1940S: Snacking on Sunflower Seeds at the Alley Entrance

Tang Miaomiao, a top salesperson, had just signed a huge deal worth tens of millions when she got so excited she dropped dead. When she opened her eyes again, she had become Tang Miao, born in the 1940s. The good news: her parents had left her plenty of valuables, enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life! The bad news: economic reform was still more than ten years away. Looking at her honest, unassuming husband, a civil servant, her sweet five-year-old daughter Tiaotiao, and the lively, bustling Huai Xiang Alley, Tang Miao (Tang Miaomiao) finally understood. She had to make money, but she also had to live her life. If she couldn’t make sweeping changes to the economy, she could stay by her husband and child, shelling sunflower seeds in their little corner of the world and watching the neighbors take turns putting on a show. Today, the family next door has a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law at war. Tomorrow, the couple across the street will be locked in a battle of wits. And who knows, the day after that she might even catch a spy in hiding? From behind the counter at the supply and marketing cooperative, Tang Miao witnesses the smallest details of ordinary life amid the great tide of history. And her husband, who seems like a man of few words, always finds the simplest way to protect her and their daughter when it matters most. Once people-watching becomes a way of life, Tang Miao realizes that the simple warmth of everyday life in this lifetime is more precious than fifty million.