Shen Anqiao had had enough. In Shanghai in 2026, the mortgage, car payments, and her child's extracurricular classes left her no time to catch her breath. Her greatest pleasure was hiding under the covers to read stories set in a bygone era, imagining the 1980s, when people weren't trapped in endless competition or scrambling to buy homes in good school districts.
One day, she woke up and had truly transmigrated into her favorite historical-era novel.
But the moment she opened her eyes, she was stunned. She wasn't the only one who had transmigrated. Her husband, son, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law had all come along: all six family members, together in one place. Even her son's chubby classmate and his family had followed them.
More absurdly, living next door was Su Qing, the nouveau riche wife who used to show off her Hermès bags to Shen Anqiao every day.
In the rural villages of southern Anhui in the 1980s, there were earthen houses, pit latrines, and kerosene lamps. They had nothing. But there was one thing she couldn't get in the modern world: hope.
The whole family pitched in. Her father-in-law returned to his old carpentry trade, her mother-in-law's cooking became the best in the village, and her programmer husband became a different person. As for Shen Anqiao, she led the whole village in clearing land and farming, growing sunflower seeds and selling roasted snacks. Through sheer determination, she turned their dirt-poor lives into the richest in the village.
As the family stood at the crossroads of whether to return to the modern world, her eight-year-old son said something that left everyone speechless: "Mom, in 2026, I still have to start middle school. I don't want to go back."
