Protect Our Clan Leader

41 Paying respects! Old Ancestor Longyan (Zhou seeking recommendation votes) _1

***[Family Industries]***

[Fishing Fleet]

[Changning Fish Market]

[Fenggu Farm]

[Prosperous Farm]

[Xinmao Silkworm Manor]

There are altogether five sectors, each of which has an option to (click to view details). Naturally, Wang Shouzhe clicked on the Fishing Fleet.

The page “leaps” to the detail page of the Fishing Fleet.

***[Fishing Fleet]***

Small Fishing Boats: 9

Medium Fishing Boats: 1

Fishing Crew Members: 46

Family Manager: Wang Dinghai

Average Annual Income of the Past Five Years: 606 Qian Gold

Average Annual Expenditure of the Past Five Years: 385 Qian Gold

Average Annual Net Profit of the Past Five Years: 221 Qian Gold

Average Annual Catch of Spirit Fish over The Last Five Years: 400 catties

Suggested Improvements: To develop a variety of fishing gear for efficient mixed fishing operations

This Year’s Target:

Net Profit Target: 1000 Qian Gold

Spirit Fish Target: 1000 catties

This is the simple panel of the Fishing Fleet, which records the financial data before Wang Shouzhe took office. It also features directions on improvements to take, and the profit target for this year.

According to Wang Shouzhe’s estimation, this goal is easy to achieve. After all, it’s the peak season now, and due to the shortage of food caused by an infestation, fish as a substitute for staple food will inevitably increase in price.

For the Fishing Fleet and Fish Market sectors, Wang Shouzhe’s total profit target is 2000 Qian Gold.

The only issue is that with increased fishing efforts from the Fishing Fleet, it may gradually disrupt the ecological balance, although there won’t be any major problems within a few years.

However, this is not a long-term solution.

For a Xuanwu Prominent Family, only long-term and stable sources of income serve as the real pillar industries. In the short term, huge profits can only serve as a supplement to the family’s industries.

Just like the [Fenggu Farm]industry, it is a true century-old foundation that can continuously provide resources to a Xuanwu Family for hundreds of years.

This point is very important.

The Xuanwu World is not short of riches. All sorts of miracles – finding treasures by luck, encountering the legacy of a predecessor, or coming across two high-level Fierce Beasts that die together – these can all make you rich overnight.

But what comes after the riches? No matter how much resources are available, they will be exhausted. Only the family’s heritage can sustain prosperity in the long run.

Take Wang Shouzhe himself for example. Now at the age of eighteen, he’s at the High Level Six of the Qi Refinement Realm, consuming resources close to 200 Qian Gold each year. According to the family’s estimation, he can reach Peak Qi Refinement Realm in about twenty years. By then, he will be thirty­eight, still in his prime.

Given that the resource consumption of 200 Qian Gold remains constant, a full twenty years would require the consumption of 4000 Qian Gold.

Of course, it’s impossible for it to stay constant. Once he reaches the Qi Refinement Realm Level Seven or Eight, his annual resource expenditure will skyrocket. To cultivate from his current level to the Peak Qi Refinement Realm, he would have to consume at least 8000 Qian Gold of resources.

Where do these resources come from? They are all squeezed out, bit by bit, from the annual outputs of each of the family’s major industries. Those sectors that can bring long-term steady profit are the true family foundations.

It’s also for this reason that with the current situation of the Wang family, they lack the power to cultivate a second Wang Shouzhe. Otherwise, even if the aptitude is slightly lower, as long as one is willing to invest resources, a young master could still be cultivated.

In fact, if resources are increased by one or two times on Wang Shouzhe, or even invested in without considering the cost, he won’t have to use twenty years to reach the Peak Qi Refinement Realm at all. Maybe it will only take fifteen years, or even ten years or less.

This is also why it’s hard for Independent Cultivators to achieve anything. Independent Cultivators don’t have a solid foundation. They may get their hands on resources if they’re lucky, but might also starve if they’re not.

Independent Cultivators who can cultivate to the Spirit Platform Realm are either incredibly talented with luck or extraordinarily lucky.

Therefore, although it seems like Wang Shouzhe has a lot of resources with over ten thousand Qian Gold, it’s just the total expense of the family over several years when times are tough. Without proper planning, this would just fuel a fire for the Wang family, but wouldn’t sustain them in the long run.

Looking at the “Rudimentary System Panel” he created, Wang Shouzhe’s mmd was also racing, how to spend money effectively was a problem he had been pondering over for the past few days.

What does the family need most right now? Of course, it is the lack of a Spirit Platform Realm expert. Such a person could replace the position held by Old Ancestor Longyan, serving as a long-term protective umbrella for the family. After all, Old Ancestor Longyan’s injuries have never completely healed, and the situation is getting worse.

But is over ten thousand Qian Gold enough to cultivate a Spirit Platform Realm master? Obviously, it is not. If Spirit Platform Realm experts were that cheap, the overall financial capacity of the Ping’an Wang Family would have easily solved the problem.

Even all the Spirit Platform Realm ancestors of the Xuanwu prominent families would become commonplace. Therefore, this option is already ruled out and needs no consideration.

The money can be spent entirely on developing more family estates…

Wang Shouzhe has carefully considered this issue. However, how many family estates can over ten thousand Qian Gold develop? It is important to know that some of what are called the pillar estates are known for their large scale, long development cycle, and relatively low return on investment.

Take Fenggu Farm of Wang family for example, how many elders have poured their heart and money into it? But how much profit does it actually make each year? If the weather is good, a net profit of seven or eight hundred Qian Gold is already considered good.

In the long run, it is inevitable to increase investment in pillar industries. But “distant water cannot put out a nearby fire”, so for now, Wang Shouzhe has put a circle around this idea, leaving it undecided.

Or perhaps, buy a large number of cultivation resources to supply himself and the potential family members?

Wang Shouzhe has certainly considered this point.

But here there is still a problem of decreasing marginal utility. Can he, Wang Shouzhe, consume “Little Pei Yuan Dan” every day and cultivate to the Spirit Platform Realm even after several years?

Obviously not…and let alone the Spirit Platform Realm, it might not even be possible to cultivate to the Vital Energy Refining Realm Level Nine.

Even if he could brutally consume resources and manage to cultivate to the Qi Refining Realm Level Nine in just a few years, what then? Could he solve the fundamental survival problem of the family?

If even he, one of the youngest with the best talent in the family, can’t do it, what about the others?

His sixth grandfather, Wang Xiaohan, once failed in his attempt to reach the Spirit Platform Realm. Although his current state is declining with age, and is only stuck at Qi Refining Realm Level Nine, and no longer at his peak as before. If he were given abundant resources and confidence, he would also have the opportunity to return to the peak of Qi Refining and make another attempt at the Spirit Platform Realm. This is the fastest method Wang Shouzhe could think of to add a Spirit Platform Realm ancestor to the family.

But this amount of resources is far from enough to support the cost of reaching the Spirit Platform Realm. Furthermore, in order for Sixth Grandfather Wang Xiaohan to adjust to a state that could reach the Spirit Platform Realm, it would by no means be accomplished overnight.

Wang Shouzhe thought about it, if he could find a way to cure Old Ancestor Longyan’s injury and prolong her life with this money, that would really be the most pressing matter.

But it’s quite clear, that it is absolutely impossible to cure Old Ancestor Longyan completely with this money. If spending over ten thousand Qian Gold could cure her, the family would have already done so long ago, even if it meant selling their woks and pans.

So even if she could be cured, but the cost of curing her would inevitably far exceed the cost of cultivating one or even several Spirit Platform Realm experts. Perhaps a large sum of money could simply alleviate her injuries and prolong her life a little bit.

Just list it as a backup option for now, Wang Shouzhe thought with a frown. He really envied those transmigrators who possessed a real golden finger system, where any problem could be solved with the golden finger, spending their days in leisure and fun, killing anyone in their way, living frivolously. Not like him, who had to use his little money sparingly, and had to spend several months slowly cultivating, just to advance from the high level six to level seven in the Qi Refining Realm, and this was because he had more resources, which made his speed much faster than others.

But on second thought, he felt that this world was quite real, the path of the strong has always required steady and gradual progress.

While he was lost in thought, Gongsun Hui sent her maid Xia He to call him, saying that Old Ancestor Longyan wanted to see him.

Old Ancestor Longyan wanted to see him?

Wang Shouzhe was stunned for a moment, then immediately gathered his spirits. The old ancestor had been in seclusion for a few years, and rarely summoned the family’s descendants. She didn’t even show her face at Wang Dingyue’s funeral, which showed that her physical condition was not very good.

Even Wang Shouzhe, who was the most favored among the seventh generation, hadn’t seen the old ancestor for more than a year. On usual days, it was Gongsun Hui who took care of the old ancestor.

“Thank you for your trouble, Miss Xia He.” Wang Shouzhe was quite polite to Xia He.

Xia He hurriedly returned polite: “Family Head is too polite. If Family Head has no pressing matters, please come with me to see the Old Ancestor.” She was a close person to Gongsun Hui, and had been trained from the age of nine, and was now nineteen years old. Although she lacked the talent to cultivate, she was quite intelligent and could both read and write, as well as proficient in Nine Chapters Arithmetic.

A lot of accounting work by Gongsun Hui was done with her help.

Soon after.

Wang Shouzhe followed Xia He towards the side residence. The side residence where Old Ancestor Longyan lived was quite close to Zhuwei Lake. Not long after, Wang Shouzhe arrived at the side residence called the “Long Yan Habitat”.

In order not to disturb Old Ancestor Longyan’s cultivation, this surrounding area was a forbidden place for the family, and no one could trespass without being summoned by the old ancestor.

Gongsun Hui was already waiting at the entrance of Long Yan Habitat. After they met, she said in a clear voice, “Old Ancestor, Shouzhe is here.”

“Shouzhe, come in.”

A calm and serene voice gently sounded at the entrance.

“Yes, Old Ancestor.” Wang Shouzhe took a deep breath, slightly calming his emotions, and then walked into the Long Yan Habitat.

This was a simple courtyard decorated in a minimalist and non-extravagant manner. In the yard, ordinary flowers and plants were simply planted, swaying slightly with the breeze.

In the pavilion, a thin woman was leaning against the railing, back facing Wang Shouzhe, looking at the scenery of the garden. Her long white hair was casually draped over her shoulders.

The sight of that white hair gave Wang Shouzhe an inexplicable pang of pain. It came from the deep memories of his previous life – when Wang Shouzhe was young, he clearly remembered that half of Old Ancestor Longyan’s hair was white.

But in just over ten years, it had all turned white.

Wang Shouzhe felt a lump in his throat. He stepped forward to bow and said, “Shouzhe pays his respect to the Old Ancestor.”