Ten thousand households with lights on

Ten Thousand Households tells the story of Hu Zhiqing, an employee of a Shanghai company. His wife Youlan is gentle, virtuous and economical. They have a seven-year-old daughter named Ni Ni. The Hu family lives a harmonious life, though not wealthy. Hu's mother thought her son was living a good life in a garden villa in Shanghai, so she brought the whole family to seek refuge, which also brought a lot of survival problems. The Hu family has limited space and Zhiqing's salary is meager. No matter how economical Youlan is, it is difficult for her to deal with the expenses of such a large family. The landlord kindly lent the Hu family an empty pavilion, but it was rented out soon afterwards. The whole family had to squeeze into one room. Helpless, Zhiqing went to the manager, Qian Jianru, to ask for an advance on his salary, but the manager refused. A colleague, Xiao Zhao, lent some money to Zhiqing. The survival problem hasn't been solved yet, but there are issues between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The two blamed and quarreled with each other, until the pregnant daughter-in-law stormed off to her parents' place while the mother-in-law went to her cousin Ajun's dormitory. Later, Youlan had a miscarriage. In a state of embarrassment, Zhiqing picked up a wallet on a bus and was accused of being a thief. He was beaten up badly, leading to mental confusion. While walking, he collided with Qian Jianru's car, who hurriedly fled. Zhiqing was sent to the hospital. The whole family searched for Zhiqing everywhere. Finally, after going through the same suffering, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law reconciled. Zhiqing also returned from the hospital, and the whole family reunited under the glow of ten thousand households.