Red of the Ridge: From the Countryside to the World

When the hawthorn trees on Beipo Village's hillsides were heavy with fruit, Chen Mo was fretting over the bankrupt hawthorn factory his father had left him. He owed the farmers six months of payments, while his old rival Zhang Hongbing was using additives to sell at rock-bottom prices, hoping to swallow up the village's only industry.

He stuck to the rule that sincerity made for sweeter fruit. He made his preserves without thickeners and never forced down the price he paid for fruit, yet his warehouse was doused with herbicide and his orders were stolen. At the critical moment, his wife Lin Wanci returned from teaching. She saved a product launch by driving for a ride-hailing service, exposed rumors on a livestream, and accompanied him to Europe to fight a trademark lawsuit.

From a village workshop to EU organic certification, from a surge in orders on JD.com to building a factory in Bulgaria, the little hawthorn business drew an international siege. A German company snatched up its trademark, EuroGiant monopolized distribution, and after getting out of prison, Zhang Hongbing teamed up with investors to short the stock. Fortunately, the farmers took up their hoes to defend the hawthorn orchards, and an Italian farmer offered to work with him, helping him weather attacks both open and covert.

But just as his global supply chain took shape, one deadly crisis after another struck: the domestic hawthorn orchards were contaminated, access to Martian cultivation technology was blocked, and international capital tightened its stranglehold. With the old preserve-making pot in his hands, can Chen Mo uphold the promise that 'a righteous path leads to a thriving enterprise' and bring the hillsides' hawthorn berries to tables around the world?