Li Long didn’t know or care about what the villagers were saying about him.

He was getting used to driving the cart, and after about 500 meters, he was handling it smoothly. In his past life, he’d done similar work. Although his family was one of the first in the team to buy a tractor, they’d relied on a donkey cart for years before that. Not only could Li Long drive the cart, but he also knew how to ride a donkey, and at one point, he’d even considered raising donkeys—easy to care for, low risk of illness, and their value kept rising.

“Brother Long, when did you learn to drive a cart?” Tao Daqiang asked, sitting on the hay bales and watching with admiration.

“This is nothing,” Li Long replied from the driver’s seat. “The road’s flat, and our team’s horse is gentle. As long as you don’t provoke it and just keep guiding it forward, it’s easy.”

Though he made it sound simple, there was more to it than that, but he didn’t see a need to explain further.

The journey to the town was quiet, with hardly anyone around. Their hats, eyebrows, and even the fine hairs on their faces were soon coated in a layer of frost. The sun eventually rose, warming things slightly, but Li Long’s feet were still numb from the cold, so he climbed down from the cart and led the horse along the road toward the county.

The road from the town to the county was in better shape, having been packed down by trucks, with the occasional trail of donkey or horse droppings. Li Long recalled winter walks to the county in his youth, when he’d kick these “droppings.” The best were camel droppings—perfectly round and easy to kick far. Horse and donkey droppings, on the other hand, were oval and tended to roll unpredictably.

They passed an old man collecting droppings in a basket. This was rare here in northern Xinjiang, where large land areas meant that chemical fertilizers were widely used. Li Long remembered people collecting manure back home, but it was less common here.

When they reached the county, both man and horse were covered in a layer of frost. Li Long found the local purchase station, parked the cart by the roadside, and pulled out a handful of hay for the horse to nibble on. He told Tao Daqiang, “Daqiang, stay here and watch the cart while I go check the price of this muskrat pelt.”

“Got it.” Daqiang nodded eagerly, happy to feel useful.

Li Long took the wrapped muskrat pelt and entered the station. Behind the counter sat a middle-aged man in a blue Mao suit, reading a newspaper, his hair neatly parted—a typical cadre look of the time.

The station was warmed by a coal stove, its fire crackling loudly. Just by the warmth, Li Long knew it was packed with coal—luxurious by local standards.

“Hello, comrade. I’d like to see if you buy these,” Li Long said as he unwrapped the muskrat pelt and placed it on the counter.

The man, whose name was Chen Hongjun, glanced up and then slowly stood, examining the pelt. “Do you know what kind of pelt this is?”

The station wasn’t busy in winter, so employees rotated shifts with one person on duty each day. It was rare for anyone to come in, so Chen wasn’t overly dismissive.

“Water rat pelt. I believe it’s also called a musk rat?”

“Correct. You seem to know a lot,” Chen Hongjun nodded, inspecting the pelt more closely. “Is this fresh?”

“Yes, I just caught it yesterday by chance. They’re easier to catch in spring, so I got lucky.”

“It’s good quality. I’ll give you five yuan for it,” Chen said, tucking the pelt away. “If you bring more, I’ll pay the same—this is a high price.”

Li Long was satisfied; five yuan was indeed a good price.

Taking the money, he stepped outside and realized he should have let Daqiang warm up in the station too, but they still had things to do, and there would be other chances.

“How much did you get?” Daqiang asked eagerly, noticing the thinness of Li Long’s bag.

“Five yuan.” Li Long smiled, adding, “Let’s head to the department store and get some food for the trip.”

“Five yuan! That’s a lot!” Daqiang’s eyes lit up. “If only we could catch more of these…”

“Maybe in the spring. The pond’s frozen over, so catching even one was pure luck.” Li Long put the leftover hay back on the cart, hitched up the horse, and drove toward the department store.

At the store, he handed Daqiang the five-yuan note and said, “Daqiang, go inside and buy a kilogram of sesame cakes and two bricks of tea. Stay inside a bit to warm up, then come back out.”

“I… I’m not sure…” Daqiang stammered, nervous about shopping alone. “Brother Long, maybe you should go instead.”

“I want you to warm up a bit. We can’t both go in, and you don’t need to haggle—just pay and pick up the items.”

After a couple of nudges, Daqiang finally went inside. He emerged a few minutes later with a bag and handed it to Li Long, saying, “Got it, Brother Long! Sesame cakes were one yuan and twenty-eight cents, and the tea bricks were ninety cents. Here’s the change.”

Li Long took the money, put the items in the cart, and went inside himself.

The department store was much bigger than the purchase station, with three floors. The ground floor had food, tobacco, alcohol, and basic household items. Li Long bought another kilogram of sesame cakes and a bag of salt. After warming up, he headed back out.

He found Daqiang pacing by the cart. Unhitching the horse, he said, “Alright, let’s head to the mountains!”

“Alright!” Daqiang jumped back onto the cart as Li Long snapped the reins, and they continued toward the mountains.

After about an hour, they arrived at Qingshui River Commune.

“Brother Long, is your friend here?”

“Yeah,” Li Long replied, though he had no intention of stopping. “But let’s go straight into the mountains.”

Daqiang didn’t ask why. As far as he was concerned, whatever Li Long decided was best.

Normally, anyone entering the mountains would ask locals for directions, but Li Long knew the way from his previous life. He drove the cart through Qingshui River Commune, then turned onto a small path, winding left and right until they reached the mountain entrance.

Beyond that, while the path still showed cart tracks, the snow was much deeper, making it hard for the horse to pull the cart. Both men dismounted, and Daqiang sometimes had to push from behind on especially thick patches of snow.

The South Mountains had several ridges. The outermost one was mostly bare soil, but further in, they passed through two more ridges where sparse shrubs began to appear. Beyond that, the mountains grew more rugged, with grasslands, pine forests, and thick brush.

By the time they reached the pine forest, they’d been traveling for another hour.

Breathless, Li Long stopped the cart and began scanning the area for his target. Finally, behind a grove of pines, he spotted what he’d been looking for: a “winter den.”