Chapter Summaries

Li Long arranged the final Taibazi collection, settled payments, and prepared to bring the weavers home from the mountains. After the last batch was inspected and loaded, he left to search deeper in the mountains for morels.

• Li Long arranged extra vehicles with Li Xiangqian and gave Ma Xiaoyan practical gifts before preparing medicinal herbs for sale.
• Li Long visited Qingshui River Village, counted the finished Taibazi, and paid He Yuqing for the previous two collections.
• Li Long shot a wild boar near Small White Poplar Gully and found that some weavers had been digging fritillaria in nearby gullies.
• Li Long agreed with Xie Yundong to announce the end of weaving only when the collection vehicles arrived, then delivered nang and helped Sun Jiaqiang load fritillaria.
• Li Long led the cooperative inspectors and trucks into the mountains, where the Taibazi were checked and the weavers prepared to return home.
• Li Long left the collection site and drove deeper into the mountains to pick morels.

Li Long paid the Fourth Team’s Taibazi workers and collected the final payment from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, while offering Xu Haijun and Liang Wenyu opportunities to pursue future work. He ended the chapter considering how to save for a high-horsepower tractor and profit from mechanized farm services.

• Li Long visited Professor Luo at the Fourth Team and agreed to take the university students to the County Seat the next morning.
• Li Long paid Xie Yundong 6,500 yuan for his group’s Taibazi work, including a management fee, and left 1,350 yuan for his eldest older brother.
• Li Long paid Xu Haijun’s group and Xu Haijun admitted he had once considered taking the Taibazi work for himself; Li Long urged him to consider a steady job outside the Team.
• Li Long paid Liang Wenyu a management fee and suggested that he organize workers to make Big Brooms from Achnatherum splendens in the coming years.
• Li Long collected more than ten thousand yuan for the final Taibazi batch from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and decided to save toward buying a high-horsepower tractor.

Li Long took five university students to explore the county town, where they shopped and visited the Shaanxi Guild Hall before returning to Old Ma's Place. The students gave gifts to their hosts and Li Long, who was surprised and pleased by the picture frame they chose for his family.

• Li Long drove the five university students from the Fourth Team to the county town after buying Chinese chess sets, playing cards, and egg cake for the villagers and Professor Luo.
• The students shopped at the Department Store and market, while Li Long checked on the Purchasing Station and walked through the market.
• The students skipped the films at the Cultural Palace because they had already seen them, then visited the Shaanxi Guild Hall before heading back.
• The students gave hats to Uncle Lao Luo and the other hosts, a notebook to Professor Luo, and a picture frame to Li Long.

Li Long received news that he had been named a prefectural Ethnic Unity Advanced Individual, an honor he welcomed as protection for his business. He prepared to attend the commendation meeting in Beiting with Li Xiangqian and considered what local specialties to bring for former colleagues.

• Li Long discussed Professor Luo’s promising fertilizer experiments on the sugar beet plot and brought the requested fertilizers from the Purchasing Station.
• Li Long advised villagers who had planted seed watermelons on how to manage pests and fertilize their crops.
• Zhou Yuan told Li Long that he had received a prefectural Ethnic Unity Advanced Individual honor and invited him to discuss the upcoming commendation meeting with Director Li.
• Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Boyuan congratulated Li Long and discussed how his new honor could help shield the Purchasing Station from trouble.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the prefectural commendation meeting would be held the following Monday, and Director Wei invited them to a meal in Beiting.
• Li Long decided he would visit Director Qian during the trip and wondered which local specialties to bring.

Li Long learned that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative planned to put him forward as a county People's Congress Representative, then prepared for a meeting in Beiting City by gathering mountain specialties and buying goods from the Forestry Team. He returned to the Big Courtyard with over a tonne of fritillaria, along with hides and deer antlers given to him by Aili.

• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the county planned to select him as a People's Congress Representative and advised him to build connections during the trip to Beiting City.
• Li Long delivered supplies to Harimu's family and the Jade Mountain River Family, raised the buying price for fritillaria at the Wooden Cabin, and gathered more than three kilograms of morels.
• Li Long told Gu Boyuan about the upcoming meeting and planned to visit the Forestry Team to collect more goods before leaving.
• Li Long brought food, tea, sugar, and liquor to the Forestry Team's outpost, where Aili showed him their latest stock of fritillaria.
• Li Long bought 580 kilograms of fritillaria from Aili for 4,700 yuan, and Aili gave him the remaining hides and deer antlers.
• Li Long returned to the Big Courtyard and began unloading the goods, which brought his fritillaria stock to more than a tonne.

Li Long sold Jia Tianlong a large batch of medicinal materials for nearly 105,000 yuan, then sold Zhao Hui 278 animal hides for 11,830 yuan. After both deals, more than half his stored goods were gone, and he had made the biggest haul since his rebirth.

• Li Long prepared his medicinal materials for Jia Tianlong, who arrived with a truck and apologized for the delay.
• Li Long and Jia Tianlong weighed and inspected the medicinal materials, agreeing on a total just under 105,000 yuan, which Jia rounded up.
• Jia Tianlong left in a hurry to send the goods to Wu City, and Li Long planned to deposit most of the cash.
• Zhao Hui arrived to check Li Long's pelts, agreed to buy them, and returned with money and a truck.
• Zhao Hui and Li Long inspected and priced 278 hides, which Zhao bought for 11,830 yuan.

Li Long kept the Purchasing Station supplied with cash and processed its growing stock of fritillaria before driving Li Xiangqian to Beiting City for the Ethnic Unity Commendation Ceremony. At Director Qian’s home, Director Qian and Director Wei warmly welcomed Li Long inside, leaving the visitors outside curious about his standing.

• Li Long deposited most of his money, kept twenty thousand as working capital, and helped wash, dry, and bag the Purchasing Station’s medicinal herbs.
• Li Long collected more fritillaria from Sun Jiaqiang, then prepared to drive Li Xiangqian to Beiting City for the ceremony.
• Li Long and Li Xiangqian registered at their hotel, brought gifts, and drove to Director Qian’s home, where several other visitors were waiting.
• Li Long alerted Li Xiangqian that the door was opening, and the two made their way inside after Director Wei emerged with Director Qian.
• Director Qian and Director Wei warmly greeted Li Long and invited him and Li Xiangqian in, prompting the waiting visitors to wonder who Li Long was.

Li Long visited Director Qian with Li Xiangqian, discussed his work and future, and received an invitation to lunch. At a late-night drinking gathering, he met officials from other cooperatives and considered expanding his purchasing work, while Li Xiangqian revealed he had kept sober enough to drive through the evening’s pressure.

• Director Qian introduced Li Long to Guan Fenghua, who urged him to take a permanent job, but Li Long explained why he wanted to remain independent and serve local herders and villages.
• Guan Fenghua praised Li Long’s brooms and suggested selling them beyond the Autonomous Region, giving him an idea for expanding their market.
• Director Qian invited Li Long to lunch the next day, and Li Long gave morels to Director Wei before driving Li Xiangqian to meet Director Ye and other officials.
• At the drinking gathering, Li Long met Tang Zhiqiang and other cooperative officials, learned about their purchasing stations and lower prices, and considered entering their markets discreetly.
• Li Long drove Li Xiangqian away after the gathering, and Li Xiangqian admitted he had managed the drinking carefully and was only somewhat dizzy.

After receiving a prefectural commendation, Li Long met Biersi Bahabai, a representative from neighboring Hu County, and invited him to sell local goods at Li Long’s Purchasing Station in Ma County. Li Long later visited Director Qian, discussed expanding Big Broom production, and shared a meal with him and Sister Guan.

• After a night of heavy drinking, Li Xiangqian slept through the night while Li Long got up early and washed in the hotel’s communal washroom.
• At breakfast, Li Long met Biersi Bahabai and told him his Purchasing Station paid better prices for fritillaria and Mongolian gazelle hides than buyers in Hu County.
• Biersi wrote down Li Long’s prices, then joined him onstage to receive a prefectural commendation and gained confidence that Li Long’s offer was genuine.
• Li Long and Li Xiangqian went their separate ways after the meeting, with Li Long buying fruit before visiting Director Qian’s home for lunch.
• Director Qian told Li Long that demand for Big Brooms might rise and encouraged him to involve more villages; Li Long also recounted encountering a mother bear and cub before joining Director Qian and Sister Guan for a meal.

After visiting Director Qian, Li Long found Beiting’s private Happiness Purchasing Station and bought a large load of Fritillaria at a high price, turning a profit while persuading sellers to bring goods to his Ma County station. He returned home to unload the herbs, then drove back to Beiting, where he waited for Li Xiangqian’s drinking party to end as the station’s manager arrived to find fewer sellers than usual.

• Director Qian told Sister Guan that Li Long was best suited to working outside the system, where he could use his business to help villagers prosper.
• Li Long found the Happiness Purchasing Station and offered a tractor driver forty-five yuan per kilogram for his cleaned, sifted Fritillaria, buying about 235 kilograms.
• Li Long urged the driver to bring more Fritillaria to his Ma County purchasing station and told the other sellers they could bring their goods there too.
• Li Long drove home, unloaded the Fritillaria, collected more money, and returned to Beiting while Li Xiangqian continued drinking.
• Qi Shuohui arrived late at the Happiness Purchasing Station and noticed fewer sellers than usual.

After Li Long returned from the commendation ceremony with a hungover Li Xiangqian, he found the Purchasing Station overwhelmed by sellers drawn by its high prices. He organized the crowd, supplied more cash, and left the station buying goods through the afternoon as word of its prices continued to spread.

• Li Long cared for the drunken Li Xiangqian overnight, brought him breakfast, and drove him back to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
• Li Long found a large crowd at the Purchasing Station and organized the sellers into a queue while Gu Boyuan bought their goods.
• Li Long lent Gu Boyuan cash when the station began running short, and the sellers learned that the station offered attractive prices for medicinal herbs, snow lotus, and pelts.
• Guo Tiebing and Liu Bin arrived in police uniforms to check on the crowd and agreed to keep order while Li Long went to the bank.
• Li Long withdrew thirty thousand yuan, returned to the station, and helped Gu Boyuan buy goods as sellers kept arriving through the afternoon.

Li Long and Gu Boyuan handled a surge of sellers at the Ma County Purchasing Station after word spread that it paid better prices, while their cash and safety became concerns. The next day, sellers arrived from across Beiting Prefecture, as Sun Jiaqiang waited anxiously for Li Long to bring supplies to the Wooden Cabin.

• After a hectic day of purchases, Gu Boyuan tallied 382 kilograms of fritillaria and a net cash outflow of 19,832 yuan and 60 fen, and Li Long checked and signed the accounts.
• Li Long gave Gu Boyuan a shotgun for the night, and he returned to the Purchasing Station the next morning after a quiet night.
• Li Long and Gu Boyuan reopened the Purchasing Station, where local reseller Old Qiao sold hides and learned that sellers from Hu County were coming for the higher prices.
• Sellers from Hu County, Beiting City, Miquan, and Fukang arrived, while Li Long and Gu Boyuan kept purchasing through lunchtime and earned praise for their service.
• Sun Jiaqiang waited at the Wooden Cabin for Li Long, worried that supplies were running low and that his stored fritillaria might be stolen.

Qi Shuohui and Jiang Chunlin investigated the sharp drop in fritillaria sales, while Li Long’s purchasing station continued buying large quantities from nearby counties. That night, two thieves broke into the station, and Gu Boyuan fired his shotgun as one tried to escape.

• Qi Shuohui reported the plunge in fritillaria purchases to Jiang Chunlin, who investigated and found that resellers and herb gatherers had largely disappeared from Beiting and neighboring counties.
• Li Long’s station bought more than four hundred kilograms of dried fritillaria and received hides and snow lotuses, prompting Li Long to plan a supply trip to Sun Jiaqiang.
• Gu Boyuan secured the purchasing station, loaded his shotgun, and went to bed with it beside him.
• Two thieves climbed into the courtyard, forced a window open, and searched the counter for money but found only blank account books.
• Gu Boyuan confronted the thieves with his shotgun, and one dropped to his knees while the other tried to leap out the window.
• Gu Boyuan fired at the fleeing thief, and the gunshot alerted people nearby.

Gu Boyuan stopped two thieves from robbing the Purchasing Station, and Li Long returned to the Mountains with supplies and bought Bolati’s fritillaria. Bolati asked Li Long to find a courtyard house in the County Seat for his eldest son, while Li Long promised to collect more goods from the warehouse in a few days.

• Gu Boyuan shot one thief with a reduced-strength shotgun, restrained both thieves, and handed them over to Guo Tiebing and the police.
• Li Long reassured Gu Xiaoxia and the others that Gu Boyuan was safe, then drove to the Small Wooden Cabin with supplies.
• Sun Jiaqiang told Li Long that he had traded for over forty kilograms of dried fritillaria and had nearly run out of food and goods.
• Li Long met Bolati, bought two sacks of clean, dried fritillaria for a thousand yuan, and agreed to look for a County Seat courtyard house for Bolati’s eldest son.
• Li Long told Bolati he would collect the additional fritillaria stored at the warehouse in a couple of days.

Li Long helped Meng Hai organize villagers to cut broom handles, continued trading for Fritillaria, and prepared to sell his growing stock to Jia Tianlong. The chapter ended with Li Xiangqian learning that Beiting officials were considering an investigation into Li Long’s Purchasing Station and deciding to use his connections to stop them.

• Li Long approved Meng Hai’s plan to cut and sell broom handles, and Meng Hai gathered young men to begin organizing the work.
• Sun Jiaqiang traded supplies for Fritillaria at the Small Wooden Cabin while Li Long returned to the County Town and learned that two robbers would face heavy sentences.
• Li Long and Gu Boyuan continued purchasing Fritillaria as local sellers improved its quality and daily purchases declined.
• Jia Tianlong arrived with cash, and Li Long showed him the high-quality Fritillaria stock before they began weighing it.
• Li Xiangqian heard that Beiting officials might investigate Li Long’s Purchasing Station and decided to use his connections to warn them off.

Jade Mountain River tracked a predator into the mountains, wounded a Northern Xinjiang Tiger, and returned without catching it. Meanwhile, Li Long sold Jia Tianlong more than two tonnes of fritillaria for 147,622 yuan and arranged another shipment in five days.

• Jade Mountain River left Harimu to guard their herds and followed the tracks of the predator that had killed a wild mountain goat.
• Jade Mountain River found a Northern Xinjiang Tiger feeding on a red deer, fired at it as it charged, and wounded it before it escaped into the rocks.
• Jade Mountain River searched for the tiger until its tracks disappeared, then shot a wild mountain goat and returned to the pasture.
• Jade Mountain River told Harimu he had wounded the tiger, and the two men agreed it might be easier to hunt if they encountered it again.
• Li Long and Jia Tianlong graded and weighed more than two tonnes of fritillaria, agreeing on a total price of 147,622 yuan.
• Jia Tianlong paid Li Long and left with the shipment, while Li Long arranged for him to return in five days for another truckload.

Jade Mountain River waited for the Northern Xinjiang Tiger, but killed a snow leopard that attacked his sheepfold and planned to sell its pelt to Li Long. Meanwhile, Li Xiangqian warned Director Wei that Jiang Chunlin was trying to have Li Long dealt with, and Director Wei promised to intervene.

• Jade Mountain River searched the Summer Pasture for the tiger but found no wild animals and returned to his yurt.
• A snow leopard entered Jade Mountain River's sheepfold at night, killed two sheep, and was shot dead by Jade Mountain River.
• Harimu helped Jade Mountain River skin the snow leopard, and Jade Mountain River salted and hung the pelt to take to Li Long.
• Li Long deposited money and kept funds available for purchasing fritillaria and animal hides as his Purchasing Station drew more sellers.
• Li Xiangqian told Director Wei that Jiang Chunlin had asked local Industry and Commerce officials to target Li Long, and Director Wei promised to warn Jiang Chunlin.

Director Wei halted the cooperative’s sales of Xinjiang specialties to Jiang Chunlin and redirected the goods to local stores, citing the cooperative’s duty to serve the public. Jiang Chunlin realized he had angered the director and tried to restore the relationship, but Director Wei refused to meet or accept his proposed donations.

• Director Wei questioned Zhao Tianxing about the cooperative’s dealings with Jiang Chunlin and ordered him to stop selling Xinjiang specialties to outside traders.
• Zhao Tianxing canceled the cooperation with Jiang Chunlin and instructed clerks to distribute the warehouse stock through the city’s work units.
• Jiang Chunlin learned the cooperative had cut off his supplies and realized his upcoming shipment obligations could leave him facing contract penalties.
• Jiang Chunlin persuaded his Industry and Commerce contact to treat the dispute as a misunderstanding, then asked Zhao Tianxing to arrange a meeting with Director Wei.
• Director Wei declined to meet Jiang Chunlin and rejected his offer to donate goods to the cooperative.

Jiang Chunlin tried to bypass Director Wei by bribing a retired leader and appealing to Director Qian, but the prefectural federation refused to sell him the goods he wanted and tightened rules across its cooperatives. His business connections collapsed, and inspections and tax problems threatened to close the Happiness Purchasing Station; meanwhile, Director Wei and Li Xiangqian discussed whether Li Long might eventually build a legitimate sales route to Inland China.

• Jiang Chunlin gave household appliances to a retired prefectural leader, who introduced him to Director Qian.
• Director Qian appeared receptive to Jiang Chunlin but had the federation offer him bulky local goods instead of raisins, jujubes, and other sought-after products.
• After Director Qian learned the full story from Director Wei, he ordered cooperatives across Beiting Prefecture to stop reselling goods allocated for local markets, cutting off Jiang Chunlin's connections.
• Jiang Chunlin returned home to learn from Qi Shuohui that inspections had driven away sellers and reduced the Happiness Purchasing Station's purchases to less than a tenth of their usual level.
• Jiang Chunlin's brother-in-law warned him that the station faced closure unless he corrected its paperwork and paid overdue taxes.
• Director Wei told Li Xiangqian that Jiang Chunlin had missed a legitimate chance to sell local specialties, while Li Xiangqian suggested Li Long might someday develop the necessary sales channels.

Li Long’s Purchasing Station drew a flood of sellers after the Happiness Purchasing Station was shut down, and he bought a valuable bezoar before purchasing more fritillaria from Aili’s Forestry Team. The chapter ends with Li Long learning from Li Xiangqian that his own business had indirectly brought down the rival station.

• A tractor driver told Li Long that the Happiness Purchasing Station had been shut down for tax and paperwork violations, and that its owner’s other business had also been cut off.
• Wu Shuijun brought a suspected bezoar to Li Long’s Purchasing Station, and Liang Donglou identified it as a large gallbladder bezoar; Li Long bought it for two thousand yuan.
• Jia Tianlong arrived with too little money to buy all the fritillaria Li Long had accumulated, so Li Long kept the remaining stock and later went to collect fritillaria from Aili’s Forestry Team.
• Li Long bought more than 1.5 tonnes of fritillaria from Aili and took home fermented mare’s milk, while some of the delayed harvest had spoiled in storage.
• As the fritillaria season slowed, Li Long improved service for sellers with tea and orderly purchasing, and Li Xiangqian told him that he had indirectly caused the Happiness Purchasing Station’s downfall.