’Look at Zhao Youcai, living the good life. He skips work whenever he wants, runs off to Yongsheng Village to hunt, and spends one hundred yuan on a sheep without even batting an eye.’
To Zhou Chunming, the only reason Zhao Youcai could live like that was because he had a good, dutiful son.
By now, Li Ruhai had gotten to the part of the story where Zhao Jun made Dou Baoguo’s nose bleed. Listening to this, Director Chu felt utterly disgraced. When he heard the workers all cheering, he just shook his head and turned to walk out.
"Hey! Director Chu!" Zhou Chunming quickly followed him. "You haven’t eaten yet!"
Having stormed out of the cafeteria, Director Chu stood at the entrance and roared, "Eat? What is there to eat?"
The moment he finished speaking, the father and son squatting under a large tree nearby both snapped their heads up, glaring menacingly at Director Chu.
But when they saw Zhou Chunming follow him out and address the man as "Director," Li Dayong and Li Baoyu quickly lowered their heads and went back to shoveling down their food.
Just then, they heard Director Chu roar again, "What a goddamn embarrassment!"
Director Chu was yelling at Dou Baoguo, but for some reason, Li Dayong and Li Baoyu suddenly felt a sense of solidarity with the man being cursed.
"Director Chu, calm down, please calm down," Zhou Chunming said, trying to placate him. "We still have to eat, you know!"
"Forget eating! I’m going to deal with him today!" Director Chu declared. He shot a glance toward the tree, realizing it wasn’t the right place to discuss such matters. He then said to Zhou Chunming, "Elder Zhou, back to your office."
"Director Chu!" the Forest Management Director chimed in. "Let’s at least grab a bite first."
Director Chu didn’t say a word, simply turning and walking away. Zhou Chunming, however, called out, "Xiaoyu!"
"Secretary Zhou." Yu Quanjin, the secretary trailing behind them, hurried forward. Zhou Chunming instructed him, "Go find your Uncle Zhao right away. Tell him to pack up the prepared food and have a couple of men help you bring it over."
After Yu Quanjin agreed and left, Zhou Chunming hurried to catch up with Director Chu. Just then, Director Chu said to him, "Elder Zhou, when your Forest Farm is collecting specimens this year, you’ll still be using Zhao Jun, right?"
Zhao Jun had only just returned to work after the New Year. In the past, the Forest Farm had always asked Zhao Youcai to handle specimen collection. But now, hearing Director Chu’s question, Zhou Chunming replied, "That’s right. The kid’s got great skills. He might even have a few surprises in store for us."
"Mm, good," Director Chu said with a nod. "When you have him out collecting specimens, tell him to get me two roe deer and two wild boars."
"Yes, of course!" Zhou Chunming agreed eagerly. It might have seemed like Director Chu was just demanding things, but in Zhou Chunming’s eyes, this was a fantastic opportunity.
Forget two roe deer and two wild boars; even if he’d asked for twenty of each, Zhou Chunming would have found a way to get them for him.
Meanwhile, Zhao Jun had no idea his luck was about to turn. He was still at the Logging Camp, diligently scaling timber.
Ever since yesterday, whenever Zhao Qingzhu’s crew of loggers saw him, they scattered like mice from a cat.
With things as they were, Zhao Jun didn’t give them a hard time. He just calmly waited for the dust to settle on Zhou Chunming’s end.
Around three o’clock that afternoon, two people suddenly showed up at the Logging Camp.
Ma Liang and Han Delin!
They were the ones who had been beaten and driven off by Zhao Qingzhu’s crew. Now, they were back with a vengeance!
Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng took Ma Liang and Han Delin aside to chat. The first thing Ma Liang did was give Zhao Jun a solid punch on the shoulder and say, "You’re really something else!"
Zhao Jun chuckled. "What brings you two back?"
Ma Liang was blunt and spoke his mind, blurting out without a second thought, "Revenge!"
Han Delin cut him off before he could say more. "The team leader said you two must be tired," he explained. "He wants you to go home and is giving you three days of leave."
Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng both laughed at that. All told, they had only been there for three days. How tired could they possibly be?
But they knew the real reason Xu Baoshan was swapping them out was to let Ma Liang and Han Delin get their own back. The three days off for Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng were a reward.
If Xu Baoshan had the authority to just hand out days off, it must mean Dou Baoguo had been dealt with.
At this thought, Zhao Jun asked Han Delin, "Brother Han, what happened with that guy, Dou?"
"Him?" Han Delin gave a faint smile. "He’s still a director."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng were both stunned. Zhao Jun pressed, "He... How could they let him stay on as a director?"
Han Delin and Ma Liang exchanged a smile, and then Ma Liang explained, "He’s still a director, just not the Production Director anymore."
"Then what is he?"
Ma Liang roared with laughter. "The Logging Camp Director."
"What?" Zhao Jun was even more astonished. There were nearly two hundred logging camps, big and small, across the entire operation, and not a single one had its own director.
Han Delin smiled. "I heard from the team leader that since Dou just got transferred down from headquarters a short while ago, they can’t just send him right back up so soon."
"Fair enough," Zhao Jun said after a moment’s thought. "But are you guys going to be okay working with him?"
"Why wouldn’t we be?" Han Delin chuckled. "He might be called the ’Logging Camp Director,’ but really, he’s just a glorified gatekeeper."
"Hahahaha..." The group couldn’t help but roar with laughter.
Zhao Jun suddenly recalled what Dou Baoguo had said when he left the Logging Camp yesterday: "I will be back."
It seemed Director Dou was a man of his word after all.
"Alright!" Han Delin took the ledger from Zhao Jun’s hands. "We won’t see you two off. Hurry up and pack your things. If you leave now, you can still make it home in time for dinner with your families."
Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng gladly accepted the offer. When the two of them returned to their shack, they saw that Elder Yang was also packing his things.