After dying from overwork, modern office worker Shen Zhiwei opens her eyes to find herself in an old Jiangnan mansion in 1933, as the second daughter of a once-prosperous Shen family. The original Shen Zhiwei was frail and sickly, and her father’s failed investments had left the family buried in debt. All that remained in the vast mansion were a few elderly servants and her young siblings, relying on one another to get by. Drawing on her modern survival skills, she starts by selling improved snacks from a street stall. Then she uses a simple weaving technique she remembers to bring the family’s abandoned looms back into use, gradually propping up their crumbling household. Lu Jingchen, a gentle and courteous university lecturer in Chinese literature, has just moved in next door. He keeps running into her in the lane at dawn as she hurries about with a food box, helps repair her leaking roof on rainy nights, and quietly steps in when creditors give her a hard time. The winds of turmoil are rising, but the warmth of everyday life in the alley remains. As Shen Zhiwei uses modern ingenuity to face the challenges of surviving in the Republic of China, she finds herself developing feelings for Lu Jingchen as they spend their days together. Beneath gray-tiled roofs and brick walls, they share cups of tea; amid turbulent times, they protect one another. In the small moments of ordinary life, they weave a tender dream from the years of the Republic of China.
