Siheyuan: My Neighbors Are All Lovable Oddballs

Chen Feng, a modern office drone, accidentally transmigrates to the 1960s world of Love in the Courtyard, becoming the newest resident of the compound.

Confronted by outhouses, cornbread, and a group of "beastly" neighbors, including Silly Zhu, a sharp-tongued but kind-hearted fool; the shrewd Qin Huairu; and the petty Xu Damao, he can't stop complaining to himself about all the inconveniences of modern life.

Armed with hazy "foreknowledge" and a head full of modern ideas about marketing, efficiency, and internet memes, he begins a series of hilariously absurd attempts to improve his life:

He flatters Silly Zhu to score a meal, comes up with "homemade inventions" to make life better, and even organizes mutual aid in the compound using a primitive form of the "sharing economy."

Amid the upheavals of the era, he uses unconventional tricks to outwit Xu Damao and protect those around him.

Once policies begin to loosen, he teams up with his neighbors to launch a "wildly modified" small business.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Please do not imitate.