The sawdust generated by the saw fell like sand particles, flowing into golden threads with the last rays of the setting sun.

Min Song picked up the piece of wood he had sawed off. According to Mo Zi’s requirements, it was about the thickness of a finger joint. Looking up, he saw that more than half of the incense stick remained compared to earlier, and felt very satisfied.

Mo Zi glanced at it but didn’t say much, only nodding before looking at the angry youth.

Min Song also looked, but almost couldn’t help laughing. Unlike himself who had stood in one spot and sawed straight down in one go, that person was sawing while circling around, cutting inward in spirals.

“Brother Mo, do we even need to see the result? He’s clearly a complete novice.”

Mo Zi raised her index finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. At such close distance, the angry youth could hear them. However, she noticed the angry youth remained unhurried, sawing here for a while, there for a bit, seemingly unaffected by Min Song’s words. She found this person rather interesting.

The incense ash fell, the sparks struggled, and the angry youth finally ground down the wood piece and handed it to Mo Zi.

Min Song leaned in to look. The surface where the saw had passed through was completely rough, as if gnawed by a dog, so he said, “Brother Mo, now you can let him go, right?”

“Why?” The angry youth didn’t understand. “I met all the requirements—a piece of wood, the thickness measured by the incense stick, and regardless of how rough the surface is, I completed it within the specified time limit. Why don’t I pass?”

Mo Zi smiled. “He’s telling you to leave, not me. Who said you didn’t pass?”

She then turned to Min Song and said, “Since Young Master Song has come to my Hongyu Cove, just demonstrate your own abilities. As for others, leave the decisions to me.”

Min Song opened his mouth, but Mo Zi was right—he indeed had no standing to point fingers and give orders.

The angry youth was even more confused, wondering if these two were being falsely polite while actually bearing grudges.

“Please follow me, both of you.” Mo Zi led the way into one of the rooms in the small building.

Min Song and the angry youth deliberately kept far apart, following one after the other. Once inside, they looked around and had never seen such a strange arrangement. Against the wall facing the door stood three white wooden boards arranged in a fan shape. Chairs were lined up in rows, lower in front and higher in the back, able to seat about thirty or forty people. Long rectangular tables were placed in front of the chairs, also arranged from low to high. Both men were simultaneously puzzled—what was this for?

Mo Zi had them sit in the front row. “I will show you a ship diagram. Before I count to sixty, try to memorize the shapes and characteristics of the numbered parts as much as possible. There are sixteen numbers in total. After that, I’ll have you feel some boards while blindfolded, and I’ll count to one hundred and eighty. You must select the boards matching those sixteen numbers within this time limit. You can take a maximum of sixteen boards. If you get more than half correct, you pass. Any questions?”

Both shook their heads.

Mo Zi flipped up the middle board, rotating it three hundred sixty degrees so the back became the front, and began counting. When a minute was up, snap—she flipped the board back over. She went to give both men blindfolds, piled the prepared template pieces in front of each of them, and then counted for three minutes.

With this touching test, for those who understood ships, it tested familiarity with ship structures; for those who didn’t understand ships, it tested memory.

As for Min Song’s side, Mo Zi didn’t even need to look. What she was more concerned about was the angry youth. If she wasn’t mistaken, the angry youth didn’t even know how to hold a saw very well, so he probably not only wasn’t from a shipwright background, but was a complete outsider. However, his mind seemed nimble, able to leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses. Therefore, she hadn’t rushed to eliminate him. Ship crafting wasn’t like martial arts practice—the basics depended on manual skills, but going further required using one’s brain, so even learning from scratch as an adult could lead to great achievement.

Observing more closely, she discovered this person was even cleverer. After feeling through once, he first selected eight template boards, and amazingly not a single one was wrong. Then he felt through again, but couldn’t be certain, and in the final thirty seconds, he almost randomly grabbed some and put them aside. If she hadn’t guessed wrong, in the short sixty seconds of viewing time, he had concentrated on memorizing eight parts with relatively distinctive shapes. Just like how he sawed the wood—it was just a clever trick, a method that could barely get by.

In the end, Min Song got all sixteen correct, while the angry youth got ten out of sixteen right, plus two lucky guesses.

Min Song, wearing the blindfold, didn’t know about the angry youth’s strategy and was slightly surprised that he had gotten ten correct.

Mo Zi naturally kept her word—both passed the second round.

“What’s the third test?” Min Song felt that although the first two tests were simple, they were designed in a novel way. Anyway, Risheng didn’t screen people like this—generally, they’d give a piece of wood, look at the knife work, and decide whether to hire or not.

“Interview.” The so-called “at a glance” meant her own eye.

“Interview?” Min Song heard another new term.

“This time it’s not tested together, but one by one. Min Song, you wait outside the door. This one—” Pointing at the angry youth, she still didn’t know his name.

“My name is Wei Qing.” His comprehension wasn’t bad either.

“Wei Qing comes out, then you can come in.” Individual interviews.

After Min Song walked out, Mo Zi looked at Wei Qing for quite a while.

Seeing her delay in speaking while staring at him, Wei Qing felt rather uncomfortable. “Manager Mo, you can speak directly if you have something to say.”

“Wei Qing, do you think I should hire you?” She needed to see how strong this person’s confidence was. “This time I’m recruiting shipwrights, not ordinary ship workers. They need to have certain experience and skills. You’ve never worked as a ship worker before, have you?”

“I can’t see any difference between so-called shipwrights and ship workers. Besides, regardless of whether I have experience or skills, I passed both of your tests. Could it be that you want to go back on your word?” Wei Qing smiled with a cynical air. “So it turns out there are many people in this world who go back on their word.”

“Now that’s not right to say. I admit you passed two tests, but this third test is in my hands, not yours to decide. Face-to-face means I talk with you eye to eye. If the talk doesn’t go well, you won’t pass the third test. Only after passing all three tests can I hire you. In other words, I need to see some of your internal qualities, not external ones. If you think I’m going back on my word because of this, there’s nothing I can do. Though Hongyu Cove is small, we absolutely don’t hire people carelessly.” She wasn’t afraid of people criticizing her behind her back. “To be honest, I can see you urgently need work. But why come to Hongyu Cove? You clearly have no experience at all—you probably never even held a saw before.”

“I’ve loved riding ships since childhood. Also, the last line in your recruitment notice said ‘welcoming the confident, ambitious, and brave.’ Although I don’t know half a skill, coming here shows courage. Passing two tests in a row shows ambition. I believe Manager Mo will regret not hiring me someday—that’s confidence.” Wei Qing chose to swallow his anger and stay rather than leave in a huff. For some reason, he felt this manager’s gaze was very sincere, without any intention of toying with people.

Mo Zi laughed heartily. “Well said!”

“Since Manager Mo says it’s good, are you hiring me?” Wei Qing’s eyes were bright.

“I can hire you, but not as a shipwright—as a ship worker, with a three-month trial period. Monthly salary of two taels of silver, room and board included, two sets of clothes issued each season. If you don’t think I’m being stingy, then stay.” She valued this person’s talent but couldn’t use him as a shipwright—it would be unfair to others.

Having come on a whim to try his luck, already prepared for elimination, he never expected to actually enter Hongyu Cove like this. In that instant, Wei Qing suddenly discovered that Heaven wasn’t so bad to him after all. Two taels of silver, food and lodging included, plus clothes issued—most importantly, he could learn real skills. This was probably the first place where he felt he could settle down in the year since he’d been wandering.

“Thank you, Manager Mo.” His heart gushed with gratitude like a spring, but only words of thanks came out. More words were useless—he’d show his effort in the days to come.

“You should thank me. If it were someone else, they’d find it hard to hire a complete outsider.” Mo Zi accepted his thanks. “However, if you don’t perform well within three months, I’ll still let you go.”

So that’s what trial period meant. Wei Qing indicated he understood.

“Next is routine procedure—understanding your personal situation.” Mo Zi opened the registry book. “Where are you from?”

“…Luo Zhou.” Wei Qing’s expression suddenly became somewhat gloomy.

Mo Zi was writing with her head down and didn’t notice his change of expression. “Since you’re from Da Zhou, do you have household registration papers?”

“…” Wei Qing stammered hesitantly.

Mo Zi noticed and looked up. “According to the regulations the government set for ship operations, if you have household registration papers, we need to see them. Do you have them with you?”

“…I do… But must you see them?” Wei Qing wasn’t encountering this requirement for the first time. He had never been willing to take them out, but he genuinely wanted this job at Hongyu Cove.

Mo Zi thought of herself still being registered under Qiu Sanniang’s name. “Wei Qing, I dare not hire escaped slaves or fugitives.”

Da Zhou’s ship operations were regularly inspected by the Ministry of Works because they controlled a vital national industry. The requirements for ship worker identities were very strict—they absolutely could not privately employ escaped slaves or fugitives. Those from other countries needed to obtain temporary household registration from the Ministry of Revenue. So she had already entrusted Yuan Cheng with the settlement issues for Ding Xiu and Niu Gao.

“I’m certainly not an escaped slave, nor a fugitive.” Though down on his luck, it was laughable that his family background wasn’t impoverished.

“Then there’s no problem. Regardless of what status you’re registered under in the household papers, as long as you haven’t violated Da Zhou’s laws, I’ll treat you the same as everyone else.” Mo Zi smiled.

But when she opened the household registration papers and looked, she was ultimately stunned. Not for any other reason, but because she never imagined this Wei Qing’s father was actually Wei Da, with whom she’d had a brief encounter. Wouldn’t that make him and Wei Sixth Miss siblings?

“You know my father?” The Wei family had been thriving these years, operating quite a few shops in the capital. Seeing Mo Zi’s surprised expression, Wei Qing’s heart sank.

“I do.” Mo Zi was very honest. “I also know your aunt was just made a secondary consort of Prince Jing’s mansion, and your sixth sister married Prince Jing’s mansion’s second young master.”

Wei Qing picked up his bundle, stood up, and was about to leave.

“Wei Qing, what are you doing?” Mo Zi sat without moving, still smiling as she looked up.

“My father has already informed everyone he knows that they absolutely cannot hire me. Manager Mo needn’t be put in a difficult position—I’ll just leave.” As for his aunt and sixth sister, they had nothing to do with him. He was merely a son of a concubine.

“Oh? But your father never informed me. I’m actually not at all familiar with him. Besides, these days, messages take half a year to a year to transmit. Your father doesn’t have such great ability to know about this, so neither you nor I need to fear him coming to find us.” Mo Zi waved the household registration papers. “Also, you forgot this. Take it and find someone called Qiu Dadong behind the small building. He’ll take you to where you’ll stay. It was just built and has the scent of wood—should be very good for sleeping. The three meals have fixed times. Just ask Uncle Qiu, but if you miss the time, there are only cold steamed buns to fill your stomach.”

“…” A trace of gratitude showed in Wei Qing’s eyes. “He won’t come looking for me.”

“So work hard then. Believe me, if you leave Hongyu Cove, it probably won’t be because of your father, but because you yourself aren’t diligent enough. I’m least likely to support lazy people because I’m a miser.” Mo Zi closed the registry. “When you go out, please call Min Song in for me. Thanks.”

Wei Qing wanted to say something but only bowed deeply, then turned and walked out with his head held high.