Wei Lihua is a twenty-two-year-old university graduate from a rural village who has spent four years in a bustling city, supporting herself through tuition and living expenses with part-time jobs. She shares a nearly ten-year history with her childhood sweetheart, Zhao Yi, a man she believed she would marry. However, upon graduation, Zhao Yi ends their relationship in a cafe, revealing that he has secured a connection with a wealthier woman named Mannyun who can accelerate his career by thirty years. He dismisses their shared past as insignificant compared to his future prospects. Wei Lihua accepts the breakup with stoic calm, though she weeps privately after leaving. She realizes that her trust in him was misplaced and that her feelings were undervalued.
Shortly before the breakup, Wei Lihua had discovered a small, glowing stone on a rainy roadside. After accidentally cutting her finger and touching the stone, she gained access to a mystical Small Space. This dimension contains approximately ten mu of arable land, a pond filled with lotus flowers, a stream, and a well of Spring Water with purifying and restorative properties. The Space operates on a time dilation ratio of twenty-four to one, meaning one hour outside equals twenty-four hours inside. Wei Lihua tests the space by eating lotus seeds, which prove exceptionally delicious and nutritious. She also discovers that the Spring Water can instantly relieve physical fatigue.
Determined to build a new life independent of Zhao Yi, Wei Lihua decides to return to her hometown. Before leaving the city, she purchases a wide variety of vegetable and flower seeds from a local market. She spends her remaining capital buying a camellia plant and some withered branches, hoping to revive them in the Space. She then begins planting vegetables in the Space, utilizing the accelerated time to grow bok choy, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other crops in a matter of days. The vegetables produced are of superior quality, free from pesticides, and possess an intense, fresh flavor that attracts immediate attention.
Wei Lihua sets up a stall at a local vegetable market, selling her organic produce at five yuan per jin, a price significantly higher than conventional vegetables. Despite the premium cost, her stall attracts a large crowd of customers, including elderly women who praise the taste and quality. She earns nearly four thousand yuan in a single day, far exceeding her previous monthly income from part-time work. Her success draws envy from neighboring vendors, some of whom harbor ill intentions, but Wei Lihua remains cautious, carrying a dagger and leaving before dark.
A hotel manager from the Brilliant Hotel approaches Wei Lihua, offering to buy her vegetables in bulk at six yuan per jin. He is impressed by the quality and wishes to establish a long-term supply contract. Wei Lihua declines the long-term offer, claiming her friend can only supply her for two more days before she stops selling. She agrees to a final large delivery for the hotel but plans to cease operations shortly after. This decision is driven by her desire to avoid entanglement with influential city figures and her intention to return home.
Wei Lihua continues selling for two more days, accumulating over one hundred thousand yuan. She packs her belongings, including secondhand appliances she plans to ship home, and books a train ticket. She contacts her mother, Zhang Xiuli, to inform her of her return. Her mother expresses relief and concern, reminding Wei Lihua to buy gifts for her nephews. Wei Lihua reflects on her journey, realizing that money provides security and independence that relationships once failed to offer. She prepares to leave the city, carrying her savings and the secret of her Small Space, ready to start a new chapter in her rural hometown where she intends to contract land and build a life on her own terms.
