Hu Qing wakes up to find that she has gone from being a PhD in materials science at a top Chinese university to a technician at a textile factory in 1982.
Her fiancé shows up to break off their engagement, claiming she is “too opinionated to have children.” Her mother cries until her eyes are red, and her younger brother clenches his fists in anger. Hu Qing neither cries nor makes a fuss. She takes out the account book and tallies every cent of the betrothal gifts, then adds another seven hundred yuan in “compensation for wasting her youth.” People in the 1980s have no idea how to argue with a modern woman’s accounting.
That very night, she puts up a notice seeking a husband to join her household: a man’s worth isn’t measured by betrothal gifts, only by his character and sincerity. The announcement causes a sensation, and men from across the city flock to her door, with one oddball after another making an appearance. But the factory office’s deputy director, who always watches coolly from the edge of the crowd, quietly pockets one of her torn notices.
Only later do people learn that Hu Qing, once deemed “impossible to marry off,” became a renowned entrepreneur across the province. And the “husband who married into her family” was originally from Beijing...
The times roll on, and a clever woman chooses her own business partner.
Why are some parts of chapters 16 and 17 the same? Then some paragraphs have double quotation marks, and some places don't. It's really uncomfortable to watch.