Three years have passed in a blink of an eye, and Yan Shuisheng has grown into a sturdy young man, plus his eyebrows and handsomeness, walking on the road, he will inevitably have a big girl and a little daughter-in-law to tease him. But in the past three years, he has developed a pair of stable hands and a calm heart. The poetry and book etiquette of elementary school gave him a faint bookish atmosphere, but there was a kind of calmness that did not match his age in his gestures, which made him even more charming.

For three years, for some reason, he has been having the same dream, in the dream he is an unknown person, every time he enters the dream, he sits naked on the treetop of a tree to sleep, and every time he wakes up, there will be a faint fishy smell in his mouth, as if he has eaten fish jelly without green onion and ginger.

He didn't tell anyone about this dream, even Changying's sister didn't say it, because it was not a glorious thing to think about sleeping on a tree with a bare butt. Moreover, he woke up every day and began to work, and until the evening, he did not have time to think about dreams.

Learning art is hard, there are no men in my uncle's family, and the craft is passed on to men but not to women, and Changying can't learn it, so my uncle will take him as a true disciple, so the requirements are particularly strict.

The apprentices brought by the carpenter master are generally his own brothers or relatives, because he knows the roots, his character and physique are understood, and he can be beaten or scolded. No matter who you take to learn carpenter, the master always requires the apprentice to learn to be a man first, otherwise the character will be bad, and the work done for the owner in the future will be shoddy and adulterated, which will break the rules and the master's craftsmanship. Therefore, in the first year of his uncle's house, Yan Shuisheng did not really come into contact with carpenter's craft, and could only help the family do some farm work.

At first, Yan Shuisheng thought that his uncle thought that he was not diligent and refused to teach him the craft. So he got up early every day to help serve his uncle's crops, planting in spring and harvesting in autumn, and he rushed to do it. Every morning when he got up, he first helped his aunt take out the ashes of the stove. The water tank at home also took the initiative to fill it with water. The pigs raised at home also help to mow the grass and feed it, and go out to manure. But after working for many months, his uncle just let him work and said nothing, which made him very indignant, and felt that he was being called as a coolie.

But then he slowly thought about it, he heard his father tell the story of Lu Ban's apprenticeship, when Lu Ban apprenticed to learn the craft, he also went through the master's repeated tests, and only after many hardships did he learn a skill. So, he also regarded these as his uncle's tests, since it was a test, there would always be a deadline, and he was no longer in a hurry to learn the real craft, but after finishing his work, he sat in the yard and studied the leftovers that his uncle made of large pieces.

There are a lot of leftovers left over from the previous work in the yard of my uncle's house, and I heard my aunt say that there were more of them before, and a lot of them were burned as firewood, all of which were left over from my uncle's work before.

The good material for the big piece of wood is money, and he can't use it, but the leftovers are fine, so he starts to use the leftovers to figure it out on his own. I learned the same way my uncle used to cut piers with an axe, and then planks into planks with a planer, and wanted to make something by himself.

When he began to do this, his uncle stopped snubbing him and began to correct his use of tools. He also began to learn some wood knowledge and the use of various carpenter's tools.

He later asked his uncle why he didn't teach himself in the first place, and he told him that carpenters do delicate work, pay attention to calmness, and do not make any mistakes. If the hair is rough and rough, casually under the line saw, then a waste is a good material, not to mention a waste of money, but also smashed the master's signboard, so, the apprentice enters the door, must first grind the temperament.

As his temperament gradually stabilized, he gradually learned some of the basics of the carpenter's trade. Carpenters are divided into full-time carpenters and full-time carpenters. The former, also known as rough carpenters, can build houses and cut materials, beams, rafters, purlins, doors and windows, as well as cabinets, boxes, tables, chairs, benches, pestles, tables, cabinets, beds and other rough furniture and agricultural tools. The latter has gradually mastered one or several types of carpentry in long-term practice, and has a high level of skill and fame. Specialized carpenters include square carpenters, round carpenters, and carpenters in the carving department, who do all the fine work, such as carpentry carving and engraving skills, as well as painting wooden furniture, inlaying luodian, removing red, and coloring, etc., which are skills that carpenters cannot master.

My uncle learned the craft from an old carpenter, and this old carpenter was my aunt's father and uncle's father-in-law. After learning other people's crafts and marrying other people's daughters, my uncle is still quite complacent every time he talks about it, saying that he finally didn't suffer those three years in vain.

My uncle had a lot of work, and almost every once in a while, someone came to ask him to work. He is also quite famous in this area, and most of the dowry furniture of the girls who have married in the past ten years have been made by him.

A good door can be thrown off for 40 years, and a good cabinet can be kept for 300 years. As a dowry, the furniture must be sturdy and used, that is to be used for a lifetime, the uncle's cabinets, beds I don't know if they can be used for three hundred years, but the earliest batch of use until now, I haven't heard anyone say that there is a problem.

Yan Shuisheng can now make a simple table, chair and bench out of leftovers, and repair farm tools, but his uncle says that he is still too young to even be considered a rough carpenter. He also thinks so, the layman looks at the bustle, the insider looks at the doorway, and only after entering the industry can he know how much knowledge he needs to learn to be a qualified carpenter.

The carpenter said that the simple thing is the skill of processing wood into materials and then combining them into utensils, but when you talk about it in detail, there is a lot of knowledge in it. With just the hundreds of kinds of wood, it is not easy to recognize them all. Yan Shuisheng studied with Lu Dazhuang for almost a year, and often admitted the material as wrong, which caused a burst of scolding. Different woods are suitable for different furniture, and the wood matching also pays attention to attributes, and feng shui can not clash with each other. As for whether all kinds of wood are sun-dried, shade-dried, or air-dried? Which is suitable for wedges? Which needs to be glued? Even the various mortise and tenon methods, ink fountain and thread skills, I don't know how long it will take, and he is even a little worried about whether he can learn it in three years.

The next year, after becoming familiar with the use of various woods and various tools, he began to follow his uncle to the owner's house, and this is when he really began to learn his skills.

can be taken out of the house to break into the owner's house, which proves that this apprentice has been assessed by the master and can be brought out to meet people, although he can only help to fight, but at least he can follow the master to see the workmanship throughout the whole process, which is much better than thinking about it at home.

After starting to break into the owner's house, Yan Shuisheng had more things to do, and before leaving, if he knew the address of the owner, he had to carry his uncle's toolbox to the owner in advance. Before he went to work, he had to set up the tools for his uncle. During his work, he also poured tea and handed towels to his uncle. At noon, my uncle had to take a nap, and he had to take advantage of this time to quickly sharpen the tools and repair the broken tools in time. After being tired like this, he was even more lazy to speak, but in this way, the owner praised him, saying that he was young and born white and tender, but he acted very steadily and reassuringly.

Although tired, Yan Shuisheng was very motivated, because it was the first time he saw the scenery of his uncle outside. According to legend, Luban has three apprentices, the big apprentice is the stonemason Zhang Da, who is in charge of the red line, the second apprentice is the carpenter Chen Qi, who is in charge of the black line, and the third apprentice is the bricklayer Li Chun, who is in charge of the white line. When a craftsman meets, as long as you report that your home is in charge of black lines, people will know that you are a carpenter. Those who serve Luban as a teacher are considered to be famous teachers, carpenters, stonemasons, and bricklayers all belong to the upper rank, and the owner has to take care of three meals a day, and at least one meal can be seen with meat.

Meat is rarely seen in the countryside on weekdays, and eggs are considered meaty, so most owners will scramble a bowl of eggs to entertain the craftsmen, and only a few well-off families will make a bowl of meat to support the banquet. However, my uncle has a rule, and the bowl of meat is only allowed to be seen, not eaten, so as not to embarrass the owner when he finishes cooking the next meal. Only after the work is done, can you eat the bowl of meat happily, because it is the last meal, the host will also add a few more dishes, and even serve some wine, which is also in line with the truth that bitterness comes sweetly.

Now he can only be responsible for the process of material remediation and discharging in the early stage, and the structural mortise and tenon joint is not something he can learn, so he can only remember the process by observing and remembering the process, and go back to practice with scraps, so as to use the whole material, otherwise, the craft is not proficient, and the material is wasted, but it will be sinned.

When he gave his uncle a hand, he was also carefully observing his uncle's techniques and skills, and his uncle would usually explain it to him personally when he was in a good mood, but most of the time he still let him see it by himself and ponder it by himself, he said that what he came up with was his own, otherwise it would be useless for others to talk about it.

In the third year, after following his uncle's non-stop work, Yan Shuisheng's craft progressed rapidly, he is no longer limited to processing materials, sometimes his uncle is tired of work, he can also go up to help for a while, although the craft is not as skilled as his uncle, but at least he can be regarded as a rough carpenter.

That night, after doing a single job and having a meal at the owner's house, Yan Shuisheng returned home with his uncle with a toolbox on his back.

This time, the owner is a landlord in a neighboring village, Huang Yuanwai, the family has a lot of spare money, this time to marry a daughter, the hand is very generous, and the carpenter's wages are more generous than the side family. Uncle and Yan Shuisheng also spent fifteen days to show their craftsmanship and make a good dowry with exquisite materials. Huang Yuanwai was very satisfied, and entertained the two of them for a banquet, ate the big fish and meat, and sealed two coins of broken silver as a thank you gift, and the two came back full of wine and food.

Eating a little greasy, my uncle asked my aunt to make a pot of strong tea to relieve her greasy, and sat on the Taishi chair to melt the food.

Yan Shuisheng sat on the other side of the table, holding a tea bowl and sipping tea, his movements were the same as those of his uncle.

"How long have you been studying with me?" Lu Dazhuang asked.

Yan Shuisheng counted the days and said, "In a few months, it will be three years." ”

Lu Dazhuang nodded and sighed: "It's really fast! I learned carpentry from your grandfather back then, and I was also a teacher for three years. Next month, pack up your things and go home!"