Chapter 152

Hearing Song Qingming's question, Huang Siyuan shook her head and said:

"I do regret it a bit, but it has nothing to do with you. Even if I didn't come to the Song family, I would eventually be sent to other families. By comparison, being able to marry you, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, is indeed the best choice I have now."

Hearing this, Song Qingming really looked at her with new eyes. Huang Siyuan, a woman who looked very gentle on the outside, had indeed long since looked down on the cold and warmth of the cultivation world, knowing how to fight for the greatest benefits for herself.

Even when facing Song Qingming, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, although she was somewhat nervous, she didn't flinch at all, stating directly what she wanted, without concealing her purpose of coming for spirit stones. Even when facing Song Qingming's doubts, she was still able to respond calmly. Just this courage alone was far beyond the vast majority of the 'Qing' generation cultivators of the Song family.

After sending Huang Siyuan away, Song Qingming didn't rush to deal with the spirit beast egg, but called Sixth Uncle Song Changfeng in again.

"Sixth Uncle, after Eldest Brother and the others arrive, you should go back first. With you at home, we can all feel at ease."

Song Changfeng nodded and said: "Qingming, after we take over those two shops of the Qian family, should we rent them to others or keep them for our own use?"

"It's better to keep them for our own use first. I'm just making a suggestion. Let's discuss this with Second Sister later. After all, she has the final say in the market affairs."

In this Qinghe council, according to Lu Yuanfeng's allocation, the Song family not only obtained ten percent of the shares in Qinghe Market, but the three shops originally owned by the Qian family in Qinghe Market also all belonged to the Song family. The five Qi Refining families near the Song family in the northwest corner of Qinghe County were also placed under the Song family's rule. The Song family can be considered officially promoted to a Foundation Establishment family.

For the next five years, Song Qingming must stay in Qinghe Market to assist Lu Yuanfeng in guarding the market. Unless there is an emergency at home, he cannot easily get away.

Soon, led by Thirteenth Uncle Song Changxiong, a team of Song family cultivators arrived in Qinghe Market. The reason they appeared here was precisely because Song Qingming and Sixth Uncle Song Changfeng had adjusted them to come over to help guard the market after discussion.

The entire Qinghe Market now, besides the two Foundation Establishment cultivators Lu Yuanfeng and Song Qingming, also has Qi Refining cultivators responsible for daily patrols and guarding the market, totaling forty or fifty people. Half of them are loose cultivators recruited by Lu Yuanfeng in the market, and the other half are Song family cultivators and Lu Yuanfeng's disciples brought by Song Qingming.

The four major Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County rotate every five years, delegating at least one Foundation Establishment cultivator and ten Qi Refining cultivators to help guard the market.

For cultivators entering the market to guard, besides daily patrols and guarding, the biggest benefit is that daily expenses for living in the market do not need spirit stones. This second-rank mid-grade spiritual vein of Qinghe Market has very sufficient spiritual energy. Staying here will not delay their daily cultivation at all.

Song Qingming quickly moved his cave dwelling to the place with the best spiritual energy in Qinghe Market. The spiritual energy here is more than twice as rich as that of Mount Funiu, which is completely enough for his daily cultivation. He finally said goodbye to the days of consuming spirit stones for cultivation every day. This is also something to thank the Huang family for taking the initiative to exchange the guarding order, temporarily helping him solve this difficult problem. It's just that one rotation only lasts five years. After five years, he still has to leave Qinghe Market. At that time, Song Qingming still has to find a way to solve the problem of his daily cultivation.

After Foundation Establishment, the few remaining spirit stones were almost spent after returning to Mount Funiu and sitting idle every day. The rest were earned by Huang Siyuan. If it weren't for the fact that he had recently made some spirit talismans to subsidize it, he would have long since reached out to Sixth Uncle for spirit stones.

Qinghe Market is relatively peaceful. Although the several major Foundation Establishment families will also fight secretly, once someone dares to touch the common interests of Qinghe Market, everyone will consciously put down their contradictions and unite against the outside world. Lu Yuanfeng has guarded Qinghe Market for decades, and his several disciples are very familiar with various things below. Generally, things will not disturb their two Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Song Qingming also rarely had a few years of worry-free cultivation time.

After agreeing to the marriage, although the Huang family agreed to delay the marriage for two years, Huang Siyuan would still occasionally let the shop assistants below send some spirit food to Song Qingming's cave dwelling. Song Qingming was not so polite about this, accepting everything that came. Anyway, for him, it's not eating for nothing, and it's rare to be able to taste such good craftsmanship.

The several shops divided from the Qian family, besides one with a bad location being rented out, the other two were taken over by Second Sister Song Qingwan. The Song family's business in Qinghe Market also expanded a lot immediately. Second Sister, besides alchemy, originally had some business talent. Plus, with the help of Fourth Uncle's family, the business of the Song family's several shops also gradually got on the right track, making the Song family's reputation in Qinghe Market gradually ring out, which can be considered to gradually have a bit of the appearance of a Foundation Establishment family.

The ten percent of shares obtained from Qinghe Market can bring more than five hundred spirit stones of income to the Song family every year. After deducting the expenses of guarding cultivators, at least two hundred spirit stones can be saved every year. These spirit stones are fixed income that can be obtained every year. Accumulating little by little is very important for the long-term development of a family.

Although the Song family has been established for two hundred years, because the place where mortals lived in the early stage was limited, the population has actually been expanding very slowly, so there have not been many cultivators in the clan. It wasn't until the last few decades, after receiving a portion of the mortals originally from the Liu family and re-establishing Mugu Town to expand the living space of mortals, that the number of mortals below slowly increased. Now the number of cultivators in the clan has also slowly increased a lot.

I remember when Song Qingming went down the mountain back then, there were no more than twenty cultivators in the clan. Now, only twenty-some years have passed, and there are already more than thirty. It's just that compared with other Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County, their foundation is still far behind.

Among the original major Foundation Establishment families in Qinghe County, the Huang family, which ranks first, has more than two hundred cultivators, and there are more than twenty Qi Refining families below. Its strength is ranked in the first line among the dozens of Foundation Establishment families in the entire Jiangling County.

The Gao family also has more than one hundred cultivators, and there are more than ten Qi Refining families under its command. It's just that compared with the Huang family, it is still much inferior. The Lu family, which ranks last, also has more than sixty cultivators. Although their foundation is relatively shallow, they are still stronger than some newly promoted Foundation Establishment families. Even the Qian family, which was just promoted to a Foundation Establishment family twenty-some years ago, is much stronger than the current Song family.

To tell the truth, the Song family, not to mention in Qinghe County, even among the nearly one hundred Foundation Establishment families in the entire Weiguo, is ranked at the bottom. This is also why Song Qingming and Song Changfeng had to continue to choose to rely on the Huang family back then.

However, there is one point where they still have an advantage. Compared with some families that are already sunset and unable to cultivate new Foundation Establishment cultivators, Song Qingming is now less than fifty years old, which is a great time to develop the family. As long as they are given more time to cultivate new Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Song family will sooner or later become a Foundation Establishment family with deep foundations like the Gao family and the Huang family. The entire Song family, including Song Qingming, is very looking forward to this scene in the future.

I will correct it later.