The Fragrance of Pepper Blossoms in Midsummer

The prickly ash berries ripened, reddening the hillsides far and wide. Li Yan was on the verge of helping the villagers shed the label of a poverty-stricken village by growing prickly ash, but then she discovered that someone was scheming behind her back for their own petty gain. She met every move with a countermove and overcame every obstacle. A few years later, she had helped grow the village from just over twenty households to nearly a hundred.

She was almost an old maid, yet she never seemed worried about her marriage. The villagers, however, were fretting on her behalf.

Zhang Yijia, an investment project manager at the Shanghai branch of an international company, returned to his county town for a class reunion and somehow ended up in a lineup of people on blind dates.

He recognized her: the once-famous school beauty, the little cabbage. Now she was prickly ash, sharp and fragrant.

“Sorry, I don’t do long-distance relationships,” Li Yan said bluntly.

Zhang Yijia moved his office to the county town.

“Sorry, our positions make us unsuitable for each other,” said Li Yan, the village chief, with some regret.

Zhang Yijia left.

The next day, he was back. “Chief, I’m here to apply for the position of economic adviser to Pingya Village. You mentioned raising the village’s output value. I’ve drawn up a complete plan. Would you like to take a look?”