Novels Set in Rural Northeast China in the 1980s and ’90s 8/90年代东北农村的小说

1. 51 重 Reborn in 1974: I Take My Space with Me to the Countryside 重生1974年，我带空间去下乡 Old Li the Foodie爱吃的老李Urban642k WordsCompleted Li Feng, a wage slave working a 996 schedule, accidentally activated the pocket dimension in the jade pendant his grandfather left him before he died. As a devoted fan of web novels on Tomato, how could he not know what opportunity was coming his way? “Grandpa! Bless your grandson with a chance to transmigrate to an awesome world. I’ll make sure our Li family has plenty of descendants.” The newly unemployed wage slave gathered what little money he had and stockpiled some supplies. Now he waits f 16.4kReads7.8Score67314d adds
2. 52 蒸 The Sun and Moon in the Steamer 蒸屉里的日月 Deep Plowing in Spring春日深耕Modern Romance324k WordsCompleted Set against the changes sweeping the northern countryside in the 1990s, this story follows an ordinary rural woman as she spends half her life juggling household chores, conflicts with her sisters-in-law, small business ventures, and her children’s education. With only an elementary-school education, she supports her family with her skill at making steamed buns, putting her son through college and helping him build a life of his own. She lives through the transition from earthen houses to brick 307Reads—Score—14d adds

   Reader note

   I recommend "The Sun and Moon in the Steamer," a simple and sincere historical novel with no melodramatic plots or time travel elements. [As time flows and years pass, what changes is the fleeting years, but what remains constant is the warmth of human life. A person's life is actually like steaming buns; if the heat is right, they'll be cooked; if not, they'll be raw even when the lid is lifted.]

3. 53 邻 Between Neighbors 邻里之间 Recluse Qingxu清虚散人Urban163k WordsCompleted Distant relatives are not as dependable as close neighbors, and close neighbors are no match for the folks across the street. But life is full of contradictions: without conflict, there is no struggle, and without struggle, there is no progress. Neighbors don’t always get along, either. As the saying goes, a neighbor is like a set of scales: they hope the other neighbor stays poor. 345Reads6.5Score—14d adds

   Reader note

   Rural Realistic Love Novels

4. 54 我 My First Love 我的初恋情人 Recluse Qingxu清虚散人Modern Romance164k WordsCompleted I met Yu on an early spring day. It was overcast and windy. He was passing by my house just as I came out of the yard. Our eyes met, and his lit up at once. He stopped in his tracks. My face flushed, and I lowered my head to look at my old cloth shoes, with my toes poking out. My family was so poor that my clothes were covered in patches. Yu didn’t seem to care about my shabby clothes. He kept walking, glancing back at my face. I didn’t know who he was or what he was doing in our village. But a 137Reads—Score714d adds
5. 55 重 Back to the 1970s: A Village Girl's Path Beyond the World 重回七零年代，村女的破界之路 Green Grain Shining on the Fields青禾照野Modern Romance270k WordsOngoing [Elderly woman + reborn + 1970s + dumping a scumbag + no romance + family life + spatial storage] After being angered to death at the age of seventy, Zhou Qiuying is reborn in 1975. In 1975 in her previous life, Zhou Qiuying was an eighteen-year-old country girl. She gave up her secure job as an elementary school teacher to marry an educated youth sent down to the countryside. In return, her husband cruelly abandoned her after passing the college entrance exam, and her loved ones died tragical 179Reads—Score—14d adds

   Reader note

   A period drama set in rural Northeast China, specifically in the 1970s. It features a female protagonist and no romantic partner; it focuses on everyday family stories. Very good, highly recommended! 👍🏻

6. 56 重 Reborn in the Nineties: A Country Girl's Rise to Riches 重生九零，农女逆袭当富婆 Lucky Cat 000403招财猫000403Modern Romance741k WordsCompleted Reborn + a rural woman's rise + making a fortune + taking down scumbags At the entrance to a garment factory, reborn Wu Xiaolan's grape juice stand becomes a hit. Her rivals cut prices? She launches a new product: cold skin noodles. Management makes things difficult? She leads the way in securing the first license for a mobile food stall. Short on workers? She brings together a feisty girl who sells eggs on the black market, a quick-witted young woman who works at a snack shop, and the village c 134Reads—Score—14d adds

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   Come quick, this is great! [Add one to your bookshelf][Add one to your bookshelf][Add one to your bookshelf]

7. 57 东 Reborn in the Northeast: Whatever, Let It Be! 东北重生之爱咋咋地！ Make a Name Across the Sea扬名大海Urban125k WordsOngoing [Northeastern period comedy + reborn + making a fortune + pure period fiction] (It’s just a fun, feel-good comedy. Get ready to laugh and don’t worry about anything else.) In his previous life, Hao Jian was hopelessly devoted to Zhang Qi. Then he was injured and became a eunuch! Zhang Qi suddenly married him, and he was endlessly grateful to her! In Hao Jian’s hospital room, just before he died: “Honey, I’m sorry I can’t be with you for the rest of your life. After I’m gone, find someone who’ 160Reads—Score1914d adds

   Reader note

   A novel about rebirth in Northeast China, containing many true events.

8. 58 农 Rural Sisters-in-Law 农村妯娌 Little Pear Blossom O小梨花OModern Romance739k WordsCompleted This is a story of war and peace between two women, and also a miniature epic chronicling the transformation of rural China from collectivization to the modern era. When the well in Liuxi Village was filled in and running water reached every home, the women who had once argued, wept, and whispered secrets beside that well proved through their lives that time can bury old grudges, and that a resilient spirit can blossom in the soil. 2.3kReads7.1Score26214d adds
9. 59 新 The Newlywed Young Widow 新婚小寡妇 Little Pear Blossom O小梨花OModern Romance636k WordsCompleted In the winter of 1976, Li Yanmei was newly married when her husband died. Branded a “husband-killing” jinx, she was pregnant when her cruel in-laws threw her out with nothing. On a stormy night, she gave birth in a melon shed. Starving and freezing, she swallowed the slur “loose woman” along with her tears. For the little one in her arms, she wiped away her tears and turned humiliation into a stepping stone. She went from selling goods at a black-market stall to reclaiming land for farming, from 1.6kReads6.5Score11014d adds
10. 60 沉 Years of Quiet Reflection 沉淀的岁月 Li Xinxin李馨欣Modern Romance560k WordsCompleted The story follows the lives of three high school girls from rural backgrounds. In the fall of 1964, the confident, ambitious “top student” Yu Hongying, the warmhearted and forthright “knight-errant” Li Chunfen, and the reserved, introspective lady Yue Shuqian unexpectedly meet in their first-year dormitory, along with the “campus belle” Yang Yuhuan and the “fake Marxist-Leninist” Wu Lihong. This sets off a series of stories, some serious, some amusing, some bizarre, and some full of joy and sorr 568Reads—Score—14d adds

    Reader note

    A period novel set in rural areas.

11. 61 冲 The Sickly Officer Needed a Lucky Bride, but He Was Full of Vigor Once They Hit the Bed 冲喜病军官，入帐后他竟生龙活虎 Beautiful and Unrestrained美丽的没遮拦Modern Romance1.2M WordsOngoing Both leads are sexually inexperienced + the heroine starts out weak and grows stronger over time. Everyone in the village says Shen Qinghe was born with a fate as fragile as paper. She married Shuan Zhu, an honest, hardworking man, to escape her parents’ abuse. But a car accident on the way to the wedding killed the groom on the spot. Overnight, she was branded a husband-killer and subjected to scorn and abuse. Her heartless in-laws sold her off to the Gao family as a good-luck bride. They said 7.2kReads7.5Score77814d adds

    Reader note

    When the army arrived in the north, they adapted to the local customs and strived for self-improvement.

12. 62 旧 Childhood in the Old Days 旧时光里的童年 The Second Kid in the Old Days旧时光里的小二Urban134k WordsCompleted The author recalls a rural childhood in Wuchang County, Heilongjiang Province, during the 1970s and 1980s. The book describes rural life and the changes brought about by the household responsibility system in the early days of reform and opening up, along with the joys and hardships of the author’s childhood before the age of ten, major family upheavals, and the warmth and coldness of human nature. 39Reads—Score314d adds

    Reader note

    In the 1970s and 80s, before the advent of mobile phones, what kind of childhood changes and human warmth and coldness did the children in the countryside of Wuchang, Heilongjiang experience? Opening the book and returning to that old time is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

13. 63 沧 Remembering the Years as the Seas Changed 沧海桑田忆年年 Liu Piao留飘Modern Romance393k WordsOngoing My father and Uncle Wang Si, whom he had begged for help from among the neighbors, rode along an unknown little road dusted with snow, just as dawn began to break. Their whips cracked through the silent morning with a crisp, swirling sound. One cart carried the last of our corn kernels in burlap sacks, a few battered water jars, and four large geese. The other held pots and pans, the furniture that was still usable, and some clothes that had been worn by who knew how many children. All the quilt 1.8kReads8.9Score14614d adds

    Reader note

    Stories of middle school in the 1990s

14. 64 到 In Another World, I Use Taoist Arts to Empty My Enemy's Warehouse 到了异世，我用道术搬空仇人仓库 Ling Ling Qi Xuan泠泠七炫Modern Romance913k WordsCompleted An alternate history setting. Please do not compare this story with real history! Gou Yunshu, a modern Daoist exorcist, was betrayed by her best friend during an exorcism. She was struck down by heavenly retribution, killed by a bolt of lightning. She transmigrated into the body of a young girl in the Great Xia Kingdom of the Republican era and discovered that her grandfather had been captured by the Japanese army. To rescue him, she took her younger siblings, bought a house, and left Laolongtan 1.3kReads—Score10714d adds

    Reader note

    A period horror-themed light novel where a young ghost-hunting master goes to the city to live a good life.

15. 65 史 The Poorest County Magistrate's Wife in History Leads the Whole County to Prosperity 史上最穷县令夫人带全县百姓赚钱 Ling Ling Qi Xuan泠泠七炫Ancient Romance993k WordsCompleted Hang Ying, head of a reclusive modern-day clan, dies during an expedition and transmigrates into Yingzi, the wife of Xu Mengran, a penniless county magistrate in the Great Chu Empire. Who ever heard of a county magistrate being poor? Well, this one wears a patched robe, and his wife earns money washing and mending clothes to help him pursue a career in the imperial examinations. They have no maids or guards, the yamen runners look down on them, and a rich young lady even comes to their door to b 706Reads7.0Score—14d adds
16. 66 掏 She Spent the Family Fortune: The Capitalist Heiress Married a Young Officer 掏空家底，资本家大小姐嫁军少 Kung Fu Potato功夫马铃薯Modern Romance3.5M WordsOngoing [Rebirth + military marriage + pocket dimension + a capitalist heiress who looks bright and lovely but is proud at heart, paired with a disciplined officer with incredible stamina and an eight-pack] In her previous life, Shen Zhitang was set up by her scumbag father and stepmother, who tricked her into marrying the powerful and influential Gao Jianren. When disaster struck, her father’s family used the Gao family’s connections to sneak off to Hong Kong, enjoying a life of luxury with the Shen fa 21.1kReads8.5Score1.7k14d adds
17. 67 巴 The Hunting King of Bashan 巴山猎王 The Straw-Cloaked Traveler of Bashan巴山蓑衣客Urban1.5M WordsOngoing A transmigration tale set in a bygone era, brimming with rugged mountain spirit and the warmth of everyday life. Armed with memories from his past life and everything taught by his master, the King of Hunters, he wields a hunting rifle, trains mastiffs, and fights wolves. In the 1980s, he sets up a cooperative, builds roads, and buys vehicles, determined to find a way forward for a poor village deep in the mountains. From venturing alone into deadly wilderness to find a life-saving old ginseng r 115Reads7.2Score—14d adds

    Reader note

    A hunting-themed novel set in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, without a system! Featuring a hunting dog, Wangwang!!! Single female lead! Already 800,000 words in just one month!

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