The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Chapter 231: Chapter 203: Joining the Acceptance Team

After saying goodbye to Zhou Jianjun, Zhao Jun followed Li Dayong out of the Forest Farm and headed up the mountain.

After walking for about ten minutes on the mountain path, they came upon an open area with a row of small, single-story houses.

Walking behind Li Dayong, Zhao Jun looked at the familiar place before him and felt a wave of emotion.

This was the place where he had worked for ten years in his past life.

The Yong’an Forest Farm Inspection Team wasn’t located inside the main Forest Farm but had its own separate office area here.

"Leader Li." As the two approached, someone came out of a room and greeted Li Dayong.

Li Dayong smiled and nodded, then asked, "Where’s your Leader Xu?"

"He should be in the office," the man said, sounding a little unsure.

"Alright, I’ll go find him myself." Li Dayong replied and led Zhao Jun toward the room in the very center.

This room had double doors. After opening the outer doors, there was a thick curtain just inside.

Li Dayong asked, "Is Leader Xu in?"

"I’m here," someone in the room answered. "Who is it?"

Li Dayong lifted the curtain and led Zhao Jun inside, announcing as soon as they entered, "Leader Xu, I’ve brought someone for you."

"Well now, Leader Li." From behind a wooden desk at the far end of the room, a middle-aged man with glasses stood up and walked toward Li Dayong to greet him.

He was about 1.7 meters tall, neither fat nor thin, with dark skin. When he was still a few steps away, he extended a hand to Li Dayong and said with a laugh, "Leader Li, just took office and you’re already here to inspect our work?"

"Haha..." Li Dayong let out a hearty laugh, shaking Xu Baoshan’s hand. "My leader title is just ’deputy.’ How could I compare to you, my younger brother?"

"Brother Li, you’re teasing me," Xu Baoshan said with a smile. "You’re in charge of dispatch, and I’m in charge of inspection. I’m the one who should be counting on you to look out for me."

After Xu Baoshan finished speaking, the two men looked at each other and laughed loudly. Then Xu Baoshan gestured for Li Dayong to have a seat, saying, "Brother Li, let’s find a place to sit. Let your little brother make you a cup of tea."

"No need," Li Dayong said quickly. "Don’t trouble yourself. I’m just here to drop this kid off to report for duty. I have to leave right after."

"Oh?" Xu Baoshan glanced at Zhao Jun and asked Li Dayong, "Brother Li, is this a relative of yours?"

Xu Baoshan had seen Zhao Jun the moment he entered the room, but his attention had been focused mainly on Li Dayong, so he hadn’t paid Zhao Jun much mind.

Just as Xu Baoshan had said, he was in charge of inspection, while Li Dayong was in charge of dispatch. Although they were two departments of equal rank, there were still nuances to their relationship.

The Forest Farm’s entire purpose was to support the construction of the Divine Land.

Every day, the Inspection Team would inspect and calculate the volume of harvested timber, then report it to Dispatch. Dispatch would then report it to Statistics. Finally, Statistics would report to the Forestry Department.

The process in between sounded convoluted, but no matter how the reports were submitted, the data always originated from the Inspection Team.

If there was a mistake, the blame would ultimately fall on the Inspection Team.

Who could work year-round without ever making a mistake?

Whether it was a calculation error or some other oversight, as long as the data hadn’t been reported to the Forestry Department, the mistake could be fixed.

But for the Inspection Team to fix a mistake, they could never bypass Dispatch.

If the data was still in Dispatch’s hands and hadn’t been sent to Statistics, they could just communicate directly with Dispatch.

If it had already been reported to Statistics, they still had to ask Dispatch to help coordinate. Otherwise, even if the Inspection Team communicated with Statistics, if Dispatch didn’t change the data they had on file, the Inspection Team would still be in trouble.

Therefore, even though their departments were of equal rank, Xu Baoshan didn’t dare to offend Li Dayong.

Besides, there were rumors that Li Dayong was backed by the Production Director, Zhou Chunming. How could Xu Baoshan possibly be disrespectful?

Now, hearing Li Dayong say that he was here for the young man behind him, Xu Baoshan finally began to size up Zhao Jun.

Work had just started for the new year, and Elder Li from their Inspection Team had retired. Xu Baoshan had heard that the higher-ups were sending a replacement, but he hadn’t paid it any mind.

But he never expected that this newcomer would be personally escorted by the newly appointed Deputy Leader of the Dispatch Team. That was something else entirely.

As he sized him up, Xu Baoshan was inwardly shocked. The kid’s measuring stick and marking hammer were brand new! That was even more remarkable.

And so, Xu Baoshan tentatively posed a question to Li Dayong.

Li Dayong glanced at Zhao Jun, then smiled at Xu Baoshan. "This is Zhao Jun. He’s the son of my big brother, Master Zhao from Canteen Number One."

"Oh, good heavens," Xu Baoshan said upon hearing this, his eyes filling with astonishment as he looked at Zhao Jun.

"Little brother," Xu Baoshan extended his hand and shook Zhao Jun’s.

Once they were seated, Li Dayong pointed at Zhao Jun and said to Xu Baoshan, "Brother Baoshan, this big nephew of mine is young, and my sister-in-law spoils him rotten. If he makes any mistakes here, brother, you’ll have to be patient with him."

"Ah, of course..."

Xu Baoshan had just uttered a polite phrase when Li Dayong continued, "If this kid messes up, just give me a call. I’ll go back and tell his dad, and have his dad discipline him properly."

Hearing this, Xu Baoshan’s expression didn’t change, but his heart was filled with bitterness.

He finally understood why the kid had new tools. He was Zhao Youcai’s son—and the younger brother-in-law of Zhou Jianjun from the Logistics Department.

’This isn’t some new recruit,’ Xu Baoshan thought. ’This is a little overlord!’

’Didn’t he hear what Li Dayong just said? If Zhao Jun made a mistake, he, Xu Baoshan, had to be patient with him. And he mentioned Zhao Jun was young and spoiled rotten at home. Wasn’t that just giving him a heads-up? The most crucial part was Li Dayong’s last sentence. It sounded like he was being strict with Zhao Jun, but Xu Baoshan understood the real meaning. It was telling him: if Zhao Jun messes up, you can’t punish him. You have to tell his father and let his father punish him. But is a father punishing his son the same as a supervisor punishing an employee?’

But what could Xu Baoshan say?

Setting aside Zhao Youcai and Zhou Jianjun, he couldn’t afford to offend Li Dayong, who was standing right in front of him.

"Brother Li, what are you saying," Xu Baoshan could only say, biting the bullet. "This young man looks very well-behaved."

"Of course," Li Dayong said with a smile. "My nephew is very promising. Even Farm Director Zhou said the kid is a good person."

Xu Baoshan: "..."

Just then, Li Dayong stood up and said to Xu Baoshan, "Brother, I’m entrusting our nephew to you. I’ll have to ask you to look after him. I’ve got things to do on my end, so I’ll be going now."

"Of course, of course." Xu Baoshan stood up to see him off. It was the first official day of work, and he had plenty to do himself.

After seeing Li Dayong off, Xu Baoshan turned back and smiled at Zhao Jun. The guy was here, and he couldn’t be sent back. What else could he do?

"Leader," Zhao Jun said with a smile.

Xu Baoshan suddenly felt that this kid actually had a good sense of propriety. He smiled back and said, "Around here in the Inspection Team, nobody calls me Leader. They all call me Brother Xu."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun quickly said, "That won’t do. Going by seniority, I should be calling you Uncle Xu."

"Hah," Xu Baoshan laughed. "If our shoulders are level, we’re brothers. We’ll each stick to our own form of address."

Zhao Jun knew this was Xu Baoshan’s habit. In his past life, he had called him Brother Xu. But in his past life, Li Dayong hadn’t personally escorted him to work.

Thinking about what Li Dayong had said to Xu Baoshan earlier, Zhao Jun took two cartons of cigarettes from his satchel and said to Xu Baoshan, "I should still call you Uncle Xu."

At this, seeing Xu Baoshan’s expression darken slightly, Zhao Jun quickly added, "By the way, Uncle Xu, my Granny Xu said to tell you to come back to the village for some pickled cabbage buns when you have time."

The moment Zhao Jun said this, the way Xu Baoshan looked at him changed completely.