Zhao Jun walked Song Tiemin out of the shack and saw Elder Yang waiting by the door. Two or three meters away stood Lin Musen and Xu Shengli.
"Technician Zhao!" Seeing Zhao Jun emerge, Lin Musen and Xu Shengli hurried over to greet him.
Zhao Jun looked at the two men, smiled slightly, and said, "What’s this? You want to treat me to a meal too?"
At Zhao Jun’s words, the smiles on Lin Musen and Xu Shengli’s faces froze, and they looked a little awkward.
Xu Shengli was older and more experienced. The awkwardness on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a smile as he said to Zhao Jun, "Technician Zhao, I—Elder Xu—must explain. We weren’t really prepared today, but we’ve already sent someone down the mountain to buy supplies. Tomorrow..."
At this point, Xu Shengli nudged Lin Musen beside him. Lin Musen caught on and quickly nodded emphatically at Zhao Jun, saying, "Right, right! Tomorrow, we’ll treat you and Technician Zhang to a proper meal."
By rights, on an inspector’s first day at the Lower Logging Camp, the Leaders were required to treat them to good food and wine.
But in the last half-month, Lin Musen and Xu Shengli had already hosted four inspectors. Chen Xingwang and Qiao Zhenghua, in particular, didn’t even last three days before leaving with their tails between their legs.
So, Lin Musen and Xu Shengli had discussed it and decided not to bother treating the next inspector, figuring they wouldn’t last long either.
But when Zhao Jun arrived today, he came on so strong that he left Zhao Qingzhu speechless, which in turn intimidated Lin Musen and Xu Shengli.
That’s why after coming out of the shack, the two of them had been waiting outside, wanting to explain things to Zhao Jun.
"Alright." Zhao Jun smiled and waved a hand, saying magnanimously, "I get it. You two go and eat."
’What a way to put things!’
Lin Musen and Xu Shengli exchanged a glance. Lin Musen quickly turned to Zhao Jun and said, "Technician Zhao, we may not have prepared much today, but we brought you food. Call Technician Zhang to come out and have a bite at our place."
"No need to trouble yourselves," Zhao Jun said flatly. "Brother Feng and I will just stay here in Eldest Uncle Yang’s shack. My great-uncle is going to cook, so we’ll just eat with him."
"Technician Zhao," Lin Musen said with a wry smile upon hearing this. "I’ll go back to my shack right now and bring you some food."
"I’ll bring you some too," Xu Shengli chimed in from the side, not wanting to be outdone. "We’re having potato and eggplant stew with sorghum rice for lunch today. I’ll bring it over for you right now."
Zhao Jun nodded, then turned to Elder Yang and said, "Great-uncle, you don’t have to cook lunch."
Elder Yang laughed heartily. "Then I’ll be mooching off you!"
Zhao Jun smiled and helped the old man into the shack. Seeing this, the two Leaders hurried off toward their own shacks to get the food for Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng had a quick meal in Elder Yang’s shack. After eating, they didn’t even take a nap and rushed straight to the Log Pile Yard.
Chen Xingwang and Qiao Zhenghua hadn’t scaled any logs yesterday. Combined with this morning’s work, a lot of timber had accumulated on the Log Pile.
Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng got to the Log Pile Yard and started working. They worked straight through until quitting time at five in the evening. The Gui Ling workers had all left, but the two of them still weren’t finished. By then, their backs and legs were aching with exhaustion.
"I can’t go on!" Zhang Xuefeng stood with his legs apart, craning his neck backward. He reached his right hand behind him, made a fist, and pounded his lower back, muttering, "I can’t even straighten my back."
Zhao Jun was in the same state. Seeing that it was getting late, he said to Zhang Xuefeng, "Let’s go, Brother Feng. Let’s head back."
Hearing this, Zhang Xuefeng put his hands on his hips and looked around. "But what about all these logs that haven’t been scaled? What do we do?"
"We’ll come in early tomorrow. We can finish this work in two hours." Zhao Jun clipped his fountain pen to the ledger, gathered his scaling stick and marking hammer, and tucked them under his arm. He said to Zhang Xuefeng, "Let’s hurry back now and lie down on the kang to straighten our backs!"
"Let’s go!" Zhang Xuefeng was in one hundred percent agreement with Zhao Jun. Grabbing his ledger and tools, he staggered with Zhao Jun toward the main gate of the Logging Camp.
Entering Elder Yang’s shack, the two greeted the old man, who was sitting at the kang table making dumplings. Then they tossed their tools onto the inner part of the kang and both collapsed onto it.
Elder Yang had heated the kang until it was toasty warm. As the two lay down, they felt a wave of intense heat on their backs, making Zhang Xuefeng groan involuntarily.
In the year since his rebirth, Zhao Jun had often gone hunting in the mountains, so his physical fitness was quite a bit better than Zhang Xuefeng’s. He still had the strength to lift his head and look at Elder Yang, who was making dumplings. "Great-uncle," he said, "we’re not going to get up and help you."
"Hahaha..." Elder Yang laughed heartily. "Just lie there, boys. Great-uncle is making dumplings for you two."
"Dumplings?" Zhang Xuefeng finally processed this. Licking his lips, he asked Elder Yang, "Uncle, what’s the filling?"
"Zucchini and egg." The old man held up a freshly made dumpling for Zhang Xuefeng to see.
After he put the dumpling down, Elder Yang said to Zhao Jun, "The zucchini was from Lin Musen, and Song Tiemin brought the eggs this afternoon."
As he spoke, the old man used a flat spoon to stir the filling and said with a smile, "He gave me six eggs. I put four in here, and I’ll boil the other two for you tomorrow morning."
"No need," Zhao Jun said. "You boil those two eggs for yourself, Great-uncle. Those two Leaders are treating us to a meal tomorrow anyway. We won’t be short on rich food."
"Yeah, Uncle!" Zhang Xuefeng added. "Keep them for yourself, Uncle. The two of us have already caused you enough trouble."
Hearing Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng say this, Elder Yang smiled with gratification. He didn’t say anything, but simply put down the dumpling in his hand. Then he got up, went off the kang, and opened a wooden chest that was under the window.