms of earnings in the past years, they were far inferior to the three major industries.

However, after Wang Shouzhe’s work, the fishing fleet and the Wang Clan’s fish stall definitely improve by leaps and bounds this year. It wouldn’t be surprising if their profits exceeded the main industries.

Moreover, as the largest food-producing farm, the Bountiful Farm would also welcome a moment of glory due to the arrival of the pest disaster this year.

More importantly, Wang Shouzhe brazenly made a big deal based on some information from the pest disaster. That wave of pure profit of over 10,000 gold was enough to bring qualitative changes to the Wang Clan, which had been living thriftily.

At the thought of the huge stack of gold bills and the piles of food in the backyard, Wang Shouzhe felt a sense of pride!

The Wang Clan of Ping’an would definitely see a rise to power!

After collecting his thoughts, Wang Shouzhe focused his attention on the self-made crude system interface. The first was the main interface.

[Clan Name: Wang Clan of Ping’an, Changning, Longzuo]

(Clan Level): Ninth Grade

[Clan Reputation]: [Town Reputation (75) Extraordinary Reputation] (City Reputation (21) Slight Fame] (County Reputation (00) Unknown]

(Clan Industries): 5 (Click to check details)

(Clan Members): (Within Clan (35)] (Married Out (10)] (Click to check details)

(Clan In-laws]: 6 (Click to check details)

(Clan Guards): (Adult (9)] [Minors (7)] (Click to check details)

(Clan Servants]: [Adult (112)] [Minors (32)] (Click to check details)

(Income List]: (Click to check details)

After finishing this, even Wang Shouzhe felt that he had played too many games in his previous life and read too many system novels. If he did not create a “system interface”, he would feel uncomfortable all over.

However, this system was relatively simple. It was composed of paper panels, and there were many templates that needed to be added slowly.

“Click to check details.” Wang Shouzhe pretended to click on the item for clan industries, then jumped to the “details” page of (Clan Industries).

In reality, he only took out the small notebook for clan industries… and he had punctured holes and bound it with thread himself…