Chapter 379: Not Much Spirit Food Eaten Either

Qin Bi looked up; the clouds rushed in, mottled and uneven.

In a moment, a light-to-moderate rain began to fall. The drops were not large, but fell densely.

The light-to-moderate rain pattered down.

Rong Juan tilted his little head, his eyes bright.

The young prince said, "If this rain-summoning magic treasure were given to my father, he could surely summon a rain far greater than this. It is a pity my father must remain stationed in the imperial palace."

"Where is the young prince?" Qin Bi knew the Emperor could not easily leave Jingcheng unless his fortune was boundless. Of course, visiting the immortal sects was possible, though for only a short time; the royal family still relied on the immortal arts of the sects.

The young prince turned his head, and Qin Bi continued, "What is the level of this rain-summoning technique?"

She was merely curious; she did not need to know for certain.

Just like Little Little Tuanzi, he talked a lot, so she asked.

Actually, children took after her. Rong Juan did not take after her much; the child had depth and was somewhat scheming.

Unlike Little Little Tuanzi, whose mouth loved to chatter.

The young prince sighed, "Alas, I can only rely on the royal family's fortune."

His cultivation base was not yet sufficient.

He was young and had eaten very few spirit foods.

Whenever he managed to eat spirit food once, Fu Bao would always sneak into the palace to share the meal.

It was difficult for his cultivation to advance!

Things had improved recently. Now that He He Shizi had a biological child, Fu Bao was pushed aside. He He Shizi no longer brought Fu Bao into the palace. As for Rong Juan and Rong Chi, they ate well and no longer entered the palace either.

Thus, the young prince had not eaten much spirit food. He still craved the delicacies at Rong Wang Fu. So many spiritual ducks; Rong Juan and Rong Chi ate spicy spiritual duck at every meal. It was incredibly tempting.

The young prince was reserved; he would not admit he craved the spiritual ducks.

He tilted his little head up. "I do not crave them."

The rain summoned by Lin Yao lasted only the time it took to drink a cup of tea. Gradually, the rain ceased. Lin Yao withdrew his hand: "The cloud layer over the fief lacks rainfall. It would be better if we summoned rain during an overcast day."

Rong Juan ran over and patted the soil in the field. The young prince patted it too: "This rain moistened a layer of soil."

Qin Bi frowned slightly. She had not expected planting crops to be so difficult.

The group continued walking. Qin Bi asked, "Do we need to reclaim the fields?"

Walking out of the fertile fields, Lin Yao looked at the barren land where not even grass grew and said, "Yan Huwei and I will summon plants to clear the wasteland. Rong Shizifei and the young He Shizi can try summoning rain. I cannot summon rain for now."

For the previous summoning, Lin Yao had expended a great deal of spiritual power.

Qin Bi nodded, untied her storage bag, and took out rain-summoning magic treasures. She gave one to Rong Juan, one to the young prince, and kept one for herself. All were magic treasures she had condensed to summon rain; one bore a pattern of dots, representing raindrops.

Regardless of the details, as long as they could summon rain, it was fine.

Qin Bi and the young prince held teacups without patterns. They were not large. Qin Bi's condensation ability was not strong; she could only condense small teacups or slightly larger ones, delicate and round in the palm of the hand.

Qin Bi's lifespan had been damaged; she dared not consume too much condensation ability.

Regarding condensation ability, Qin Bi was still a novice and understood very little.

The young prince was very curious. He fiddled with the small teacup and liked it very much.

Lin Yao and Yan Huwei both carried summoning magic treasures with plant patterns. Holding their treasures, they summoned two plants and ran into the field to till the soil.

Qin Bi, Rong Juan, and the young prince waited. Taking advantage of the free time, each of them gnawed on a spicy duck head.

Seeing Qin Bi eat, the young prince looked up in confusion: "Does Rong Shizifei eat too?"

It was not that the young prince was unwilling to share; since it was not his property, he did not feel the loss.

He was mainly curious. These were spicy duck heads from spiritual ducks, very expensive. Shouldn't a mother rely on her son to gain status, leaving all the spirit food for the child? Now that Rong Juan and Rong Chi were well, only then could Rong Rong Shizifei securely hold her position as Rong Shizifei.

Qin Bi understood and smiled, saying, "The He Shizi told me to eat."

"Oh," the young prince said no more.

If the He Shizi said to eat, then one ate. Who did not love spirit food?

The fear was that women in the inner quarters, like the imperial consorts, would depend on men, mainly displaying gentleness and deference before them. Only by not competing or fighting could they gain favor.

Oh, the young prince remembered. There was only one Rong Rong Shizifei; there was no need to scheme for favor.

The young prince glanced at Qin Bi and Rong Juan. Adding Little Little Tuanzi Rong Chi, Rong He Shizi doted on them greatly. Look how well he had raised the Rong Shizifei; she was so beautiful, even more so than the consorts in the palace.

Lin Yao and Yan Huwei directed the plants to reclaim about one fen of land. They took a few steps and continued directing the plants to reclaim fields. The soil in the fief was not very poor; reclaiming it was easier than in the barbarian wastelands, but newly reclaimed fields struggled to retain fertility.

Crops might grow well this year, but perhaps nothing would grow tomorrow.

The fields lacked moisture; no matter how much it rained, it was never enough. Fields cultivated for many years were fine; they had been nurtured. As long as there was no severe drought, things would still grow there. This was very different from new fields.

After finishing the spicy duck head, the young prince washed his hands, held his summoning magic treasure, and began to summon rain.

Rong Juan had also washed his little hands. Qin Bi ate slowly. By the time she finished one spicy duck head, the children had already summoned a water cloud, bringing moisture from nearby.

Qin Bi observed. The water cloud was pale cyan. If the moisture was very sufficient, the area of rainfall would be small.

In a moment, the water cloud summoned by the children sprinkled rain. Qin Bi had also finished washing her hands. Holding her summoning magic treasure, she activated it. The cloud layer she summoned was similar to the children's.

Lin Yao glanced back and said to Yan Huwei, "This is the amount of rain a person who has just entered the path of cultivation can summon."

Yan Huwei glanced, then withdrew his gaze and said, "I was hoping to eat Chinese cabbage this winter too. It seems we cannot even plant a few stalks. The summoned rain is too little."

In one morning, they could reclaim at most three fen of land. Any more would be mere pretense.

By noon, everyone went to a restaurant in the fief for a simple meal. Lin Yao brewed tea and set it out. Whether Qin Bi, Rong Juan, and the young prince worked or not was secondary; the main thing was they must not be thirsty or hungry.

As for competing for favor or not, Qin Bi and the young He Shizi did not need to compete; they were already the very apple of Rong He Shizi's eye.

Thus, the young prince appeared as if no one cared for him.

The young prince did not care. He busied himself back and forth. Qin Bi was surprised and smiled, saying, "The young prince treats Rong Juan so well."

The young prince replied, "Rong Juan is the twenty points of fortune and luck value of Great Yan. Since his birth, I have had to dote on him. And your Little Little Tuanzi, Rong Chi, is another twenty points of fortune and luck value."

Qin Bi: "..."

Qin Bi said, "You worry about a lot."

"I am of the imperial bloodline," the young prince said. "It is only right; I was born to protect Great Yan."

Qin Bi's eyes instantly grew moist. Rong Juan glanced at Qin Bi, then held out his tiny hands for her to pick him up. Qin Bi then reined in her emotions; her heart, not being the seat of the divine, was prone to acting on feeling.

Hearing such words from a child as young as the young prince, Qin Bi found it hard not to be moved.

Looking down from the window of the restaurant's private room, Qin Bi saw Qin He and her legitimate younger sister shopping, along with Qin Han and several other women, all of them surrounding Qin He. The young prince also leaned forward to take a peek.

Having received several spirit fruits, Qin He was in high spirits.