Chapter Summaries

Li Long visited Harimu’s courtyard with a housewarming gift and met Tang Lao’er, Harimu’s helpful Han Chinese neighbor, while the men prepared a feast. Back home, Li Long planned New Year celebrations and bonuses, then reviewed the Construction Engineering Company’s profits and warned Meng Hai to keep the workers away from gambling.

• Li Long brought Harimu and Gulimiter a box of kitchenware, then helped Harimu and Talihaal butcher sheep while Jade Mountain River prepared kebabs.
• Harimu introduced Li Long to Tang Lao’er, who had helped Harimu settle into the village, and the two men grew acquainted while cleaning the sheep offal.
• Tang Lao’er shared stories of childhood hunger and his family’s continued hardship back home, then braised the offal and accepted mutton from Harimu.
• Li Long proposed a New Year shutdown schedule, extra pay for workers on duty, and an annual party with a prize draw; Sister Yang and Li Qingxia arranged bonuses for factory and Purchasing Station workers.
• Li Long checked the Construction Engineering Company’s accounts and received more than seventy thousand yuan in profits.
• Meng Hai told Li Long that some crew members planned to focus on construction work, and Li Long warned him to dismiss anyone who gambled and buy back that worker’s shares.

Li Long welcomed Liu Shanmin and his family, discussed business opportunities after the Soviet Union’s collapse, and later met the rising fashion for motorcycles in the countryside. He hosted the winter slaughter and an employee annual party, then agreed to let a television reporter cover the party.

• Li Long hosted Liu Shanmin, Lisa, and their children, and advised Liu Shanmin on buying machinery, vehicles, and other goods amid the Soviet Union’s instability.
• Li Long encountered Huang Siping riding a secondhand Jialing 70 motorcycle and invited him to the winter slaughter at Old Ma’s Place.
• Li Long and his relatives arranged the winter slaughter for January 8, while he discussed livestock supply and business with Huang Xinping and others.
• Li Long’s family slaughtered livestock and shared food and meat with the many people who came to help.
• Li Long organized an annual party for the Canned Food Factory and Purchasing Station, where employees performed, played games, and drew prizes.
• A County Television Station reporter interviewed Li Long about the annual party, and Li Long lent the reporter photographs and negatives.

Li Juan spent her winter vacation gathering local livelihood data for a university survey, with Li Long arranging access to township and town records. After meeting former classmates and finishing the research, she looked forward to visiting her teachers for the New Year.

• Li Juan explained her social survey to Li Qiang, and Li Long agreed to take her to the township offices and introduce her to officials.
• Li Juan visited her grandmother Du Chunfang, and she reassured her that her recent weight gain was healthy.
• Li Long took Li Juan to the township offices, where she reunited with her former classmate Fan Yuxia and quickly collected public records.
• Li Juan, Han Fang, and Li Long visited the town offices, where Li Juan ran into Yang Xinhua and gathered more survey data.
• Li Long discussed his businesses with Ma Xiaoyan, who praised his annual meeting and offered him a road-repair contract after spring.
• Li Juan and Yang Xinhua exchanged contact details and agreed to meet again when they visited their former teachers for the New Year.

Li Long received Liu Shanmin’s New Year gift shipment, including KamAZ trucks, mechanical parts, hides, antelope horns, and oil-refining equipment, and considered how to use it. As the New Year approached, Liu Shanmin called to ask whether Li Long liked the gift and promised to send more.

• Li Long brought Li Juan and Han Fang to the Big Courtyard, then drove Li Juan back to the Fourth Team and returned to the County Seat.
• Li Long found Liu Gaolou and a convoy waiting outside the Purchasing Station, and helped bring the vehicles inside.
• Liu Gaolou gave Li Long a list showing that Liu Shanmin had sent three KamAZ trucks, other trucks, hides, antelope horns, spare parts, and small-scale oil-refining equipment as a gift.
• Li Long saw Liu Gaolou and the drivers off the next day, then inspected the shipment and left it stored at the Purchasing Station.
• Gu Boyuan and Teacher Song visited Li Long’s Big Courtyard, and Liu Shanmin called Li Long to ask about his gift and offer to send more.

Li Anguo visited Li Long's family during the New Year, learned about Soviet trucks and oil-refining equipment, and considered starting an oil business. Li Juan reunited with her classmates, shared a meal and took photos with them, leaving the gathering as the holiday's most important event for her.

• Li Anguo arrived at the Fourth Team with his family and caught up with Li Long's household, while the children compared their school achievements.
• Li Long told Li Anguo that Soviet vehicles and oil-refining equipment had arrived, and Li Anguo offered to ask around for a buyer.
• Li Juan and Li Qiang learned to drive with help from Gu Xiaoxia and Li Long, then traveled to the County Seat for New Year visits.
• Li Juan met her former classmates and visited their teachers before inviting the classmates to Li Long's home when their planned meal fell through.
• Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia hosted the classmates for dinner, and Li Juan took a full roll of photos with them before they went their separate ways.

Li Long warned his community about a gambling scam targeting prosperous farmers, helping expose several gangs and leading to arrests. He also sold all three KamAZ trucks to Mr. Yang’s group, then arranged new construction and mountain work as spring preparations began.

• Li Long heard Old Wang describe a card-game scheme that tried to lure him into gambling, then reported it to the township police and warned Xie Yundong and other local households.
• Xu Haijun recognized the same scam when Xu Wenjun and his friends tried to draw him into a high-stakes card game, and Xu Chengjun confronted them and made them leave money behind before letting them go.
• Guo Tiebing told Li Long that police had arrested several gambling-scam gangs and seized more than fifteen thousand yuan.
• Mr. Yang inspected Li Long’s three KamAZ trucks and bought all three for six hundred thousand yuan, taking the spare parts as well.
• Li Long hired Meng Hai’s crew to improve the family courtyards and prepare a new row of rooms, while planning a compound in Hot Spring Ravine.
• Li Long learned that two of Meng Hai’s workers had been fired after gambling and causing trouble, then continued arranging spring jobs as workers returned from his hometown.

Li Long backed Li Anguo’s small oil-refining venture, then began building a courtyard house in Hot Spring Valley. When workers uncovered a buried structure containing weapons and opium, Li Long kept a few items and planned to turn over the rest to the authorities.

• Li Anguo bought Li Long’s refining equipment as part of their 50–50 partnership, and his refinery began operating and earning a profit.
• Li Long chose a site in Hot Spring Valley for a courtyard house, where he allowed a fritillaria digger to stay temporarily in his cabin.
• Meng Hai and the workers uncovered a buried two-room structure while clearing the house site, finding crates of sabers and rifles.
• Li Long discovered a crate of pistols, daggers, silver dollars, and opium, then took two crates home and planned to hand in the remaining weapons.
• Li Long threw the opium into the toilet, and his father asked him to save sabers for himself and Li Long’s eldest brother.

Li Long turned in the weapons he had found in the mountains, kept a Mauser pistol, and rescued a fawn after encountering wolves at the Salt Mine Cave. The next morning, Professor Yang told him that the Autonomous Region Agriculture Department planned to hold an on-site meeting about the Experimental Field project.

• Li Long showed the crates of rifles and sabers to the People's Armed Forces Department director, who took the weapons to the County Seat and arranged for Li Long to receive two certificates of merit and two cash awards.
• The Cultural Relics Management Office director questioned Li Long about handing over the weapons and inspected the collapsed underground room, while Li Long later kept two sabers and a Mauser pistol.
• Li Long tested the Mauser pistol at the Salt Mine Cave, frightened off a pack of wolves, and found a fawn beside its dead mother.
• Li Long brought the fawn to the Big Courtyard, fed it goat's milk and sugar residue, and learned that Professor Yang wanted to speak with him.
• Professor Yang told Li Long that the Autonomous Region Agriculture Department planned an on-site meeting about the Experimental Field project and might next launch a Large-Scale Field Drip Irrigation Renovation Project.

Li Long agreed to introduce the drip-irrigation experiment at a site meeting and managed the Cooperative’s plans to admit new members while keeping illegal handguns hidden. He inspected the completed Hot Spring Villa, then took his family there for a visit and returned from a hunt with a wild boar.

• Professor Yang asked Li Long to introduce the drip-irrigation Experimental Field at a late-May site meeting, and Li Long outlined its construction, crop growth, and costs.
• Li Jianguo warned Li Long that keeping the Mauser pistol could bring serious trouble, while Li Long decided to hide the handguns for the time being.
• Li Long told Xie Yundong the Cooperative could consider new members at year’s end, provided their land adjoined its fields and they paid their share upfront.
• Liu Gaolou arrived with twenty-one vehicles, including cars and trucks, and Li Long later inspected Meng Hai’s completed Hot Spring Villa.
• Li Long brought his family and Li Qiang to the villa, took Li Qiang hunting, and shot a half-grown wild boar.
• Li Long butchered the boar and returned to the villa, where Gu Xiaoxia and the others were grilling meat.

Li Long grilled wild boar belly during a family outing, then returned to preparing for an on-site meeting and saw Harimu off to the Summer Pasture. At university, Li Juan discussed the Soviet Union’s instability with classmates, dismissed a classmate’s misconceptions about Northern Xinjiang, and received letters before someone came looking for her.

• Li Long grilled wild boar belly at the Hot Spring Villa, and his family enjoyed the meal before soaking in the hot spring and returning home.
• Li Long resumed preparing for the on-site meeting, while Professor Yang and Principal Yang grew confident in his presentation.
• Harimu told Li Long he would manage the area’s pastureland, expand his herds, and return to do business after moving to the Summer Pasture.
• Li Juan told her classmates that the Soviet Union might not hold together and that ordinary people there were suffering from shortages and inflation.
• Li Juan ignored a classmate’s disbelief about Northern Xinjiang, read letters from her former classmates, and was told someone downstairs was looking for her.

Li Long prepared for an on-site meeting about the township’s drip-irrigation cotton project, then visited Team Four and discussed how the technology might benefit its cooperative. The chapter ended with Li Long and Xie Yundong inspecting the cooperative’s weaker cotton fields and Li Long sharing technical advice.

• Li Long rehearsed his presentation at the experimental field while Principal Yang, Professor Yang, and trainees worked nearby.
• Li Long helped Uncle Lao Luo clear the livestock pen, then went to his eldest brother’s house for lunch.
• Li Junhai explained that long, slow cooking made Northern Xinjiang’s stewed fish taste better, and Li Long ate with him and the others.
• Xie Yundong asked Li Long about the on-site meeting and the cost of converting the cooperative’s cotton fields to drip irrigation.
• Li Long toured the cooperative’s cotton fields with Xie Yundong and shared what he knew about drip-irrigation farming.

Li Juan turned down Kong Xiaodong’s invitation after sensing that he saw her as a calculated match, then spent the evening with Gu Xiaoyu. Meanwhile, Li Long pursued drip-irrigation equipment and Li Qiang offered to look for a wolf fang as a gift for his classmate Ye’erlan.

• Kong Xiaodong brought Li Juan flowers and movie tickets, but she refused his invitation and shook off his attempt to stop her from leaving.
• Li Juan told Gu Xiaoyu about Kong Xiaodong, explaining that his interest felt calculated, and Gu Xiaoyu supported her decision not to date him.
• Li Long called Factory Director Du about buying drip-irrigation tape equipment and learned that cheaper raw materials and rising orders were helping the factory expand.
• Li Qiang’s classmate Ye’erlan asked to buy a wolf fang as a gift for his baby cousin, and Li Qiang promised to search for one at home.

Li Long hosted an on-site meeting about the experimental cotton field’s drip-irrigation system, impressing visiting leaders and experts with his knowledge. Afterward, a deputy director asked for his views on the future of drip irrigation, and Li Long proposed public support for farmers’ infrastructure, but the director gave no clear answer.

• Li Qiang gave Ye'erlan a wolf fang, and the two later became friends after Ye'erlan invited him to pick plums.
• Jia Tianlong, Zhao Hui, and Liu Gaolou visited the Purchasing Station; Zhao Hui paid two million yuan for hides, while Liu Gaolou exchanged farm equipment and animal products for canned food and white sugar.
• Li Long, Principal Yang, and Professor Yang prepared to receive a delegation of officials and agricultural experts at the experimental field.
• Li Long explained the drip-irrigation facilities and cotton-growing process, then spent more than an hour answering questions from the gathered experts and technicians.
• The deputy department director asked the township head about Li Long and later invited him to discuss drip-irrigated cotton.
• Li Long described his vision for drip irrigation and proposed government support for farmers’ infrastructure, but the deputy director did not directly respond.

Li Long learned that he had to actively apply for an agricultural support project, so he prepared and submitted a proposal for drip irrigation development. The Autonomous Region approved three hundred thousand yuan for the project, and a working group was due to inspect it.

• After the on-site meeting, Professor Yang advised Li Long to apply for support and promised to ask about the project in Wu City.
• Li Long drafted an application describing his Cooperative, drip irrigation experience, and plans for developing 1,500 mu of land, then revised it with Gu Xiaoxia’s help.
• On May 9, Professor Yang told Li Long that applications were open, and Li Long submitted his report through the Agriculture Bureau to the prefecture and Autonomous Region.
• Li Long told Xie Yundong and the others about the application, then obtained Xu Chengjun’s approval for land and began building a Drip Irrigation Tape Factory.
• On May 19, Professor Yang told Li Long that the Autonomous Region had approved three hundred thousand yuan and would send a working group to verify the project.

Li Long showed Agriculture Department official Li Yuhe the Cooperative’s drip-irrigation plans and explained how a tape factory could make cotton farming profitable. Li Yuhe then set aside the inspection to fish at Little Haizi, where he caught a large Five-Stripe Blackfish and hooked another fish.

• Li Yuhe arrived to inspect Li Long’s drip-irrigation project, and Li Long took him to see the Cooperative’s cotton fields.
• Li Long explained the planned pump houses, irrigation schedule, canal renovations, and how producing and recycling drip irrigation tape would reduce costs.
• Li Yuhe agreed that Li Long’s figures showed the project could make a profit.
• Li Yuhe learned that Little Haizi held several kinds of fish and asked Li Long to take him there to fish with his rod.
• Li Yuhe caught a large Five-Stripe Blackfish, and his float bobbed as another fish took the hook.

Li Long took Li Yuhe fishing and then crabbing, where Li Yuhe gradually learned to spot and catch crabs. The next morning, Li Yuhe questioned the unfinished Drip Irrigation Tape Factory, and Li Long promised to get its machinery running within a week.

• Li Long brought Li Yuhe back to Old Ma's Place, where Li Yuhe met the others, enjoyed dinner, and praised Li Long's work raising animals and helping villagers.
• Li Long took Li Yuhe out at night to catch crabs, and Li Yuhe went from struggling to spot them to catching a dozen or so himself.
• Li Yuhe wanted to keep crabbing, but Li Long ended the outing when they had searched the shallows thoroughly, and they agreed to cook the crabs the next day.
• The next morning, Li Yuhe visited the unfinished Drip Irrigation Tape Factory and warned Li Long that its condition could make his grant application look falsified.
• Li Long told Li Yuhe he could get the factory machinery running within a week, and Li Yuhe challenged him to prove it.

Li Long organized the cooperative’s drip-irrigation project, arranged the factory equipment, power connection, and unloading crew, and showed Li Yuhe the cooperative’s farming machinery during the inspection. The equipment arrived at the drip irrigation tape factory, where workers began unloading it as power crews installed poles, leaving Li Long confident that production could start within days.

• Li Long called Factory Director Du to arrange delivery of the drip irrigation equipment and told the cooperative members about the proposed project, which they unanimously supported.
• Li Long promised to pay for repairs to the canal from Little Haizi and set terms for supplying the cooperative with drip irrigation tape at cost.
• Li Long helped Li Yuhe clean and cook crabs, then showed him the cooperative’s tractors and other machinery for the inspection.
• Li Long arranged for the factory floor to be finished, contacted the township Power Supply Office about three-phase power, and recruited eight workers to unload the equipment.
• Officer Hou brought four trucks carrying the equipment and raw materials to the factory, where Li Long and the workers began unloading as power workers erected utility poles.

Li Long installed and successfully test-ran the drip irrigation tape machinery, trained Li Junfeng, and secured a business license for the factory. After Li Yuhe returned to Wu City, an Autonomous Region supervisor was assigned to arrive before the end of May, prompting Li Long to prepare for the project’s construction work.

• Li Long directed the installation of the machinery and explained to Li Yuhe that he had designed it and bought the equipment using his share of the factory’s profits.
• Li Long asked Li Junfeng to learn the factory’s operations, then started a trial production run and showed him and Li Yuhe how the equipment worked.
• Li Long inspected the first rolls of drip irrigation tape, confirmed they met specifications, and applied for the factory’s business license.
• Li Yuhe returned to Wu City without getting another chance to catch crabs, and Li Long received the factory’s business license two days later.
• Li Yuhe told Li Long that a full-time Autonomous Region supervisor would arrive before the end of May to coordinate the support project’s construction.
• Li Long prepared the Cooperative dormitory and arranged for the visitor’s meals, expecting the initial work to focus on a pump house and filter pool.

Zhao Shijie arrived in Ma County to supervise the drip-irrigation project and met with Li Long, who offered his construction company for the work. After settling into Team 4, Zhao Shijie prepared to inspect Li Long’s existing irrigation facilities, while Li Long considered involving Liang Wenyu in the later land-leveling work.

• Forestry Bureau officers Wang Yongqiang and Luo Daming visited Li Long to investigate reports about his purchases of animal products, then accepted his explanation and left with cigarettes.
• Zhao Shijie arrived at the Purchasing Station and told Li Long he had come from the Agriculture Department to supervise the project, explaining that he had bypassed the county because of its record with earmarked funds.
• Li Long offered his construction company to build the project’s pump house and filter pool, and Zhao Shijie agreed to inspect the existing facilities before choosing a contractor.
• Zhao Shijie asked about crabs and hunting; Li Long explained that crabs survived in his village reservoir but that hunting was no longer allowed under wildlife protections.
• Li Long arranged for Zhao Shijie to stay in Team 4 and eat at Old Ma’s Place, then went to his eldest brother Li Jianguo’s home for lunch.
• Li Jianguo asked Li Long to include Liang Wenyu in the land-leveling work, and Li Long said he would try if they organized the machinery themselves.

Li Long arranged for crews to build irrigation facilities at the Cooperative while advising Liu Gaolou to wait for Liu Shanmin before sending more goods across the border. After learning that Liu Gaolou’s partners owed him $100,000 and demanded another $200,000 in supplies, Liu Shanmin ordered him to stop shipments and decided he needed to investigate in person.

• Li Long showed Zhao Shijie the Experimental Field’s irrigation facilities, and Zhao approved their construction standard.
• Li Long hired two crews from Meng Hai’s company to build a Pump House and filter basin at the Cooperative.
• Liu Gaolou told Li Long that his uncle’s contacts were demanding more supplies without paying for the previous shipment, and Li Long advised him to wait for Liu Shanmin’s instructions.
• Liu Shanmin traveled to Yanjing with his family, learned by phone that conditions in the Union Republic remained chaotic, and then called Li Long after nobody answered at Liu Gaolou’s courtyard.
• Liu Gaolou told Liu Shanmin that the previous shipment was worth $100,000 and the new demand totaled $200,000; Liu Shanmin ordered him to send nothing and decided to investigate.
• Hu Moren recognized Liu Shanmin from the train and hurried after him when he left the telephone office.