Chapter Summaries

Li Long distributed wild boar meat to relatives and neighbors, then learned from Yang Laoliu that he had once surveilled Zhou Bin, an alias used by the Chairman’s younger brother, Zemin. Their conversation also raised new questions about a rumored treasure, and Li Long returned home near midnight to find everyone waiting for him.

• Li Long paid Sun Jiaqiang for the day’s work, warned him to keep the door bolted against wolves, and returned to the Big Courtyard with meat and fritillaria.
• Li Long delivered wild boar meat to Liang Donglou and his family, then brought another boar to his eldest brother’s household and left meat for Uncle Lao Luo.
• At Uncle Lao Luo’s home, Li Long heard Yang Laoliu recount his former work surveilling a man named Zhou Bin.
• Li Long told Yang Laoliu and Uncle Lao Luo that Zhou Bin was an alias for Zemin, shocking both men.
• Yang Laoliu recalled leaving his post in 1941 and discussed Sheng Shicai, Jin Shuren, and rumors about missing treasury gold.
• Li Long drove home near midnight and found everyone in the Big Courtyard still waiting for him.

Yang Laoliu fled the Fourth Team after fearing Li Long might report his past, while Li Long bought knives for Herb Gatherers and arranged the delivery of Taibazi to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. After a long day of trading, inspection, and hauling, Li Long returned home after one in the morning to find the courtyard light still on.

• Yang Laoliu left the Fourth Team in the night, and Lao Luo realized two days later that he had fled; Yang Laoliu returned two months afterward when nothing had happened.
• Li Long reassured Gu Xiaoxia that he would stay home once his busy spell ended, then bought twenty sharpened knives at the Free Market.
• Li Long gave Sun Jiaqiang a knife, and Herb Gatherers eagerly traded Fritillaria for more knives at the Wooden Cabin.
• Li Long inspected the Taibazi woven by He Yuqing and the others, paid them, and arranged for workers to help load and unload the goods.
• Li Long and the workers delivered the Taibazi to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, then he drove the men back to Qingshui River Village and returned home after one in the morning.

Li Long finished the taibazi project ahead of schedule and arranged for the workers to help dig a sheep-dipping pool at Harimu’s winter camp. After continuing to trade for fritillaria, he set out to hunt in a new part of the mountains.

• Bolati told Li Long that many people were digging fritillaria in the mountains, explaining the large daily supply he had been receiving.
• The taibazi workers completed their work on May 20, and Li Long offered them a day of paid work digging a sheep-dipping pool before arranging fritillaria gathering as an alternative.
• Li Long took Li Jianguo and Xie Yundong to Harimu’s winter camp, where they chose a site for the pool and discussed how to line it against water seepage.
• Li Long warned the other workers about bears and wolves after some went exploring in the gullies, while Sun Jiaqiang continued collecting fritillaria at the Wooden Cabin.
• Li Long traded goods for more fritillaria and then drove toward Jade Mountain River’s winter camp to hunt, deciding he would not let a brown bear escape if he encountered one.

Li Long explored an unfamiliar stretch of Heavenly Mountain, discovered ancient stone ruins containing gold rings and a gilded statue, then hunted a red deer and a gray wolf. He returned to Small White Poplar Gully with the animals to prepare meat for the camp.

• Li Long crossed several mountains toward a high peak and came across an abandoned stone settlement in a broad gully.
• Li Long searched the ruins and found three gold rings and a finely made statue of a woman riding a tiger.
• Li Long spotted gray wolves chasing two red deer, shot one deer and one wolf, and carried both back to his Jeep.
• Li Long drove to Small White Poplar Gully, where Lao Huang and Jia Weidong helped him process the deer and wolf for the camp's meals.

Li Long encountered a woman slashing a herb gatherer who had been harassing her, then learned the next day that a wolf attack had killed a man gathering fritillaria. He warned the others to be careful in the mountains as work continued.

• Li Jianguo taught Liang Wenyu and the other young men how to dig fritillaria, then joined Li Long's group for a meal after Li Long returned with a red deer and wolf.
• Li Long came upon a woman escaping a herb gatherer; she cut his arm with a knife and fled with her bag, leaving another bag of fritillaria behind.
• Li Long took the abandoned fritillaria to the Wooden Cabin, then brought meat and the gathered herbs home and told his family about the ruins and gold objects he had found.
• The next day, Bolati told Li Long that a forest patrol had found a herb gatherer's body in Elm Tree Gully, mauled by wolves.
• Li Long realized the dead man was probably the injured gatherer he had encountered and listened as Bolati warned him to be cautious in the mountains.

Li Long showed Sun Jiaqiang how to find morels, then traded knives and dried noodles with two herb gatherers before checking the sheep-washing pool at Harimu's Winter Camp. He helped feed the workers by grilling meat, and the chapter ended with him enjoying Lao Huang's pilaf during their break.

• Bolati warned Li Long and Sun Jiaqiang that the mountains held dangerous people, and Li Long decided to keep selling knives until fritillaria season ended.
• Li Long led Sun Jiaqiang into the woods, showed him how to spot morels, and continued gathering them after Sun Jiaqiang returned to trading fritillaria.
• Li Long traded five knives and dried noodles to two herb gatherers, then reminded Sun Jiaqiang to secure the cabin at night.
• Li Long drove to Harimu's Winter Camp, where Li Jianguo and the workers had built more than half of the sheep-washing pool.
• Li Long grilled meat for the workers, who took a break from building the pool and repairing the Winter Camp.
• Li Long ate Lao Huang's pilaf with Li Jianguo, Lu Yingming, and the others.

Li Long helped an injured herb gatherer but refused his demand for compensation, then bought fritillaria seized by Bolati and another forest ranger. After inspecting the completed sheep-dipping pool and repaired winter camp at Small White Poplar Gully, Li Long drove to the County Seat to unload the valuable herbs.

• Li Long gave a hungry, injured herb gatherer a steamed bun, but refused to compensate him for being robbed after the man blamed Li Long for selling knives to his attackers.
• When Bolati and another forest ranger arrived with four sacks of confiscated fritillaria, Li Long bought the half-dried herbs at six yuan per kilogram and arranged for his brother and others to dig nearby the next day.
• Li Long saw that Li Jianguo and the others had finished the sheep-dipping pool and repaired Harimu's Winter Camp.
• Li Long loaded the fritillaria into his vehicle and drove to the County Seat to unload it.

Li Long learned that the county Purchasing Stations would close at the end of the year and then went into the mountains to gather morels. There he shot one of two suspicious men in the leg, and the captured man’s answers shocked him.

• Li Long prepared for Gu Xiaoxia’s upcoming leave and birth while finishing his fritillaria and taibazi work.
• Li Long sold forty-two kilograms of first-grade fritillaria for 2,084 yuan after the purchase price rose.
• Chen Hongjun told Li Long the Purchasing Stations would close at the end of the year and offered to introduce him to private buyers.
• Li Jianguo, Lu Yingming, and the others searched nearby gullies for fritillaria while Li Long visited Sun Jiaqiang at the Small Wooden Cabin.
• Li Long confronted two men hiding in the woods, fired at one who fled, and ordered the other to help bandage the wounded man.
• Li Long questioned the captured man and was shocked by what he learned.

Li Long captured two robbers who had been targeting people trading and digging fritillaria, then found their stash of stolen goods. He brought the haul back toward the Small Wooden Cabin and planned to negotiate with Bolati over how much of the fritillaria would be kept as evidence.

• The wounded robber confessed that he and his partner had robbed fritillaria diggers and revealed where they had hidden the stolen goods.
• Li Long marched the robbers back to the cabin, where Bolati arrived, inspected the wound, and took both men away.
• Li Long warned Sun Jiaqiang to be careful, then drove to the stash and found seven sacks of fritillaria along with traded goods, money, and digging tools.
• Li Long moved the haul to his Jeep and told the fritillaria diggers about the robbers over lunch at Small White Poplar Gully.
• Li Long drove back toward the Small Wooden Cabin to meet Bolati and discuss keeping part of the stolen fritillaria.

Li Long dealt with the stolen fritillaria and waited several days for Bolati, who eventually explained that the two robbers had attacked him and were killed. Li Long reassured Bolati that he had acted in self-defense, and Bolati chose to take money for the recovered fritillaria.

• Li Long traded goods with herb gatherers, kept part of the recovered fritillaria, and arranged for tractors to bring his eldest brother and the other workers home from Small White Poplar Gully.
• Li Long returned to the Wooden Cabin and told Gu Xiaoxia about the robbers, then helped lead the workers’ return the next morning.
• Li Long gathered morels and caught fish while Bolati remained absent for several days, and the herb-gathering season began to wind down.
• Bolati arrived and told Li Long that the two robbers had taken his gun and tried to shoot him, so he stabbed one and shot the other; both died.
• Li Long suggested the robbers had feared exposure for earlier crimes and reassured Bolati that he had done nothing wrong.
• Bolati declined to return the recovered fritillaria to the Forestry Team and asked Li Long to give him money instead.

Li Long settled Bolati’s concerns, completed most of his mountain trading, and counted the profits from fritillaria and Taibazi. As fritillaria season ended, he left Sun Jiaqiang to choose whether to keep picking mushrooms or leave the mountains.

• Li Long gave Bolati two thousand yuan, kept most of it safe for him, and reassured Sun Jiaqiang that Bolati’s hostility came from the robbers who had attacked him.
• Sun Jiaqiang cooked pilaf for a mountain trader, who paid with fritillaria and exchanged more of it for supplies.
• Li Long returned home with three sacks of fritillaria and calculated that his Taibazi and fritillaria sales had earned him enough to consider buying a Daihatsu van.
• Liang Wenyu returned home with fritillaria he had dug, while villagers who had woven Taibazi asked him for more work and Du Haihua accepted a commission to find wheat-harvesting customers.
• Li Long told Sun Jiaqiang that fritillaria season was over and left him supplies, advising him to pick mushrooms or leave the mountains as he preferred.

Li Long balanced his fritillaria business, arranged a trip to Kuytun to bring back more harvesters, and prepared for Gu Xiaoxia’s approaching delivery. His family came to visit her, and Liang Yuemei immediately suspected she was carrying twins.

• Li Long bought Sun Jiaqiang’s morels, brought supplies to the Pastoral Team families, and learned that black tiger’s paw mushrooms fetched less than he had expected.
• Li Long calculated that selling nearly a ton of fritillaria had brought in about fifty thousand yuan, and he planned to share some money with Bolati for protecting him.
• As farmers crowded Li Long to buy harvesters, he arranged with Ma Team Leader to use two Transport Company trucks for a run to Kuytun.
• Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei decided to visit Gu Xiaoxia and planned for Liang Yuemei to help care for her after the birth.
• The Li family arrived at Li Long’s courtyard with food and supplies, and Liang Yuemei noticed Gu Xiaoxia’s unusually large belly and asked if she was carrying twins.

As Gu Xiaoxia approached childbirth with twins, the Li family visited her and agreed she should deliver at Stone City No. 2 Hospital, with Liang Yuemei helping during her confinement. Li Long planned to travel to Kuytun for harvesters but promised to put family first if anything happened.

• At the General Store, Ma Jinbao mocked the Li family for visiting Gu Xiaoxia, but Tao Dayong defended them and said he would visit after the birth.
• Tao Dayong returned to tending his twenty mu of watermelon fields, hopeful that the crop would bring his family prosperity.
• Li Jianguo drove his family to Li Long's courtyard, where they learned Gu Xiaoxia was carrying twins and Liang Yuemei offered to help during her confinement.
• Li Long told the family he planned to take Gu Xiaoxia to Stone City No. 2 Hospital shortly before her due date, and they agreed.
• After the family shared a meal, Li Long mentioned his plan to haul harvesters from Kuytun, and Li Jianguo told him to put Gu Xiaoxia and the family first.

Li Long collected twenty harvesters from the Kuytun Farm Machinery Factory and discussed with Factory Director Du why the factory’s other farm machines were not selling. He continued selling harvesters until he took Gu Xiaoxia to Stone City Hospital for childbirth, where she was admitted and their family prepared to wait for the baby.

• Li Long traveled to Kuytun with two trucks, inspected twenty harvesters, and completed the purchase with Factory Director Du.
• Li Long explained that corn shellers and small-plot plows were not urgent necessities for most households, and declined Factory Director Du’s offer to become a technical consultant.
• Li Long returned to the courtyard, where Li Jianguo, Tao Daqiang, and the others unloaded the harvesters before everyone shared a meal prepared by Sister Yang.
• Li Long sold one or two harvesters a day as customers came to collect them.
• Li Long took Gu Xiaoxia to Stone City Hospital and had her admitted, then brought his elder sister-in-law to help while the family waited for the birth.

As Gu Xiaoxia neared the birth of her twins, Li Long stayed by her in the Stone City hospital while neighbors and family prepared gifts for the babies. The chapter ended when Gu Xiaoxia went into labor and Li Long rushed her back to the ward for a nurse.

• Yang Pingping sewed baby clothes for Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia’s twins, grateful for the work and prosperity Li Long had brought to the Fourth Team.
• Li Long told a fellow expectant father that he and Gu Xiaoxia had chosen names for their twins: Junming and Junwei for boys, or Junjing and Junchan for girls.
• Li Qingxia decided to return home in autumn to make sure the younger generation’s names were added to the Li family genealogy, and Li Jianguo agreed to help arrange the trip.
• Meng Hai arrived at the Big Courtyard with two bags of food and baby gifts for Li Long’s family, then left them with Sister Yang.
• Gu Xiaoxia felt a contraction while walking with Li Long at the hospital, and Li Long hurried her back to the ward and called for a nurse.

Li Long waited anxiously while Gu Xiaoxia gave birth to twin boys, and his wild ginseng helped her and another woman through difficult deliveries. Gu Xiaoxia and the babies were safe, though she needed to recover in the hospital, while Li Long went to prepare chicken soup for her.

• Li Long brought wild ginseng to the delivery room, and the doctors used some of it to help Gu Xiaoxia deliver safely.
• Gu Xiaoxia gave birth to two healthy boys, and Li Long named them Mingming and Haohao.
• Li Long let Qin Liben's wife use the remaining ginseng when she struggled to deliver, and she gave birth to a girl.
• The doctor told Li Long that Gu Xiaoxia was weak and needed to remain in the hospital and receive nourishing food.
• Li Long went to Li Xia's home, prepared chicken soup, and brought it back to the hospital for Gu Xiaoxia.

Gu Xiaoxia gave birth to twin boys, and Li Long arranged formula, chicken soup, and medicine to care for her. News of the twins reached the family and the Fourth Team, while a masked girl who resembled Gu Xiaoxia arrived in the team.

• Li Long reassured Gu Xiaoxia that he had bought formula and would get herbs to help increase her milk supply.
• He Yulian worried over her newborn daughter and her absent family, while Liang Yuemei helped care for her.
• Li Long called the Fourth Team to announce Gu Xiaoxia had given birth to twin sons, and Xu Chengjun spread the news to the village.
• Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia took Du Chunfang to Stone City, picked up Gu Boyuan, and visited Gu Xiaoxia and the babies at the hospital.
• Li Jianguo's family left chickens and eggs with Li Long before returning home, and the entire Fourth Team learned of the twins.
• A girl who resembled Gu Xiaoxia arrived in the team wearing a face mask.

A young woman searching for Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia visited the Fourth Team and the County Seat, where Gu Boyuan nearly recognized her as his daughter. Meanwhile, Gu Xiaoxia recovered after giving birth to twin boys and was discharged from the hospital, leaving the family preparing for her return.

• A masked young woman questioned Li Qiang and the other children about Gu Boyuan, then visited the Gu family home and learned that Gu Boyuan ran an agricultural supplies store in the County Seat.
• The young woman found Gu Boyuan's store closed, stayed at a guesthouse, and called her parents to tell them about Gu Xiaoxia's marriage, pregnancy, and Gu Boyuan's store.
• After hearing that the young woman looked like Gu Xiaoxia, Gu Boyuan recognized a resemblance and went outside to look for her, but she had already disappeared.
• Li Qiang told Li Jianguo about the visitor, and Li Jianguo's family prepared the front yard in case Gu Xiaoxia returned to the Team after her delivery.
• Li Long, Liang Yuemei, and Li Xia cared for Gu Xiaoxia and her twin sons in the hospital while Li Long took on much of the babies' care.
• On the eighth day after giving birth, Gu Xiaoxia recovered enough to be discharged from the hospital.

Li Long brought Gu Xiaoxia and their newborn twins home from the hospital, where Sister Yang took over their care as Gu Xiaoxia recovered. After hearing that a girl resembling Gu Xiaoxia had visited the Gu family home, Li Long told Gu Boyuan, who became convinced his missing daughter was alive, but they agreed not to tell Gu Xiaoxia during her confinement.

• Li Long completed Gu Xiaoxia’s discharge and gave Qin Liben a prescription to help He Yulian restore her milk supply.
• Li Long drove Gu Xiaoxia and the twins to the County Seat Big Courtyard, where Sister Yang welcomed them and began caring for the household.
• Sister Yang managed Gu Xiaoxia’s meals and chores, and Liang Yuemei returned to the Fourth Team after a week because her help was no longer needed.
• Li Long learned that a girl resembling Gu Xiaoxia had visited the Gu family home, then registered the twins with the Team and received another ten mu of Ration Fields for the Li Family.
• Li Long told Gu Boyuan about the visitor, and Gu Boyuan concluded that his missing daughter was alive and his wife might be with her; they decided to keep the news from Gu Xiaoxia until her confinement ended.
• Women from the Team began visiting the Big Courtyard, giving Sister Yang a sense of Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia’s standing in the Fourth Team.

After Gu Xiaoxia gave birth to twins, Li Long focused on her recovery and caring for the babies while neighbors and relatives visited with gifts and advice. Once Gu Xiaoxia was well and the visits eased, Li Long resumed work, leaving the story with Gu Xiaoxia encouraging him to head into the mountains and pursue his own livelihood.

• Yang Pingping and other women visited Gu Xiaoxia and the twins, while Li Long discussed the coming wheat harvest and urged the men to build a good reputation with customers.
• Sister-in-Law Lu and other older women visited with postpartum advice, and further groups from the Fourth Team arrived over the following days with gifts.
• Li Long stayed home to care for the twins, sold the remaining harvesters, and skipped wheat-harvesting work while Gu Xiaoxia recovered.
• After Gu Xiaoxia completed her month of recovery, Li Long changed the twins' diapers and delivered red eggs to local officials and business contacts.
• Li Long asked Chen Hongjun about mushroom prices, continued caring for his family, and felt reassured that Gu Xiaoxia seemed well despite the rumor about a girl resembling her.
• Before Gu Xiaoxia's leave ended, she urged Li Long to stop staying home and go into the mountains to work.