Chapter 622: Punishment

“When will she wake up?” Ren Baqian walked around the empress and looked at her face, which was very different from how it usually was. It was lacking the vigor and the narrowed eyes that she typically had, which always made him feel like pinching her cheeks.

At present, the empress had no reaction to the outside world. This opportunity would only knock once!

Ultimately, the will to survive prevailed—it was better for him to forego this idea. Otherwise, the empress would hang him from the flagpole once again.

“No idea. Sometimes two to four hours or even eight to ten hours. The longest it took was three days,” Hong Luan answered. The two of them weren’t afraid to tell Ren Baqian about this.

“During this period, will Her Majesty wake up when she senses danger?” Ren Baqian suddenly recalled.

“Of course!” the two of them responded.

“Oh!” Ren Baqian stood in front of the empress and looked at her as she sat there quietly. He felt that she seemed to be in a pretty fun state and wanted to pinch her cheeks.

Ren Baqian sat there in admiration for a while before asking, “Her Majesty previously summoned Minister Tong and a few students to the palace, right?”

He heard about this news before he came back to the palace, but he didn’t expect the empress to suddenly fall into this moment of enlightenment.

“Yes, but only after Her Majesty wakes up,” Qing Yuan replied.

“I’ll go take a look.” Ren Baqian stood up and left the main hall. After asking a bodyguard in the palace and Xin Zhe, he found out which hall those people were in.

After asking around, Ren Baqian didn’t leave in a hurry. He stood five meters away from Xin Zhe, stretched out two fingers, and asked, “How many fingers?”

Xin Zhe looked expressionlessly at Ren Baqian, shook her head, and walked away.

“There’s no rush. We will first have a look at your condition. Maybe there’s something that can be done about your eyes,” Ren Baqian said.

After hearing his words, Xin Zhe immediately stopped in her tracks, turned around, and asked, “What can be done?”

“We first need to have a look at the condition of your eyes and determine if it’s inborn amblyopia, astigmatism, or glaucoma,” Ren Baqian explained. “Her Majesty told me previously, but we first have to find out the problem with your eyes before we can do anything about it.”

Upon hearing this, Xin Zhe replied expressionlessly, “I don’t know either.”

“Next time, I will bring an eye chart for you to measure your visual acuity. Then, we can figure out what your condition is,” Ren Baqian said.

“Thank you for your trouble!” Xin Zhe still remained expressionless.

As if she didn’t wish to speak another word, she nodded her head and left.

Even though Ren Baqian very rarely spoke with Xin Zhe, she was the commander of the imperial bodyguards. He was able to see her quite frequently, but they didn’t have many opportunities to converse.

To be honest, Xin Zhe looked pretty good as well. Even though she wasn’t as heroic as the empress, just judging by her face, she looked more delicate. However, her expressions were even colder than the empress’s.

Ren Baqian actually heard Qing Yuan mention before that Xin Zhe wasn’t originally that cold. She only gradually became like that after becoming the empress’s commander of the imperial bodyguards.

Ren Baqian guessed that it would be beneficial to make herself look more dignified when in command of those burly bodyguards. On the other hand, maybe she learned it from the empress. After looking cold over a long period of time, she naturally became like that.

After all, the empress was the idol of many in Dayao. For a lady like Xin Zhe, it was perfectly normal to imitate the empress’s expressions.

Ren Baqian arrived at Hanyuan Palace Hall as he mulled over the issue of Xin Zhe’s eyes. He saw Tong Zhenye casually strolling around in the hall. Tong Lan stood there with blood stains on her body and rested with her eyes closed. The others were well-behaved and stood still in their spots.

“Eh? Where is Her Majesty, Principal Ren?” Tong Zhenye turned his head when he heard footsteps and saw that Ren Baqian was the only one who walked in. He stretched his neck to have a look and was puzzled when he realized that the empress wasn’t following behind.

“Her Majesty seems to have had a sudden enlightenment and isn’t able to meet with you for the time being,” Ren Baqian said. After carefully looking at Qing Lian and Tong Lan, Tong Lan had indeed taken a beating, which was exactly like what he had heard previously.

“Do I have to keep waiting here?” Tong Zhenye questioned with his eyes wide open.

“You may leave first, Sir Tong,” Ren Baqian answered after pondering for a bit. Tong Zhenye’s status was higher than the rest, and there were other things that needed to be done at the Ministry of Works. It wasn’t appropriate to make him wait here as well. It would still be fine if it was only for a short period of time, but nobody knew when the empress would wake up from her enlightenment. She presumably wouldn’t blame Tong Zhenye if he took his leave first.

“In that case, if Her Majesty asks about me, remember to help me put in a good word.” Tong Zhenye grinned.

“Certainly. Please go ahead, Sir Tong,” Ren Baqian replied.

Tong Zhenye didn’t stay any longer after hearing this. He took a good look at Qing Lian before walking out of Hanyuan Palace Hall with big strides.

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Only the students from the academy remained: Qing Lian, Tong Lan, Shi Gan, and another girl. Ren Baqian remembered that she was named Zhu Hua and that she was a new student.

“Do you guys have nothing better to do? Fighting right after school ends? It seems that you have too little homework!” Ren Baqian sneered after pacing around in front of them.

“This has nothing to do with me—I was forced to fight. I can’t possibly refuse to fight back when someone’s fists have already landed on my face, right?” Qing Lian complained lightly.

“She’s a Great Xia person!” Tong Lan mumbled to herself while staring at Qing Lian sternly.

Qing Lian glanced over at her and said, “I visited the school with Principal Ren’s permission. Besides, you lost to me just now, so you need to respectfully greet me as sister when you see me in the future. Let me hear it from you now.”

Tong Lan opened her mouth and attempted to refute this, but was left speechless. No matter what, it was a fact that she had lost.

If she were to abide by the wager, it would pain her more than death to have to greet this wretched Great Xia person as sister whenever she saw her.

However, if she refused to comply, she would definitely be embarrassed of herself.

Even though Qing Lian used unscrupulous methods to win, Tong Lan knew that she had to accept her loss if she agreed to bet.

In any case, it was very difficult for her to choose either decision. The more she thought about it, the more dejected she felt. Eventually, she let out a scream, tilted her head, and lashed out directly at Shi Gan!

“What did you hit me for?!” Shi Gan dodged in a flash and questioned her angrily.

“My head is feeling itchy!” Tong Lan became frantic.

Looking at Tong Lan’s behavior, Ren Baqian was disinclined to reprimand her. It would also be good to let her learn a lesson. This would save the 10 year old girl from thinking about using her fists to talk all the time.

“What about you two? What happened?” Ren Baqian cast his glance over at Shi Gan and Zhu Hua.

Shi Gan immediately sounded his grievance and protested, “I didn’t do anything. Since Tong Lan was injured, I was afraid that Qing Lian would strike at her again, so I obstructed her.”

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Tong Lan grew frantic once more after hearing Shi Gan talk about her getting wounded. “Haven’t you heard about not revealing other’s shortcomings?”

“I actually stuck up for you. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Shi Gan rolled his eyes at her before saying to Ren Baqian, “Teacher, you mentioned before that students should help each other. Did I do anything wrong?”

“Don’t try to be smart!” Ren Baqian glared at him because he had already heard about the course of events when he arrived. This chap Shi Gan was clearly not speaking the truth.

“What about you?” Ren Baqian asked Zhu Hua.

“I…” Zhu Hua looked to the side as her gaze wandered.

“Getting into a fight just days after starting school? How capable you are!”

“I didn’t fight!” Zhu Hua immediately defended herself.

“You didn’t fight with your hands, but with a blade—isn’t that right?” Ren Baqian sneered. This group of students was indeed capable. They came to school with blades, daggers, and swords. There was no telling if they would even bring a mace in the future!

“I merely took out a blade, but I didn’t fight.” Zhu Hua explained.

“Hmph!”

“According to the law, anyone who fights privately in Lan City without declaring it to the Public Order Bureau will receive three lashes of the whip. Having escalated this issue to Her Majesty, you will receive ten times the punishment, which raises it to 30 lashes per person. Now that Her Majesty is busy and has no time for you, I will give you another chance. Everyone will copy the “Three Character Classic” 100 times, and you will only return home after you finish copying it. Starting from tomorrow, you will also clean the toilets for a week!” Ren Baqian said.

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expressions immediately turned bitter.

Regardless of whether it was copying the “Three Character Classic” 100 times or cleaning the toilets, this was like torture to them and wasn’t any better than enduring the whip.

Furthermore, it had always been double the punishment, where did the ten times come from?

“I refuse to accept this!” Qing Lian’s eyes snapped wide open. She, a magnificent expert, actually had to copy books and clean toilets here in Lan City?

This was intolerable!

“If you wish to continue visiting the school, you have to abide by its rules,” Ren Baqian responded coldly. “This matter has escalated to Her Majesty! Do you think you can get away with this?”

“Teacher, I’m hungry!” Shi Gan licked his lips.

“You guys have so much energy that skipping a meal or two won’t pose a problem.” Ren Baqian left them in the hall after he was done talking and went to get someone to send over brushes and paper.

These students didn’t have enough homework, which made them too idle. By the look of it, it seemed like they needed to be given additional homework in the future!