Chapter 322 - 262: Picked Up a Dog (3)
The stewed vermicelli noodles were long and soft, making them easy to spill if not served carefully. So, Zhao Youcai picked up Li Dayong’s lunch box with one hand, gave the pot a stir with a large ladle in the other, and plopped a heaping spoonful into the metal container.
Normally, one ladleful was a single portion. But the person getting food was Li Dayong. How could one scoop be enough?
After the second scoop was plopped in, the aluminum lunch box was full. In the Northeast dialect, you’d call it a box "piled high."
Then, Zhao Youcai set down the metal ladle, picked up a pair of wooden tongs, and started grabbing cornbread buns for Li Dayong from a steamer basket.
As Zhao Youcai placed the cornbread buns on the lunch box lid, Li Dayong handed his meal tickets over and said, "Brother, shouldn’t those two boys be back by now?"
"Who knows," Zhao Youcai said, sounding indifferent.
Hearing this, Li Dayong chuckled. "So you don’t miss your son?"
"I don’t," Zhao Youcai said. "He can come back if he wants. It’d be even better if he didn’t."
Just as they were speaking, Wu Feng, who was standing a couple of spots behind Li Dayong in line, suddenly called out, "Master Zhao, your son Zhao Jun is something else!"
"Hmm?" Zhao Youcai glanced up at Wu Feng. "What is it? Did that boy of mine get into trouble?"
"No, what are you thinking, Master Zhao?" Wu Feng said. "A Big Claw appeared over in our Yongxing area, and no one could deal with it. In the end, it was your son, Zhao Jun, who caught it."
"What?" It wasn’t just Zhao Youcai—even Li Dayong nearly dropped his food and cornbread when he heard Wu Feng.
Wu Feng looked at Li Dayong and nodded. "Your son went with them, but I don’t know if he helped out. Anyway, when I went home yesterday, I heard everyone saying how amazing Zhao Jun is. They said he pinned the tiger in the snow with just a forked branch."
This was, in fact, true, but to single out Zhao Jun made the story sound a little too fantastic.
Zhao Youcai said nothing, just stared straight at Wu Feng.
Seeing Zhao Youcai’s expression, Li Dayong turned to Wu Feng and asked, "Elder Wu, you must have misheard. How could a man possibly catch Big Claw?"
"How could I have misheard?" Wu Feng frowned and raised his voice. "A whole group of them tied it up like a pig and carried it back. My son even went to take a look! After I got home and heard about it, I went to see for myself. It was definitely Big Claw."
"Zhao Jun caught it?" This time, the voice came from Zhao Youcai, from behind the service window.
"That’s right," Wu Feng said. "Our party secretary and the director both said they’re going to give Zhao Jun an award certificate."
After Wu Feng spoke, he saw no trace of joy on Zhao Youcai’s face. He didn’t think much of it, though. ’After all, what father wouldn’t want his son to earn some glory?’ He simply figured Zhao Youcai couldn’t believe the news.
People ate fast back then. Twenty-some minutes later, the once-packed cafeteria was now completely empty.
"Brother." Li Dayong pushed aside the white cloth flap covering the doorway and entered the back kitchen. He walked over to Zhao Youcai, who was sitting on a long bench. "I asked Elder Wu. Those two boys really did catch a tiger at Yongxing Brigade."
"What?" Hearing this, Zhao Youcai shot bolt upright. "How did they catch it?" he asked, astonished.
"I don’t know the details." Li Dayong sat down next to him. "But from what I hear, Zhao Jun was the one who led the whole thing. The entire Yongxing Brigade followed his orders. He really earned some serious glory."
Zhao Youcai was silent for a long time after hearing this.
Seeing his silence, Li Dayong, who knew him best, lowered his voice. "Brother, luck is a big part of hunting. It’s their first year up in the mountains, and the Mountain God and the Elder Leader have decided to smile upon them."
"Oh, give me a break," Zhao Youcai retorted. "They caught the Mountain God himself!"