A Little Restaurant in an Eighties Alley

I have all sorts of period-piece novels in my profile's upcoming works, so feel free to browse! You can also add "Back to the Nineties to Open a Restaurant" to your favorites.

In the 1980s, during the early years of reform and opening up, a brother and sister moved into an alley near the knitting factory.

The sister was supposedly named Song Mingyu. She had a fiery personality and had actually managed to wheedle a courtyard house out of the knitting factory's stingy Party secretary. She was a sharp-tongued woman who was not easy to deal with.

The neighbors all felt sorry for the Lin family, who lived next door to the siblings.

The Lins were honest and easygoing. Now they'd have a sharp-tongued neighbor, so they were bound to be pushed around all the time. Life was going to be hard!

Lin Xiang was nervous too.

Who could have guessed that on the very first day after moving in, Song Mingyu would give her some sweet-and-sour ribs she'd made herself? The whole alley was instantly craving them.

Song Mingyu smiled warmly. Lin Xiang thought she was straightforward, efficient, and sweet-tongued. How was she supposed to be a difficult person?

It wasn't until the unemployed young woman Song Mingyu got a business license and opened a little restaurant in the alley that Lin Xiang was stunned. The neighbors were speechless too.

Mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork, kung pao chicken, crispy duck...

Beef in chili oil, dandan noodles, chicken soup pot stickers, sesame twists...

The Mingyu Restaurant on Knitting Factory Street served delicious new dishes every day, all year round. Its fame spread across ten streets!

The aromas wafting through the alley grew stronger, and more and more customers filled the courtyard!

The family's big-ticket appliances moved into the house, the television got an antenna, and the Mingyu household became the trendiest family in the entire textile factory!

Lin Xiang, no, the whole Knitting Factory Alley joined Mingyu's "entrepreneurial" army...

Some sold clothes and shoes, some opened convenience stores, and one household even had a landline installed and charged people to make long-distance calls!

Life just kept getting better!

-

Mingyu, a food-section uploader on Bilibili, woke up one morning in the body of a factory worker's child at a knitting factory in the 1980s.

Her parents had died, and the factory gave her a choice: take a house or take a job at the factory.

The factory ran three shifts. If she nodded off at work, she might even lose a finger. Mingyu really couldn't take that kind of hardship.

Besides, this was the 1980s... private businesses were flourishing, and going into business was the real way to make money!

Was there even a choice?

"I'll take the house!"

She picked the biggest courtyard, knocked a hole in its wall, and opened her own little restaurant.

Later, her little restaurant became a nationally renowned time-honored brand.

Later still, Mingyu became one of the most popular young businesswomen of the 1980s...

Her life had only just begun!

[Reading guide]

1. A slow start, with everyday family life and a large ensemble cast.

2. One-on-one pairing, happy ending.

Upcoming novel: "Back to the Nineties to Open a Restaurant"

Sheng Xia worked overtime through the summer in a 996 job and worked herself to death. When she woke again, she was back in 1992, in the textile factory's residential compound.

Her mother was the leader of the Iron Girls class in the textile workshop, and her father was the head chef in the factory cafeteria. They weren't rich, but their life was comfortable.

Even though Sheng Xia hadn't gotten into college, she had the factory to rely on, so her future was secure.

But Sheng Xia knew that this summer would change her whole family's fate.

The textile factory was poorly managed. Her parents pooled their savings with everyone else and invested them in the factory, only to get a layoff notice and the news that the factory was closing.

The family was so poor they could barely afford food. Her parents tried pushing a cart to sell fabric from the textile factory, but someone robbed them. Her father tried to protect it and was beaten so badly that his leg was permanently injured. He limped for the rest of his life.

Worst of all was Sheng Xia. With the factory gone, she suddenly became an unemployed young woman with no prospects, no future, and no dignity!

Fortunately, a distant cousin had made a fortune in the south. The couple came to their house with gifts, asking to take Sheng Xia south to work and make a fresh start.

Sheng Xia flatly refused.

In her previous life, she'd believed them. It wasn't until she reached the south that she learned the distant cousin had ulterior motives.

That so-called fortune had been made by selling people like merchandise!

No matter what, Sheng Xia wouldn't go. The couple argued at home every day in frustration, until they both turned on their daughter.

"If you won't go work, what do you want to do, then?"

Sheng Xia actually had a plan.

The famous Hongbinlou Restaurant from her previous life had apparently gone bankrupt and closed down that very year.

This century-old establishment was later bought by someone who made a fortune from it. It became the biggest viral restaurant in the country, famous nationwide.

But right now, it was just a bankrupt state-owned restaurant, a money pit no one wanted to take over even at a rock-bottom price.

"Dad, Mom, we can totally take over Hongbinlou!"

Theme: Work hard to build a prosperous life