Recaps

Li Long earned the Production Team's praise with a generous wild boar feast, then set hare snares in Red Willow Flats and returned home to make Li Qiang a toy. A group of young people visited him, including Wu Shufen, and Xu Haijun arranged to trade for wild boar meat.

• The Li family hosted a lavish wild boar feast, and the guests' rumors about Li Long being arrested disappeared.
• Li Long walked to Red Willow Flats and set more than twenty wire snares along fresh hare trails.
• Li Long helped Li Qiang shape a wild boar tusk into a toy while the women rendered lard in the West Room.
• Xu Haijun arrived with a group of young people, including Wu Shufen, and asked Li Long to trade him two kilograms of wild boar meat.
• Li Long agreed, and two of the girls looked toward Wu Shufen.

Li Long traded pork for ammunition and calmly recounted his boar hunt while visitors discussed his plans to sell goods in other markets. The chapter ended with several people, including Tao Daqiang, Gu Xiaoxia, and Wu Shufen, privately reconsidering their choices about Li Long.

• Xu Haijun traded twenty rounds of ammunition for fatty pork, then joined others as Li Long described hunting wild boars.
• Gu Xiaoxia traded ammunition for pork, and Li Long gave her extra meat for her father.
• Li Long told Xu Haijun and Huang Siping that he planned to visit Wu City and Stone City to expand his business.
• Li Long explained that Tao Dayong had been arrested because he failed to escape when trouble arose, while Daqiang had gotten away.
• After the visitors left, Li Long returned to the East Room, and the Li Family became a topic of discussion across the production team.
• Tao Daqiang regretted his choices, Gu Xiaoxia hesitated over a decision, and Wu Shufen considered asking Li Long to reunite with her.

Li Long checked the rabbit snares at Red Willow Flats with Li Qiang and Li Juan and found five rabbits. After they returned home, Xie Dafa admired Li Long’s catch and marveled at his luck.

• Li Long took Li Qiang and Li Juan to Red Willow Flats to check the snares he had set the previous day.
• The first four snares were empty, but Li Long soon found a dead rabbit and then a live, badly injured one.
• Li Long found two more dead rabbits and captured a large rabbit that attacked him, bringing the total catch to five.
• On the way home, Li Qiang told Xie Dafa that they had caught rabbits, and Li Long explained that he had used snares.
• Xie Dafa inspected the sack, praised Li Long’s skill, and marveled at his luck.

Li Long sold rabbit and wild-boar meat while explaining his plans to earn money and prepare for the expected land division. He and Li Jianguo went ice fishing, where they saw Tao Daqiang approaching.

• Li Long told Li Jianguo he planned to sell jade in Wu City, then catch fish to sell in Stone City and save for a horse cart before the land division.
• Li Jianguo agreed to fish with Li Long but stayed home rather than accompany him to Wu City.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo sold meat to Bai Fazhan and other villagers, receiving cash and more than a hundred bullets.
• Li Long, Li Jianguo, Li Juan, and Li Qiang went to Little Haizi to open ice holes and catch fish.
• Li Long finished breaking through the ice and went to help Li Jianguo scoop fish, then noticed Tao Daqiang approaching from the Production Team.

Li Long decided Tao Daqiang could help with fishing and sales, but only as a paid worker rather than a partner. After a large afternoon catch at Little Haizi, Li Long invited Tao Daqiang to help while he went to Wu City the next day.

• Li Long settled his old debt with Tao Daqiang and told him their accounts were even as they gathered fish.
• Li Long told Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei that he would hire Tao Daqiang for specific jobs instead of sharing profits with him.
• Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Tao Daqiang caught more than sixty kilograms of mostly large fish at Little Haizi that afternoon.
• Li Long invited Tao Daqiang to come help while Li Jianguo caught fish the next day, when Li Long planned to travel to Wu City.

Li Long traveled to Wu City to sell two pieces of Ma River jade at the Jade Factory. He left with 956 yuan, delighted by the windfall.

• Li Long set out for Wu City with two wrapped pieces of jade and asked Chen Hongjun where to find the Jade Factory.
• Li Long traveled by bus to Wu City and learned directions to the Second Light Industry Bureau from local gatekeepers.
• Li Long showed his jade to two Jade Factory employees, who praised the larger piece's exceptional quality.
• The Jade Factory weighed both pieces and paid Li Long 956 yuan for them.

After selling his jade, Li Long spent the night in Wu City and used his earnings to buy New Year gifts and food for his family. He left for home with a packed sack, then improvised a sled to drag it across the snowy road.

• Li Long asked the old man about Hetian jade prices, then left the jade factory and stayed at the Bayi Guesthouse.
• The next morning, Li Long bought a bus ticket and went to Wu City's Heavenly Mountain Department Store.
• Li Long bought fireworks, shoes, schoolbags, toys, clothes, and food for his family, spending a little over a hundred yuan.
• Li Long boarded a bus to Stone City and asked the driver to let him off at Ma County.
• After eating at the Big Meat Canteen, Li Long bought plastic sheeting and used it to drag his heavy sack toward home like a makeshift sled.

Li Long returned home with supplies for New Year's while Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang brought in a large catch of fish. After dinner, Li Long offered Tao Daqiang paid work on a job-by-job basis, leaving their changed relationship clear.

• Li Long returned home with a sled full of supplies and gave peanuts to the children who helped him drag it.
• Liang Yuemei and Li Juan welcomed Li Long, who changed clothes and fell asleep while Li Qiang tried to peek into his sack.
• Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang returned with nearly a hundred kilograms of fish, including a grass carp over six kilograms.
• Li Long woke and invited Tao Daqiang to stay for fish soup and hear what he had to say.
• Li Long asked Tao Daqiang to work with him for five yuan per job, and Tao Daqiang realized their relationship would not return to how it had been.

Li Long arranged for Tao Daqiang to help sell fish and borrowed the team’s horse cart for another trip. He returned home with gifts for his family and gave Li Jianguo three hundred yuan to prepare for the land and team assets they expected to receive after spring.

• Tao Daqiang agreed to work for Li Long for five yuan per trip, and Li Long arranged for him to come help sell fish the next morning.
• Tao Daqiang carried five fish home and began making fish soup for Tao Jianshe, who tacitly accepted that his younger son had gone back to work with Li Long.
• Li Long borrowed Xu Chengjun’s horse cart for three days and arranged with Lao Luo to harness horse number seventy-six before daylight.
• Li Long brought home clothes, shoes, schoolbags, toys, and food, delighting Li Juan, Li Qiang, Li Jianguo, and Liang Yuemei.
• Li Long gave Li Jianguo three hundred yuan for a horse or mule, a cart, and other expenses related to farming after spring.
• Li Jianguo asked Li Long to buy red paper, a brush, and ink for New Year couplets when he went to sell fish.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang traveled to Stone City to sell fish, first trying the August First Sugar Factory's Staff Compound and then moving to Old Street. Li Long sold most of his catch and, with half a sack left, took Tao Daqiang to get something to eat before continuing.

• Li Long and Tao Daqiang set out with three sacks of fish, while people in the Production Team gossiped about Li Long's sales trips and the Lu Family's Eldest Sister-in-Law again raised the idea of introducing him to someone.
• Li Long chose to try selling fish at the August First Sugar Factory's Staff Compound and explained to buyers that the fish came from the Ma County reservoir.
• Li Long sold some fish at the compound, but sales slowed around lunchtime, so he gave the old gatekeeper a silver carp and left for Old Street.
• Li Long sold an entire sack of fish at Old Street, then sold more over the following hour until only half a sack remained on the cart.
• Li Long told Tao Daqiang to follow him to get something to eat, confident he could sell the remaining fish before nightfall.

Li Long prepared for a trip to Harimu’s winter camp, buying supplies to repay him for the jade. He arrived with the goods, and Harimu recognized that Li Long had brought them out of genuine friendship.

• Li Long planned to visit Harimu and bought red paper, a brush, and ink before returning home with Tao Daqiang.
• Li Long gave Li Jianguo his share of the fish profits, then left early the next morning to buy supplies for Harimu.
• Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang went fishing again while the team learned that Li Long had sold the fish and shared the proceeds.
• Li Long bought rice, flour, oil, tea, sugar, salt, and fruit, then brought the goods to Harimu’s winter camp.
• Harimu welcomed Li Long and understood that he had brought the supplies as a sincere friend.

Li Long brought supplies to Harimu’s family and accepted velvet antler and more jade in return, then visited Jade Mountain River and received another large piece of jade. After preparing to hunt the wolves with Harimu, Li Long heard them howl at midnight.

• Li Long delivered food and other supplies to Harimu’s family, and Nasen thanked him by offering his ankle bones.
• Harimu’s mother gave Li Long dried red deer velvet antler, and Harimu also gave him two more pieces of jade; Li Long accepted them and gave Harimu ammunition.
• Harimu told Li Long that wounded wolves had been howling near the camp, and Li Long agreed to join him in hunting them that night.
• Li Long and Harimu brought supplies and ammunition to Jade Mountain River, who lent Li Long his gun and gave him a larger piece of jade while listing items he needed.
• Li Long and Harimu took positions near the sheep pen, and at midnight they heard a wolf howl from the mountain woods.

Li Long and Harimu fought off wolves attacking the sheep pen at Winter Camp, and Li Long narrowly avoided being ambushed. After the hunt, Li Long agreed to join Harimu on a wild boar hunt the next morning.

• Li Long and Harimu waited in ambush as wolves approached the sheep pen from several directions.
• A wolf circled behind Li Long, but he shot it three times before it could attack.
• Li Long wounded a second wolf as the pack fled, while Harimu killed another wolf he identified as the pack leader.
• At daybreak, Li Long and Harimu followed the wounded wolf’s blood trail into the woods, but it disappeared near another ridge.
• Harimu skinned the two dead wolves, and Li Long asked to keep their meat and innards.
• Harimu invited Li Long to hunt wild boars the next morning, and Li Long accepted.

Li Long stayed with Harimu to prepare timber and hunt wild boars while his family gathered fish and arranged to rent a horse cart for another day. When a small herd of boars arrived, the wind shifted and they fled up the opposite slope, leaving Li Long and Harimu ready to shoot.

• Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang pulled about fifty or sixty kilograms of fish from Little Haizi, and Li Jianguo planned another trip to sell them.
• Li Long chopped the fallen pine log into sections while Harimu tended the livestock, and they prepared to haul the wood the next day.
• Harimu woke Li Long before dawn, and they traveled to a valley where wild boars rooted through the snow for food.
• Li Long built a snow rifle rest and waited with Harimu as they watched the valley.
• Seven or eight wild boars rushed into the valley, but Harimu warned Li Long that the wind had changed, and the herd fled up the opposite slope.

Li Long and Harimu killed two wild boars and hauled them back to Winter Camp, where Li Long prepared to leave the mountains with his hunting goods. He reached County Town and headed to the purchasing station to find out how much his haul was worth.

• Li Long and Harimu found two dead wild boars on the ridge, bled them, and prepared them for transport.
• Li Long dragged both boars downhill on a plastic sheet and loaded them onto his cart near Winter Camp.
• Li Long rested, then packed the cart with wolves, jade, bones, pelts, antlers, and other goods before departing with Harimu.
• Li Long traveled to County Town, bought hot tea and meat buns, and hurried toward the purchasing station to sell his goods.

Li Long returned from the county with money from selling antlers and velvet antler, then brought home wolves and wild boars for his family to process. Xu Chengjun told him he could obtain bicycle and sewing machine ration tickets in exchange for ten kilograms of meat, and Li Long offered fresh wild boar meat.

• Chen Hongjun bought Li Long's antlers and velvet antler for nearly two hundred yuan.
• Li Long returned to the village with wolf pelts and wild boars, and the children crowded around to see them.
• Liang Yuemei and Li Jianguo arranged for neighbors to help process the two wild boars.
• Li Long delivered fish to Lao Luo and Xu Chengjun, then paid to borrow the cart again.
• Xu Chengjun told Li Long that a relative could get bicycle and sewing machine ration tickets for ten kilograms of meat, and Li Long offered wild boar meat.

Li Long hosted a feast after bringing home two wild boars, then traded meat to Xu Chengjun for ration coupons he wanted to use to buy a bicycle. As the family discussed sharing meat and sending money to Li Jianguo’s parents, Li Long objected to sending fifty yuan, warning that it would cause trouble.

• Li Long helped the villagers butcher and clean the two wild boars, then exchanged meat with Xu Chengjun for ration coupons.
• At the feast, Li Long said his herder friends had helped him find wild boars and explained that he had never tried wolf meat.
• Li Long rejected Liang Yuemei’s suggestion to sell pork and decided to give half a pig to Li Juan’s maternal grandfather’s family instead.
• Liang Yuemei proposed sending fifty yuan to Li Jianguo’s parents, and Li Long firmly objected that sending so much money would cause trouble.

Li Long persuaded Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei to send only twenty yuan to their parents, then delivered meat and red paper to Gu Boyuan for spring couplets. He told Gu Xiaoxia that schools would expand after spring and offered her a loan so she could prepare for a teaching exam.

• Li Long warned Li Jianguo that sending fifty yuan home would lead relatives to seek work and lodging, so Li Jianguo decided to send twenty yuan instead.
• Li Jianguo asked Li Long to take meat and red paper to Gu Boyuan and request two sets of spring couplets.
• Gu Boyuan wrote the couplets and thanked Li Long for the fish and meat that had helped his family.
• Gu Xiaoxia asked Li Long to teach her how to do business because her family could not afford her father's medicine.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia that schools would expand after spring and urged her to study for a teaching exam.
• Li Long offered Gu Xiaoxia a twenty-yuan loan to help her family until she could pass the exam and earn a salary.

Gu Xiaoxia accepted Li Long’s money and learned that the possible spring school entrance exam could change her future, while Gu Ermao tried to boast about his new apprenticeship and Li Long mocked his lack of courage. The next morning, Li Long and Tao Daqiang sold ten fish to the Big Meat Canteen and continued toward Stone City.

• Gu Xiaoxia told Gu Boyuan about the possible spring enrollment, and he urged her to study privately and keep the news from Wu Shufen and the production team.
• Li Long met Xu Haijun, Gu Ermao, Wu Shufen, Liu Tianfeng, and Wei Yuanfang, and Gu Ermao bragged about apprenticing as a truck driver.
• Li Long challenged Gu Ermao to prove his courage by killing a wolf and left the group.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang loaded fish and set out for Stone City after buying steamed buns in the County Seat.
• A man from the Big Meat Canteen bought ten fish from Li Long for two yuan each and said he would order from him again.

Li Long sold all his fish in Old Street and the machinery factory compound, then used the earnings to buy supplies for his mountain friends, New Year goods, fruit, and a large amount of coupon-free grain. He headed home with the cart loaded, pleased that his family and friends would have plenty to eat.

• Li Long and Tao Daqiang sold every fish they had brought at Old Street Station and the machinery factory compound.
• Li Long gave Tao Daqiang five yuan for New Year supplies, despite Tao Daqiang reminding him that he still owed five yuan.
• Li Long bought tools and other supplies for Harimu and Jade Mountain River at the supply and marketing cooperative.
• Tao Daqiang bought candy, peanuts, canned food, and sugar cubes, while Li Long purchased persimmons and apples at the Department Store.
• Li Long spotted a coupon-free grain sale and bought one hundred kilograms each of rice and flour, spending the fish-sale money and more.

Li Long bought food and fruit for his family, then delivered supplies to Harimu and Jade Mountain River in the mountains. Jade Mountain River had another gift ready for him when he arrived.

• Li Long unloaded rice, flour, and fruit for his family, explaining that he wanted the children to eat better.
• Li Jianguo returned with forty or fifty kilos of fish, and the family shared a meal and persimmons together.
• Li Jianguo warned Li Long to avoid hunting wolves unless necessary, and Li Long agreed.
• Li Long took supplies to Harimu’s Winter Camp and delivered separate loads for Harimu’s family and Jade Mountain River’s family.
• Jade Mountain River had another gift ready for Li Long.

Li Long visited Jade Mountain River and Harimu during a harsh winter and learned that deep snow threatened their livestock. After both friends gave him New Year gifts, Li Long left grateful and determined to think of a way to help them.

• Jade Mountain River welcomed Li Long and Harimu, and Li Long delivered supplies, rice, and flour to the Winter Camp.
• Jade Mountain River and Harimu explained that deep snow had made grazing difficult and left them short of fodder for their livestock.
• Jade Mountain River showed Li Long a roe deer he had shot and insisted that Li Long take it along with a sheep.
• Jade Mountain River served boiled meat and honored Li Long by giving him the Jiangbazi first.
• Harimu gave Li Long another sheep as a New Year gift before Li Long departed.

Li Long sold a roe deer’s antlers and two cuts of mutton at the purchasing station, then searched for buyers for his sheep. The supply and marketing cooperative refused to consider buying them without a letter of introduction, leaving Li Long without a solution.

• Li Long brought a roe deer to the purchasing station, where Chen Hongjun bought its antlers for seven yuan and a woman offered to buy the hide if Li Long skinned it intact.
• Chen Hongjun and the woman each bought a leg of mutton from Li Long, and Chen Hongjun suggested he try selling sheep to Stone City factories or Production and Construction Corps units.
• Li Long went to the Big Meat Canteen, but its staff said they already had suppliers for pork and mutton.
• Li Long asked the supply and marketing cooperative about selling his sheep, but a clerk refused because he had no letter of introduction.

Li Long waited at the county supply and marketing cooperative to meet purchasing chief Li Xiangqian and sell sheep from his mountain friends. The cooperative staff bought nearly all the mutton he brought, and Li Xiangqian arrived as Li Long was left with a frozen roe deer to discuss.

• Li Long gave cigarettes to the gatehouse guard, learned that purchasing chief Li Xiangqian was due at noon, and waited inside the warm gatehouse.
• The guard helped Li Long weigh and sell a hind leg, then gathered cooperative employees who bought nearly all the mutton from his two sheep.
• Customers noticed the frozen, unskinned roe deer on Li Long's cart and asked whether he would sell it, but Li Long said it could not be sold as it was.
• Li Xiangqian arrived in a truck, and the guard pointed him out to Li Long.

Li Long secured a possible wholesale buyer for more sheep, then worried about the cost and risk of supplying them. An encounter with a solitary old man led Li Long to consider buying the man's large courtyard house for five hundred yuan.

• Li Xiangqian agreed to buy at least ten sheep from Li Long if they matched the quality of the meat on his cart, though he would pay less than one yuan per kilogram.
• After leaving the cooperative, Li Long worried that the purchase price might make selling the sheep to Li Xiangqian unprofitable and that Harimu and Jade Mountain River might not agree to sell.
• Li Long met the old man who had previously bought his fish, and the man asked to buy the remaining sheep neck for two yuan.
• The old man explained that he planned to move to Shanghai to live near his rehabilitated eldest son and offered to sell his courtyard house to Li Long for five hundred yuan.
• Li Long said he had the money, and the old man invited him to bring the cart inside and inspect the house.