Recaps

Li Long delivered furniture to Harimu’s family and discussed building a sheep-washing pool before returning to the county seat. The next day, he brought furniture to the mountain pastoralists, who celebrated its arrival, while Talihaal remained troubled by the huge brown bear.

• Harimu proposed digging a sheep-washing pool, but Li Long warned that building one would be a major undertaking.
• Li Long ate pilaf with Harimu’s family, then drove back to the county seat and collected the finished furniture from the Woodworking Factory.
• Li Long returned home and found Gu Boyuan waiting there to escape the drinking gatherings in his team.
• Li Long drove back to Harimu Winter Camp, where the pastoralists collected their furniture and celebrated with music and dancing.
• Jade Mountain River told Li Long that he had seen deer and warned him that hunting alone in the mountains was dangerous.
• Li Long left plans for further furniture deliveries until spring and prepared to go to Kuytun.

Talihaal continued to suffer nightmares after encountering an enormous bear, while Li Long arranged village household registration for Sister Yang and Han Fang and traveled to Kuytun to collect harvesters. Factory Director Du honored his agreement to sell to Li Long, who left with five machines.

• Talihaal woke from another nightmare about the enormous brown bear and wondered whether he would recover enough to speak with Li Long.
• Li Long asked Li Xiangqian to arrange village registration for Sister Yang and Han Fang, and Sister Yang gratefully agreed.
• Li Long traveled to Kuytun, visited Li Anguo, and caught up with Yang Yongqiang and Li Junshan over dinner.
• Li Long went to the Farm Machinery Factory, where Factory Director Du confirmed the harvesters had sold well and offered him five corrected machines.
• Li Long loaded the five harvesters onto his tractor and drove away, but someone stopped him shortly afterward.

Li Long sold harvesters through his cooperative, replenished his stock, and arranged for the Pastoral Team to buy one for haymaking. After taking furniture to Harimu’s Winter Camp and arranging a publicity matter with Ma Xiaoyan, he returned to find another stranger waiting to buy a harvester.

• Li Long sold a harvester to a farmer from Stone City Township for six hundred yuan and explained how buyers would coordinate prices and harvesting areas.
• Factory Director Du discussed the harvester’s market and the factory’s limits with Li Long, who returned to Ma County with five machines.
• A meticulous farmer from Letuyi bought a harvester, and Li Long later made more trips to Kuytun to restock as his inventory sold quickly.
• Li Long delivered furniture to Harimu’s Winter Camp, heard that Talihaal was recovering, and agreed to sell a harvester to the Pastoral Team for autumn haymaking.
• Li Long arranged with Ma Xiaoyan to help publicize the harvesting process, then found an unfamiliar potential customer waiting at the Big Courtyard.

Li Long sold harvesters and helped Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang buy tractors, then delivered a tractor and harvester to the Liang family and taught Liang Wenyu how to use them. The chapter ended with Li Long bringing Number 76 to Old Ma's Place to retire under Uncle Lao Luo's care.

• Li Long sold harvesters at a brisk pace while children gathered reed shoots to feed the young deer at Old Ma's Place.
• Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang joined Li Long to buy tractors in Stone City, and Li Long taught Tao Daqiang how to drive efficiently on the way back.
• Li Long loaded a harvester onto Tao Daqiang's tractor, then drove east to deliver a tractor and harvester to the Liang family.
• Li Long trained Liang Wenyu to drive and operate the harvester, and Liang Wenyu practiced reversing and maneuvering through the gate.
• Li Long left Number 76 with Liang Donglou to bring the old horse back to Old Ma's Place, where Uncle Lao Luo gladly welcomed him into retirement.

Li Long brought Number 76 back to Old Ma's Place and arranged to buy tractors for Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng. After the three men traveled to Stone City and purchased the tractors, they drove them toward home while Li Long worried about how quickly his money was running out.

• Li Long returned Number 76 to Old Ma's Place, then visited Xie Yundong and promised to take him to Stone City the next day to buy a tractor.
• Li Long invited Liang Dacheng to join the trip, and Liang Dacheng agreed while his family celebrated the news.
• Li Long ate roasted fish at Liang Dacheng's home and later joined his family for fish soup at his eldest brother's courtyard.
• The next morning, Li Long, Xie Yundong, and Liang Dacheng rode to County Town and took a bus to Stone City.
• Li Long bought tractors for Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng, and the three men set off toward the Oil Depot with Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng driving.

Li Long’s tractor sales stirred envy in the Fourth Team, prompting villagers to seek loans, while Li Jianguo refused to burden Li Long with their requests. As spring arrived, Li Long coordinated the delayed mountain work, cared for Gu Xiaoxia during her twin pregnancy, and continued selling and training buyers to use harvesters.

• Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng brought their new tractors home, and villagers envied their purchases and their prospects for earning money with harvesters.
• Jiang Huaizhou asked Li Jianguo to lend him money for a tractor, but Li Jianguo refused, and he later turned away two more groups seeking loans.
• Li Qingxia tested a precision seeder in the vegetable plot as the Li family prepared to plant seed watermelons and other crops.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that Director Qian was effectively running the Prefectural Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, and Li Long informed Director Wei that mountain work would have to wait for the thaw.
• Li Long kept Gu Xiaoxia’s twin pregnancy secret from his family and drove her to and from work as her pregnancy advanced.
• Li Long continued selling harvesters and training their buyers, and by April the mountain snow had melted.

Li Long, Director Wei, and their companions brought supplies and water pipes to Harimu's Winter Camp, where they worked with the herders to pipe spring water to the homes. The first installation succeeded, and the group celebrated as the water flowed; Li Long planned to continue the work for the remaining households.

• Li Long drove Director Wei, Ma Xiaoyan, and Ye Laya to Harimu's Winter Camp while Li Xiangqian accompanied a truck carrying water pipes and supplies.
• Harimu organized the herders into teams to dig the pipe trench and prepare lunch, while Li Long dug and secured the intake at the spring.
• Li Long and Harimu buried the pipe, and the herders cheered when clear water flowed out at the Winter Camp.
• The group prepared grilled mutton and boiled meat while Ma Xiaoyan interviewed the residents and Ye Laya took photographs.
• Li Long decided to trim the exposed pipe, and Jade Mountain River told the herders to install future pipes together to avoid mistakes.
• The herders sang and danced to celebrate the new water supply, while Li Long considered the work a success and planned to extend the pipes to every household.

Li Long returned to the mountains with ammunition and tools to help the herders install water pipes, then followed Talihaal and Jade Mountain River toward the place where Talihaal had encountered a bear. They spotted several gray wolves on a rocky slope, and Li Long approached with his rifle ready.

• Li Long left the mountains after advising Jade Mountain River on his water-pipe intake, and Director Wei arranged for him to receive two hundred rounds of ammunition for protection.
• Li Long bought iron spades and pickaxes for the herders and returned to the Big Courtyard, where he told Gu Boyuan he would keep working in the mountains each day.
• Li Long drove to Talihaal's Winter Camp, passed two gray wolves feeding on a rotting red deer carcass, and helped Talihaal and Jade Mountain River secure the water-pipe intake.
• Talihaal told Li Long where he had encountered a bear, and Jade Mountain River suggested they go inspect the area while Talihaal fetched his rifle.
• Li Long, Jade Mountain River, and Talihaal headed toward the rocky slope, where they spotted several gray wolves, and Li Long advanced with his rifle ready.

Li Long and his companions searched the cave Talihaal feared, found a stranded roe deer fawn, and received a beautiful piece of Ma River jade from Sana’s family. They finished laying a water pipe at another Winter Camp, where a hot spring would provide warm water, then returned to Talihaal’s camp for supper.

• Li Long, Talihaal, and Jade Mountain River searched the bear’s cave and found only grass and dung.
• Jade Mountain River found a roe deer fawn nearby, and Li Long brought it back to the Winter Camp for Sana to feed.
• Sana’s family gave Li Long a fine piece of Ma River jade, which he admired while reflecting on how differently the tribe valued it.
• Li Long and the others dug a trench at another Winter Camp and laid a pipe from a nearby hot spring to Bek’s household.
• Li Long, Jade Mountain River, and Harimu soaked their feet in the warm water before the group returned to Talihaal’s Winter Camp for supper.

Li Long brought a young roe deer and a rare piece of jade home, then arranged to get puppies for the Big Courtyard. After helping dig a water-pipe intake at Mulat's Winter Camp, he chose five puppies and planned where to keep or give them.

• Li Long took the roe deer and jade back to the Big Courtyard, where Gu Xiaoxia and the others welcomed the animal and Gu Boyuan admired the stone.
• Li Long cared for pregnant Gu Xiaoxia and decided to return home every day while she continued working.
• Li Long met Company Commander Meng Hai while driving toward the mountains, then continued to Harimu's Winter Camp.
• Li Long, Harimu, and Jade Mountain River cleared the water-pipe intake and helped the young herders lay the pipe.
• Li Long visited Mulat's home and chose five of the six puppies from the black dog's litter.

Li Long finished installing water pipes at the herders’ winter camps, bringing home jade, antlers, gemstones, two roe deer, and two puppies. After returning, he learned he might be assigned 3,000 taibazi to weave, leaving him stunned that his casual suggestion could lead to such a large commitment.

• Li Long brought five puppies and a roe deer back to the Big Courtyard, then gave three puppies to his relatives and the Liang family.
• Li Long and Harimu replaced water pipes at the herding families’ winter camps, and Li Long collected jade, antlers, gemstones, and other goods in return.
• Li Long asked the herders to camouflage the pipe outlets before leaving the mountains and returning home.
• Li Long learned that his work with Director Wei and Li Xiangqian had appeared in the Autonomous Region’s newspaper.
• Li Xiangqian asked Li Long about weaving taibazi, and Li Long said he could handle 3,000, though the quota still needed approval.
• Li Long left the cooperative wondering whether his joking answer had effectively secured the 3,000-taibazi assignment.

Li Long planned for a possible order of three thousand Taibazi by organizing several groups of weavers from his team and nearby villages. He recruited Xu Haijun to lead one group and discussed having Liang Wenyu organize another, while waiting for the order quantity to be confirmed.

• Li Long discussed recruitment with Li Jianguo, who suggested Xu Haijun as a group leader after ruling out Daqiang and Dacheng.
• Li Long visited Xu Haijun, learned he had returned early from the army after injuring himself in reconnaissance training, and offered him work leading Taibazi weavers.
• Xu Haijun accepted, agreed to recruit suitable people, and planned to consult Xie Yundong about supplies and avoiding overlap.
• Li Long visited Liang Wenyu and proposed that he manage another group, paying him five yuan per Taibazi while he paid his weavers four yuan each.
• Li Long told Liang Wenyu to wait for confirmation of the order before recruiting and kept his plans from the other team members for now.

Li Long secured an order for four thousand taibazi, and Liang Wenyu and Xu Haijun began planning separate teams to weave them. The chapter ended with Li Xiangqian asking Li Long for one of his puppies as thanks for bringing the order.

• Liang Donglou reconsidered his impatience with Liang Wenyu and advised him to check prospective recruits and avoid making promises before the taibazi work was confirmed.
• Xu Haijun consulted Xie Yundong about organizing a second team, then asked Xu Chengjun to assess his potential recruits and hesitated over whether to invite Huang Siping.
• Li Long planned to buy fritillaria, restock his mountain cabin, and purchase premises if the Free Market or Stone City Old Street developed shops.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative had ordered four thousand taibazi for delivery in early June, and Li Long agreed to complete the job.
• Li Xiangqian said he wanted one of Li Long's puppies as a thank-you gift, leaving Li Long dumbfounded.

Li Long arranged for Qingshui River Village to weave a thousand taibazi, then visited the Wooden Cabin to repair it and gather supplies. As he drove out of the mountains, Meng Hai waited by the road with a covered basin.

• Li Long offered Qingshui River Village an order for a thousand taibazi at four yuan each, with strict quality standards and a one-month deadline.
• He Yuqing and Meng Hai agreed to select ten additional workers and organize the weaving in their village.
• Li Long visited the Wooden Cabin, repaired its clothesline, aired the bedding, and discarded spoiled food.
• He set a net in a nearby stream, gathered grass mushrooms and wild plants, and caught only a dozen small burbot by evening.
• Li Long saw Meng Hai waiting beside the road with a gauze-covered basin and stopped the Jeep.

Li Long organized the taibazi-weaving work and prepared to take Li Jianguo’s group into the mountains, while arranging food, supplies, and plans for Liang Wenyu’s workers. The chapter ended with Li Long driving past Qingshui River Village, where He Yuqing and Meng Hai had already begun weaving taibazi.

• Meng Hai gave Li Long freshly cleaned burbot, which Sister Yang cooked for the household.
• Li Long told Li Jianguo that the taibazi-weaving job was ready, and Li Jianguo prepared to go with the previous year’s group.
• Li Long informed Xie Yundong, Xu Haijun, and Liang Wenyu about the work, arranged transport and meals, and explained supplies and quality requirements to Liang Wenyu.
• Li Long bought provisions for the mountain trip and the Wooden Cabin, then drove Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming toward the mountains after stopping to leave fish with relatives.
• Liang Wenyu and his family felt reassured when they learned Li Jianguo would be working nearby, while Li Long passed Qingshui River Village and smelled the smoke of its weaving fires.

Li Long prepared the mountain camp and delivered supplies while Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming began setting up their earth cellar. Li Jianguo brought down a wild boar overnight, and Li Long joined the others in preparing it as the group gathered to start work.

• Li Long drove to Harimu's winter camp, delivered supplies, and later stocked the wooden cabin with essentials while cleaning and checking his fishing net.
• Li Long returned to the County Seat, bought medicine and batteries for Harimu's household, and told Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia about the mountain camp.
• Li Long arrived at Small White Poplar Gully and learned from Lu Yingming that Li Jianguo had shot a wild boar after waiting for a herd to return before dawn.
• Li Long found Li Jianguo helping Liang Wenyu's group dig an earth cellar in Elm Tree Gully and invited them to lunch.
• Li Long helped Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming process the boar, and Xie Yundong and the others arrived to find the meat ready for a feast.

Li Long helped organize the mountain camps, delivered wild boar meat to several households, and checked on Harimu and Bolati before inspecting the taibazi weavers’ work. He still had not seen any herb gatherers come to trade by the chapter’s end.

• Xu Haijun led five men to Big White Poplar Gully, where they dug cave dwellings, while Li Long warned them about the mountain wildlife.
• Li Long delivered wild boar meat from Li Jianguo’s kill to the Liang Family, the Fourth Team, and Uncle Lao Luo.
• Li Long visited Harimu, who said his family would move camp in three days, then met Bolati at the wooden cabin and agreed to buy any fritillaria he found.
• Li Long waited at the wooden cabin for herb gatherers, but nobody arrived, and he returned the next day with nang for the workers.
• Li Long found several of Liang Wenyu’s taibazi below standard and told him to have them redone, while Xu Haijun’s group had produced work that passed inspection.

Li Long inspected the taibazi woven by three groups in the mountains and arranged to hire trucks to haul the accepted ones. He ended the chapter discussing the hauling fee and truck requirements with Ma Chunlei at the County Transport Company.

• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative's trucks were unavailable and suggested he ask Old Hong at the County Transport Company about after-hours hauling.
• Li Long inspected Li Jianguo's and Lu Yingming's taibazi, accepted Li Jianguo's work, and identified flaws in two of Lu Yingming's pieces.
• Li Long found that Xu Haijun's group had many rejected taibazi, explained the defects, and told the young men how to improve their work.
• Li Long inspected Liang Wenyu's group, where about seventy percent of the work passed, and found that Liang's own pass rate was eighty percent.
• Li Long counted nearly a hundred and eighty accepted taibazi in Small White Poplar Gully and planned to use a truck and his tractor to haul them.
• Li Long visited the County Transport Company, where Ma Chunlei recommended hiring two trucks and invited him to discuss the price.

Li Long arranged truck transport for Taibazi and brought a large load back from Small White Poplar Gully, while Li Jianguo scored again by shooting a roe deer. Bolati and a suspicious stranger both went to Li Long's locked Wooden Cabin, where the stranger finally smashed the lock.

• Li Long agreed to pay Ma Chunlei's team to haul Taibazi, then delivered supplies to the Pastoral Team settlement and arranged for Gu Boyuan and several young men to help unload.
• Li Long led two trucks to Small White Poplar Gully, where the workers loaded nearly a hundred and eighty Taibazi and the group returned to unload them at the Big Courtyard.
• Li Long took Tao Daqiang and the others back to the mountains the next morning, where he found Li Jianguo had shot another roe deer and helped skin it.
• Bolati arrived at Li Long's locked Wooden Cabin with fritillaria, then left without making his trade.
• A person emerged from the woods, checked the locked cabin, and returned at noon to smash its lock with a stone.

After discovering his cabin had been robbed, Li Long tracked down the thief and recovered much of his property, then returned to trading with herb gatherers. He left the extra supplies secured in his Jeep and prepared to keep the cabin open as a supply point.

• Bolati found Li Long’s cabins broken into and rode to Small White Poplar Gully to report the theft, while Xie Yundong and Li Jianguo decided to wait for Li Long.
• Li Long followed the thief’s tracks through the woods and found a herb gatherer wearing his stolen clothes and using his bedding and supplies.
• Li Long subdued the thief and brought him back to the cabin, where he handed him over to Bolati and recovered the stolen goods.
• Li Long traded supplies with Bolati for fritillaria, and Bolati rode away with the thief in tow.
• Li Long restocked the cabin cautiously, dried the fritillaria, and traded essential supplies with two herb gatherers who said they would depend on his cabin during the coming weeks.

Li Long traded his goods for fritillaria, bought more supplies, and arranged to stop staying overnight at the cabin after catching a thief. A week later, he inspected Qingshui River’s taibazi and found that the villagers had produced them to a high standard.

• Li Long traded all the goods at his cabin for fresh fritillaria, caught the thief who had robbed it, and drove to Small White Poplar Gully to tell Li Jianguo what happened.
• Li Long bought food and daily necessities at the County Seat Department Store, then picked up Gu Xiaoxia and Tao Min and told Gu Xiaoxia he planned to return home each evening.
• Li Long spent the next several days trading for fritillaria and hauling more than two hundred taibazi from Small White Poplar Gully with trucks from the Motor Pool.
• After a week, Li Long visited Qingshui River and began inspecting the taibazi made by He Yuqing, Meng Hai, and the villagers.
• Li Long rejected flawed taibazi from Liu Dashu’s first batch, while the overall pass rate among the twelve villagers’ work exceeded eighty percent.

Li Long arranged transport for Qingshui River Village’s taibazi, delivered them to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and received payment. After hearing Bolati mention Mantou Mountain and its rumored buried treasure, Li Long explored eastward and found red deer in the Salt Mine Cave, but let them escape.

• Li Long brought three trucks to Qingshui River Village, paid He Yuqing for 374 acceptable taibazi, and had six young men help deliver the load to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long returned the next day with the taibazi from his courtyard, where Li Xiangqian and the cooperative staff inspected them and paid him over five thousand yuan.
• Bolati told Li Long that newcomers were gathering herbs near Mantou Mountain and asked him to trade dried meat for fritillaria; Li Long recalled a story that Sheng Shicai had buried treasure there.
• A quiet man sold Li Long nearly ten kilograms of fritillaria, and Li Long then drove east to investigate the Salt Mine Cave and search for Mantou Mountain.
• Li Long found a red deer doe and fawn inside the cave but let them escape, then walked farther east without finding the mountain and headed back toward the cave around lunchtime.

Li Long shot two Mongolian gazelles, salted their meat, and traded some of it and other supplies for fritillaria with herb gatherers and Bolati. The next morning, after arranging transport and returning to the Wooden Cabin, he turned away a man who wanted to buy old coins and a corroded dagger on credit.

• Li Long found two Mongolian gazelles outside the mine, shot them, and took them to the Wooden Cabin to butcher and salt.
• At Small White Poplar Gully, Li Long told the workers that Qingshui River Village had delivered more than three hundred taibazi and had an eighty-percent pass rate.
• A herb gatherer traded fritillaria for a gazelle leg, and Bolati later exchanged confiscated fritillaria for meat, alcohol, and biscuits.
• Li Long brought the meat and fritillaria home, where Gu Xiaoxia reacted to the smell and Han Fang helped wash the herbs.
• The next morning, Li Long arranged for trucks to haul taibazi, then went to the Wooden Cabin, where he refused a man's request to trade old coins and a dagger for goods on credit.

Li Long drove off a sick, threatening fritillaria gatherer, then arranged for Sun Jiaqiang to help buy fritillaria at his cabin while he hunted and handled transport. After teaching Sun Jiaqiang the exchange rates, Li Long left him to manage a trade on his own and went to look for game.

• Li Long threatened an ill gatherer with his gun and fired at his feet when the man approached, forcing him to leave with only a packet of noodles.
• Bolati told Li Long that the Forestry Team planned to confiscate some fritillaria from diggers who were damaging the turf, and said he would bring Li Long at least three sacks to trade.
• Li Long met Sun Jiaqiang at the camp and offered him fifty cents per kilogram to buy fritillaria for him when he was away; Sun Jiaqiang accepted.
• Li Long and Sun Jiaqiang brought dried noodles to Lao Huang, then returned to the cabin, where Li Long taught Sun Jiaqiang how to price and process fritillaria.
• Sun Jiaqiang successfully handled a trade with a gatherer, and Li Long left him at the cabin to wash fritillaria while he went hunting.

Li Long hunted a red deer near Hot Spring Ravine, brought its meat and morels back, and arranged for Sun Jiaqiang to trade some cooked venison for fritillaria. After delivering food to family and friends, Li Long drove home planning the next day's Taibazi transport.

• Li Long drove to Hot Spring Ravine, followed animal tracks uphill, and shot a red deer, though one of its velvet antlers broke when it fell.
• Li Long carried the deer back to the Wooden Cabin, processed its meat and hide, paid Sun Jiaqiang for fritillaria, and left cooked venison for him to trade.
• Sun Jiaqiang began trading the venison, while Li Long brought deer offal and meat to Small White Poplar Gully and the Big Courtyard.
• Li Long picked up Gu Xiaoxia, washed the morels he had gathered, and told Sister Yang to prepare chicken and morel soup for her.
• Li Long delivered venison to Li Qingxia's family in the Fourth Team, drank fish soup, and promised Li Qiang cartridge cases.
• Li Long drove home and planned to arrange the next day's Taibazi shipment from Small White Poplar Gully.