Zhao Jun made his way into the mountains, crossing ridges and valleys until he arrived at No. 77 Logging Camp.

When he was still four or five hundred meters from the logging camp gate, he saw Du Chunlin standing by the side of the road. Du Chunlin had his neck shrunk down, was stomping his feet, and had his arms crossed with both hands tucked into his sleeves.

He had clearly been waiting outside for a long time and was frozen through.

Seeing Zhao Jun approach, Du Chunlin took off running into the Logging Camp. At this sight, Zhao Jun knew what was happening; he was sure Du Chunlin was going to inform Du Chunjiang.

So, Zhao Jun slowed his pace. By the time he reached the gate of the Logging Camp, he saw Du Chunjiang jogging over, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket as he ran.

When he reached Zhao Jun, Du Chunjiang had already opened the pack. He pulled out a cigarette and offered it to Zhao Jun, saying, "Technician Zhao, have a smoke."

"I don’t smoke," Zhao Jun replied flatly.

Unfazed by Zhao Jun’s cold refusal, Du Chunjiang put the cigarette back in the pack, then shoved the whole thing into Zhao Jun’s pocket.

Seeing Zhao Jun look at him, Du Chunjiang said with a smile, "Keep them anyway. You can smoke them if you ever start."

It had to be said, when Du Chunjiang truly set his mind to sucking up, he was certainly a pro at it.

Zhao Jun didn’t take the cigarettes out. He entered the Logging Camp and walked straight toward the Log Pile Yard.

Du Chunjiang followed him the whole way, tailing Zhao Jun to the Log Pile Yard.

Looking around upon his arrival today, he saw that all the timber had been arranged exactly as he had instructed the day before. Every log was laid out neatly, propped against the base of the pile.

Seeing the workers bustling about in the Log Pile Yard, Zhao Jun said loudly, "Alright, this is good enough. There’s no inspection, so why make it so perfectly neat?"

This was his way of putting an end to yesterday’s incident.

After all, even if Zhao Jun wanted to make things difficult, he would make them difficult for Du Chunjiang, not for these ordinary workers.

Now that Du Chunjiang had backed down, he could let him off the hook, at least on the surface.

After speaking, Zhao Jun unslung his satchel. With a measuring stick in one hand and a marking hammer in the other, he tucked his logbook under his arm, walked over to a Log Pile, and began his work.

For the entire morning, wherever Zhao Jun went, Du Chunjiang followed. He didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything; he just quietly accompanied Zhao Jun as he scaled the logs.

Zhao Jun ignored him, letting him stand there like a post. As noon approached, Du Chunjiang finally said to Zhao Jun, "Technician Zhao, it’s noon. Why don’t you come to my shack for a bite to eat?"

Zhao Jun glanced at him without a word, shifted the measuring stick and marking hammer to one hand, and then pointed toward the shacks.

"Yes, yes!" Overjoyed, Du Chunjiang quickly led the way, taking Zhao Jun into his shack.

Watching Zhao Jun and Du Chunjiang walk off, the workers in the Log Pile Yard began to murmur amongst themselves. This young technician was something else, alright. It had only taken him two days to bring Du Leader to heel.

But others said Du Leader was just shameless. He’d put on a tough act when the technician first arrived, but now that he knew he couldn’t win, he was just groveling.

Inside the shack, Du Chunjiang invited Zhao Jun to sit on the kang bed-stove while he himself bustled about on the floor below, boiling water to make tea.

After placing an enamel mug of tea in front of Zhao Jun, Du Chunjiang brought over a wooden box from the side. He opened it and pulled out a mesh bag containing about ten apples.

They were quite a novelty at this time of year.

Du Chunjiang got onto the kang, grabbed the satchel Zhao Jun had set down, and began stuffing the apples inside without waiting for a reply. As he stuffed, he said, "I bought these In the Town down the mountain before the New Year. They’re quite sweet. Technician Zhao, take them home for a little treat."

"Alright, just leave them for now," Zhao Jun said. "And leave the satchel here in your shack too. I still have to scale logs this afternoon. If I carry this outside, won’t the apples freeze?"

Zhao Jun’s words signified his willingness to accept Du Chunjiang’s gift, and Du Chunjiang immediately beamed with joy.

Just then, Du Chunlin pushed the door open and came in, followed by an old man.

They were both carrying large plates. They set them on the table, revealing one dish of chicken stewed with potatoes and another of braised Bear’s Paw.

Du Chunlin nodded to Zhao Jun and, without waiting for a response, turned and led the old man back out.

A moment later, they returned with two more dishes: braised pork knuckle and soy-braised forest frogs.

They set the dishes down, left, and returned again, this time with stir-fried beef cheek with scallions and mixed rock sugar radish.

They set those down and left, only to return once more with stewed "three slices" and soy-braised assorted fish.

Du Chunlin put down the plate of soy-braised assorted fish and said to Du Chunjiang and Zhao Jun, "Big Brother, Technician Zhao, all the dishes are here. Please, take your time and eat."

"Alright," Du Chunjiang said. "You two can go for now."

"You got it." Du Chunlin turned to leave, pulling the shack door closed behind him.

Now, Zhao Jun and Du Chunjiang sat on opposite sides of the low kang table, which was laden with eight dishes.

This spread was even more impressive than the meal Jiang Fu had arranged for Xu Baoshan the day before yesterday.

It wasn’t that Jiang Fu hadn’t been thoughtful; it was just that Xu Baoshan’s visit had been sudden, leaving Jiang Fu little time to prepare. This meal, however, Du Chunlin had spent a whole night getting ready for.

And these eight dishes were certainly impressive.

Not much needed to be said about the braised Bear’s Paw and soy-braised assorted fish. These were rustic mountain dishes, made farmhouse style: generous portions, rich flavors, and delicious whether eaten with rice or paired with alcohol.

’The braised pork knuckle was made from wild boar. It was too lean, with no fat and none of that jiggly skin, which made it rather uninteresting to eat.’

Of course, in this day and age, Zhao Jun was probably the only one who would dare to say such a thing.

’The stir-fried beef cheek with scallions, however, was a novel dish.’

Beef cheek was just meat from a cow’s head, which was boiled, sliced, and then stir-fried with soy sauce and scallions. A piece in the mouth offered a fantastic texture, a combination of tendon, meat, and skin.

The day before yesterday at Jiang Fu’s, he had eaten chicken stewed with mushrooms; today, Du Chunjiang was treating him to chicken stewed with potatoes. Zhao Jun mashed up a potato, mixed it with the chicken broth into his rice, and the flavor was just out of this world.

As for the vegetable dishes, they were mostly just there to fill out the table. The stewed "three slices" was a mushy stew of dried tofu sheets, potato slices, and carrot slices. If not for all the other dishes, it might have passed as a substantial dish on its own.

What was worth mentioning, however, was the crisp and refreshing mixed rock sugar radish.

"Rock sugar radish" was the Northeast term for it; elsewhere, this type of radish was called *xinlimei*, or "beauty heart."

This radish had a green skin on the outside, but once peeled, the inside was a vibrant magenta. Sliced into slivers and mixed with white sugar, it was sweet, crisp, and refreshing.

But of all the eight dishes on the table, what Zhao Jun liked most was the soy-braised forest frogs.

A round plate held a thick sauce at the bottom, dotted with fine slivers of scallion. Lying on top were the forest frogs, all belly-up. A look at their bellies, each covered with black spots, revealed what Northeasterners called "female leopards."

"Female leopards" were different from "male dogs." The females were full of fat, making them highly nutritious. Moreover, their meat was tender and delicious, with a freshness that could rival even a Flying Dragon.

’In the dead of winter, how many holes in the ice did they have to chisel out to gather a whole plate of these "female leopards"!’