Recaps

Li Long helped the workers finish their dugouts and test Gu Boyuan’s new stove before exploring the mountains for game and antlers. After finding fresh wild boar tracks, he set more than twenty snares to try to catch piglets and planned to check them before dawn.

• Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Tao Daqiang finished Tao Daqiang’s and Gu Boyuan’s dugouts, while Gu Boyuan built a stove with two cooking openings and boiled water.
• Li Long warned Tao Daqiang not to dig for fritillaria without permits, and Xie Yundong urged the workers to focus on their work instead of wandering into the woods.
• Li Long helped Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang cut a fallen pine, then searched the mountains for antlers but found none.
• Li Long discovered fresh wild boar tracks in a damp gully and decided to try catching piglets alive.
• Li Long bought corn, scattered it as bait, and set more than twenty wire snares around the bushes before returning to the compound for the night.
• Li Long woke before dawn and prepared to return to the snares.

Li Long caught five wild piglets and shot a half-grown boar after Xu Jianjun startled the herd. He brought the meat to the county and shared portions with several people before heading home with the piglets and remaining meat.

• Li Long shot a half-grown boar as the wild boar herd fled, then warned Xu Jianjun for spooking them and refused to give him a piglet.
• Li Long freed five piglets from his snares, dressed the boar with Tao Daqiang’s help, and sent the innards back to the others in White Poplar Gully.
• Xu Jianjun complained that Li Long had refused to share, but Tao Daqiang arrived with the boar innards, prompting the group to help prepare them.
• Li Long carried the boar and piglets to the County Seat, then gave ribs to Officer Guo and portions of meat to Li Xiangqian and Chen Hongjun.
• Li Long returned to his courtyard, secured the remaining meat and piglets, and rode toward the production team.

Li Long brought five wild piglets to Lao Luo at the Stable to raise, then told Li Jianguo about the Winter Camp his herder friends were building and planned furniture for it. He began preparing supplies for a housewarming gathering and, after finding sunflower seeds at the Cultural Palace, spotted a possible coupon dealer.

• Li Long returned home with five wild piglets and wild boar meat, and his family helped unload them.
• After two piglets escaped into the yard, Li Long and Li Jianguo caught them and decided the wild piglets could not share the family's pigpen.
• Li Long took the piglets, feed, and pork belly to Lao Luo at the Stable, where Lao Luo agreed to raise them.
• Li Long told Li Jianguo that his herder friends had built him a two-room Winter Camp, and they discussed making furniture for it.
• Li Long planned a housewarming gathering for the herders and went looking for drinks, snacks, and coupons in the County Seat.
• At the Cultural Palace, Li Long bought the remaining roasted sunflower seeds from a vendor and spotted someone who looked like a coupon dealer.

Li Long bought supplies and trade coupons before returning to the mountains, where Harimu and the young men had nearly finished building his house. The young men offered antlers, pelts, jade, and fawns in exchange for radios, and Li Long assured them their goods were enough.

• Li Long bought grain coupons and other coupons from Cao Xiao Liu, then purchased champagne, wine, candy, batteries, and flashlights in town.
• Li Long bought fifty kilograms of flour, organized his supplies, cleaned his rifle, and set off for the mountains the next morning.
• Harimu led Li Long to his Winter Camp, where Jade Mountain River and the others had built a house and were finishing its wooden sleeping platform.
• Li Long found antlers, hides, and Ma River jade stored in the house and realized transporting everything would take several trips.
• Bielike offered four antlers, Tangboli offered pelts and jade, and Tasken offered two fawns for radios; Li Long agreed that their goods were enough.

Li Long sold the mountain herders’ hides and antlers, then traveled to Wu City with a valuable piece of Ma River Jade to sell. At the Jade Factory, he met Yusufu, another jade seller, and waited to see how their stones would be appraised.

• Li Long arranged to bring the herders’ requested goods in batches and promised to bring medicine, then left with their jade, hides, and antlers.
• Chen Hongjun valued Li Long’s hides and antlers at 332.68 yuan, leaving him short of the money needed for all the supplies.
• Li Long chose the largest, highest-quality piece of Ma River Jade to sell and rode a bus to Wu City.
• At the Jade Factory, Li Long learned Old Liu was away and met Section Chief Chen, who said a seller from southern Xinjiang would join him.
• Yusufu arrived with several pieces of jade, greeted Li Long warmly after hearing him speak Uyghur, and agreed to let his jade be examined first.

Li Long sold his Ma River jade, bought Yusufu’s small jade pieces, and learned that he had been using the Uyghur word for “friend” with his Kazakh companions. After returning to Ma County with radios and supplies for them, he was watched by Gu Ermao, who suspected Li Long of speculation and profiteering and considered reporting him.

• Yusufu sold more than thirty kilograms of fine jade to the Jade Carving Factory for nearly five thousand yuan, and Li Long sold his own large Ma River jade piece for a high price.
• Li Long bought all of Yusufu’s small jade pieces, then realized he had mistakenly called his Kazakh friends “Adasi” instead of “Dosen.”
• Li Long bought eight radios, shoes, flashlights, and other supplies in Wu City and carried them by bus to Ma County.
• Gu Ermao saw Li Long enter the compound with a large sack and secretly watched him, blaming him for Tao Daqiang’s past beating.
• Li Long bought flour and other goods while Gu Ermao watched him make several trips and began considering whether to report him for speculation and profiteering.

Gu Xiaoxia visited the Li family and gave Liang Yuemei shoes for her father and Li Long, making her feelings for him clear. After Li Long loaded goods for delivery to the mountains, the Office for Combating Speculation and Profiteering arrested him, and the chapter ended as an official went to verify his credentials.

• Gu Xiaoxia brought Liang Yuemei two pairs of shoes, one for her father and one for Li Long, and Liang Yuemei welcomed her to lunch.
• Li Long loaded flour, radios, batteries, and other supplies onto his bicycle to deliver to the mountains.
• Two men from the Office for Combating Speculation and Profiteering detained Li Long and accused him of speculation and profiteering.
• Li Long argued with the young official who tried to seize his radios, while Gu Ermao was brought in to accuse him.
• Li Long showed his Supply and Marketing Cooperative credentials and explained his assignment, so the middle-aged official went to call and confirm his identity.

After the Anti-Speculation Office confirmed Li Long’s purchasing assignment, Li Xiangqian helped him get Gu Ermao fired from the transport company. Gu Ermao returned to the team in disgrace, and Li Jianguo headed to the Gu Family’s home with a stick after learning what had happened.

• The Anti-Speculation Office confirmed Li Long’s identity, and Deng and Gu Ermao apologized for the misunderstanding.
• Li Xiangqian called the transport company and persuaded its management to dismiss Gu Ermao for reporting Li Long.
• Gu Ermao’s master told him he had been fired, and company management refused to hear his pleas.
• Gu Ermao returned to the team, where Ma Hongmei spread the news that he had been dismissed after reporting Li Long.
• After hearing the news from the Lu Family’s Eldest Sister-in-Law, Li Jianguo grabbed a stick and went to the Gu Family’s home.

Li Jianguo beat the Gu family after Gu Ermao reported Li Long, then learned that Ermao had fled to the Corps. Li Long, unaware of the village conflict, reached Harimu’s Winter Camp and found it completed.

• Gu Ermao returned to the team after his uncle disowned him and his family ordered him back.
• Li Jianguo confronted the Gu family and beat Gu Ermao, Gu Laoda, and Liu Tiemei after Ermao refused to apologize and blamed Li Long.
• Xu Chengjun defended Li Jianguo’s anger, warned Liu Tiemei to take her complaint to the authorities, and left the matter to rest.
• Li Jianguo arranged to escort Li Juan and Li Qiang to school, while the team discussed the fight and Gu Ermao’s failed report.
• The next day, Li Jianguo heard that Gu Ermao had fled to relatives near Stone City, then focused on planting sugar beets on his newly allotted land.
• Li Long rode into the mountains with the Radio, met Harimu, and went to the completed Winter Camp.

Li Long inspected the completed winter camp and thanked the young men by giving them shoes, radios, and flashlights. After Harimu explained that they valued friendship more than the price of their traded goods, Li Long joined them in preparing a feast, which began as some rode off to bring their families back.

• Li Long praised the winter camp built by the young men and said he was satisfied with the house.
• Li Long gave the young men Liberation Shoes and flashlights, and returned radios to those who had traded for them.
• Harimu told Li Long that the young men valued the useful goods and their friendship rather than knowing what their stones and antlers had sold for.
• The young men prepared sheep, meat, and a naan oven while Li Long gathered wild mushrooms, onions, and garlic.
• Li Long and the young men began grilling meat, and some riders left to bring girls and children back to the gathering.

Li Long hosted a feast at the Winter Camp, then woke at night to find wolves scavenging outside and shot one. The next morning, he skinned the wolf and prepared to share its meat with Tao Daqiang and the others.

• Li Long served mushroom soup, grilled meat, mutton, and Little Champagne to the herders, who ate, sang, danced, and rode home before sunset.
• Li Long asked Harimu to take the fawn back and told the others to divide the leftover meat before he settled into his Winter Camp for the night.
• Li Long woke to a pack of wolves outside, shot one with his Small-Caliber Rifle, and dragged its carcass to the Winter Camp.
• Li Long skinned the wolf the next morning, buried its innards, and planned to salt some meat and take the rest to Tao Daqiang and the others.

Li Long inspected the Taibazi woven by the sideline team, then followed Tao Daqiang into a secluded gully after Tao Daqiang reported seeing a roe deer with velvet antlers. Li Long shot the buck, shared its valuable antlers with Tao Daqiang, and cleared Tao Daqiang’s debt.

• Li Long checked the Taibazi and found them generally well made, though he told Xu Jianjun to trim a rough spot on a carrying pole.
• Tao Daqiang told Li Long about a roe deer with possible velvet antlers in a nearby gully, and Li Long went to investigate with him.
• Li Long spotted a buck and a doe, crept closer, and shot the buck while the doe escaped.
• Li Long cut off the buck’s velvet antlers and gave one to Tao Daqiang, saying the antler’s value cleared Tao Daqiang’s debt.
• Tao Daqiang carried the buck back with Li Long, who planned to skin it and take some meat to Tao Daqiang’s father.

Li Long brought home a roe deer and shared meat with Tao Daqiang's family, the Liang family, and Gu Xiaoxia while preserving the valuable antlers. After visiting Gu Xiaoxia at school, he arranged to take her to see her father and the mountain camp next Sunday, then returned home to process the meat, exhausted.

• Li Long preserved the roe deer's velvet antlers with salt and mud, gave Tao Daqiang the offal and promised his family a leg, and left the Sideline Team with mushrooms from Gu Boyuan for Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long delivered wolf and roe deer legs to Liang Wenyu and Liang Donglou, then rode to Hongqi Township Middle School to visit Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long gave Gu Xiaoxia roe deer meat and Gu Boyuan's mushrooms, washed up in her room, and agreed to take her to see her father and the mountain camp next Sunday.
• Li Long returned to the village, found Tao Jianshe away, and spent the rest of the day salting and preparing the roe deer and wolf meat until he was worn out.

After returning from the mountains exhausted, Li Long shared meat with neighbors and checked on families whose relatives were working there. Back home, he learned Gu Ermao had fled after Li Jianguo beat his family, received shoes made by Gu Xiaoxia, and proposed inviting his parents to stay with them.

• Liang Yuemei fed Li Long, who told her he had brought meat to Wenyu’s family and planned to share more with Uncle Lao Luo and the Tao family.
• Li Long gave meat to Uncle Lao Luo, discussed raising two deer at the Stable, and brought a roe deer leg to Tao Jianshe, who refused to count Daqiang’s antler toward the family debt.
• Li Long visited the families of the workers in the mountains and then agreed with Xu Chengjun to let the matter with Gu Ermao rest after learning Gu Ermao had fled.
• Li Long returned home, greeted Li Jianguo and the children, and learned Gu Xiaoxia had left him a pair of shoes she had made.
• Li Jianguo confirmed he had beaten Gu Ermao’s family, and Li Long suggested bringing their parents to stay with them; Li Jianguo agreed to send them a telegram after fieldwork.

Li Long searched Stone City for scythes to take to the herders and found fifteen at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, then returned to his courtyard and planted vegetables. After Officer Guo updated him on the thief’s case, Li Long discovered old currency hidden in a crack in the courtyard wall.

• Li Long failed to find scythes in Ma County, so he rode to Stone City and bought the last fifteen from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long browsed Old Street, bought vegetable seeds, and noticed people searching along the flooded Ma River for jade.
• Li Long planted tomatoes and peppers in his courtyard, where Officer Guo told him that the thief had committed multiple thefts and assaults and had been taken away under escort.
• Li Long found a stack of Legal Tender and Gold Yuan Certificates, along with a Yuan Shikai Dollar, hidden in the courtyard wall.

Li Long checked the rising flood at Little Haizi, helped ensure students could cross safely, and then traveled into the mountains with supplies for the herders and his Winter Camp. After unloading goods and meeting Harimu, he rested before preparing to load manure and take two fawns home.

• Li Long found floodwater flowing through Dry Ditch into Dry Canal and saw that the canal banks and Little Haizi sluice gate were holding.
• Li Long and villagers helped students cross the flooded ditch, and the next morning he drove students to school before buying supplies in County Town.
• Li Long delivered fifteen scythes, grain, and medicines to Harimu and learned that the herders planned to move to their Summer Pasture soon.
• Li Long unloaded supplies at his Winter Camp, loaded jade and hides onto the cart, and returned to Harimu’s camp for tea and nang.
• Li Long agreed to load manure with Harimu and planned to take two fawns home.

Li Long brought Gu Xiaoxia to visit her father, Gu Boyuan, in the mountains, then took her to see the Northern Heavenly Mountain. The chapter ended as they set off to explore together.

• Li Long cooked crucian carp with pepper mugwort, planted pepper mugwort in the garden, and confirmed that Gu Xiaoxia wanted to visit her father on Sunday.
• Li Long told Gu Boyuan that he would bring Gu Xiaoxia to see him, and Gu Boyuan agreed to the one-day visit.
• Li Long picked Gu Xiaoxia up at school, took her to breakfast, and bought twenty-five meat buns to bring to the mountain workers.
• Gu Xiaoxia reunited emotionally with Gu Boyuan, while Li Long handed out the buns and discussed possible broom-making work with Tao Daqiang.
• After lunch, Gu Boyuan encouraged Gu Xiaoxia to explore the mountains with Li Long before returning, and Li Long offered to show her the Northern Heavenly Mountain.

Li Long took Gu Xiaoxia into the mountains, where she found a mushroom ring and a piece of jade, and they cooked a meal together at his winter camp. The chapter left off when Li Long spotted a fox near their food and ran to fetch his gun.

• Li Long brought Gu Xiaoxia to his winter camp and led her up the slope to look for mushrooms and wildlife.
• Gu Xiaoxia picked grass mushrooms, watched a marmot, and admired the wildflowers before finding a large mushroom ring.
• While washing their mushrooms at a stream, Gu Xiaoxia found a piece of Ma River Jade and gave it to Li Long.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia cooked rice and several mushroom and meat dishes at the cabin.
• Li Long spotted a fox drawn by the food and rushed to the cabin to get his gun.

Li Long spent time with Gu Xiaoxia, warned local children against raiding bird nests, and continued his mountain work and hunting. The chapter ended when Xu Jianjun was arrested for digging Fritillaria in the Forestry Team’s jurisdiction, and Li Long set out with Xie Yundong to retrieve him.

• Li Long spared a fox at Gu Xiaoxia’s request, and they shared a meal in the mountains before he escorted her back to the county town.
• Li Long crossed a newly laid concrete slab, stopped Li Qiang and the other children from raiding sparrow nests, and rewarded them with candy.
• Li Long reassured Uncle Lao Luo about the delicate young deer and later agreed to help Wei Zhonghua look for wild boars, but they found only old signs of the herd.
• Li Long inspected the team’s taibazi work and ordered three poorly woven baskets redone while the workers increased their pace.
• Xie Yundong told Li Long that the Forestry Team had arrested Xu Jianjun for digging Fritillaria in its jurisdiction.
• Li Long told the workers to continue weaving and took Xie Yundong to East Big Gully to retrieve Xu Jianjun, warning that Xu would be punished for breaking the rules.

Li Long negotiated Xu Jianjun’s release from the Forestry Team after Xu was caught digging fritillaria, then confronted him for breaking the rules. He let Xu stay with the group after Xie Yundong vouched for him, warned the workers to remain in their assigned area, and saw the Forestry Team return before work ended.

• Li Long used his Supply and Marketing Cooperative credentials to negotiate Xu Jianjun’s release, paying the herders twelve yuan for the fritillaria and damage.
• On the way back, Li Long reminded Xu Jianjun of the rules, then told the group Xu would be dismissed and charged for the payment.
• Xie Yundong asked Li Long to give Xu another chance, and Li Long agreed after Xu promised to obey the rules.
• Li Long warned the workers that the Forestry Team patrolled the area and that he would not rescue anyone caught wandering off again.
• The Forestry Team’s men appeared at Small White Poplar Gully just before work ended.

Li Long bought fresh fritillaria from two Forestry Team men, sold roe deer velvet antlers for 166.75 yuan, and returned to the mountains to dig a wild-boar pitfall. The next afternoon, the Forestry Team men arrived with another load of fritillaria, leaving Li Long ready to inspect it.

• Li Long bought a sack of fresh fritillaria from the interpreter and the Group Leader for thirty yuan, and told them he would keep buying more.
• Li Long sold two well-preserved roe deer velvet antlers to Chen Hongjun for 166.75 yuan and bought Small-Bore ammunition before returning to the mountains.
• Li Long dug and camouflaged a pitfall where Wei Zhonghua had seen wild boars, then scattered corn over it as bait.
• Li Long found the pitfall untouched the next morning and covered exposed spots with more grass, leaves, and earth.
• Li Long learned that the Forestry Team men had returned the previous night with more fritillaria, and they arrived again that afternoon with sacks still full of bulbs.

Li Long exposed an interpreter who had mixed stones into confiscated Fritillaria, then kept the deal with the interpreter’s team leader. He later killed a half-grown wild boar trapped in a pit and shared meat and a live piglet with Wei Zhonghua and the Sideline Team.

• Li Long suspected stones had been mixed into the Fritillaria and confronted the interpreter, who tried to leave with the sack.
• Xie Yundong interpreted for Li Long, and the team leader found stones in the sack and punished the dishonest interpreter.
• Li Long paid the team leader for the remaining Fritillaria and decided not to take the Sideline Team into another Forestry Team’s territory to dig.
• Li Long found a half-grown boar and three piglets trapped in a pit, shot the boar, and carried them back on his bicycle.
• Wei Zhonghua chose a healthy piglet to raise, while Li Long kept the injured one and shared the dead piglet and a boar leg with the team.

Li Long delivered wild boar meat and piglets to Gu Xiaoxia, Lao Luo, and the Wei family, then bought batteries for Harimu before the group left for the summer pasture. After returning to his mountain cabin with jade and hides, he was woken by a stranger claiming to be lost and seeking shelter, and reached for his gun.

• Li Long brought Gu Xiaoxia wild boar ribs and reassured her that her father was doing well.
• Li Long gave the Wei family a piglet and meat, and left an injured piglet with Lao Luo to care for.
• Li Long stopped Li Qiang and the other children from chanting a bawdy rhyme about saxaul blossoms.
• Li Long bought batteries, clarified that he was still a farmer to Xiao Liu, and delivered the batteries to Harimu as the group prepared to leave.
• Li Long returned to his cabin with jade and animal hides, went to sleep, then grabbed his gun when a stranger said he was alone and needed a place to stay.

Li Long shot and captured two men who tried to break into his Winter Camp, then escorted them to the Police Station, where officers discovered they were murderers. After resting, he rode back into the mountains and found Harimu’s Winter Camp abandoned.

• Li Long refused to open his door to two men, then shot and wounded them when they attacked it with an axe.
• Li Long tied the men up, treated their wounds, and escorted them out of the mountains to the Police Station.
• Officers discovered bloodied clothes in the men’s bundle and learned that they had killed a fellow herb gatherer and planned to rob Li Long.
• After questioning, the officers cleared Li Long for acting in self-defense and returned his gun.
• Guo Tiebing checked on Li Long and advised him to avoid pointing his gun at people except when necessary.
• Li Long rode into the mountains and found Harimu’s Winter Camp, sheep pen, and cattle pen empty.

Li Long returned the two suspects’ belongings to the police, then resumed supervising Taibazi production and bought fritillaria from the Group Leader. After selling hides in town, he visited Gu Xiaoxia and began thinking about installing a hand-pump well at home, leaving her to misunderstand his remark about the future.

• Li Long brought the antlers, fritillaria, and axe left at his Winter Camp to Guo Tiebing at the Police Station.
• Xie Yundong told Li Long that the Group Leader had left another sack of fritillaria, and Li Long rejected five Taibazi that failed to meet his standards.
• Li Long warned the workers about the two captured murderers, and Xie Yundong suggested making simple doors for the Earth Cellars as a precaution.
• Li Long paid the Group Leader fifty yuan for the fritillaria, and the Group Leader said his group would soon move elsewhere.
• Li Long sold hides in town, gave wild vegetables and mushrooms to Gu Xiaoxia, and decided to install a hand-pump well at home.
• When Gu Xiaoxia asked what he was thinking about, Li Long said he was thinking about life in the future, and she blushed and misunderstood him.