Chapter Summaries

Li Long prepared to join the Sideline Team in the mountains and noticed Little Haizi's water level rising, while helping Li Juan gather materials for weaving. In the mountains, Harimu used Li Long's fever medicine to treat Nasen, whose fever eased.

• Li Long told Tao Daqiang he would join the Sideline Team to weave carrying frames and asked him to prepare for the trip.
• Li Long set six nets at Little Haizi, noticed the water had risen, and practiced casting a net with Tao Daqiang.
• Li Long learned that the village would irrigate its winter wheat, then took Li Juan to gather willow switches and cut poles for weaving.
• Nasen developed a severe fever after falling into the freezing stream, and Harimu gave him the fever tablets Li Long had provided.
• Nasen's fever subsided after half an hour, and his family felt relieved.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang collected over sixty kilograms of fish, and Li Long took most of the catch to sell at Stone City's Old Street. He opened his stall at a busy spot by the bus stop and called out to attract customers.

• Li Long used fertilizer sacks to haul the nets and caught more fish, though two large common carp escaped and tore one net.
• Li Long, Tao Daqiang, and the Li family removed and sorted the fish, then packed the catch into sacks.
• Li Long rode Li Juan to school and dropped off the materials she needed to weave a taibazi.
• Li Long reached Old Street before sunrise, set up his stall, and loudly advertised his fish.
• Several passersby noticed Li Long's fish and crossed the road toward his stall.

Li Long sold his fish, bought another radio, and met Gu Xiaoxia, who gave him a handmade bicycle-seat cover and worried about his coming trip into the mountains. At the primary school, he helped Li Juan and her classmates finish and strengthen their taibazi and brooms before taking her home.

• Li Long sold most of his fish at the market, then dumped the remaining fish into a roadside ditch, where three people rushed to collect them.
• Li Long ate milk tea and naan on Old Street, then bought a radio and batteries at the County Town Department Store.
• Li Long met Gu Xiaoxia at Township Middle School, where she fitted a knitted bicycle-seat cover she had made and urged him to take care of himself during his mountain trip.
• Li Long found Li Juan struggling with her classmates to weave taibazi and reworked their weak frames until they passed the teacher's inspection.
• Li Long reinforced the students' Achnatherum splendens brooms, then asked Li Juan to pack her schoolbag so they could go home.

Li Long arranged supplies for the Sideline Team’s mountain trip, caught and sold a large haul of crucian carp, and bought the last radio in the store. He then headed into the mountains with two radios and his rifle to surprise Harimu and the others.

• Li Long rode Li Juan and Li Qiang home from school, then advised Xie Yundong on supplies and quality standards for the Sideline Team’s trip into the mountains.
• Li Long and Tao Daqiang set six fishing nets at Little Haizi, and the next morning they retrieved nets packed with crucian carp.
• Li Long sold the fish in Stone City for more than fifty yuan and bought the department store’s last radio after testing it.
• Li Long collected the radio he had bought earlier, packed both radios, and left for the mountains with his Small-Caliber Rifle to surprise Harimu and the others.

Li Long brought radios to Harimu and Jade Mountain River, and their families were delighted to hear news, music, and programs in their own languages. Harimu and Jade Mountain River planned to build Li Long a wooden house nearby, and Li Long was left unable to refuse their offer.

• Li Long visited Harimu’s Winter Camp and gave his family a battery-powered radio that received the Central People’s Broadcasting Station and a Kazakh-language station.
• Harimu took Li Long to Jade Mountain River’s home, where Li Long tuned a radio to a local Asak-language station.
• Jade Mountain River explained how the radio would help the herders learn about their people’s history, government policies, and music, then invited Li Long to a gathering.
• Jade Mountain River slaughtered a sheep for the gathering while his family listened to the radio.
• Harimu told Li Long that he and the other herders were building him a wooden house, and Li Long struggled to refuse their gift.

Li Long joined Jade Mountain River and Harimu’s neighbors for a lively gathering, then watched them begin building him a house. He sold two pieces of jade to buy supplies and gifts for the workers, but Harimu warned him not to hand them out yet.

• Harimu and Jade Mountain River gathered their people for a bonfire feast, where Li Long shared food, listened to the Radio, and joined the traditional dancing.
• Jade Mountain River brought young and middle-aged men with logs to build Li Long a house, and Li Long chose a site near a gully between the Winter Camps.
• Li Long traveled to Wu City and sold two pieces of jade to Liu Yuzhang and Section Chief Chen for 374 yuan.
• Li Long bought gifts, snacks, and building supplies, then carried them by bicycle to Alimu’s Winter Camp.
• Harimu told Li Long not to distribute the gifts yet, warning that doing so could disrupt the work and cause trouble with the workers’ families.

Li Long delivered tools and supplies to Harimu’s Winter Camp, buying them with money from selling antlers. He returned to the County Town to rest, but heard someone moving outside before midnight.

• Harimu warned Li Long not to give the Kazakh people liquor and listed the supplies the group needed for the Summer Pasture.
• Harimu gave Li Long deer and Roe Deer antlers, which Li Long sold to Chen Hongjun for 181 yuan and 50 cents.
• Li Long bought tools, wire, rope, and other supplies at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but postponed buying grain until the next morning.
• Nasen helped Li Long load the supplies onto a horse, and Li Long carried them to the Winter Camp, where Harimu said the workers would receive them the next day.
• Li Long rode back to the County Town, ate toasted steamed bread, and went to sleep before hearing movement outside before midnight.

Li Long caught a trained fugitive stealing food from his courtyard and learned that the police would watch the property while he was away. He bought grain, four piglets, and feed at the morning market, then returned to the village with the copper coins and animals.

• Li Long caught a hungry intruder trying to steal a pot, fired his Small-Caliber Rifle, and handed the thief over to the police.
• Officer Guo told Li Long the thief was a fugitive who had injured people while stealing, and promised to keep an eye on Li Long's courtyard.
• Li Long decided to take the copper coins back to the village and bought rice, flour, cornmeal, four piglets, and bran and chaff at the morning market.
• Li Long returned to the village, gave Li Qiang several copper coins, and unloaded the piglets before someone came looking for him.

Li Long prepared for the Sideline Team’s Taibazi work in Small White Poplar Gully while handling his family’s piglets and buying grain for his own trip into the mountains. The chapter ends with him setting out by bicycle with more than 150 kilograms of grain loaded on it.

• Xie Yundong told Li Long that the Sideline Team would leave for Small White Poplar Gully the next day, and Li Long agreed to join them later.
• Li Jianguo castrated the four male piglets while Li Long held them, and Li Long explained that he had helped Li Juan’s group reinforce their Taibazi.
• Li Long addressed the team members, warning them to follow Xie Yundong’s instructions and make Taibazi that met the Supply and Marketing Cooperative’s quality standards.
• Li Long bought rice and flour from grain sellers on Stone City Old Street and packed his purchases for the mountain trip.
• Li Long set out early the next morning with more than 150 kilograms of grain secured to his bicycle.

Li Long visited Harimu and Jade Mountain River’s Winter Camp, where the herders were building him a wooden house, and agreed to help them trade local goods for supplies. He then rode to Small White Poplar Gully, where his family and other villagers were preparing earth cellars for a work camp.

• Li Long brought grain to Harimu’s Winter Camp and saw the wooden house the herders were building for him.
• Jade Mountain River explained that the two-room house would soon be finished, and Li Long thanked the men for their work.
• Li Long offered to trade radios, grain, medicine, tools, and other requested goods for the herders’ antlers, hides, and wildlife products.
• The men returned to construction after lunch, and Harimu advised Li Long to arrange furniture and other furnishings for his house.
• Li Long rode to Small White Poplar Gully and found the villagers unloading carts and repairing old earth-cellar pits.

Li Long helped the workers finish their dugouts and test Gu Boyuan’s new stove before exploring the mountains for game and antlers. After finding fresh wild boar tracks, he set more than twenty snares to try to catch piglets and planned to check them before dawn.

• Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Tao Daqiang finished Tao Daqiang’s and Gu Boyuan’s dugouts, while Gu Boyuan built a stove with two cooking openings and boiled water.
• Li Long warned Tao Daqiang not to dig for fritillaria without permits, and Xie Yundong urged the workers to focus on their work instead of wandering into the woods.
• Li Long helped Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang cut a fallen pine, then searched the mountains for antlers but found none.
• Li Long discovered fresh wild boar tracks in a damp gully and decided to try catching piglets alive.
• Li Long bought corn, scattered it as bait, and set more than twenty wire snares around the bushes before returning to the compound for the night.
• Li Long woke before dawn and prepared to return to the snares.

Li Long caught five wild piglets and shot a half-grown boar after Xu Jianjun startled the herd. He brought the meat to the county and shared portions with several people before heading home with the piglets and remaining meat.

• Li Long shot a half-grown boar as the wild boar herd fled, then warned Xu Jianjun for spooking them and refused to give him a piglet.
• Li Long freed five piglets from his snares, dressed the boar with Tao Daqiang’s help, and sent the innards back to the others in White Poplar Gully.
• Xu Jianjun complained that Li Long had refused to share, but Tao Daqiang arrived with the boar innards, prompting the group to help prepare them.
• Li Long carried the boar and piglets to the County Seat, then gave ribs to Officer Guo and portions of meat to Li Xiangqian and Chen Hongjun.
• Li Long returned to his courtyard, secured the remaining meat and piglets, and rode toward the production team.

Li Long brought five wild piglets to Lao Luo at the Stable to raise, then told Li Jianguo about the Winter Camp his herder friends were building and planned furniture for it. He began preparing supplies for a housewarming gathering and, after finding sunflower seeds at the Cultural Palace, spotted a possible coupon dealer.

• Li Long returned home with five wild piglets and wild boar meat, and his family helped unload them.
• After two piglets escaped into the yard, Li Long and Li Jianguo caught them and decided the wild piglets could not share the family's pigpen.
• Li Long took the piglets, feed, and pork belly to Lao Luo at the Stable, where Lao Luo agreed to raise them.
• Li Long told Li Jianguo that his herder friends had built him a two-room Winter Camp, and they discussed making furniture for it.
• Li Long planned a housewarming gathering for the herders and went looking for drinks, snacks, and coupons in the County Seat.
• At the Cultural Palace, Li Long bought the remaining roasted sunflower seeds from a vendor and spotted someone who looked like a coupon dealer.

Li Long bought supplies and trade coupons before returning to the mountains, where Harimu and the young men had nearly finished building his house. The young men offered antlers, pelts, jade, and fawns in exchange for radios, and Li Long assured them their goods were enough.

• Li Long bought grain coupons and other coupons from Cao Xiao Liu, then purchased champagne, wine, candy, batteries, and flashlights in town.
• Li Long bought fifty kilograms of flour, organized his supplies, cleaned his rifle, and set off for the mountains the next morning.
• Harimu led Li Long to his Winter Camp, where Jade Mountain River and the others had built a house and were finishing its wooden sleeping platform.
• Li Long found antlers, hides, and Ma River jade stored in the house and realized transporting everything would take several trips.
• Bielike offered four antlers, Tangboli offered pelts and jade, and Tasken offered two fawns for radios; Li Long agreed that their goods were enough.

Li Long sold the mountain herders’ hides and antlers, then traveled to Wu City with a valuable piece of Ma River Jade to sell. At the Jade Factory, he met Yusufu, another jade seller, and waited to see how their stones would be appraised.

• Li Long arranged to bring the herders’ requested goods in batches and promised to bring medicine, then left with their jade, hides, and antlers.
• Chen Hongjun valued Li Long’s hides and antlers at 332.68 yuan, leaving him short of the money needed for all the supplies.
• Li Long chose the largest, highest-quality piece of Ma River Jade to sell and rode a bus to Wu City.
• At the Jade Factory, Li Long learned Old Liu was away and met Section Chief Chen, who said a seller from southern Xinjiang would join him.
• Yusufu arrived with several pieces of jade, greeted Li Long warmly after hearing him speak Uyghur, and agreed to let his jade be examined first.

Li Long sold his Ma River jade, bought Yusufu’s small jade pieces, and learned that he had been using the Uyghur word for “friend” with his Kazakh companions. After returning to Ma County with radios and supplies for them, he was watched by Gu Ermao, who suspected Li Long of speculation and profiteering and considered reporting him.

• Yusufu sold more than thirty kilograms of fine jade to the Jade Carving Factory for nearly five thousand yuan, and Li Long sold his own large Ma River jade piece for a high price.
• Li Long bought all of Yusufu’s small jade pieces, then realized he had mistakenly called his Kazakh friends “Adasi” instead of “Dosen.”
• Li Long bought eight radios, shoes, flashlights, and other supplies in Wu City and carried them by bus to Ma County.
• Gu Ermao saw Li Long enter the compound with a large sack and secretly watched him, blaming him for Tao Daqiang’s past beating.
• Li Long bought flour and other goods while Gu Ermao watched him make several trips and began considering whether to report him for speculation and profiteering.

Gu Xiaoxia visited the Li family and gave Liang Yuemei shoes for her father and Li Long, making her feelings for him clear. After Li Long loaded goods for delivery to the mountains, the Office for Combating Speculation and Profiteering arrested him, and the chapter ended as an official went to verify his credentials.

• Gu Xiaoxia brought Liang Yuemei two pairs of shoes, one for her father and one for Li Long, and Liang Yuemei welcomed her to lunch.
• Li Long loaded flour, radios, batteries, and other supplies onto his bicycle to deliver to the mountains.
• Two men from the Office for Combating Speculation and Profiteering detained Li Long and accused him of speculation and profiteering.
• Li Long argued with the young official who tried to seize his radios, while Gu Ermao was brought in to accuse him.
• Li Long showed his Supply and Marketing Cooperative credentials and explained his assignment, so the middle-aged official went to call and confirm his identity.

After the Anti-Speculation Office confirmed Li Long’s purchasing assignment, Li Xiangqian helped him get Gu Ermao fired from the transport company. Gu Ermao returned to the team in disgrace, and Li Jianguo headed to the Gu Family’s home with a stick after learning what had happened.

• The Anti-Speculation Office confirmed Li Long’s identity, and Deng and Gu Ermao apologized for the misunderstanding.
• Li Xiangqian called the transport company and persuaded its management to dismiss Gu Ermao for reporting Li Long.
• Gu Ermao’s master told him he had been fired, and company management refused to hear his pleas.
• Gu Ermao returned to the team, where Ma Hongmei spread the news that he had been dismissed after reporting Li Long.
• After hearing the news from the Lu Family’s Eldest Sister-in-Law, Li Jianguo grabbed a stick and went to the Gu Family’s home.

Li Jianguo beat the Gu family after Gu Ermao reported Li Long, then learned that Ermao had fled to the Corps. Li Long, unaware of the village conflict, reached Harimu’s Winter Camp and found it completed.

• Gu Ermao returned to the team after his uncle disowned him and his family ordered him back.
• Li Jianguo confronted the Gu family and beat Gu Ermao, Gu Laoda, and Liu Tiemei after Ermao refused to apologize and blamed Li Long.
• Xu Chengjun defended Li Jianguo’s anger, warned Liu Tiemei to take her complaint to the authorities, and left the matter to rest.
• Li Jianguo arranged to escort Li Juan and Li Qiang to school, while the team discussed the fight and Gu Ermao’s failed report.
• The next day, Li Jianguo heard that Gu Ermao had fled to relatives near Stone City, then focused on planting sugar beets on his newly allotted land.
• Li Long rode into the mountains with the Radio, met Harimu, and went to the completed Winter Camp.

Li Long inspected the completed winter camp and thanked the young men by giving them shoes, radios, and flashlights. After Harimu explained that they valued friendship more than the price of their traded goods, Li Long joined them in preparing a feast, which began as some rode off to bring their families back.

• Li Long praised the winter camp built by the young men and said he was satisfied with the house.
• Li Long gave the young men Liberation Shoes and flashlights, and returned radios to those who had traded for them.
• Harimu told Li Long that the young men valued the useful goods and their friendship rather than knowing what their stones and antlers had sold for.
• The young men prepared sheep, meat, and a naan oven while Li Long gathered wild mushrooms, onions, and garlic.
• Li Long and the young men began grilling meat, and some riders left to bring girls and children back to the gathering.