"No, thanks." Zhao Jun refused without a second thought. "We have our own food."
"What food could you possibly have?" Song Tiemin said with a laugh. "By rights, when an inspector comes to the Logging Camp for the first time, the skidding crew’s Leader is supposed to treat them to a meal. But that Zhao Qingzhu couldn’t care less. As for the other two Leaders, they’ve already treated people twice in the last half-month. They probably figured you wouldn’t last long, so they didn’t prepare anything today."
As he spoke, Song Tiemin glanced at the luggage Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng had set aside. "I see you two didn’t bring any rations. Why don’t you join us for a bite?"
"No need." Zhao Jun pointed to the stove nearby. "My brother and I will eat whatever our uncle, Elder Yang, has here."
"He’s just an old gopher, what could he possibly have?" Song Tiemin urged. "You can stay here but come eat with us. The food at my place isn’t bad."
"Nope." Zhao Jun shook his head. "You won’t be here for more than a couple more days yourself. When they send a new Gui Ling team leader, I’ll eat with him."
When Song Tiemin heard this, his face fell. He glanced at Zhang Xuefeng, only to find him glaring with a hostile expression.
By now, Zhang Xuefeng had also figured it out. Ma Liang, Han Delin, Chen Xingwang, and Qiao Zhenghua had been beaten because of a log shortage. And the missing logs had been "lost" by the Gui Ling crew.
Once he understood, Zhang Xuefeng felt the urge to jump up and beat the hell out of Song Tiemin, but he held back because Zhao Jun had subtly stopped him a moment ago.
"Brother!" Song Tiemin sidled up to Zhao Jun and whispered, "Can we talk outside? Just the two of us."
"No need." Zhao Jun’s refusal was blunt. "People don’t sneak around to do good deeds, and things done in secret are never good."
Song Tiemin’s brow furrowed. He looked at Zhao Jun and said helplessly, "This is... difficult to talk about."
"Brother Song!" Zhao Jun stared at Song Tiemin. "You’re eight years older than me, right? We may not have grown up together, but we’re from the same village. Plus, there’s the connection through my Uncle Li, so I’m giving you a chance. If you talk now, we’ll call it ’confess and be treated with leniency.’ If you don’t... well, you can figure out what that’s called."
"Jun, I’ll talk." Song Tiemin’s heart went cold. He knew that Xu Baoshan was unaware of the inside story, but if he didn’t confess now, Zhao Jun would definitely come after him.
Zhao Jun had been right. Of the more than eighty Gui Ling workers under him, only fifty were his original men. The other thirty were temporary transfers from other teams.
And Zhao Jun’s connections at the Forest Farm were far beyond anything Song Tiemin could match. He couldn’t even be sure that one of his own fifty men wouldn’t tell Zhao Jun the truth.
’So, it’s just as Zhao Jun said. I’d better confess and hope for leniency.’
Zhao Jun pulled Song Tiemin down to sit on the edge of the kang. He handed him a cigarette, which Song Tiemin lit and took a drag from before speaking. "About this... it’s not entirely our fault. That skidding crew Zhao Qingzhu leads is just so damn irritating. A bunch of arrogant pricks, every one of them. All day long they’re bragging about how their Leader is tight with this director or that director."
"The workers under me couldn’t stand the sight of them, so they decided to mess with them. The logs their crew hauled in on the first night... my workers got to the Logging Camp early the next morning and... tossed them onto a Log Pile! After that, when you inspectors showed up, you couldn’t find the logs, and that’s how the shortage happened."
"Fuck!" If Zhao Jun hadn’t been sitting between them, Zhang Xuefeng would’ve slapped Song Tiemin right across the face. He leaped off the kang, and even after Zhao Jun blocked him, he jabbed a finger at Song Tiemin and roared, "You motherfucker! You call that messing with *them*? You were fucking messing with *us*!"
"That’s enough, Brother Feng!" Zhao Jun shoved Zhang Xuefeng back down onto the kang, then turned to Song Tiemin. "Brother Song, you’re a team leader!"
Hearing this, Song Tiemin’s face instantly went white as a sheet.
’He understood the meaning behind Zhao Jun’s words. Even if he hadn’t done it himself, or even ordered it, he was the team leader. If the Forest Farm decided to take action over what his men did, he, Song Tiemin, would be the first one to be punished.’
Song Tiemin looked up at Zhao Jun, his face a mask of desperation. "Brother, I know I was wrong. I even chewed them out last night."
Zhang Xuefeng was staring blankly at Song Tiemin when he felt a jab in his ribs from Zhao Jun’s finger. Snapping back to his senses, he shot to his feet, pointed at Song Tiemin, and bellowed, "What damn good does yelling at them now do?"
"I..."
Just as Song Tiemin was about to make an excuse, Zhao Jun cut him off. "That’s enough, Brother Song. Don’t say another word. Of the two inspectors who got beaten up the first time, one of them, Ma Liang, is our Leader Xu’s apprentice. With this... I can’t help you, brother."
"Anything but that!" Song Tiemin panicked. He knew exactly what Zhao Jun meant: he was going to report this up the chain. ’That Dong Zhiming nearly disowned his own father-in-law to become a team leader. Was it easy for me to get this position?’
"Brother!" Song Tiemin grabbed Zhao Jun’s arm. "We’re from the same village, you can’t do this to me!"
"Hehehe..." Zhao Jun suddenly laughed, a sound that made Song Tiemin’s blood run cold.
Because Song Tiemin remembered something his late father once told him: ’It’s not the hoot of an owl you should fear, but the wicked smile of Er Gudong.’
Aside from his eyes and brows, Zhao Jun’s face and build were the spitting image of Zhao Youcai. Staring at Zhao Jun’s cold smirk, Song Tiemin felt a momentary daze, his very insides trembling with fear.
"Brother Song!" Zhao Jun called out softly.
"Yes, yes!" Song Tiemin quickly replied.
Zhao Jun asked, "Do you need your brother’s help or not?"
"Yes! Yes!" Song Tiemin said hurriedly. "We’re from the same village, and there’s the connection through my master, too."
"Right?" Zhao Jun reached over to the kang table behind him, grabbed a marking hammer, and said to Song Tiemin, "In that case, Brother Song, will you listen to me?"
"Yes! Yes!" With his dirty laundry aired out, how could Song Tiemin dare to refuse? He nodded repeatedly. "Brother, whatever you say, goes!"
"Good!" Zhao Jun brandished the marking hammer. "Starting tomorrow, you do exactly as I say. If any of those skidders dares to act up, you give the order, and all eighty of your men will go after them for me!"
"Alright!" Song Tiemin gritted his teeth. "They’re in the wrong. If they still dare to cause trouble, then there’s nothing wrong with going after them."
"Exactly!" Zhao Jun sneered. "Grab your cant hooks and peaveys and get ’em!"
"GET ’EM!" Zhang Xuefeng, beside Zhao Jun, also grabbed a marking hammer, punched it into the air with a great shout, and startled Zhao Jun, whose back was turned.
Meanwhile, Zhao Qingzhu strolled toward the Log Pile Yard, his hands clasped behind his back. He heard the sound of "WHOA..." from behind him, followed by someone calling out, "Brother-in-law."
Zhao Qingzhu turned around to see his brother-in-law, Niu Guoliang.
Niu Guoliang drove the horse-drawn cart up to Zhao Qingzhu and asked with a grin, "Brother-in-law, guess what I picked up?"
Zhao Qingzhu had something on his mind and just grunted, "Hm?"
"A hare!" Niu Guoliang grinned and pointed to the cart. "Someone’s snare wasn’t tied down properly. The hare ran off the path with the snare still on it, and I found it."
Seeing that Zhao Qingzhu was still silent, Niu Guoliang chuckled and added, "Brother-in-law, after work tonight, I’ll stew this rabbit and we can have a few drinks."
At these words, Zhao Qingzhu only felt more irritated. He snapped, "Drink, my ass! Do you see what’s going on? Are you clueless?"
This was just him venting his frustration on one of his own.
But Niu Guoliang had always respected his brother-in-law, so he didn’t get angry. He just asked, "Brother-in-law, what’s wrong?"
Zhao Qingzhu had been wanting to talk to someone anyway, so he led Niu Guoliang aside, tied the horse to a post, and recounted his meeting with Zhao Jun.
"Well, fuck me!" Niu Guoliang’s eyes flew open. He smacked his left fist into his right palm and roared, "That little bastard! We give him an inch, and now he’s laying down rules for us? Who the hell does he think he is? I’d like to see him try not scaling our logs today! There are more than thirty of us! We’ll beat the shit out of him!"
"No, that won’t work!" Zhao Qingzhu quickly stopped him. "They seem to have some regulation or something. If we’re in the wrong, we won’t have reason on our side."
"Brother-in-law!" Niu Guoliang stomped his foot in frustration. "So what if we’re in the wrong? He can’t just refuse to scale our logs, can he? He can’t just toss our wood onto a Log Pile, can he?"
"Ah!" Zhao Qingzhu’s eyes lit up. He looked at Niu Guoliang and laughed. "You’re right! The worst we did was not haul the logs to the designated spot. On what grounds can he refuse to scale them?!"
A sudden feeling of relief washed over Zhao Qingzhu. His spirits lifted, and he sneered. "Alright. Nothing’s happening this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, you, Wang Er’Er, and Wang San’Er—the three of you—don’t go out skidding. The four of us will stake out the Log Pile Yard. If he refuses to scale our crew’s logs, I’ll give the word, and the four of us will take him down!"