After ten years of digging for food in the countryside, Gu Pandi finally got her return permit and returned to Shanghai, the city she had longed for. Good news: She's back. Bad news: Home is no longer her home. In the old house in Shikumen, the eldest brother and sister-in-law occupied the pavilion, the younger brother and the daughter-in-law lived in the main room, and the nephews and nephews were everywhere. She, the "old girl", was like an outsider, and she didn't even have a safe bed to sleep on. Her mother advised her: "You are already twenty-seven, so hurry up and get married with good conditions. You can't live a free life at home." The sister-in-law said angrily: "It's so hard to find a job in the city now, every carrot is a trap, but there is no place for educated youth." The younger brother was even more direct: "Sister, with the money you have for returning to the city to settle down, can you lend me a black and white TV first?" Faced with the reality of being a mess and the "look at her differently" from her relatives, Gu Pandi gritted her teeth and set up a wonton stall at the entrance of the alley with the few dozen dollars left in her pocket.
