After rebirth, the Queen and I are on the run.

Chapter 886: Top of the List
"Si Pei, take this flatbread and eat it while you clean up the mess." Old Qiong personally handed him a multigrain flatbread, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "The ability to make amends is one of the essential skills for an official... You all did a good job today."

Uncle Qin curled his lip, "This is not bad."
It's fortunate that this is Taifeng Town during peacetime. If this were a battlefield, a front line against the enemy, the mistakes the students made today could have dragged down the Great Wei Kingdom to its doom.

“Sir…I have disappointed you.” Si Pei choked up, then quickly bowed and said, “I have learned a lot today and will continue to study hard. Please continue reading, sir.”

"Very well, I'll wait and see." Old Qiong said with satisfaction.

Si Pei bowed again and hurriedly followed Lü Fengshou back to the Lü Family Inn.

Unfortunately, the inn's kitchen had already started making noodles, and they had already made over twenty bowls.

Even so, Si Pei didn't feel unlucky. Instead, she said with relief, "Thank goodness, we didn't finish cooking all of them... Let's not cook the remaining raw noodles yet. We'll cook them at 5 pm. That's still 232 servings. We'll cancel the dinner reservation and make it lunch for tomorrow."

"What does Manager Lü think?"

Good heavens, he actually showed some manners.

Lu Fengshou was flattered and readily agreed: "Alright, we will do as our distinguished guest says."

Si Pei bought the twenty-odd bowls of noodles that had already been cooked and invited the soldiers who stayed behind to oversee the cooking, as well as the kitchen staff of the Lü family, to eat.

He then discussed the future meal ordering arrangements with Lü Fengshou in detail, but did not sign the contract immediately. Instead, he said, "Let's do it first. I'll go back and discuss it with my classmates. If they have no objections to the price and the meal combination, I'll come back to sign the contract."

"But I have to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow."

Si Pei doesn't want to experience this chaotic situation again, and he certainly doesn't want to faint from hunger again!
Lu Fengshou was always composed, so he held back his laughter and nodded in agreement: "Don't worry, esteemed guest, all three meals for tomorrow will be prepared. However, if you would like to order more food the day after tomorrow, please let us know before you come to collect your dinner so that we can prepare the ingredients."

Si Pei: "Done."

Half an hour later, Si Pei returned to the construction site.

The servants of the Si family who followed behind... Young Master has made progress! They must write back to inform Madam of this good news!
Dangdang Dangdang!
"It's time to get up and get to work!" Commander Zhong called out personally.

The students were too tired to move, so he ordered them to be splashed with water.

Hula hula!

After several buckets of water were poured down, the students dared not delay any longer. Enduring the pain in their bodies, they got up and continued working.

As they worked, problems arose again, and cries of pain, weeping, and conflicts broke out once more.

At least everyone has the energy to argue now, and they won't faint from hunger.

Dangdang Dangdang!
"It's exactly 5 PM, time to wrap up!" The craftsman struck the gong to signal the end of the work, and the students breathed a sigh of relief.

Waaah, we're finally done! They survived!

Craftsmen, heavens above, we've finally finished! If these young masters had kept interfering, they would have had no chance of finishing their work peacefully!

The craftsmen couldn't stand these students anymore, so they secretly went to the two master craftsmen, Gong and Liu, and asked them to speak to the acquaintance Master Xun...

“Young masters are precious; they aspire to pass the imperial examinations and become officials. They should go back and study hard.”

"No way," Old Man Xun refused, then said, "How about this, when they finish their work at the construction site, I'll trick them—no, I'll get them to give each of you one tael of silver as a thank-you gift for teaching you. How about that? Is that a deal?"

This?
The artisans gritted their teeth and thought they could endure it a little longer.

After finishing work, the students couldn't leave yet; they had to do the final cleanup... checking accounts, correcting errors and omissions in registration, and paying fines.

Si Pei topped today's list of fines.

"The top-ranked official, Si Pei, has been fined a total of fifty-two taels of gold!"

Hiss, not to mention the craftsmen, even the students, including Si Pei, were heartbroken and gasped.

Fifty-two taels of gold—that's a considerable sum of money for Si Pei.

But this punishment...

“The student acknowledges!” Si Pei bowed, signed the register to confirm that he accepted the fine, and then took out a silver note and handed it to Uncle Qin, who was collecting the fine.

That's right, Uncle Qin was assigned this task.

Qin Xiaogu, Xiao Jiang Erlang, Qin Xiaomai, Qin Jingyi, and even Qin Sheng, Qin Mao, and Qiao Songguo were all to be sent here for training. Master Qiong was a renowned scholar, and it would be an excellent thing for him to gain experience by his side, so the family made this arrangement.

Old Qiong did not refuse.

"Xiao Gu, Xiao Erlang, watch closely, in a few days it will be your turn to do this work." Uncle Qin instructed the younger generation, hoping to get away quickly and continue to slack off.

Kojiro Kotani nodded and looked at it intently.

"Hey, Xue Mingyi, you got fined too... It's alright, only eight taels of silver."

Xue Mingyi smiled obediently and handed over the fine.

Qu Da, Jia Xiang, Zhou Rong, and even Ying Zilin were all punished.

Ying Zilin was fined twenty taels of gold and ranked second on the list.

The reason for the punishment was...

"As the head of the students, you failed to discover their problems in time and failed to remind them in time... Your mistake is even greater than Si Pei's. If it weren't for your eventual redemption by providing the students with safe meals, you would be at the top of the fine list!" Qiong Lao became more and more angry as he spoke, and finally said: "Write a policy essay on the harm caused by the incompetence of the leaders."

what!
The students were deeply impressed and admired Professor Qiong.

As expected of a renowned scholar who has criticized everyone at Taizhou Academy, he even dares to set such a question... This question seems to have a hidden meaning about the emperor.

Qiong Lao glanced at them and said, "If you are interested, you can also write a policy essay and submit it."

Zhou Rong struggled, thinking that it wasn't impossible to give it a try.

Half an hour later, when it was completely dark, the students finally finished up all their business for the day and were able to return to Taifeng Restaurant to rest.

Si Pei was in a sorry state; he couldn't rest yet because he had to receive meals delivered by the Lü Family Inn.

The students were exhausted. After eating the minced meat noodles, they didn't even take a bath. They just washed their faces and feet with well water before returning to their assigned dormitories and sleeping until dawn.

Dangdang Dangdang!
The death knell sounded again.

The students really cried... It hurt, it hurt so much, their bodies felt like they had been tortured, and they would fall back onto their bedding at the slightest movement.

but……

Bang bang bang!
Commander Zhong led his soldiers to kick down the door: "Get up! If you are late, your monthly evaluation will be 'poor, poor, poor'. In serious cases, any rewards already issued, such as the recommendation letter from the Imperial Academy, may be confiscated!"

Waaah, can't you just leave us alone for even a day or two?

"Kids, get up now! After three days of work, you'll get two days off!" Old Xun's voice rang out.

The Taifu Restaurant fell silent for a moment, then soon erupted into a cacophony of sounds.

"We get a holiday! Grandmaster Taigang said that if we work three days, we'll get two days off! Two days!"

"Get up quickly, we'll have a holiday in two more days."

"Yes, yes, we can't be late, or our holiday will be canceled."

Knowing the temperament of their grandmaster Taigang, the students were afraid that the old man might change his mind at any moment. They dared not linger any longer, so they endured the excruciating pain, got up to wash, and gathered to work at the herbal medicine processing workshop.

It was past mid-morning when we were still eating breakfast delivered by the Lü Family Inn.

Today was also a day full of unexpected events for the students, but thankfully they didn't go hungry and no one fainted.

August 18th, the third day of the students' work.

On this day, the students were all incredibly excited, yet also extremely nervous, fearing that Master Xun might not keep his word.

Fortunately, Master Xun was afraid of exhausting them, so he kept his promise and announced that they would have two days off when they finished work.

The students shouted excitedly, "We're on holiday! We're really on holiday!"

The villagers of Taifeng Town, who gather around to watch them every day, have seen their goodwill towards them diminish day by day: "Sigh, that's all the rich young masters are like. They're all rotten."

(End of this chapter)