Recaps

Li Long traded supplies and cash for the mountain diggers’ Fritillaria while building a shelter at the Small Wooden Cabin with Mingming and Haohao nearby. Over the following days, the harvest poured in, and Li Long expected Jia Tianlong to arrive soon to haul it away.

• Bolati brought two sacks of Fritillaria to Li Long, let Mingming and Haohao ride his horse, and shared a meal with Li Long and Mo Linsheng.
• Li Long gave Mo Linsheng work clothes and steamed buns in exchange for Fritillaria, and Mo Linsheng arranged to sell his future harvest directly to Li Long.
• Bolati exchanged his Fritillaria for liquor and food, then left; Li Long finished the shelter while the boys slept and drove home with more than two hundred kilos of Fritillaria.
• A man secretly used the old grass shelter as a place to sleep, while Mo Linsheng dried his Fritillaria and continued digging cautiously.
• Over the next few days, Li Long bought several thousand yuan’s worth of fresh Fritillaria each day as diggers increasingly traded their harvest for cash.
• Li Long anticipated Jia Tianlong’s arrival to collect the growing stockpile, and Chen Hongjun was pleased that running a Purchasing Station had proved profitable.

Chen Hongjun sold his first large batch of fritillaria to Jia Tianlong and earned enough to feel confident about his new purchasing business. Jia Tianlong then bought Li Long’s much larger stock, while Chen Hongjun celebrated his family’s first taste of the profits at home.

• Chen Hongjun worried that his cash was running low until Jia Tianlong arrived and agreed to buy all three hundred-odd kilograms of his fritillaria at first-grade prices.
• Jia Tianlong paid Chen Hongjun over 41,300 yuan and explained that Li Long’s purchasing station had built a far wider reputation and could buy several tonnes of fritillaria.
• Jia Tianlong bought nearly two tonnes of Li Long’s dried fritillaria and other medicinal goods for over 278,000 yuan, then gratefully accepted Li Long’s carved jade baby as a gift for his pregnant wife.
• After Jia Tianlong left, Li Long kept 50,000 yuan as working capital and deposited the rest, while Chen Hongjun set aside his proceeds and planned to calculate their shares after the season.
• Chen Hongjun bought lamb ribs and braised meat for his family, and his wife was astonished when he showed her the money he had earned.

Li Long continued supplying mountain foragers with food and goods in exchange for fritillaria, then reluctantly agreed to present awards at a county commendation ceremony. When he returned to the mountain cabin, he found the same two foragers struggling to sell fritillaria, and their argument revealed they were not a couple.

• Li Long took Mingming and Haohao to the Wooden Cabin, where they gathered mushrooms and he sorted out the poisonous ones.
• A young man and woman came to trade fritillaria, and Li Long offered higher prices for clean bulbs, prompting them to wash their harvest.
• Mo Linsheng explained that foragers were running low on supplies and trading so they could keep digging fritillaria during its peak season.
• The Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission asked Li Long to present awards and give a report; he agreed to present the awards but declined the report.
• Li Long returned to the cabin and found the same pair trading again; the woman's fritillaria was clean, while much of the man's had grown moldy.
• The woman traded her harvest for money and supplies, the man salvaged most of his after washing it, and they argued as they left.

Li Long bought large quantities of fritillaria at his mountain cabin as forest patrols made it risky for gatherers to carry their harvest out, and his daily purchases exceeded those of the county purchasing station. After Mo Linsheng sold him a large load of dried fritillaria, Li Long’s stock grew to several tons, while Chen Hongjun faced reduced supplies and a new competitor in Beiting.

• A burly gatherer sold Li Long two sacks of fritillaria for cash, then left the mountains, and a rush of other sellers brought Li Long’s purchases to nearly four hundred kilos that morning.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia that his mountain cabin had bought more fritillaria than the purchasing station, and she warned him to be careful; he drove back into the mountains with Mingming and Haohao the next day.
• Bolati sold Li Long three sacks of fritillaria for a thousand yuan, then added branches to reinforce the cabin’s canopy.
• Mo Linsheng sold Li Long sixty kilos of dried fritillaria for 3,600 yuan and took rice, flour, and eggs; he said he had robbed the dried goods from two men who tried to rob him.
• Li Long accumulated over three tons of dried fritillaria and called Jia Tianlong to collect it, while Chen Hongjun received fewer goods and learned that a former colleague had opened another purchasing station in Beiting.

Chen Hongjun refused Qin Liguo’s offer to buy adulterated fritillaria, and Qin’s attempt to sell the goods elsewhere failed. Qin was left with no buyer after the Stone City purchasing station rejected him.

• Qin Liguo opened a purchasing station with higher advertised prices, but resellers returned to Chen Hongjun after Qin deducted money for quality and packaging.
• Qin asked Chen Hongjun to buy his fritillaria below Chen’s purchase price, but Chen refused after suspecting the goods were problematic.
• Qin took his stock to Li Long’s purchasing station, where Gu Boyuan spotted beans mixed into the fritillaria and offered only sixty yuan per kilogram.
• Qin declined to sell to Gu Boyuan and tried to sell the goods in Stone City, but the state-run buyer rejected them.
• Gu Boyuan explained to Liang Shuangcheng how to sift out adulterants and sort the remaining fritillaria.

Li Long defended the Small Wooden Cabin when two armed men tried to force him to raise his price for their stolen fritillaria. He restrained them, heard a woman’s plea for help, and prepared to hand the men over to the Forestry Team while letting the woman leave.

• Li Long bought fritillaria from several diggers and prepared lunch while keeping Mingming and Haohao inside the cabin when strangers arrived.
• A woman and two men brought dirty, damp fritillaria, and the younger man demanded an inflated price and threatened Li Long with a dagger.
• Li Long knocked both men down with a fire poker and disarmed them after they attacked him with knives.
• The woman said the men had held her captive and forced her to work, and Li Long ordered her to tie them up.
• Li Long paid the woman for the fritillaria she had dug and said he would turn the men over to the Forestry Team; she offered to retrieve her belongings and bring the men’s things back to him.

Li Long helped Bolati take two herb diggers who had robbed and abducted Tang Ling to the Forestry Team, then found valuables among their belongings. The next day, Team Leader Aili let Li Long buy the team’s fritillaria at a favorable price and connected him with a neighboring Forestry Team that also needed a buyer.

• Li Long told Bolati that two herb diggers had tried to rob him, and Bolati prepared to take them and Tang Ling to the Forestry Team for questioning.
• Li Long paid Bolati for his fritillaria, and Bolati left with Tang Ling and the bound men.
• Li Long found cash, silver dollars, jade, gold, and other valuables in the men’s bags and kept them in his vehicle in case they served as evidence.
• Li Long returned to the county seat, dried the purchased fritillaria, and arranged to rent a truck for the next day.
• Team Leader Aili let Li Long buy more than two tonnes of fritillaria for the price of two tonnes after they drank together.
• Team Leader Aili introduced Li Long by telephone to the leader of the Forestry Team in Hu County, who wanted Li Long to buy fritillaria and other goods.

Mo Linsheng stayed at Li Long’s shelter while injured, buying fritillaria from other gatherers as he waited for Li Long to return. Meanwhile, Li Long bought large quantities of herbs, hides, and other goods from Abulaiti, who offered him a storeroom full of old objects; Li Long wondered whether Abulaiti had mistaken him for a junk collector.

• Team Leader Aili told Li Long that the two fugitives had been handed over to the police and the woman had left.
• Mo Linsheng waited at Li Long’s shelter and bought fritillaria from Wu Bensheng, his nephew, and another gatherer.
• Mo Linsheng spent the night by a fire at the shelter, feeling safer than in his earth hole despite nearby wolves.
• Li Long met Abulaiti and agreed to buy fritillaria, hides, mushrooms, medicinal herbs, and deer antlers at prices higher than the previous buyer had offered.
• Abulaiti offered Li Long the old objects in his final storeroom, prompting Li Long to wonder if he had been taken for a junk collector.

Li Long bought a large haul of goods from Abulaiti’s forestry team, then cleaned and stored antiques he had selected from their discard pile. Mo Linsheng, left waiting at the wooden cabin with more than a hundred kilograms of Fritillaria and almost no food, finally saw Li Long return, and began explaining how he had acquired it.

• Li Long paid Abulaiti over eighty-one thousand yuan for medicinal materials and other goods, then selected coins, bronze objects, beads, jade, and a gemstone-set gold mask from the storeroom’s discarded items.
• Abulaiti hosted Li Long and his companions for lunch, and the forestry team’s cadres divided the proceeds after Li Long drove back to the county seat with the purchased goods.
• Li Long registered the new stock at the purchasing station, returned to the Big Courtyard, and cleaned the beads, plaques, and gold mask while leaving the coins and bronze objects stored for later.
• Mo Linsheng waited at the wooden cabin as he bought Fritillaria from several people, accumulating over a hundred kilograms while running nearly out of food.
• Li Long drove into the mountains the next morning and found Mo Linsheng weak and hungry beside sacks and drying Fritillaria; he gave him steamed buns, and Mo Linsheng began recounting what had happened.

Li Long expanded his fritillaria and licorice trades, arranged a dried-meat order for the Beijing Office of the Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Commission, and agreed to scale up production for Huang Lei. He ended with over four tons of fritillaria in storage and Jia Tianlong arriving to collect goods.

• Li Long bought over two hundred kilograms of fritillaria from Mo Linsheng and acquired nearly five hundred kilograms in total that day, but Mo Linsheng declined his offer to trade for him at the Wooden Cabin.
• Li Long agreed to supply two hundred kilograms of Premium Grade One fritillaria and buy three tons of licorice from the county Medicinal Materials Company as a favor for Li Xiangqian.
• Director Dai ordered five hundred kilograms of Li Long's dried meat for the Beijing Office of the Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Commission, and Li Long arranged for Sister Yang to hire more workers and prepare the shipment.
• Li Long sent Mingming and Haohao to the Fourth Team preschool while Sister Yang made dried meat, then mailed the first batch to the Beijing Office.
• Huang Lei asked to double his dried-meat shipments to at least two tons per month, and Li Long agreed to expand production and order drying machinery.
• Li Long found over four tons of fritillaria, licorice, and deer antlers filling his warehouse, so he urged Jia Tianlong to come collect them.

Jia Tianlong bought over 430,000 yuan of medicinal herbs from Li Long and described how villagers he had tried to help sold their best astragalus to his competitor. After the deal, Li Long picked up Mingming and Haohao and found his mother, Du Chunfang, still watching over them at preschool.

• Jia Tianlong told Li Long that villagers, including relatives, had sold their best astragalus to a competitor and left him only inferior roots, so he stopped helping those who had betrayed his trust.
• Jia Tianlong saw Li Long's large stock of medicinal herbs, rented a second truck, and had his staff inventory and load the goods.
• Jia Tianlong paid Li Long more than 430,000 yuan for the herbs, then left to deliver them and seek suppliers in Ili.
• Li Long deposited most of the payment, kept some working capital for Gu Boyuan, and drove to the Team's Preschool Class to collect Mingming and Haohao.
• Du Chunfang told Li Long she would keep watching the twins because she had missed caring for him when he was young.

Li Long learned from Li Jianguo how Mohé Tobacco had been made and handled plans for his beef-jerky business before heading into the mountains to trade. He heard that a gun-carrying man had confiscated fritillaria from several traders, leaving him determined to investigate.

• Li Long took Mingming, Haohao, and Mom to Li Jianguo's house, where Li Jianguo explained how tobacco stalks were processed and roasted into Mohé Tobacco.
• Li Long discussed drying rooms, meat supplies, and a possible telephone with Sister Yang, then considered preparing a separate room for Mingming and Haohao.
• Li Long dropped the children off at the Preschool Class, spoke with Meng Hai about road repairs, and drove into the mountains with supplies.
• A trader told Li Long that a man on horseback carrying a gun had confiscated fritillaria from several people coming to trade.
• Li Long decided to investigate the confiscations.

Li Long tried to restore the herb diggers’ trust in trading at the Wooden Cabin while investigating the Forest Ranger who had been confiscating Fritillaria. After Bolati arrived with more Fritillaria, Li Long told him about the intruder, and Bolati reacted furiously, leaving them to investigate who was behind it.

• Li Long reasoned that the man confiscating Fritillaria was likely connected to the Forestry Team and concluded that his visits were hurting business at the Wooden Cabin.
• Wu Bensheng and his nephew traded Fritillaria with Li Long, then encouraged other herb diggers to trust him and come trade; braised meat drew more customers that afternoon.
• Li Long arranged with Ke Youmu to supply at least five hundred kilograms of beef and mutton daily and learned that Ke Youmu’s family had opened a successful offal soup shop.
• Li Long told Gu Boyuan about the Forest Ranger and planned to wait for Bolati or try to catch the man himself.
• Bolati brought two sacks of Fritillaria, and Li Long told him about the confiscations; Bolati said the area was his territory and angrily demanded to know who was causing trouble.

Li Long investigated a young man who had confiscated herb gatherers’ fritillaria from his cabin and learned that Ablikim had done it to pay gambling debts. After Aili dealt with Ablikim and Bolati promised to watch the cabin, Li Long planned to compensate the herb gatherer whose fritillaria had been taken.

• Bolati told Li Long about a young gunman who had confiscated fritillaria, and they suspected Ablikim because he had lost his wages and sheep gambling on ankle bones.
• Bolati reported the incident to Team Leader Aili, who investigated and summoned Ablikim.
• Ablikim confessed to taking fritillaria to get cash, and Aili took his gun to cover the team’s losses before Ablikim’s father took him home.
• Li Long traded cooked offal for fritillaria throughout the day and accumulated more than two hundred kilos.
• Bolati returned with fritillaria from the team and told Li Long that Ablikim had been sent home and would be kept away from the cabin.
• Li Long accepted Bolati’s offer to watch the cabin and planned to compensate the herb gatherer whose fritillaria Ablikim had taken.

Li Long arranged for Ke Youmu to supply cooked offal, traded it for fritillaria in the mountains, and explored ways to transport larger loads. Later, Jia Tianlong arrived early with an urgent order and admitted his attempt to source fritillaria in Ili had failed, leaving him dependent on Li Long’s stock.

• Li Long praised Ke Youmu’s wife’s offal soup and arranged to buy cooked offal while prioritizing good-quality meat deliveries.
• Li Long shared the offal with his family and friends, then traded it at the Wooden Cabin for fritillaria as mountain gatherers exchanged increasingly large harvests for food and cash.
• Li Long asked Li Xiangqian about finding a larger vehicle and heard that a retired worker had discovered a jade boulder weighing more than three tons near the Ma River.
• Li Long decided not to bring his own high-quality jade out of the mountains, and Bolati later reported that Abulikemu was grazing sheep under his father’s watch.
• Around May 20, Li Long collected fritillaria from local teams, and Jia Tianlong arrived early to fulfill an urgent order after failing to buy enough stock in Ili.

Zheng Sanyang failed to secure fritillaria from Abulaiti and went to Li Long’s purchasing station to cause trouble, only to discover its prices were far above what he expected. The chapter ended with Li Long encountering the injured Mo Linsheng again in the mountains.

• Abulaiti refused Zheng Sanyang’s offer and had the forest rangers drive him from the Forestry Team office.
• Zheng Sanyang learned from Abudula that Li Long had bought the team’s fritillaria and then identified Li Long as his rival.
• Zheng Sanyang went to Li Long’s purchasing station and falsely claimed he had arranged a purchase with Li Long.
• Gu Boyuan rejected Zheng Sanyang’s offer of seventy yuan per kilogram, and the traders revealed that the station already paid around that much for fritillaria.
• Li Long encountered the injured Mo Linsheng again in the mountains.

After a wolf attack left him injured, Mo Linsheng sheltered at Li Long’s mountain cabin and killed the same wolf when it came after him again. Li Long returned to find him alive, and planned to give him clothes and put him to work while he recovered.

• Mo Linsheng returned to Li Long’s cabin with multiple wounds from a wolf attack, traded fritillaria for food and medicine, and decided to stay somewhere safer instead of continuing to dig in the mountains.
• Bolati told Li Long and Mo Linsheng that wolves had killed a lone fritillaria digger near Red Mountain Mouth, and Li Long left Mo Linsheng an iron spade before driving away.
• That night, the wolf attacked Mo Linsheng at the shelter, but he struck it with the spade and pursued it until he killed it near the spring.
• Mo Linsheng dragged the dead wolf back to the fire, treated his wounds, and slept until Li Long returned the next morning.
• Li Long praised Mo Linsheng for killing the wolf and offered him clothes, thinking he could have him help out while he recovered.

After Li Long warned Mo Linsheng to recover and leave the mountains, Mo Linsheng ignored his advice and secretly began buying fritillaria with his hidden money. His cautious first day of trading succeeded, and he stayed alert at the Wooden Cabin overnight.

• Li Long treated Mo Linsheng's injuries, butchered the wolf, and warned him not to keep risking himself in the mountains.
• Li Long bought fritillaria from several traders, including two men who had previously robbed Mo Linsheng, then told Mo Linsheng he would be away the next day.
• Li Long rejected Mo Linsheng's offer to buy fritillaria in his absence, advised him to heal and leave, and later departed for the County Seat after Bolati visited.
• Mo Linsheng dug up his hidden money, buried most of it behind the Wooden Cabin, and kept a thousand yuan to buy fritillaria.
• Mo Linsheng bought around fifty kilograms of fritillaria that afternoon, traded some wolf meat, and kept the fire burning high through the night.

Li Long traveled to the Kuytun Farm Machinery Factory, tested and purchased a newly developed drying machine, then returned to the Dried Meat Processing Workshop to begin testing it on meat. He left the machine under a temporary shelter while Sister Yang worked out the drying time.

• Li Long rode west to the Kuytun Farm Machinery Factory, where Factory Director Du showed him the factory-built drying machine.
• Li Long and Factory Director Du dried steamed buns in the machine, and Li Long confirmed that it worked well and learned its safety precautions.
• Factory Director Du arranged for the machine to be loaded onto the truck and gave Li Long over thirty thousand yuan as his share of the snow-clearing machine profits.
• Li Long returned to the County Seat, asked Gu Boyuan to pause purchases, and brought Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng to help unload the machine at the Dried Meat Processing Workshop.
• Li Long explained the operating procedure to Sister Yang, who began testing how long the machine needed to dry meat.
• Li Long built a temporary plastic-covered shelter over the machine to protect it from rain.

Mo Linsheng was robbed and beaten by the two men he had previously defeated, but Bolati arrived and rescued him. After spending the night injured in the Wooden Cabin, Mo Linsheng opened the door the next morning and saw two people approaching from the trees.

• The two men recognized Mo Linsheng at the Wooden Cabin, later noticed his injuries, and returned to beat him and steal his fritillaria and money.
• Bolati arrived on horseback, stopped the attackers at gunpoint, freed Mo Linsheng, and took the men back to the Forestry Team.
• Bolati stored the fritillaria in the Small Room and showed Mo Linsheng how to secure the door before leaving him to recover.
• That night, Mo Linsheng went to the Spring Water, heard wolves howling nearby, and rushed back inside, where his wounds began bleeding again.
• The next morning, Mo Linsheng opened the door for fresh air and saw two people emerge from the trees and approach.

Mo Linsheng waited at the mountain cabin while herb gatherers arrived to sell their fritillaria, and Li Long eventually took him back to the County Seat. The fritillaria season was nearly over, and Li Long returned to the Purchasing Station with a record-sized load.

• Wu Bensheng and Wu Donghai arrived with sacks of fritillaria and bedding, said they were leaving the mountains, and waited for Li Long to buy their herbs.
• Mo Linsheng hosted the Wu uncle and nephew and several other herb gatherers, who shared porridge while waiting at the cabin.
• Li Long arrived, bought fritillaria from the waiting gatherers, and Bolati joined them after checking that Mo Linsheng was safe.
• Mo Linsheng told Li Long about the previous day's attack, and Li Long bought his and Bolati's fritillaria before driving the injured Mo Linsheng to the County Seat.
• Mo Linsheng checked into the county guesthouse, while Li Long took the loaded Jeep to the Purchasing Station, where Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng helped unload roughly five or six hundred kilograms of fritillaria.

Mo Linsheng adjusted to life back in the county town while Li Long finished a highly profitable fritillaria season. Chen Hongjun visited Li Long to collect dividends and learn from his business, leaving with plans to improve his Purchasing Station.

• Mo Linsheng got a haircut, bought clothes and toiletries, washed his workwear, and ate a large meal before meeting Wu Bensheng and Wu Donghai at the guesthouse.
• Mo Linsheng, Wu Bensheng, and Wu Donghai agreed to take the bus to Wu City together the next day.
• Li Long bought fritillaria from both Forestry Teams and the mountain harvest, reaching a total of twelve or thirteen metric tons before the season ended.
• Li Long distributed midyear bonuses, while the Purchasing Station and dried meat workshop continued operating with improved equipment and less seasonal pressure.
• Chen Hongjun visited Li Long, received a twenty-thousand-yuan dividend, and discussed business practices, taxes, product quality, and the risks of buying hides and wild mushrooms.
• After touring Li Long's Purchasing Station, Chen Hongjun took away new ideas and hurried back to put them into practice.

After the Fritillaria season ended, Li Long visited his family’s fields and persuaded them to hire long-term farmhands from their home village rather than expand their land or keep overworking themselves. At Little Haizi, he saw that the embankment remained vulnerable and decided to seek expert advice on making it secure.

• Li Long took Mingming and Haohao to preschool, then visited his mother and sister-in-law at the Fourth Team and watered the vegetable seedlings.
• Li Qingxia told Li Long that water rats had damaged several fishing nets, and he planned to try catching the rats with a cast net.
• Li Long argued that the family should hire farmhands instead of clearing more land, and Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia agreed to find workers from their home village.
• Li Long suggested hiring a worker with a family and offering the east room in his yard as accommodation.
• Li Long went with Li Qingxia to Little Haizi, saw the vulnerable embankment, and decided to consult a water conservancy expert about a lasting repair.

Li Long learned that Little Haizi’s dam could fail in a major flood and arranged to build an additional floodgate at his own expense. After the team leader agreed to the plan, Li Long turned his attention to checking whether the mountain road project had started.

• Li Long helped Li Qingxia catch fish at Little Haizi, then discussed the dam’s flood risk with Li Jianguo.
• Li Long proposed building a floodgate on the North Dam Line, and Li Jianguo explained that the team and township would need to be notified.
• Li Long told Xu Chengjun he would pay for the floodgate, and Xu Chengjun agreed to report the plan to the township and have the team provide labor.
• Li Long slaughtered two sheep at Old Ma's Place and, after wondering whether Meng Hai and the others had begun building the mountain road, decided to check the work the next morning.

Li Long visited Meng Hai’s mountain road crew with food and wages, then followed suspicious tracks and discovered a man secretly panning for gold. He confronted the frightened prospector about the illegality of unauthorized gold panning.

• Li Long gave an herb gatherer cash for fritillaria and shared food with him on his way into the mountains.
• Li Long brought cooked offal and four thousand yuan to Meng Hai, who described the crew’s road-building progress and plans.
• Li Long left the road crew and followed tracks from an abandoned Earth Cellar to a river tributary.
• Li Long watched a man pan several batches of gold dust and recognized the activity.
• Li Long approached the prospector, inspected his gold dust, and asked whether he knew unauthorized gold panning was illegal.