To improve the saline-alkali fields on the northern slope, young Shen He sets out with soil samples and an old blue-covered record book to seek out Zhao Shoutian, Jiang Li, and others. The group travels between the granary, the records room, the sluice house, the seedling greenhouse, and other locations, checking soil layers, water levels, water pressure, and root-system data step by step. They recover the missing annotation page for the irrigation canal and assemble a complete chain of evidence. Together, they devise a phased drip-irrigation plan and a long-term maintenance system, insisting on factual accuracy and preserving every field measurement. Finally, the retested soil samples meet the standards, and the northern-slope demonstration planting project is successfully launched. Through meticulous, hands-on work, they bring the barren hillside back to life and welcome spring to the fields through steady cultivation.