Soon, some people actively started chatting with Xiaoyao, treating him with great familiarity, as if they had known each other for a long time. But if they thought about it carefully, they would realize they didn't actually know Xiaoyao at all—they knew almost nothing about his affairs.
"The Xuanwu Family is recruiting people, everyone hurry and see if there's a chance to get in!"
While Xiaoyao was still chatting, someone suddenly rushed over shouting. Just because of this single sentence, the previously somewhat noisy scene quieted down, and then everyone rushed toward one direction—toward the Xuanwu Family.
In an instant, the place that had just been bustling with activity was left with only Xiaoyao alone, as a cool breeze blew by...
"The Xuanwu Family... this is also an opportunity. I'll go take a look too." Looking at the crowd rushing forward eagerly, Xiaoyao also decided to go mix in.
The Xuanwu Family was one of the three super families of the Azure Dragon Empire. On the surface, their strength was inferior to the other two families, but they weren't ones that the other two could bully either.
The other two great families were the Vermillion Bird Family and the White Tiger Family. Their strength didn't differ by much, and they often fought with each other, their relationship not very harmonious.
White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Xuanwu—all three of these had appeared, so there must surely be an Azure Dragon. But why wasn't this Azure Dragon among these super families?
The answer was simple: because the Azure Dragon Family was the royal family of the Azure Dragon Empire. In other words, this wasn't the Azure Dragon Family, but the Azure Dragon Imperial Clan!
For Xiaoyao, the Xuanwu Family was already an excellent choice. Even families subordinate to the Xuanwu Family would be acceptable to Xiaoyao—they were good options too. Being able to enter the Xuanwu Family would naturally be even better.
Although the White Tiger Family and Vermillion Bird Family would also recruit people, and probably quite soon too, because great families of this level often had personnel changes and naturally needed new people.
However, whether he could get in was an unknown. There might be several hundred people competing for a single position, or even more.
Therefore, he couldn't miss any opportunity. Besides, the White Tiger Family and Vermillion Bird Family weren't much better than Xuanwu, so there was no point giving up this chance for them.
"Xiaoyao kid, are you also going to the Xuanwu Family?" When Xiaoyao joined the crowd running wildly, someone noticed him. This time their tone wasn't very friendly, because one more person meant one more competitor—they were now rivals.
"Yes, let's all go in together and work hard to advance together." Xiaoyao replied casually, maintaining a certain politeness. He wouldn't offend people over such trivial matters.
"...Alright, let's work hard together..."
When someone said something like that, what else could they say? It was just one opportunity—one more person didn't make too much difference.
At this moment, these people didn't really care either, because they felt Xiaoyao's chances of being selected were very, very small. Why hold a grudge over such a small probability? That would be too petty.
I'm very magnanimous—fair competition!
Xiaoyao ran over with the crowd, coming to a street. This street was very long and wide, no less impressive than the main roads outside. The street was paved with smooth blue stones, extraordinarily magnificent.
On this long street, there were only two households, located on the left and right sides of the street respectively, with their main gates facing each other—truly a perfect match!
One of these two households was the Xuanwu Family, while the other wasn't the White Tiger Family or Vermillion Bird Family, but rather a fairly famous scholarly family within the Azure Dragon Empire. This scholarly family had been government officials for generations, all high-ranking court ministers, with some clan members also in business.
Speaking of this scholarly family, it was also a legendary existence. Almost everyone in the entire Azure Dragon Empire knew this—it was practically the role model for scholars who wanted to become officials.
However, Xiaoyao didn't have time to learn about this scholarly family right now. He was currently queuing at the side gate of the Xuanwu Family. Although they hadn't yet announced what kind of people they were recruiting, how many people they needed, and the person in charge hadn't even appeared yet, everyone still lined up orderly and waited, without any chaotic sounds.
This wasn't because the Xuanwu Family was maintaining order, but because the job applicants all understood that if they showed no sense of order, they would definitely be the first to be eliminated. This was an iron rule—no great family would want their subordinates to be unruly.
At this time, these applicants could only wait—wait for the Xuanwu Family's person in charge to come out. While waiting, the queue kept getting longer, as people who received the news all ran over. After all, being able to enter the Xuanwu Family wasn't just about face—the treatment was good too, and you might even achieve great success.
"Why hasn't it started yet..."
When some people saw more and more people arriving, they started grumbling quietly. This was normal behavior—at such moments, most people would only pray for others not to come and for things to start quickly, so their own chances would be a bit better.
Xiaoyao didn't mind this. He just looked at the pair of statues at the entrance, which seemed to be statues of Xuanwu, giving off a magnificent aura. Although they didn't have that kind of domineering presence, they still gave people considerable pressure.
This pair of statues was made with top-grade materials and craftsmanship. Even after all these years, they could still make people feel this aura. Most importantly, those patterns were still so clear, and there seemed to be some writing carved on them. At this moment, Xiaoyao wanted to go forward and take a look.
But just then, people from the Xuanwu Family appeared—a group of three or four people. Leading them in the center was a middle-aged man dressed in relatively high-grade clothing, sporting a goatee and wearing a square hat, with a somewhat scholarly air.
"Everyone, thank you all for being so enthusiastic about wanting to join our Xuanwu Family. However, everyone is too enthusiastic, and there are a bit too many people. We need to screen out some people—I hope everyone won't mind." The goateed man said in a calm but somewhat arrogant tone. The source of thɪs content is novel-fire.net
"We won't mind! We won't mind..."
People below immediately responded, along with some small compliments praising the Xuanwu Family.
The goateed man nodded with satisfaction and continued, "Everyone doesn't need to worry. This time we're recruiting quite a few people—about fifty to sixty. Everyone's chances are still quite good!"
"No wonder we've been waiting so long this time—turns out they're recruiting so many people..."
The crowd below started buzzing again. Usually the Xuanwu Family would recruit people in small numbers, rarely recruiting fifty to sixty people at once. Now everyone's expressions became very pleasant, as if they had already secured one of those positions.
People were —when they suddenly discovered the probability had increased, they would feel they would be lucky enough to be selected. But if they had known this probability from the beginning, they would have felt they might not be so lucky.
This was a very interesting phenomenon!
"Everyone please quiet down. I understand everyone's feelings—this is a rare opportunity. However, everyone must have the ability to seize this opportunity. The requirements of our Xuanwu Family are very strict!" The goateed man continued, "Now everyone follow me inside. There are simple tests inside to assess your abilities."
"One by one!" Before turning to enter the side gate, the goateed man said another sentence, reminding the people who had already somewhat forgotten their formation.
Now everyone wanted to get in early. The Xuanwu Family's recruitment of servants wasn't about selecting the most outstanding—as long as you could pass, that was enough. Once the quota was filled, they wouldn't continue.
Those recruiting servants were also servants themselves. They just wanted to complete their task quickly. Whether others were outstanding or not was others' business—if you were outstanding, other families would want you too, so you didn't have to come to the Xuanwu Family specifically.
Moreover, no matter how outstanding a servant you were, you were still just a servant. Unless you had the ability to break through from being a servant, but if you had that ability, why would you choose to be a servant?
Therefore, you couldn't blame them for doing this. In fact, it wasn't really necessary—as long as you could competently do the job of a servant, you were a good servant. That was already enough.
Slowly, about half an hour passed, and it still wasn't Xiaoyao's turn to enter. The position he had queued up for wasn't very far forward, but fortunately it wasn't very far back either.
Among those who had gone in before, over three hundred had already been eliminated, with about twenty recruited. Judging from this elimination rate, it was undoubtedly very cruel—more than one in a hundred.
However, Xiaoyao also felt lucky, because this way he had a chance. Otherwise, it would have ended before his turn to enter.
Hope—for a few more to be eliminated!!
Wait, am I being too wicked...
"You, you, you... go in..."
Finally, Xiaoyao was called. At this time, fewer than forty people had been recruited, still far from the fifty to sixty. Xiaoyao felt his chances were very good.
After Xiaoyao went in, no one registered him. He was directly told to choose a test item. This wasn't about requiring you to know many things—as long as you met the standard in one area, that was enough. These test items were actually areas where the Xuanwu Family currently had shortages.
In front of each item was a sign writing what would be tested. When Xiaoyao was still preparing to choose, others had already rushed to grab the first chance to be tested—being late might mean no opportunity.
Of course, you should still choose what you were best at. Only if what you were good at wasn't available would you settle for second best. Of course, some people who didn't get to the front would try some other things instead, since you could test everything—passing just one was enough.
Also, even after passing, you could continue testing. The more skills you had, the better treatment you'd get, the higher your rank would be, and naturally the higher your wages would be.
Xiaoyao saw that most items had been taken, and he was too lazy to queue up. Looking at the few remaining items that no one wanted, basically, items that no one wanted were those that most people didn't know how to do.
Xiaoyao just wanted to get in as a household servant anyway—doing anything was the same. For servant work, he could basically handle all of it competently. He wasn't picky!