Recaps

Li Long helped his family prepare for land allocation, then used the mountain camp’s abundant manure to fertilize their future fields. As the village distributed its assets, Li Jianguo bought a horse, while Tao Jianshe bought a donkey with money Tao Daqiang had obtained through Li Long.

• Li Jianguo drew plot number one in the first-grade fields, giving the Li family a position beside the Alkali Flat.
• While the village continued allocating land, Li Long hauled manure from Harimu’s mountain camp for five days, and Li Jianguo told him to wait until plowing to spread it.
• The villagers drew lots for the Production Team’s assets and had to pay the assessed prices to claim their items.
• Li Jianguo paid 150 yuan for Red Horse Number 76 after two other villagers gave up their horse claims.
• Tao Jianshe bought a three-year-old donkey for 60 yuan, and Tao Daqiang gratefully looked toward Li Long.

Li Long helped the Li Family increase its field by persuading Wang the Miser to plow an extra strip, then avoided the spring canal-clearing labor. He brought cured meat to Village Director Xu Chengjun’s home, where Xu asked what he wanted.

• Li Long paid for Wang the Miser’s agreement to plow an extra width along the Li Family’s field, gaining about half a mu.
• Li Long and Liang Yuemei gathered licorice roots while Li Jianguo collected reeds turned up by the plow.
• Liang Yuemei gave Wang the Miser three kilograms of cured wild boar meat as promised.
• Li Long decided not to join the canal-clearing work and planned to avoid earning work points for now.
• Li Long brought cured meat to Xu Chengjun’s home, and Xu asked him what he wanted.

Li Long persuaded Xu Chengjun to use his money to fund a channel diverting floodwater away from Little Haizi, then arranged for Lao Luo to stay at the Stable and care for animals he brought back. He left hoping that giving Lao Luo work and company would lead to a better life for him.

• Li Long proposed connecting the dry gully above Little Haizi to the main canal to prevent floods from damaging the lake embankment and blocking the students' route to school.
• Li Long offered Xu Chengjun forty yuan to pay for the work, explaining that he wanted to protect Little Haizi because its fish had earned him money.
• Xu Chengjun agreed to include the channel in the team's work plan.
• Li Long told Lao Luo he could continue living at the Stable and offered to pay him to raise animals brought back from the mountains.
• Li Long told Li Jianshe about the arrangement, and Li Jianshe explained that Lao Luo had served in wartime logistics and had refused to live in a retirement home.

Li Long began fishing at Little Haizi, teaching Tao Daqiang to handle nets and preparing to sell their catch. After impressing his family with a spicy mutton noodle meal, he and Tao Daqiang headed out to set their nets.

• Li Long started sorting his nets and taught Tao Daqiang how to prepare them, while Tao Daqiang practiced throwing a cast net.
• Li Long cooked hand-pulled noodles with dried chili and mutton for Li Jianguo, Liang Yuemei, and Li Qiang, surprising them with his cooking.
• Li Qiang wanted to go with Li Long to Little Haizi, but Li Jianguo scolded him because the water was deep and dangerous.
• Tao Daqiang practiced throwing the cast net in the yard, then he and Li Long packed the nets and went to Little Haizi to set them.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang set four nets in Little Haizi despite the icy water. Li Xiangqian then asked Li Long for an urgently needed mountain goat skull, and Li Long agreed to bring him one; the next morning, Li Long and Tao Daqiang returned to check their nets.

• Li Long and Tao Daqiang waded into Little Haizi and set four Four-Finger Nets along a deep channel.
• Li Long hurried home to warm his chilled feet and resolved to get an inner tube for future fishing trips.
• Mingwa told Li Long that Li Xiangqian had called and needed his help urgently.
• Li Xiangqian asked Li Long for a long-horned mountain goat skull with at least fifteen horn rings, and Li Long said he had one with eighteen or nineteen rings and would bring it to the County Seat.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang went back to Little Haizi at dawn to check their nets.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang hauled in a good catch of live fish, which Li Long prepared to sell at the County Seat. After giving Li Juan a ride to school and money for lunch, he continued toward the morning market, wondering how many other fish sellers would be there.

• Tao Daqiang waded into Little Haizi and hauled in the nets while Li Long watched from the bank.
• Tao Daqiang and Li Long carried the bulging sack of fish back to the Li Family home, where Li Jianguo and the others helped untangle the nets and remove the catch.
• Li Jianguo gave a silver carp to Sister-in-Law Lu, and the family divided the remaining fish between two water-filled urea sacks.
• Li Long told Tao Daqiang to try the cast net at the reservoir, then rode to school with Li Juan and gave her five yuan for food.
• Li Long continued toward the County Seat to sell the fish, wondering whether other sellers would affect the morning market.

Li Long brought live fish to the morning market and sold them as shoppers compared prices and bought from his basins. After a customer who had stirred the fish hoped to take the leftovers for free, Li Long sold the last five crucian carp cheaply to an elderly woman and watched the man leave empty-handed.

• Li Long rode to the morning market with two enamel basins and set up his live fish for sale.
• A woman bought one yuan's worth of small crucian carp, drawing more shoppers to Li Long's stall.
• Li Long told an old man who was stirring the fish to stop interfering unless he intended to buy.
• Li Long sold most of his fish, then lowered his prices as the market began to empty.
• Li Long sold the last five crucian carp for fifty fen to an elderly woman, frustrating the old man who had hoped to take them.

Li Long sold fish, bought eggs and chickens, and delivered an intact Siberian ibex skull to Li Xiangqian, who rewarded him with a truck inner tube and promised to seek him a forest ranger position. With plans to expand his net fishing, Li Long headed to the Department Store.

• Li Long bought twenty-six eggs and four chickens at the morning market, then ate breakfast at the Big Meat Canteen and agreed to bring Zhong Guoqiang two live carp the next day.
• Li Long carried the Siberian ibex skull to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where Li Xiangqian eagerly inspected its intact horns, each with nineteen segments.
• Li Long asked Li Xiangqian for a large inner tube to use as a raft and help getting an unofficial forest ranger position on Southern Mountain.
• Li Xiangqian gave Li Long a sound, used truck inner tube and promised to ask about the ranger position.
• Li Long calculated his earnings and planned to set six to eight fishing nets that afternoon before happily walking toward the Department Store.

Li Long visited Gu Xiaoxia at Township Middle School, gave her a scarf, and bought her food after discouraging Lin Bingwen’s advances. He returned home with plans to bring Gu more provisions and found Tao Daqiang back with wet shoes and hair.

• Li Long rode his bicycle to Township Middle School and found Lin Bingwen trying to court Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long gave Gu Xiaoxia a scarf, spoke cordially with Lin Bingwen, and invited the teachers to eat with him.
• Li Long took Gu Xiaoxia to the General Store, bought her food, and left her six eggs before returning home.
• Li Long brought a rooster, a hen, and eggs home, and Liang Yuemei agreed to keep the chickens.
• Li Long noticed that Tao Daqiang had returned with wet shoes and hair and wondered whether he had fallen into the water.

Li Long prepared a tire-tube boat and wooden paddles, then took Tao Daqiang to Little Haizi to set a gill net. The chapter ended with Tao Daqiang watching in awe as Li Long skillfully paddled backward and fed the net into the water.

• Li Jianguo and Li Long scolded Tao Daqiang for diving into the cold water to free his cast net, and Liang Yuemei made him warm up.
• Liang Yuemei agreed to prepare stewed meat, oil, and cured pork for Li Long to take to Xiaoxia.
• Li Long shaped boards into paddles and fitted an inflated truck tire tube with a bottom board to make a boat.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang carried the boat, net, and paddles to Little Haizi and chose a sheltered spot by the reeds.
• Li Long paddled out and set a gill net by feeding it from his mouth as he moved backward, impressing Tao Daqiang.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang set nets in Little Haizi, caught a variety of fish, and discussed the major flood Li Long knew would come. As they returned to the village, Li Long reflected on his peers’ paths and the comfortable future some of them would eventually enjoy.

• Li Long quickly paddled a tire to set six nets, then taught Tao Daqiang how to practice casting a net.
• Li Long cast a net near a bulldozer-dug pit and caught a silver carp, broad-backed crucian carp, and ditch fish.
• Li Long warned Tao Daqiang that a major flood would destroy Little Haizi’s dam, while laborers worked to excavate earth near the drainage ditch and canal.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang continued fishing, catching more fish despite their later casts spreading poorly.
• Li Long encountered Tian Siping, Qin Hongyan, and other peers, reflecting on their different lives and their future prosperity.
• Li Jianguo and Gu Boyuan told Li Long and Tao Daqiang to go home, and they joined the returning villagers.

Li Long’s family learned that raising eight pigs would earn them specialist status and five mu of feed-growing land, while village electricity was also planned. The next morning, Li Long and Tao Daqiang hauled in nearly sixty kilograms of fish, which Li Long prepared to sell in town while taking a jar of food to Xiaoxia.

• Li Long persuaded Li Jianguo to ask about rewards for specialist pig farmers and proposed having Lao Luo raise their pigs and horses.
• Li Jianguo learned that raising at least eight pigs would bring five mu of land for feed, with possible township rewards, and that the team would get electricity.
• Li Jianguo gave Li Long twenty yuan for piglets, and Li Long planned to buy more pigs and find additional feed.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang retrieved six nets from Little Haizi and caught nearly sixty kilograms of fish, including a large common carp.
• The Li family sorted and packed the fish, and Li Long prepared to take Li Juan to school and deliver a jar of food to Xiaoxia.

Li Long delivered food and fish to Gu Xiaoxia before selling his catch at the morning market, where he spotted piglets he wanted to buy. The chapter ended as he offered the remaining seller sixteen yuan for a male and a female piglet, leaving the man to decide whether to accept.

• Li Long brought Gu Xiaoxia fish, cooked pork and lamb, and cured pork, while she privately hoped they would soon become a couple.
• Gu Xiaoxia told Wang Qihua that Li Long earned well from selling fish and had built up his family's possessions himself.
• Li Long sold four large fish to Manager Zhong for ten yuan, then hurried to the morning market with his remaining catch.
• Li Long took a vacant stall, attracted a crowd with his fish, and stopped a customer from squeezing them.
• Li Long asked the remaining piglet seller about his male and female piglets and offered sixteen yuan for both.

Li Long sold his fish and piglets, then sought coupons to buy a radio at the Department Store. Li Xiangqian gave him coupons and offered him a purchasing-agent position and a basket-weaving contract for his Production Team, leaving Li Long to decide how to divide the earnings.

• Li Long agreed to sell two piglets for eight yuan each and finished selling his fish at the morning market for a little over forty-one yuan.
• Li Long ate at the Big Meat Canteen, then found portable radios at the Department Store but could not buy one without an industrial goods coupon.
• Li Long visited Li Xiangqian, who gave him coupons and said he would make him a part-time purchasing agent while the forest ranger position was delayed.
• Li Xiangqian offered Li Long's Production Team a contract to make three hundred carrying baskets for six yuan each, and Li Long said he would confirm the team's decision.
• Li Xiangqian advised Li Long to quote the team a lower price and keep a cut for himself, and Li Long considered the warning.

Li Long bought a transistor radio and arranged for his village team to fulfill the Supply and Marketing Cooperative’s order for three hundred taibazi. He left Xu Chengjun to organize the workers while he planned to inspect the finished goods and continue his other work in the mountains.

• Li Long bought a radio with his fish money and decided to sell fish for several more days to afford another one for Harimu and his mountain friends.
• Li Long told Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei about the weaving order and said he would take a twenty percent cut for arranging the work and inspecting it.
• Li Long offered the order to Xu Chengjun, who eagerly agreed to organize ten villagers to weave three hundred taibazi within a month.
• Li Long called Li Xiangqian at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and Li Xiangqian confirmed that Li Long would handle inspection and serve as the team’s contact.
• Xu Chengjun promised Li Long full work credit for the team’s communal labor that year, but Li Long said Xu should appoint someone else to lead the workers.

Li Long prepared to join the Sideline Team in the mountains and noticed Little Haizi's water level rising, while helping Li Juan gather materials for weaving. In the mountains, Harimu used Li Long's fever medicine to treat Nasen, whose fever eased.

• Li Long told Tao Daqiang he would join the Sideline Team to weave carrying frames and asked him to prepare for the trip.
• Li Long set six nets at Little Haizi, noticed the water had risen, and practiced casting a net with Tao Daqiang.
• Li Long learned that the village would irrigate its winter wheat, then took Li Juan to gather willow switches and cut poles for weaving.
• Nasen developed a severe fever after falling into the freezing stream, and Harimu gave him the fever tablets Li Long had provided.
• Nasen's fever subsided after half an hour, and his family felt relieved.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang collected over sixty kilograms of fish, and Li Long took most of the catch to sell at Stone City's Old Street. He opened his stall at a busy spot by the bus stop and called out to attract customers.

• Li Long used fertilizer sacks to haul the nets and caught more fish, though two large common carp escaped and tore one net.
• Li Long, Tao Daqiang, and the Li family removed and sorted the fish, then packed the catch into sacks.
• Li Long rode Li Juan to school and dropped off the materials she needed to weave a taibazi.
• Li Long reached Old Street before sunrise, set up his stall, and loudly advertised his fish.
• Several passersby noticed Li Long's fish and crossed the road toward his stall.

Li Long sold his fish, bought another radio, and met Gu Xiaoxia, who gave him a handmade bicycle-seat cover and worried about his coming trip into the mountains. At the primary school, he helped Li Juan and her classmates finish and strengthen their taibazi and brooms before taking her home.

• Li Long sold most of his fish at the market, then dumped the remaining fish into a roadside ditch, where three people rushed to collect them.
• Li Long ate milk tea and naan on Old Street, then bought a radio and batteries at the County Town Department Store.
• Li Long met Gu Xiaoxia at Township Middle School, where she fitted a knitted bicycle-seat cover she had made and urged him to take care of himself during his mountain trip.
• Li Long found Li Juan struggling with her classmates to weave taibazi and reworked their weak frames until they passed the teacher's inspection.
• Li Long reinforced the students' Achnatherum splendens brooms, then asked Li Juan to pack her schoolbag so they could go home.

Li Long arranged supplies for the Sideline Team’s mountain trip, caught and sold a large haul of crucian carp, and bought the last radio in the store. He then headed into the mountains with two radios and his rifle to surprise Harimu and the others.

• Li Long rode Li Juan and Li Qiang home from school, then advised Xie Yundong on supplies and quality standards for the Sideline Team’s trip into the mountains.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang set six fishing nets at Little Haizi, and the next morning they retrieved nets packed with crucian carp.
• Li Long sold the fish in Stone City for more than fifty yuan and bought the department store’s last radio after testing it.
• Li Long collected the radio he had bought earlier, packed both radios, and left for the mountains with his Small-Caliber Rifle to surprise Harimu and the others.

Li Long brought radios to Harimu and Jade Mountain River, and their families were delighted to hear news, music, and programs in their own languages. Harimu and Jade Mountain River planned to build Li Long a wooden house nearby, and Li Long was left unable to refuse their offer.

• Li Long visited Harimu’s Winter Camp and gave his family a battery-powered radio that received the Central People’s Broadcasting Station and a Kazakh-language station.
• Harimu took Li Long to Jade Mountain River’s home, where Li Long tuned a radio to a local Asak-language station.
• Jade Mountain River explained how the radio would help the herders learn about their people’s history, government policies, and music, then invited Li Long to a gathering.
• Jade Mountain River slaughtered a sheep for the gathering while his family listened to the radio.
• Harimu told Li Long that he and the other herders were building him a wooden house, and Li Long struggled to refuse their gift.

Li Long joined Jade Mountain River and Harimu’s neighbors for a lively gathering, then watched them begin building him a house. He sold two pieces of jade to buy supplies and gifts for the workers, but Harimu warned him not to hand them out yet.

• Harimu and Jade Mountain River gathered their people for a bonfire feast, where Li Long shared food, listened to the Radio, and joined the traditional dancing.
• Jade Mountain River brought young and middle-aged men with logs to build Li Long a house, and Li Long chose a site near a gully between the Winter Camps.
• Li Long traveled to Wu City and sold two pieces of jade to Liu Yuzhang and Section Chief Chen for 374 yuan.
• Li Long bought gifts, snacks, and building supplies, then carried them by bicycle to Alimu’s Winter Camp.
• Harimu told Li Long not to distribute the gifts yet, warning that doing so could disrupt the work and cause trouble with the workers’ families.

Li Long delivered tools and supplies to Harimu’s Winter Camp, buying them with money from selling antlers. He returned to the County Town to rest, but heard someone moving outside before midnight.

• Harimu warned Li Long not to give the Kazakh people liquor and listed the supplies the group needed for the Summer Pasture.
• Harimu gave Li Long deer and Roe Deer antlers, which Li Long sold to Chen Hongjun for 181 yuan and 50 cents.
• Li Long bought tools, wire, rope, and other supplies at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but postponed buying grain until the next morning.
• Nasen helped Li Long load the supplies onto a horse, and Li Long carried them to the Winter Camp, where Harimu said the workers would receive them the next day.
• Li Long rode back to the County Town, ate toasted steamed bread, and went to sleep before hearing movement outside before midnight.

Li Long caught a trained fugitive stealing food from his courtyard and learned that the police would watch the property while he was away. He bought grain, four piglets, and feed at the morning market, then returned to the village with the copper coins and animals.

• Li Long caught a hungry intruder trying to steal a pot, fired his Small-Caliber Rifle, and handed the thief over to the police.
• Officer Guo told Li Long the thief was a fugitive who had injured people while stealing, and promised to keep an eye on Li Long's courtyard.
• Li Long decided to take the copper coins back to the village and bought rice, flour, cornmeal, four piglets, and bran and chaff at the morning market.
• Li Long returned to the village, gave Li Qiang several copper coins, and unloaded the piglets before someone came looking for him.

Li Long prepared for the Sideline Team’s Taibazi work in Small White Poplar Gully while handling his family’s piglets and buying grain for his own trip into the mountains. The chapter ends with him setting out by bicycle with more than 150 kilograms of grain loaded on it.

• Xie Yundong told Li Long that the Sideline Team would leave for Small White Poplar Gully the next day, and Li Long agreed to join them later.
• Li Jianguo castrated the four male piglets while Li Long held them, and Li Long explained that he had helped Li Juan’s group reinforce their Taibazi.
• Li Long addressed the team members, warning them to follow Xie Yundong’s instructions and make Taibazi that met the Supply and Marketing Cooperative’s quality standards.
• Li Long bought rice and flour from grain sellers on Stone City Old Street and packed his purchases for the mountain trip.
• Li Long set out early the next morning with more than 150 kilograms of grain secured to his bicycle.

Li Long visited Harimu and Jade Mountain River’s Winter Camp, where the herders were building him a wooden house, and agreed to help them trade local goods for supplies. He then rode to Small White Poplar Gully, where his family and other villagers were preparing earth cellars for a work camp.

• Li Long brought grain to Harimu’s Winter Camp and saw the wooden house the herders were building for him.
• Jade Mountain River explained that the two-room house would soon be finished, and Li Long thanked the men for their work.
• Li Long offered to trade radios, grain, medicine, tools, and other requested goods for the herders’ antlers, hides, and wildlife products.
• The men returned to construction after lunch, and Harimu advised Li Long to arrange furniture and other furnishings for his house.
• Li Long rode to Small White Poplar Gully and found the villagers unloading carts and repairing old earth-cellar pits.