Waste paper and old books all become paths, broken temples and melon sheds also produce talent. Modern recycling sorting worker transmigrates into abandoned farm wife Su Daya, taking three sons to leave with nothing. She cuts her hair for money, picks up scraps, sifts medicine dregs, builds a melon shed, and funds her three sons' studies. The Zhao family and Zhou family successively make false accusations to block the examinations, but she breaks the deadlock relying on household registration and testimonies from teachers and friends. The three sons go all the way from the county examination to the palace examination, becoming fellow imperial scholars. The ex-husband regrets and asks to see them, but mother and sons guard their boundaries; she donates money to aid education, guarding the melon shed to live out the rest of her life in peace.