But basswood was a soft miscellaneous wood, which could only be graded at 4.56, not 4.58. Therefore, Zhao Jun's actions were completely faultless.
Even if they took this complaint to the ends of the earth, no one could blame Zhao Jun.
Song Tiemin understood all of this. He could also see that Zhao Jun was using this flared log to deal with Zhao Qingzhu, and maybe even Dou Baoguo.
But what shocked Song Tiemin was that the arrival of this flared log at the camp was a complete coincidence.
Yet Zhao Jun had cleverly seized upon this coincidence. To Song Tiemin, 'like father, like son' wasn't nearly enough to describe his incredible capability.
They went back to work. Sometime after eleven, Song Tiemin came looking for Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng again.
This time, it wasn't for any other reason. They had already agreed yesterday that Song Tiemin would treat Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng to lunch today.
With Song Tiemin extending the invitation personally, Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng couldn't very well play hard to get. The two of them packed up their tools and ledgers and followed Song Tiemin toward his shack.
But just as they left the Log Pile Yard, they saw a tall figure sprinting toward them.
"Hey, Baoyu!" Recognizing Li Baoyu, Zhao Jun hurried to greet him. As Li Dayong's apprentice and a resident of the same village, Song Tiemin of course knew Li Baoyu, so he followed close behind Zhao Jun.
"Brother!" Li Baoyu threw himself at Zhao Jun. He was a head taller, and he leaned heavily on Zhao Jun, gasping for air.
Seeing his state, Zhao Jun knew he must have run all the way from the Logging Camp. He immediately patted Li Baoyu's back to help him catch his breath. "Easy, easy. Catch your breath, catch your breath."
"HUFF... HUFF..." Li Baoyu took a few deep breaths, forced his breathing to even out, and then whispered in Zhao Jun's ear, "My brother-in-law sent me. Uncle Zhou and that guy named Dou are coming tomorrow. My brother-in-law wants to know if you've got it handled."
Zhao Jun whispered back, "Tell your brother-in-law not to worry. Have him tell Uncle Zhou that it's a basswood log, and a flared one at that!"
Li Baoyu committed Zhao Jun's words to memory, then let go of him and greeted Song Tiemin, who was standing nearby. "Brother Song, you're here too?"
Then, Li Baoyu also nodded at Zhang Xuefeng.
"Baoyu, you must be tired." Song Tiemin was quite concerned for Li Baoyu. He said, "Come on, come to my shack for a drink of water and rest a bit."
The four of them went to Song Tiemin's shack, where Li Baoyu downed two large bowls of water before getting up to leave.
Song Tiemin offered him lunch, but Li Baoyu refused. Zhao Jun knew Baoyu was in a hurry to deliver the message back to Zhou Jianjun, so he, Song Tiemin, and Zhang Xuefeng walked him to the main gate of the Logging Camp.
"Baoyu!" Before Li Baoyu left, Zhao Jun said to him, "Tomorrow morning, when you head to work, bring Ruhai out and send him over to me."
"Ah!" Although Li Baoyu didn't know what Zhao Jun was planning, he knew this wasn't the time to ask questions, so he simply agreed.
Then, Li Baoyu bid farewell to Zhao Jun and the others. He didn't take the cart track; instead, he darted to the side and scrambled up the mountainside.
They watched as Li Baoyu weaved nimbly through the forest. When he occasionally tripped, he would just grab a nearby tree to steady himself, never breaking his stride!
Seeing this, Zhang Xuefeng's jaw nearly dropped.
He wasn't the only one who was astonished. Just then, a skidder operator returned. He seemed to be one of Xu Shengli's men. After greeting Zhao Jun, he asked, "Technician Zhao, you know that young fellow?"
"Mhm!" Zhao Jun nodded. "He's my brother."
"Wow!" The skidder operator gave Zhao Jun a thumbs-up. "Technician Zhao, your brother is amazing! The way he runs through those woods, he's as fast as a roe deer."
"Haha..." Hearing this, Song Tiemin waved a hand dismissively and laughed. "Oh, come on."
"It's true!" the operator insisted, pointing down the slope. "I saw him ahead of me as I was coming up. Then, WHOOSH, he shot straight up a steep bank!" At this point, the operator gestured beside himself. "That bank was over a meter high, and he just launched himself right up it!"
This skidder operator didn't know Li Baoyu, so he certainly wasn't lying. He had really seen him.
Zhao Jun chuckled. 'This is nothing,' he thought. If he remembered correctly, during the New Year this year, the Forest Farm would partner with the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the Town to bring in a batch of televisions and radios, which would then be sold to Forest Farm employees at an internal price as a benefit.
In a few more years, with the hit TV series *Bao Qingtian* broadcasting, the Five Rats and the Imperial Cat would become household names. There was even that famous line: "The Sky-Penetrating Rat, as light as a swallow; the Earth-Boring Rat, a true hero."
And so, some jokester in Yong'an Village would make up their own little ditty: Mountain Rat Li Baoyu, who crossed mountains and ridges as if walking on flat ground; and Talkative Rat Li Ruhai, whose constant gossiping got him despised by his wife and abandoned by his son.
It was a pretty catchy rhyme, too.
But because he couldn't keep his mouth shut, he spent the next day getting chased and beaten by Li Baoyu. But how could he ever hope to outrun the Mountain Rat?
A few days later, rumors started spreading through the village that he was having an affair in the next village and supporting a widow in Yongli Village.
As a result, his wife's three brothers came over and gave him a brutal beating.