Xiaomai's Journey to the City

In the autumn of 1994, Lin Xiaomai, a young woman from Xinghua Valley, a village in northern China, gave her most precious possession to her boyfriend, Zhao Lei, the night before he left for university in the provincial capital. Determined to preserve their relationship, Xiaomai set off for the city alone with her family’s meager savings, only to discover that the Zhao Lei she found there was no longer the boy who had once waited beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance. Her love fell apart, she had no money, and she was left sleeping on the streets. Just when Xiaomai had nowhere else to turn, Chen Shubai, a university English teacher, offered her a helping hand. With a pair of scissors and a secondhand sewing machine, Xiaomai began selling her work by the roadside and gradually stitched together a world of her own. But an old love’s entanglements, petty schemers, and the dangers of the business world tested her at every turn. With her own hands, she built a career and stitched together a love that would stay with her forever.