"This is Nur Maimait, the deputy leader of our Forestry Team," Bolati introduced him to Li Long. "He came to inspect the forest area we're responsible for."
Then he introduced Li Long to Nur Maimait:
"This is Li Long."
"You're Li Long? Where did you get this vehicle?" Hearing that he was Li Long, Nur Maimait couldn't quite take it in. "This vehicle... is yours?"
"It's not mine. It belongs to the Prefecture." Li Long glanced over, saw Sun Jiaqiang and another somewhat familiar herb gatherer being held, and understood what was going on.
He stepped forward and said:
"Director Qian of the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative assigned this vehicle to me for a mission."
"A mission?" Once Nur Maimait heard it was the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative, a hint of a smile immediately appeared on his face. As the Forestry Team's deputy leader, he had some authority within the team, but at the next level up, among the County Seat's bureaus and cooperatives, he had, at most, a little acquaintance with some of the office staff.
As for the Prefecture, he could basically only look up to it.
Yet here was Li Long, driving a Jeep that only county leaders got to ride in. Though he was an auxiliary forest ranger, his standing spoke for itself.
Nur Maimait even made a point of looking inside the Jeep. He could see that Li Long was alone and hadn't brought a leader along.
The fact that a vehicle reserved for county-level leaders had been entrusted to Li Long to drive into the mountains alone showed just how much the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative trusted him.
Although the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative had no direct authority over the county Forestry Team, Nur Maimait honestly knew that while it