In 1992, there was a severe drought in Zhaojiayuan, Weibei Dry Plateau. Zhao Mancang's father died of illness, leaving behind debts and two younger brothers. He gave up the college entrance examination and took care of the family, but he couldn't raise enough 3,000 yuan as a gift, so he watched his childhood sweetheart Wang Maizi marry into the county town.
Mancang married the capable Liu Caihua and set up a woodware factory, but was deceived into bankruptcy as soon as it started to improve. My younger brother, Mantun, graduated from high school and went to Xi'an to carry bricks at a construction site and then worked in a coal mine to dig coal. He studied by himself while working and was admitted to an adult university.
Mancang switched to pepper planting and led the villagers to establish a cooperative. After three years of hard work, there was a bumper harvest of pepper. However, Caihua became ill due to overwork and suffered from uremia. She secretly stopped taking her medicine and left her hope of living to her children. The cauliflower dies in the autumn when the peppercorns are ripe.
After Mancun was disfigured, he stayed in the coal mine, married the female worker Wang Gaihua, and wrote a safety manual. He received a letter from his brother - "The plains have changed, the peppercorns have turned red, waiting for you." The brothers hugged at the entrance of the village. On a snowy day, Mancun began to write a book about Zhaojiayuan.
