The test papers were distributed one by one.
Sun Hecheng called over two new apprentices who did not sign up for the selection process and instructed them to take out herb specimens one by one and hang them on the wall above the podium. They also labeled them with numbers. There were a total of 20 sets.
The wall lamp lit up, illuminating that wall as if it was daytime.
Sun Hecheng said in a deep voice, "These 20 medicinal herbs will be the exam questions for today. Everyone, write down the names of the medicinal herbs in the corresponding number on the blank test paper. Write down in as much detail as possible the initial steps for handling these herbs. Each medicinal herb will account for 5 points and the full marks will be 100 points. You have an hour, and your time starts now."
Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes and looked over. With his Insight talent, he had no problem identifying medicinal herbs. There was no way he would make a mistake.
The initial steps for handling such medicinal herbs referred to the preparatory work that a pharmacist needed to do before concocting a potion. One had to be meticulous in this job. For example, for basic cleaning, there were dozens of different cleaning solutions that corresponded to the various types of medicinal herbs. If the wrong cleaning fluid was used, causing the quality of the medicinal herbs to be damaged, it would definitely affect the success rate of concocting a potion. Such an assistant was definitely unqualified.
In the pharmaceutical department, there was a thick encyclopedia of pharmaceuticals. It was like the Oxford dictionary from another time and space. It was an information book for people to consult. The Encyclopedia of Pharmaceuticals did not record precious formulas, but it recorded a vast number of methods for handling medicinal herbs.
The thickness of the encyclopedia was intimidating. Many apprentices had been in the pharmaceutical department for a few years, but they did not have much knowledge. Many people had ambitious ambitions when they first entered the industry, wanting to memorize the entire encyclopedia. However, after a few months, they often found that the speed at which they forgot the knowledge was faster than their learning speed, so they could only give up resentfully.
Bai Xiaowen, who had a super-brain, was not one of these people. He flipped through the encyclopedia of pharmaceuticals once and had already imprinted more than a thousand pages of densely packed small words in his mind. His brain had already exceeded the scope of "genius" and was almost at the level of a monster. He could see it as a humanoid, self-propelled computer, and it was even a top-notch version of that.
With a rapid glance, Bai Xiaowen scanned the 20 medicinal herbs and came to a realization. The person who set the question had put in a lot of effort. The 20 ingredients ranged from easy to difficult. There were ten basic medicinal herbs, and five medicinal herbs were of a slightly more difficult standard. The last five herbs were very rare. If Bai Xiaowen had not memorized the entire encyclopedia of pharmaceuticals, he would not have been able to answer all the questions.
Fan Renjie, who was sitting at the front, wrote down his answers confidently. He was very fast and had already answered the eleventh question.
"It's only been 10 minutes and I'm already halfway done. I'm feeling confident that I can score well on this exam." Fan Renjie thought gleefully. After that, he looked up at the eleventh herb specimen hanging on the wall and frowned slightly. Then, his brows relaxed and he became a little excited.
"The eleventh medicinal herb is a little rare, but I've seen it before! This is perfect. If this question is as simple as the first ten questions, how can it widen the gap between the candidates and show who the better-performing candidates are?"
Fan Renjie quickly wrote down the answer to the eleventh question. Although he spent a little more time on the twelfth and thirteenth questions, he managed to write an answer that was more or less complete.
However, the fourteenth question stumped him.
In his memory, he seemed to have some impression of the 14th herb, but he could not remember its name. Fan Renjie was even more uncertain about the method to handle it.
"It looks like Demon Moss. Should I bake it? No, the edges of the leaves of this medicinal herb are smooth, unlike Demon Moss which has jagged edges. Moreover, the leaves are fat and glossy. The life particles should be hidden in the leaves. If I use the baking method, it will definitely damage its appearance," he mused.
Fan Renjie could not make up his mind. He could only write a question mark beside question number 14 before looking at the fifteenth question.
However, the fifteenth question was also familiar to him, but he could not recall the name of the herb.
"Damn it, why is it so difficult?" Fan Renjie gritted his teeth and looked around. Many of the other apprentices looked anxious. Some were biting their pens, while others were scratching their ears and cheeks. It seemed that they were all stumped.
Fan Renjie was secretly relieved. As long as others did even worse than him, it did not matter if he scored badly.
Fan Renjie placed his faith in luck and stared at the last five questions. His face immediately fell. He had never seen the last five medicinal herbs before! Perhaps in that thick book of encyclopedia, that was thick that it could be used as a brick, those rare medicinal herbs were recorded, but he was in the midst of an exam, so he could not flip through the encyclopedia to find the answers.
There was the sound of a stool being pushed back.
Fan Renjie was startled, and he looked in the direction of the sound. He immediately frowned.
It was Bai Xiaowen who stood up. He strode toward the podium and handed in his paper.
"He's so fast?" Fan Renjie's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He looked up at the clock on the side. There was still half an hour left before the time was up.
Bai Xiaowen's early submission of the paper had aroused the suspicion of many apprentices.
"For a newbie who has only entered the industry for a week to hand in his paper so quickly, I'm afraid there's only one possibility…" Fan Renjie sneered mentally. "He probably wasn't able to answer a single question and handed in a blank paper! Hmph, if you knew this would happen, why did you sign up? You're merely embarrassing yourself."
At this thought, Fan Renjie seemed to be in a much better mood. He racked his brains and made guesses. He filled in the empty parts of the test paper and checked it one last time. He only handed in the test paper when the bell rang at nine o'clock.
Sun Hecheng collected more than a hundred papers and waved his hand dismissively. "You guys can go ahead and leave. I'll grade the papers now. There's no need for you to be impatient for the results."
The group of apprentices moved the tables and chairs back to their original positions and went to work. However, their attention was clearly not on the work in their hands, but on Sun Hecheng.
Sun Hecheng graded the papers very quickly. Many of the papers were thrown away after a glance without being graded at all. Clearly, those papers were not even enough to pass.
Fan Renjie found a spot closer to Sun Hecheng and wiped the potion cabinet from time to time. His eyes were fixed on the tip of Sun Hecheng's pen. He was secretly nervous. Until now, Sun Hecheng had already graded more than 30 papers. Only six papers obtained a passing mark and got scored.
Sun Hecheng reached out to grab another test paper that was filled with words. Fan Renjie's heart skipped a beat. This was his test paper.
Sun Hecheng ticked the first ten questions correctly. As he flipped to the back, his speed of reading slowed down significantly.
Fan Renjie was excited. This meant that his test paper was worth grading. He would definitely pass.
Soon, Sun Hecheng flipped back to the front and scribbled something under Fan Renjie's name.
76 points!
Fan Renjie secretly heaved a sigh of relief. This was the highest score so far. He was almost certain that he would be able to enter the interview. As long as he could enter the interview, there was still a lot of room for maneuver. An elder in Fan Renjie's family was a retired old man who used to work in this pharmaceutical shop. If he asked the elder to step in, his spot as assistant was more or less guaranteed.
Sun Hecheng raised his eyes slightly and noticed Fan Renjie. He tapped his red pen on the table. "What are you looking at? Hurry up and get to work."
Fan Renjie hurriedly agreed. He suppressed his excitement and turned to walk to the other side of the potion cabinet. Suddenly, he saw Bai Xiaowen.
Bai Xiaowen was washing the utensils in the cleansing pool with a calm expression. He looked so calm that it was as if he had never signed up for the exam. Fan Renjie interpreted that calmness in another way.
"Haha, Bai Xiaowen, so how are you? Are you hiding here because you don't want to be mocked by others?"
Bai Xiaowen cast a sidelong glance at Fan Renjie. His thin lips curled into a cold smile.
"If even I can't get into the interview, no one else can," Bai Xiaowen said.
"Oh, you're still trying to act tough. If you can enter the interview, I'll write my name backward!" Fan Renjie snorted.
"How you want to write your name has got nothing to do with me." Bai Xiaowen scoffed.
Fan Renjie snorted. "So how about this? Let's make a bet." Fan Renjie raised his voice slightly and said, "If you manage to enter the interview round, I'll quit! If you don't, you can scram! Leave this shop! Do you dare to bet?"
Bai Xiaowen's eyes flickered, and he seemed to hesitate for a second. "Fine, I'll take the bet. However, I'm afraid that someone won't admit to this bet if he loses."
Fan Renjie sneered when he saw Bai Xiaowen's "cowardice". "Buddies, come and be a witness to this. We're all men. If anyone goes back on their word, they'll be no better than animals!"
Seven or eight apprentices squeezed over and agreed to testify. They were all twenty-year-old youths who did not mind watching the commotion.
The Cleansing Pool was relatively far from Sun Hecheng, and there were two rows of potion cabinets in the middle, so the apprentices dared to behave brazenly.
After Bai Xiaowen was done washing the utensils, he left with a basket of test tubes.
The clock chimed nine-thirty.
"Ahem!" A cough came from the podium. Sun Hecheng stood up with a thin stack of test papers in his hand. "All right, I'll be announcing the results now," he said.