Chapter Summaries

Li Long paid the Xu family for their gazelle pelts, and their successful hunt inspired villagers in the Fourth Team to seek new ways to earn money. He then traveled to the mountains to arrange transport for Harimu’s children, buy animal products and red deer fawns, and organize snow-lotus gathering and repair work, leaving with more opportunities lined up.

• Li Long paid Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun five hundred yuan for their pelts, while Wang Mingjun waited for Li Long to buy another batch from the Corps.
• Xu Haijun and Xu Chengjun divided the hunting proceeds among their group, and word of their earnings prompted Fourth Team villagers to arrange their own gazelle hunts.
• Li Long bought supplies and drove to Harimu Winter Camp, where he agreed to take Nasen and Sasiken to school and arranged to collect seven red deer fawns and other animal products.
• Harimu traveled with Li Long to the settlement, where they cleared snow from the family courtyard and prepared the house for the return from winter camp.
• On the drive back, Li Long collected pelts and antlers from Harimu and met Meng Hai, who offered eggs and agreed to find people to gather snow lotuses and repair mountain houses.

Li Long settled his mountain deliveries and bought Snow Lotuses and codonopsis from Uncle Dong, while Meng Hai began considering gathering Snow Lotuses as a new source of income. Li Long returned home thinking about exploring the Inner Mountain, with one more day of work ahead before he could stay with Gu Xiaoxia and the children.

• Li Long paid Harimu for seven fawns and brought Jade Mountain River’s family down from the Winter Camp, then helped them settle into their courtyard.
• Li Long delivered rice and flour to Harimu’s elderly mother and returned Jade Mountain River to the Winter Camp.
• Li Long met Meng Hai and bought thirty-four Snow Lotuses and five kilograms of codonopsis from Uncle Dong.
• Meng Hai asked Uncle Dong about gathering Snow Lotuses and considered going into the mountains with him in July.
• Li Long drove home thinking about exploring the Inner Mountain before Professor Luo’s team arrived and brought new work.

Li Long sold another batch of pelts to Wang Mingjun's company and offered to sell them a small wheat harvester he had designed. Back at the Purchasing Station, he refused two young men who tried to take over the property and left them wary of his strength and reputation.

• Li Long met Wang Mingjun and Big Old Chen, agreed that the company would keep selling him pelts, and offered them a discounted harvester for five hundred yuan.
• Li Long inspected fifty-two intact pelts and twenty-one damaged ones, paid Big Old Chen 3,230 yuan, and received game and fruit as gifts.
• Li Long returned to the Big Courtyard, stored the pelts and game, and planned to process the meat and remain at the Purchasing Station as spring approached.
• Li Long began butchering a gazelle at the Purchasing Station when Huang Quansheng and another young man arrived and offered to reimburse his rent plus a hundred yuan if he sublet the property.
• Li Long refused their offer and warned them against threatening him, citing his past confrontations with criminals as he chopped through the gazelle's bones with a machete.
• Huang Quansheng and his companion left, deciding that Li Long was not someone they could easily intimidate.

Li Long continued running the Purchasing Station and caught two men dumping rubbish there at the behest of others, then took them to the Police Station. After returning home, he found Gu Xiaoxia had stayed awake worrying about him, and the next morning he watched her care for Mingming and Haohao.

• Li Long bought goods from sellers at the Purchasing Station and stored them at the Big Courtyard, then brought seven fawns from Harimu's place to be raised.
• Li Long found rubbish dumped at the Purchasing Station, cleared it away, and decided to keep watch for whoever was responsible.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia he would catch the culprits and spent the night waiting inside the Purchasing Station with a gun.
• Li Long caught two men dumping rubbish, forced them to clean it up, stopped one from escaping by hitting his leg with an iron spade, and took both to the Police Station.
• Li Long returned home, reassured Gu Xiaoxia, and saw her caring for Mingming and Haohao the next morning.

Li Long expanded his Purchasing Station’s trade in herbs, coins, and hides while settling a dispute with two men who had tried to force him to sell the property. After Zhao Hui arrived, he agreed to buy Li Long’s large stock of valuable animal hides, and Li Long prepared to sell them for a substantial profit.

• Li Long bought fritillaria from a local woman and continued purchasing medicinal herbs, rabbit skins, and cash coins at the Purchasing Station.
• Guo Tiebing told Li Long that two men had confessed to acting for an official’s son, and Li Long accepted a hundred yuan settlement; the men were detained for fifteen days.
• Li Long sold ordinary hides to the Leather Factory and learned that intact Mongolian gazelle hides could fetch high prices.
• Li Long showed Zhao Hui two rooms of sorted Mongolian gazelle, red deer, and wolf hides, and Zhao Hui offered prices Li Long considered excellent.
• Zhao Hui returned with a truck and personally inspected every hide before preparing to buy them.

Li Long cleared out his Mongolian gazelle hides, checked spring preparations at Old Ma's Place, and brought a dairy goat and two kids home for Mingming and Haohao. He learned that a competing purchasing station had opened by the market and planned to inspect it.

• Zhao Hui bought Li Long's hides and left, while Li Long calculated a net profit of 4,100 yuan and expected more hunters to bring hides in winter.
• After the snow melted, Li Long visited his family and learned that Li Jianguo had found him a dairy goat and two kids for Mingming and Haohao.
• Li Long checked the lambs at Old Ma's Place and confirmed that rooms were ready for Professor Luo and his group, asking Uncle Lao Luo to heat them before their arrival.
• Li Long brought the goat and kids to the Big Courtyard, where Mingming and Haohao happily reached out to play with them.
• Li Long learned that another purchasing station had opened by the market, attracting sellers, and decided to investigate the competitor.

Li Long visited the new purchasing station in the market and learned that its buyer, Yang Guifang, was a disgraced former Supply and Marketing Cooperative employee. He discussed her harsh buying tactics with Li Xiangqian, then agreed to help publicize a renovation project for pastoralists’ homes.

• Li Long milked his dairy goat and shared the fresh milk with Mingming, Haohao, and Han Fang.
• Li Long visited the market’s new purchasing station and overheard Yang Guifang bargaining hard with sellers over hides and cashmere.
• Li Xiangqian identified Yang Guifang as a former Purchasing Section employee who had been forced into internal retirement after taking petty advantages.
• Li Long told Li Xiangqian that he was not worried about Yang Guifang’s station because its harsh treatment of sellers would not last.
• Li Long agreed to take Li Xiangqian and a reporter along when he helped renovate pastoralists’ Winter Camps after their spring move.

Li Long’s Purchasing Station gained business after its rival collapsed over fraud and poor storage, and he continued supplying the mountain herders. While waiting for Harimu to return, Li Long went to soak in Hot Spring Ravine, where a brown bear suddenly lunged at him.

• Li Long reassured Gu Boyuan that the new Purchasing Station would not threaten his business, then expanded his purchases to include old books.
• Yang Guifang was taken away by Public Security for falsifying accounts, and customers reported that the rival station had let goods rot in storage.
• Li Long delivered Chlorfenson to Harimu and learned that the herders planned to wash their sheep before moving into the mountains.
• Li Long returned to Harimu’s camp with supplies, but Harimu was away, so he unloaded them and went to Hot Spring Ravine to soak.
• A water rat darted through the spring, and a brown bear followed it out and charged at Li Long.

Li Long survived a brown bear attack at the hot springs, killing the bear with his knife and rifle despite being wounded and caught naked. After salvaging its paws, gallbladder, hide, and meat, he returned to the cabin to recover, shaken by how close he had come to being killed.

• A brown bear charged Li Long at the hot spring, clawed his chest and arm, and chased him through the pools while his rifle was unloaded and unusable.
• Li Long grabbed his knife, wounded the bear in the belly, and escaped its attacks by dodging and throwing mud into its eye.
• The bear fled into the woods, and Li Long pursued it barefoot before putting on his shoes, loading his Type 56, and shooting it several times until it fell.
• Li Long confirmed the bear was dead, then removed its paws and gallbladder before returning to the Jeep for clothes and sacks.
• Li Long skinned the bear, packed its meat and hide, washed at the hot spring, and drove to the wooden cabin to rest and tend to his injuries.

After killing a bear, Li Long brought its meat and hide back to the County Seat, shared bear meat with people who had helped him, and returned home to his family. The next day, he gave gifts to Li Xiangqian and Ma Xiaoyan, who agreed to accompany him to see the pastoralists’ sheep-washing pool.

• Li Long roasted bear meat at the Small Wooden Cabin, packed the meat and hide into his vehicle, and drove back to the County Seat.
• Li Long delivered bear meat and a paw to Director Qian in Beiting City, then bought two sets of tack before returning home.
• Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia worried about Li Long’s dangerous bear hunt, but Li Long assured them he was fine.
• The next morning, Li Long gave Li Xiangqian a bear paw and meat, then brought bear meat to Ma Xiaoyan at the County Party Committee Compound.
• Li Long told Ma Xiaoyan he planned to visit the pastoralists’ sheep-washing pool, and she arranged to go with him after lunch.

Li Long visited Old Ma's Place and his eldest brother's courtyard, checking on the livestock operation and sharing bear meat with the family and neighbors. After taking home fish and alfalfa, he picked up Ma Xiaoyan at the county Party committee compound and set off with her.

• Li Long saw the flood damage at Reed Gully, then learned his saline-alkali field had been sown and found the sheep away grazing.
• Uncle Lao Luo told Li Long about the livestock, the township officer's interview request, and the animals ready for sale; Li Long approved selling some sheep and piglets and having a wild boar slaughtered for the visiting professors.
• Li Long returned to Li Jianguo's courtyard and rendered bear meat with Du Chunfang, while Sister-in-Law Lu exchanged crucian carp for bear bones and meat.
• Li Long collected dried deer placentas and sorted alfalfa at Old Ma's Place, then dropped the fish and alfalfa at the Big Courtyard.
• Li Long picked up Ma Xiaoyan at the county Party committee compound and drove away with her.

Li Long took Ma Xiaoyan to the mountain sheep-washing pool, where she photographed the work and interviewed the herders. After they loaded animal products and discussed supplies for the herders’ move, Ma Xiaoyan asked Li Long to stop so she could gather mushrooms, revealing her practical reason for coming along.

• Li Long drove Ma Xiaoyan to Harimu’s winter camp, where Harimu, Talihaal, Jade Mountain River, and the others washed sheep in the new pool.
• Li Long helped herd sheep and reassured Harimu about wasted Chlorfenson; Harimu told him that the pool saved the herders time and that brown bears had been seen nearby.
• Ma Xiaoyan interviewed the herders, and they praised Li Long after he described killing a brown bear despite being clawed.
• Li Long promised to bring bullets and other supplies, agreed to buy snow lotuses, and loaded animal products from the herders into the Jeep.
• On the way back, Ma Xiaoyan asked Li Long to stop at a ravine so she could gather mushrooms, and she filled her cloth bag before they headed to the county seat.

Li Long returned home with two Fawns and spent the next day buying goods at his Purchasing Station. Meanwhile, Professor Luo recruited five students for a month-long agricultural research trip to a village, while Li Long ended the chapter meeting a late seller with valuable muskrat skins and musk pouches.

• Li Long brought two Fawns home, checked that his wound was healing, and shared a meal with Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long bought rabbit and muskrat skins, licorice, old books, and other goods from a long queue at the Purchasing Station, correcting one seller who tried to pass off Sophora alopecuroides as licorice.
• Professor Luo secured the commitment of five students, including He Lijuan, to join his research project and told them to pack for an early departure the next morning.
• Li Long started to leave the Purchasing Station but returned to inspect a late seller's seven muskrat skins and two badger hides, learning that the man had three musk pouches to sell.

He Lijuan prepared to join Professor Luo’s research trip to the countryside despite Xu Hongxia’s warnings about rural hardships. Li Long arranged transport, lodging, and meals for the arriving researchers, then organized a pork-killing feast to welcome them to the Fourth Team.

• He Lijuan packed for the trip while Xu Hongxia warned her about rural food, water, sleeping conditions, mice, and safety; He Lijuan decided to go anyway.
• Li Long left the Purchasing Station after Li Xiangqian told him Professor Luo wanted to speak with him, and Zhou Yuan welcomed him at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long explained his idea for improving saline-alkali land with Professor Luo’s help, and Li Xiangqian agreed to arrange a truck for the researchers.
• Professor Luo told Li Long that he and five students would arrive the next morning with equipment, and Li Long confirmed that transport, lodging, and meals were arranged.
• Li Long returned to the Fourth Team, told Uncle Lao Luo the researchers were coming, and organized a pig slaughter and welcome feast with help from local men.

Li Long brought Professor Luo and the Agricultural College students to the village for a month of research on reclaiming saline-alkali land, while the villagers prepared an unusually generous welcome. After settling in and enjoying a pork feast, Professor Luo went with Li Long to inspect the heavily crusted fields.

• Tao Jianshe decided to set nets and bring fish for the visiting researchers, explaining that Li Long’s project could benefit the whole Team.
• On the journey to Ma County, Professor Luo appointed Hu Dongfeng group leader and reminded the students to help one another and focus on their work.
• Li Long met the researchers at the bus station, impressed them by carrying heavy equipment and luggage, and drove most of them to the village in a Jeep.
• The villagers welcomed the students with rooms, a pork feast, fish, wild greens, elm seeds, and eggs, easing He Lijuan and Zhu Yuechan’s worries about rural conditions.
• After lunch, Professor Luo inspected the saline-alkali land with Li Long and found its crust thicker than he had expected.

Professor Luo and his students settled into the Fourth Team and were surprised by the villagers’ generous hospitality. Li Long and Xu Chengjun arranged supplies and a separate experiment room, then Professor Luo inspected the saline-alkali fields and began assessing the sugar beet seedlings.

• Uncle Lao Luo refused Professor Luo’s offer of food and lodging money, and the students discussed how prosperous and welcoming the village seemed.
• Li Long returned to the county seat, bought hides and medicinal herbs at the Purchasing Station, and told his family the researchers had settled in well.
• Li Long visited Old Ma's Place, where Professor Luo asked for simpler meals and Li Long offered to move the experiments out of the dormitory into a cleared storeroom.
• Xu Chengjun arrived with Xu Haijun, welcomed Professor Luo and the students, and assigned Xu Haijun to oversee their supplies and help clear an experiment room.
• Professor Luo went with Li Long to inspect the saline-alkali land and resolved to study the soil and find a way to improve it.

Li Long supported Professor Luo’s saline-alkali research project while continuing his trading and supply work, and Jiang Zhiyu brought township officials to meet the research team. The chapter ended with Li Long accepting this year’s order for four thousand Taibazi, while learning that the quota might disappear next year.

• Xu Haijun offered to supply vegetables and help Professor Luo’s research team, hoping to get closer to the two female students, but the students mostly asked him about Li Long.
• Li Long sold hides and medicinal materials, then met Jiang Zhiyu, who learned that he had proposed the research project to Professor Luo and began reporting on it.
• The township head and Party secretary visited Professor Luo’s team, pledged support, and appointed Jiang Zhiyu as the team’s liaison.
• Li Long delivered supplies to Harimu and the other pastoralists, who moved their herds to the Summer Pasture as the season changed.
• Li Long noticed that fritillaria collection had begun and considered reopening the mountain exchange point, while Professor Luo’s team continued testing without clear results.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the Cooperative had a quota of four thousand Taibazi at nine yuan each for him, but warned that there might be no quota next year; Li Long accepted this year’s order.

Li Long organized another Taibazi-weaving job, recruiting workers from the Fourth Team and Qingshui River Village while arranging for Li Jianguo to join them. Xu Haijun hesitated between going to the mountains to earn money and staying near He Lijuan, as Jiang Zhiyu interviewed people about Li Long and the students discussed Xu Haijun’s interest in He Lijuan.

• Li Long told Li Jianguo that a four-thousand-Taibazi order had arrived, and Li Jianguo agreed to join the work while Liang Yuemei handled the farm work.
• Li Long asked Xie Yundong to organize workers from the Fourth Team and told Xu Haijun about the job, leaving Xu Haijun torn between earning money and pursuing He Lijuan.
• Li Long recruited Liang Wenyu and workers from Qingshui River Village, then accepted He Yuqing and Meng Hai’s invitation to stay for a meal.
• Jiang Zhiyu interviewed Uncle Lao Luo and Xu Haijun about Li Long, while Xu Haijun’s account left her unsure how he had changed.
• He Lijuan and Zhu Yuechan discussed whether Xu Haijun was pursuing He Lijuan, and He Lijuan praised both Li Long and Xu Haijun.

Li Long prepared the Wooden Cabin as an exchange point and discovered that Sun Jiaqiang had been maintaining it while digging fritillaria. Sun Jiaqiang asked Li Long to help him register his household in Northern Xinjiang, and Li Long agreed to consider it based on his work, promising a job if he proved himself.

• Li Jianguo, Lu Yingming, Tao Jianshe, and Xie Yundong arranged to travel to the mountains to weave Taibazi, while Xu Haijun chose the work over pursuing He Lijuan for now.
• Li Long bought supplies in the County Seat and drove into the mountains to prepare the Wooden Cabin and check on the work at Small White Poplar Gully.
• Li Long found the Wooden Cabin cleaned and repaired, guessed Sun Jiaqiang had been maintaining it, and decided to wait for him before continuing.
• Sun Jiaqiang returned with fritillaria and asked Li Long to hire him to watch the exchange point, offering to work for less than before.
• Sun Jiaqiang explained that his relatives had failed to arrange his household registration and demanded three thousand yuan, so Li Long offered to help if Sun Jiaqiang worked well and promised to find him a paying job.

Li Long found that robbers had occupied Small White Poplar Gully and threatened Li Jianguo’s group, so he confronted them and rescued a woman they had abducted. He handed the men and most of their stolen goods over to Bolati, then left one sack of Fritillaria behind.

• Sun Jiaqiang told Li Long that he had stayed at the shelter for four days and described the wild boars that passed it nightly.
• Li Long warned Sun Jiaqiang to protect himself while trading Fritillaria, then drove to Small White Poplar Gully and found Li Jianguo’s group facing seven armed men.
• Li Long fired a warning shot, shot the burly leader in the leg when he refused to surrender, and forced the others to give themselves up.
• Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun freed an abducted woman from an Earth Cellar, and she recovered her belongings and struck one of the robbers with her stick.
• Li Long questioned the robbers and gathered their stolen goods while Li Jianguo’s group guarded them.
• Bolati arrived with two riders, took the robbers and their belongings, and left one sack of Fritillaria for Li Long.