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Nine Star Insect King!
Wang Shouzhe’s mouth twitched a few times. Wu Mei was usually low-key, but privately… she was a bit… creepy.
“Buzz!”
The fist-sized Nine Star Insect King opened its shell and flapped its wings back and forth in response to her.
At the same time, Wang Luojing took out a jade bamboo flute from her waist and blew it to her lips. It was a unique rhythm, with a sharp and high-pitched sound that was quite piercing to the ears.
But the Nine Star Insect King was very familiar with that sound. Its wings shook, and it emitted a continuous buzzing sound. The other small Nine Star Insects in the box spread their wings and flew, surrounding the Nine Star Insect King like a ever-changing cloud.
Following Wang Luojing’s command, the Nine Star Insect King rushed towards the wheat field, followed by thousands of insects forming a swarm like a gust of wind. Although they were all ladybugs, the ladybugs in the Xuanwu world were obviously more fierce.
They landed on the still somewhat withered wheat ears, and began to feast on the aphids they caught. Their combat power was far beyond that of grasshopper larvae. In just a short half hour, each Nine Star Insect killed at least five or six aphids.
With such a biological legion, they were truly invincible.
“Luojing, well done, well done.” Wang Shouzhe praised happily, “With your ability, our Wang’s Clan’s food is saved.”
“Fourth brother, it’s not enough.” Wang Luojing shook her head and said, “From the milk stage to maturity of the wheat, it’s only a little over ten days. The longer we wait, the more likely the yield will decrease.”
Her grandfather, Wang Xiaozhi, was a lifelong professional farmer, and she was quite familiar with this. Without hesitation, she took out two large, arm-thick, withered-looking grasshopper larvae from the grasshopper box.
“Fourth brother, these two Grasshopper Kings have produced too many insect eggs, and they may not live for more than a month.” Wang Luojing felt a little heartbroken and guilty, “I hope they can make one last effort for the clan in their last days.”
As she spoke, she played the jade bamboo flute again. This time, the sound and command were completely different from when she commanded the Nine Star Insect King. The sound was very low. The two withered Grasshopper Kings suddenly woke up and flew away into the distance.
Their speed was extremely fast, and they disappeared in a few breaths. When they flew, their mouthparts kept trembling, emitting a low-frequency sound.
“Fourth brother, Grasshopper Kings have the ability to summon partners.” Wang Luojing said, “I hope they can summon more partners back. The wild grasshoppers are getting fewer and fewer, only some in the mountains.”
Wang Shouzhe also thought about this. This was probably the fault of the insecticide released by the Purple Mansion Academy. The large reduction in aphids also led to a decrease in the grasshopper population.
Now that there were signs of a outbreak of drug-resistant aphids, the grasshopper population was not taking root. There might be a big event happening this time.
An hour later, one of the Grasshopper Kings had returned, bringing back an army of thousands. They flew in the wheat field, crazily hunting aphids. What was even more terrifying was that as they ate, they began to lay eggs on the wheat leaves.
By nightfall, another Grasshopper King had returned, bringing back even more of their kind. Wang Shouzhe suspected that the dense army of grasshoppers might not be enough to eat all the aphids in thousands of acres of wheat fields. Moreover, the large number of insect eggs they laid would hatch in just a few days, and the small larvae were not to be underestimated.Such a magnificent scene gradually caught the attention of the peasants, who then reported it to Wang Xiaozhi. When Wang Xiaozhi arrived with the others, he learned that it was his granddaughter Wang Luo Jing who had done this good deed, leaving him so shocked that he couldn’t even speak.
In an instant, tears streamed down his face as he murmured, “This time our Wang’s Clan is saved, saved.”
“Grandpa Fourth, the crops in our other two farms are not bad either.” Wang Shouzhe said, “As for the specific matters, I won’t participate. You can discuss it with Luo Jing yourself.” Although the Silkworm Farm mainly focused on silkworms, they also grew a lot of wheat.
“Well…” Wang Xiaozhi’s face drooped when he heard that he had to discuss with his youngest granddaughter, Wang Luo Jing.
“Grandpa Fourth, if you think Luo Jing is redundant, I can take her back so she won’t get in the way here.” Wang Shouzhe said with a smile.
“She’s not redundant, she’s not in the way.” Wang Xiaozhi quickly shook his head, his old face contorting, and he seemed to show a pleasing smile to Wang Luo Jing. “Luo Jing, we still have to find a way to save the other two farms. If you have anything to do, just tell grandpa.”
Wang Shouzhe smiled. Although this old man, Wang Xiaozhi, was stubborn and biased towards males, his loyalty and sense of belonging to the clan were unquestionable. As long as his mindset could be changed, he would still be an important member of the clan.
Seeing that Wang Xiaozhi had changed his attitude, Wang Shouzhe pulled him to the side and said with a serious expression, “Grandpa Fourth, it seems that this plague is not just affecting our Wang’s Clan. I dare not say for Longzhou, but in Changning Wei and its surrounding areas, the overall reduction in production is probably at least forty to fifty percent.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Wang Xiaozhi was stunned for a moment, then grinned foolishly. “Other families will reduce production, but our family will have a good harvest…”
“In this world, good and bad things often have no absolutes.” Wang Shouzhe said coldly, “Sometimes things that seem good will turn into bad things.”
Wang Xiaozhi shuddered, then immediately reacted, “Shouzhe, are you saying that other clans will be jealous of us?”
“If it was just jealousy, it wouldn’t be a problem.” Wang Shouzhe’s expression was very serious. “As the saying goes, it’s not fear of being outnumbered, but fear of being unequal. If everyone suffers from the disaster together, there’s nothing to say. But if our Wang’s Clan has a good harvest, not only the enemy clans, but even the clans with good relations with us will probably have some resentment. If we make a wrong move, our peaceful Wang’s Clan may become the target of public criticism.”
“What should we do? Now our Wang’s Clan is already struggling, if…” Wang Xiaozhi suddenly became anxious. He was just an old clan elder who had been farming for a long time and knew very little about this.
“Don’t worry, Grandpa Fourth. Sometimes bad things can turn into good things.” Wang Shouzhe said confidently, “It depends on how we handle this matter and lead the situation to our advantage. Let’s think about it. First, there are the three clans of Changning Xu, Shanyang Gongsun, and Shanyin Liu. They have long been intermarried with our peaceful Wang’s Clan, and their relationship is naturally close. We should find a way to assist them.”
In fact, among these three clans, Wang Shouzhe had the best impression of Shanyang Gongsun’s Clan. This was not only because his stepmother was from Gongsun’s Clan, but also because Gongsun’s Clan had a more open and cheerful clan style, and did not despise the now somewhat impoverished peaceful Wang’s Clan.
Of course, this was also related to the previous intermarriage between the main branches. The current clan leader of Gongsun’s Clan, Gongsun Mo, was the great-grandson of Wang Lingdie, a fourth-generation heir of Wang’s Clan. As for Changning Xu’s Clan, they were a very powerful Xuanwu Clan, not inferior to the most powerful period of peaceful Wang’s Clan. At that time, the two main branches were also intermarried, and their relationship was close.Unfortunately, later on…
Wang Xiaozhi nodded with a complex and regretful expression. “Yes, these three families have a deep marriage connection with our Wang Clan. It’s just a pity for Sister Zhenmei…”
Wang Shouzhe knew what he was talking about. After the upheaval of the Wang Clan, in order to consolidate the relationship with the Changning Xu Clan, under the operation of Ancestor Long Yan, the fifth generation of the Wang Clan’s legitimate daughter, Lady Wang Zhenmei, married the eldest son of the Xu Clan.
And Lady Wang Zhenmei did not fail her mission. She became pregnant with the legitimate blood after several years, and the relationship between the two families also reached the closest state. Unfortunately, Lady Wang Zhenmei unexpectedly died in childbirth, resulting in a tragic ending of one death and two lives.
At that time, the Wang Clan was grief-stricken and inexplicable. The brothers of the Xiaozhi generation went to the Xu Clan in Changning and caused a scene. Even Ancestor Long Yan was alarmed and personally went to the scene to examine the body, but found nothing suspicious or strange before giving up.
Since then, the intimate relationship between the Wang Clan and the Xu Clan has been cracked, and their intermarriage has only remained in the direct line, no longer involving the legitimate line.
Similarly, the relationship between the Shanyin Liu Clan and the Wang Clan is also somewhat complicated and difficult to describe in a few words.
However, despite the complexity, the blood relationship between each other cannot be erased, and they still need to help each other in critical moments.
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