Chapter 235 Scolding in Public

There were a total of sixty-two grand masters attending this martial arts conference.

The first round of the competition among the ten great masters will consist of thirty-one contests, which will be held over three days.

These thirty-one competitions can actually be completed within one day.

Although there were more people taking the imperial examination and the time was more compact, one examination could still be completed within one day.

But in this case, Li Nuo would not have much time to send these masters into the confinement room for reflection. The longer the timeline was, the more prepared he would be, and he could achieve his goal relatively easily.

The ten competitions on the first day ended in the morning.

In the afternoon, everyone can move freely.

Whether they are learning and exchanging ideas on their own in Wulin Village, or going out for fun individually or in groups, the Ministry of Rites will not interfere too much.

This also made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

After the morning competition ended, it was time for lunch.

Wulin Village has its own canteen, and the freshest ingredients are purchased from the market every morning.

In order to give everyone the best dining experience, Li Nuo invited the cook from his family to be the head chef, and borrowed several imperial chefs from the palace. Even those who were just helping in washing and cutting vegetables in the cafeteria were chefs from major restaurants in Chang'an.

Even the working meals of the three provinces and six ministries do not have such treatment.

Disciples from all factions were full of praise for the food in the cafeteria.

Even the masters who didn't care much about their appetites had to admit that although the court had stricter rules, it had paid great attention to details.

The etiquette is thorough and no small sect will feel ignored, and everyone feels respected.

The food in the cafeteria caters to everyone's taste.

All major cuisines of Daxia are served here, and the taste is extremely authentic. It is hard for people to imagine that they can taste authentic hometown food thousands of miles away from home.

Some people even found some more touching details.

Even the same cuisine, the same dish, tastes different in different states.

For example, Haizhou cuisine, although it also belongs to a branch of southern cuisine, they are accustomed to adding more sugar when cooking.

Because there were sects from Haizhou coming this time, the kitchen used two different methods to prepare the same dish, and specially marked one of them as Haizhou style, so that this small sect with only five people came could feel the taste of being valued.

"This is delicious, Junior Sister, please try it!"

"This one is not bad either, Senior Brother, I'll get you one!"

"No, no, I can't eat anymore."

"Hey, just take a bite, try it, it's really delicious!"

…

Even the masters cared about their reputation and were still very graceful when faced with such delicious food.

But those young disciples don't have this kind of determination.

Faced with the dazzling array of delicious food, they ate this and then wanted to try that, but their appetite was limited, so they only had a brief taste of the food, often putting it aside after just one bite and looking for other targets.

Soon, the table in front of them was piled with food.

The scrap bucket at the door was also full of wasted food.

Disciples of large sects like the Sanqing Sect, Shushan Sect, and the Five Mountains Sword Sect often have the bearing of a large sect and are able to control their appetite.

The disciples of those small sects simply ignored it.

Anyway, eating here doesn’t cost any money, and with the idea that delicious food should not be missed, too much food is wasted.

Although some masters of some sects also reminded them not to waste too much, their tone was not stern and it did not have much effect.

Bang, bang, bang!

At this moment, several dull noises suddenly reached everyone's ears.

The sound was extremely abrupt, and everyone couldn't help but look in the direction where the sound came from.

The young official from the Ministry of Rites walked slowly to the front, glanced at the tables piled with food, knocked on a table, and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, stop for a moment."

After he started talking, people in the cafeteria stopped chatting and those who were eating stopped what they were doing.

Even the Grandmasters were preparing to listen carefully to what he would say next.

In just a few days, he has established enough prestige in everyone's hearts.

When the disciples of various sects were arrested by the imperial guards for violating the law, he was the one who led them out.

Whether it was the leaders of the imperial guards or the court officials they met, they all treated him with great respect.

Even when dealing with the Grand Master of the Sanqing Sect, he was merciless.

Unknowingly, these martial arts masters have already built up enough respect for him.

Li Nuo glanced at everyone and said slowly, "You may not know that the holding of this martial arts conference was not smooth sailing. The imperial examination had just ended, and the court had spent a lot of money on it. The treasury was empty. When the Ministry of Rites first proposed to hold the martial arts conference, all the departments in the court were opposed to it."

Everyone listened carefully; they really didn't know these things.

Li Nuo continued, "But the Ministry of Rites felt that the court and the martial arts world were not in an antagonistic relationship. As an important force in the local area, the court should pay enough attention to the martial arts world and actively establish connections with it. It was under the unremitting persistence of the Ministry of Rites that this martial arts conference was held, and some grandmaster privileges were won for the predecessors present here."

Under the gaze of everyone, Li Nuo continued to speak.

"The imperial court's funding is limited. In order to save a little money, the Ministry of Rites wants to make every penny count. This Wulin Village was renovated on the basis of the Imperial Examination Hall. Although the living quarters are a bit simple, the Ministry of Rites has tried its best to make everything perfect. The chef who cooks here is invited from the palace, and all the ingredients are also purchased fresh from outside on the same day..."

"The Ministry of Rites did all this to ensure that everyone would live comfortably and eat happily during the conference, but to be honest, I was disappointed to see so much food being wasted..."

Li Nuo pointed outside and said solemnly: "Let's not talk about far away places. In Chang'an City, there are many people who can hardly fill their stomachs with three meals a day. It's hard to drink a bowl of porridge every day. But here, many people only take a bite of the cakes carefully made by the imperial chef and then throw them aside..."

As soon as these words were spoken, several hands in the pastry area that were about to pick up a few different pastries to taste them slowly put down their hands.

Some young disciples from small sects lowered their heads silently, with expressions of shame on their faces.

Li Nuo continued, "The Ministry of Revenue has been strongly opposed to the Wulin Conference since the beginning. If the officials of the Ministry of Revenue knew that Wulin Village was wasting food and the court's funding, they would definitely impeach the Ministry of Rites. By then, I'm afraid that this first Wulin Conference would also be the last..."

Those disciples from various sects who wasted food buried their heads even lower.

Silence, a long silence.

You could hear a pin drop in the entire cafeteria.

The young disciples from various sects did not dare to breathe a single breath. Even the great masters of each sect seemed to have returned to their youth, when they were being reprimanded by the elders of their sect.

He was obviously young, his face was still childish, his tone was not heavy, and he was even still a novice...

But what he said was so powerful.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Nuo spoke again, breaking the silence, saying: "Every meal should be appreciated. I hope today's incident will not happen again. After lunch, anyone who wastes food will be required to reflect on their mistakes in the confinement room for an hour. If a disciple makes a mistake, the masters of each sect will also be punished. This will serve as a warning to them..."

After saying that, he walked out on his own.

After a long time, sounds began to be heard in the cafeteria.

The disciples and elders of Sanqing Sect, Shushan, and the Five Mountains Sword Sect did not have any other feelings, because they did not waste food, thanks to the sect's strict daily management.

The disciples from the second-rate sects all lowered their heads, feeling ashamed and blaming themselves.

The masters of each sect were even more upset.

We have come a long way and have ended up in Chang'an, where we have lost face.

Look at the disciples of those famous sects, and then look at them, the difference is obvious.

"What are you all doing with your heads down? Are you eating?"

"I can't finish it. What's the point of taking so much if I can't finish it?"

"Whoever takes the food must eat it all. If you can't finish it, take it away. When you have finished it, come here to eat!"

"What a shame, you're waiting to go back!"

"You have brought shame upon our sect!"

…

After dinner, the masters of each sect took their disciples to the self-reflection room.

Wasting food is wrong no matter where you go.

Having experienced being caught for spitting, littering, and walking around the streets at night, they have subconsciously formed the idea that Chang'an has many rules.

It seems reasonable to be punished and asked to reflect on yourself for wasting food.

It would be shameful if only my family was punished.

But apart from a few large sects, almost all the remaining small sects were not spared, so it didn't feel so shameful when everyone was punished together.

The relatively spacious closed room seemed extremely crowded with so many people rushing in at once.

The entire closed room was filled with the voices of the masters scolding their disciples.

At this time, inside the Li Mansion.

Li Nuo was sitting in the yard, drawing something on a piece of rice paper. Out of curiosity, Su Qing walked forward and took a look. Her face turned red at the first moment and she spat secretly, wondering why he was drawing such an indecent thing.

But when she took a second look, she was slightly startled and sensed a sense of familiarity.

The lines on the body of the naked woman on the paper seem to be a diagram of the meridians in the Jade Purity Heart Technique.

Why did he draw the meridian diagram of Yuqing Heart Technique? Did he want to crack Yuqing Heart Technique?

Su Qing didn't dare to look anymore and left silently.

She didn't believe that a kid under twenty years old could do something that so many predecessors of the Sanqing Sect had failed to do.

But this incident was caused by her, and she was worried that after Li Nuo failed, he would see her and blame her.

Besides being satisfied with her son-in-law, she was also a little afraid of him.

Thinking of the horrific scene of him scolding those masters just now, she slid even faster...

(End of this chapter)