Fleeing Famine, a Four-Year-Old Grows Ten Thousand Mu of Crops

After three years of severe drought, the barbarian army closes in. Four-year-old Manman is branded a harbinger of disaster by her clan, who plan to trade her to a trafficker for half a sack of bran. For the first time, her parents stand their ground. Taking her three brothers, each with a very different personality, they leave with nothing. But that very day, they hear that the whole village is fleeing famine.

Others see only barren hills and dried-up rivers. Manman, however, can tell from the smell of the earth where water flows, where the soil is salty, and which seeds can keep people alive. Her carpenter father makes farm tools, her fiery mother manages the grain accounts, her eldest brother knows the roads, her second brother is a skilled hunter, and her third brother is the best at striking deals. Starting with finding water, putting up shelters, and breaking new ground, the family gradually turns a few refugee households into a village, and a desolate valley into a granary.

Only when the imperial court sends officials to collect grain does Manman learn that the wilderness valley she reclaimed has become an imperial military farm.