Chapter 436 - 369: Training the Dogs on Vacation
"Brother, maybe we should just drop it."
In No. 77 Logging Camp, Du Chunlin quietly urged his brother, Du Chunjiang, "If Zhao Jun is willing to help us, the worst that can happen is we have to treat him to a few meals."
Du Chunlin’s attitude was completely different now. He felt that the power struggles among the Forest Farm’s leadership weren’t something he and his brother should get mixed up in.
But Du Chunjiang shook his head. "Brother, this kid is a real handful. He’s in charge of three logging camps. For the other two, he lets their Leaders call the shots on timber transport. But he comes to our camp every single day. Not only does he protect that Jie Zhong, but he’s always eating my food and drinking my liquor."
What Du Chunjiang said wasn’t wrong. Zhao Jun was in charge of three logging camps, but he let the Leaders of the other two camps handle their own timber transport.
But he came to No. 77 Logging Camp whenever he had a spare moment. And every time he showed up, Du Chunjiang had to suck up to him and cook him a good meal.
"Really?"
"Of course it’s real!" Seeing Du Chunlin’s disbelief, Du Chunjiang retorted, "Doesn’t he come every day? How did I piss him off? The only thing was that first day he arrived, I didn’t make him a meal. But I apologized for that later, didn’t I?"
Hearing this, Du Chunlin agreed that Zhao Jun was taking things too far. "Then let’s get him," he said. "Let’s get him good."
...
The inspection team didn’t visit No. 77 Logging Camp today, but Zhao Jun still stayed until six o’clock. Only after the last truck, fully loaded with timber, pulled out of the camp did he sling his satchel over his shoulder and get ready to head home.
"Brother! Brother!" Du Chunjiang came running up from behind. He took out a flashlight and three C-size batteries, stuffing them both into Zhao Jun’s hands. "Take these. It’s getting dark. You’ll need a light on the mountain path."
"Hey! Thanks, Big Brother." Zhao Jun didn’t stand on ceremony. He took the flashlight and batteries, loaded them in one by one, then screwed the back cap on tightly and held it.
He remembered Du Chunjiang had given him a flashlight before, but Zhao Jun accepted this one without any fuss as well.
Seeing Zhao Jun accept his gift again, Du Chunjiang seethed internally, but his face was all smiles. "Brother, about that matter of mine... please keep it in mind."
"Don’t you worry, Big Brother," Zhao Jun said, making a grand promise. "Don’t listen to what anyone else says. I’m telling you, this No. 77 Logging Camp is yours. It doesn’t matter who says otherwise!"
’This would be easy to handle.’ In less than a month, the inspector with the surname Zhu who was giving Du Chunjiang trouble would be transferred out by a Yinglin technician. Zhao Jun wouldn’t even have to lift a finger, and Du Chunjiang’s problem would be solved.
But Du Chunjiang didn’t know that. Hearing Zhao Jun’s words, he felt his "tributes" were finally paying off. He was overjoyed, rubbing his hands together with a grin. "Brother, if you say that, I’ll finally be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight."
"You’ll sleep!" Zhao Jun joked. "Go to bed early and dream about marrying two more wives."
"Hahaha... Your sister-in-law would skin me alive!"
The two of them looked at each other and laughed. Zhao Jun said his goodbyes and left. Du Chunjiang shouted after him, "Brother, come back tomorrow, okay? We’ll have Flying Dragon soup for lunch again!"
"Alright!"
...
Days of drinking Flying Dragon soup came and went, right past May Day.
All the stockpiled timber from the three logging camps under Zhao Jun’s management had been shipped off to support the development of the Divine Land. Zhao Jun had also settled the accounts for all three camps.
After submitting the accounts to the inspection team, Zhao Jun was given a ten-day vacation.
This was a perk the Forest Farm gave its inspectors. The official reason was that after months of hard work participating in winter production and spring transport, they deserved some compensation.
The compensation included a monthly bonus of five yuan and this ten-day vacation.
In truth, the vacation didn’t matter much to Zhao Jun. Ever since he started, he’d never acted like a timid, green-horned rookie. He was more like a wily old veteran, taking days off whenever he felt like it.
But not even Xu Baoshan could find fault with him, because Zhao Jun always got his work done and never pushed things too far.
After settling the accounts, Zhao Jun returned home and told Wang Meilan he would be on vacation starting the next day. Wang Meilan nodded. "I’ll hurry your dad along these next couple of days. We need to go to the Ma Family’s place and settle your marriage engagement."
"Alright," Zhao Jun agreed with a smile, then went out to the yard to check on his dogs. Black Tiger’s leg still hadn’t fully healed, but the other four dogs seemed to be getting along much better.
Of course, Black Tiger played the decisive role here. By constantly picking fights and stirring up trouble, he made Little Bear, White Dragon, Big Fatty, and San Pang all want to bite him. This created a complicated bond between the four of them, united against a common enemy.
Zhao Jun walked over to Big Fatty and San Pang. The two dogs had grown very attached to him by now. As soon as he approached, they both stood up on their hind legs like humans, planting their front paws on him and trying to scramble up.
Back in those days, people didn’t really cuddle their dogs. Besides, Big Fatty weighed over a hundred and ten pounds.
So, Zhao Jun just petted them and played with them for a little while.
But just as Zhao Jun was about to go spend some time with White Dragon and Little Bear, he heard a car pull up to the gate.
Immediately, the dogs in both the Zhao and Li Family courtyards started barking.
But when Li Baoyu stepped out of the car, the dogs from both families quieted down, leaving only Black Tiger to let out a series of yelps.
Zhao Jun really didn’t want to deal with Black Tiger, so he walked out and called to Li Baoyu.
Hearing Zhao Jun call his name, Li Baoyu stopped at the gate instead of coming into the yard, waiting for him to come out.
When Zhao Jun came out, he saw Li Baoyu and asked, "All settled?"
"Yep, yep." Li Baoyu nodded eagerly, grinning. "My file’s been sent to HR."
"That’s great!" Zhao Jun was ecstatic. He raised a hand and clapped Li Baoyu hard on the shoulder.
Today was the day Li Baoyu officially became a permanent employee.
Early that morning, Jin Xiaomei had come to Zhao Jun’s family home to invite Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan to bring their family over for a celebratory dinner that evening.
Lin Xiangshun’s family would also be attending the banquet.
And just like that, Li Baoyu, who had been a mere temporary worker, was automatically given a permanent position after his father, Li Dayong, was appointed deputy head of the dispatch team.
Li Baoyu let out a goofy laugh, but then his expression fell. "Brother," he said to Zhao Jun, "on my way back just now, I told Brother Shunzi I wanted to take tomorrow off, but he wouldn’t let me."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback for a second, but then he seemed to understand.
And just as he expected, Li Baoyu continued, "Brother Shunzi said it wouldn’t look good if I got my permanent position today and then went hunting in the mountains tomorrow. People might talk."
"He’s right." Zhao Jun pointed at Li Baoyu. "You need to focus on work, especially since you got your permanent spot in less than three months. You can’t give people a reason to gossip."
At this, Zhao Jun blinked and muttered to himself, ’If you’re not coming with me, who can I ask to go?’
Zhao Jun’s plan for this trip to the mountains was not only to train the four new dogs, but also to get the two packs to socialize and work together.
Dogs have their own personalities. Just as some people are unsociable, so are some dogs.
When people don’t get along, it causes friction. The same is true for dogs.
And if hunting dogs don’t get along, they’ll cause all sorts of problems, even with their master right there to keep them in line.
Training the dogs was one thing, but getting two packs to cooperate required two hunters working together. Zhao Jun had originally planned to take Li Baoyu with him, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen now.
The question was, who could he ask?
Zhao Jun didn’t want to ask anyone unreliable. But how many truly reliable people were there?
Zhang Yuanmin was reliable, but his injury hadn’t fully healed, and besides, he didn’t know how to do a surround hunt.
Just as Zhao Jun was pondering his dilemma, Li Baoyu spoke up beside him. "Brother, Brother Shunzi said he’ll go with you."
"Him?" Zhao Jun chuckled, starting to walk toward the Li Family Courtyard with Baoyu. "So he tells you not to go, and then goes himself."