"This kid..." At Zhao Jun’s words, Elder Tao paused. Noodles were still hanging from his mouth, but that didn’t stop him from glaring sideways at Zhao Jun.

"Don’t talk nonsense." At that, Zhao Youcai reached out and gave Zhao Jun a light, painless slap.

But Zhao Youcai knew in his heart that Elder Tao must have provoked Zhao Jun somehow. Otherwise, Zhao Jun wouldn’t normally act like this.

He got that from Wang Meilan. He had a perfectly fine temper most of the time, but the moment someone got on his bad side, he’d start talking in that sarcastic, passive-aggressive way.

Zhao Jun was full after just one bowl of noodles. Elder Tao, however, finished his bowl and then ate all the leftovers in the pot.

Not only did he finish the noodles, but the old man also tilted his head back and slurped down every last drop of the noodle soup.

After finishing the soup, Elder Tao let out a loud burp and announced he needed to use the restroom. Zhao Jun got up and helped him outside.

Just then, Zhao Youcai called from behind, "Son, take the old man to see your Uncle Li in a bit. Ask if there are any vehicles heading to their Yongxing Brigade. If there are, they can give him a ride back."

The Forest Farm’s dispatch office didn’t just manage production schedules; it also handled vehicle assignments.

If there was a vehicle going to Yongxing Brigade, getting them to give the old man a ride would only take a word from Li Dayong.

Zhao Jun helped Elder Tao out of the cafeteria, and they reached the restroom after a short walk.

Zhao Jun helped Elder Tao inside and, a moment later, helped him back out. As they were leaving, Zhao Jun said, "Good thing you only had to take a piss, old man. With that one bad foot, squatting would’ve been a real problem."

Elder Tao shot Zhao Jun a look but said nothing. Just then, a man walked toward them. The moment he saw Zhao Jun, he became incredibly excited.

"Hey, brother! I finally found you."

"Brother Zhou!" Zhao Jun’s face lit up with joy as well. The newcomer was none other than Zhou Chengguo.

Although Elder Tao looked thoroughly displeased, Zhao Jun still helped him to the side, letting him lean against a large tree, before going to chat with Zhou Chengguo.

"Brother Zhou, what are you doing here?" Zhao Jun asked.

Zhou Chengguo smiled. "I was transferred to the Forest Farm. I’m with your brother-in-law. I’m in charge of our Forest Farm’s weapons and equipment."

Back then, the Forest Farm had its own security department. And that department had firearms and ammunition. Rumor had it they even had two mortars.

"Brother, you’re in charge of weapons and equipment?" Hearing this, Zhao Jun grinned happily and asked, "Brother, since you’re in charge of weapons, do you think I could borrow a semi-automatic rifle someday?"

"Hah, brother, what are you even saying?" Zhou Chengguo slapped his chest and said to Zhao Jun, "Now that your big brother is in charge of this stuff, it’s as good as ours! Whatever you want to use, just come and get it."

Zhao Jun laughed, just about to speak, when Elder Tao, whom he had left leaning against the tree, spoke up.

"Little Zhao, you want to use a semi-automatic? You should’ve told me. We have one at home, and you can have all the bullets you can shoot."

"Alright, alright." Zhao Jun waved a dismissive hand at him. "Old man, just quiet down and stay put for a minute. I’ll take you after I say a few more words to my brother."

’The distrust was obvious!’

Elder Tao let out a heavy huff and turned his head, refusing to look at Zhao Jun.

It wasn’t that Zhao Jun looked down on the old man. In fact, Elder Tao’s clothes were clearly not something an ordinary family could afford.

’But if his family really had a semi-automatic rifle and all that, would he really be hunting wild boars in the mountains with a makeshift shotgun?’

Zhao Jun exchanged a few more pleasantries with Zhou Chengguo and learned that ever since getting injured, Zhou Chengguo had wanted to find a stable job to settle down.

Before his discharge, he had been a gunsmith in the army, so with Zhou Chunming’s recommendation and arrangement, he came to the Forest Farm to manage the weapons and equipment.

On his first day at the Forest Farm, Zhou Chengguo looked everywhere for Zhao Jun. But when Zhou Jianjun told him Zhao Jun had gone to the Logging Camp, he had been waiting at the main farm ever since.

He never expected to run into him in front of the restroom today.

Zhou Chengguo glanced at Elder Tao and asked Zhao Jun who the old man was. Zhao Jun simply said he was someone he had rescued from the mountains.

Hearing this, Zhou Chengguo immediately praised Zhao Jun for his righteousness and invited him over to his house another day. Only then did the two part ways.

Zhao Jun helped Elder Tao all the way to the dispatch office. He propped him up against the wall by the door and said, "Old man, you stand right here. I’m going to ask someone if I can find a vehicle for you."

Hearing this, Elder Tao lifted his chin slightly and said, "Go ahead and ask. If your Forest Farm doesn’t have a vehicle, just use their dispatch phone to call the Yongxing Brigade and tell the Tao Family to send a car to pick me up."

Among the various departments at the Forest Farm, the inspection team didn’t have a phone, but the dispatch office definitely did.

In fact, the dispatch office had more than one—they had two.

One was for the Forest Farm’s internal system. This phone wasn’t a hand-cranked model. Instead, it had a button that, when pressed, connected directly to the Forest Farm’s internal line. It could connect up to the Forestry Bureau or down to other Forest Farms at the same level.

Besides that, there was another phone, a standard hand-cranked one.

It wasn’t surprising that an old man like Elder Tao knew the dispatch office had a phone.

But what surprised Zhao Jun was that, judging by the old man’s tone, his family seemed to own a vehicle—and not just a bicycle.

"Old man, your family has a vehicle?"

"We do," Elder Tao said matter-of-factly.

"What kind?"

"A motorcycle," Elder Tao said. "A Xingfu 250."

After he spoke, Elder Tao saw Zhao Jun staring intently at him. Thinking Zhao Jun was envious, he chuckled and said, "Little Zhao, you want to ride a motorcycle? If you say a few nice things to me, I’ll lend you the motorcycle for a couple of days."

"Oh, give me a break," Zhao Jun said. "Your family’s coming to pick you up? They’re going to come get you on a motorcycle? Wouldn’t you end up in a ditch?"

Elder Tao was rendered speechless by Zhao Jun’s retort. He turned his head away with a cold snort. "I don’t need you to ask anymore, and I’m not taking one of your vehicles. Our brigade has a truck. I’ll have my son find someone to drive the truck and pick me up."

Seeing the old man was angry, Zhao Jun thought for a moment and smiled. "Alright, old man, I’ll ask for you. If there’s a vehicle, we’ll just send you straight back. It’s better than your truck making a round trip."

Hearing this, Elder Tao figured that made sense and didn’t say any more.

Zhao Jun stepped forward and knocked on the door. Someone came out, saw Zhao Jun’s unfamiliar face, and asked who he was looking for.

When Zhao Jun said he was looking for Li Dayong, the person acknowledged him and told him to wait.

In less than a minute, Li Dayong came out of the room. Seeing Zhao Jun, he smiled. "Xiaojun, no scaling logs today?"

"Uncle," Zhao Jun said. "I’ve already finished my quota for the week."

After replying, Zhao Jun got to the point, pointing at Elder Tao and explaining the situation to Li Dayong.

Li Dayong glanced at Elder Tao and saw that the old man was indeed quite advanced in years. He said, "Wait a moment, I’ll go inside and ask for you..."

Before Li Dayong could finish his sentence, a voice came from inside the room. "Dayong, who’s out there? We’re about to start a meeting."

The voice had barely faded when a man walked to the doorway.

This man looked older than Li Dayong, probably in his early fifties. He was about 1.7 meters tall and very thin.

He didn’t recognize Zhao Jun, but Zhao Jun recognized him. This was the dispatch team leader, Wu Feng.

Li Dayong pointed at Zhao Jun and said to Wu Feng, "Brother Wu, this is Zhao Jun."

"Oh?" Hearing it was Zhao Jun, Wu Feng looked at him in surprise.

As the leader of the dispatch team, Wu Feng was bound to be one of Zhou Chunming’s trusted men and was also close with Zhou Jianjun.

And after the New Year, Zhao Jun had made a name for himself in Yongsheng Village.

Ever since then, Zhou Chunming would often mention his son’s brother-in-law to his close associates, saying Zhao Jun was exceptionally righteous, helping those in distress and bringing peace by getting rid of the boar.

"Hello, Leader Wu." Zhao Jun smiled and greeted Wu Feng.

Wu Feng smiled and nodded in return, asking, "What’s up? Are you here to see your uncle about something?"

Zhao Jun didn’t hide anything. He pointed to Elder Tao beside him and said, "Leader Wu, this old gentleman is over seventy. He sprained his ankle in the mountains and can’t get home. Do we have any vehicles going to Yongxing Brigade? If so, it would be great if we could give him a ride back."

"From Yongxing? Who is it?" Hearing this, Wu Feng pushed past Li Dayong and walked out the door.

Wu Feng himself was from Yongxing Brigade. Hearing it might be an acquaintance, he wanted to come out and see.

The moment Wu Feng came out and saw him, he let out a cry of "Aiyah!" In two steps, he was in front of Elder Tao, bowing his head slightly. "Uncle, what are you doing here?"

Elder Tao looked up at Wu Feng, his expression showing neither excitement nor surprise. He simply said, "Wu Feng, I came to the mountains today to check my traps... uh, to take a walk, a walk. I wasn’t paying attention, slipped, and sprained my ankle."

"Then you must come inside, Uncle." Wu Feng reached out to support Elder Tao’s arm, then looked down at his feet to see which one was sprained. "Uncle, take it slow."

As he spoke, Wu Feng respectfully helped Elder Tao into the dispatch office, leading him all the way to his personal office.

In the entire dispatch team, only Wu Feng had a private office. Besides him, even Li Dayong had to share an office with two other clerks.

"Uncle, please, sit." Once inside, Wu Feng helped Elder Tao into a chair, even making sure he was leaning back comfortably, then shouted toward the door, "Little Jiang! Little Jiang! Make some tea, quickly!"

"Don’t fuss," Elder Tao said, grabbing Wu Feng’s arm. "Hurry up and check if there’s a vehicle. If there is, send me back right away. If not, call my son and have him come get me."

"Let’s not trouble Director Tao," Wu Feng said with a smile. "It’s almost closing time. I’ll be heading home in a bit. Uncle, you can just come with me, how about that?"

"That works too." Elder Tao had just agreed when he suddenly remembered something. He pointed at Zhao Jun and said, "My gun is still with that Little Zhao. I need to get it back."

"I’ll bring it over in a little while," Zhao Jun said quickly, happy that he could finally send the old man on his way.

Wu Feng sensed something was off. He quickly asked, "Uncle, you brought a gun just to take a walk in the mountains?"

"Well..." Elder Tao was at a loss for words.

By now, Zhao Jun had a good idea that this old man’s status was anything but ordinary. Whether it was the man himself or his family, Zhao Jun felt he couldn’t cover for him.

So, Zhao Jun said to Wu Feng, "Leader Wu, since you know the old man, I’ll leave him in your hands. He came into the mountains on a sled this morning to hunt wild boar.

He didn’t have much luck with the boar and ended up spraining his ankle. I carried him from the mountain down to our Forest Farm, and we just finished eating at the cafeteria."

"My goodness," Wu Feng sighed, looking at Zhao Jun. "No wonder Plant Manager Zhou says you’re so righteous. You’re a really good kid."

Zhao Jun gave a faint smile. "In that case, I’ll go get the old man’s gun, and then I’ll head home."

"Absolutely not!" Elder Tao suddenly shouted at Zhao Jun. "You have to come with me."

"Why would I go with you?"

"To my place for a meal," Elder Tao said. "No matter what, you saved me today. I have to let my family thank you properly."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun walked over to Elder Tao, bent down, and said to him, "Old man, let’s not say any more. It was fate that we men met. According to the rules of the mountains, once we partnered up, I had to look out for you.

You’re fine now, so just go home with Leader Wu. If we meet again in the future, we’ll talk then. If not, then so be it."

With that, Zhao Jun turned to Wu Feng and Li Dayong and said, "Leader Wu, Uncle, I’m heading out." Then he started to walk away. Seeing this, Wu Feng quickly followed him out.

Watching Zhao Jun’s retreating back, Elder Tao said to Li Dayong, who was standing nearby, "That kid is really good."

"He sure is." Li Dayong recalled what Zhao Jun had just said to the old man. "You won’t find a more righteous kid than him."

"Mm, mm." Elder Tao thought about everything Zhao Jun had done since they’d met and nodded twice in agreement. But then, as if remembering something, he smacked his lips and added, "He just has that sarcastic way of talking."

Li Dayong chuckled at this. There were some things he didn’t dare say out loud, but he thought to himself, ’He probably gets that from his mother.’