When Chen Lihua was twenty years old, a transfer order brought her back from the bitter cold of the Great Northern Wilderness to the Shanghai of her dreams. She thought she could get a good job and live a decent life like a city dweller, but... The good news was that she finally no longer had to face the earth with her back to the sky. The bad news is that I was assigned a job as a cleaner in a neighborhood committee. Not only did I get a meager salary, but I also had to face criticism from my neighbors. To make matters worse, the original betrothed thought she was "local", so she turned around and married the daughter of the factory director. Chen Laihua didn't cry or make a fuss, she just silently put away the Doliang shirt that was at the bottom of the box and put on the "Hong Kong style" bell-bottom pants that she made with scraps of rags. She recalled the craftsmanship she learned from an old tailor in the countryside, and also recalled the desire of fashionable girls on the street for new clothes in that era. Cleaner? She does it! But she's going to do something different! I sweep the streets during the day, and set up a stall at the entrance of the alley at night, helping people sew clothes and trousers, and occasionally make trendy hair accessories from scrap fabrics. Who said self-employed people are just "speculators"? She, Chen Lihua, relies on her craftsmanship to make a living, and she is fair and aboveboard! From the initial income of a few cents to the "limited edition" clothing that could not be found in supply and marketing cooperatives, Chen Lihua's small tailor stall became a scenery in Shikumen. Those relatives who once looked down on her and her ex-fiancés who despised her now have to queue up to beg her to make "trendy" clothes. Not only did she buy a small shop in the alley with her own hands, but she also brought over her sisters who went to the countryside together and are now facing the same difficulties, and started a small workshop together. In this 1980s, which is full of opportunities and challenges,
