Chapter Summaries

Li Long brought home two deer from a night hunt, delivered Li Xiangqian’s share, and arranged a nighttime hunting trip with Xu Chengjun’s militia. The team planned to go the day after tomorrow, while Li Jianguo collected and cleaned his gun and Lu Yingming decided to ask for one too.

• Li Long and Li Xiangqian returned from No-Man’s Land with a stag and a doe after the largest deer escaped their shots.
• Li Long dressed the deer the next morning, delivered Li Xiangqian’s portion, and heard that Director Qian could not join the hunt yet.
• Li Long met Xu Chengjun and arranged for the team to hunt at night the day after tomorrow, with Li Jianguo planning to go.
• Li Qingxia asked Li Long to bring his hunting shotgun for him, and Li Jianguo went to Xu Chengjun’s house to collect and clean his own gun.
• Lu Yingming heard about the planned hunt and said he would ask Xu Chengjun for a gun.

Li Long prepared for a team hunting trip with Gu Boyuan and joined Xu Chengjun’s group in ambushing game along the highway. After spotting a herd of more than a hundred gazelles, the hunters opened fire, and Li Jianguo brought down two.

• Li Long cleaned and prepared the shotgun and ammunition, while Gu Xiaoxia watched him play with their children.
• Li Long learned Director Qian had not called, then serviced the Jeep and drove Gu Boyuan to the Fourth Team with a borrowed Type 56 rifle.
• Li Long joined Xu Chengjun’s hunting party and found a new ambush site after meeting two hunters hauling gazelles from west of Shawan.
• Xu Chengjun arranged the hunters along the road, and Li Long told Li Qingxia to wait inside the Jeep.
• Li Long spotted a large herd approaching from the north and alerted the others to prepare.
• Xu Chengjun fired when the gazelles reached the ambush, the hunters unleashed a volley, and Li Jianguo shot two gazelles.

Li Long and the Fourth Team’s militia brought back more than thirty gazelles, distributed the meat, and processed their shares. After Li Long delivered gazelle meat to Supply and Marketing Cooperative officials, the story left him settling into winter as the team learned that militia training and village access to guns would soon be curtailed.

• Xu Chengjun and the militia loaded more than thirty gazelles, gave each militiaman a share, and reserved the rest for the Fourth Team.
• Li Long drove home with his group’s gazelles, and the hunters’ families processed their meat before Xu Chengjun organized a lottery to distribute the team’s remaining share.
• Li Jianguo delivered a gazelle to Liang Donglou’s family, while Li Long processed his four gazelles and delivered portions to Director Wei, Li Xiangqian, and Section Chief Hou.
• Li Long learned that Director Wei might become director of the Beiting City Supply and Marketing Cooperative, while Li Xiangqian’s chances of advancement remained uncertain.
• Xu Chengjun learned that militia training would move to the township and village weapons would no longer be issued, and Li Long heard that the change would make large team hunts difficult next year.

Li Long’s fattened livestock attracted the sugar factory’s interest as Section Chief Hu inspected the pens with Song Ming. The factory considered buying sheep and cattle for year-end benefits, and Hu also became interested in purchasing a red deer.

• Li Long offered to sell sheep to the sugar factory at wholesale prices after Song Ming suggested them for employee benefits.
• Song Ming told Section Chief Hu about the fat sheep, and Hu decided to visit Li Long’s farm with him.
• Uncle Lao Luo showed Hu the cattle and sheep, and Hu considered buying about fifty sheep and two cattle for the factory.
• Hu discovered that Li Long also raised wild boars, roe deer, and red deer, then asked whether the red deer were for sale.
• Uncle Lao Luo explained that deer were valuable, and Hu resolved to discuss buying one after asking Li Long about the price.

Section Chief Hu arranged to buy sheep, cattle, and two adult red deer from Li Long for the Sugar Factory’s year-end benefits. Li Long planned how to recruit mountain herders to help with the slaughter and went to Harimu’s winter camp to invite them, where Harimu’s wife revealed she could use a gun.

• Section Chief Hu offered to buy at least fifty sheep, two cattle, and two male red deer from Li Long at market prices for the Sugar Factory.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia planned to hire Harimu and other herders to help slaughter the sheep, prepare the offal, and transport supplies to the mountains as payment.
• Li Long bought food and supplies, drove his Jeep to Harimu’s winter camp, and asked Harimu to help recruit other herders for the slaughter.
• Harimu agreed to help and said he would ask Jade Mountain River, Talihaal, and others to come.
• Harimu assured Li Long that the camp was safe during the day, and Harimu’s wife said she knew how to use a gun.

Li Long arranged for Harimu and several others to come to the Fourth Team and slaughter sheep, preparing supplies, cooking facilities, and help. He brought them first to his courtyard, where they met his children, then took them to the livestock pens, where the group admired the fattened sheep.

• Li Long left ammunition at the winter camp, and Harimu agreed to gather Jade Mountain River and others to help slaughter sheep the next day.
• Jade Mountain River recruited Harimu, Talihaal, Bek, and Amantai, while Alema and Tukebai also asked to join later.
• Li Long arranged for Uncle Lao Luo and the neighbors to prepare stoves, pots, and help with the offal at the Fourth Team.
• Li Long bought cooking supplies and picked up Harimu, Jade Mountain River, Talihaal, Bek, and Amantai, who brought hides and deer antlers as gifts.
• Li Long brought the visitors to his courtyard, introduced them to Sister Yang and his children, then stopped at the Nang Shop before driving to the Fourth Team.
• At the New Stable, Li Long introduced the visitors to the local helpers, and Jade Mountain River and Harimu praised the well-fattened sheep.

Li Long and the mountain herders slaughtered and processed sheep at the Stable, while the local workers watched the herders’ skill and shared a meal of mutton. After a productive day, Li Long took Jade Mountain River, Harimu, and the others to visit the County Seat, and they planned to bring their families down for a visit when spring arrived.

• Li Long assigned Harimu to cook the first sheep and organized Jade Mountain River, Talihaal, and the others to slaughter and skin the flock while the local workers handled the offal.
• Jade Mountain River and his companions slaughtered and skinned sheep with such speed and care that Yang Laoliu and the other workers were impressed by their expertise.
• Harimu boiled a large meal of mutton, and Li Long, the herders, and the workers ate together before returning to the job.
• Li Long offered to bring the herders’ families to visit the County Seat, but Harimu suggested waiting until spring because of the winter cold.
• Jade Mountain River and the others processed more sheep through the afternoon, then ate again and set out with Li Long to visit the County Seat.

Li Long took Jade Mountain River, Harimu, and the others to the market and Department Store, where they enjoyed shopping and buying gifts for home. On the drive back, he persuaded them to consider raising livestock and offered to pay them for finding deer fawns, leaving them eager to try earning money while planning more slaughtering the next day.

• Li Long showed Jade Mountain River and the others the market, where they bought whips and knives, then took them to the Department Store to buy food, drinks, batteries, and a radio.
• Jade Mountain River visited the bookstore and bought a book of Kazakh folk literature before the group headed back toward the mountains.
• Harimu asked how Li Long had fattened his sheep, and Li Long explained that he kept them penned and fed them grass and inexpensive sugar residue mixed with bran and cornmeal.
• Li Long suggested that they raise red deer and offered to pay for red deer and roe deer fawns; after he explained their potential value, the group agreed to look for them.
• Li Long dropped the group at the Winter Camp and returned to the Big Courtyard, where he planned to continue slaughtering livestock the next day.

Sister-in-Law Lu brought home mutton from Li Long’s Stable, and she and Lu Yingming agreed they could raise sheep next year. The fatty mutton drew buyers from the Fourth and Third Teams, and Li Long extended the slaughtering schedule while Ma Jinbao worried about losing his winter trade.

• Sister-in-Law Lu brought home mutton and sheep heads and hooves, then shared the meat with Lu Yingming, Tietou, and Nier.
• Sister-in-Law Lu and Lu Yingming discussed raising sheep next year and using their tractor to haul feed.
• Li Long began slaughtering sheep at the Stable, welcomed Harimu, Alema, Yersen, and Tukebai, and offered them a meal while they worked.
• Li Long sold sheep, cuts of meat, and inexpensive heads and hooves to eager buyers, including Xu Haijun, who bought a slaughtered sheep.
• Ma Jinbao learned that Li Long’s fatty mutton was drawing customers away from his flock and could think of no way to compete.
• After selling eighteen sheep from the forty-seven slaughtered, Li Long decided to spend two and a half days processing sheep before turning to the red deer and roe deer.

Li Long slaughtered sheep for the Sugar Factory and delivered the first fifty carcasses, earning a substantial profit from his fattened flock. After arranging to deliver the remaining meat and red deer, he promised Tao Daqiang they would break the ice and fish together the next afternoon.

• Tao Daqiang and others helped Li Long slaughter sheep, and the group divided the remaining heads, hooves, and cooked meat.
• Song Ming arrived with free sugar residue and ordered a hundred dressed sheep, two red deer, and a tonne of large fish for Section Chief Hu.
• Li Long agreed to Tao Daqiang's suggestion to go ice fishing after the slaughtering was finished and arranged to deliver the first batch of sheep to the Sugar Factory.
• Section Chief Hu received fifty sheep from Li Long, whose total weighed 1,433 kilograms and 800 grams and sold for 2,580 yuan and 84 fen.
• Harimu and the others slaughtered two red deer stags, while Li Long arranged to return the next day to finish the cattle.
• Li Long told Tao Daqiang they would break the ice the next afternoon and catch fish the day after.

Li Long sold red deer, cattle, and sheep for the New Year while Harimu and the others settled into life around the Fourth Team. After returning home, he reassured Uncle Lao Luo that the workers would keep their jobs and brought a large share of meat to his eldest brother’s family.

• Li Long sold two red deer and arranged beef and mutton sales, while Xu Haijun bought sheep heads and hooves and ordered beef ribs for the next day.
• Li Long delivered the slaughtered livestock to Song Ming in Stone City and earned 5,135 yuan and 80 fen.
• Harimu and the others refused Li Jianguo’s offer of meat, and Li Long drove them home before returning to the Fourth Team.
• Li Long checked the remaining livestock and reassured Uncle Lao Luo that Yang Laoliu and the other workers would not be dismissed.
• Li Long took half a beef carcass, beef offal, a sheep, and two deer legs to Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei’s house.

Li Long spent a relaxed afternoon with his family before driving to Little Haizi to join Tao Daqiang and the others fishing through the ice. He caught a large common carp and several other fish, while Liang Shuangcheng and Tao Daqiang each tried their luck afterward.

• Li Long helped his family unload meat and talked with them about selling sheep, preparing for New Year, and sharing venison with relatives and friends.
• Li Long told his family that he planned to fish at Little Haizi and later slaughter more sheep to sell meat in the County Seat.
• Li Long drove to Little Haizi and found Tao Daqiang, Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong, and the Liang Family Brothers fishing at holes in the ice.
• Li Long swept a scoop net through one hole and caught a two-to-three-kilo common carp, several crucian carp, and two small pike.
• Liang Shuangcheng tried scooping fish and caught only small crucian carp, then Tao Daqiang took the net and caught a silver carp and a grass carp.

Li Long returned to fishing at Little Haizi and agreed to buy large fish from Fourth Team villagers, encouraging them to catch and sell more. The chapter left Li Long and the villagers preparing to fish over the next few days.

• Li Long brought fish home, then talked with Gu Xiaoxia about work, maintaining connections, and taking the initiative to pursue opportunities.
• Li Long drove to Little Haizi the next morning and found several Fourth Team groups fishing through holes in the ice.
• Tao Daqiang showed Li Long a large Five-Stripe Perch, and Li Long took over scooping fish, bringing up many large ones.
• Xu Haijun and other villagers asked whether Li Long would buy their surplus fish, and Li Long offered one yuan per fish weighing more than a kilogram.
• Xu Haijun and the others agreed to sell their large catches to Li Long instead of taking them to the County Seat.

Li Long gathered and delivered over a tonne of fish to the sugar factory, then shared winter meat and fish with relatives as he prepared to rest for the season. After visiting Li Xia, he learned that Li Junshan had invited the family to his wedding banquet and planned to attend with his parents and eldest brother.

• Xu Jianjun caught fish at Little Haizi and tried selling them at the county seat, but stopped after two days when he failed to sell enough.
• Li Long gathered more than a tonne of fish, divided some among his companions, and delivered 1,025 kilograms to the sugar factory.
• Li Long brought meat and fish to Li Xia’s home, shared family news with her, and promised to help her visit their parents and brothers.
• Li Long learned that Li Junshan’s wedding banquet would take place three days later and agreed to drive his parents and eldest brother there.
• Li Long and his family discussed bringing meat to his second brother and deciding on a wedding gift.

Li Long traveled with his family to Kuytun for Li Junshan’s wedding, bringing gifts and visiting relatives. At the Farm Machinery Factory, Factory Director Du ordered ten of Li Long’s fattened sheep and discussed a future agricultural machinery idea that Li Long expected to become popular.

• Li Long divided the fish-sale earnings among the families who helped, then brought home rabbits, a chicken, and eggs; Gu Xiaoxia recalled how Liang Dacheng’s mother had fed her when she was hungry as a child.
• Li Long prepared meat for his relatives and acquaintances, then drove his parents and eldest brother to Kuytun and booked rooms before visiting Li Anguo’s family.
• Li Long left beef for Li Junshan and other meat for Li Anguo’s household, then drove to Factory Director Du’s factory with a sheep and venison.
• Factory Director Du agreed to buy ten sheep at market price, with Li Long planning to deliver them the following week while collecting harvesters.
• Factory Director Du accepted Li Long’s invitation to attend Li Junshan’s wedding and asked about new agricultural machinery; Li Long hinted that an idea involving an air pump would become popular in a couple of years.

Li Long visited Ma Aihong and Li Anguo before Li Junshan’s wedding, asked Ma Aihong to keep an eye on the young men, and offered to help Li Anguo buy a larger home. At the wedding banquet, Li Qingxia began his speech by falsely claiming that Li Junshan’s father had broken his leg, leaving the family stunned.

• Li Long reassured Factory Director Du about designing agricultural machinery, then visited Ma Aihong with meat and asked about Li Junshan, Li Anguo, and Yang Yongqiang.
• Ma Aihong praised Li Junshan’s work, described Li Anguo as a capable group leader, and said Yang Yongqiang needed to become steadier; Li Long asked him to look after all three.
• Li Long met Li Junshan and Yang Yongqiang at Li Anguo’s home, then offered Li Anguo money to buy a larger courtyard house.
• Li Long’s family agreed that Li Anguo’s cramped home needed improving, and Li Long drove them to the wedding banquet the next day.
• Factory Director Du’s arrival impressed the union chairman and some of the bride’s guests, while Li Qingxia took the role of speaking for the groom’s family.
• Li Qingxia told the guests that Li Junshan’s father had broken his leg and his mother was caring for him, surprising the Li family.

Li Long’s family attended Li Junshan and Huang Ling’s wedding, where their support changed the bride’s family’s opinion of the Li family. Before leaving Kuytun, Li Long lent Li Anguo a thousand yuan toward buying a larger courtyard home, and the family headed back through No-Man’s Land.

• Li Qingxia gave a prepared wedding speech, and the banquet proceeded after Huang Xianfeng and Chairman Liu spoke.
• Huang Ling’s family noticed the Li relatives’ generous gifts and their ties with Factory Director Du, while Li Long and the others offered wedding toasts.
• After the banquet, Li Long gave Li Junshan money to support his new household, and Junshan decided to use it toward buying a sewing machine.
• Li Long offered Chen Lirong a thousand-yuan loan so Li Anguo’s family could buy a larger courtyard home, and Li Anguo accepted it the next morning.
• Li Long’s family left Kuytun and drove through No-Man’s Land, where they spotted a herd of Mongolian gazelles near Anjihai.

Li Long and his family hunted gazelles on the way home, bringing back one dead animal and an injured Xiao Huang Sheep to raise. After visiting Li Xia and his parents, Li Long returned home exhausted and slept through the night.

• Li Long shot a young gazelle and wounded another while wolves fled from behind the herd; his family found and brought both animals back.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo prepared the dead gazelle and took the injured Xiao Huang Sheep along, discussing whether they could raise a herd after the wheat harvest.
• Li Long's family visited Li Xia, where Hongqin petted the injured gazelle and Li Long promised to bring her a lamb in spring.
• Li Long drove his parents and Li Jianguo to the Li Family Courtyard, where his parents visited Mingming and Haohao before returning to the Fourth Team.
• Li Jianguo treated the Xiao Huang Sheep's wound, and Li Long later went home, fell asleep while telling Gu Xiaoxia about the wedding, and woke the next morning.

Li Long delivered freshly slaughtered meat to the County Seat’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where his fat cattle and sheep drew further bulk orders from factories. He realized he needed more help to fill the new orders and drove into the mountains to find it.

• Li Long skinned the gazelle, collected meat from Old Ma's Place, and arranged to sell ten sheep and a cow to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long brought down and slaughtered a two-year-old yellow cow with help from Uncle Lao Luo, Yang Laoliu, and the others.
• Li Long delivered the ten sheep and fresh beef to Li Xiangqian, who paid him 947 yuan and 80 cents at market prices.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that other factories wanted fifty sheep and two cattle, and Li Long explained that he had enough live animals but would need time and help to slaughter them.
• Li Long learned the new orders came from factories whose workers had heard about the Sugar Factory's meat, then drove into the mountains to find help.

Li Long organized the slaughter of the remaining fattened cattle and sheep, sold the meat through the Sugar Factory and to a Kuytun factory, and counted the profits from his livestock business. After delivering ten sheep to Factory Director Du, he advised him to make wheelbarrows and cargo tricycles as harvesters faced competition from imitations.

• Li Long visited Harimu's Winter Camp, arranged for Harimu and the others to help slaughter the remaining livestock, and promised Gu Xiaoxia he would rest after the work was finished.
• Li Long brought Harimu, Jade Mountain River, Talihaal, and the others to the Fourth Team, where they slaughtered the remaining sheep and seven cattle over two days.
• Li Long sold the beef and mutton through Section Chief Hu, arranged a Sunday trip to Kuytun with Song Ming, and gave ankle bones to Han Fang and Hongqin.
• Li Long calculated that his livestock sales had earned nearly four thousand yuan in profit and traveled with ten sheep to the Farm Machinery Factory in Kuytun.
• Factory Director Du inspected and bought the sheep, and Li Long suggested that the factory produce wheelbarrows and cargo tricycles as harvesters lost sales to imitations.