Back to the 80s

Episode 1

A funeral is already underway when the whispers start. The mourners say the dead daughter was forced to marry a divorced man from the countryside, and that her adoptive mother drove her to death. Then the body moves. Julie Stein sits up in her own coffin, surrounded by strangers in black.

She has no idea where she is until someone says the year: 1987. She expected just another ordinary morning, not a life where she is the disowned daughter of a wealthy family she shares no blood with. The funeralgoers scatter in terror. Julie is alive, confused, and completely out of her era.

Episode 2

Julie discovers exactly how good the family's life is — jewelry, skincare, every comfort money can buy. Then she learns the price attached to it. The family's biological daughter, Sisi, is moving in, and Julie is expected to take her place as the bride of a rural man.

The adoptive parents don't hide their contempt. They call Julie an outsider, ungrateful, unworthy of Fuyang, the deputy factory director's son now promised to Sisi. Sisi plays sweet, apologizing for taking Julie's room while the parents tell Julie to pack it up. Julie watches the performance and decides she's done playing along.

Episode 3

Julie refuses to be the quiet victim. When Sisi offers the fake apology, Julie calls out the act for what it is — and the room turns on her. The adoptive father snaps that she should be grateful for eighteen years of care; the mother calls her a thankless stranger.

Julie fires back with a grin, wondering aloud how two people like them ever produced someone as clever as her. She points out she was never their real daughter anyway. The parents are left sputtering as Julie walks away with her dignity — and starts packing. The jewelry, the clothes, the whole pampered life: someone else can have it.

Episode 4

Julie sets off for her biological parents' village, determined to see this future husband for herself. A local woman leads her to Zhou Yueshan's place and it stops her cold — the farm is bigger than the wealthy family's home. He runs the area's largest breeding farm and is the town's first household worth ten thousand yuan.

At the door, Leng Shen, the woman hired to look after Zhou Yueshan's children, assumes Julie is Sisi. Julie corrects her: Sisi isn't the biological daughter — she is. Leng Shen's welcome turns to ice. The agreed bride was Sisi, and she's not interested in a last-minute swap.

Episode 5

Leng Shen blocks the door and refuses to let Julie inside. She makes the stakes plain: if Sisi won't come back, the Lin family must return Zhou Yueshan's three-thousand-yuan bride price. In her eyes, Julie is just a random girl the Lins sent to dodge the debt.

A neighbor urges Leng Shen to at least let the young woman rest until Zhou Yueshan returns. Julie, unbothered, turns it around — she'd be taking over the childcare, which means Leng Shen loses her position. She announces she's leaving, and that the broken engagement means the Lin family keeps the money. Then she walks.

Episode 6

Julie gets inside and takes stock: a television, a sofa, a radio — this is 1987, and she's landed in a wealthy house. She meets Zhou Yueshan's child, a quiet little one who won't speak. Leng Shen coldly informs her the child is mute, as if that settles everything.

Julie notices the expensive things in the house and the child's thin, neglected look. She offers the child food; the child pushes it back toward her instead. Julie is already wondering why no one wanted to marry a man with money like this. The child trails after her like a shadow.

Episode 7

A man walks in and introduces himself as Zhou Yueshan. Julie is stunned — this is the "old rural man" she was warned about? He's young, sharp, and nothing like the picture the family painted.

Zhou Yueshan is blunt about his own situation: a rural small business owner who doesn't plan on having children. He tells her she's free to call off the engagement. Julie doesn't hesitate — she's not backing out. She came here to marry him. Leng Shen immediately protests, insisting the Lins only want his bride price and that Julie is a fraud.

Episode 8

Zhou Yueshan cuts through Leng Shen's objection: if Julie really is the Lin family's daughter, then there's no deception. He tells Leng Shen this is his own business and sends her off. Then he offers Julie his main room, saying it's more spacious, and promises to set up another room for himself.

Before leaving for the city to deliver meat, he hands her money and tells her to buy whatever she needs. Julie does the math — five hundred yuan in the 80s feels like a fortune dropped in her lap. Leng Shen warns her not to expect any kindness, and that she'll be watching how long Julie can keep up her act.

Episode 9

The sniping between Julie and Leng Shen continues, each trading barbs about manners and city airs. Julie takes a look around Zhou Yueshan's place — everything military-neat, but his wardrobe is surprisingly sparse for a man of means.

She settles in and starts planning. The 80s are just opening up, and she figures any business could turn a profit. Her strategy: sell what she can, buy a house and gold, and live comfortably. Then she spots Zhou Yueshan's son — and the child becomes her next concern.

Episode 10

Julie tries to feed the child, who refuses to eat, and her patience snaps — until she realizes the real problem isn't the boy. Leng Shen has been "educating" the children with hits and harsh words, insisting that's just how country families raise kids.

Julie turns the tables, threatening to visit Leng Shen's own son and grandchildren with the same treatment. Then she digs into the kitchen and finds the truth: the family runs a pig farm, yet there's no meat in the children's meals. The meat is hidden away. Julie accuses Leng Shen of starving and mistreating the kids, and declares that from now on, the children eat meat — today, not tomorrow.

Julie just walked into a house full of secrets, a child who needs someone in her corner, and a caretaker who won't give up without a fight. If you love a time-travel heroine who refuses to be pushed around, this one's worth hitting play on.