When Lin Yue opens her eyes, she has become an orphan with no parents and barely a roof over her head. All she has left is her grandmother’s dying wish: “Live well.” On a stormy day, she chases a wild rabbit into a cave and accidentally awakens an ancient jade pendant with her blood, stepping into the legendary Heart Spring Secret Realm. Its spirit spring heals wounds and strengthens the body, while its black soil can ripen crops in just three days. It is her only chance at survival in a desperate situation.
From then on, the vegetables she grows are crisp and sweet, and the chickens and ducks she raises are plump and tender. From Lin Family Village to Qingshi Town, word of Yue Lai Farm gradually spreads. She thinks her life will be all about farming, making money, and living peacefully by the spirit spring. Then, one rainy night, the down-on-his-luck scholar Li Ming helps her gather spilled grain sacks. When he looks up, his gaze is as warm as starlight.
She has no idea that he is a general’s illegitimate son hiding his identity in the countryside to escape danger. Nor does he know that she possesses an ancient secret realm, where a gentle touch can bring forth the world’s rarest treasures. They grow close over a basket of greens and a worn old book. She helps him gather provisions for the army and cure an epidemic; he shields her from open and hidden attacks, and gives her a place to stand in the world.
But the secret of the spirit spring soon stirs up trouble. A local tyrant covets it, the merchants’ association tries to suppress her, a prince seeks to seize it, and the General’s Estate brings pressure to bear. Even the imperial family’s secret guards catch wind of it. When her loved ones are in danger and her space is on the verge of collapse, Lin Yue resolutely takes up the jade box and heads for the nine-tiered palace.
She will show the world that what the Heart Spring has given her can do more than enrich one person or one family: it can nourish a vast realm and bring blessings to all.
This is the legendary story of an orphan who uses a spirit spring space to rise from a rural homestead to the court of a flourishing dynasty, guarding her original ideals alongside the person she loves and building a glorious pastoral paradise.
