Lin Shoucheng foresees a devastating flood about to strike the Qingshi River and, despite his wife Zhao Guifen's confusion and his second uncle Lin Defu's accusations, sells their five blue-brick rooms at a low price and buys an abandoned granary on the high ground of Beiling. He repairs and reinforces the building, stockpiles grain and water, and prepares for the disaster. When the flood arrives as predicted and the village homes are inundated, Lin Shoucheng takes the lead in sheltering displaced villagers and investigating shortages in disaster-relief grain. He safeguards the village's life-saving supplies and proves through his actions that selling the house and exchanging it for another location has given the entire village a chance to survive.