……

……

Under Xu Qingyan's constant waving of the fan, the time for half a pillar of incense soon came.

In the end, there are only three masters who can find the correct key within half a pillar of incense!

The first person is Niu Fude, this person used to run an errand under the governor of Liaodong, and is the only one who is proficient in military strategy among the masters, when looking for the key to unlock, Niu Fude seems to be very organized, and under Xu Qingyan's continuous interference, he is still calm and calm, and through the inductive analysis of categories and looking for rules, he quickly found the right key. In addition, although he was the first person to successfully unlock the lock, he didn't show too much excitement after the lock, just stood aside, quietly observing the performance of others, with some scrutiny and pickiness in his eyes.

Obviously, this person not only found the right key in the shortest possible time, but also discovered the true purpose of Zhao Junchen's assessment, so after Niu Fude completed the assessment, he also took the opportunity to observe the performance of the rest of the people - after all, these people will be his colleagues in the future, and knowing one or two in advance is also of great benefit to Niu Fude.

The second person's name is Ouyang Bo, this person is not very old, about thirty-seven or eighteen years old, he looks quite capable, in the face of Zhao Junchen's assessment, Ouyang Bo did not rush to do it, but seriously considered it for a moment, it seemed that he was looking for the best method, and after he found the right method, his movements were extremely agile and capable-he was not the fastest person to think of the right method, but after thinking of the right method, his completion speed was the fastest - Obviously, Ouyang Bo was a person who planned and then moved. A person who will firmly implement a decision once he has a decision in his heart is not only cautious and serious. And he has a strong personality and is full of self-confidence.

The third person is named Li Chuanwen, and this person is Su Xiqing's most admired figure. The prestige is extremely high, and it has been reused by two governors. Extremely experienced, at the same time, he is also the oldest of all the masters, and now he is nearly sixty years old, he is considered to be the ancestor of the master's industry, he was originally retired, but Su Xiqing was a three-time thatched house, and he was promised to make heavy profits, so he finally invited him to Zhao Junchen.

However, Li Chuanwen is old. But his mind is still sharp, and he is much calmer than the rest of the masters, after encountering Xu Qingyan's interference, he is also the only one who has not changed his expression, and quickly found the right method, after summarizing, he seriously tried every key that may be correct, did not miss any trace of possibility, in addition, his grasp of time is also extremely accurate. The movement seemed steady and slow, but when he tried every key that might be right, it was time for the half-pillar incense to end!

In fact, Li Chuanwen's luck was excellent. When he tried to pick the lock, the third key he encountered was the correct key, and he opened the lock without any problems. It can be said that Li Chuanwen unlocked the lock earlier than Niu Fude, but Li Chuanwen did not mean to compete for the first place. Instead, try all the remaining keys to prevent a second correct key from appearing. Although it turns out that he is doing this redundantly, Li Chuanwen's cautious and steady style of not fighting for merit still makes Zhao Junchen feel extremely admired!

It can be said that Niu Fude, Ouyang Bo, and Li Chuanwen all performed well in this test, and their advantages in ability, temperament, scheming, etc. were also fully displayed.

Then, when the time of a stick of incense was about to end, more than a dozen masters completed the assessment one after another, these masters' abilities, temperament, scheming, etc., are worse than Niu Fude, Ouyang Bo, and Li Chuanwen, but they are also rare talents, if nothing else, they will be the backbone of Zhao Junchen's staff team in the future!

As for the remaining masters who did not complete the assessment within the agreed time, they all showed some disadvantages more or less, or their personalities were not calm enough, or they were not serious enough, or their observation was not meticulous enough, these people were not enough to entrust them with important tasks, and their status under Zhao Junchen would be more marginal in the future.

It's just that when the time of a pillar of incense was about to end, a sudden accident caught everyone's attention.

*

Among the thirty-seven masters, the oldest and highest-ranking person is naturally Li Chuanwen, and the youngest and least qualified person is named Li Lun, who is now only twenty-nine years old.

In fact, Li Lun is Li Chuanwen's only son, although his qualifications are very shallow, but he is intelligent, clever and thoughtful by nature, and he has also done his best to Li Chuanwen's true biography!

Originally, Li Chuanwen did not want Li Lun to inherit his career and become a master, but hoped that Li Lun could gain fame and enter the official career seriously, after all, the status of the master is really embarrassing, half official and half civilian, and sandwiched between the government and the people, neither too much oil and water, but also easy to get angry at both ends, which is not a good way out.

However, although Li Lun is smart and proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics, he himself is extremely not good at Baguwen, and his calligraphy is crooked and unsightly, so Li Lun's road to the imperial examination is naturally defeated repeatedly.

Helplessly, when Li Lun was twenty-nine years old, that is, this year, Li Chuanwen finally accepted his fate, no longer forced Li Lun to take the exam, and was ready to let Li Lun inherit the family business and become a master like himself, so that at least he could ensure that he had no worries about food and clothing.

At this time, Su Xiqing appeared, but Su Xiqing's target was naturally not Li Lun, but the prestigious Li Chuanwen, who wanted to invite Li Chuanwen out of the mountain to assist Zhao Junchen! It's a pity that Li Chuanwen is old, has been retired for many years, and doesn't plan to go to the troubled waters of officialdom again, so he resolutely rejected Su Xiqing's invitation.

After Su Xiqing was repeatedly frustrated, he finally hit Li Lun with his idea.

In order to invite Li Chuanwen out of the mountain, after Su Xiqing consulted Zhao Junchen, he solemnly promised Li Chuanwen that if Li Chuanwen was willing to go out of the mountain to assist Zhao Junchen, then Zhao Junchen would also promote Li Lun, and when the time was right, he would also recommend Li Lun to enter the Guozijian and make Li Lun a prisoner!

In the end, for the sake of Li Lun's future, Li Chuanwen finally changed his attention and decided to go out of the mountain to assist Zhao Junchen - otherwise, with Li Chuanwen's qualifications, even if Zhao Junchen personally invited him, he might not be able to succeed - pity the parents of the world.

So, Li Lun followed Li Chuanwen to the ancestral house of the Zhao family, and also became the staff hired by Zhao Junchen, and also accepted Zhao Junchen's assessment!

In addition, because Li Lun was the youngest, Zhao Junchen paid special attention to Li Lun, and during the assessment, Zhao Junchen also focused on observing Li Lun's performance.

At the beginning, Li Lun's performance was also very satisfactory to Zhao Junchen, his mind was very smart and quick-witted, among the thirty-seven masters, he was almost the first to find the right method, and his movements were capable, his expression was calm, and he was not disturbed too much by Xu Qingyan!

It stands to reason that Li Lun should be the fourth master to complete the assessment within half a pillar of incense, even in the worst case, the time of one stick of incense is enough for him to complete the assessment.

However, the time of half a pillar of incense passed, and Li Lun failed to complete the assessment! The time for a stick of incense is about to end, and Li Lun still hasn't completed the assessment!

Such an abnormal situation also attracted Zhao Junchen's attention, and under Zhao Junchen's careful observation, it was found that Li Lun's method was undoubtedly correct, and Li Lun also tried every possible key more than once, it can be said that Li Lun did everything he should have done and did not make a mistake, but Li Lun just couldn't open the lock for a long time.

Seeing that the time for a stick of incense was about to end, Li Lun's expression was still calm, and his expression became more and more focused, but his increasingly tightly locked brows and the fine sweat on his forehead still showed Li Lun's increasingly anxious mood.

Observing Li Lun's performance, Zhao Junchen suddenly thought of a possibility, turned his head to Xiao Wenxuan and asked, "Wenxuan, are you sure that the key assigned by Li Lun is not wrong?" Could it be that there was a mistake in the busyness, and the correct key was not put in those 100 keys? ”

After hearing Zhao Junchen's questioning, Xiao Wenxuan didn't dare to slack off, and after taking two steps forward, he carefully observed all the keys in front of Li Lun.

After a while, Xiao Wenxuan's expression changed slightly, and he turned his head to Zhao Junchen and accused: "It's because his subordinates were not well prepared and didn't check carefully, as your lord guessed, Li Lun didn't assign the right keys, and the hundred keys he got were all wrong!" I think there are too many keys, and the people below have made mistakes in the distribution of keys, but the subordinates, as the person in charge, have neither noticed this in time, nor have they checked in detail, so there is such a big mistake, and please punish the adult. ”

Zhao Junchen shook his head helplessly, and glanced at the incense burner.

At this time, there is only a little bit of fine incense left in the incense burner, and seeing that the time is about to end, there is no way to make up for it.

However, at this moment, Li Lun suddenly got up, left his table and chair, and turned around and walked towards the flower bed next to him.

Then, I saw Li Lun pick a stone from the flower bed, put the lock on the ground, picked up the stone and smashed it at the lock!

With a sound of "Peng", the lock was smashed open!

At the same time, the incense in the incense burner was completely burned out!

Such a loud noise naturally attracted everyone's attention!

Under everyone's attention, Li Lun's expression was still calm, and he said slowly: "Lord Zhao's topic is to find the key to open the lock, and now I have finally opened the lock, and the key is ...... That's it! ”

As he spoke, Li Lun raised the stone in his hand.

Looking at Li Lun's unexpected performance, Zhao Junchen not only did not feel angry because of Li Lun's rule-breaking behavior, but laughed and said, "Not bad...... Dare to break the rules, is a talent! ”

……

…… (To be continued......)