[Fictional Setting in the 1970s] + [Both Leads Are Each Other's First and Only Love] + [Sweet Young Couple, Love After Marriage] + [Starting from Nothing] + [Marriage Fraud] + [A Strong Female Lead's Growth] + [Live-in Son-in-Law] + [A Warm Family] + [Smuggling into Hong Kong]
In 1973, a family with three daughters is told by their parents that the youngest must stay at home. The second daughter, unwilling to accept her fate, can only find a way to marry up. Introduced by her grandaunt, a matchmaker, Li Xiulian meets Zhou Jianguo, the eldest son in a troubled family with three boys. Having taken on family responsibilities at a young age, he looks much older than he is.
If Zhou Jianguo hadn't claimed he had connections to get a factory job in the city, and if he hadn't been wearing a watch and dressed to the nines, Li Xiulian wouldn't have given him a second look.
If Li Xiulian hadn't claimed she was about to become a textile factory worker and produced a letter of introduction, Zhou Jianguo wouldn't have been interested in her either.
After the blind date, Zhou Jianguo offered Li Xiulian a bride price of 80 yuan and took her to buy Snow Flower cream. The young couple settled on a marriage.
But it turned out they were both frauds. What sparks when a con artist meets another con artist in the 1970s?
When their families began making inquiries about each other, their schemes were exposed. Zhou Jianguo's family had been the most malicious lie in the whole deception. Once the truth came out, they could only go to Li Xiulian's home and apologize. But that very day, moved by Li Xiulian's happy family, Zhou Jianguo proposed marrying into her family without a bride price!
This is a loosely ensemble-style story. Romance is just one part of life, and the point of view shifts, though the story is mainly told from Li Xiulian's perspective.
Theme: In a time of great change, ordinary women hold their families together, find a way forward, become their own pillars of strength, and forge a powerful future for women!
