Chapter Summaries

Li Long earned money cutting wheat with his tractor and harvester as villagers booked his services, while his family hauled in their own crop. The next morning, Tie Laobang tried to get his wheat cut without paying, leaving Li Long facing his first customer who claimed he had no money.

• Xu Chengjun hired Li Long to cut his thirty-five mu of wheat, paid him seventy yuan, and Ma Chenyang considered hiring the harvester for his own family’s fields.
• Li Long stacked and hauled a load of his family’s sheaves to the Threshing Ground, where Tao Daqiang paid him forty yuan for cutting wheat.
• Li Long cut wheat for Lu Yingming, Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong, and his father-in-law Gu Boyuan, while eight households booked more work for the following day.
• Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei urged Li Long to prioritize paid harvesting, and he decided that hauling a load would cost fifteen yuan.
• Li Long followed his notebook to Tie Laobang’s field, cut the wheat, and heard Tie Laobang say he had no money.

Li Long held Tie Laobang to the agreed harvesting fee, then continued taking jobs as demand for his harvester grew. Township publicity officer Jiang Zhiyu interviewed him about his machinery and farming plans, and Li Long offered to accompany her on her ride home after dark.

• Li Long refused Tie Laobang's request to delay payment and demanded either cash or wheat for harvesting his field.
• Tao Daqiang booked Li Long to harvest fifty mu of wheat for Yang Pingping's family, and Li Long scheduled the job for the next afternoon.
• Li Jianguo defended the team's use of Li Long's harvester after some older villagers criticized families for paying to avoid cutting wheat by hand.
• Jiang Zhiyu interviewed Li Long as he harvested the Yang family's fields, learning that he designed the harvester and a precision seeder and that his family had planted seed watermelons.
• Li Long accepted payment from Yang Xinping and, after finishing the harvest, offered to accompany Jiang Zhiyu along the road as she cycled home after dark.

Li Long continued harvesting wheat while Jiang Zhiyu followed him to gather material for a story. Wei Tianxing tried to buy Li Long’s harvester, but Li Long refused and later found him waiting outside the Li family courtyard.

• Li Long returned home after giving Jiang Zhiyu a ride, then planned to expand his harvesting business and eventually buy more machinery.
• Jiang Zhiyu followed Li Long to a wheat field, photographed him harvesting, and interviewed Liang Eldest Son about the harvester.
• Wei Tianxing asked Li Long where he had bought the harvester and offered 350 yuan to buy it, but Li Long refused and drove away.
• Li Long harvested two more fields, accepting cash for one job and wheat as payment for another, as more households booked his services.
• Wei Tianxing drove to the Settlement to seek help from Li Jianguo, and Li Long found him waiting outside the Li family courtyard when he returned for lunch.

Wei Tianxing tried to pressure Li Jianguo into selling Li Long’s unique harvester, but Li Long refused and sent him away. Li Long resumed harvesting at Niu Baoguo’s field, where the machine injured a wild duck that Niu Baoguo caught.

• Wei Tianxing warned Li Jianguo that Li Long’s success had drawn attention and offered 350 yuan for the harvester, but Li Jianguo refused and told him to leave.
• Li Long started Wei Tianxing’s tractor for him, then watched him drive away without being invited to lunch.
• Li Long returned home, soothed Du Chunfang, and joined his family for lunch before heading back out to harvest.
• Niu Baoguo set out his terms for harvesting, including that anything found in his field belonged to his family, and Li Long agreed.
• While Li Long harvested Niu Baoguo’s field, the machine sheared a wild duck’s wing, and Niu Baoguo caught the bird.

Jiang Zhiyu worked on a news report while comparing Li Long favorably with the young men courting her. Li Long harvested wheat for Ye Jiaping and other First Team families, and Wei Tianxing grew envious of his earnings and decided to buy a harvester.

• Jiang Zhiyu declined an ice pop from a suitor and returned to writing, hoping to earn a transfer to the County Seat like Ye Laya.
• Li Long harvested Ye Jiaping's sixty mu of wheat in a morning and learned that farmers would buy legitimate seed and fertilizer from a private shop if it offered lower prices.
• Wei Tianxing criticized Li Long's work to Ye Jiaping, but Ye Jiaping saw that Li Long was harvesting efficiently.
• After Li Long finished Ye Jiaping's fields and collected 120 yuan, two other households hired him to harvest their wheat that afternoon.
• Wei Tianxing watched Li Long earn money with the harvester and decided to buy a ticket to Kuytun the next day to purchase one himself.

Li Long harvested wheat for households in the First and Fifth Teams, while his harvester’s reputation spread and Wei Tianxing failed to buy a machine in Kuytun. After Li Long refused to move Wei up in the queue, Wei reluctantly booked a place, and a farmer from another brigade hired Li Long to harvest a hundred mu.

• Li Long told his family he would stay at the county-town courtyard while harvesting near the First and Fifth Teams, and Liang Yuemei urged him to spend more time with Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long harvested fields and learned that Wei Tianxing had promised to return from Kuytun with a harvester, but Li Long kept quiet because he knew the factory had none available.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia discussed buying a courtyard with a storefront for her father, then spent the evening together at home.
• Farmers booked 120 mu of wheat with Li Long, while Wei Tianxing returned from Kuytun empty-handed after failing to buy a harvester and nearly running out of fuel.
• Wei Tianxing asked Li Long to harvest his wheat early, but Li Long made him wait his turn and told him to prepare the field and money.
• Li Long accepted a job harvesting a hundred mu for a household in a northern brigade after his harvester’s reputation spread beyond the First and Fifth Teams.

Li Long finished the wheat harvest, opened an agricultural supplies shop with Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia, and rested before taking his harvester into the mountains to help Harimu cut hay. He began working through the herders’ hayfields and planned to stay at his wooden cabin for several days.

• Li Long bought a courtyard in the County Seat, arranged furniture and shop fittings, and helped Gu Xiaoxia obtain a business license.
• Gu Boyuan bought seeds, pesticides, and fertilizer from Wu City, and the agricultural supplies shop quietly opened for business.
• Li Long tallied 2,945 mu harvested over twenty-seven days, earning 5,250 yuan in cash, and planned to order another harvester the following year.
• After resting, Li Long brought watermelons to the herders and told Gu Xiaoxia he would use his harvester to cut hay for Harimu and Jade Mountain River.
• Li Long reached Harimu's hayfield, and Harimu scouted for obstacles while Li Long cut the grass far faster than manual labor.
• Li Long and Harimu continued cutting hay across the mountain slopes, then Li Long returned to his wooden cabin for the night.

Li Long hunted a gray wolf and its cub, then brought the wolf carcasses to Harimu’s Winter Camp to share with the herders. He arrived with his Harvester, and the group organized to clear obstacles and begin mechanized hay cutting, leaving Li Long mowing while the others prepared more grassland.

• Li Long found a gray wolf and its cub in a cave, shot them, and discovered two roe deer the wolves had killed.
• Li Long carried the animals to Harimu’s Winter Camp, then returned home to dress the roe deer before driving the Tractor back.
• Li Long, Harimu, Jade Mountain River, and the other herders cooked the wolf meat and arranged for two groups to clear hayfields and gather dried grass.
• The herders cleared stones and stumps from a hillside while Li Long operated the Harvester, impressing them with how quickly it cut the grass.
• Harimu and Jade Mountain River sent most of the group to prepare other hillsides, while Li Long continued mowing with two men helping nearby.

Li Long continued cutting grass for Harimu and the other herders, who began hunting and searching for jade to repay his help. As the work carried on, they brought him game and stones, and the chapter ended with the group gathering at Harimu’s Winter Camp for a meal.

• Li Long processed roe deer meat at his cabin, preserving some in fat and boiling the bones.
• Jade Mountain River proposed that the herders hunt and search for stones to thank Li Long for cutting their grass.
• Li Long gathered mushrooms, steamed buns, and caught fish in a stream net for his meals.
• Jade Mountain River gave Li Long a roe deer hide, while Harimu and the other herders added jade and game they had found to Li Long’s trailer.
• Li Long cut grass on a steep hillside, caught a wounded pheasant flushed by the harvester, and brought it to Harimu.
• The herders returned from cutting their assigned pastures, admired Li Long’s tractor, and gathered to eat the cooked meat.

Talihaal climbed a steep mountain and found a herd of wild mountain goats, whose panicked stampede left him with seventeen animals to bring back. The herders celebrated his unprecedented haul and began processing the goats while Li Long arranged to continue the grass-cutting work.

• Talihaal searched for a way up the mountain, climbed by gripping thornless shrubs, and found a herd of more than twenty wild mountain goats near the summit.
• Talihaal’s gunshot sent the goats stampeding down the steep slope, killing or injuring many; he collected seventeen and asked Harimu and the other herders for help.
• Harimu told Li Long that Talihaal had brought in more than a dozen goats, and the herders returned with the animals loaded on their horses.
• Li Long arranged to fetch his large pots while the herders began skinning the goats and preparing the meat.
• Jade Mountain River praised Talihaal as the tribe’s best hunter and said he would become a legend, while Li Long returned with pots, salt, and Lo Mei Seasoning to help process the meat.

Li Long returned from mowing the herders’ pastures with large stores of meat and hides, then went to the county town to refuel and deliver animal products. There, county publicity officers interviewed him about his work and decided to seek permission to follow him into the mountains, while a new order for big brooms gave him more work to organize.

• Li Long mowed two slopes with Talihaal and another young man, then brought meat, offal, and hides back from the Winter Camp.
• Li Long fired two shots when wolves howled near the Winter Camp during the night.
• Harimu and Jade Mountain River rode to the Pastoral Team station, where Adili heard about Li Long using a tractor mower and considered whether the method could be expanded.
• Li Long delivered animal products to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where Li Xiangqian told him the county had ordered five thousand big brooms.
• Ma Xiaoyan and Ye Laya interviewed Li Long and learned he was mowing the herders’ pastures for free; Ma Xiaoyan decided to ask her superiors for a vehicle to visit the mountains.
• Li Long refueled his tractor, bought supplies, and called Xu Chengjun to have the team prepare achnatherum splendens for the broom order.

Ma Xiaoyan received authorization to interview Li Long and the herders about his grass-cutting work, and she traveled to the mountains with Ye Laya and Driver Liu. The interviews and the herders’ accounts of Li Long’s help left Ma Xiaoyan convinced his work deserved wide publicity, while Li Long worried about being turned into a model figure.

• Ma Xiaoyan’s deputy secured approval for her to take a county car into the mountains and interview Li Long and the herders.
• Ma Xiaoyan and Ye Laya met Li Long at Mountain Pass, then followed his tractor to Harimu’s Winter Camp.
• Ma Xiaoyan interviewed Talihaal, Baishanbai, and the returning herders, who described Li Long’s help and their gratitude, while Li Long tried to clarify that many supplies had been traded.
• Ma Xiaoyan decided to stay overnight so she could continue gathering material and photograph Li Long cutting grass the next day.
• Harimu explained that Li Long’s harvester had freed the herders to hunt and eat meat, strengthening Ma Xiaoyan’s conviction that Li Long had improved their lives.

Ma Xiaoyan finished interviewing Li Long and the herders, then returned to the county seat with enough material for an article. Li Long continued cutting hay and worked with the herders, who gathered poles for his broom-making work, before he hauled the first load down from the mountains.

• Ma Xiaoyan and Ye Laya planned their interviews at Li Long's cabin, and Li Long fired shots to drive off wolves that howled outside during the night.
• Li Long prepared breakfast, gave Ma Xiaoyan, Ye Laya, and Liu Jun bags of dried meat, then took them to the pasture for interviews and photographs.
• Ma Xiaoyan returned to the county seat after lunch, while Li Long told Talihaal he could save money from selling deer products and eventually buy a used vehicle.
• Harimu and the herders helped Li Long by cutting more than three thousand poles for broom handles, then shifted to bundling dried grass as Li Long finished cutting the slopes.
• Li Long hauled a load of poles down from the mountain, while Ma Xiaoyan wrote an article about him and submitted it to the Autonomous Region Daily.

Li Long sold pelts at the Purchasing Station, returned to the county seat, and arranged work and family matters before launching the big-broom season. When villagers coordinated to withhold brooms to force him to raise his price, he recognized that some people were trying to obstruct his business.

• Li Long sold twenty-odd pelts to Chen Hongjun for 753 yuan, while Qiao Baohua asked him to save any future deer penises for purchase.
• Li Long suggested that Gu Boyuan stock soybean and Chinese cabbage seeds, then discussed his broom-making plans with Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long returned to the team and found that Li Jianguo's household had already gathered a large pile of achnatherum splendens for broom-making.
• Li Long agreed to pay villagers three yuan per broom, or two yuan fifty if they used his poles, and began checking the work every two days.
• Tao Daqiang told Li Long that some villagers were holding back their brooms together to pressure him into raising the price, and Li Long chuckled dryly.

Zhang Qiang tried to undercut Li Long by buying up villagers’ big brooms, hoping to force Li Long to pay more as his delivery deadline approached. When Zhang Qiang finally offered nearly two thousand brooms at a higher price, Li Long refused to buy any of them.

• Zhang Qiang returned from Wu City after Carpenter Zhang caught him stealing from the workers’ food budget, then told villagers that Li Long was profiting from the big-broom contract.
• Zhang Qiang persuaded several villagers to sell him their brooms for cash, and his wife warned him not to provoke Li Long, but he refused to stop.
• Li Long returned to find only a few dozen brooms delivered and announced that villagers should sell to him, warning that some people should be sensible.
• Xu Chengjun tried to reason with Zhang Qiang, who insisted he was free to compete and continued buying brooms; Li Long carried the small batch he had collected to the county seat.
• Zhang Qiang borrowed money and accumulated nearly two thousand brooms, then offered them to Li Long for fifty fen more per broom.
• Li Long rejected Zhang Qiang’s offer and told him to keep the brooms.

Li Long countered Zhang Qiang’s attempt to force him into buying the Fourth Team’s brooms by arranging a new supply of big brooms from Qingshui River Village. After securing the village’s cooperation and returning to the Big Courtyard, he learned that a newspaper had praised him for cutting hay for ethnic-minority brothers.

• Zhang Qiang rejected Li Long’s refusal to give in, while Hu Lao'er and Hu Lao'san revealed they had encouraged Zhang Qiang and hoped his dispute with Li Long would cause trouble for him.
• Li Long went to Qingshui River Village and arranged for the team leader to organize a thousand big brooms at two yuan fifty each, with a separate inspection fee and a five-day deadline.
• Villagers began making brooms, and Li Long inspected and paid for the first batch before driving into the mountains to collect more poles.
• The team leader inspected later deliveries strictly and made the villagers repair brooms that failed to meet Li Long’s requirements.
• Li Long returned to the Big Courtyard with a load of poles, and Gu Xiaoxia showed him a newspaper article praising him for cutting hay for ethnic-minority brothers.

Li Long continued collecting Big Brooms for delivery, setting firm deadlines and prices for Zhang Qiang’s stock while increasing production in Qingshui River Township. Zhang Qiang refused the terms and raised his asking price, while Li Long’s supply from elsewhere grew enough to leave him confident he would meet the deadline.

• Gu Xiaoxia warned Li Long that his model-worker status would bring scrutiny, but Li Long said he would not let the title control him.
• Li Long returned to the village with poles, bought Xu Chengjun’s Big Brooms, and told him he would pay Zhang Qiang two yuan fifty per acceptable broom within five days, two yuan within ten days, and nothing afterward.
• Zhang Qiang rejected Li Long’s offer and insisted he would not sell for less than two yuan eighty; Li Long continued inspecting and paying villagers for acceptable brooms.
• Li Long collected over two hundred Big Brooms from the village and later gathered twenty-three from Qingshui River Township, where production began increasing.
• Five days later, Zhang Qiang raised his price to three yuan, while Li Long announced he would buy only five hundred more brooms from the village and collected more than three hundred that day.

Li Long gave Qingshui River Village an order for fifteen hundred more big brooms, and the villagers welcomed him with food and gifts. Meanwhile, Zhang Qiang failed to find anyone willing to mediate or buy the brooms he had left, and he was left with no way out.

• Li Long agreed to buy fifteen hundred brooms from Qingshui River Village, and He Yuqing and the other cadres promised to maintain quality.
• The villagers delivered more than two hundred brooms, and Li Long shared a meal with Meng Hai and the village cadres.
• Meng Hai offered Li Long a jug of mountain honey, which Li Long accepted, leaving five yuan under his bowl in return.
• Li Long returned to the compound with the brooms and honey, while Zhang Qiang realized Li Long had stopped buying and still had more than two thousand brooms at home.
• Xu Chengjun refused to help Zhang Qiang, and Uncle Lao Luo drove him away when he sought mediation.

Zhang Qiang fled rather than sell brooms, then returned to bring Wang Hongmei and their child home and went with Wang Tiansheng to sell them. Meanwhile, Li Long supplied the herders in the mountains and learned that someone was damaging seed watermelons, so he and Li Jianguo planned to keep watch for the culprit.

• Wang Tiansheng ordered Zhang Qiang to sell brooms, but Zhang Qiang ran away in the night, leaving Wang Hongmei and their child to return to her parents' home.
• Li Long brought supplies, hats, and headscarves to Harimu and the other herders, helped haul hay, and brought a half-grown female red deer back to the team.
• Zhang Qiang returned home, fetched Wang Hongmei and their child, and went with Wang Tiansheng to sell brooms in Stone City.
• Li Jianguo told Li Long that someone had cut triangular openings in seed watermelons, and Li Long suggested they watch the field that night to catch the culprit.

Li Long and Li Jianguo hid near the seed-watermelon field and caught Ma Long and Lu Tietou ruining unripe melons. They took the boys home to their fathers, and Li Long returned to bed after Lu Yingming stopped beating Lu Tietou.

• Li Long and Li Jianguo watched the seed-watermelon field at night, hoping to catch whoever had been cutting the melons.
• Ma Long and Lu Tietou entered the field, and Li Long shouted at them; Ma Long fled into the corn while Lu Tietou was caught by Li Jianguo.
• Li Jianguo identified the captured boy as Ma Yinbao's son, Ma Long, and Li Long made him confess that he had brought others to ruin melons for about a week.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo escorted Ma Long to Ma Yinbao, who got up and angrily disciplined his son.
• Lu Yingming brought Lu Tietou home and beat him with a belt, but Li Long took the belt away and Li Jianguo urged Lu Yingming to stop.
• Li Long returned home, washed his face, and went to sleep.