Recaps

Li Long sold red deer, cattle, and sheep for the New Year while Harimu and the others settled into life around the Fourth Team. After returning home, he reassured Uncle Lao Luo that the workers would keep their jobs and brought a large share of meat to his eldest brother’s family.

• Li Long sold two red deer and arranged beef and mutton sales, while Xu Haijun bought sheep heads and hooves and ordered beef ribs for the next day.
• Li Long delivered the slaughtered livestock to Song Ming in Stone City and earned 5,135 yuan and 80 fen.
• Harimu and the others refused Li Jianguo’s offer of meat, and Li Long drove them home before returning to the Fourth Team.
• Li Long checked the remaining livestock and reassured Uncle Lao Luo that Yang Laoliu and the other workers would not be dismissed.
• Li Long took half a beef carcass, beef offal, a sheep, and two deer legs to Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei’s house.

Li Long spent a relaxed afternoon with his family before driving to Little Haizi to join Tao Daqiang and the others fishing through the ice. He caught a large common carp and several other fish, while Liang Shuangcheng and Tao Daqiang each tried their luck afterward.

• Li Long helped his family unload meat and talked with them about selling sheep, preparing for New Year, and sharing venison with relatives and friends.
• Li Long told his family that he planned to fish at Little Haizi and later slaughter more sheep to sell meat in the County Seat.
• Li Long drove to Little Haizi and found Tao Daqiang, Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong, and the Liang Family Brothers fishing at holes in the ice.
• Li Long swept a scoop net through one hole and caught a two-to-three-kilo common carp, several crucian carp, and two small pike.
• Liang Shuangcheng tried scooping fish and caught only small crucian carp, then Tao Daqiang took the net and caught a silver carp and a grass carp.

Li Long returned to fishing at Little Haizi and agreed to buy large fish from Fourth Team villagers, encouraging them to catch and sell more. The chapter left Li Long and the villagers preparing to fish over the next few days.

• Li Long brought fish home, then talked with Gu Xiaoxia about work, maintaining connections, and taking the initiative to pursue opportunities.
• Li Long drove to Little Haizi the next morning and found several Fourth Team groups fishing through holes in the ice.
• Tao Daqiang showed Li Long a large Five-Stripe Perch, and Li Long took over scooping fish, bringing up many large ones.
• Xu Haijun and other villagers asked whether Li Long would buy their surplus fish, and Li Long offered one yuan per fish weighing more than a kilogram.
• Xu Haijun and the others agreed to sell their large catches to Li Long instead of taking them to the County Seat.

Li Long gathered and delivered over a tonne of fish to the sugar factory, then shared winter meat and fish with relatives as he prepared to rest for the season. After visiting Li Xia, he learned that Li Junshan had invited the family to his wedding banquet and planned to attend with his parents and eldest brother.

• Xu Jianjun caught fish at Little Haizi and tried selling them at the county seat, but stopped after two days when he failed to sell enough.
• Li Long gathered more than a tonne of fish, divided some among his companions, and delivered 1,025 kilograms to the sugar factory.
• Li Long brought meat and fish to Li Xia’s home, shared family news with her, and promised to help her visit their parents and brothers.
• Li Long learned that Li Junshan’s wedding banquet would take place three days later and agreed to drive his parents and eldest brother there.
• Li Long and his family discussed bringing meat to his second brother and deciding on a wedding gift.

Li Long traveled with his family to Kuytun for Li Junshan’s wedding, bringing gifts and visiting relatives. At the Farm Machinery Factory, Factory Director Du ordered ten of Li Long’s fattened sheep and discussed a future agricultural machinery idea that Li Long expected to become popular.

• Li Long divided the fish-sale earnings among the families who helped, then brought home rabbits, a chicken, and eggs; Gu Xiaoxia recalled how Liang Dacheng’s mother had fed her when she was hungry as a child.
• Li Long prepared meat for his relatives and acquaintances, then drove his parents and eldest brother to Kuytun and booked rooms before visiting Li Anguo’s family.
• Li Long left beef for Li Junshan and other meat for Li Anguo’s household, then drove to Factory Director Du’s factory with a sheep and venison.
• Factory Director Du agreed to buy ten sheep at market price, with Li Long planning to deliver them the following week while collecting harvesters.
• Factory Director Du accepted Li Long’s invitation to attend Li Junshan’s wedding and asked about new agricultural machinery; Li Long hinted that an idea involving an air pump would become popular in a couple of years.

Li Long visited Ma Aihong and Li Anguo before Li Junshan’s wedding, asked Ma Aihong to keep an eye on the young men, and offered to help Li Anguo buy a larger home. At the wedding banquet, Li Qingxia began his speech by falsely claiming that Li Junshan’s father had broken his leg, leaving the family stunned.

• Li Long reassured Factory Director Du about designing agricultural machinery, then visited Ma Aihong with meat and asked about Li Junshan, Li Anguo, and Yang Yongqiang.
• Ma Aihong praised Li Junshan’s work, described Li Anguo as a capable group leader, and said Yang Yongqiang needed to become steadier; Li Long asked him to look after all three.
• Li Long met Li Junshan and Yang Yongqiang at Li Anguo’s home, then offered Li Anguo money to buy a larger courtyard house.
• Li Long’s family agreed that Li Anguo’s cramped home needed improving, and Li Long drove them to the wedding banquet the next day.
• Factory Director Du’s arrival impressed the union chairman and some of the bride’s guests, while Li Qingxia took the role of speaking for the groom’s family.
• Li Qingxia told the guests that Li Junshan’s father had broken his leg and his mother was caring for him, surprising the Li family.

Li Long’s family attended Li Junshan and Huang Ling’s wedding, where their support changed the bride’s family’s opinion of the Li family. Before leaving Kuytun, Li Long lent Li Anguo a thousand yuan toward buying a larger courtyard home, and the family headed back through No-Man’s Land.

• Li Qingxia gave a prepared wedding speech, and the banquet proceeded after Huang Xianfeng and Chairman Liu spoke.
• Huang Ling’s family noticed the Li relatives’ generous gifts and their ties with Factory Director Du, while Li Long and the others offered wedding toasts.
• After the banquet, Li Long gave Li Junshan money to support his new household, and Junshan decided to use it toward buying a sewing machine.
• Li Long offered Chen Lirong a thousand-yuan loan so Li Anguo’s family could buy a larger courtyard home, and Li Anguo accepted it the next morning.
• Li Long’s family left Kuytun and drove through No-Man’s Land, where they spotted a herd of Mongolian gazelles near Anjihai.

Li Long and his family hunted gazelles on the way home, bringing back one dead animal and an injured Xiao Huang Sheep to raise. After visiting Li Xia and his parents, Li Long returned home exhausted and slept through the night.

• Li Long shot a young gazelle and wounded another while wolves fled from behind the herd; his family found and brought both animals back.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo prepared the dead gazelle and took the injured Xiao Huang Sheep along, discussing whether they could raise a herd after the wheat harvest.
• Li Long's family visited Li Xia, where Hongqin petted the injured gazelle and Li Long promised to bring her a lamb in spring.
• Li Long drove his parents and Li Jianguo to the Li Family Courtyard, where his parents visited Mingming and Haohao before returning to the Fourth Team.
• Li Jianguo treated the Xiao Huang Sheep's wound, and Li Long later went home, fell asleep while telling Gu Xiaoxia about the wedding, and woke the next morning.

Li Long delivered freshly slaughtered meat to the County Seat’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where his fat cattle and sheep drew further bulk orders from factories. He realized he needed more help to fill the new orders and drove into the mountains to find it.

• Li Long skinned the gazelle, collected meat from Old Ma's Place, and arranged to sell ten sheep and a cow to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long brought down and slaughtered a two-year-old yellow cow with help from Uncle Lao Luo, Yang Laoliu, and the others.
• Li Long delivered the ten sheep and fresh beef to Li Xiangqian, who paid him 947 yuan and 80 cents at market prices.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that other factories wanted fifty sheep and two cattle, and Li Long explained that he had enough live animals but would need time and help to slaughter them.
• Li Long learned the new orders came from factories whose workers had heard about the Sugar Factory's meat, then drove into the mountains to find help.

Li Long organized the slaughter of the remaining fattened cattle and sheep, sold the meat through the Sugar Factory and to a Kuytun factory, and counted the profits from his livestock business. After delivering ten sheep to Factory Director Du, he advised him to make wheelbarrows and cargo tricycles as harvesters faced competition from imitations.

• Li Long visited Harimu's Winter Camp, arranged for Harimu and the others to help slaughter the remaining livestock, and promised Gu Xiaoxia he would rest after the work was finished.
• Li Long brought Harimu, Jade Mountain River, Talihaal, and the others to the Fourth Team, where they slaughtered the remaining sheep and seven cattle over two days.
• Li Long sold the beef and mutton through Section Chief Hu, arranged a Sunday trip to Kuytun with Song Ming, and gave ankle bones to Han Fang and Hongqin.
• Li Long calculated that his livestock sales had earned nearly four thousand yuan in profit and traveled with ten sheep to the Farm Machinery Factory in Kuytun.
• Factory Director Du inspected and bought the sheep, and Li Long suggested that the factory produce wheelbarrows and cargo tricycles as harvesters lost sales to imitations.

Li Long returned to the Big Courtyard with ten harvesters, then prepared to deliver meat to contacts in Wu City and Beiting after getting his Jeep serviced. He found the Agricultural College closed for the holiday, but reached Engineer Liu at the Jade Carving Factory.

• Factory Director Du planned to wait until spring to research whether the Farm Machinery Factory should make tricycles or wheelbarrows.
• Li Long and Song Ming returned to Ma County with ten harvesters, and Li Long unloaded and covered them at the Big Courtyard.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia agreed that he should have the Jeep serviced before traveling to Wu City and Beiting, so he gave a leg of lamb to the Transport Company team leader and had the vehicle checked.
• Li Long drove to the Agricultural College to deliver meat to Professor Wu and Professor Luo, but found that they had left for the holiday and their addresses were unknown.
• Li Long went to the Jade Carving Factory with a leg of lamb, waited for Engineer Liu to pause his carving, and was invited inside.

Li Long visited Engineer Liu with mutton, bought jade carvings, and delivered meat to Director Qian, who saw promise in Li Long’s livestock business. After purchasing saddles and arranging to have a Mongolian gazelle hide softened, Li Long drove home, considering expanding his sheep-fattening operation next year.

• Li Long brought Engineer Liu mutton, accepted a jade piece as a gift, and bought four carvings for 110 yuan.
• Engineer Liu told Xiao Ma to collect more good jade materials after Li Long left.
• Li Long bought New Year supplies, then gave Director Qian and Xiao Si beef, venison, and mutton.
• Director Qian praised Li Long’s fattened livestock and said the Federation could buy meat from him the following year.
• Li Long bought the tack shop’s three remaining saddles and left his Mongolian gazelle hide with the old man to soften.
• Li Long drove back toward the Big Courtyard, planning to discuss preparing pens for another livestock batch.

After the County Seat Purchasing Station closed, Niu Dajun worried that he could not sell his rabbit skins, while Li Long found a way to help him and other local sellers. Li Long bought a stranded farmer’s water rat skins and pointed out their value, leaving the farmer with a fair sale and a possible new buyer.

• Niu Dajun learned that the County Seat Purchasing Station had been abolished and asked Lu Yingming how he could sell his rabbit skins; Lu Yingming suggested he consult Li Long when he returned for the pig slaughter.
• Niu Dajun brought three rabbits to Li Jianguo’s home and arranged to ask Li Long about selling skins when Li Long came back for the feast.
• Li Long had a fur vest and gloves made from a Mongolian gazelle hide, bought saddle gear, and delivered it to Harimu, who gave him two wolf pelts and told him red deer fawns would soon be available.
• Li Long saw sellers waiting outside the closed Purchasing Station and spoke with a man who had three water rat skins he could no longer sell.
• Li Long bought the man’s water rat skins for fifteen yuan each and told him the musk sacs beneath the animals’ bellies were valuable too.

After buying hides from a stranded villager, Li Long decided to open his own purchasing station and worked through the plan with Gu Xiaoxia. He rented the former Purchasing Station courtyard and went to ask Li Xiangqian about obtaining a business license, where he found the section chief in unusually good spirits.

• Li Long bought three water rat hides from a villager and left when other villagers gathered to offer their goods.
• Li Long considered opening a purchasing station, and Gu Xiaoxia helped him assess the rules, buyers, storage, and license he would need.
• Li Long checked the courtyard’s ownership and rented it from the Housing Management Office for three years at one hundred and fifty yuan a year.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about the rental and planned to replace the courtyard notice and ask Li Xiangqian about a business license.
• Li Long visited Li Xiangqian, who offered him fine tea and hinted that something good had happened.

Li Long obtained a business license and reopened the former Purchasing Station as a private agricultural and sideline products buying point, purchasing several goods while turning away an expensive vase. He then drove his family and guests to Li Jianguo’s pig slaughter gathering, where Niu Dajun learned about the station.

• Li Xiangqian advised Li Long to apply for an Agricultural and Sideline Products Business License and helped him secure approval.
• Li Long got the license, posted a notice that the Purchasing Station would reopen, and bought red deer antlers and other goods from local sellers.
• Li Long refused to buy a man’s Meiping Vase, then returned home with the goods he had purchased and gave Gu Xiaoxia leather gloves.
• Li Long drove Gu Xiaoxia, Sister Yang, Han Fang, Mingming, and Haohao to Li Jianguo’s home for the pig slaughter gathering.
• Li Long told Niu Dajun and Jia Weidong to bring hides to his Purchasing Station when it reopened, surprising Niu Dajun.

Li Long helped with the Li family’s pig slaughter and heard Old Mr. Tian recount a local history that differed from Li Juan’s school lessons. The pork-killing feast brought the village together, while Li Long wondered whether his presence had made this warmth arrive earlier than it otherwise would have.

• Li Long and Niu Dajun agreed to take the saved rabbit skins to the Purchasing Station when Niu brought his sheepskins to the Leather Factory.
• Li Jianguo’s family slaughtered two pigs, with Li Long helping scald and scrape the carcasses as villagers prepared meat for sale and the feast.
• Old Mr. Tian described the region’s past violence, and Li Juan challenged his account with what she had learned in history class.
• The villagers gathered for the pork-killing feast, and Sister Yang began to recognize the warmth of ordinary rural relationships.
• As laughter and conversation filled the courtyards, Li Long wondered if his presence had brought this atmosphere earlier.

Li Long reopened the purchasing station ahead of schedule to prepare for spring, and buyers began arriving almost immediately. After a busy first day, he realized the station had become popular even before its official opening.

• Li Long declined drinks at Li Jianguo's gathering, then took home meat, pig liver, and sauerkraut that Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei gave him.
• Han Fang asked Li Long when she could return to play, while Sister Yang stayed quiet because she knew Han Fang's mother would not agree to a longer visit.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia discussed securing buyers before reopening the purchasing station and decided he would ask the Leather Factory about hides.
• Li Long went to clean and heat the purchasing station, where a hunter arrived with wolf, gazelle, and badger hides and sold them for one hundred yuan.
• Seven groups came to sell goods during the morning, and more people continued arriving throughout the afternoon.

Li Long’s Purchasing Station courtyard drew a growing stream of sellers, and he bought more goods than he could comfortably store while planning how to sell them. He paused buying, took Han Fang to the Fourth Team, and brought a trailer-load of sheepskins and rabbit skins to the Leather Factory, where the gatekeeper turned away another seller with too few hides.

• Li Long bought hides, medicinal herbs, and other goods from people at the Purchasing Station, then decided to pause purchases while he sorted out where to sell them.
• Li Long promised Han Fang a trip to the Fourth Team, and the next day he bought Li Qiang a soccer ball before taking her to Li Jianguo’s home.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo started the frozen tractor and loaded more than a hundred sheepskins and over thirty rabbit skins at Old Ma’s Place.
• Li Long drove the tractor to the Leather Factory, where the gatekeeper refused to buy a dozen sheepskins from a man on a bicycle.

Li Long sold his hides to the Leather Factory for a good price and learned its rates for wild animal pelts, then visited Harimu’s Winter Camp to thank him and found Talihaal badly injured. The chapter ended with Talihaal explaining that wild boars had chased him.

• Li Long sold 168 sheepskins, four cattle hides, and 34 rabbit skins to the Leather Factory, earning 2,828 yuan and forty fen in total.
• Old Zhang praised Li Long’s hides, shared prices for wild animal pelts, and invited him to bring future lots to the factory.
• Li Long gave Niu Dajun the 119 yuan from selling his rabbit skins and told him the Leather Factory required at least a hundred rabbit skins per lot.
• Li Long stayed home with his children for several days, then drove to Harimu’s Winter Camp with supplies to thank Harimu and the others for their careful skinning.
• Li Long found Talihaal with serious wounds, and Talihaal told him that a herd of wild boars had chased him.

Li Long took the badly injured Talihaal from the mountains to Stone City No. 2 Hospital, where doctors treated his infected wounds and admitted him. He left Harimu to care for Talihaal and drove back toward Southern Mountain.

• Li Long examined Talihaal's infected arm and leg, and Harimu's mother advised that he go to a hospital.
• Li Long and Harimu drove Talihaal to Stone City No. 2 Hospital, where doctors cleaned his wounds, treated him, and admitted him as Bed Forty-Three.
• Li Long bought supplies and food, arranged for Harimu to stay as Talihaal's attendant, and showed him around the hospital.
• Harimu and Talihaal settled in, planned to wash and brush their teeth, and learned that Talihaal's injuries might have been much worse without hospital care.
• Li Long left the hospital and drove back toward Southern Mountain.

Li Long informed Harimu's family that Talihaal had been hospitalized after a wild boar gored him, then cared for him with daily chicken soup and noodles. Talihaal recovered and was discharged, and Li Long drove him and Harimu away from the hospital for nang and milk tea.

• Li Long told Harimu's wife that Talihaal was hospitalized and promised to visit him and keep the family informed.
• Meng Hai gave Li Long four chickens, and Li Long brought them home, where Han Fang made a shuttlecock from the rooster's feathers.
• Li Long prepared chicken soup and noodles for Talihaal and warned Gu Xiaoxia that he would be more careful while hunting.
• Harimu and Talihaal adjusted to hospital routines, learned to brush their teeth and wash their socks, and received help from other patients and nurses.
• Li Long brought Talihaal chicken soup each day until the doctor discharged him after about a week.
• Li Long drove Talihaal and Harimu away from the hospital, and Talihaal asked for nang and milk tea.

Li Long helped Talihaal and Harimu return home with new clothes and toiletries, inspiring their families and the Jade Mountain River Family to begin brushing their teeth. Later, Li Long joined Li Qingxia and Li Jianguo on a trip north to look for Mongolian gazelles, and they spotted a herd of animals on the way.

• Li Long drove Harimu and Talihaal to the Winter Camp after taking them shopping, and Talihaal later rode home with his purchases.
• Talihaal showed his family how to use toothbrushes and toothpaste, while Harimu's children taught the adults in their home; the habit spread to other households.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia discussed finding someone to help run the Purchasing Station but made no decision.
• Li Long visited his family with Han Fang, where Li Qingxia proposed searching for Mongolian gazelles in the sandy country to the north.
• Li Jianguo said he knew the area from his time in the Corps, so he, Li Qingxia, and Li Long set off by Jeep.
• As they drove through increasingly sparse settlements and desert terrain, Li Long and the others spotted a herd of running animals.

Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Li Qingxia drove to the Company where Li Jianguo had once worked, then hunted gazelles and wolves in the nearby dunes. They returned with three gazelles and a wolf, and found several people waiting on the road near the Company.

• Li Jianguo pointed out the farmland and apple orchard from his years as the Company’s Quartermaster, while Li Qingxia reflected on why he had called his eldest son home.
• Li Jianguo chose to pass the Company and continue into the dunes, while workers there watched the Jeep and prepared a meal for its occupants.
• Li Long and his companions spotted a herd of Mongolian gazelles and a pack of wolves; Li Long and Li Jianguo shot several animals as the herds scattered.
• Li Jianguo slit the throat of a wounded gazelle, and Li Long killed a wolf that sprang at him before the three men carried their game back to the Jeep.
• After gutting and bagging the animals, the three drove back toward the Company and saw several people standing in their path.

Li Jianguo reunited with his former comrades Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen, shared a meal at their company headquarters, and revisited the company’s vegetable cellar. Li Long bought the company’s gazelle and wolf hides at favorable prices, and the group prepared to return home with supplies and a profitable deal behind them.

• Li Jianguo recognized Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen, and the former colleagues excitedly reunited after nearly twenty years apart.
• At company headquarters, Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen welcomed Li Jianguo and his family with a lavish meal and discussed their old company and how their lives had changed.
• Li Long offered to buy the company’s gazelle hides, and Wang Mingjun agreed to sell them after hearing his prices were better than those offered by middlemen.
• Li Jianguo inspected the company’s vegetable cellar, where Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen loaded the Jeep with fruit, honey, and liquor for the family.
• Li Long bought more than fifty gazelle hides, nine wolf pelts, and two wild donkey hides for 1,990 yuan, while Big Old Chen invited them to stay overnight.
• Li Jianguo declined to stay, saying he was clear-headed and wanted to go home, as Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen laughed at their abandoned plan to keep drinking with him.

Li Long returned from the northern Company with Li Jianguo, who reminisced about his years there, and brought home hides and food. While Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia went to the Fourth Team for New Year, Sister Yang and Han Fang stayed in the County Seat and prepared their former courtyard for the holiday, leaving Sister Yang feeling more at ease there.

• Li Long left a wolf and a Mongolian gazelle with the Company, received ammunition, and drove away with Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia as Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen discussed the hide trade and a possible hunt.
• On the return journey, Li Jianguo recalled his work at the Company, his old colleagues, and the border residents' rebellion, while Li Long listened to his stories.
• Li Long brought fruit, honey, liquor, and a gazelle to the Li Family Courtyard, then returned to the Big Courtyard with Han Fang and told Gu Xiaoxia about the trip.
• Gu Xiaoxia invited Sister Yang and Han Fang to celebrate New Year at the Fourth Team, but Sister Yang chose to stay in the County Seat and visit their former courtyard.
• On New Year's Eve, Sister Yang and Han Fang cleared the snow, cleaned the courtyard, and set up an offering for Han Fang's late father before returning to the Big Courtyard later.
• Sister Yang found comfort in the familiar kitchen and considered that they might live in the courtyard full-time the following year.