Chapter Summaries

Liu Xinjun failed to persuade Li Long to sell him mushrooms, then searched for suppliers in Hu County. Meanwhile, Li Jianguo tested the Li family's new tractor by reclaiming saline-alkali land, drawing villagers' interest and prompting Wang the Miser to worry about losing plowing work.

• Liu Xinjun left Li Long's purchasing station after learning Li Long considered his offer too low, and he went to look for suppliers in nearby counties.
• Li Long speculated that Liu Xinjun might be connected to Huang Lei and planned to visit Beiting to pay Qi Zhigang the promised referral fee.
• Li Jianguo used the Dongfanghong 75 Tractor to plow the family's roughly forty-mu plot as villagers watched and gathered roots, herbs, and insects from the turned soil.
• Lu Yingming, Tao Jianshe, and other villagers praised Li Jianguo's deep plowing, while Wang the Miser worried that the Li family's new tractor would take away his customers.
• Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia kept plowing until nearly thirty mu had been reclaimed, and Liu Xinjun later found that Hu County's purchasing station bought mixed, unsorted mushrooms.

Li Long continued buying mushrooms at the Purchasing Station while Liu Xinjun returned hoping to secure a supply deal. He arrived as Huang Lei was paying for mushrooms Li Long had reserved, and the two businessmen clashed over the goods before Huang left with his shipment.

• Li Long kept the Purchasing Station busy buying dried mushrooms, while Sun Jiaqiang worked harder after receiving a fifty-yuan bonus.
• After struggling to find mushroom suppliers elsewhere, Liu Xinjun traveled to Ma County to try to make a deal with Li Long.
• Huang Lei arrived with money from his partner and paid Li Long 12,930 yuan for the mushrooms he had reserved.
• Liu Xinjun saw Huang Lei and the mushrooms, accused Li Long of dishonesty, and learned that Huang had reserved the stock before Liu's earlier visit.
• Huang Lei confronted Liu Xinjun for trying to poach his business partner, then left with the purchased mushrooms and planned to return to Li Long.

Li Long sold several hundred kilograms of dried mushrooms to Huang Lei and thanked Chen Hongjun and Qi Zhiguo for helping establish the business connection. After rewarding them for their introductions, he left with the Purchasing Station’s main sales channels secured and planned to seek buyers for its smaller categories.

• Huang Lei bought several hundred kilograms of dried mushrooms from Li Long, while the Purchasing Station continued drawing sellers with its fair prices and friendly service.
• Li Long visited Chen Hongjun in Beiting City to explain the successful sale and invite him and Qi Zhiguo to lunch.
• Chen Hongjun’s coworkers discussed Li Long’s connections and tried to arrange a match for him, but Chen said Li Long was married with two children.
• Qi Zhiguo eagerly asked Li Long about Huang Lei, and Li Long confirmed that Huang had bought the mushrooms and become a long-term business partner.
• Li Long gave envelopes of money to Chen Hongjun and Qi Zhiguo to thank them, and Chen accepted his share after Li Long insisted.
• After lunch, Chen Hongjun explained that he had few more contacts to introduce, while Li Long said he would look for buyers for the Purchasing Station’s smaller categories.

Qi Zhiguo received five hundred yuan from Li Long for introducing Huang Lei, while Li Long used the payment to attract more connections for his Purchasing Station. After Xu Haijun reported that someone had entered Li Long’s mountain cabin and left blood and wolf tracks, Li Long began preparing to investigate.

• Qi Zhiguo counted the five hundred yuan Li Long had paid him and hid it in a sewn inner pocket, imagining that the money could help him buy a home for his wife.
• Chen Hongjun took the dried mushrooms Li Long had given him to his mother and opened his envelope to find five hundred yuan.
• Li Long visited Li Jianguo at the Fourth Team, where Li Jianguo and Wang the Miser maintained the Dongfanghong 75 and discussed its operation.
• Xu Haijun told Li Long that his group had gathered over three thousand poles and found someone living in a nearby Winter Camp.
• Xu Haijun reported that Li Long’s cabin door had been broken open and that there was blood and wolf paw prints by the entrance, prompting Li Long to prepare for a trip into the mountains.

Li Long traveled into the mountains to check the Winter Camp and Wooden Cabin, gathering wild strawberries and mushrooms along the way. He found wild boars at the cabin, shot two, and discovered that an unknown visitor had broken in, left blood and cartridge cases, and defiled the Small Wooden Cabin.

• Li Long prepared his Jeep and supplies, then drove into the mountains to inspect the Winter Camp and Wooden Cabin.
• Li Long picked wild strawberries and black tiger's paw mushrooms before spotting a herd of wild boars near the Wooden Cabin.
• Two gray wolves attacked the herd, and Li Long shot a young sow as the boars scattered; he also recovered a piglet the wolves had killed.
• Li Long found the Wooden Cabin's lock and hinges damaged, bedding stained with blood and shoeprints, and rifle cartridge cases on the floor.
• Li Long cleaned the cabin, repaired its doors, and went to butcher the two boars by the Spring Eye.

Li Long processed the wild boar meat at the Wooden Cabin while waiting for the armed stranger who had previously occupied it. When the man returned, Li Long overpowered him, found a large haul of silver and valuable weapons, and forced him to reveal a hidden treasure cave before setting off with him.

• Li Long salted and smoked some of the wild boar meat, prepared the rest, and hid his Jeep while waiting for the stranger to return.
• The armed man came back to the Wooden Cabin, and Li Long confirmed he was the intruder by hearing him mention his earlier stay and encounter with wolves.
• Li Long tricked the wary man into lowering his guard, knocked him down, disarmed him, and searched him and his black bag.
• Li Long found hundreds of silver dollars, silver sycees, gold pieces, an imitation pistol, and an ornate saber, then fired beside the man's head to frighten him.
• The man wet himself and confessed that he had found the valuables in a mountain cave, so Li Long ordered him to lead the way.

Li Long discovered a hidden cache of weapons, silver dollars, and US banknotes, but realized the haul was too large and dangerous to keep. After handing Xie Youcai over to Bolati, Li Long returned to the county town and sought help from Li Xiangqian.

• Xie Youcai led Li Long through the mountains and revealed a concealed cave where Usman's forces had hidden their loot.
• Li Long found dozens of crates containing old weapons, silver dollars, and banknotes, took only a few bundles, and forced Xie Youcai to leave with him.
• Li Long escorted Xie Youcai back to the cabin and handed him and his guns over to Bolati for the Forestry Team to investigate.
• Li Long packed up the meat, drove to the county town, and told Sister Yang he might be home late or not at all.
• Li Long went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, waited until Zhou Yuan had left, and placed silver dollars on Li Xiangqian's desk, saying something big had happened.

Li Long discovered a hidden cave containing weapons, money, and equipment, then reported it to county officials, who organized a trip to retrieve the cache. His honesty earned praise, and Li Xiangqian told him his representative seat was nearly secured; Li Long later kept two bundles of US dollars he had taken from the cave and decided to stay quiet about them.

• Li Long told Li Xiangqian that he had found Xie Youcai and a cave stocked with weapons and treasure, and Li Xiangqian contacted county officials.
• Tan Yaohui and Hao Youlin coordinated with county leaders and departments, then led a convoy into the mountains with Li Long as guide.
• Public Security officers and forestry workers inspected the cave and retrieved crates of guns, sabers, silver dollars, foreign currency, and machinery.
• Li Xiangqian praised Li Long’s discovery and said his representative seat was as good as secured, while the group carried the cache back to the county.
• Li Long returned home, showed Gu Xiaoxia the US dollars and silver dollars, and agreed that they should not tell anyone about the money he had kept.

After Li Long reported his actions, he learned that Xie Youcai had died in custody and that the county planned to commend him for recovering a large cache of weapons and valuables. He continued trading with Aili at the Forestry Team Post, then learned that his appointment as a county representative had been approved, just as he remembered the things he had left at the Wooden Cabin.

• Li Long told Gu Boyuan about confronting Xie Youcai, then went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to learn what had happened.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that Xie Youcai had been beaten to death by a Kazakh Forest Ranger before the planned handover, and that the killer had been dismissed and handed over to the police.
• Li Xiangqian read out the recovered cache's inventory and said county leaders intended to commend and reward Li Long, though the valuables required approval from higher authorities.
• Li Long returned to the Purchasing Station, bought old objects brought in by sellers, and later visited Aili and Bolati at the Forestry Team Post to purchase mushrooms, Fritillaria, and antiquities.
• Aili told Li Long that he had become deputy team leader and would reserve the warehouse goods for him, then hosted him for hand-grabbed mutton.
• Li Long learned that his appointment as a county representative had been approved, and remembered the things he had left at the Wooden Cabin.

Li Long retrieved the hidden silver and saber, learned that he had been elected a County Representative, and began considering how joining the organization could help him influence the Fourth Team. At the Purchasing Station, he sold Huang Lei a large shipment of dried mushrooms, then heard from Jia Tianlong that a buyer in Inland China wanted huge quantities of watermelon seeds.

• Li Long brought back nearly six hundred silver dollars and stored them with his other valuables, keeping the jeweled saber in a hidden compartment at home.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the investigation was classified, that his role would be kept secret, and that he had been elected a County Representative.
• Li Long decided to write an application to join the organization through the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, with the plan to transfer his affiliation to the Fourth Team later.
• Li Long helped Huang Lei hire a truck and sell nearly eight hundred kilograms of dried mushrooms for 23,264.8 yuan.
• Jia Tianlong arrived at the Purchasing Station and told Li Long that he had found an Inland China buyer seeking enormous quantities of watermelon seeds.

Jia Tianlong bought Li Long’s medicinal materials and agreed to find a buyer for his collection of old objects. Li Long then went to Beiting to negotiate the Prefectural Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives’ watermelon seeds, leaving Director Qian to consider what price to charge him.

• Jia Tianlong bought the Purchasing Station’s medicinal materials for more than sixteen thousand yuan and took a jade snuff bottle from Li Long as a keepsake.
• Jia Tianlong promised to contact a buyer for Li Long’s old objects and bring the buyer to the Purchasing Station in three or four days.
• Li Long gave Sun Jiaqiang a fifty-yuan bonus and paid Gu Boyuan his four-thousand-yuan share of the day’s earnings.
• Li Long told Gu Boyuan he planned to buy the federation’s watermelon seeds and sell them to a buyer Jia Tianlong had introduced.
• Li Long went to Beiting, gave Xiao Si packages for him and Director Qian, and waited to meet Director Qian.
• Li Long explained the buyer’s offer and his plan to press the seeds flat, and Director Qian considered what price to charge him for the warehouse stock.

Li Long brought ten tons of watermelon seeds from the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Federation to the Fourth Team for processing and organized trusted households to soak and flatten them. After assigning the entire batch, he left the work in Li Jianguo’s hands and returned to the county town with dried velvet antlers and sugar residue.

• Director Qian approved Li Long taking ten tons of old watermelon seeds at the Cooperative’s purchase price and reminded him to prioritize the big broom order.
• Li Long paid twenty thousand yuan for the seeds, drove them to the Fourth Team, and arranged to pay workers ten yuan per sack to flatten them.
• Li Jianguo suggested distributing the sacks to reliable households, and Liang Yuemei recorded the weights and turned away a neighbor she did not trust.
• Li Long and Li Jianguo recruited trusted families, who quickly took all the watermelon seeds home to process; Li Long told disappointed latecomers that another batch might follow if the trial succeeded.
• Li Jianguo promised to inspect the finished seeds, while Li Long collected vegetables, dried velvet antlers, and sugar residue before returning to the county town.

Xu Chengjun considered whether Li Long’s watermelon-seed work offered a chance to profit without crossing him, while Li Long went to his Purchasing Station to meet antiques buyer Ye Quanfeng. Ye Quanfeng spotted the gilt horse tack and asked about a matching saber, leaving Li Long wondering whether he was probing for the weapon Li Long had kept hidden.

• Xu Chengjun and Xu Haijun discussed the uncertain market for the watermelon seeds and decided not to cut Li Long out of the business.
• Li Long stayed home with Mingming and Haohao before heading to the Purchasing Station after Sun Jiaqiang reported that an antiques buyer wanted to meet him.
• Li Long received Ye Quanfeng and Wen Chaozong, then showed Ye the antiques in his storeroom while keeping Wen outside.
• Ye Quanfeng admired the gilt horse tack and asked whether Li Long also had a saber, making Li Long suspect that the buyer was probing for the hidden weapon.

Li Long refused to sell a set of gilt horse tack cheaply and organized villagers to flatten and collect watermelon seeds for sale. After Jia Tianlong brought buyers from Inland China to inspect the seeds, Li Long hosted them and prepared to learn what they would offer.

• Li Long rejected Ye Quanfeng's offer of a thousand yuan for the horse tack and asked ten thousand, so Ye Quanfeng left without buying it.
• Li Long visited households in the Fourth Team and checked their progress flattening watermelon seeds, while estimating how much the village could process.
• Li Long returned the next morning to collect the villagers' flattened seeds, and Li Jianguo and others transported them to the Purchasing Station.
• Jia Tianlong arrived with Dong Zhichao and Ye Lanlan, buyers from a roasted goods factory in Inland China, and Li Long hosted them at Tuanfeng Tower.

Li Long sold ten tonnes of unusually flat, easy-to-crack watermelon seeds to Dong Zhichao after negotiating the price up to 2.75 yuan per kilo. Dong Zhichao later failed to find similar seeds elsewhere, while Li Long reported the sale to Director Qian and left their future business uncertain.

• Li Long showed Dong Zhichao, Ye Lanlan, and Jia Tianlong roasted seeds and compared them with Ye Lanlan's factory's product, revealing that Li Long's seeds cracked more easily and yielded whole kernels.
• Li Long let Dong Zhichao inspect the sacks of seeds, then argued that their quality justified a higher price and warned that he would not do future business at the original rate.
• Dong Zhichao agreed to buy the ten-tonne batch for 2.75 yuan per kilo, and Li Long arranged a truck to transport it to the Roasted Goods Factory.
• Ye Lanlan questioned whether Dong Zhichao had paid too little, but he defended the deal and believed other suppliers could provide similar seeds.
• Dong Zhichao searched nearby markets, Southern Xinjiang, and Gansu Province for flat watermelon seeds but found none like Li Long's.
• Li Long reported the sale to Director Qian, who accepted the outcome and invited him to lunch.

Li Long proposed a Cultivator to Factory Director Du and arranged to fetch more Harvesters, then visited Li Anguo’s family with supplies. Meanwhile, the Roasted Goods Factory’s unusually good melon seeds prompted competitors to trace their Northern Xinjiang source to Jia Tianlong, who was approached about Watermelon Seeds.

• Li Long returned to his Purchasing Station, where he advised a seller not to uproot Snow Lotuses and checked that Gu Boyuan and Sun Jiaqiang were managing the queues well.
• Li Long learned his representative position was confirmed, donated desks and benches to schools, and received advice from Li Xiangqian to focus on helping villagers prosper through his operations.
• After Harvesters sold out, Gu Boyuan asked Li Long to bring back another load, and Li Long arranged a truck and prepared rice, flour, and Dried Meat for Li Anguo’s family.
• Li Long met Factory Director Du in Kuytun, ordered ten Harvesters, and proposed a Cultivator; Factory Director Du agreed to pay him a commission on future units and considered making a Watermelon Seeds flattening machine.
• Li Long left the Harvesters for delivery and drove to Li Anguo’s new home with meat and supplies, while neighbors watched him unload the Jeep.
• Roasted Goods Factory customers sought more of the unusually clean-cracking melon seeds, and competitors traced the improved batch’s raw materials to Northern Xinjiang before approaching Jia Tianlong about Watermelon Seeds.

Li Long secured a higher-paying contract to supply Watermelon Seeds to Bai Xiuming’s Shaanxi company after Dong Zhichao’s factory failed to value the product. He bought more seeds from the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Federation, distributed them to local households for processing, and considered whether Bai Xiuming might also buy flower sunflower seeds.

• Jia Tianlong told Dong Zhichao that Bai Xiuming planned to approach Li Long, but Dong Zhichao dismissed the importance of flat-ended Watermelon Seeds.
• Bai Xiuming met Li Long and agreed to buy twenty tonnes at three yuan fifty per kilogram, with exclusive rights limited to fifty tonnes and a three-thousand-yuan deposit.
• Li Long informed Director Qian and bought twenty-one tonnes of Watermelon Seeds from the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Federation at a higher price.
• Li Long brought the seeds to the Fourth Team and paid local households ten yuan per sack to process them within five days.
• Li Qingxia asked whether the family could buy the team’s Watermelon Seeds in autumn, and Li Long said he would wait to see whether the growers could sell them themselves.

Li Long and Li Qingxia caught fish at Little Haizi, where Xu Chengjun asked Li Long for help selling the team’s watermelon seeds if prices fell. At a canteen, Bai Xiuming heard people praise Li Long’s work and reputation, which reassured him that Li Long would supply the seeds and could become a reliable business partner.

• Li Long and Li Qingxia went to Little Haizi, where Li Long caught several fish and Li Qingxia hauled in a huge bighead carp.
• Xu Chengjun asked Li Long whether the team could still grow watermelons, and Li Long explained that an oversupply might push prices down.
• Xu Chengjun asked Li Long to contact the Supply and Marketing Cooperative if the team could not sell its watermelon seeds, and Li Long agreed to ask.
• Bai Xiuming listened to diners praise Li Long’s donations, business success, and hard work, and their remarks eased his doubts about working with him.
• Bai Xiuming left the canteen expecting Li Long to provide enough watermelon seeds and hoping their business would continue.

Li Long sold Bai Xiuming more than twenty tonnes of carefully processed Watermelon Seeds, then collected the cooperative’s remaining stock and arranged for households to process it. He also picked up the new Watermelon Seed Flattening Machine from Factory Director Du, while the Cultivator continued to attract orders.

• Factory Director Du told Li Long that the Cultivator had been tested and the Agricultural Science Institute had ordered five, while Li Long discussed mechanization and a possible phone line with Li Xiangqian.
• Bai Xiuming inspected Li Long’s Watermelon Seeds, approved their quality, and bought 20 tonnes and 760 kilograms for 72,660 yuan.
• Li Long reported the sale to Director Qian and received permission to take the cooperative’s remaining Watermelon Seeds for processing.
• Li Long distributed the remaining seeds among households in the Fourth Team, then went to the Kuytun Farm Machinery Factory to collect the improved Watermelon Seed Flattening Machine.

Li Long tested a tractor-powered watermelon-seed-flattening machine at Tao Daqiang’s home, where it worked efficiently and was left for the family to use. Bai Xiuming later bought the remaining nineteen tonnes of seeds and agreed to a long-term partnership, while Dong Zhichao regretted that the Roasted Goods Factory had overlooked the opportunity.

• Li Long learned that Xu Chengjun had begun reclaiming land and considered how Xu used production-team opportunities to build his family’s wealth and reputation.
• Li Long brought the seed-flattening machine to Tao Daqiang’s courtyard, where he and the Tao family tested it successfully using Daqiang’s tractor.
• Li Long left the machine with Tao Daqiang and returned home to tell Li Jianguo that it could flatten far more seeds than several households working by hand.
• Tao Dayong considered ways to earn money with a tractor but decided to focus on the wheat harvest and his plans to buy equipment.
• Bai Xiuming returned more than ten days later, bought the remaining nineteen tonnes of watermelon seeds, and agreed with Li Long to continue their partnership.
• Dong Zhichao regretted that the Roasted Goods Factory had dismissed Li Long’s small supply and now had to return to Northern Xinjiang to seek the seeds.