My Backyard Leads to the Modern World

Wang Xiaomei is a nine-year-old girl living in Tianjing Village, a rural community in Suzhou during the spring of 1976. The village operates under the collective farming system, where children earn work points through labor such as collecting chicken droppings for fertilizer. Xiaomei is the daughter of Wang Peigen, a village barefoot doctor, and Gu Hua’e. She lives with her grandmother, Wang, who is a shrewd and pragmatic matriarch with a history in Shanghai. Xiaomei is close to her maternal grandmother, Gu Dabao, a former rich peasant who raised four daughters and is now suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. The family is financially strained, relying on communal work points and meager private plot yields. Xiaomei’s neighbor and playmate is Zhu Jinhua, a girl who dropped out of school due to academic difficulties and is often tasked with watching her grandmother while her mother works.

The story begins with Xiaomei and Jinhua collecting chicken manure. They visit Great-Grandpa Gu, a retired Shanghai worker who lives in the village and is one of the few wealthy families. He gives them rose cuttings to plant. Xiaomei and her grandmother plant the roses in their backyard, but they are stolen by Jinhua’s family, who are jealous of the beautiful flowers. Xiaomei retrieves and replants the roses in a fit of anger. While counting the thorns on her finger, she is suddenly transported through time. She finds herself in a modern Suzhou park in the year 2021. The environment is vastly different, with tall buildings, cars, and commercial shops. Confused and hungry, she is discovered by Zhou Huifang, a kind middle-aged woman who runs a boxed meal shop. Zhou feeds Xiaomei and gives her money and food to take to her family.

Xiaomei discovers that she can return to 1976 by counting to three near the rose bush in the park. She realizes the rose bush serves as a portal between the two eras. She returns home and reveals her secret to her grandmother, Wang. Initially shocked, Wang quickly recognizes the potential of this ability. She instructs Xiaomei to investigate the modern era, specifically to determine the year and locate Zhou Huifang. Xiaomei returns to 2021 and confirms it is forty-five years later. She learns that her grandmother in the past, Gu Dabao, is dying and in severe pain. The family cannot afford Dolantin, a powerful painkiller that is strictly controlled and scarce in 1976. Xiaomei decides to use her trips to the future to help her family.

With her grandmother’s guidance, Xiaomei begins a routine of traveling between 1976 and 2021. She brings farm products like eggs and chickens to Zhou Huifang in the future, selling them for cash. In return, Zhou helps her purchase essential items that are unavailable or unaffordable in 1976, such as water chestnuts, eels, and painkillers. Xiaomei also buys clothes and food for her family, significantly improving their quality of life. The grandmother, Wang, manages the logistics, ensuring that Xiaomei’s disappearances are explained away and that the family maintains a facade of normalcy. The core conflict revolves around the struggle to alleviate the suffering of the dying maternal grandmother and the economic hardships of the Wang family, using the anachronistic advantage of the time portal.

As the story progresses, Xiaomei becomes more confident in navigating the modern world. She learns about the prices, technology, and social norms of 2021. She forms a bond with Zhou Huifang, who treats her like a granddaughter. Meanwhile, in 1976, the family continues to care for Gu Dabao, but her condition deteriorates. The pain becomes unbearable, and the shortage of Dolantin becomes a critical issue. Xiaomei and her grandmother work together to secure a steady supply of medicine through Zhou’s connections in the modern era. The narrative highlights the stark contrast between the scarcity of the past and the abundance of the future, while focusing on the familial bonds that drive Xiaomei’s actions. The story ends with Xiaomei continuing her dual life, balancing her childhood in 1976 with her secret missions in 2021, all in an effort to save her grandmother and support her family.