Cultivating the Heart in the City: The Seasons of Xi He's Little Courtyard

Xi He, a former star operations manager in the internet industry, quits her job because of vertigo and returns to the courtyard in the old city that holds generations of her family's memories. There, she unexpectedly discovers she can sense the emotions of plants. Her seemingly peaceful rural life is thrown into turmoil by a notice announcing the old city's “protective renovation.” Zhan Yan, the ancient-book restorer renting the house next door, is actually a special consultant in charge of the renovation plans. The early planning maps of the old city that he keeps hidden draw Xi He's courtyard into the maelstrom of commercial development and cultural preservation. The neighbor Granny Nie holds a secret about Xi He's mother, short-video whiz Zhuo Yuan uses his traffic-savvy ways to help the courtyard make a comeback, and business rival Rong Feng's “farm of the future” clashes fiercely with Xi He's traditional cultivation methods. As Xi He brings the neighbors together through their shared connection to plants and spearheads a “community micro-garden project,” Zhan Yan struggles between professional integrity and his desire to protect the place. Meanwhile, the mystery of a Republican-era greenhouse hidden beneath the courtyard and the family origins of Xi He's ability to sense plants quietly weave together into an urban pastoral romance about land, memory, and healing.