Chapter Summaries

Li Long took Gu Xiaoxia and Mingming and Haohao to Hot Spring Villa, where the boys dug codonopsis and the family enjoyed a meal and a soak before returning home. Later, Liu Gaolou brought Li Long bones from three tigers and one tiger penis, which Li Long processed and steeped in alcohol, leaving him with a substantial supply of medicinal liquor.

• Li Long took Mingming and Haohao into the mountains to dig codonopsis, teaching them how to find and unearth the roots while they worked until their hands blistered.
• Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia, and the boys ate grilled food at Hot Spring Villa, and Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia soaked together before the family drove home after hearing a wolf howl.
• Li Long checked on the cotton harvest and discussed the crop’s yield and prices with Xie Yundong as students and laborers finished picking.
• Chen Yan brought Boss Guo to buy a Mercedes-Benz from Li Long, who sold it for 460,000 yuan and asked Liu Gaolou to bring more luxury cars.
• Liu Gaolou brought Li Long tiger bones from three tigers and one tiger penis, which Li Long processed and steeped in alcohol before sending two barrels of tiger bone liquor back with Liu Gaolou.

Li Long joined the Little Haizi Reservoir dredging, where villagers and officials caught fish while he met Jiang Zhiyu and learned that his cooperative’s cotton harvest had drawn attention. After sharing burbot with Yang Bo that evening, Li Long heard that a major farmland water-saving renovation project was about to begin and decided to alert Xu Chengjun.

• Li Long arranged pumps for the final dredging at Little Haizi, where villagers and officials from several offices gathered to catch fish.
• Tao Daqiang told Li Long that villagers had caught many large fish, and Li Xiangqian explained that he had invited friends from other county offices.
• Li Xiangqian warned Li Long that the cooperative’s harvest of more than eight hundred tonnes of cotton could attract reporters and attention from the Autonomous Prefecture.
• Li Long caught burbot, met Jiang Zhiyu at the reservoir, and later prepared fish for his family and for an evening meal with Yang Bo.
• Yang Bo told Li Long that the autonomous region would soon launch a ten-thousand-mu farmland renovation project focused on water-saving infrastructure, and Li Long decided to notify Xu Chengjun.

Li Long and the cooperative faced a major media interview, where he explained their drip-irrigation farming and carefully concealed the cooperative’s true profits. After the reporters left, the members learned their dividends would be substantial, and Xu Haijun received recognition for his hard work; Liang Dacheng began considering managing a plot himself.

• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about Yang Bo’s proposed farmland project and advised her that teachers visiting Little Haizi Reservoir should come soon to catch fish.
• Xu Haijun inspected the completed work on his thousand-mu plot, while Li Long and the cooperative prepared for reporters from the prefecture and county.
• Li Long and Xie Yundong answered the reporters’ questions about the cooperative, and Li Long understated its farming costs to keep its actual profits private.
• After deciding Li Long’s background deserved a fuller account, the reporters interviewed him again before leaving without staying for a meal.
• Jia Weidong told the cooperative members that Li Long’s household and his brother’s would each receive 300,000 yuan, the other households around 80,000 yuan each, and Xu Haijun an extra 10,000 yuan in management fees.
• Liang Dacheng considered managing a plot next year, while Xu Haijun told Bai Ling about his bonus and promised to buy her a gold necklace.

After Harimu asked Li Long for help protecting his expanded herds from wolves, Li Long gathered armed men and supplies and led two groups into the mountains. The men reached the winter camps and prepared to ambush the wolves, leaving Li Long, Li Xiangqian, and Zhang Shouyi waiting outside as the night deepened.

• Li Long gave his eldest brother Li Jianguo his cooperative dividends, then discussed expanding farmland and securing household registration for their relatives.
• Li Long told Team Leader Xu Chengjun about a ten-thousand-mu farmland renovation project and asked him to help arrange household registration in return for pursuing it.
• Liang Dacheng decided to reclaim 2,000 mu of saline-alkali land, and the cooperative promised him a 10,000-yuan bonus if his cotton yield exceeded 100 kilograms per mu.
• Harimu asked Li Long for guns and ammunition after wolves killed sheep and threatened his herds at the winter camps.
• Li Long secured rifles, ammunition, and a group of experienced men, then split them between Harimu's camp and Bek's winter camp to watch for wolves.
• Li Long, Li Xiangqian, and Zhang Shouyi took up ambush positions near Harimu's sheepfold after midnight, while the others waited at Bek's camp.

Li Long, Li Xiangqian, and Zhang Shouyi ambushed wolves attacking the Eastern Winter Camp, killed six, and joined Harimu’s group in planning another night’s hunt. After driving Li Xiangqian back with wolf pelts and fangs, Li Long was stopped at a checkpoint by Forestry Police Station personnel investigating the gunfire.

• Li Long spotted seven wolves approaching the Eastern Winter Camp and noticed another wolf circling behind Li Xiangqian.
• Li Long shot the wolf behind Li Xiangqian, while Zhang Shouyi and Li Xiangqian fired at the fleeing pack; the three men killed six wolves and left one wounded.
• Li Long, Li Xiangqian, and Zhang Shouyi skinned the wolves, ate, and rested at the Winter Camp.
• Harimu and Xu Haijun arrived with three wolves, and Li Long agreed to drive Li Xiangqian back before returning to help set another ambush.
• Li Long and Li Xiangqian were stopped at a checkpoint, where Forestry Police Station personnel questioned them about the previous night’s gunfire and requested to inspect the vehicle.

Li Long’s second wolf ambush yielded only one lone wolf, and he returned to the county after deciding the packs had been driven away. Back at the Purchasing Station, growing interest in drip irrigation convinced him to investigate cheaper materials and prepare to produce Drip Irrigation Tape on a larger scale.

• Li Long passed the checkpoint after Wang Red Flag confirmed the station chief had approved his wolf hunt, then brought canned food and vegetables to the checkpoint and the winter camps.
• Li Long’s group waited through a quiet night at Talihaal’s camp until a lone wolf approached; Li Long shot it after Li Junfeng’s cough startled it.
• Xu Haijun’s group caught no wolves, and Li Long ended the mountain hunt, left bullets with Harimu, and returned the rifles to the Security Section.
• Li Xiangqian told Li Long that the hunt would earn an internal commendation and that the Security Section’s rifles would soon be handed in.
• Huang Xinping and Wang the Miser asked Li Long about converting their cotton fields to drip irrigation, and he explained the costs and promised to check material prices in Dushanzi.
• More than a dozen groups asked Li Long about drip irrigation, prompting him to estimate potential demand for nearly twenty thousand mu and decide to pursue large-scale Drip Irrigation Tape production.

Freezing rain coated the roads in ice, and Li Long feared his eldest brother might repeat a fatal accident from his previous life. He helped organize measures to make the roads safer, confirmed his brother was unharmed, and planned to investigate drip-irrigation tape costs the next day.

• After waking to freezing rain, Li Long warned Liang Yuemei to keep Li Jianguo off the icy roads.
• Li Long drove Gu Xiaoxia and the children to school, helped several people who had fallen, and suggested that crawler tractors score the ice.
• Xu Chengjun saw the danger for himself, hired Wang the Miser to drive his tractor over the roads, and warned villagers to stay indoors.
• Li Long visited Li Jianguo, found that his brother was staying safely at home, and discussed the prospects for a drip-irrigation tape factory.
• Li Long learned that the roads had been treated and that many people elsewhere had suffered fractures, then planned to visit Dushanzi for raw-material prices.

Li Long visited Dushanzi Petrochemical, where Ajinbek helped him secure a deal for polyethylene pellets that made drip-irrigation tape affordable for more farmers. He then discussed the Machinery Factory’s cotton picker with Factory Director Du, who vowed to develop and improve a domestic model.

• Li Long met Ajinbek at Dushanzi Petrochemical, and Ajinbek called the sales department to recommend selling him polyethylene pellets for his drip-irrigation business.
• Hou Guangming offered Li Long polyethylene at 9,500 yuan per tonne and proposed exchanging future shipments for crude oil; Li Long bought 150 tonnes with cash and arranged delivery.
• Li Long visited the Machinery Factory and saw its locally built cotton picker, which Factory Director Du said still lagged behind the prototype in picking performance.
• Li Long explained that cheaper raw materials had made drip-irrigated cotton affordable and urged Factory Director Du to keep developing domestic machinery.
• Factory Director Du pledged to improve the cotton picker and make it competitive with foreign technology.

Li Long confirmed the drip-irrigation equipment market was still small, arranged crossbows with Factory Director Du, and prepared to produce tape after buying 150 tonnes of cheaper raw material. After the shipment arrived, Guo Tiebing told him privately held guns had to be surrendered, and Li Long turned in his collection at the township Police Station.

• Factory Director Du told Li Long that only five drip-irrigation equipment sets had been sold in Southern and Northern Xinjiang and that six more were in stock; Li Long predicted demand would grow and asked the factory to make two types of crossbows.
• Li Long collected his dividend and arranged with a technician to build two large and two small crossbows, then returned to the team and organized the factory yard for the incoming raw materials.
• Li Long told Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and the others that cheaper polyethylene would reduce tape costs to 200 yuan per mu, prompting the group to plan to expand their farmland.
• Li Long redirected a Dushanzi truck convoy that had taken the wrong road, led it to the factory, and helped the workers unload all 150 tonnes of polyethylene before dark.
• Guo Tiebing informed Li Long that the county was collecting privately held guns, and Li Long loaded his firearms and drove to Li Jianguo's home before heading to the Police Station.
• Li Long surrendered his guns to Guo Tiebing, received a receipt and a certificate of commendation, and offered to provide an off-road vehicle for Guo's work.

Li Long’s drip irrigation tape sold rapidly after a television interview publicized its lower price, while Li Qiang returned from military academy for the New Year and reunited with his family. The chapter ended with Li Qiang anticipating a reunion with his former classmates and teachers.

• Guo Tiebing arranged for Li Long’s surrendered guns to be publicized internally, then Li Long adjusted to life without them and took precautions at home.
• Haohao cried over placing second in class, but Mingming encouraged him to aim for first place next time.
• Huang Xinping, Wang the Miser, and Xu Chengjun asked Li Long about drip irrigation tape and plans to grow drip-irrigated cotton.
• Li Long gave a television interview about drip-irrigated farming, and the broadcast brought in enough orders to keep his factory producing through winter.
• Li Long’s factory sold large quantities of tape to local cooperatives and farmers, then paused production after nearly twenty days of work.
• Li Qiang returned from military academy, visited Li Long’s home, gave gifts to Gu Xiaoxia, Mingming, and Haohao, and reunited with his family at the Fourth Team.

Li Qiang adjusted to his first home leave and New Year visit while Li Long arranged help for Dai Jianguo, a businessman missing in Kazakhstan. Li Long’s contacts rescued Dai Jianguo, who remained in Almaty to replace his documents before returning home.

• Li Qiang found home life too quiet after returning from military academy, so Li Jianguo kept him busy with New Year preparations and visits.
• Dai Jianguo’s parents asked Li Long to help find their son, who had disappeared in Almaty after warning that he was in danger.
• Li Long asked Liu Shanmin to make inquiries in Kazakhstan and continued his New Year duties while Dai Jianguo’s parents waited for news.
• Li Qiang visited his former teachers and learned from Li Long’s friends about social skills and relationships.
• Sun Jiaqiang told Li Long that Liu Shanmin’s contacts had found and rescued Dai Jianguo from kidnappers, who had stolen his goods and demanded his bank money.
• Dai Jianguo’s parents heard that their son was safe and planned to return with more gifts, suspecting the Purchasing Station had withheld the news until they brought presents.

Li Qiang reunited with his former classmates, learned to drive from Li Juan, and returned to school while Li Long worked to expand the village’s drip-irrigated farmland. Dai Jianguo returned safely from Kazakhstan, thanked Li Long for arranging his rescue, and promised to avoid traveling abroad for business again.

• Li Qiang answered classmates’ questions about military academy life and demonstrated how to fold a military-style quilt at their reunion.
• Li Juan taught Li Qiang to drive, and he drove the car home after practicing on the quiet road.
• Li Long advised Wang Fusheng on converting sloped land to drip irrigation and discussed a ten-thousand-mu farmland renovation application with Xie Yundong and Xu Chengjun.
• Xu Chengjun promised Li Long household registration places for at least five families if the village’s renovation application succeeded.
• Dai Jianguo visited Li Long at the factory, thanked him for arranging his rescue from Kazakhstan, and gave him gifts.
• Li Long told Chen Dajun about Dai Jianguo’s rescue, and Chen Dajun encouraged him to keep helping people who ran into trouble abroad.

As the Fourth Team launched spring land reclamation and drip irrigation, Li Long helped secure an application for an autonomous-region farmland renovation project and expanded his company’s work. The Agriculture Department working group visited to verify the village’s acreage, leaving Xu Chengjun anxious about whether the completed drip-irrigated fields would count toward the total.

• Li Long warned border traders about the risks of doing business in Kazakhstan and shifted some drip-irrigation customer guidance to Li Junfeng and Chen Qianjin.
• On March 10, the Li family’s tractors began reclaiming land across the Fourth Team, while Tao Daqiang discussed village registration with Yang Yong and Li Jianguo urged Liang Wenyu to lead drip-irrigated cotton farming in his village.
• Li Long consulted Professor Yang about the ten-thousand-mu renovation project, then helped Xu Chengjun prepare and submit the village’s application through the township and county.
• Meng Hai told Li Long that his company had secured a three-million-yuan expressway guardrail contract and began preparing for the work.
• On March 29, the Agriculture Department working group toured the Fourth Team’s fields and began verifying its land, while Xu Chengjun worried that the group might exclude existing drip-irrigated acreage.

Lin Chaojun’s working group measured Fourth Team’s farmland and confirmed that its 11,047 mu met the acreage threshold for the Ten-Thousand-Mu Farmland Renovation Project. After the group left, Li Long contacted Professor Yang, who promised to help secure approval while warning that the funding might be reduced because some fields had already received irrigation improvements.

• Lin Chaojun’s group discussed how to report Fourth Team’s existing irrigation improvements, and Lin Chaojun decided they would record the land accurately by category.
• Xu Chengjun and the villagers arranged meals and support for the working group, while Li Long’s factory continued producing drip irrigation tape.
• The working group measured the village’s land over four days and recorded a total of 11,047 mu, enough to meet the project’s acreage requirement.
• Lin Chaojun told Xu Chengjun that the existing improvements would be included in the report and that approval depended on the leadership’s assessment.
• Xu Chengjun urged Li Long to help secure approval, and Li Long called Professor Yang, who said he would do what he could and explained that funding might be reduced.

Li Long learned that the Fourth Team’s farmland renovation project had passed its preliminary review, and Xu Chengjun promised to arrange household registration and land for Li Long’s relatives. Later, Chen Dajun asked Li Long to help find four missing petroleum technicians in Kazakhstan, and Liu Shanmin began mobilizing contacts after hearing the news.

• Professor Yang told Li Long that the Ten-Thousand-Mu Farmland Renovation Project had passed its preliminary review, and Li Long relayed the news to Xu Chengjun.
• Xu Chengjun promised to raise Li Long’s relatives’ household registration, homesteads, and farmland at a villagers’ representative assembly.
• Li Long told Li Jianguo about the project and discussed which relatives, including Li Junhai and Li Qianjin, might move their household registrations to the Fourth Team.
• Liu Shanmin delivered goods from Kazakhstan, including vehicles and scrap copper, and Li Long arranged for canned food and sugar to be sent back across the border.
• Chen Dajun told Li Long that four petroleum technicians had disappeared after passing through Panfilov, and Li Long asked Liu Gaolou to contact Liu Shanmin’s people in Kazakhstan.
• When Liu Shanmin returned, Li Long told him about the missing technicians, and Liu Shanmin immediately called his contacts in Kazakhstan to organize a search.

Li Long and Liu Shanmin waited anxiously for news of four kidnapped technicians in Kazakhstan, then learned they had been found alive and hospitalized in Almaty. Liu Shanmin arranged for the embassy and the technicians’ employer to handle their care, while Li Long called Chen Dajun and Ajinbek with the news.

• Li Long and Liu Shanmin waited for news, and Ajinbek called Li Long to ask for help rescuing the kidnapped technicians.
• Li Long warned local traders about the danger of doing business across the border, while Liu Shanmin ordered his contacts to search through the night.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about the kidnapping, and they agreed that staying home was safer than going abroad.
• Liu Shanmin received word that the four technicians had been found alive in Almaty, though they had suffered serious injuries and the female technician had likely been violated.
• Liu Shanmin said his people had dealt with the kidnappers, and Li Long called Chen Dajun and Ajinbek to share the news.
• Li Long invited Liu Shanmin to a meal to thank him, but Liu Shanmin said helping the technicians had been his duty.

Li Long stopped the Drip Irrigation Tape Factory after the sowing season and paid its workers, while the Fourth Team prepared for a major land-conversion project. The Autonomous Region working group presented its design and compensation terms, and Xu Chengjun assured them the villagers would cooperate.

• Liu Shanmin told Li Long that helping secure the release of the detained people had earned him recognition, and the two agreed to keep in touch.
• Li Long halted factory production after the day's work, paid Li Junfeng, Chen Qianjin, and the temporary workers, and promised they could return when production resumed.
• Xu Chengjun told Li Long that an Autonomous Region design and audit team would visit to plan the ten-thousand-mu land-conversion project, and Li Long agreed to help welcome them.
• Li Long accompanied the working group on an inspection of the village's land, and the team proposed reorganizing the fields, building a road and canal, and retaining or compensating for existing irrigation infrastructure.
• Xu Chengjun accepted the working group's terms and assured its members that the village officials would handle any problems and the villagers would cooperate.

Xu Chengjun announced that the ten-thousand-mu farmland renovation had been approved and defended Li Long against villagers who blamed him for their pump-house investments. Li Long’s cooperative recruited new households, and by early May every household in Fourth Team had joined one of the three cooperatives; Harimu then came to see Li Long in a changed role.

• Xu Chengjun told the villagers that the renovation would replan their fields after harvest and explained how usable pump houses and pumps would be compensated.
• When a villager blamed Li Long for encouraging pump-house construction, Li Jianguo, Tao Daqiang, and Xu Chengjun defended Li Long and ended the complaint.
• Li Long told Xie Yundong that the cooperative could recruit new members, and villagers including Lu Yingming and Tao Dayong hurried to register.
• Xie Yundong accepted the first thirteen households, bringing the cooperative’s Fourth Team farmland to about 6,000 mu, and assigned Tao Daqiang to manage another tract.
• By early May, every household in Fourth Team had joined one of the three cooperatives, and Harimu came to see Li Long in a changed role.

Li Long accepted Harimu’s payment to arrange repairs to the road to the Summer Pasture and gave him a crossbow for protection from wolves. On a solo trip into the mountains, Li Long hunted a wild boar and killed four wolves before returning home with meat and wolf parts.

• Harimu gave Li Long fifty thousand yuan to repair the damaged road to the Summer Pasture, and Li Long agreed to hire Meng Hai’s construction crew.
• Li Long demonstrated his crossbows to Harimu, who took one and ordered six more for his herders.
• Li Long brought two red deer fawns home for Mingming and Haohao, then arranged the road repairs with Meng Hai.
• On May 1, Li Long went into the mountains, inspected his cabin and the Hot Spring Villa, and shot a wild boar with a crossbow.
• Wolves approached while Li Long butchered the boar, and he killed four of them using his crossbows and machete.
• Li Long returned home with the boar’s stomach and the wolves’ fangs and ankle bones, and Li Qingxia hurried back to check that he was unharmed.

Li Long spent time with his family after hunting, then drove into the mountains to deliver crossbows and inspect the area. He reunited with Bolati, who bought a GAZ-69 from him, leaving Li Long to postpone checking the road repairs until another day.

• Li Long shared wild boar meat with his family and told Gu Xiaoxia and the boys a toned-down account of his dangerous hunt.
• Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia he planned to visit the mountain road repairs and Harimu at the Summer Pasture, then drove into the mountains with six crossbows.
• Li Long inspected the remains of the wolf carcasses near the Hot Spring Villa and found the area scattered with fur and bones.
• Li Long met Bolati at the Small Wooden Cabin and learned that Bolati had earned good money trading fritillaria and other goods.
• Bolati asked to buy a vehicle, demonstrated that he could drive, and paid Li Long 25,000 yuan for a GAZ-69.
• Li Long let Bolati drive away with the vehicle, encouraged the resellers at the Purchasing Station to follow his example, and realized he would have to inspect the road repairs the next day.