Chapter Summaries

Han Fang settled into school while Li Long watched his road and livestock ventures grow, then pursued drip-irrigation technology despite technical setbacks. The chapter ended with him committing $150,000 to buy a complete set of equipment from abroad.

• Han Fang registered for school in Beiting, met her roommates, and returned home after two weeks of military training.
• Jade Mountain River expanded his livestock business with Bek’s help, while Talihaal traded jade and gold for Li Long’s GAZ vehicle.
• Li Long oversaw the completion of an asphalt road and discussed the changes it brought to Harimu and the mountain community.
• Li Long learned that the Farm Machinery Factory had run into problems assembling drip-irrigation equipment and asked Liu Gaolou to find a complete set abroad.
• After Liu Gaolou reported that a complete set was available for $150,000, Li Long agreed to buy it.

The author reviewed the book’s milestones and personal health problems, and said the story of Li Long would end in 2026. The author then announced the December monthly vote prize options, top voters, and winning numbers.

• The author thanked readers for helping the book reach new milestones and described receiving awards and joining the China Writers Association.
• The author recounted being hospitalized for an intestinal obstruction, worsening nearsightedness, and being diagnosed with a serious herniated lumbar disc, then said conservative treatment was helping.
• The author said the book would end in 2026 as Li Long’s experiences drew closer to the protagonist’s later life and the present day.
• The author listed the December prize options and named the five top monthly voters: Reader150626220532781, Reader20190831215446332, Sky Wolf Xiaotian Zhan, Reader20170206172037668, and Wind Chanting, Rain Whistling.
• The author published the winning monthly vote numbers and told winners to join the group, contact the operations team, and provide their contact details.

Liu Shanmin delivered the drip irrigation equipment Li Long had bought from the Kazakh SSR, and Factory Director Du increased Li Long’s dividend share in exchange for the investment. The chapter then followed Li Long’s work in Ma County and Stone City and ended with Han Fang returning from military training more grown-up.

• Liu Shanmin bought and transported the unused drip irrigation equipment, while Liu Gaolou brought it and tubing samples to Li Long at Kui Military Station.
• Li Long arranged for the Farm Machinery Factory to study the equipment, and Factory Director Du revised their agreement to raise Li Long’s dividend share to thirty-five percent.
• Li Long collected fifty tonnes of white sugar and arranged for the Sugar Factory to deliver sugar residue to Jade Mountain River’s courtyard as animal feed.
• Li Jianguo advised Old Yang on where to sell Chinese cabbage, helped Chen Sihai repair a canal, and discussed farming and mechanization with Old Wang while plowing their fields.
• Li Juan watched over drying goji berries while considering universities, and Han Fang returned from military training with more confidence and maturity.

Li Long discovered an illegal gold-panning camp in the mountains, killed Boss Yang after she shot at him, and uncovered evidence that the group had murdered and robbed people. He captured Hou Yongliang and met Forest Public Security officers, who cleared him of suspicion and left him to await reinforcements at home.

• Engineer Deng told Factory Director Du that some of Li Long’s machinery ideas exceeded the imported equipment, though the factory lacked the ability to manufacture certain parts.
• Li Long bought stones and fossils from Talihaal and the other pastoralists, then searched the ravine where Talihaal had found an ancient jade bird.
• Li Long found a jade dog and corroded coins before stumbling upon an illegal gold-panning camp, where a hidden shooter wounded him and he killed Boss Yang in self-defense.
• Li Long found two bodies buried near the camp, captured Hou Yongliang, and learned that the gold-panning group had murdered and robbed people.
• Forest Public Security officers led by Cui Xinquan arrived, cleared Li Long after hearing his account, and sent an officer with him to fetch reinforcements.

After killing an armed gold panner in self-defense, Li Long received reassurance from the police, helped them map the mountain search, and was commended for his intelligence. Once the danger had passed, he discussed Talihaal’s treasure hunting and Jade Mountain River’s concerns about tribal herders, then welcomed Professor Luo to inspect the cooperative’s cotton fields and saline-alkali improvements.

• Li Long cleaned his rifle, told Guo Tiebing about the shooting, and learned that the circumstances appeared to qualify as self-defense, though the escaped suspects and the search of the site could still affect the case.
• Li Long drew the police a map of possible gold-panning sites and warned them to distinguish armed prospectors from herders and medicinal-herb gatherers; Forest Public Security later took his statement and told him he had done nothing wrong.
• The county launched a weeklong mountain operation that caught dozens of gold panners and more than a hundred unauthorized herb gatherers, uncovered several murders, and led to Li Long and Guo Tiebing receiving commendations.
• Talihaal and Harimu told Li Long about the search before returning to the Summer Pasture, and Jade Mountain River later worried that Talihaal’s treasure hunting and the dispersal of tribal households into production teams would weaken his people’s way of life.
• Professor Luo arrived with Kong Lingqi and Shi Xinjun to inspect the cooperative’s cotton fields, praised their strong emergence rate on improved saline-alkali land, and discussed irrigation and soil treatment with Li Long and Xie Yundong.

After Professor Luo’s fieldwork ended, Li Long secured and organized the reduced big-broom order while the market shifted toward cheaper bamboo brooms. Li Juan and Li Qiang completed their cotton-picking work-study placements, and Li Long finished the broom order before turning his attention to the Cooperative’s cotton.

• Professor Luo and his students completed their fieldwork, praised the research value of Li Long’s cotton, and left for the college.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the broom order had fallen to forty thousand at seven yuan each, and Li Long agreed to take it.
• Li Long arranged production with Wang Mingjun, Zhao Zongming, and Xu Chengjun, while He Yuqing declined because his village lacked available workers.
• Li Qiang attended county mathematics training, visited Li Long’s household, and later went to the Fourth Farm for cotton-picking work-study.
• Li Long delivered broom batches to the Prefectural Supply and Marketing Cooperative as Li Juan completed work-study at the 149th Regiment.
• Li Long finished the forty-thousand-broom order, bought more than four hundred surplus brooms, and prepared to check on the Cooperative’s cotton.

Li Long joined the cotton harvest, warned the day laborers to pick cleanly, and drove out a worker who repeatedly damaged plants and mixed debris into his cotton. After the confrontation, the workers picked more carefully, and Li Long left the field with muskmelons, watermelons, and pear melons he had found among the ridges.

• Li Long visited the Fourth Team’s cotton fields and agreed to help supervise the day laborers as Xie Yundong planned to hire more pickers.
• Li Long noticed one worker leaving cotton behind and stripping plants, then ordered him to clean up his rows and pick properly.
• After the worker resumed stripping plants and tried to fight Li Long, Li Long dragged him out and exposed the leaves, bolls, and dirt mixed into his cotton sacks.
• Li Long dismissed the worker from the field but let him keep the payment for his cleaned cotton; the worker left after lunch, and the others began picking more carefully.
• Li Long picked four sacks of cotton and discussed harvest supervision and saline-alkali land with Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and Xu Haijun.
• Li Long searched the field ridges, found several melons, and drove home.

Li Long sold Huang Lei five tons of dried wild mushrooms, then helped the Cooperative finish its first cotton harvest and celebrate a profitable start. As others sought to join or imitate the Cooperative, Li Long planned further investment and handled business with Zhao Hui and Liu Gaolou while the second cotton picking brought in more revenue.

• Li Long sold Huang Lei more than five tons of carefully prepared dried wild mushrooms for around 180,000 yuan after Huang Lei explained his delay and inspected the goods.
• Li Long watched Xie Yundong and the Cooperative sell their first cotton picking, which yielded just over a hundred tons and more than 200,000 yuan by the end of September.
• Li Long celebrated the harvest with the Cooperative, and Li Jianguo proposed buying two more high-horsepower tractors; Li Long agreed and then discussed keeping the Cooperative closed to new members with Xie Yundong.
• Team members approached Xie Yundong and other Cooperative members hoping to join, but Xie Yundong turned them down as several other households began preparing competing cooperatives.
• Li Long met Guo Tiebing after Guo Tiebing was promoted and transferred to lead the township police station, and Li Long briefed him on local conditions.
• Li Long handled business with Zhao Hui and Liu Gaolou while Xie Yundong reported that the second cotton picking had yielded over forty tons and nearly 70,000 yuan.

Li Long helped Guo Tiebing arrest a bicycle thief, exposing a large theft ring and giving Guo a strong start as Police Station chief. As the Cooperative prepared to distribute its cotton profits, new tractors arrived and the Li Family began plowing saline-alkali land for the coming season.

• Li Long spotted a man pushing two stolen bicycles and alerted Guo Tiebing, who arrested him and uncovered a gang of more than twenty thieves.
• Guo Tiebing's investigation led to arrests across several townships; thirty-one thieves were eventually caught, and authorities identified nearly a hundred stolen bicycles.
• Guo Tiebing visited Li Long after receiving a collective Third-Class Merit award, offered him a hundred yuan reward, and took his warning about winter gambling to heart.
• Liu Gaolou brought Li Long two high-horsepower tractors and their implements, while Li Jianguo took one tractor to plow newly contracted saline-alkali land.
• Xie Yundong and Jia Weidong calculated the Cooperative's expenses and next year's supply costs before determining how much remained for members' wages and dividends.

Li Long’s Cooperative distributed its first dividends after earning a large profit from cotton grown on reclaimed saline-alkali land, and villagers began considering new cooperatives of their own. The chapter ended with Li Long warning his members not to gamble away their earnings as they planned for the next growing season.

• Jia Weidong read the Cooperative’s accounts, which showed over 240,000 yuan in income and roughly 100,000 yuan in expenses, and the members approved a 100,000-yuan dividend distribution.
• Li Long proposed a 500-yuan bonus for Xie Yundong, and the members agreed to recognize the manager’s extra work.
• Xie Yundong distributed the dividends and wages, giving Li Long and Li Jianguo’s household 40,000 yuan and dividing the remaining dividends among the other five households.
• Li Long explained the Cooperative’s share calculations to Lu Yingming, while villagers discussed the dividends and two new cooperatives announced plans to copy its rules.
• The Cooperative members discussed spring flood irrigation and improving seedling emergence, then Li Long warned them that gambling could get them expelled from the Cooperative.

After the cooperative’s first profitable year, Li Long and Xie Yundong secured Xu Chengjun’s approval for a cooperative yard and attracted interest from township officials. Li Long then agreed to lead a funded drip-irrigation experiment, leaving him intent on using it to prepare for future land-conversion projects.

• Visitors sought Xie Yundong to learn the cooperative’s rules, while Li Long and Xie Yundong asked Xu Chengjun to approve a site for a cooperative yard.
• Xu Chengjun approved a plot of wasteland beside Old Ma’s Place, and Li Long and Xie Yundong marked its boundaries with bricks.
• Principal Yang found Li Long and asked him to help plan a drip-irrigation experimental field backed by a 50,000-yuan Autonomous Region grant.
• Li Long explained the equipment, costs, and need for a control plot, then agreed to take charge of the project as a specially appointed teacher.
• Principal Yang ordered a one-year appointment report for Li Long, and they continued drafting the project plan before eating lunch together.
• Li Long returned home at dusk and resolved to make the experiment succeed so he could take part in future land-conversion projects.

Li Long helped Principal Yang prepare an experimental drip-irrigation field proposal, while the Kui City Farm Machinery Factory successfully tested its drip-irrigation tape machine. When Japanese representatives offered five million yuan to buy the factory’s technology exclusively, Li Long advised Factory Director Du to refuse and protect the technology.

• Li Long and Principal Yang completed the experimental-field plan, and Principal Yang showed Li Long that his appointment to the school had been approved.
• Li Long explained to Li Jianguo why drip irrigation remained too expensive to adopt widely and discussed the relatives’ earnings and plans to distribute their wages.
• Engineer Deng and the factory team produced drip-irrigation tape that passed a short test, though its quality deteriorated during continuous production.
• Representatives of Japan Inoue Corporation offered Factory Director Du five million yuan for exclusive rights to the tape-production technology.
• Li Long told Factory Director Du that the offer was meant to acquire useful technology and restrict future domestic production, so Factory Director Du refused and planned to investigate possible leaks.

Li Long’s relatives prepared to return home while Li Jianguo explained the family’s inherited hatred of the Japanese, and Li Long helped Factory Director Du reject Inoue Corporation’s offer and advance the drip-irrigation project. After reporting on the cooperative and foreign security concerns to Secretary Zhang, Li Long arranged for his Beijing courtyards to be watched and ended the chapter discussing the children’s future with Gu Xiaoxia.

• Li Jianguo told Li Long that a disabled villager’s account of Japanese soldiers killing his family had shaped his hatred, and Li Long promised not to do business with them.
• Factory Director Du rejected Inoue Corporation’s raised offer of six and a half million, investigated a leak of technical information, and urged Engineer Deng to finish the production equipment and pursue patents with Li Long.
• Li Long told Factory Director Du that he had devised the drip-irrigation concepts himself and agreed to sign the patent applications in exchange for dividends.
• Secretary Zhang asked Li Long to report on the cooperative, and Li Long described its work, future plans, and concerns about foreign surveying and photography near sensitive sites.
• Li Long learned that Director Dai and the Ethnic Affairs Commission Beijing Office were monitoring his courtyards and clearing their snow, so he told Gu Xiaoxia there was no need for Gu Xiaoyu to visit them.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia talked about Li Juan’s upcoming college entrance examination and hoped that their younger children would follow her example.

Jade Mountain River partnered with Li Long to expand his livestock business, while Li Long’s 10,000-yuan Asian Games donation inspired more contributions across the county. After learning that drip-irrigation equipment had been successfully developed, Li Long taught local students about cotton farming and its future.

• Jade Mountain River asked Li Long to invest 50,000 yuan in a livestock venture, and they signed a contract to split the profits equally.
• Gu Xiaoxia and Sister Yang donated to the Asian Games, and Li Long contributed 10,000 yuan through the county sports commission.
• The sports commission publicized Li Long’s donation, prompting officials and Chen Hongjun to organize or make further contributions.
• Factory Director Du told Li Long that the drip-irrigation equipment had run successfully, and Li Long urged him to protect the technology and apply for patents.
• Li Long told Principal Yang he planned to build a drip-irrigation factory, then lectured Agricultural Technical Extension School students on cotton cultivation and answered their questions.

Li Long visited his family and discussed the growing cooperatives in the Fourth Team, while Xu Chengjun made Huang Xinping register his newly formed group before it could seek a compound. Li Long then joined Jade Mountain River at Harimu’s winter slaughter, where the gathering celebrated the reopened mountain road as an exhausted stranger continued searching the snowy ranges for his destination.

• Li Long brought soft bread to Du Chunfang, then joined Li Jianguo, Lu Yingming, Xu Haijun, and Xie Yundong to discuss cotton and the privately organized cooperatives in the Fourth Team.
• Xu Chengjun confronted Huang Xinping over his unregistered cooperative, examined its documents, and drove him to the township to register it, delaying plans for a compound until the group proved it could last.
• Xu Haijun praised the clear organization of Li Long’s Cooperative, while Li Long explained the Asian Games and several neighbors decided to donate money.
• Jade Mountain River told Harimu that they would be assigned to the same production team, and Harimu agreed to invite Li Long to the winter slaughter.
• Li Long brought supplies to Harimu’s Winter Camp, heard about wildlife in the mountains, and watched Jade Mountain River limit how much liquor the herders brought out.
• An unnamed man in his forties trudged along a livestock trail through the snowy mountains, still searching for his target location.

Li Long helped Principal Yang prepare for the newly approved agricultural experimental field project, obtaining drip irrigation tape from the Machinery Factory in Kui City and arranging for Liang Wenyu to level the land in spring. The chapter ended with Li Long visiting Liang Donglou’s family, where Chen Xiuzhu worried that Liang Wenyu had not found a wife.

• Li Long learned that Professor Yang’s project had been approved and met Principal Yang to plan the preparations.
• Li Long arranged to buy drip irrigation tape and drew plans for the project’s pump house.
• Li Long visited the Machinery Factory, tested its drip-irrigation equipment, and bought 120 kilograms of tape and connectors.
• Li Long delivered the supplies to Principal Yang, who confirmed that the township had approved twenty mu of land for the project.
• Li Long agreed to arrange for Liang Wenyu to level the experimental field in spring and visited Liang Donglou’s family.

Li Long arranged land leveling for the drip-irrigation field, checked on Zhou Yingjun after a township gambling raid, and secured a fifty-tonne mutton order for the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. He entrusted the order to Jade Mountain River, who began gathering sheep and organizing slaughter and processing for delivery in December.

• Li Long advised Liang Wenyu to face his prospects realistically and settle down, then arranged for Liang Wenyu's land to be leveled for the drip-irrigation field.
• Zhao Hui collected seven thousand hides, and Liu Gaolou arrived with hides, antelope horns, and cars while taking sugar and canned food back.
• After a township raid arrested Zhou Yingjun and others for gambling, Li Long visited Zhou Yingjun in detention and asked Guo Tiebing to ensure he was not bullied.
• Li Xiangqian offered Li Long a fifty-tonne mutton order for delivery to Wu City Railway Station, and Li Long assigned the job to his partner Jade Mountain River.
• Jade Mountain River advanced the sheep purchases with money from Li Long, recruited pastoralists to slaughter them, and brought workers from the Fourth Team to clean the offal.
• Li Long inspected the dressed carcasses as they accumulated at the Purchasing Station and sold sheep heads, hooves, and offal to villagers.

Li Long delivered fifty tonnes of mutton to the railway freight station and sold twenty-five hundred sheepskins to the Leather Factory. He began selling sheep heads and hooves in Beiting while planning packaged mixed lamb offal, and the chapter ended with Sister Yang bringing home two flavors for him to taste.

• Li Long and Jade Mountain River delivered fifty tonnes and five hundred kilograms of mutton to Zhou Liwei, who inspected it, issued a receipt, and proposed future business.
• Li Long sold twenty-five hundred sheepskins to Technician Zhang for nine yuan each and discussed developing packaged mixed lamb offal with Sister Yang and Gu Xiaoxia.
• Li Long arranged to sell sheep heads and hooves through Chen Hongjun, then drove to Beiting with Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng to test the market.
• Li Long sold hundreds of sheep heads and hooves at the market, then sold the remaining heads and hooves wholesale to Boss Qin.
• Li Long bought fresh vegetables for the households and paid Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng for their help before returning home.
• Sister Yang brought two mixed lamb offal recipes for Li Long to try, and he said he had recovered his appetite for them.

Li Long sold the sheep heads and hooves quickly at Wu City’s wholesale market, bought two jade pieces, and arranged equipment and packaging for Sister Yang’s mixed lamb offal. As the new product preparations advanced, Li Junfeng and the Cooperative began testing a winter plan to sell fish from the lakes in Wu City.

• Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Li Junfeng sold their sheep heads and remaining hooves at Wu City’s wholesale market, then Li Long bought two pieces of river jade from Yusufu’s son.
• Li Long ordered a vacuum packaging machine and a plastic sealing machine, and Sister Yang settled on mild, medium, and red-braised mixed lamb offal in half-kilogram bags.
• Technician He Wenjun delivered and demonstrated the machines at the Dried Meat Processing Workshop, where Sister Yang and the workers practiced operating them.
• Li Long asked customers about packaging preferences, ordered food-grade packaging materials, and arranged to send Director Dai’s Beijing Office samples of the mixed lamb offal.
• Li Junfeng proposed selling fish from Little Haizi and Big Haizi at Wu City’s wholesale market, and Xie Yundong, Li Jianguo, and the Cooperative began breaking ice holes to test the catch.

Li Long helped Sister Yang improve the packaging for vacuum-packed lamb offal and drove Xie Yundong and the others to sell their frozen fish in Wu City. The fish sold quickly, and the group agreed to return to Big Haizi to catch another batch.

• Sister Yang trial-sold vacuum-packed mixed lamb offal, and Li Long suggested adding an inner bag and paper to keep the juices from making a mess; customers responded well to the improved packaging.
• Li Jianguo called Li Long to collect several tonnes of fish, and Li Long drove the group and their catch from the Fourth Team to the Wu City wholesale market.
• Li Long learned the market's rules and paid the management fee before returning to the truck, where he caught Ji Xiaobo stealing a buyer's wallet and handed him over to Administrator Wu.
• Li Jianguo and the others sold the fish quickly, earning 12,227 yuan, and agreed that Li Long would receive the largest share while the others got 1,400 yuan each.
• Li Long and the group decided to set nets and scoop fish at Big Haizi for another trip, returning to Little Haizi if the new approach failed.