As Zhou Chunming stepped out the door, he saw Zhao Qingzhu waving his arms and shouting, the treacherous-looking Dou Baoguo, and Li Chaoyun, who was snickering to himself.
Zhou Chunming had an imposing air that Dou Baoguo couldn't hope to match. The moment Zhao Qingzhu saw him, he immediately fell silent.
Then, Zhou Chunming's voice boomed, "What's all this commotion?"
Seeing that Zhao Qingzhu didn't speak, Dou Baoguo hurried over to Zhou Chunming and explained the situation on his behalf.
When he heard that Zhao Jun had made a mistake, Zhou Chunming's heart sank. He knew what Dou Baoguo was up to. But when Dou Baoguo said that Zhao Qingzhu was reporting Zhao Jun for docking measurements without reason, Zhou Chunming felt his worries subside.
Not long after Zhao Jun had gone down to the logging camp yesterday, Zhou Jianjun had come to see Zhou Chunming and told him a few things.
And although Zhou Chunming hadn't interacted with Zhao Jun much, based on the few days Zhao Jun had stayed at his house, Zhou Chunming knew the young man was steady and wouldn't act recklessly.
When Zhou Chunming remained silent, Dou Baoguo's expression darkened. Feigning anger, he said, "Secretary Zhou, you see these inspectors? They go down to the logging camps and just get into conflicts with the logging teams. We sent two more the other day, and that didn't work either. Now these two are even better—they're actually docking people's measurements."
"Is that so?" Zhou Chunming asked Zhao Qingzhu.
Zhao Qingzhu looked at Zhou Chunming, a little nervous, and just nodded repeatedly.
Dou Baoguo chimed in from the side, adding fuel to the fire, "Secretary Zhou, if we don't rein in these inspectors, things will get out of hand. If this affects production and delays construction, who can bear that responsibility?"
Zhou Chunming glanced at Dou Baoguo and asked, "You're the production manager. Why don't you handle it?"
"Oh, I can't do that!" Dou Baoguo said with false modesty. "I've only been here a few days, I don't have enough prestige. It's nothing like when you were the production manager, right?"
Zhou Chunming knew he had ill intentions and asked, "So what are you getting at?"
"My idea is that we should make an example of someone," Dou Baoguo said. "Today... oh, right, we have a meeting this afternoon. How about this: tomorrow morning, we'll go up to the New Logging Camp. We'll see what the problem is, and whoever needs to be dealt with, we'll deal with them."
At this point, Dou Baoguo asked Zhou Chunming again, "Secretary Zhou, what do you think of my arrangement? Is that acceptable?"
Zhou Chunming gave a faint smile and said, "You've already arranged everything. What's left for me to say?"
"Huh?"
Dou Baoguo was taken aback, but then he heard Zhou Chunming say, "Then let's do that. We'll meet up and go first thing tomorrow morning when we get to work."
"Alright!" Dou Baoguo agreed, then turned to Zhao Qingzhu. "Zhao Leader, you heard what Secretary Zhou and I just said. Go on back and resume production. If there's a problem with the inspector, we'll deal with him tomorrow. But you can't stop production!"
"Yes, yes," Zhao Qingzhu hastily agreed. "I'll get back to production right away."
Zhou Chunming, annoyed by the act these two cousins were putting on, turned and went into his office. He immediately made a call to the logistics department.
After seeing Zhao Qingzhu off, Dou Baoguo returned to his own office and also made a phone call. But his call went directly to the Forestry Bureau.
After the operator connected him, Dou Baoguo said with a smile, "Director Chu, it's me, Dou Baoguo from the Yong'an Forest Farm... We've already started production over here... Yes, yes, we're building the road... I was wondering if you have any time tomorrow? If you do, maybe you could come by and inspect our work... The day after tomorrow? The day after tomorrow is fine too!"
After hanging up, Dou Baoguo stared at the telephone, the smile never leaving his face.
...
At the Forest Farm's motor pool, Zhou Jianjun found Li Baoyu and pulled him aside. The two whispered to each other for a few moments.
Five minutes later, Li Baoyu was seen sprinting out of the Forest Farm's main gate.
...
「New Logging Camp.」
The workers were buzzing with activity, and Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng were so busy they didn't know whether they were coming or going.
As it neared ten o'clock, Zhao Jun called for Zhang Xuefeng to take a short break. Just then, Song Tiemin came over, sidled up to Zhao Jun, and said in a low voice, "Zhao Qingzhu left first thing this morning."
"Mhm," Zhao Jun nodded. "Eldest Uncle Yang told me right after he left."
"Ah!" Song Tiemin realized that made sense. 'That old man's a professional gatekeeper; of course he'd know everything that goes on.'
Just then, Zhang Xuefeng, who was standing nearby, asked Zhao Jun with a smile, "Did he go to the main office to report you?"
"Definitely!" Zhao Jun laughed. "He said it himself yesterday. If he doesn't report me, it's as good as admitting I already beat him."
Zhang Xuefeng laughed at that, then asked Zhao Jun, "So you think that... that guy Dou... will he believe him?"
"Of course he'll believe him!" Before Zhao Jun could answer, Song Tiemin pointed to the basswood log that had been set aside in a corner under special guard. He whispered, "I bet Zhao Qingzhu doesn't even know what's really going on with that log."
"Heh," Zhao Jun couldn't help but chuckle. The sound of his laugh sent a chill down Song Tiemin's spine.
Although Song Tiemin wasn't an inspector, he had dealt with them for years. He knew that for ordinary logs, you just had to measure the wide end and you were done. But for a "trumpet head" log like this, because the section below the wide end tapered dramatically, you had to measure the middle as well after measuring the wide end, and then average the two.
For instance, this basswood log's wide end was 4.60, while its middle was 4.54. The average of the two is 4.57.
But the acceptable measurements only end in 2, 4, 6, 8, or 0. The stamping hammer couldn't mark a 7, so it could only be recorded as 4.56 or 4.58.
And you couldn't just choose between 4.56 and 4.58 arbitrarily.
If it were a miscellaneous hardwood, like *Fraxinus mandschurica*, birch, maple, or elm, you could mark it as 4.58.