At thirty-five, Shen Zhiyao, an internet project manager, was laid off. She returned to Nanqiao Street for some peace and quiet, only for her mother to put her on the team renovating the old market. Using Gantt charts, risk lists, and weekly meetings, she tried to keep the drainage, stalls, cleaning, lighting, and night market on schedule. But the vendors cared about foot traffic, the residents cared about sleep, the property managers cared about clocking out, and her mother cared about whether the regulars could still find their groceries. Storms, relocations, complaints, and budget crises came one after another. At last, she understood that project management wasn't about hounding everyone to deliver, but helping different people get on with their lives together. After the market reopened, she chose to start over with clear boundaries. Five years later, she was approached about renovating an even bigger old market.
I laughed so hard on the subway that the guy next door thought I had won the lottery. I originally thought it was a serious counterattack in the workplace - a 35-year-old female Internet project manager who was laid off was sent back to her hometown by her mother to renovate in the old vegetable market. As a result, I couldn't stop after opening the first chapter: the first weekly meeting decided who could sit down, no one wanted to be the first freezer to be moved, the word "low risk" was not found in the old ledger, when the inspection team came, all they could see was the wiped floor, even the minutes of the weekly meeting had been secretly altered... Each chapter was filled with dense and bizarre jokes, one laugh after another, and the whole process was hahaha. The most rare thing is that it's so funny. The author never makes fun of the uncles, aunts, stall owners and hawkers in the vegetable market, let alone who is poor or poor - all those jokes grow from a green onion, a handful of leeks, a freezer, and a piece of polished ground. After watching it, you will realize that what amuses you is not someone making a fool of himself, but the human worldly wisdom that happens every day in the market and that we never pay attention to: who is afraid of offending others, who secretly has small calculations, who is hard-spoken and soft-hearted, and who gets things done in a muffled voice. Smiling makes you feel warm. This is no longer a renovated vegetable market. The fireworks of the entire old neighborhood have clearly been carefully written into the story. The stall owner, the residents, the property owner, the mother, no one is a tool, they are all alive. It's funny, healing, and a little poignant (I really broke my guard when I was laid off at the age of 35). Five stars, please beg for more updates!