Wolf Path in Wind and Snow

The story takes place in the first autumn of the new millennium when the A Mountain region of Xinjiang suffered from a once-in-a-century blizzard. Before the blizzard arrived, the A Mountain grassland was clear and beautiful with pleasant weather. The Kazakh herders drove their flocks while singing pastoral songs, and the sound of the dongbulas (a traditional instrument) was melodious. However, the beautiful A Mountain was not peaceful. Not far away on the mountain road, Captain Hailati of the Qing Mountain Team of the Forestry Public Security Bureau and his team were galloping after smugglers who were illegally panning for gold.

In order to possess alluvial gold, the smugglers engaged in fierce fighting among themselves. Heipi was severely injured, bleeding profusely from his head. Upon arriving, Hailati stopped the fight and arranged for his team members to send the injured Heipi to a nearby mobile hospital. Dr. Jiamila, a Kazakh female doctor and Hailati's wife, carefully dressed Heipi's wounds. Pretending to be unconscious, Heipi seized an opportunity to knock down Jiamila with a stick, stole the confiscated gold sand temporarily stored there by the Qing Mountain team, as well as the ruby ring off Jiamila's finger, and fled.

Upon returning to the mobile hospital tent, Hailati saw his wife lying in a pool of blood and became extremely angry, drawing his gun to chase the perpetrator. Persuaded by his companions, he calmed down and analyzed that the criminal Heipi could only have returned to the mountain to mix with other gold panners. Despite Hailati's determination to ascend the mountain for pursuit, it was not approved due to unresolved issues regarding the loss of the confiscated gold sand.

A Mountain had seventy-two ravines, each filled with gold, attracting hundreds of gold prospectors. Among them, the leader known as Gold King was named Ludazhuang, accompanied by an old prospector called Zhuangye, who was actually the strategist for the Gold King. In late autumn, according to tradition, the gold prospectors had already prepared to divide the gold and disperse down the mountain. However, the desperate Heipi returned to the mountain. The prospectors detested Heipi for embezzling the gold sand and demanded that the Gold King punish him according to the gold rules. Although the Gold King forced Heipi to spit out the embezzled gold sand, he then intervened on Heipi's behalf, sparing his life. The Gold King had his own plans; he intended to buy Heipi’s loyalty for future use due to his ruthless nature.

During the migration, an elderly Kazakh herder named Akken was surprised to see a large flock of crows like a black cloud rolling in from the horizon, predicting that a blizzard was imminent. He immediately led the herdsmen down the mountain to protect their livestock from the disaster. Meanwhile, Hailati was also shocked by this sight and requested immediate commencement of the mountain-clearing operation.