Daily Life in a 1980s Tenement Building

After marrying into an oilfield community, Qian Qing has a dream on the second day of her wedding. In the dream, her best friend Wan Zhenzhen, who married on the same day and lives next door, is a reborn individual. Not only reborn, but she also possesses a golden finger: by binding herself to someone, she can drain that person’s luck. The more misfortune befalls the bound individual, the more money Wan Zhenzhen receives. Unfortunately, Qian Qing is the one bound to her. In the dream: When Qian Qing prevents her new husband from going on a business trip, Wan Zhenzhen finds 1,000 yuan by the riverside. When Qian Qing quarrels with her husband’s supervisor, Wan Zhenzhen accidentally helps resolve a technical problem at the oil extraction plant and earns 2,000 yuan. When Qian Qing mistakenly believes her husband has a mistress and causes a huge scene in the apartment building, Wan Zhenzhen casually purchases an antique vase elsewhere and gains 5,000 yuan. Ultimately, provoked by Wan Zhenzhen, Qian Qing ruins her husband’s career prospects and becomes the first laid off during the wave of workforce reductions, having her years of service bought out. Consequently, Wan Zhenzhen accumulates several million yuan, moves her family out of the apartment building, and later uses the money to buy houses and land, living a prosperous life. Meanwhile, Qian Qing develops cancer and lives miserably with her husband in the dilapidated building. Upon waking, Qian Qing smashes a pot in fury. “I can court death myself, but are you so tired of living that you profit by urging me to destroy myself? Business trip? Go immediately, just go!”