The Bobo Chicken Shop on Yulin Road

The heroine’s grueling job at a major internet company pushed her into an anxiety breakdown. She quit without another job lined up, left Beijing for Chengdu, rented a street-facing shop on Yulin West Road, and opened a bobo chicken eatery that only served customers at night. She didn’t rely on influencer marketing. Instead, her landlady taught her the authentic Leshan-style bobo chicken recipe, and her handmade ice jelly helped soothe the spice. Little by little, all kinds of customers came in: the folk singer who ran the bar next door, design institute employees working overtime late into the night, art students who had come to Chengdu to chase their dreams, and a retired couple who stopped by every day. As the red oil simmered slowly, as she chatted with her customers, and beneath the plane trees lining Yulin Road, the heroine gradually healed her inner turmoil. She turned her little eatery into a well-known “healing corner” in the neighborhood, and finally understood that striving for success doesn’t have to mean getting caught in an endless rat race. Even in Chengdu’s laid-back atmosphere, she could make her own dreams bloom.