Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 188: Serving as a Role Model
Lu Zheng looked at the silent students and said calmly, "Since everyone understands the truth, then let's get to work."

Xiaoshan asked him to be a temporary substitute teacher, and he would do his job conscientiously and not indulge these students.

Moreover, Lu Zheng also has to use his own methods to assess and teach these students.

Li Zhao brought a few friends, got tools, and excitedly started loading gravel.

"In half a minute, you have brains, eyes, hands, and feet. You should know what to do and what to do." Lu Zheng said lightly, "Don't embarrass yourself in front of so many people later."

Upon hearing this, the students all started to move, trying to find something to do.

They had heard before that Lu Zheng killed demons and ghosts without blinking an eye, so it would be easy for him to deal with them.

Lu Zheng stopped talking nonsense and ran to help the villagers build the road.

The village road leading to the county road needs to be widened and renovated to make it suitable for ox carts to travel, so that the villagers can use it more conveniently in the future.

Of course, the standards of village roads will not meet the requirements of county roads, and they will not be built into cement roads like in the past.

If the road is built too well, it will consume too much manpower and financial resources, and will take longer time, not just a few months to complete, which will easily affect the people's farming work in the coming year.

You have to take one step at a time, eat one bite at a time, and don't do things all at once.

Lu Zheng specializes in doing heavy work, and he does things decisively and quickly.

Seeing how hard Lu Zheng was working, the students didn't feel like complaining for the time being.

Most students have never done such work and are unable to lower their status and reputation.

Some students only do some symbolic work to make themselves look like they are not idle.

Lu Zheng occasionally glanced around and saw the state of some students, but he didn't say anything.

Time passed slowly and it was time to break work at noon.

Several villagers came over with food and distributed lunch to everyone.

The wages for repairing the village road were paid on a daily basis, and the government also paid the villagers to prepare lunch every day, which was guaranteed to be a meal for the workers.

When the students saw it was lunch time, they all found a place to rest and waited for their meals to be served.

However, after waiting for a long time, the villagers and servants had all started eating, and there was no portion for them.

One student couldn't help but ask, "Sir, don't we have lunch?"

Lu Zheng continued to dig and fill the road. "Food? Some of you, barely a few years old, have done so much work, yet you still want to eat? You're a class, a group. If one of you cheats, the whole class will go hungry! After all, you're all scholars and won't starve to death if you skip a meal."

These students still want to eat? Lu Zheng had specifically instructed the servants before, so how could he possibly prepare food for them?

Lu Zheng paused, then added, "Whether you can have dinner depends on how you all perform."

Li Zhao was sitting on a patch of grass, exhausted. Upon hearing this, he stared at the other students and said angrily, "I've done a lot of work, look at the sweat on my face! Someone's holding me back, right? Don't let me catch you this afternoon!"

Lu Zheng compacted a piece of road and continued to dig the soil.

A little kid from the village came up to Lu Zheng, holding a piece of dry bread made of coarse grains, and said, "Big brother, have some!"

Lu Zheng smiled and rubbed the kid's head. "I'm not hungry. You can keep it for yourself. Is your mother feeling better?"

Lu Zhengyi had examined these children in the village and had some impression of each of them.

The child heard this and said, "Mom can get out of bed now, and she helps cook for the villagers. She gets paid. I heard that the wages are all paid by big brother! Mom, if I can make a difference in the future, I will repay you well!"

Lu Zheng said with a smile: "Okay, then you must work hard and become a promising person. But you must repay your parents and elders first..."

The child tilted his head back and said, "I'm learning Chinese characters now, I can already recognize them..."

The child counted on his fingers and muttered, "Eight words!"

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Memorize two more characters every day. Next year, when the county opens a school, I'll try to get in."

"Yeah!" The child nodded heavily.

Lu Zheng patted the child again and said, "Go eat over there. I'll help you with some work."

The child didn't want to disturb Lu Zheng any longer, so he walked away excitedly with his short legs.

Lu Zheng looked at the students again, his expression serious, "You should have rested enough, right?"

The students were puzzled, feeling that Lu Zheng's expression changed even faster than those of the teachers in the academy.

Even if some of them were reluctant, they still stood up and started working.

While working, Li Zhao looked around to see if anyone was slacking off.

"Don't be lazy, if I don't have dinner at night, don't even think about it! You work worse than a child. When you go out in the future, don't say you are a scholar in Kaiyang County. I, Li Zhao, can't afford to lose face!"

Li Zhao looked at Lu Zheng again and suggested, "Sir, if anyone is slacking off, why don't we make them stand at the city gate as an example?"

Lu Zheng couldn't help but say: "Okay, you can supervise while you work."

Scholars all value reputation, and these words are quite damaging.

Some students felt a sudden shock in their hearts, and even their hands and feet moved much faster.

There's no way, the arms can't bend the thighs.

Lu Zheng and Li Zhao are people that these students cannot afford to offend.

In this way, the students worked much harder than in the morning, and no one had any complaints.

In a place like this, even if you have any complaints, there is nowhere to express them.

By evening, the villagers had stopped working, collected their wages, said goodbye to Lu Zheng, and returned to the village exhausted but happy. Some even warmly invited Lu Zheng to their homes.

However, Lu Zheng still had things to do, so he naturally declined these people's kindness.

After the villagers left, the officer came over with a string of copper coins and handed it to Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng nodded and thanked him, "Thank you very much, you can go back and rest."

The officer whispered, "Sir, will you come tomorrow?"

Lu Zheng said: "It depends on the situation, don't worry about us."

Upon hearing this, several officers bowed and left, returning to the village.

These people have to guard the road construction and will eat and live in the village during this period.

Lu Zheng held up the copper coins and greeted the students, saying, "You have also worked for a day. Come, come, get your wages."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. They didn't expect that they could get paid.

Li Zhao took heavy steps and asked, "Sir, there is a salary. How much is it?"

Lu Zheng placed five copper coins in Li Zhao's hand and said, "Five coins, take it."

One student couldn't help but mutter, "Five cents? I think the villagers earn more than that..."

They had just seen the villagers receive their wages with their own eyes, how could it be only five cents?
Lu Zheng said calmly, "They came to work early in the morning. You delayed them for a while and borrowed other people's tools. Some people even cheated and were cunning. Five cents is a lot of money. Some people worked hard all day and didn't even get five cents."

"You are all so focused on studying and seeking official positions, yet you are oblivious to the suffering of the people. When you become officials, will you become corrupt officials?"

The students dared not respond when they heard this.

Lu Zheng said coldly, "A sage once said, 'When Heaven is about to bestow a great responsibility upon a man, it will first make his heart and mind suffer, his muscles and bones toil, his body hungry and empty, and his actions frustrated. This is to stir his heart and harden his nature, and increase his ability to do what he was not capable of."

"I asked everyone to come and build the road, but some people really thought it was just for the road, and some even cared about the fact that the wages were five cents short... It seems some people are really wasting their time reading the sages' books!"

Some students blushed upon hearing this and wanted to refute, but they couldn't find the words to refute.

Lu Zheng said calmly, "I can see that some people are dissatisfied. Although I am not talented, I have cultivated a righteous spirit. Don't I have the qualifications to teach you a lesson? Don't I?"

The students present were not stupid and knew what it meant to cultivate a righteous spirit.

If anyone stands up to oppose Lu Zheng now, they will be the only one to be embarrassed in the end.

Lu Zheng took down five copper coins and said, "Come and get your wages!"

Some students came forward to receive their wages, while others were too embarrassed to take five cents and did not come forward to receive them.

Lu Zheng didn't take it seriously. He collected the remaining copper coins and put them in his pocket.

He looked at the sky and said, "Let's go back to the county. Li Zhao will lead the team, so don't be lazy!"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhao excitedly called all the students back to the county town.

Lu Zheng followed the team slowly.

Xiao Shan and Xiao Qingqing also appeared beside Lu Zheng.

Xiao Shan couldn't help but say, "As a teacher, I'm far inferior to you."

Even though he was just a bystander, he felt that Lu Zheng's education was very meaningful and profound.

Lu Zheng smiled upon hearing this and said, "Every profession has its own specializations. Dean, you shouldn't underestimate yourself."

Xiao Shan stroked his beard and smiled, "When three of us walk together, you should be my teacher."

……

When everyone returned to the county town, the city gates were almost closed.

After all the back and forth work, plus the physical labor, the students were all exhausted.

Lu Zheng took them to a restaurant and said, "Today's wages will be your dinner money. Please take care of the food. You are not allowed to buy food on credit or use other money to buy food."

"what?"

Not only were some students stunned, but even the shopkeeper and waiter were stunned.

Lu Zheng's expression was indifferent. He put out five coins and said, "Boss, what can I eat with five coins?"

"This……"

The shopkeeper recognized these people, they were all scholars from the academy, and thought they were big business, but...

Seeing that the shopkeeper didn't know what to say, Lu Zheng looked at the dishes on a wooden board.

Lu Zheng said, "Two pancakes, exactly five cents, and three bowls of free vegetable soup."

Lu Zheng looked at Xiao Shan and Xiao Qingqing again and said with a smile, "I only earned five cents from working today, so I can only treat the dean and Miss Qingqing to a bowl of soup noodles."

Xiao Shan laughed heartily, "Okay, okay, Lu Zheng, this is your first time treating us, it's a rare opportunity!"

Xiao Shan smiled and took Xiao Qingqing to sit down.

Seeing that the dean was like this, how could the other students dare to say anything?
Li Zhao also hurriedly said: "Give me two pancakes and a bowl of hot soup!"

Some students used to be disdainful of receiving that little salary, but now they are neither able to sit nor stand.

As for leaving directly, that is even more impossible. Even the dean has sat down, where else do you want to go?

(End of this chapter)