Chapter Summaries

Li Long foiled Lin Xiaohu and He Yiku’s ambush, captured them, and brought them to the Forestry Team police post, where they confessed to robbery. After returning to the cabin, he discovered Boss Deng and another man trying to burn his taibazi, but wolves surrounded them as their screams woke Li Long and Liu Shanmin.

• Li Long recognized the fallen pine as an ambush, shot He Yiku and Lin Xiaohu, and tied them up after they admitted they had planned to rob him.
• Li Long drove the wounded men to the Forestry Team police post, where Mustafa took their confessions and connected them to Hamiti’s earlier robbery.
• Li Long collected two bags of valuables left in the woods, returned to the cabin, and told Liu Shanmin the robbers had been caught.
• Boss Deng and his companion crept toward Li Long’s taibazi with dry grass, intending to set them on fire.
• Three gray wolves surrounded Boss Deng and his companion, and their screams woke Li Long and Liu Shanmin.

Li Long captured Boss Deng and Feng Er after they tried to burn his Taibazi, then handed them over to Bolati and moved his stock to Small White Poplar Gully. He returned to find Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting had left their fritillaria with Liu Shanmin, and prepared to weigh it for them.

• Li Long beat Boss Deng and Feng Er after Feng Er confessed that they had planned to burn Li Long’s Taibazi, then tied them up and kept them in the shed overnight.
• Li Long took Boss Deng and Feng Er to the Forestry Team, where Bolati agreed to hold them until Little Mu returned and said they would face charges for damaging state property.
• Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting left two sacks of fritillaria with Liu Shanmin while they continued digging, and Liu stored the sacks in the shed.
• Li Long weighed the brothers’ fritillaria, rounded the sacks’ weights up, and decided to haul the Taibazi to Small White Poplar Gully.
• Li Long and the others unloaded the Taibazi at Small White Poplar Gully, and Li Long returned to the cabin, where Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting arrived.

Li Long continued trading fritillaria in the mountains, learned that the two men who had ambushed him were executed, and took their abandoned treasure after confirming the danger had passed. He brought dried fritillaria to the County Town, sold forty-two kilograms for 1,890 yuan, and left the rest of the treasure hidden at home.

• Li Long fed Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting, bought their fritillaria, and gave Li Zhengting branded liquor and supplies in exchange for part of his harvest.
• Li Long kept trading fritillaria and inspecting woven Taibazi, while Sun Jiaqiang arranged to trade part of his harvest for liquor and meat.
• Bolati told Li Long that Lin Xiaohu and his accomplice had been executed, while the other two men had received prison sentences; Li Long gave Bolati a bottle of liquor.
• Li Long loaded fritillaria and the roe deer onto his tractor, recovered two bundles hidden near the ambush site, and drove to the County Town.
• Li Long examined the bundles, found a treasure map, silver, gold, jewelry, and other valuables, then hid them beneath a bed.
• Li Long sold forty-two kilograms of dried fritillaria to Chen Hongjun at the Purchasing Station for 1,890 yuan.

Li Long bought supplies, traded goods and cash for fritillaria, and watched Liu Shanmin leave the Wooden Cabin. He visited Small White Poplar Gully, where the taibazi makers welcomed razors, then returned to find and kill a venomous snake beside his cabin.

• Li Long stocked up on provisions and gave Liu Shanmin a carry bag with supplies and money before Liu Shanmin left the Wooden Cabin.
• Li Long bought fritillaria from several diggers, including Wu Zhongzhong, while learning that Forestry Team patrols were confiscating harvests at the gully entrances.
• Li Long cut timber for a tractor rack and collected a record haul of over two hundred kilograms of fritillaria in one day.
• Bolati brought Li Long forty-three kilograms of confiscated fritillaria to sell for cash, then left him two warm nang.
• Li Long gave razors to Li Jianguo and Xie Yundong at Small White Poplar Gully, and inspected the taibazi made by the workers.
• A fritillaria seller startled Li Long outside the Wooden Cabin, where Li Long discovered and killed a venomous snake before resuming his work.

Li Long searched the hot spring for sulfur to keep snakes away and discovered several natural gold nuggets, then returned to Small White Poplar Gully and warned the workers about venomous snakes. After selling Fritillaria in the county seat, he told Chen Hongjun that two men who tried to burn his Taibazi had been imprisoned.

• Li Long searched the hot spring’s source, found natural sulfur, and uncovered three gold nuggets weighing over a kilogram in total.
• Three Fritillaria diggers sold their harvest to Li Long, and one explained that robberies had made diggers wary of one another.
• Li Long brought sulfur to Small White Poplar Gully, warned everyone about snakes, and assigned Xie Yundong to scatter the sulfur around the earth cellar.
• Li Long drove past three men on the road and startled a familiar man by steering the tractor toward him, then continued to the county seat.
• Li Long visited Gu Xiaoxia, sold a batch of dried Fritillaria, and told Chen Hongjun that a wolf had exposed the men who tried to burn his Taibazi.

Li Long bought supplies, cared for the roe deer, and told Gu Xiaoxia he expected to earn six to eight thousand yuan from his work. Back in the mountains, he bought fritillaria and gave snakebite medicine to the workers before agreeing to carry a snakebite victim down the mountain for five kilograms of fritillaria.

• Li Long bought combs, pest treatments, and mothballs, then protected the Snow Leopard Pelt and let the roe deer roam around the courtyard.
• Gu Xiaoxia came home, and Li Long told her he expected to make six to eight thousand yuan; they ate out together and spent the night at home.
• Li Long went into the mountains with supplies, gave snakebite medicine to Xie Yundong and Li Jianguo, and inspected the woven Taibazi.
• Li Long bought fritillaria from two men at the wooden cabin, accepting cash and goods in exchange.
• Three men arrived carrying a snakebite victim, and Li Long gave him medicine and agreed to take him down the mountain for five kilograms of fritillaria.

Li Long rushed Qiu Chunlei to the County Hospital after a venomous snakebite, then returned to find his food and drying Fritillaria stolen. The next day he caught fish, bought more Fritillaria, and purchased a snakebitten sheep from Bolati before heading to Small White Poplar Gully.

• Qiu Bingyi and Qiu Bingzhong asked Li Long to take the snakebitten Qiu Chunlei for treatment, and Li Long drove him to the County Hospital.
• Li Long returned to the Wooden Cabin and found that someone had taken his rice, eggs, and more than ten kilograms of drying Fritillaria.
• Li Long found a hedgehog in the tractor trailer, caught fish in the stream, and bought Fritillaria from Bolati and two other sellers.
• Bolati brought Li Long a sheep that had been bitten by a snake, and Li Long paid him ten yuan for it.
• Li Long carried the sheep to Small White Poplar Gully, where Bolati skinned it and Li Long agreed to share a leg with Li Jianguo.

Li Long traded medicine and supplies with two mysterious men in black who called themselves guilty men, then learned from Li Jianguo that they might be remnants left behind by Sheng Shicai. He kept buying Fritillaria and collecting Taibazi, while the men’s secret mountain gully remained unexplored.

• Bolati butchered the snake-bitten sheep, and Li Long shared some mutton with the Taibazi weavers while taking the rest home.
• Sun Jiaqiang traded fifty kilograms of Fritillaria for money and liquor, then shared the liquor with the workers.
• Li Long bought and processed Fritillaria and mutton at the Wooden Cabin before two old men in black traded four animal pelts for medicine, salt, and matches.
• The old men refused to approach Li Long and said they were guilty men before taking the supplies and disappearing into the mountains.
• Li Jianguo told Li Long that the men might be remnants left by Sheng Shicai and warned him to avoid a nearby gully filled with human bones.

Li Long bought fritillaria, caught the man who had stolen from him, and brought the taibazi project at Small White Poplar Gully to its final inspection. The chapter ended with the first truckload passing the cooperative’s strict quality checks.

• Qiu Bingyi returned with fritillaria to repay Li Long, who gave him twenty yuan for his injured nephew’s expenses.
• Li Long recognized stolen, partly dried fritillaria in a man’s sack, forced him to confess to stealing his fritillaria, rice, and eggs, and handed him over to Bolati.
• Bolati brought Li Long four hedgehogs, and Li Long later cooked one in baked mud and ate it.
• Li Long accepted the last taibazi woven at Small White Poplar Gully, told the workers to prepare to leave, and arranged for Li Xiangqian to bring trucks in five days.
• Li Long gave two hedgehogs to Li Xiangqian, then returned to the gully as the workers completed the final forty-seven taibazi, all of which passed his inspection.
• Li Xiangqian, the inspectors, and the warehouse staff checked the taibazi as they loaded them, and the first truckload passed inspection.

Li Long’s taibazi passed inspection in the mountains, and he received 8,416 yuan for the accepted goods. He returned to the village and began distributing the villagers’ earnings, leaving Lu Yingming with his first large payment in hand.

• Li Long hosted Li Xiangqian, Lao Song, and the workers to a mountain meal while the taibazi were inspected and loaded.
• Lao Song counted 1,052 acceptable taibazi, issued the receipt, and Li Long took it to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to collect 8,416 yuan.
• Li Long put a bundle of money in an envelope for Li Xiangqian, who protested but accepted the gesture.
• Li Long rode back with the workers and promised to pay them at his compound before they went home.
• Li Long counted out 372 yuan for Lu Yingming, who checked the money and signed a receipt.

Li Long returned from the mountains with Li Jianguo and the Taibazi weavers, paid out their earnings, and secretly gave his eldest brother double the usual rate. After spending the night at home with his family, Li Long set out again for the mountains to finish the fritillaria season.

• Li Long paid the workers their Taibazi earnings, then gave Li Jianguo a doubled payment and told him to claim he had earned six yuan per basket.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo ate with the family, and Li Long agreed that Second Sister-in-Law could move into the west room of his house.
• Li Long spent the night at home, where Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang discussed family life and the family’s fishing and field work.
• Li Long estimated that his Taibazi and fritillaria earnings together came to nearly ten thousand yuan and decided to count his money after the season ended.
• Li Long left for the mountains after breakfast and found someone waiting beside the Wooden Cabin.

Li Long bought fritillaria from mountain gatherers and sheltered Wu Zhongzhong after he reported seeing a brown bear. The next morning, Li Long tracked the bear’s pawprints into a valley, where an injured fawn burst from the grass ahead of a huge figure.

• Li Long bought fritillaria from Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting, then paid Wu Zhongzhong for his harvest and let him spend the night at the shelter.
• Wu Zhongzhong told Li Long that a brown bear had chased him near Hot Spring Ravine, and he left for home at dawn.
• Li Long armed himself and headed into the valley to search for the bear.
• Li Long followed huge pawprints and approached tall grass where he heard something moving.
• An injured fawn ran from the grass, followed by a huge figure.

Li Long killed a brown bear while rescuing a fawn from its attack, then salvaged what he could carry and returned to the cabin. After Sun Jiaqiang recovered the rest of the bear meat and shared it with Li Long, they processed their goods and set off for the county seat.

• Li Long watched a wounded red deer buck try to defend a fawn from a brown bear, then shot the bear three times when it charged him.
• Li Long took the bear gallbladder, hide, ribs, a leg, and two paws, while the fawn escaped into the forest and a wild boar fled from him.
• Li Long sold fritillaria to a mountain visitor who offered jade for the bear gallbladder, but Li Long refused the trade.
• Sun Jiaqiang found the rest of the bear meat, brought it back to the cabin, and insisted Li Long accept it as repayment for his friendship and support.
• Li Long paid Sun Jiaqiang for his fritillaria, processed the bear meat, and drove with Sun Jiaqiang toward the county seat.

Li Long returned from hunting with bear paws and prepared one for a meal after buying a pressure cooker. He shared it with Gu Xiaoxia and their neighbors before planning to return to the mountains to finish the fritillaria work.

• Li Long took Sun Jiaqiang to the County Town bus station, then delivered a bear paw to Li Xiangqian at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long drove back to the production team with two bear paws, where his family celebrated the hunt and Li Jianguo explained how to prepare them.
• Li Jianguo told Li Long that six people had bought bicycles after earning money weaving Taibazi, and that the township wanted to recognize Li Long for helping them prosper.
• Liang Yuemei sent Li Long home with vegetables, and he returned to the Big Courtyard to tell Gu Xiaoxia he would go back to the mountains after preparing the bear paw.
• Li Long bought a pressure cooker, cooked the bear paw, and brought some to Sister Yang's courtyard for Gu Xiaoxia and their neighbors to taste.

Li Long bought fritillaria from mountain gatherers, then found the injured red deer he had tracked and shot the wolf attacking it. He salvaged the stag’s hide and meat, returned to the cabin to process them, and a large yellow-and-black animal arrived to feed on the remains.

• Li Long bought more than twenty kilograms of clean fritillaria from a man on the road and later traded meat and money for another gatherer’s smaller batch.
• Li Long set out before dawn to search for the wounded red deer and found it near its dead mate, being stalked by a gray wolf.
• Li Long shot the wolf as it attacked the stag, then killed the dying deer and collected its hide, antlers, and some of its meat.
• Li Long returned to the cabin, salted the deer and wolf skins, and began cooking the venison while two men sold him more fritillaria.
• After Li Long left the deer’s remains, a large yellow-and-black animal drove off the fox and vultures and began eating the stag’s innards.

As the fritillaria season ended, Li Long packed up the Wooden Cabin and left the mountains with his earnings and a large haul of morels. He headed toward home relieved to have finished the work, though he still had no clear plans for what came next.

• Bolati brought Li Long the last two sacks of fritillaria, and Li Long paid him five hundred yuan before selling him cooked venison and liquor.
• Li Long searched the pine woods for morels, found an undisturbed patch, and returned to the Wooden Cabin with half a sack.
• Li Long dried the morels and fritillaria, prepared breakfast, and waited as only one person came to sell fritillaria that day.
• Li Long packed the supplies he planned to take home, left provisions at the cabin, and gathered morels from another woodland patch the following morning.
• Li Long loaded the Tractor and drove out of the mountains with three sacks of fritillaria and more than half a Urea Sack of morels.
• Li Long felt relieved to have finished the season and thought about how little time he and Gu Xiaoxia had spent together while trying for a child.

After finishing his work in the mountains, Li Long rested, ate at the Canteen, and calculated the money he had earned from taibazi and fritillaria. He set aside money for Gu Xiaoxia to manage and prepared dinner before she returned home.

• Li Long returned to the Big Courtyard, slept until late afternoon, then rode his bicycle to the Canteen for noodles.
• Zhong Guoqiang asked Li Long about the bear he had shot and requested bear meat, and Li Long agreed to bring him some air-dried meat.
• Li Long counted his earnings and found he had made 2,776 yuan net from taibazi and more than 10,000 yuan from selling fritillaria.
• Li Long planned to give Gu Xiaoxia five thousand yuan in bankbooks and two thousand yuan in cash, while putting more money in the bank and keeping some for emergencies.
• Li Long prepared cold noodles with meat sauce, tended the roe deer and fawns, and decided to get Uncle Lao Luo a horse-drawn or donkey cart for hauling grass.
• Gu Xiaoxia returned to the courtyard as Li Long finished his preparations.

Li Long returned from the mountains and reunited with Gu Xiaoxia, shared his savings and plans for their family, and spent a happy night with her. The next day, he sold fritillaria and bear parts, then set out to buy two color televisions, but the local store had only one in stock.

• Li Long reassured Gu Xiaoxia that he would stay home and shared dinner with her, then showed her his savings, gold nuggets, and plans to buy televisions for their household and her father.
• Gu Xiaoxia counted out her own savings of 325 yuan and 50 cents, and she and Li Long agreed to put their extra money in the bank.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia spent the night together, and she left for work the next morning while he stayed home with the roe deer.
• Li Long sold fritillaria, a bear gallbladder, and a bear skin to Chen Hongjun for 2,740 yuan.
• Li Long went to the Department Store to buy two eighteen-inch color televisions, but the clerk said only one was available, so he considered going to Stone City.

Li Long visited Old Street, saw Chen Xingbang thriving as a butcher, and bought two eighteen-inch color televisions and a radio in Stone City. After lunch at Chen Xingbang’s courtyard, he learned that his brother-in-law was saving to bring his wife and children to Northern Xinjiang.

• Li Long found Chen Xingbang buying a sheep at Old Street, where customers praised his skill and his meat stall drew a steady crowd.
• Li Long told Chen Xingbang he was taking a break from mountain work, then went to the Stone City Department Store and bought two eighteen-inch color televisions and a radio.
• Li Long drove to Chen Xingbang’s courtyard and gave him the radio as a gift.
• Chen Xingbang cooked sheep offal for Li Long and explained that he hoped to save enough money to bring his wife and children to live with him.
• Chen Xingbang revealed that he also earned money from sheep heads and trotters, beyond the offal he claimed was his only profit.

Li Long brought a television to the county home, set it up for Gu Xiaoxia, and shared a warm evening with her before returning to the production team with another television for her father and his family. His family agreed to move the television into his parents’ room so they and the children could watch it.

• Gu Xiaoxia learned that Li Long had gone to Stone City, while Li Long returned to the county with a television, bought chickens, and cooked morel chicken soup.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia adjusted the antenna, watched television together, and talked about his staying home more often.
• Li Long drove Gu Xiaoxia to the production team and gave Gu Boyuan a color television, which Gu Boyuan accepted despite initially refusing it.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia visited Li Qingxia’s family with meat, morels, and pastries, and Li Long proposed moving their television into his parents’ room.
• Li Jianguo supported Li Long’s plan to move the television so his parents and the children could watch it.