Chapter 349 - 287: Oh No, Zhao Jun is Here
"What did I say wrong?" Zhou Jianjun was baffled. ’I’ve only been saying nice things, so why is my father-in-law acting like this?’
Just then, the sound of wheels grinding on the ground could be heard as someone dragged a large scale out from the cafeteria’s storehouse.
Back in those days, these kinds of platform scales weren’t electronic. They had a horizontal beam with a graduated ruler, and you hung counterweights on one end.
The scale had wheels underneath, so it could be pulled around.
Two more people followed, one of them carrying an iron ladder that was about two meters tall.
’How big was that scale, anyway?’
If you put the wild boar on it, its head and rear would still be on the ground. How could you get an accurate weight?
So, they laid the two iron ladders horizontally across the scale and then lifted the wild boar onto them. This way, the boar’s body wouldn’t touch the ground.
Finally, after getting the total weight, they would just subtract the weight of the ladders.
The scale was pulled in front of the sled, and the two ladders were laid side-by-side across it. Zhou Jianjun then called out for everyone to help lift the wild boar onto the ladders.
There were over thirty people present, and everyone was willing to do Zhou Jianjun a favor. As soon as he asked, they all crowded around the wild boar.
As the crowd moved to help, they parted, leaving only Zhao Jun standing there with his rifle slung over his back.
"Hah!" Seeing his son, Zhao Youcai’s cheek twitched as he let out a cold snort.
"Heh heh heh..." Zhao Jun chuckled as he walked up to Zhao Youcai. "Dad," he said.
Zhao Youcai sized him up. After a whole night’s ordeal, not only did his son show no signs of exhaustion, but he had even changed into a new padded cotton jacket and trousers, looking all prim and proper.
Zhao Youcai turned his head and walked toward the scale. The Pig God had already been placed on top, and Zhou Jianjun was busy adding counterweights.
"How much?" Zhao Youcai asked, looking at the beam. The surrounding crowd also pressed in for a look.
One thousand and fifty-three pounds!
The crowd erupted in gasps of amazement. Zhou Jianjun then asked for help lifting the boar off the scale and onto Yang Hong’s sled, requesting that Yang Hong help him pull it to the logistics department.
Seeing that Zhou Jianjun was about to leave, Zhao Jun quickly said a word to Zhao Youcai and went with his brother-in-law.
Once they reached the logistics department, Zhou Jianjun had some of the staff help move the Pig God into the main storehouse for the time being.
After they came out, Zhou Jianjun was the first to thank Yang Hong. "Yang Leader, thank you for all your trouble today."
"No trouble at all," Yang Hong said with a smile. "Technician Zhao and I get along quite well. This is nothing."
Yang Hong’s meaning was clear: he had come to help for Zhao Jun’s sake. Any favor owed was between him and Zhao Jun.
This actually made Zhou Jianjun think favorably of the man. He immediately pulled two packs of cigarettes from his pocket, handed them smoothly to Yang Hong, and said with a smile, "My brother-in-law Zhao Jun is a great guy. You two should get along. We’ll have to all get together properly when we have the chance."
These were just pleasantries, and Yang Hong knew it. Just getting acquainted with Zhou Jianjun today was an unexpected bonus. The person he really needed to curry favor with was Zhao Jun.
So, Yang Hong simply smiled and accepted the cigarettes, saying nothing more.
"Brother-in-law," Zhao Jun spoke up then. He knew Zhou Jianjun still had a lot to take care of, so he took his leave. "You get back to it. We’ll be on our way."
"Alright." Zhou Jianjun didn’t need to stand on ceremony with his own brother-in-law. He readily saw them off, saying, "Take it easy, you two."
Yang Hong drove the sled out of the Forest Farm before stopping. He asked Zhao Jun, "Technician Zhao, I can take you straight home, you know."
"Brother Yang, don’t worry about it. I’ve already troubled you more than enough."
Hearing his form of address change from "Yang Leader" to "Brother Yang," Yang Hong was overjoyed. He quickly insisted, "It’s no trouble at all! Let me just take you home."
"Really, don’t," Zhao Jun said. "I’m not just being polite. It’s already getting to be afternoon, and it’ll be tough to drive the sled back. How about this: just drop me off at the Logging Camp. I can head down from there, it’s actually closer to my house."
"That works too!" Yang Hong had to agree. Once the mountain snow melted in the afternoon, the sunny slopes would turn to either dry earth or mud, making it impossible to travel by sled.
So, Yang Hong took Zhao Jun back to the No. 78 Logging Camp. But once they got there, he absolutely insisted that Zhao Jun stay for lunch and refused to let him leave.
After lunch, Zhao Jun rested for a bit in the Leader’s shack, then said his goodbyes to Yang Hong and started down the mountain toward home.
The moment he entered the village, Zhao Jun didn’t head home. Instead, he made a beeline for Zhang Yuanmin’s house.
He entered the courtyard, knocked on the door, and went inside to see the couple, Zhang Yuanmin and Yang Yufeng, weaving baskets on the edge of their kang.
"Hey, brother, you’re back!" Seeing Zhao Jun, Zhang Yuanmin quickly set aside his half-finished basket and rushed to greet him.
"Let’s go, Big Brother!" Zhao Jun’s first words were, "Come with me. We’re going to the Village Chief to get our money!"
"You got it!" Zhang Yuanmin was overjoyed. He immediately grabbed his padded jacket from the kang and threw it on.
"Sister-in-law, I’m heading out," Zhao Jun added to Yang Yufeng, then turned to leave.
"Brother, come over for dinner tonight!" Yang Yufeng called after him.
"We’ll see!"
Zhang Yuanmin caught up to him shortly after he left the house, and the two of them headed toward the Village Office.
Zhao Jun asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Brother, have they hauled back all those boars?"
"Yep," Zhang Yuanmin nodded. "Made one trip last night and two this morning. They’re all back."
Two tractors. Last night, they mainly hauled the yellow-haired ones and some of the old sows. Today, they hauled the rest of the sows and the Big Cannon Eggs. Those are heavier, so Li Baoyu and the other driver made two trips this morning.
Zhao Jun didn’t know Li Baoyu had skipped work; he assumed Zhao Guofeng had found the men and the tractors. He asked, "Have they all been weighed? What’s the total?"
"In total..." Zhang Yuanmin thought for a moment. "Exactly twenty of the yellow-haired, plus thirty-one old sows and twenty-four Big Cannon Eggs. All together, it’s over seventeen thousand six hundred pounds."
"Hmm, that’s pretty good," Zhao Jun said with a nod. "The mountain beasts are all thin in the early spring. The yellow-haired ones are definitely under a hundred pounds each, the adult sows are around two hundred, and the cannon eggs vary in size. Over seventeen thousand pounds is not a small amount."
At two mao a pound, that’s over thirty-five hundred yuan.
When Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin got to the Village Office, they found it locked, so they headed for Zhao Guofeng’s house instead.
Zhao Guofeng was at home, sitting on the kang. He was writing on a sheet of scratch paper with his right hand, while his left hand was pressed against his left cheek.
His wife, Qin Xiaojuan, came in from the opposite room, holding a foil-wrapped strip of painkillers.
"Guofeng, you should take a couple of these," Qin Xiaojuan said, placing the painkillers on the small kang table. Then she went to pour some water into a tea mug.
Zhao Guofeng had already torn two pills from the strip and popped them in his mouth. He took the water from Qin Xiaojuan, took a gulp, and tilted his head back to wash them down.
"Sigh." Qin Xiaojuan shook her head with a sigh as she took the mug back.
Zhao Guofeng shot her a look. "What’s with all the sighing?"
"You’re asking me?" Qin Xiaojuan said irritably. "Look at the mess you’ve made! In a village this small, what was the point of competing with the brigade? Now that kid has actually brought back all those boars. I’d like to see where you’re going to get the money to pay him."
"Sigh!" At the mention of it, Zhao Guofeng also sighed heavily. He hung his head and said, "Who would’ve thought he’d actually get so many!"
"So what are you going to do?" Qin Xiaojuan asked. "You already gave your word. You can’t just not pay the kid, can you?"
"Sigh!" Zhao Guofeng sighed again. He felt a sharp pain from a back molar on his left side and clutched his cheek. "Of course I have to pay! If I don’t, how are we supposed to keep living in this village?"
Just then, the door to the outer room was flung open. Zhao Jinshan burst into the inner room and yelled, "Dad, bad news! Zhao Jun is here!"