It was a fine day, and the warm autumn sun shone on the teenagers, making them feel particularly comfortable.
However, they seemed to be affected by the surrounding atmosphere, and their expressions became serious. As soon as Master Yang finished speaking, the attitudes of the masters and apprentices in the various wood yards suddenly became serious. They instantly realized that the Yao Clan Wood Workshop attached great importance to this monthly evaluation.
Master Yang looked around and waved his hand gently. Two apprentices carried a large wooden token and planted it under the stone platform.
Xu Wen stood in line and watched with interest.
Whether it was this monthly assessment or the scoring principle, it felt very advanced and was not much different from the era he was in.
Especially this wooden board. It was obviously used for publicity, which was the same as the white board commonly used in modern companies.
Sure enough, there were five wooden signs pasted on the white board, which read " Redwood, Cypress, Fraxinus mandshurica, Beech, Old Wood."
Obviously, these five wooden tablets represented the five wooden fields of the Yellow Square.
Huang Zi Fang except the old wood yard, although the name of a single wood, but the management of wood inside is not limited to these four kinds.
For example, Redwood Farm mainly manages more expensive and rare wood, including Phoebe, Sandalwood, Acid Branch, Pear Wood, Chicken Wing Wood and so on.
The same is true of cypress trees, manchurian ash and other wood farms. In fact, four to six different kinds of wood are included in one kind of wood.
Therefore, when the apprentices entered the corresponding wood yard, they had to learn to identify more than one type of wood. Today, they were also testing all the types of wood managed by the field.
In fact, this is one of the reasons why the old lumberyard has the lowest score in the past.
Among the other four wood farms, beech farms had the most varieties, with a total of six varieties.
And what about the old lumber yard?
All the wood stored here was waste wood collected from various places. Some of them were found from unknown places. Even Master Yao might not be able to accurately identify them. There were more types of wood here than the other four lumberyards combined.
To identify so many pieces of wood accurately, his knowledge and judgment are far beyond the ability of ordinary carpenters.
In the past, other lumberyards competed in strength. The apprentices of the old lumberyards competed in luck, so their results were naturally the worst.
The wooden tablet stood still, and Master Yang struck the pan again. In the melodious voice, his words spread to the entire square.
"The first item, identifying wood!"
Next to him, a young man dressed in a bunt held a directory and read aloud: "Redwood Field, Master Hong Tiezhu!"
A middle-aged man slowly walked up to the stone platform in the redwood field array located in the southeast.
There was a stone pillar in front of the stone platform, and on the stone pillar was a tray filled with wooden tokens as thick as a finger.
Hong Tiezhu casually drew one and read aloud,"Second character number twelve."
"B-word number twelve!"
An even louder voice spread to the back. Soon, a piece of wood wrapped in yellow cloth was sent to Hong Tiezhu.
Hong Tiezhu took it and opened the yellow cloth. He touched it carefully and said firmly," Red sandalwood."
"Red sandalwood! Correct!"
Master Yang nodded slightly at Hong Tiezhu and personally wrote the first three strokes of the character below the redwood field on the wooden tablet.
"Bai Muchang, Master Tian Sanbao!"
"Boxwood, correct!"
" Beech Farm, Master Jin Wuji!"
"Ironwood, correct!"
"..."
Everyone is familiar with these processes and they move very quickly.
All the examiners in front were masters. They stepped forward one by one and could immediately recognize the wood after looking at it. The first round was about to end, and almost every wooden field had half an extra word at the bottom of the nameplate.
"Old Woodyard, Master Lian Tianqing!"
Even the master came forward, drew the same cards, and sent the same yellow cloth wood to him.
He took the cloth and did not open it. He only weighed it with his hand and said directly,"Chicken wing wood."
He didn't do things according to the usual rules. Several shopkeepers beside him were a little stunned. Master Yang pointed out that the situation was not good. He quickly said," Check the number!"
A young man came back to his senses, hurriedly turned over the bill, and said strangely,"Yes, it's chicken wing wood!"
Master Lian nodded very casually, handed back the wood, turned around and walked back.
The people beside him had probably never seen such a scene before, and they were all a little stunned.
Master Yang immediately shouted,"Chicken wing wood, correct!" Three points for the old woodyard!"
Xu Wen was also stunned. He had always known that Master Lian was very powerful, but now, he didn't even need to see it with his own eyes. He could directly make a correct judgment through the cloth?
He didn't even think that there was such an ability in the world.
His heart skipped a beat.
He was sent to this place by Jing Cheng. Does that mean that as long as he has the ability, he can also have such ability?
Xu Wen let out a long sigh of relief. He raised his head and saw that someone had placed the unopened piece of wood on the stone platform and handed it to Master Yao.
Master Yao lifted the yellow cloth and sighed. He discussed with the people beside him.
Even Master didn't turn his head and returned directly to the array of the old wood yard. He stood aside with his arms folded.
His eyes fell on Xu Wen and he suddenly asked,"You're going up today, you know?"
"I am now a part of the old lumberyard. It should be like this." Xu Wen nodded.
"Yes." Master Lian nodded lightly and did not say anything else.
In the first round, the masters were tested. Their strength was beyond doubt. Everyone successfully identified the wood they had drawn, and the name of each wood yard increased by three points.
The second round was still the master. Xu Wen noticed that the masters of other wood farms were usually two or three people, and only their old wood farm was in charge of Master Lian.
Therefore, the second round of the old wood field is Xu San play, he is a little nervous, touched for a long time before saying is a piece of cypress. When he was finally confirmed to be correct, he heaved a sigh of relief and sweat began to pour down his forehead.
Third round, fourth round, fifth round…
From the third round onwards, all the other woodyards had apprentices on stage.
These apprentices had been around for a long time and had a lot of experience. But Xu Wen found that their ability to distinguish wood was high and low, not as strong as imagined.
Especially for Fraxinus mandshurica. Even the first two apprentices recognized him for a long time, and the second one was mistaken.
Xu Wen swept his gaze around and found that the disciples in this field had become very nervous because of this. Several people were muttering as if they were reviewing.
"This must be Master Liu's disciple." Beside Xu Wen, Qu Si Niu, the disciple of Old Wood Farm, was secretly gossiping with him.
"Hmm?"
"Master Liu is stingy. He has three things he doesn't teach. The disciple is not considerate and does not teach, does not understand the rules and does not teach, does not pay tribute and does not teach. It would be good if half of his disciples could learn something."
"No tribute, no education. What tribute is this?"
"Give me the money. As long as the family has money, Master Liu likes gold and silver the most…"Qu Siniu whispered.
"So brazen?" Xu Wen was a little surprised.
"Not explicitly, of course, but everyone knows it." Qu Siniu pouted.
"Our master is still the best. As long as you ask, he will teach you." said another apprentice from the old lumberyard.
"Keep your voice down. Don't talk anymore." Xu San, who was standing at the front of the team, turned his head to remind them.
As time passed, the assessment progressed more slowly.
From the whispers of the people around him, Xu Wen gradually understood that it was not easy for apprentices in ancient times to learn things.
It usually takes half a year for a prospective apprentice to start and become a formal apprentice.
The first year of an official apprentice was usually a chore, and it was difficult to get into contact with real work. Even the opportunity to watch is not, how to talk about learning.
From the second year onwards, the apprentices could begin to learn, but whether they could learn anything and how much they could learn depended on their master.
Whether the master was generous or not, and whether the disciple could please the master, were all very critical factors.
Moreover, ancient times also stressed that "teach disciples, starve master", master usually will keep one hand and two hands unique skills, easily never teach.
So,"Master leads the way, cultivation is in the individual." Apprenticeship was only the beginning. To learn true skills, luck and personal effort were indispensable.
On the wooden board, the scores of each wood yard gradually widened.
The highest score was the beech field.
On the one hand, this is because there are many differences in the various types of wood managed by beech farms, which is easier to distinguish; on the other hand, it is also because Master Jin of beech farms is easy-going and generous to his disciples.
The second place was Redwood Field and Cypress Field. The scores on both sides were very close, and it was difficult to distinguish between high and low.
It wasn't easy for Redwood Field to obtain this ranking.
For one thing, the wood managed by Redwood Farm is relatively precious, and usually it will not be taken out casually for disciples to practice; for another, it is expensive, and there are many counterfeits, so it is much more difficult to identify than other wood.
The fourth place was Fraxinus mandshurica field. The old wood field's score was closer to theirs, but it still fell to the bottom.
"I'm sorry, Master…"
Qu Siniu also admitted his mistake and came back very ashamed to say to Master Lian.
"Go back and recite the difference between ironwood and chicken wing wood fifty times and memorize it." Master Lian did not look at him and said indifferently.
"Yes!"
Sometimes punishment is better than no punishment, and that's how it is now. Hearing Master Lian's words, Qu Siniu not only did not feel depressed, but immediately cheered up.
As time passed, almost all the members of the five woodyards accepted the first test and stood aside.
In the end, there were only five people left on the original field. They were Xu Wen, Lu Cheng and the other five.
Master Yang lowered his head, glanced at them, and said loudly: "Although the five of you have not yet entered the sect, you should be confident after learning from various woodyards for so many days. Today, you will also become a part of each wood field, accept the assessment, and your scores will be included in each field. The first is Beech Farm, Liu Ada!"
Liu Ada stepped forward, and several of his brothers from Beech Farm patted him on the back to encourage him. It seemed that the atmosphere was indeed good.
But his luck was not very good, he was assigned a piece of elm, it is similar to beech, Liu Ada unfortunately mistaken. He returned unhappily, and his fellow disciples were also a little disappointed, but they still comforted him.
He Ping from cypress farm and Chen Tie from Fraxinus mandshurica followed, and both of them were mistaken.
Xu Wen raised his head and saw Master Yao looking at them. He frowned slightly and looked disappointed.
Could it be that he had come to Huang Zi Fang specially for them today?
" Redwood Farm, Lu City!"
Lu Cheng smiled and responded. He acted very modest, but Xu Wen had understood him very well during this period of time. He could tell that he was hiding a trace of complacency deep inside.
He had a reason for his complacency. He had drawn an old piece of redwood.
Lu Cheng carefully touched their surfaces, pondered them carefully against the light, and said their names with great certainty.
"This is sour branch wood!"
The young man with the bill quickly answered affirmatively,"It is indeed sour wood."
Master Yang smiled at Lu Cheng and asked,"How long have you been in the sect?"
" I haven't been lucky enough to get started yet. It's been five days since I entered the Redwood Field to learn."
"Acid branch wood has new and old points, the new wood is red and yellow, there are patterns; the old wood is red and brown, the luster is darker, there is fragrance, and it is very similar to red sandalwood. You're talented to be able to distinguish correctly so quickly." Master Yang smiled.
"Thank you for your praise, Master!" Lu Cheng was so excited that his face turned red.
Master Yang nodded slightly and drew three strokes below the redwood field on the wooden board, just finishing up a complete character.
As soon as this word was written, Redwood Field's score officially surpassed Cypress Field, ranking second. Lu Cheng could be considered to have built merit for Redwood Field.
" Next, Xu Wen, Old Wood Farm!"
Immediately after, Master Yang's voice rose again.