Xu Wen looked at the stars for a while, and soon a cloud came over and covered the sky, and he gradually fell asleep.

Not long after he slept, he was forced to wake up.

It's raining.

The pouring rain poured down on their heads, sweeping away the residual heat of the day, and also pouring them all cold.

"Wow, wow, what's leaking!" Lu Cheng shouted and jumped up, sweeping around where he could hide from the rain.

"It's not a good place to sleep, and the places that can keep out the rain are all inhabited by horses. Zhou Zhicheng also got up and said with a wry smile.

"People are not as good as horses......" Lu Cheng nagged, wiped his face, and got into the depths of the stable.

Xu asked them to follow in.

Although they had been called horse shed candidates before, the place where they lived was actually on the outer edge of the horse shed, a small shed with barely extra grass to put grass, which could shelter from the wind on all sides, but the overhead could only block the light rain and the heavy rain.

But the place was far away from the horses, it was cleaner, and it didn't smell too much. Now as soon as I entered it, the obvious stench hit my face.

Lu Cheng's face wrinkled into a bun, pinched his nose and reluctantly sat down in a slightly ventilated place, and sighed mournfully: "Why are you so unlucky, you have to take the exam tomorrow." ”

Xu Sanqian knew that they were not as squeamish as him, so they picked up the tools and took the initiative to start cleaning, first clearing out a place for Senior Brother Zhou to sleep - Master Feng had his own place to go and was not with them - and cleaned a clean place called Xu Wen.

Zhou Zhicheng looked at it with some surprise. In his thoughts, it is normal for the junior brother to be filial to the senior brother, how did this old wood yard turn upside down?

Of course he didn't know that in the past year, the old wood field had taught Xu Wen even Tianqing, and Xu Wen would teach them again. In Xu San's eyes, Xu Wen is half of their master, and the gratitude and respect in their hearts can only be expressed in this way.

Xu Wen shook his head and said, "Together." ”

Lu Cheng sat in the corner, seemingly a little embarrassed, and after a while, he also silently picked up the tool......

"Bad luck, bad luck. Lu Cheng grimaced and sorted out his package.

After the rain and the stable was cleaned, it was impossible not to get the clothes dirty. Each of them had brought only a change of clothes, which was now also wet and stained with the stench of horse manure. But apart from this, they have nothing to change.

"Hurry up, sleep for a while after you do it, and take the exam tomorrow!" Zhou Zhicheng reminded.

The big guys all changed their clothes and slept in their clothes, Lu Cheng pondered for a while, still wearing dirty clothes, and carefully propped up the clean clothes to a more breathable place outside. You can always blow away the stench a little bit in one night, right?

It was early in the morning, and not long after I slept, it was gradually noisy outside, and some people who were going to hurry were coming to the stable to lead the horses on the road.

The apprentices of Yao's Mufang were forced to get up and avoid going outside to wash, and then Lu Cheng screamed again: "My clothes!"

His clothes were dragged to the ground at one end, stained with grass clippings and horse manure, and the sleeve was being chewed by a horse at the other end.

"Evil animal, what is delicious in my clothes!Look, it's all dirty, what can I do!" Lu Cheng wanted to cry without tears.

Xu Wen wanted to laugh a little, and he handed him the set he had changed out of yesterday: "It should be cleaner than yours, so let's wear it." ”

He is still much more particular than these ancient people, and the clothes he changes are cleaner than theirs.

Lu Cheng found out, took it and put it on, and thanked him again and again: "Thank you so much, thank you so much, please eat when you go back!"

A group of people finally took care of it and left the mansion and walked in the direction of the county government examination room.

The sky seemed to have been washed by water, shining blue, and the slightest hint of white clouds fluttered in the middle, shining in the sun.

Xu Wen glanced up at the sky, and when he lowered his head, he suddenly saw a plaque on the door of the mansion, on which the words "Ziyi Club" were clearly written.

Xu Wen pronounced these four words and asked, "What does this mean?"

Zhou Zhicheng was obviously illiterate, but he also looked up and took a look.

"The Ziyi Club is the base camp of all the water and wood craftsmen in the Wuyue area, and it is also the protection/umbrella of all the craftsmen who do this business. It's called Ziyi Club here, and it's also called Ziyi Club in Beijing, Nanyue, and Western Xinjiang!"

Zhou Zhicheng's voice was not loud, but he was loud, and his expression was full of pride.

Wuyue, Beijing, Nanyue, Western Xinjiang?

When Xu Wen heard these four geographical terms, he immediately became interested.

He didn't know the current affairs in the countryside, and he never knew what era he came in, which was also normal. As a result, now that he is in the county town and participates in a large-scale exam such as the apprenticeship test, he still doesn't know what era he is in.

He is not familiar with history, and the words of the people walking on the street, the clothes they wear, and the official examination system are obviously clues, but he can't judge them at all.

He only vaguely felt that he had never heard of such a thing as an apprenticeship in any dynasty in history class.

He really wanted to inquire, but he was afraid of revealing a flaw, so he didn't know where to start.

Now when he heard Zhou Zhicheng say four terms, he thought to himself: Wu Yue, isn't that the location of the old Qing Dynasty mansion in Wanyuan City? What does it have to do with this world?

Zhou Zhicheng was still talking about things related to the Ziyi Club, and Xu Wen sounded a little conceptual.

This Ziyi Club is probably the trade union organization of water and wood craftsmen in this area of this era.

They enter the club through certain procedures and qualifications, form a local group, exchange resources, and accept its management and shelter.

This may not be beneficial, but in places like Beijing, Nanyue, and Western Xinjiang, the benefits are obvious. They can use the power of "organization" to compete with the artisan forces in other places, grow and grow, and monopolize the work.

Under this continuous group advantage, the craftsmen have a strong sense of collective honor and belonging to the organization, and are willing to accept its management to a certain extent.

In this kind of organization, management is always better than no management, so the two sides have formed a good virtuous circle, and the advantages of the club are more and more obvious.

Speaking of which, the person who wrote these four words is also very unusual. ”

Zhou Zhicheng looked at the plaque and said with some reverence.

"Who?"

"It must be a master, right?"

The apprentices asked one after another, and Xu Wen was also very interested.

"That's ......" Zhou Zhicheng was about to continue, when there was a sudden sound of footsteps next to him, followed by a few complaints.

"Why does it stink, where does it smell from?"

"Wow, it stinks!

Xu Wen looked over there and found that it was another group of candidates. They were flat-headed, well-dressed, and had just come out of the clubhouse and were passing by them.

They smelled the smell and were looking around, and before they saw them coming, Xu San and they had already lowered their heads, showing a look of shame.

Zhou Zhicheng closed his mouth and was about to take them away quickly, but at this time, a few more people passed by, heard the words of those candidates, and saw Xu asking them, and sneered and said, "Can't you smell this?" ”

"Yes, the horse shed candidates who came in through the back door have no place to live, so they can only sleep in the horse manure heap, haha!"

Xu Wen recognized these people, who were also candidates, and they had seen it the afternoon before yesterday, and the workshop they were in seemed to be called Dongdu Muxuan, which was a third-level workshop.

When they pointed at them, everyone looked at Xu and asked them, and they exchanged their heads and ears, with different expressions on their faces.

Questioning, ridiculing, contemptuous, indifferent......

Now is the time for the candidates to go to the examination room, and there are a lot of people passing by the gate of the Ziyi Club.

It was really a very uncomfortable thing to be looked at by so many people with such eyes, Xu Wen glanced around, and almost everyone had red cheeks and didn't dare to raise their heads. They cherish the opportunity to take the exam, but instinctively they don't want to be called "backdoor".

"Ignore them, hurry up and leave......" Zhou Zhicheng was also embarrassed and whispered.

The others were also eager to hurry away, and they quickened their pace to walk outside.

As a result, at this time, Xu Wen suddenly stopped, turned around, faced the candidate from Muxuan in the Eastern Capital, and asked in a loud voice: "I don't understand one thing a little, and I want to ask Brother Ren for advice." ”

Zhou Zhicheng looked at Xu Wen nervously, wanting to stop him from talking, but felt that it was not good to demolish the stage for him at this time. was hesitating, the person from Dongdu Muxuan spoke arrogantly: "What's the matter?"

"I don't quite understand what Brother Ren just said about going through the back door, can you make it clearer?" Xu Wen's voice was neither high nor low, but the penetrating power was very strong, and it was clearly transmitted all around.

At this time, two middle-aged men in official robes and two middle-aged men in short combat costumes had just crossed the threshold when they happened to hear Xu Wen's questioning. They followed Xu Wen's gaze and looked at the person from Dongdu Muxuan.

The man laughed mockingly, opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly realized something and closed his mouth.