Zhou Yuanyuan, a young educated woman sent to the countryside, died in her tenth year there. After years of hardship, hunger, and exhausting labor, her grain was stolen one day, and she starved to death.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in another timeline, still an educated youth. Zhou Yuanyuan nearly passed out on the spot.
The village beauty from Qishui Commune came to see her, saying she had a match for her.
He was the village's aloof heartthrob, Li Fengzhou: a refined, handsome university graduate. His father was the team leader, and he worked as the commune accountant. Everyone said he would make an ideal husband.
Zhou Yuanyuan: "Will I get enough to eat if I marry him?"
The village beauty: "..."
"The Li family has braised pork on Monday, fish on Tuesday, eggs on Wednesday, pancakes on Thursday, and chicken on Friday..."
Zhou Yuanyuan couldn't stop herself from salivating. "I'll marry him!"
Xu Meijuan is reborn, returning to the days when she was the belle of Qishui Commune. Her family plans to match her with Li Fengzhou, but she takes the initiative to switch marriages, marrying a good-for-nothing local thug and waiting to become the wife of a nouveau riche.
Li Fengzhou is the village's rare university graduate, handsome and dignified.
Before his matchmaking date, he thought he would marry a pretty, lively country girl with a forthright personality. He never expected to become entangled with Zhou Yuanyuan.
The first time he sees Zhou Yuanyuan, she is tiny and thin, like a dried-out bean sprout. To provide for his little wife, Li Fengzhou quits his job as the commune accountant and goes into business. Zhou Yuanyuan puts her ancestral Chinese medicine skills to use, treating the sick and saving lives. The couple work together and accidentally become nouveau riche in the 1980s, leaving Xu Meijuan, who switched marriages back then, dumbfounded.
PS: An alternate setting with a cozy, everyday feel, focused on family life. The heroine practices traditional Chinese medicine passed down through her family, and the hero goes into business.
Theme: Life takes effort
