Episode Summary
Five years have passed, and a severe famine grips the land. As refugees flood their village, Ning Xiuxiu adopts an orphaned boy. Her brother-in-law, Fei Wendian, returns, not as a government official, but as a teacher with a secret identity. He reveals he's a Communist agent on a mission to get the local landlords to release their grain stores, a task that immediately puts him at odds with his own family and the village's wealthy elite.
Spoiler Alert
This Thriving Land: A Famine and a Secret Mission
Episode 28 of This Thriving Land begins with Big Foot Feng and Ning Xiuxiu enjoying a successful harvest of Red Sage. Thanks to their hard work, the crop thrived, and they were able to lead the other villagers in cultivating it, bringing a bit of prosperity and hope to their community.
The story then jumps five years forward to 1932. The world has changed. The Japanese have occupied Northeast China, and the country is in turmoil. A series of natural disasters—drought, floods, and locust plagues—has led to widespread famine. While Ning Xiuxiu's earnings from the Red Sage have helped her family survive, waves of desperate refugees have begun pouring into Tianniu Temple Village.
We see the personal toll of the famine when Feng Si's wife starves to death, having given all her food to her son, Meiwei. A heartbroken Ning Xiuxiu decides to adopt the boy. However, Meiwei is resentful and difficult, rejecting his new family and saying he wants to be a fighter like his brother, Niwei, instead of learning to farm.
Amidst this crisis, Fei Wendian returns. His family thought he had a high-ranking government job, but he shows up as a humble teacher tasked with opening a school. His mother, Fei Zuoshi, is just happy to see him, but his wife, Ning Susu, is distant, as they've been estranged. Ning Xiuxiu encourages her sister to give the changed Fei Wendian another chance.
The refugee situation gets worse, with a woman trying to sell her son to Ning Xiuxiu for a meal. The villagers are overwhelmed and scared.
The real reason for Fei Wendian's return is then revealed in a secret meeting. He tells Ning Xiuxiu, Big Foot Feng, and Tie Tou that he is a member of the Communist Party and the Red Army. His teaching job is a cover for his real mission: to persuade the wealthy landowners to open their granaries and feed the starving people. He asks for their help in convincing landowners like Ning Xuexiang and neutralizing the armed Ning Kejin.
However, the landowners, led by Ning Xuexiang, have already pooled their money to buy guns to protect their grain. Meanwhile, Fei Wendian's own mother, Fei Zuoshi, secretly starts moving her family's grain supply, determined to hide it from her son and his revolutionary cause.
