Arc 53Harvests and New Beginnings
Li Long expanded his food, livestock, and trading businesses while helping prove the value of drip irrigation and celebrating Li Juan’s university admission. The stretch ends with Li Long receiving a large shipment of Soviet vehicles and equipment as Li Juan reunites with her classmates before the New Year.
- Li Long’s group hauled and sold fish, then shifted to supplying fish and canned goods after a failed market trip and grew Sister Yang’s mixed lamb offal business.
- Li Long hosted winter slaughter feasts, welcomed Li Andong’s family into the Fourth Team, and helped Sister Yang acquire and install a canning production line.
- Li Long developed a drip-irrigation trial with Professor Yang, expanded factory production and livestock trade, and caught robbers while trading supplies in the mountains.
- Li Long’s experimental cotton plot outgrew the conventional field, and Professor Yang reported a final yield of 384 kilograms per mu as the cooperative completed its harvest and distributed dividends.
- Li Juan earned admission to Renmin University, celebrated with a village feast, and left for Yanjing while Li Long continued managing the cooperative and his businesses.
- Li Long hosted winter slaughter gatherings and employee celebrations, advised Liu Shanmin on trade, and collected profits from the Construction Engineering Company.
- Liu Shanmin sent Li Long a convoy of Soviet trucks, vehicle parts, hides, horns, and oil-refining equipment, and Li Anguo offered to find a buyer.
- Li Juan reunited with former classmates during New Year visits, and Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia hosted them for dinner before they parted.