The 1980s: The Sassy, Street-Smart Woman Takes Charge and Makes Her Fortune in Business

[1980s + Strong Female Lead + Building a Career + Satisfying Business Success + Everyday Street Life + Sweet Romance in a Bygone Era]

1985, Heping Alley.

Chen Jinfeng works a sewing machine at the neighborhood factory. Loud and hot-tempered, she raises two daughters alone after her divorce, standing taller than any man.

Her daughter, Chen Qiao, is twenty-two. She runs a stall at the night market, with a group of poor kids not much younger than her relying on her to make a living.

Having fought her way up from the bottom, Chen Qiao is called a shady middleman behind her back.

Some say a young woman like her can’t make waves; others say her traveling around to buy and sell goods is disreputable.

With no connections and no money behind her, she dares to take risks and fight hard. She travels the country, saves up her first fortune, builds a network of contacts, and steadily strikes gold amid the surging tide of the times.

Day after day, life goes on. Someone leaves the alley, someone gets laid off, and someone returns from the countryside with nowhere to go.

Chen Qiao is still the same, but she never lets anything happening around her slip by.