"You still think you did nothing wrong?" Dou Baoguo raged. "If you didn’t do anything wrong, would they have reported you?"
At that moment, Xu Baoshan grabbed Zhao Jun and asked him, "Zhao Jun, what’s going on here?"
"What do you mean, ’what’s going on’?" Dou Baoguo stepped forward and yanked Xu Baoshan away. "What’s there to ask? The log is sitting right over there, isn’t it?" Then, he turned and asked Zhao Qingzhu, "Where’s the log?"
"Over here!" Zhao Qingzhu led the group to the basswood log. Xu Baoshan took the measuring stick from Zhang Xuefeng, glanced at Dou Baoguo, then went to the thicker end of the log and measured it himself.
Seeing Xu Baoshan take the measurement himself, Dou Baoguo, who had been repeatedly assured by Zhao Qingzhu, showed no hesitation. He demanded of Xu Baoshan in a harsh, domineering tone, "What is it? You say it yourself."
Xu Baoshan replied calmly, "4.60."
The moment Xu Baoshan spoke, Dou Baoguo was instantly energized. He bounded over to the log, stared at the 4.56 stamp on it, then stomped his foot, pointed at Zhao Jun, and bellowed, "This log is 4.60! What right do you have to mark it down as 4.56? You’re just a kid, and you’re already a fucking crook! You’re deliberately shorting the trappers on their measurements, and now over thirty teams have stopped working because of you! You’ve delayed the entire production schedule! I’m fucking firing you, right now!"
When Dou Baoguo finished shouting, he saw Zhao Jun watching him calmly. Dou Baoguo froze for a second, just in time to hear Zhao Jun ask, "Are you blind?"
Dou Baoguo was stunned for a moment, but he quickly recovered. Pointing at Zhao Jun, his face flushed red with rage.
’He was a field director, after all. How could he keep face after being cursed out by one of his own technicians in front of so many people?’
So, Dou Baoguo screamed at the top of his lungs, "Who are you calling blind? I’m fucking firing you!"
"You’re the one who’s blind!" Zhao Jun pointed at the basswood log and yelled, "Can’t you see it has a flared end!"
"A flared end..." Hearing this, Dou Baoguo froze on the spot.
He had previously worked a desk job; this was his first time as a field manager. Although he had crammed on the subject, he only knew the theory and had no practical experience.
He knew that when measuring a flared end, you had to average the diameters. But even after seeing this particular basswood log, it hadn’t registered with him that it was one.
But the moment Zhao Jun pointed it out, realization dawned on him!
But this realization came too late!
Zhao Jun shoved Xu Baoshan aside, casually tossed his marking hammer away, and strode forward clutching his ledger. Gripping a corner of the book, he used it to point at Dou Baoguo and asked calmly, "The flared end is 4.60. The midpoint is 4.54. Basswood is classified as a softwood, is it not? I recorded it as 4.56. Was that wrong?"
He wasn’t wrong.
Dou Baoguo knew it, but he knew even more that this was no time to back down!
So, Dou Baoguo chose to brazen it out.
He gritted his teeth and faced Zhao Jun. "What kind of attitude is that for a young technician? So you were right, big deal. What more do you want?"
"What more do I want? I want to bash your head in!" Zhao Jun’s voice suddenly rose into a roar as he lifted the ledger and brought it smashing down toward Dou Baoguo’s head!
Dou Baoguo instinctively ducked, and the ledger caught him squarely on the back of the head.
"AH!"
The ledger was two fingers thick with a hard cardboard cover, and the blow nearly sent Dou Baoguo pitching face-first into the dirt.
"Brother!" Zhao Qingzhu screamed and charged forward like a madman, only for Zhang Xuefeng to tackle him again. Of all his men, only Niu Guoliang rushed over to help him up.
"Hey! How dare you hit me!" As his driver helped him up, Dou Baoguo felt the back of his head, then checked his hand. Seeing no blood, he pointed at Zhao Jun and bellowed, "I only said a couple of things to you! What was that for?"
"A couple of things?" Zhao Jun, held back by Xu Baoshan and Song Tiemin, craned his neck and continued to roar at Dou Baoguo, "What right do you have to criticize me? Where was I wrong? Didn’t I follow the official procedures? You wanted to fucking fire me! Well, I fucking quit!"
As he spoke, even though he couldn’t get closer, Zhao Jun flung the ledger at Dou Baoguo with a flick of his wrist!
They weren’t far apart, and it struck Dou Baoguo square in the chest, making him double over, gasping for breath.
"Zhao Jun! What are you doing!" Xu Baoshan hurriedly shoved Zhao Jun away, while Song Tiemin wrapped his arms around him from behind.
The driver helped Dou Baoguo up again. Dou Baoguo pointed at Zhao Jun, lips trembling, unable to utter a word for several moments.
Xu Baoshan picked up Zhao Jun’s ledger, walked over to him, and said soothingly, "Zhao Jun, you can’t behave like this."
Having just caught his breath, Dou Baoguo took two ragged gulps of air, his eyes locked on Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun pointed at Dou Baoguo and said, "You just wait. I’m going to the Bureau to report you!"
At Zhao Jun’s words, Dou Baoguo felt a jolt of alarm, but he retorted stubbornly, "What have I done wrong that you can report me for?"
Zhao Jun jabbed a finger back toward Zhao Qingzhu. "You two are cousins! You put him up to this, causing over thirty teams to halt production and delaying the entire schedule! That’s sabotaging the construction of the Divine Land!"
"I..." Hearing this, Dou Baoguo almost choked. The phrases Zhao Jun was throwing at him were the very same ones he spouted every day.
While Dou Baoguo was still stunned, Zhao Jun pulled back his pointing hand, snatched the ledger from where Xu Baoshan was holding it against his chest, raised it high, and brought it down viciously on Dou Baoguo!
Dou Baoguo had no time to react. The thick ledger slapped him square across the face!
Dou Baoguo felt a stinging pain shoot through his nose, and in an instant, tears and blood were streaming down his face!