Chapter 284: Chapter 239: Suppression by Force (Part 2)
"Oh, oh, thank you so much, Technician Zhao."
Zhao Jun waved to them, then led Jiang Jinyou over to the leader’s shack. Just as they arrived, they happened upon Du Chunjiang, dressed and ready to go out.
As the Leader, it wasn’t that he did no work at all. He had to regularly inspect the sled paths. If a path had problems, he would either report it to the Forest Farm and have them send down road maintenance workers, or he would pay someone to fix it first and get reimbursed by the Forest Farm later.
This way, there was a profit to be made.
When Du Chunjiang saw Zhao Jun arrive, he was taken aback for a moment. He quickly invited him into the shack and asked the reason for his visit.
Zhao Jun said, "Du Leader, about Zhang Yuanmin... I don’t plan on letting him work here anymore. I’m taking him back today. I just came to let you know. He’s caused you a lot of trouble these past few days."
"Technician Zhao, that’s wonderful news," Du Chunjiang blurted out. But after saying it, he felt it wasn’t quite right. He gave Zhao Jun a wry smile and said, "Technician Zhao, it’s not that I, Elder Du, can’t tolerate him. But that big brother of yours... he’s really something else."
Zhao Jun smiled and nodded. "Well," he said, "he’s only worked for a couple of days, but he still put in some effort. I was thinking, after I finish measuring this batch of logs, you could settle his wages for these few days. Just give the money to me, and I’ll pass it along to him."
"Sure. We’ll do it your way."
Hearing Du Chunjiang agree, Zhao Jun added, "There’s also Brother Jiang. He wants to go home too. I was hoping you could settle his previous pay. As for the past few days, we can deal with that after I’m done with the measurements."
Du Chunjiang glanced at Jiang Jinyou. He knew why the man wanted to leave. "Elder Jiang," he said, "we’re from the same village. You know I’m short-handed here. Why do you want to leave? Now that Zhang Yuanmin is gone, I can just partner you with someone else for felling trees, and everything will be fine."
Hearing this, Jiang Jinyou looked toward Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun laughed. "Brother Jiang, why are you looking at me? Du Leader is asking you to stay. Why would you leave? Just get back to it and put in a few more good days’ work."
The brief exchange between Du Chunjiang and Zhao Jun gave all three men a way to save face. Jiang Jinyou no longer refused and immediately agreed to stay.
Since that was settled, there was no need to close out his pay. Du Chunjiang told Jiang Jinyou to go back up the mountain and continue skidding logs.
Zhao Jun also bid farewell to Du Chunjiang. He left the leader’s shack and returned to the skidders’ shack, where he found the Li Brothers, Li Yuan and Li Wei, pressed against the door, eavesdropping.
Zhao Jun cleared his throat. Hearing the sound, they turned, saw him, and both ran over, unable to contain their glee. "Technician Zhao, Big Pants got beaten up by his wife!"
"Alright, alright." Jiang Jinyou quickly pushed the two away. "Get back to what you’re supposed to be doing."
But the Li Brothers’ original plan for the day had been to go hunt the Black Bear with Zhang Yuanmin. They weren’t at all prepared to go into the mountains to skid logs. Their horsewhips were still in the shack, and without them, they couldn’t drive the sleds.
But given the situation, they couldn’t exactly go into the shack to get their whips.
Seeing Zhao Jun also wave them away, the Li Brothers had no choice but to move aside.
Zhao Jun and Jiang Jinyou stood before the shack. They could faintly hear Yang Yufeng’s angry rebukes from inside, but not a peep from Zhang Yuanmin.
Clearly, Zhang Yuanmin had been thoroughly subdued by Yang Yufeng.
A short while later, the scolding inside stopped. Yang Yufeng came out, opened the door, and said to Zhao Jun outside, "You two can come in now."
Zhao Jun and Jiang Jinyou entered the shack to find Zhang Yuanmin sitting sullenly on the kang bed, facing the wall, not making a sound.
Zhao Jun and Jiang Jinyou exchanged a look. Then Zhao Jun said to Yang Yufeng, "I’ve already spoken with Du Leader. About my big brother’s wages for the past few days... once I finish measuring the logs in a bit, he’ll calculate the pay. I’ll collect it for now and give it to you when I get back."
"Alright. I’ll have to trouble you again, then."
"Don’t mention it."
Just then, Jiang Jinyou grabbed the Li Brothers’ whips and left the shack to give them to them. But he didn’t plan on heading into the mountains right away; he wanted to see Zhang Yuanmin off.
Seeing Jiang Jinyou leave, Yang Yufeng yanked open Zhang Yuanmin’s snakeskin bag for Zhao Jun to see. "Take a look at this," she said. "What kind of stuff did he bring?"
Zhao Jun looked inside. There were comic books and an Invasion Blade. This didn’t look like someone who had come to work at all.
At this point, Zhao Jun felt his decision was all the wiser. Zhang Yuanmin could not be allowed to stay at the Logging Camp. In fact, on the way here today, Yang Yufeng had asked Zhao Jun if she should still try to let Zhang Yuanmin save some face—perhaps by luring him out of the camp and beating him up somewhere private.
Zhao Jun had immediately shaken his head and told her no. He explained to Yang Yufeng, "If you let him save face, the people at this Logging Camp won’t know what really happened, and they’ll keep believing his act."
"Then, even if he’s not working here anymore, all he’d have to do is show up and give a rallying cry, and men would grab their tools to follow him."
Yang Yufeng listened and thought it made sense. So, she didn’t hold back. The moment she arrived, she declared she was taking Zhang Yuanmin home. When he dared to talk back, he was met with a sound beating from her.
Now, everything was pretty much packed. Yang Yufeng told Zhang Yuanmin to get off the kang bed and go home. But Zhang Yuanmin, apparently sulking, sat on the bed and refused to move.
He was so humiliated today. Zhang Yuanmin wished a hole would open up in the ground and swallow him.
But Yang Yufeng wasn’t about to coddle him. She climbed onto the kang bed, dragged him off, and made him carry the snakeskin bag.
Zhang Yuanmin whined that his arms hurt and he couldn’t carry it.
Yang Yufeng had her own pride to consider. It was one thing here at the Logging Camp where few people knew them, but if she beat Zhang Yuanmin until his face was black and blue, it would be a huge loss of face back in their village.
So, when she swung the rolling pin, she hadn’t aimed for his face, but had whacked him on the body instead.
Right now, Zhang Yuanmin’s arms, chest, and back were likely covered in soft tissue bruises of varying severity. It hurt just to move, let alone carry anything.
"Yufeng," Jiang Jinyou said, coming in from outside. "Let’s go. I’ll take you two down on the sled."
"Oh... thank you, Brother Jiang." Yang Yufeng was a woman, after all. It was one thing to go into the mountains in spring or autumn to gather wild vegetables and goods, but trekking through the mountains in winter on foot was exhausting for her. Making her carry luggage on top of that was out of the question.
Jiang Jinyou went to get the sled ready. Zhao Jun helped with the luggage, while Yang Yufeng, rolling pin in one hand, dragged Zhang Yuanmin out with the other.
Zhang Yuanmin didn’t even want to take a few steps, his face sullen and silent.
Just as the couple was walking out of No. 77 Logging Camp, all the workers at the camp somehow got the news. They all rushed to the main gate to watch from a distance.
Seeing Zhang Yuanmin walk out of the Logging Camp, dejected and crestfallen, the crowd fell silent.
And just like that, Zhang Yuanmin’s career at the Logging Camp, which had lasted less than ten days, came to an end. In just a few short days, he had gone from making a name for himself and establishing his dominance, to showing off his might by stabbing a Black Bear, and finally, to being beaten up by his wife and dragged home.
The reversal was so dramatic the Logging Camp workers could barely process it.
Watching Jiang Jinyou’s sled pull the couple away, Zhao Jun sighed helplessly, shook his head, and started walking toward No. 78 Logging Camp.
There wasn’t much work left at No. 78 Logging Camp today. He would finish it in the morning and return to the inspection team in the afternoon to file his report.
「The next day.」
He was supposed to go to No. 79 Logging Camp to do his measurements, but Zhao Jun decided to take a day off instead. He planned to take his dogs and go hunt the Black Bear that had been burned. ’I’ve already spent forty yuan,’ he thought. ’Can’t just let it be a charitable donation, can I?’
And so, for the first time without anyone accompanying him, Zhao Jun went into the mountains alone with Hua Xiao, Daqing, Da Huang, and White Dragon. He led the four dogs all the way to the spot where the Li Brothers had set the fire the day before yesterday.
The tree den was now completely gone, burned to the ground. Looking at the earth covered in ash and charcoal, and then at the few nearby trees scorched by the flames, Zhao Jun sighed to himself. ’This was just reckless.’
’It’s a good thing the trees aren’t too dense here and that it’s winter. Otherwise, this could easily have turned into a huge forest fire.’
Zhao Jun unleashed the struggling Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing. The two dogs immediately picked up the bear’s tracks and took off, heading west.
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