Modern woman Lin Wan opens her eyes and finds herself in ancient times, as Cheng, a widow who has just lost her husband. Her home is bare, she owes a debt to the King of Hell, and her four “little debt collectors” are even more trouble:
The eldest is dull-witted, guarding a meager plot of land and waiting to starve. The second studies so obsessively he has become a bookish fool. The third is a little demon who wreaks havoc wherever he goes, and the youngest is spoiled rotten, dreaming of marrying into a wealthy family. Loan sharks kick down the door to collect, threatening to sell her daughter if they are not paid within three days!
Granny Cheng angrily scatters paper money ashes. “I’ll bear the debt myself!” With no way out, she tackles survival with one hand: braving the whole village’s ridicule, she uses a “filthy” composting method to improve the barren fields; she digs for wild vegetables and catches fish and shrimp, leading the whole family to scrape by on the edge of starvation; when torrential rain pours down, the entire family turns into mud-covered figures, snatching grain from the jaws of the flood!
With the other hand, she disciplines them: she makes the eldest work the fields, forces the second to “investigate things” in the fields, puts the third to clearing wasteland to teach him patience, and makes the youngest scrub latrines and learn some manners! With a mix of beatings and reason, she manages to straighten out all four little rascals.
When golden waves of wheat ripple across the fields, the IOU for the forty-tael debt to the King of Hell burns to ashes in the brazier! The eldest becomes a skilled farmer, the second sets out on the imperial examination path, the third joins the army to make a future for himself, and the youngest sheds her spoiled ways and learns to manage a household. The debt is cleared, and they have carved out a way to live!
But the invitation from the Shen family, a clan of officials for generations, is both an opportunity and an entry ticket to the trials of a grand mansion. The third child’s military career and the second’s examinations are both strewn with obstacles... Granny Cheng’s legend begins with a handful of fermenting manure!
