Just like Master Qin's work, the process of making this round stool is quite complicated.

It is the most common type of round stool with a corset.

The so-called corset, that is, a concave one in the lower direction of the stool surface, is like a beauty tying a belt, which makes the ordinary round stool more varied.

The girdle can be changed by the craftsman in many ways, and this round stool is embossed in this section. The relief is a swaying plum blossom, which happens to contrast with the carving of the bench surface.

Underneath the stool are square three-bent legs, and the feet are valgus horseshoe. Starting from the girdle of the round stool, the legs of the stool draw a beautiful S shape outward, and finally fall to the ground, the legs of the stool are slightly turned outward, like a horse's hooves falling on the ground, the shape is very elegant.

"There is also a bully fat here, which is used to support the part where the bench surface and the stool leg meet. The overlord made the decoration of plum blossoms, which is a round carving technique. One stool with three carvings, echoing everywhere, it is really a first-class product!"

Master Qin was full of praise for this round stool, and then began to check its mortise and tenon joints.

"This mortise and tenon joint is also well done!" his eyes were shining, and he continued to praise, "The mortise and tenon joint is exquisitely connected, one is not exposed to the wood section, the second is not to nail, the third is to be densely jointed, and the fourth is not to be filled with foreign objects." Three of the four stools were beautifully made, but unfortunately they were made in a hurry, and the seams showed a little traces, which was not perfect. ”

As he spoke, he turned the place he saw to Tang County Commander.

Sure enough, in that inconspicuous place, a little gap was clearly exposed, like an eye drilled out by insects.

"In such a hidden place, ordinary people won't pay attention to it, it shouldn't matter, right?" asked Tang County.

"We carpenters pay attention to both internal and external repair, and we can't be negligent where we don't look at the eye. Of course, this kind of place can also be filled with fish fat glue, but it has always lost its master's demeanor. "Master Qin has some regrets.

Then he took a closer look at the carvings.

One day is not a short time for making a wooden stool, but it is obviously not enough to carve so many patterns on a wooden stool.

This candidate can do this, on the one hand, his hands are indeed fast, and on the other hand, he is also blessed by paulownia.

Paulownia wood is light and soft, easy to handle, and at the same time has a very fine texture, which is very easy to carve.

But because it was done too quickly, there were inevitably some omissions in the details. However, the engraving of the bench surface is a fine brush technique, so the strokes in some places are sticky, and some corners are missing or redundant, which is very conspicuous.

Tang County ordered the left and right to be auspicious, and said: "It's a pity, this painting is quite meaningful, with a little more time, change the wood, this round stool may not be able to become a good heirloom." ”

"Hey, let me see, one, two, three, four...... Five, six, seven, eight...... This round stool has a total of eight mortise and tenon structures!" Master Qin said in surprise after inspecting the work again.

"Is it difficult?" asked Tang County Ling suspiciously.

Before that, Xu Wen finished the exam and met with the apprentices of Yao's Mufang outside the examination room.

Although there are still two days, today's exam is over, and everyone is still in a relaxed mood.

Like all candidates from ancient times to the present, they excitedly exchange the content of the exam, which is equivalent to "correct answers".

"When I look at that piece of paper, a stool, isn't that just a casual job? And the line of words next to it, every extra tenon and tenon has extra points, this question is simple!"

Qian Ming said excitedly, and the apprentices in the old wood yard next to him all nodded vigorously, and responded one after another:

"yes, I managed to stuff eight of them!"

"I'm twelve, hehe. ”

"How do you stuff a little wooden stool? Is it only I using six of them?"

There is a pair of each person, and there are really only six kinds of apprentices used, which is the least one. Then they happily exchanged ideas about what kind of operations they could do where, and they were so happy that they couldn't do it.

Lu Cheng was a little complacent at first, but he was stupid after a while.

"Who said that there is a bonus for each extra tenon, and how do I not know?" he asked blankly.

"It says along. "A humane.

"Written?"

"Yes, the line next to it is clearly written. ”

“...... Are you all literate?"

As soon as this sentence came out, everyone stopped talking. They looked at each other, then looked at Xu Wen together.

"Yes, this year, Master taught us to read and write, focusing on some carpentry-related words. Xu Wen pushed the pot on Lian Tianqing.

"Your master is literate?" Lu Cheng was shocked again.

This time, Su Jin also shut up.

After a while, Lu Cheng said wistfully, "You kid is still smart." If I knew that even my master was literate, I would, I would ......"

He "I'll" for a long time, but he still didn't say anything after all.

Xu asked to know what he was thinking.

On the other hand, he is mostly hesitating, there is a difference between the fame and status of Master Yao and Master Lian, and it is not worth exchanging literacy for this difference.

However, he will hesitate, which fully proves how difficult it is for ordinary people to want to be literate in this era......

The nine-year compulsory education system is really a great national policy.

Xu Wen unexpectedly had a deep understanding in this kind of place.

After a while, Lu Cheng finally collected his mood and asked about another thing that he was very worried about.

"You've learned so much mortise and tenon?"

His subtext is: Even the master will have so much?

The apprentices of the old Kiba glanced at each other and laughed together.

"We didn't learn it, we figured it out ourselves!" Qian Mingxin said bluntly.

“...... Figure it out for yourself?"

At this time, the expression on Lu Cheng's face was very wonderful.

He obviously didn't believe what Qian Ming said and wanted to laugh at him, but maybe because everyone had gotten along well recently, he couldn't bear it and didn't want to show it.

Looking at his expression, Xu Wen couldn't help but want to laugh a little, he remembered the first time he heard Lian Tianqing say this.

At that time, Xu Wen was digging out a wooden box from an old wooden pile.

The box is made of birch, square, unveined and unadorned, but there is not a trace of connection on the six faces, and it is completely impossible to imagine how they were put together.

Xu Wen studied it for a long time, and he couldn't figure it out, so he showed it to Lian Tianqing.

Lian Tianqing's fingers lightly tapped a few times on several parts of the wooden box, and the wooden box directly spread out and turned into a pile of parts, which was like magic.

Xu Wen was very surprised, when he checked it just now, he shook and pulled, tossed for a long time, and there was no gap in the box at all. Now even Tianqing only knocked it a few times, and the knock was not too heavy, so he directly knocked it apart?

"I don't use fish fat glue, as long as I find the stress point, it is not difficult to untie it. ”

Lian Tianqing explained, and explained to Xu Wen in detail about the wooden box, its model and its force.

Xu Wen listened and listened, and had a whim - Lego bricks, aren't they the simplest mortise and tenon structure?

This way of connecting without a single nail and purely using the structure itself is really clever and interesting.

Based on the knowledge of modern mechanics and geometry, Xu Wen quickly figured out the mystery of this wooden box. He was a little unsatisfied and asked, "I heard that Master Yao knows thirty-six tenons, this is also one of them, right?"

Lian Tianqing didn't speak, just pouted.

“...... What?" asked Xu.

"Thirty-six, hehe. Lian Tianqing sneered twice.

“...... Too little?" After getting along for a while, Xu Wen has figured out a little bit of his master's character.

"You know the dovetail, right?" asked Lian Tianqing.

"Of course. ”

Dovetail is known as the mother of mortise and tenon joints, it is very simple in itself, but it is very widely used, and many mortise and tenon structures have evolved from it. Xu Wen has been in contact with it for a long time and knows it well.

"How did the dovetail come about, have you heard of it?" asked Lian Tianqing again.

"Nope. Xu Wen shook his head.

Then, Lian Tianqing told him a very rare story.

When Master Lu Banzu wanted to build a feng shui pavilion, he encountered a technical problem in the middle and needed to find a solid connection method.

He pondered for a long time, but he never understood it.

Then he saw the opposing mouth of a fish sent by his wife, and the figure-eight tail of the wounded swallow hanging on the rope. So he put together a fish's mouth and a dovetail and invented the dovetail.

"What did you think of from this story?" asked Lian Tianqing.

Xu Wen traveled back to the time of reading comprehension in junior high school and high school Chinese class for a second, but Lian Lin Lin next to him quickly asked: "Then why is it not called Yuyan tenon, but dovetail?"

"Smack!" Lian Tianqing slapped her head, and Lian Linlin covered her head aggrievedly and shrank aside.

Xu Wen smiled, but he actually understood what Lian Tianqing meant.

This world is so ingenious, everything cannot be used, this mortise and tenon structure, how much more than thirty-six?

He also told the story to the other apprentices of the old wood yard, and after that, Lian Tianqing naturally stopped teaching them the existing mortise and tenon structure, and let them figure it out for themselves.

They looked at the heavens and the earth and looked at everything, and they really figured out a lot of things......

"Your master is actually lazy, right?" After listening to Qian Ming's explanation, Lu Cheng asked incredulously.

Qian Ming and Xu San looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"Maybe, but it really works. We figured out a lot of things, but we don't know if they have been figured out, and what their names are. Qian Ming said.

"You, what do you say? People, how can people think, can't think of it. Xu San stammered.

"Xu asked, how many kinds of tenons did you use in today's exam?" Lu Cheng asked suddenly.