Episode Summary
A family conflict over the sale of land is resolved by the younger generation, who prevent their patriarch from exploiting his own brother. Simultaneously, the chaos from a bandit raid leads to the introduction of the Peasant Association, a radical movement led by a newly converted Tie Tou. His revolutionary ideas begin to spread, causing unrest among the villagers and anxiety for the landowning families.
Spoiler Alert
"This Thriving Land" Episode 14: A Village on the Brink
A family feud over land ignites, just as a new, radical ideology begins to sweep through the village, setting the stage for major conflict.
The trouble begins when Ning Xuewu, desperate to pay off a debt for Ning Kebi, decides to sell thirty mu of his family's land. Fei Zuoshi quickly arrives with an offer of 480 silver dollars—a fair price at sixteen dollars per mu—and Feng Er is also eager to purchase a few acres. Just as the deal is about to be signed, Ning Xuexiang, the family patriarch, returns from a trip to the county town. Furious that his brother would sell their ancestral land to an outsider, he forcefully drives Fei Zuoshi away. He then makes a shocking offer to buy the land himself for a mere ten dollars per mu, leaving his brother Ning Xuewu speechless and cornered. He also flatly rejects Feng Er's smaller offer.
The tense situation is broken by the arrival of Ning Susu and Ning Xiuxiu. They declare their intention to buy the land, offering the fair price of sixteen dollars per mu. Their cousin, Ning Kejin, arrives just in time to support them, and a reluctant Ning Xuexiang is forced to concede. Although Feng Er gives his money to Ning Xiuxiu, hoping she will buy a few acres for him, she later reveals she couldn't go through with it. She explains to a disappointed Feng Er that she didn't want to take advantage of her uncle's misfortune and chose to leave him with some land to live on, a decision supported by Big Foot Feng.
Meanwhile, a more dangerous threat emerges. While working in the fields, Big Foot Feng and others receive terrifying news from a villager named Zhuzi: Pan Xiaogui's home has been raided by bandits. Several long-term laborers were taken hostage, and one who attempted to escape was killed. The news is too much for Tie Tou's mother, whose son is among the missing, and she collapses in shock.
Big Foot Feng immediately organizes a rescue party. At the same time, Ning Kejin tries to sneak away with a gun to help, but his father, Ning Xuexiang, catches him and chases him off with a broom, accusing him of betraying the family. The rescue party eventually finds Tie Tou, but he wasn't a captive. He escaped the raid and has since joined the burgeoning Peasant Association. Now filled with revolutionary fervor, Tie Tou speaks of overthrowing local tyrants and redistributing land, urging Big Foot Feng to join his cause. This new movement is also on the mind of Fei Wendian, who receives instructions from his school principal to organize the local farmers.
The association's influence begins to ripple through the community. Fei Wendian tries to convince a skeptical Fei Zuoshi to adopt the association's policies of rent reduction. Tie Tou, now calling himself the local association director, returns home but shows little interest in his family's affairs, his mind set on bigger ambitions. He grandly proposes to a girl named Yinzi, promising her a lavish wedding, but she is unimpressed, preoccupied with her sick mother and lack of money for seeds—problems Tie Tou cannot solve. The episode concludes with Tie Tou gathering the young men of the village, handing out Peasant Association tokens, and passionately preaching his new cause, solidifying a new and powerful force in the village.
