Whoever can strike me hard will be rewarded handsomely.

Qin Ji struggled to remove the boomerang from his body, feigning fear as he said, "I presented the article to His Majesty, but without a word, he ordered me to be dragged out and punished with twenty strokes of the cane. Only then did I realize that I had gone too far, fearing that His Majesty, with his wisdom and keen insight, had noticed something amiss. So I panicked, fearing that I would offend His Majesty and implicate my family, which is why I have been living in constant anxiety, like a frightened bird."

At this point, Qin Ji squeezed out two tears that had just come from the pain, and asked in a tearful voice, "Teacher, what should I do? Will His Majesty punish me?"

"Now you're scared?" Jiang Jibai raised his hand to continue tidying up, sneering, "Weren't you supposed to be incredibly bold? Now you're afraid of His Majesty's punishment?"

Qin Ji, his voice cracking with pain, clutched his buttocks and sobbed, "Even the bravest person is afraid of the guillotine!"

Ouch, that hurts! Gu Huaijin, you ambushed me!

Hehe, you landed safely. You truly are worthy of being called the Emperor.

Jiang Jibai was almost amused by his self-righteousness. Bian Feibai showed no remorse for his recklessness; he simply knew he had caused trouble and was afraid things would get out of control.

This newly accepted disciple is indeed just as he expected, very difficult to handle. What on earth made him so blind to take him under his wing, only to cause himself so much trouble?

"It seems that His Majesty's twenty strokes of the cane did not hurt you enough. Today, your teacher will teach you a lesson for your self-righteousness and see if you dare to act so boldly and recklessly in front of the Emperor again."

Determined to teach him a lesson, Jiang Jibai held nothing back.

Upon hearing the mournful sound that pierced the air, Qin Ji almost instinctively tensed up. However, in the instant he endured the pain, his knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the desk, stunned for several seconds. It wasn't until the punishments came one after another that he let out a deafening cry.

Waaah, Gu Huaijin, how dare you!

You have committed treason and harmed the imperial body; I must execute you.

Bian Dou, what kind of bodyguard are you? I'm crying like this, why aren't you coming to my rescue?

No matter how loudly he cried out in his heart, no one could hear him. All that could be heard was Qin Ji's mournful cries of "Teacher" again and again.

Jiang Jibai was heartless and unmoved by these repeated calls of "teacher".

Qin Ji was covered in cold sweat and tears, occasionally letting out a sob. He twisted and turned and darted forward to avoid the "pursuit," almost climbing onto the desk.

No matter how much he ran around, Jiang Jibai always managed to take good care of the places that needed care, without bias.

Qin Ji almost cried himself to death. He felt the dragon's buttocks howling, as if a great fire had broken out on a vast plain, and every inch of its skin had been burned to scorched earth.

It hurts too much! I don't want it anymore! Gu Huaijin, stop! Waaaaah!

I'm dodging, I'm dodging again! Where did you learn such accuracy? Tomorrow I'll issue an edict ordering the jailers in the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review to come and apprentice under you!

The vine once again caught up with Qin Ji as he dodged, and before Qin Ji could even cry out, he heard a chilling sentence coming from behind him.

"Try hiding again?"

His legs felt like they were nailed to the ground, and he dared not move. Qin Ji sobbed, "Teacher, I was wrong."

Did you hear that? I've already admitted my mistake, isn't it about time to end this?

"When you were smugly showing off your little tricks in front of His Majesty, did you think about your future?" Jiang Jibai's tone was stern, his voice like a blade scraping against Qin Ji's ears. "If His Majesty dislikes you because of this, a single word from him could ruin your life forever."

"If you want to be like your father, to establish a moral compass for heaven and earth and bring blessings to all people, you should be careful with your words and deeds, crush your courage and hide it away, and only bring it out when you have achieved great success in the imperial examinations, been assigned to a region, and the people need you to risk your life to plead for them."

Qin Ji slowly blinked his eyes, which were filled with tears from the pain, and looked down at a Duan inkstone on his desk.

The identity is fake, the mistakes are fake, the ambitions are fake.

Their master-disciple relationship was nothing more than a castle in the air built on something false.

But Gu Huaijin took his casually made-up "ambitions" to heart and tried to urge him to go in the right direction.

Gu Huaijin was indeed a good teacher, and his heart towards his students was probably genuine.

"Teacher," Qin Ji opened his lips and said slowly, "I was wrong."