190,000 yuan was both the dying wish Wang Lei entrusted to Mi Gao and his only chance to escape the burden of a mortgage in Shanghai. Carrying a heart full of scars, he sought refuge in a farmhouse courtyard in Dali, hoping to start his life over by opening an inn amid the romantic scenery of Cangshan and Erhai. But this romantic place was never a paradise beyond the world. Sunlight streamed through the skylight of the humble courtyard, revealing cracks in reality. Just as he was about to sign the letter of intent to transfer the inn, Yang Sisi’s cousin Yang Feng, known as “the scalpel,” suddenly appeared and used his financial clout to tighten the screws. Meanwhile, co-owner Bai Lu’s finances collapsed overnight when her ex-husband fought her for custody.
The grilled erkuai sizzling over charcoal filled the air with warmth and smoke, but the breeze by Erhai carried the chill of the business world. Mi Gao bore the hopes of the dead, fought off the crushing pressure of capital, and tried to navigate both the pressure from Yang Sisi’s family and her sincere support. He rode his battered electric scooter along the country lanes of Caicun, with the humiliations of his past in Shanghai behind him and the open and covert battles of Dali’s underworld ahead. Beneath the romantic packaging of scenic Dali lay the desperate struggle of ordinary people with their backs to the wall, the clash between profit and loyalty, and the determination to find a way forward through the thorns of reality.
Will this life-or-death entrepreneurial gamble become nothing more than a footnote in a game of capital, or can it grow a flower of hope for ordinary people in Dali’s sunshine? The wind sweeping down from Cangshan unveils a struggle for survival, dignity, and redemption.
