Recaps

Li Long hunted a wild goat and two wolves, then spent the next day salting and drying the meat and preparing the organs. He shared some provisions with Gu Xiaoxia's household and his family, and traded dried meat for salted fish with the grateful girl he had nearly hit before.

• Li Long waited for the wolves and goats to wound one another, then shot two wolves and the large goat while the mother goat and one kid escaped.
• Li Long hauled the kid, the large goat, and one wolf back to the Wooden Cabin, where he salted and butchered the animals until exhaustion forced him to sleep.
• After waking, Li Long built a rack, hung salted meat to dry, and cleaned and cooked the animals' organs.
• Li Long divided dried meat and organs between sacks, took some provisions to Gu Xiaoxia's household, and rode toward the village with the rest.
• A girl who had waited two days gave Li Long three salted Crucian Carp, and he traded her two strips of Dried Meat despite her protests.

Li Long shared meat and vegetables with neighbors, returned to the mountains to gather mushrooms, and brought a large sack of Black Tiger's Paw Mushrooms to the County Seat's Purchasing Station. Chen Hongjun praised their quality and prepared to inspect the whole batch.

• Lan'er worried that Li Long had given her meat in exchange for her fish, and her mother reassured her.
• Li Long returned home with game, hung dried meat to dry, shared cooked offal with his family, and took food to Gu Boyuan and Uncle Lao Luo.
• Li Long left vegetables for Lan'er and Gu Xiaoxia before returning to the mountains to pick mushrooms and check the hot spring pool.
• Li Long dried the mushrooms and meat at the Wooden Cabin, gathered more mushrooms, and later cycled to the Purchasing Station with over forty kilograms.
• Chen Hongjun inspected one Black Tiger's Paw Mushroom, praised its quality, and said the mushrooms still needed to be poured out for inspection.

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia bought matching watches after discovering that each had been saving to buy one for the other. After Gu Xiaoxia returned to work, Li Long gathered another sack of mushrooms in the mountains and ended the day visiting Lü Dafeng, who offered him fresh honey.

• Li Long sold 44.5 kilograms of Black Tiger's Paw Mushrooms for 979 yuan and decided to buy watches with Gu Xiaoxia.
• Gu Xiaoxia showed Li Long the money she had saved to buy him a watch, and Li Long hugged her before they agreed to spend their savings on a watch each.
• Li Long bought a men's and a women's Shanghai Brand watch at the Department Store, and Gu Xiaoxia wore hers back to the Education Bureau.
• Deputy Director Wang praised Gu Xiaoxia's work and asked about her watch, while Gu Xiaoxia said her boyfriend had bought it with his wages and bonus.
• Li Long gathered a sack of Black Tiger's Paw Mushrooms in White Poplar Gully and found two codonopsis roots, then returned to the Wooden Cabin to dry the mushrooms.
• Li Long visited Lü Dafeng, who had finished harvesting honey and offered him some to take home.

Li Long sold another sack of Black Tiger's Paw Mushrooms, gave Li Xiangqian an eighteen-ridged Siberian Ibex head, and learned of a courtyard for sale that he promptly agreed to buy. He returned to the Big Courtyard and shared a home-cooked dinner with Gu Xiaoxia.

• Lü Dafeng refused payment for three jars of Wildflower Honey, and Li Long spent the following days collecting Black Tiger's Paw Mushrooms and finding two well-preserved Siberian Ibex skulls.
• After rain delayed his trip, Li Long sold his dried mushrooms to Chen Hongjun for 1,024 yuan.
• Li Long gave Li Xiangqian the eighteen-ridged ibex head and learned that an official was selling a courtyard south of Wuyi Road for 450 yuan.
• Li Long agreed to buy the courtyard and offered Li Xiangqian 500 yuan, but Li Xiangqian returned the extra fifty and told him to come back in a few days to complete the paperwork.
• Li Long cooked buns, stir-fried dishes, and soup, then shared dinner with Gu Xiaoxia.

Li Long bought a second courtyard, but Gu Xiaoxia preferred to stay at the Big Courtyard, so he left the new place for future use. After gathering and selling mushrooms in the mountains, he visited Li Xiangqian, where a phone call from Yusufu reached him.

• Li Long completed the paperwork for a small courtyard and inspected its rooms, garden, and furnishings.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about the courtyard, and she said she wanted to keep living at the Big Courtyard.
• Li Long gathered mushrooms in the mountains for several days, dried them, and sold them at the Purchasing Station.
• Li Long brought mushrooms to Li Xiangqian, who asked him to buy wool or safflower, but Li Long could not take either job.
• Li Xiangqian called Li Long to answer a phone call, and Yusufu greeted him from the other end.

Li Long planned to buy Hetian jade for his family and advised Gu Xiaoxia about her job prospects before surveying the reorganized Free Market. The next morning, he waited at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where Yusufu arrived carrying a heavy sack.

• Li Long agreed to meet Yusufu in the County Seat and buy small pieces of Hetian river jade, then told Li Xiangqian he would visit the Jade Factory for more jade.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia he would buy jade for his mother and urged her to communicate with her supervisor as she pursued permanent employment.
• Li Long visited the tidier, expanded Free Market, greeted Meng Zhiqiang, and noticed the fish seller had been left with unsold fish after Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang drew away customers.
• Li Long bought potatoes, tomatoes, and piyazi at the market, then went home thinking that hot food might sell well there.
• The next morning, Li Long waited at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where Yusufu arrived with a heavy sack on his back.

Li Long bought river jade from Yusufu, treated him to food and watermelons, then grew closer to Gu Xiaoxia during an evening walk. The next morning, Li Long set out for Wu City.

• Li Long bought more than fifty pieces of river jade from Yusufu for 210 yuan and gave him a meal, nang, and a bus ticket.
• Li Long bought sixteen watermelons for the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and asked Li Xiangqian to distribute them.
• Li Long showed Gu Xiaoxia the jade, then took her for a walk and held her hand as they talked about work and his life in the mountains.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia changed their route after he suspected an old woman passing them had tuberculosis, then returned to the Big Courtyard hand in hand.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia shared breakfast the next morning before she went to work and he headed to the bus station for Wu City.

Li Long traveled to Wu City and bought jade pieces for his family, while Engineer Liu was encouraged when Li Long purchased his carvings. Back in the village, Li Long joined his father, Li Qingxia, and Tao Daqiang on a fishing trip to Little Haizi.

• Li Long rode the bus to Wu City and learned he could buy small jade pieces at the Jade Factory’s side entrance.
• Li Long bought Engineer Liu’s carved jade pieces and the jadeite and other pieces in the display cabinet for 235 yuan total.
• Engineer Liu took the day’s sales money to the accounts office and told Little Xu he wanted more offcuts to carve.
• Engineer Liu celebrated his sale with his wife, who was pleased to see him in better spirits.
• Li Long returned to the village, saw his father, Li Qingxia, and Tao Daqiang preparing to fish, and agreed to join them.

Li Long helped Li Qingxia set fishing nets at Little Haizi, then refused Tao Daqiang’s request to judge a marriage match. After a reporter named Jiang Zhiyu interviewed him about the animals he raised, she wrote an article that later had a significant impact on him.

• Li Long and Li Qingxia set nets on the south side of Little Haizi, where Li Long warned that waterbirds might get caught.
• Tao Daqiang asked Li Long to judge a marriage match, but Li Long refused and told him to decide for himself.
• Li Qingxia said he wanted to keep earning money in Northern Xinjiang before returning home to show his relatives he was doing well.
• Li Qiang told Li Long that Jiang Zhiyu had come to interview him, and Li Long hurried to Old Ma's Place.
• Jiang Zhiyu entered the deer enclosure to take pictures, and a red deer knocked her down before Li Long arrived.
• Li Long answered Jiang Zhiyu's questions casually about his animals and their connection to Li Jian's pig farm, and she later mailed out an article about him.

Li Long sold his fish and mushrooms, shared gifts with his family and Gu Xiaoxia, and returned to the village with plans to rest. There, he met Huang Xuejun, who proposed making Li Long’s animal-raising operation a branch of his farm, but Li Long suspected he wanted the animals without paying for them.

• Li Long gave jade gifts to his parents, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece, then delivered Gu Xiaoxia’s bracelet the next morning.
• Li Long sold his fish to a crowd of eager customers in Stone City Old Street, then spent a week picking mushrooms in the mountains.
• Li Long sold his dried mushrooms to Chen Hongjun and gave honey and a jade palm piece to Li Xiangqian before heading back to the village.
• At Old Ma’s Place, Uncle Lao Luo introduced Li Long to Huang Xuejun, who claimed he wanted to buy Li Long’s deer for the Zhoufeng Agricultural Special Breeding Farm.
• Huang Xuejun proposed making Li Long’s operation a farm branch and using Li Long’s deer, wild boars, and roe deer as his equity contribution, prompting Li Long to suspect a scam.

Li Long rejected Huang Xuejun’s attempt to form a branch factory and refused his low offer for the deer, returning to family life and planning to sell fish. When Huang tried again with Xu Chengjun’s help, Li Long insisted on selling the deer outright and named a price of five hundred yuan each.

• Li Long refused to discuss a breeding-farm partnership and told Huang Xuejun to make a fair offer if he wanted to buy the deer.
• Huang Xuejun offered fifty yuan per deer, but Li Long rejected the price and went to visit Gu Boyuan.
• Li Long returned home, shared mountain honey with his family, and agreed with Li Qingxia that they would sell fish separately in Stone City and the county seat.
• Huang Xuejun sought help from Xu Chengjun, but Li Long again rejected the branch-factory plan and said he would keep the deer for their velvet antlers if Huang would not buy them.
• Li Long told Huang Xuejun he wanted five hundred yuan for each deer, leaving Huang nearly swearing at the price.

Li Long sold the deer, set more fishing nets, and killed a water snake while working on Little Haizi. The next morning, he and Tao Daqiang hauled in a catch of over a hundred kilograms of fish, and Li Long planned to take his father and Daqiang to sell it at the County Seat.

• Li Long sold the two deer to Huang Xuejun for three hundred yuan each and explained to Lao Luo why he did not want to raise deer commercially.
• Li Long took his family and Tao Daqiang to Little Haizi, where he set a dozen nets while his father cast nets from shore.
• Li Long beat a water snake to death after it approached him in the water, then returned to shore with the snake and helped cook it with the fish.
• Tao Daqiang asked Li Long to find work for his brother Tao Jianshe, and Li Long promised to check the market for ideas.
• Huang Xuejun collected the deer and left five hundred yuan; Li Long offered Lao Luo a bonus, but Lao Luo refused it.
• The next morning, Li Long, Li Qingxia, and Tao Daqiang hauled in over a hundred kilograms of fish, and Li Long invited Daqiang to help sell them at the County Seat.

Li Long explored selling cynomorium after learning how it needed to be processed, then secured a buyer at the Medicinal Materials Company. He left with a plan to recruit people in his team to dig and dry it for profit.

• Li Long, Li Qingxia, and Tao Daqiang sold their fish in Stone City and returned to the team.
• At the Purchasing Station, Chen Hongjun told Li Long that the Pharmaceutical Company bought cynomorium and explained how to prepare it.
• Li Long dug cynomorium from the alkali flats, dried a sample on the Stable roof, and brought it to the Medicinal Materials Company.
• The director agreed to buy cynomorium that met the sample's quality and offered fifty cents per kilogram dried.
• Li Long considered buying fresh cynomorium from people on the team and selling the dried herb to the company.

Li Long began buying villagers’ Cynomorium and drying it for sale to the Medicinal Materials Company, while Tao Dayong learned to earn money without trying to cut out the middleman. The growing trade attracted others, and Qian Zhongxin’s attempt to sell poorly processed Cynomorium was rejected by every purchasing outlet.

• Li Long told Tao Daqiang that he would buy intact, clean Cynomorium from Tao Dayong, and Tao Dayong sold his first sack for two yuan fifty-five fen.
• Tao Dayong, Ma Chunhong, and Tao Jianshe dug and delivered more Cynomorium, then moved to another alkali flat after Tao Dayong’s drunken boasting drew a crowd of diggers.
• Li Long bought several hundred kilograms a day, dried the Cynomorium, and sold a sixty-two-kilogram sack to the Medicinal Materials Company for thirty-one yuan.
• Qian Zhongxin sold Li Long a small batch, kept the rejected damaged pieces, and tried to sell his poorly dried Cynomorium at the Purchasing Station, Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and Medicinal Materials Company, but all turned him away.

Li Long met Liang Dongting, a relative of Liang Yuemei’s family, and welcomed him to the Li home with a generous meal. After Liang Dongting brought watermelons to sell, Li Long arranged a village loudspeaker announcement, drawing villagers to come buy them.

• Li Long sold more than two hundred kilograms of cynomorium at the County Seat, then guided a truck carrying watermelons to his family’s home after its passenger asked for Li Jianguo.
• Liang Dongting introduced himself as Liang Donglou’s younger cousin and reunited with Liang Yuemei’s family, while Li Long prepared a large meal for him and the truck driver.
• Liang Dongting praised Li Long’s cooking and gave the family watermelons he had grown in Xiayedi; Li Long accepted a sack and offered to help sell the rest.
• Li Long asked Xu Chengjun for permission to use the village loudspeaker and announced that Xiayedi watermelons were for sale at three fen per kilogram.
• Villagers heard the announcement and began heading to the Li family’s home with sacks to buy watermelons.

Li Long returned to the mountains to hunt near the hot springs, but found no animals and worried that the water level had fallen. Harimu and the other mountain folk arrived needing supplies for haymaking, and Li Long agreed to bring them rice, flour, and other goods from town.

• Liang Dongting sold most of his watermelon load in the production team before leaving, and Li Long spent the afternoon buying more cynomorium after setting his nets.
• Harimu and the others waited at the Winter Camp for Li Long, hoping to trade their hides and deer antlers through him rather than go down to the County Town.
• Li Long went into the mountains with sacks and rope, but found only old droppings at the hot springs and waited there until evening without seeing any game.
• Harimu and two young men reached Li Long's Wooden Cabin and explained that the mountain households were cutting winter hay and needed supplies.
• Li Long agreed to bring rice, flour, cooking oil, matches, and other goods up the mountain in several trips, while Harimu and the others returned to their camps.

Li Long sold hides and antlers brought by Harimu, bought supplies for the herders, and hunted a small wild boar near the hot springs. After returning to town with the boar’s cooked innards, he heard that villagers appreciated his purchase of their cynomorium and planned to use the money for their children’s school needs.

• Harimu and another young man brought Li Long hides, antlers, and snow lotuses, and Li Long gave them rice and flour before heading down the mountain.
• Li Long sold the hides and antlers to Chen Hongjun for 177 yuan and 70 fen, then shared a meal with Gu Xiaoxia and told her he would buy more supplies for Harimu and the others.
• Li Long bought food and necessities, delivered them to Harimu’s winter camp, and searched Hot Spring Ravine for game.
• Li Long shot a lone young wild boar, carried it back to his cabin, and butchered it, cooking its innards overnight.
• Li Long checked the hot-spring pools the next morning, then returned to town with the cooked innards and bought more provisions for the herders.
• Gu Xiaoxia told Li Long that Gangdan’s mother had praised him for buying the team’s cynomorium, which had helped her afford school items for her children.

Li Long encountered and wounded a brown bear while bathing in the Hot Spring, then received a snow leopard pelt from Harimu as a gift for his future wife. The next morning, he killed two roe deer and gave one to Harimu before returning to process the other.

• Li Long salted the drying meat, soaked in the Hot Spring, and fled after shooting a brown bear that surprised him by the pool.
• Harimu brought Li Long a snow leopard pelt from Jade Mountain River, saying it was a gift for Li Long's future wife.
• The next morning, Li Long found three roe deer at the Hot Spring and shot the male and female, chasing down the wounded male to finish it.
• Li Long carried the male roe deer to Harimu's Winter Camp for the group to eat, then hurried back with the female.
• Li Long washed, skinned, and gutted the female roe deer before the flies could spoil it.

Li Long processed and dried meat in the mountains, then brought supplies to the County Town and returned home as Li Qiang started school. Li Qiang was refused first-grade enrollment because he was underage, but Gu Xiaoxia intervened, and the academic affairs director agreed to let him take a test.

• Li Long dried roe deer meat and organs, then spent two days hunting before shooting two young wild boars.
• Li Long took dried meat, organs, and a snow leopard pelt to the County Town, left supplies with Gu Xiaoxia, and later gave dried meat to the girl at the Bridge Culvert and to Gu Boyuan and Uncle Lao Luo.
• Li Long told Gu Boyuan that Li Qiang was starting school and hoped Gu Xiaoxia could help place him in a better class.
• At the Brigade Primary School, the registration teacher refused to enroll Li Qiang because he was six years and four months old, below the required age of seven.
• Li Qiang broke down in tears when Gu Xiaoxia found him, and he insisted he could prove his ability by taking a test.
• Gu Xiaoxia asked the registration teacher to test Li Qiang, and the academic affairs director agreed before the teacher could respond.

Li Long returned from the mountains with dried meat and a valuable snow leopard pelt, while Gu Xiaoxia joined him on the ride home and learned that the pelt was an early wedding gift. After reuniting with family and friends, Li Long agreed to go to County Seat to replace a bicycle inner tube so fish sales would not be delayed.

• Li Qiang earned full marks on both entrance tests and was accepted into Class A at Brigade Primary School.
• Li Long found no animals on two more trips to Hot Spring and decided to leave the mountains.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia that Harimu and Jade Mountain River had given them a snow leopard pelt as an early wedding gift, and she urged him to repay their generosity with supplies.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia rode through light rain to the Gu family home, where Gu Boyuan sent Li Long on and mildly scolded Gu Xiaoxia for coming home before work.
• Li Long visited Uncle Luo, saw sacks of dried cynomorium, and left some dried meat despite being told it was unnecessary.
• At the Li family home, Li Long learned Li Qingxia's bicycle tube was torn near the valve and agreed to buy a replacement in County Seat that afternoon.

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia took a feverish girl, Xiaoni, to the county hospital, where Li Long paid for her treatment and Gu Xiaoxia helped her mother. After selling fish the next day, Li Long learned that the mother had come to Northern Xinjiang searching for her husband but had lost the letter that could identify where he was stationed.

• Li Long met Gu Xiaoxia on the road and rode with her toward the County Seat to buy bicycle tires.
• Li Long recognized the mother and daughter he had helped before and rushed Xiaoni to the county hospital, paying for her treatment.
• Gu Xiaoxia gave the mother two yuan, and Li Long bought tires before returning to the Production Team to prepare for fishing.
• Li Long and Li Qingxia sold their fish in Stone City and the County Seat, respectively, and Li Long returned to the Big Courtyard.
• Gu Xiaoxia visited the mother and learned that Xiaoni had fallen ill after getting soaked while harvesting wheat and that her mother had lost the letter identifying her husband's location.

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia helped Yang Xiulan and Xiao Ni'er find temporary shelter and start a food stall, while insisting they work toward supporting themselves. The next morning, Li Long found them selling noodle soup at the Free Market and left them to improve their business on their own.

• Gu Xiaoxia wanted to take the mother and daughter in, but Li Long refused to let them stay at home and proposed renting them a place and lending them money to start a business.
• Li Long offered Yang Xiulan a one-month chance to repay the cost of a rented place and business equipment, and she agreed to sell food at the Free Market.
• Unable to find a suitable rental immediately, Li Long let Yang Xiulan and Xiao Ni'er stay in his courtyard and brought them rice, flour, a stove, a pot, and a handcart.
• Yang Xiulan began selling noodle soup with Xiao Ni'er at the Free Market and sold seven or eight bowls that morning.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia that the noodles would go mushy if left too long, but said the mother and daughter needed to learn how to improve their business themselves.

Li Long learned that a woman claiming to be his wife had arrived at the Li Family’s home, reviving an old arranged-marriage matter. Fearing Gu Xiaoxia would misunderstand, he rushed to find Gu Boyuan, but Gu Boyuan was away, so Li Long left to seek him elsewhere.

• Li Long returned home and discussed the sunflower harvest and fish-market competition with Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang.
• As Li Long, Li Qingxia, and Tao Daqiang prepared to set their nets, women arrived saying that Li Long’s prospective wife had come to visit.
• Li Long remembered that in his previous life the woman had rejected him after learning about his circumstances, and he worried that Gu Xiaoxia would misunderstand the situation.
• Li Long ran to the Gu Family’s home to explain matters to Gu Boyuan, but Gu Boyuan was not there.
• After waiting anxiously, Li Long left the Gu Family’s home to look for Gu Boyuan.

Li Long told Gu Boyuan that Du Qiuping had come to claim a match arranged by their mothers, even though Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia were engaged. At the Li family home, Du Qiuping caused a scene and tried to force the match, but the families clarified the misunderstanding before Li Long returned to face her.

• Li Long explained to Gu Boyuan that Du Qiuping was at his house claiming to be his girlfriend, and stressed that he was engaged to Gu Xiaoxia.
• Du Qiuping mistook Tao Daqiang for Li Long, then argued with Du Chunfang and insisted that the older women had arranged her match with him.
• Li Jianguo told Du Qiuping that Li Long was engaged and she should go home, but she sat down and wailed until Liang Yuemei dragged her toward the gate.
• Li Long and Gu Boyuan returned to the courtyard, where Li Qingxia apologized and Gu Boyuan accepted that the match had been a misunderstanding.
• Du Qiuping rushed at Li Long, who dodged behind Liang Yuemei.

Li Long and his family stopped Du Qiuping from forcing a marriage, arranged for her to be escorted back home, and Li Long later explained the incident to Gu Xiaoxia. The chapter ended with Gu Xiaoxia understanding Du Qiuping’s desperation but agreeing that her actions had caused the trouble.

• Liang Yuemei restrained Du Qiuping and slapped her when she tried to attack Li Long.
• Li Long rejected Du Qiuping’s claim on him and offered to pay for her trip home, warning her not to cause more trouble.
• Li Long arranged for Du Qiuping to stay temporarily with Sister-in-Law Lu, while the family decided to escort her all the way home.
• Li Jianguo, Li Qingxia, and Du Chunfang set out with Du Qiuping, and Li Long accompanied them as far as the bus station before returning with the horse cart.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia what had happened, and she said Du Qiuping might have been desperate but had handled the situation wrongly.