Novels Set in Rural Northeast China in the 1980s and ’90s 8/90年代东北农村的小说
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Northeast Tales: A Love That Never Wavers 东北往事之情深不悔
No transmigration, no System. A realistic romance set in the countryside of Northeast China. If you cry easily, don’t read this. I’m afraid you won’t be able to stop! Zheng Sichun had a life full of hardship. When she was born, her own grandmother had her thrown into Wolf Ravine, where she was rescued by the drunkard Zheng Bao. At a young age, she narrowly escaped a villain’s clutches. After her brother accidentally killed someone, the siblings fled the home they’d lived in for eight years! At t
11.7kReads9.5Score1.5k14d adds
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- 2 Chronicles of Mountains and Rivers 山河志 His beautiful mother was nearly assaulted by a village lout, but she tearfully begged the man who rescued her not to call the police. Young Gao Yuan couldn’t understand why at the time. Only when he reached his thirties and looked back on the past, with those scenes flashing through his mind, did he realize that the lives of countless rural people together form a chronicle of the mountains and rivers of China! 84.3kReads9.6Score9.1k14d adds
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The Many Flavors of Life, Part One: A Snowy Night of Lost Souls 百味人生第一部：失魂风雪夜
Family, love, and adultery. This small mountain village seems peaceful, but undercurrents run deep, and human dramas of sorrow and joy unfold every day. On a bitterly cold, snowy night, a young and beautiful mother is assaulted and becomes pregnant. Afterward, she lives every day in fear and pain, desperately trying to keep the secret. When the truth comes to light, the demon who has appeared in her dreams countless times has never really gone away. What will the mother do? This book offers a
14.5kReads9.2Score1.5k14d adds
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- 4 Northeastern Tales: The Marriage Swap 东北往事之转亲 Period setting + rural life + everyday family matters + farming + building a fortune + a touch of ensemble cast Three women make quite a show. The madman Guo Lixin mistakes Ding Xiang for his deceased girlfriend and follows her around every day, calling her his wife. But Ding Xiang’s father only wants to trade his daughter for a marriage connection for his good-for-nothing son. Guo Limei grits her teeth. Fine, let him trade her. She’s getting married for the second time anyway, and already has a 9.4kReads8.9Score94714d adds
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Farming Life: The Hunter’s Little Husband 种田之猎户家的小夫郎
[One True Couple] Gu Qing transmigrates to another world and is forced to marry the village’s fearsome hunter. The hunter also has a son and daughter. Gu Qing has no golden finger and no desire to overthrow the feudal dynasty single-handedly, but he knows how to keep his husband in line. The hunter, rumored to be a ferocious brute, becomes completely obedient under his guidance. The two hunt when they have time and farm when they’re busy, building a thriving life together and raising their child
4.4kReads9.4Score43814d adds
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Reborn in 1981, Hunting in the Northwest 重生八一，狩猎西北
The rating just came in. Here's hoping it goes up! [No System, No Pocket Dimension + Hardcore Hunting + Northwestern Flavor] After saving someone, Qin Mu is reborn in 1981. In these turbulent times, the sprawling Tianshan Mountains conceal countless treasures: wild boars, red deer, wolves, brown bears, and all kinds of other animals, as well as precious medicinal herbs like snow lotus and fritillaria, and even gold and jade... See how Qin Mu uses the experience from his previous life to hunt rar
41kReads6.5Score4.6k14d adds
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Hunting in the Mountains to Protect My Family 赶山打猎守护一家
Reborn, she heads into the mountains to hunt and protect her family. That winter, her family was torn apart, and the little shadow who used to follow her everywhere was gone forever. Now she's back, and she won't let this life be filled with regrets...
43.7kReads8.4Score2.9k14d adds
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- 8 Reborn in 1983: Hunting, and Bumping Into a Wolf Who Puts Its Paw on My Shoulder from the Start 重生83打猎：开局碰到狼搭肩 (Everyday life + easygoing + hunting + food + adorable pets + planting + raising livestock + System) Yang Dahai is reborn in the far north, where he begins a happy, carefree life of hunting in the countryside, surrounded by endless forests and vast grasslands. In early spring, there are dandelions, willow-herb shoots, thorny shoots, yellow glass leaves, mountain millet, old ox grass, groundnuts, shepherd's purse, and wild mustard greens. In summer, there are matsutake, hazel mushrooms, elm mushr 10.4kReads8.1Score72414d adds
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Love Debts 情债【李幼斌主演的电视剧】
Also known as The Peach Blossom Luck of Sister-in-Law Jiang Qi. A lost paradise in Northeast China, a little mountain village in the Changbai Mountains: the Abandoned Village. Journey beyond a life of hardship and let this story sweep you away. The tangled affairs between men and women in the countryside, and the everyday love and hatred that bind them. So many debts of passion, so many heartbreaks.
7kReads8.4Score52214d adds
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Zhang Erlü, Hunter of the Northeast 东北猎户张二驴
Reborn + hunting + sign-in + folk tales. Return to the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China in the 1970s, and experience the hunting and mountain-running legends of the educated youth years, folk tales of spirit mediums founding their halls, and wilderness survival with hunting dogs. Everything you're looking for is here.
1.4kReads6.7Score10214d adds
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1982: Hunting in the Mountains and Marrying the Village Belle! It Starts with Hunting a Bear 82赶山打猎娶村花！从猎熊开始
In the Xiaoxing’an Mountains, rich in wildlife, the male lead Feng Guolong is known as Feng Er. He is reborn in an era when guns and hunting are still allowed. He ventures into the mountains, hunts, and searches for treasure. He catches fish, raises deer, and digs for ginseng. Follow Feng Guolong as he grows step by step and reaches the pinnacle of life. Little by little, he makes up for the regrets he left behind in his previous life. He marries the village beauty he loves, protects his
22.8kReads8.0Score1.7k14d adds
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Water Willow 水性杨花儿
(The rating was just added and will rise. It's already going up!) Neighbor Guo Hongmei ran off with another man? What? That man is Yang Hua'er's husband, Zhao Dashan? Talk about gossip coming right back to bite you. They say nine out of ten people born in the Year of the Sheep are fated to have a hard life, but Yang Hua'er doesn't believe in fate. Even without a man, she can still make a warm and happy life for herself.
10.1kReads8.2Score65814d adds
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- 13 Crimson Lips, Blazing Passion 红唇烈焰 A handsome loser and a cold, aloof female boss. When these two rivals cross paths, they act out a romantic tale of love, revenge, and sweet satisfaction. Office intrigue, cutthroat business, and political scheming are all handled with ease. If you want a story full of twists and excitement, come read The Strongest Man in the City. 34.1kReads9.0Score2.7k14d adds
- 14 The Mature Landlady 成熟的老板娘 For the sake of keeping the family fortune all to himself, Liang Dashan hatched a vicious scheme to frame his wife, Du Xue. Faced with her husband’s ruthless plotting, Du Xue fought back from the brink. She turned people’s motives to her advantage and used his own tactics against him, unraveling every conspiracy by playing along, and ultimately leaving the traitor with nothing but the clothes on his back! 31kReads7.9Score1.6k14d adds
- 15 Mature Women Can Be a Little Naughty 成熟女人有点坏 Six months into their marriage, Zhou Lina suddenly noticed that her husband had grown distant. She wanted to mend their relationship, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never see it through. She longed to be loved and cherished. A career-driven woman, she found herself torn between marriage, work, and love. 19.7kReads—Score1.1k14d adds
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Rural Love: The Marriage Swap 乡村爱情之换亲
The village looks peaceful, but undercurrents churn beneath the surface. Love, family affection, and illicit affairs intertwine to create a sweeping portrait of life. The beautiful village flower is forced to marry the poorest man in the village, and their story begins...
5.6kReads8.8Score46014d adds
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- 17 A Widow in Name Only! The Neighboring Roughneck Has His Eye on Her 活守寡！邻家糙汉馋上她 [Rural life in the 1980s, realism, ensemble cast, family squabbles, building a better life] Adapted from real events, this story is set in a small village in southern Henan in the 1980s. Pretty Li Chuntao is married off in her brother's place to a “living corpse,” becoming overnight the “living widow” everyone whispers about behind her back. Just as her life seems like a stagnant pool, a rough-hewn man barges into it. Family ties bind her hand and foot, while her growing feelings are a fire sh 33Reads7.5Score—14d adds
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Reborn in a Northeastern Mountain Village: Fishing and Hunting Across Two Rivers and Two Nations 重生东北小山村渔猎两江两国
Please give this five stars. Please give this five stars. I don't have much education or skill, and I can't write fancy prose. I use ordinary people's language to tell an ordinary story. If you like it, I thank you for your support with a clasped-fist salute. If you don't, please be kind and don't flame me. An artist can't make a living without noble-minded patrons. I offer my thanks to all of you, my dear supporters.
42.6kReads8.2Score2.9k14d adds
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- 19 Take It Easy, Village Miracle Doctor 乡村神医悠着点 Lin Xiaoqiang was beaten so badly in the city that he lost his wits. When he returned to the village, Sister-in-law Shuihua took care of him. Then the village bully, Liang Shan, beat him up. That beating snapped him back to his senses, and he even gained a special ability. From then on, his life took off. 3.5kReads7.3Score29214d adds
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The Rugged Man Next Door Is Too Wild, and the Village Beauty Blushes in His Embrace 隔壁糙汉太野，村花害羞怀里娇
[Rugged Hero + Pure Romance + Marriage Before Love + Sizzling Chemistry + Sweet Married Life + Building a Fortune] [Delicate Village Beauty VS Cold, Rugged Neighbor] The night Song Qingshan returned to the village, he heard cries coming from next door before he had even entered his own home. He climbed onto a haystack and stole a peek. Poor Wen Sui was bent over a millstone, being beaten. She trembled with pain and sobbed pitifully, looking utterly heartbreaking. The sight set Song Qingshan’s bl
18.2kReads6.6Score65714d adds
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Reborn: From the Start, I Can Hear the Young Intellectual’s Inner Thoughts 重生，开局就偷听女知青心声
[The rating just came out and will keep rising!] [Period rebirth, farming, pure romance, slow-paced and not violent] If you like this kind of story, come take a look! If you don't, head on over to Tomato Book City, where plenty of great books are waiting for you! Su Yun is reborn in 1974 as an educated youth sent to the countryside. From the start, the educated youths' dormitory collapses, so he has no choice but to board with a local family. By chance, he ends up under the same roof as Lin Qing
1.6kReads6.2Score—14d adds
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A Legendary Life in the Era 年代传奇人生
A ruthless soldier king is reborn in the Greater Khingan Mountains of the 1960s. With the pocket dimension and gear from his previous life, he takes his friends hunting and exploring. The early story centers on hunting, with cross-province searches for family, treasure hunts, and battles against spies woven in. They explore fortresses, raid tombs, and get caught up in other thrilling adventures. Novel pets include a wolverine, a big black horse, a yellow-throated marten, reindeer, and a mantis.
62.9kReads7.7Score9k14d adds
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Tales of the Northeast: Women Who Climbed Over the High Walls of Grand Estates 东北往事之翻过深宅高墙的女人们
In 1946, on the black soil of Northeast China, Chunxiang, daughter of tenant farmer Wang Mazi, marries Liu Laogen, the landlord's son. Her father receives several acres of good farmland and dozens of silver dollars as a handsome betrothal gift. She thinks she has married into wealth and will live a secure life as a young madam, but Liu Laogen has a hidden ailment, and their marriage proves to be one in name only. Chunxiang is determined to escape the prison that has trapped her, but her greedy f
55.2kReads8.7Score3.1k14d adds
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A Family by the Yishui River 沂水河畔一家人
This book tells the story of a large family over nearly a century, from the late Qing dynasty to the end of the twentieth century, through turbulent changes, banditry and warfare, twists and turns, and eventual reversals of fortune. Led and subtly influenced by the protagonist, several generations endure decades of hardship yet remain upright, united, and determined to improve. In different eras and historical circumstances, they do everything they can, persevering in their efforts to contribute
6.1kReads8.8Score56414d adds
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The Man with Six Marriages 六婚男人
A marriage spanning half a century, full of ups and downs, and one man's six sorrowful, blood-stained journeys into wedlock. In the late 1970s, at a state-owned coal mine in Northeast China, Kim Dazhuang, an ethnic Korean Chinese who had returned from Korea, was tall and burly, with a fiery temper. He sweated through his work amid the roar of steam locomotives. Over the course of his life, he went through six marriages. Each time, he entered with hope, only for almost every one to end in heartbr
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- 26 The Woman with Five Marriages 五婚女人 Among contemporary Chinese literature's portrayals of rural women's lives, Zheng Guozhen's story grips readers with its astonishing realism and tragic depth. Through an ordinary rural woman's five failed marriages, this novel sketches the hardships of rural women's lives and inner worlds during China's social transformation in the 1990s. From an arranged marriage imposed by her parents to a self-serving union built on dependence on power, from an emotional wasteland scarred by violence to a brie 1.9kReads7.9Score24514d adds
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Memories of 1931: Hunting, Fighting the Japanese, and Raising a Family 回忆一九三一养家打猎打鬼子日子
In 1931, the Japanese invaded China. Ling Feng hunted to feed his family and fought the Japanese to capture supplies. He and his good brothers enjoyed the good life, built houses, and got married.
17.6kReads8.5Score1.2k14d adds
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The Foolish Doctor of the Countryside, Protecting Sweetgrass Alone 乡野痴医，独护香草
Framed by the village bully and shoved into a deep pool, the simple-minded Er Zhu unexpectedly unlocks his family's ancestral medical arts! With a single hand, he wields miraculous needles to save children and punish troublemakers. He may seem dim-witted in public, but behind the scenes, he is ruthless. In this life, he is determined to protect Xiang Cao. Not one villain will get away!
2.1kReads8.3Score18214d adds
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- 29 President Gu, Please Cooperate with Your Treatment 顾总，请配合治疗 Mr. Gu, Please Cooperate with Your Treatment 680Reads—Score—14d adds
- 30 My Ex's Stupidity Tax: His Wife Valued at 200,000 前夫哥的智商税：老婆估值二十万 The Ex-Husband's Stupidity Tax: His Wife Is Worth 200,000 452Reads—Score—14d adds
- 31 Room 302: A Wage Earner Clears His Father's Name Against All Odds 合租302：打工仔逆风洗清家父冤案 Roommates in 302: A Wage Earner Clears His Father's Name Against All Odds 829Reads—Score—14d adds
- 32 Don't Mess with a 42-Year-Old Woman: She's Got All the Evidence 别惹42岁姐姐，她手里全是证据 Don't Mess with This 42-Year-Old Woman, She Has Evidence on Everyone 409Reads—Score—14d adds
- 33 I Found 100,000 Yuan Under the Mattress and Finally Understood My Late Wife's Intentions 床垫下翻出十万块，我才懂亡妻的苦心 I found a hundred thousand yuan hidden under the mattress, and only then did I understand my late wife's painstaking intentions. 585Reads—Score10314d adds
- 34 After My Mother-in-Law Had a Stroke, I Found 800,000 Under Her Bed 婆婆中风后，我在她床底翻出了八十万 After My Mother-in-Law Had a Stroke, I Found 800,000 Yuan Under Her Bed 208Reads—Score—14d adds
- 35 Caught Them in the Act, Then Scalded Someone with Boiling Water 撞破好事，滚水烫人 Caught Them in the Act, Got Scalded with Boiling Water 729Reads—Score—14d adds
- 36 After Wandering into the Changing Room, I Had a Cool Coach Chasing Me Down to Teach Me to Swim 误闯更衣室后，高冷教练追着教我游泳 After Wandering into the Locker Room, the Ice-Cold Coach Keeps Chasing Me to Teach Me How to Swim 614Reads—Score—14d adds
- 37 Haunted by a Bewitching Dream: I Killed That Ghost King Nine Times 诡梦缠情：我杀了那尊鬼王九次 Haunted by a Bewitching Dream: I Killed the Ghost King Nine Times 106Reads—Score—14d adds
- 38 A Date with the Campus Belle 校花有约 A Date with the Campus Belle 252Reads—Score—14d adds
- 39 The Fun Side of Teacher Xu's Lessons 徐老师的教学趣事 Teacher Xu's Funny Classroom Stories 54Reads—Score—14d adds
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San Biaozi 三彪子
In 1980, in Kaoshan Village on the banks of the Songhua River, the Gao family’s fifth child is born. Dubbed “San Biaozi” because he is a bit dim, he grows up amid poverty and gossip. His mother bears the painful memory of having been assaulted, while his father quietly shoulders the burden of their broken family. San Biaozi drifts through life in a daze, but after a string of fires, people begin to suspect him of arson. While working the night shift guarding the grain depot, he learns to smoke.
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The Old Grandmother of Yue Family Village 岳家庄的老祖母
[A grandmother builds a business + Yue Fei's family teachings + brotherhood] A mother's love makes her strong, and she becomes the soul of her clan. One mother's thirty-year flight lays the foundation for her family's six-hundred-year legacy. During the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, Yue Guangyong, the thirteenth-generation descendant of Yue Fei, dies young in Tangyin County, Henan Province, where his family has lived for generations. He leaves behind his widowed wife, Yue Yushi, and their tw
610Reads9.3Score10414d adds
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Hunting in the Mountains: Building a Happy Life with My Lame Wife 赶山：带跛脚媳妇过上幸福生活
[A Grounded Period Novel + No Pocket Dimension, No System + Wife and Sister-in-Law + Animal Companions + Hunting + Food + Business + Farming + Gathering Herbs] Xu Yi, a modern-day wage slave, accidentally takes the wrong medication while being treated for depression and dies. He transmigrates into the body of Xu Yi, a man with a severe intellectual disability in a mountain village in the early 1980s. To his surprise, he has a beautiful, fair-skinned wife who limps, as well as an adorable six-yea
16.3kReads7.8Score1.2k14d adds
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- 43 Hunting and Fishing in Northeast China: My Granaries Overflow with Food and Meat, and I Protect My Family 赶山：渔猎东北，粮肉满仓护全家 In his previous life, Zhao Bin was framed by his worthless friends and spent eight years in prison. His parents died from worry, while his elder brother went into the mountains to dig for ginseng to earn money and pull strings for a reduced sentence, only to be killed by a bear with a single swipe. His sister-in-law, nephews, and nieces all came to hate him. By the time he got out, his wife had worked herself to death, and his children no longer recognized him. He was left utterly alone, living 1.2kReads—Score10014d adds
- 44 Seventy Years in a Northeastern Family 东北人家的七十年 Based on real events, with artistic embellishments. In these people, we see our grandparents’ generation, our parents’ generation, and ourselves. This story of striving on the black soil is filled with the resilience and wisdom of ordinary people in a momentous era. 1.7kReads8.2Score12514d adds
- 45 The Start of Spring 开春儿 In 1978, in a small county town in Northeast China, twenty-year-old Lan Xinhua crouched outside the radio station window, pressing her ear to the glass to listen to the people inside. She thought: Why can’t I be the one speaking through that loudspeaker? She hadn’t finished middle school, made countless spelling mistakes, and spoke Mandarin with a strong corn-country twang. But she had a beautiful voice and a heart that refused to give up. From a village girl to a county radio announcer, from lo 647Reads—Score—14d adds
- 46 Northeastern China in 1979 1979年东北往事 In the late autumn of 1979, twenty-year-old Liu Xiaocui was sexually assaulted one night. The news spread through every village for miles. Her husband’s family called off the engagement, rumors ran wild, and everyone said she was “immoral,” “ruined by a man,” and “no longer pure.” In an era when a woman’s reputation was worth more than her life, something like this could make it seem as if her whole life was over. 5.8kReads6.9Score33614d adds
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Jiang Xiaohua 姜晓花
In the bitter winter of 1976, Jiang Xiaohua was sixteen. Her family had almost nothing; her father was gravely ill, her mother weak-willed, and her younger brother still a child. Desperate for food, she was forced into a bride swap and nearly sold off, struggling on the brink of life and death before finally marrying into the Chen family, the most quarrelsome and favoritism-ridden family around. Her sisters-in-law ostracized her, her mother-in-law mistreated her, her husband stumbled, her childr
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- 48 This Spirit Medium Is Pretty Powerful! 这个出马仙有点强！ A piece of red cloth, three feet and three inches long. The old hall's people, the old hall's immortals. One day, when they emerge from the depths of the mountains, their names will spread far and wide! I was born in a rural village in Northeast China in the 1980s. When I was seven, a spirit medium said I was fated to suffer three calamities and eight misfortunes, and would one day become a horse-riding shaman. I didn't believe it, but hardship kept finding me. To make a living, I worked as a wa 150.8kReads9.7Score13.6k14d adds
- 49 Back to the Late 1970s, I Have a Choice System 重回70年代末，我有选择系统 A modern food-delivery rider was hit by a heavy truck while saving someone and sent back to the 1970s, reborn as an educated youth about to take the college entrance exam. Ding! The choice System has been activated. A choice has been triggered. Choice One: Take the college entrance exam? No way. You can return to the city freely in a year, so stay in the village for another year. Reward: Become the village secretary's live-in son-in-law. Choice Two: The college entrance exam is the only way to c 17.6kReads7.0Score1.1k14d adds
- 50 Back to 1973: I Have a Sign-In System 重回1973，我有签到系统 A wage slave among wage slaves was summoned to work overtime in the middle of the night. On his way home at dawn, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sent him back to the fervent era. Armed with an incomplete cultivation sign-in System, let's see how he makes his mark in those turbulent times. 16.4kReads6.8Score1.1k14d adds
