Looking for Stories About Working Factory Jobs in the 1980s and 1990s and Living a Simple, Steady Life 求关于写80-90年代去进工厂打工，踏踏实实过日子
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A Temporary Romance at the Factory 工厂的临时爱情
Work + Romance + Plot + A Large Supporting Cast Xu Yanhui, a young man from a rural village who has just left the army, comes to the city alone to find work. By chance, he meets his fellow villager Duan Li, who introduces him to a job at a textile factory. There, he witnesses and experiences the joys and sorrows, warmth and cruelty of the lives of working women. Set in the 1990s, this story uses simple prose to tell the stories of ordinary migrant workers. I hope you enjoy it.
12.8kReads8.6Score99114d adds
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- 2 Cao Yang's Journey South 曹阳南下记 Passionate and exhilarating. Now complete. Read with confidence. Cao Yang heads south to seek refuge with his older sister, setting off wave after wave of upheaval… 41.6kReads8.9Score4k14d adds
- 3 Love in a Rental Apartment 出租房里的爱情 Chen Mo comes from a poor village deep in the mountains. After someone else takes his place at university by intercepting his college entrance exam admission letter, he has no choice but to head to the prosperous Pearl River Delta, where he struggles to survive and pursue his dreams. This book paints a sweeping portrait of the stories of young men and women born in the 1970s and 1980s who went south to work in Guangdong in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The era captured in these pages is both a 46.1kReads8.3Score4k14d adds
- 4 A Life of Romantic Encounters After Moving to the City 进城后的艳遇生活 [For Those Born in the 80s and 90s, Urban Romance, Turning into a Player, Daily Life, Relationships, Multiple Women, Personal Growth] Nanzhou, in Nandong Province, is a prosperous city full of opportunity, drawing workers from every corner of the country. The scorching summer of 2008. Twenty-one-year-old Lin Yu steps into this bustling melting pot and begins his journey of working and starting a business. As he works and rents a place to live, he uses the rise of the internet age to grow his pro 21kReads7.4Score1.6k14d adds
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A Romance at a Shenzhen Factory 深圳工厂情缘
My new story is here! You’re welcome to read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Your support motivates me to write, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well!
3kReads8.9Score21714d adds
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- 6 An Ordinary Working Life 平凡的打工生涯 Liu Fan is a retired military officer who served in the army for fifteen years. After being assigned to an easy job, he wants to change his family's difficult circumstances. Inspired by an open-minded leader, he bravely sets out to find work, gradually easing his family's hardships. But in matters of the heart, he also encounters an extraordinary romance that can never have a happy ending. 5Reads6.7Score—14d adds
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The 1960s: After Getting into Technical College, I Secure a Cadre Position 六零：考上中专后，我稳坐干部岗
[1960s + everyday life + extremely, extremely slow-paced + family squabbles + no rural assignment + vocational school entrance exams + few awful relatives] [This is a female-oriented novel! The heroine is an ordinary person, not a powerhouse heroine. Please don’t read if that bothers you.] Heartbroken and still looking for an internship? To escape reality, senior college student Zhou Yuan casually signed a contract for the full-immersion game Awakening. When she opened her eyes, she had become Z
17.7kReads8.5Score1.3k14d adds
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Starting Work at a Factory at 35: They Call Me Uncle Fan 35岁进工厂：他们叫我凡大爷
[Factory Work + No System + Dongguan Factory Girls + Heading South for Work + Everyday Life] Fan Bo spent ten years writing novels full-time back in his hometown, but never made it big. The villagers looked down on him and gossiped about him, and even his girlfriend thought he was useless and wanted to break up. After much soul-searching, Fan Bo decided to head south and earn money. He had assumed that he was too old to get hired at a factory, but the life of a migrant worker turned out to be ev
8.4kReads—Score57014d adds
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- 9 I Became a Working Girl in the 1990s 我在九零当打工妹 Liu Tang is a recent college graduate, and every day she's so busy trying to find a job that she's completely frazzled. Then one night, she has a strange dream. To her surprise, the dream takes her to a rural village in the 1990s, where she's a high school student who failed the college entrance exam. What? There was more to her exam failure than meets the eye? Help! Finding a job is hard, but she doesn't want to take the college entrance exam again. It seems she can't go back, so she has no cho 9.3kReads8.4Score24214d adds
- 10 Life as a Sent-Down Youth Returning to the City 穿成回城知青的日子 (The rating has only just come out, so it's a little low. It'll gradually rise later.) (Ensemble Cast + Family Life + Gourmet + Making a Fortune + Cozy Everyday Life) Zhou Wei wakes up to find that she has transmigrated to the 1980s and become an educated youth returning to the city. As soon as she arrives, she's pressured to marry an ugly man. Get married? Whoever wants to can marry him. She's not doing it! To change her fate, Zhou Wei puts her advantages to use and earns her first pot of gold 8.9kReads7.8Score65614d adds
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Dongguan Doesn't Believe in Tears: My Love Life as a Migrant Worker 东莞不相信眼泪，我的打工情史
[This novel has two main parts: factory romance and cultivation through the fortunes of nine sons] After graduating from university, I joined an electronics factory and became a wage laborer. I had a bachelor’s degree, was a management trainee, and was pretty handsome. The factory girls fought each other over me. A month later, the factory’s prettiest girl, my girlfriend, suddenly told me she was pregnant. I faced the biggest decision of my life: take responsibility, or choose my own future? In
255Reads8.6Score—14d adds
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Dongguan, Dongguan: The Blossoming '90s 东莞，东莞，90繁花年代
This story is based on real life. One day, Er Gou said mysteriously to Li Minghui, “Ah Hui, did you know? I heard a new Taizi Bathhouse opened nearby. They say it offers a service imported from Thailand.” The story follows a protagonist who turns his fortunes around in the electronics business of the Pearl River Delta. In 1990s Dongguan, KTVs, nightclubs, and bathhouses offered a different kind of splendor. There were also pure-hearted romances between migrant workers over beef brisket rice nood
937Reads8.2Score10214d adds
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My Love in Dongguan 我的东莞爱情
In 1998, I was still young when I packed my bags and headed off to Guangdong to find work, dreaming of earning enough to go home, get married, have children, and live a quiet, stable life. But the bustling little city in the south ultimately threw all my plans for a settled life into disarray. Here, I met all kinds of people and encountered all kinds of things.
90.9kReads7.9Score4.8k14d adds
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- 14 An Eighties Gofer Marries into a Family of Lovers 八零工具人嫁入恋爱之家 I was one of the heroine’s many useful sidekicks, the one who walked three thousand kilometers to bring back a stone for her. If the heroine thinks it looks nice and wants it, she can have it. If that’s not enough, I’ll go pick up more. The heroine wants to use me as a foil, claiming city folk can’t compare to country folk, and educated people can’t compare to illiterates? Fine, you win! When my mother tried to brainwash me into being a sucker, I put a stop to it with one clean strike. My abusiv 5.3kReads8.0Score30914d adds
- 15 At Dusk 人到黄昏 Family love, romance, friendship, and neighborly affection. The ordinary, uneventful lives of everyday people; the changing times reflected in rural life; the differences between two generations in their views on elder care; and how the elderly and children of the new era should face the twilight years of life. 45.8kReads9.1Score4.2k14d adds
- 16 All I Want in Life Is Half a Heart’s Contentment 一生只求半称心 The comic adaptation is coming soon! [Traditional] [No gimmicks] [Not a power fantasy] [No cheat abilities] In the 1970s, Li Laoman had no sons, so he wanted to find a live-in son-in-law for his third daughter, Li Fan. Li Fan refused and stole her second sister Li Ting's fiance instead! Now Li Ting had not only lost her man, but also had to take on the responsibility of finding a live-in son-in-law for her younger sister. With Li Laoman pressuring her, she had no choice but to take Zhong Wensong 9.5kReads8.9Score79914d adds
- 17 The Brash Stepmother from the Eighties Becomes a Nobody 八零泼妇养母成了路人甲 Liu Peiyun was ready to enjoy a quiet retirement, but instead transmigrated into a book as Lu Xuebi, a village girl whose engagement had been broken off in the 1980s. Since she was already here, Lu Xuebi decided to make the best of it. She studied for college entrance exams while leading her whole family to seize the opportunities of the times. Only later did she learn she had transmigrated into a book: she was the heroine’s shrewish adoptive mother, an obstacle on the heroine’s road to wealth a 646Reads5.8Score11614d adds
- 18 A Supporting Actress’s Gossip-Filled Life in the 1970s 七十年代女配的吃瓜日常 After learning she has transmigrated into a historical-era novel as a pawn meant to whitewash the protagonist's group, Jiang Yanqiu first steals half of the original heroine's golden finger, then gives away half of the transmigrated heroine's golden finger. Then she keeps her head down, stays away from the protagonist's group, and enjoys the show. With nobody at the educated youth station willing to talk to her, bored Jiang Yanqiu has nothing to do but gossip to pass the time. She has to admit, 1.9kReads6.2Score10214d adds
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The Dongguan Years 东莞岁月
Set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this novel tells the story of migrant workers represented by a group of young men and women from the countryside in southwestern Henan. It paints a sweeping picture of their arduous struggle to make a living in the unfamiliar city of Dongguan, vividly recreating the bitterness and sweetness, hardships and joys, love and heartbreak experienced by young factory workers during that fiery era.
2.1kReads7.7Score16114d adds
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Reborn in 1975: The Fool's Unusual Life 重生1975，傻子的别样人生
Chen Qingshan was reborn. In his previous life, production team leader Liu Fugui used him as a pawn, and someone pushed him off a cliff, where wolves devoured him. When he opened his eyes again, he was still the same easily bullied “dimwit” from 1975. But now, his eyes held nothing but frozen hatred. If everyone thought he was an idiot, then he'd play the fool to the bitter end! In the cornfield, he stood watch while Liu Fugui had an affair with Widow Chen, earning a stale steamed bun in retur
10.2kReads7.8Score80114d adds
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Back to the 1990s: My Adorable Little Girl Is Only Two 重回九零：我的奶萌闺女才2岁
[Rebirth + period setting + starting a business + no golden finger + everyday life + no overnight riches, just slowly building wealth + ordinary people + no great riches or status] Some details are made up, and there are plenty of things that don’t make sense. Don’t take any of it too seriously; it’s all for the sake of the story! An accident sends Wan Qinqin and Ning Jianguo back to 1999. There’s no System to give them a leg up, no instant success. All they have are the opportunities they remem
1.6kReads8.4Score10114d adds
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Dongguan: A Dusty Romance 东莞尘缘
Dongguan is a city full of memories, holding the youth and stories of countless young men and women. You’re only young once, so do you still remember the women who appeared in your youth?
4.6kReads7.8Score38314d adds
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Reforming My Good-for-Nothing Husband, Starting at Age 20 改造废物老公，从20岁开始养老
[Period story x making money x family and village life x a touch of ensemble cast x raising kids] Lin Hui has a dream. In it, she turns fifty after spending twenty-seven years as a widow, struggling to raise her children, only to develop cancer and die before she can enjoy life. When she wakes, she finds herself back in 1980, the year she just married Xu Dongsheng, the “lazy bum” of the surrounding villages. She grits her teeth. She absolutely cannot let her life follow the path in her dream. Fr
34.1kReads9.1Score4.1k14d adds
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- 24 Reborn at Eighteen: Take It Easy or Get Rich? I Choose to Make Money 重生十八：摆烂与暴富？我选搞钱 Reborn at the age of eighteen, at the turning point of her fate, Liang Meng draws on the hardships she endured at the factory and the pain of a past relationship to make a brave change. She sets out on the road to entrepreneurship with her cousin Zhang Yunyun, running a street stall amid the lively bustle of the city. Familiar with the world of novels, she begins writing, and her words gradually become a source of wealth. Then, recalling some crucial information, she wins the lottery and adds to 53Reads—Score—14d adds
- 25 A Young Couple in the 1980s: Their Life as Migrant Workers Down South 八十年代小夫妻，南下打工日常 Totally fictional, totally fictional, totally fictional! Important things must be said three times. Don't argue over the details. When reading a novel, there's no need to take it as seriously as the college entrance exam. Just have fun. [No golden finger + no pocket dimension + no college entrance exam] It all takes place in a small village in the north. As one of the first young couples to head south for work, what will their future hold? Let's wait and see... 729Reads5.9Score—14d adds
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I Woke Up to Find That the Father of My Child and I Were Both Reborn 一觉醒来，我和孩儿她爹都重生了
Zhang Xuemei had never wronged anyone in her life. The only person she had ever wronged was her youngest daughter, whom she gave away shortly after birth. She had secretly gone to see the girl before. Seeing that she was doing well had put her mind at ease, and Zhang Xuemei hadn’t wanted to disrupt her life. But on the night she returned, she fell asleep and woke up thirty years in the past, back when she was pregnant with her youngest daughter and hiding at her parents’ home. She touched her be
4.8kReads8.9Score40014d adds
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- 27 Mom Got Rich Selling Egg Pancakes in the Nineties 妈妈在九零卖鸡蛋饼暴富啦 [Reborn + heartwarming everyday life + entrepreneurship + writing + making a fortune + feel-good story] On the very day Zhou Xue finally passed the teacher recruitment exam after three years of hard work, she was reborn. It was winter break in 1999. Her father had taken every last bit of money from the family and gone to Yunnan Province to find his mistress. Her penniless mother was taking eight-year-old Zhou Xue and her ten-year-old brother to pick through vegetable scraps at the wholesale mark 539Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 28 I Only Wanted to Sell a House and Make a Quick Buck, Not Steal the General Manager Away 只想卖房捞一笔，没想拐走总经理 I’m reborn!!!? And I still don’t have a golden finger~~ At first, Yin Yi only wanted to change her miserable fate as a mortgage slave in her previous life. By chance, a bubbly saleswoman from a real estate office dragged her along to collect a bag of rice. And so began her journey to becoming a sales champion. She might not have a golden finger, but she had good luck and kept unexpectedly finding customers. She raked in the cash, determined that there was no way she’d be a mortgage slave in this 6.4kReads9.4Score72914d adds
- 29 After Dumping the Boyfriend Who Put Her Through Four Years of College 抛弃供她上四年大学的男朋友之后 After She Dumped the Boyfriend Who Put Her Through Four Years of College 171Reads—Score214d adds
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My Years as a Migrant Worker in Shenzhen 我在深圳打工那些年
Two AI comic adaptations of this book are already online, and a third is in production. In 1997, I was 17, carrying 300 yuan as I left my hometown in Hunan and headed south to Shenzhen alone. With no skills and no temporary residence permit, I was chased by security patrols, turned away by factories, left hungry, and forced to spend nights hiding in a cemetery. I went from a penniless kid to a sewing-machine operator at a handbag factory, then seized the opportunities of the times, opened a shop
18.8kReads8.8Score1.5k14d adds
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My Years Working at a Securities Firm 我在证券打工那些年
2004. Shenzhen. Securities account manager. Only later did Li Xingyun realize that the so-called A-share floor price was a lie told to rookies. Below the floor was hell, and below hell were eighteen more levels. He had seen every one of them. No connections, no influential friends, and no Cantonese. Find clients. Fail, and you're out. A veteran told him: In this line of work, no results means no respect. An account of a fresh graduate working in Shenzhen. No inspirational triumphs, no melodrama,
5.5kReads—Score46914d adds
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A Few Stories from Life on the Factory Floor 工厂打工男女之间的三两事
[Rural life in the 1980s and 1990s, migrant workers, city life, flirtation, love, growing up, everyday life, the little things, not a power fantasy, realistic] Do you remember working in Shenzhen twenty years ago? Everyone wore the most innocent smiles. Nobody on the streets was glued to a phone. Even though people earned only a few hundred yuan a month, they were remarkably happy and content. Now, even with several thousand yuan a month, or even a business of your own, you can never go back to
288Reads—Score—14d adds
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Dongguan Memories: The Girls Who Loved Me Back Then 东莞往事：那些年爱过我的女孩
[Urban Slice of Life + Multiple Heroines + Underdog’s Rise + Workplace] In 2006, Lin Yu arrives in Dongguan just after graduating from college. The city is said to be full of opportunities and romantic adventures. There, he meets the women who warm and support him as he grows, while he slowly rises from a rookie who can’t even tighten a screw to a workplace elite. He struggles and fights for his dreams in the face of reality, but growth always comes at a price. No System giving him cheat powers,
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My Cousin from Dongguan 我的东莞表姐
[Urban Action] [Comedy] [Multiple Heroines] After mastering his studies at a Taoist temple, the young Cao Kun heads down the mountain to work in Guancheng, where he moves in with his cousin. When he steps in to defend her and her best friend, he gets caught up in a gang war and sets off down a path of no return!
4.2kReads7.3Score30614d adds
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The Unhinged Woman of the 90s: I Started Getting Rich Working in Dongguan 九零女疯批：致富从东莞打工开始
A realistic story set in the 1990s, with no rebirth, transmigration, or golden finger. Everyone in Anziping knows An Xiaowu is a total psycho. She's not only crazy but vicious, picking fights that turn into life-or-death struggles at the drop of a hat. But no one expected her to be so ruthless that she wouldn't spare even her own family. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, she fights her father for her life. "What's so special about New Year? If you mess with me, I'll dig you out of your cof
10.8kReads8.6Score98214d adds
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A Temporary Romance at the Factory! 工厂里的临时爱情！
Wang Dali had just left his rural hometown to find work in the city. After his night shift, he returned to his rented room. As he snapped the key in the lock, he heard a woman's cries from inside. From that day on, life opened up an entirely new world for him. Every day that followed was an adventure.
297Reads6.7Score—14d adds
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The Duck-Herding Girl Who Struck It Rich in the 1980s 八零赶鸭女致富记
The Legendary Life of a Duck Herder Suhua sets herself a goal: whatever she wants, she has to get for herself. That goes for her career and her love life alike.
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- 38 The Scheming Office Girl 心机打工女 In the early 1990s, five girls from impoverished mountain villages, carrying hopes for a better life, squeezed aboard a green train bound for Guangdong and plunged into the clamor of an electronics factory assembly line. Sparks from soldering circuit boards scorched their fingertips, while cramped dormitory bunk beds bore witness to their youth and exhaustion. Their resilience was tested by their supervisors' scolding and meager wages. Adrift in a strange land, they became each other's steadfast 18Reads—Score—14d adds
- 39 Reborn as a Factory Line Worker 重生成流水线女工 Just as powerhouse Tian Xiaotong reaches the peak of her career and enjoys her moment in the sun, an enemy's revenge leaves her on the brink of death. She is reborn in 2009 in the body of a dirt-poor factory assembly-line worker who shares her name. Though she has nothing after being reborn, she was a powerhouse in her previous life. And since she's landed in an era full of opportunities, making money is as easy as breathing. With no startup capital, she can make over ten thousand a month applyi 29Reads—Score—14d adds
- 40 Back in the 1990s, I Became a Factory Girl 重回九零做厂妹 While other people transmigrated to the 1990s to farm, Su Jinjin transmigrated to the 1990s to work in a factory. She became Su Mianmian, the famously silly and naive girl. The little wallflower transformed into a top student, going from being able to do nothing to being able to make anything. And so Jin Hua First Machinery Factory started from scratch, with a bold new slogan: “There’s nothing our factory can’t make, as long as the market needs it!” 161Reads—Score—14d adds
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Years as a Migrant Worker: Dongguan, 1995 打工岁月之东莞1995
Your hometown cannot keep your body, and a foreign land cannot accommodate your soul! Working away from home is an eternal topic that cannot be avoided or sidestepped. This book paints an honest picture of the ordinary lives of migrant workers. Perhaps it reflects what your parents once experienced, or what you are going through now! Millions upon millions of migrant workers uphold the glory of the “world’s factory,” but behind that glory lie their sweat, tears, and helplessness... Feel free to
2.6kReads—Score13814d adds
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- 42 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
- 43 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
- 44 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
- 45 I'm a Little Village Doctor 我是小乡医 A poor country bumpkin accidentally gains extraordinary powers. From then on, he farms, treats illnesses, goes into business, and becomes a local powerhouse. 237Reads—Score—14d adds
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My Days in Public Relations 我当公关的那些日子
You probably won’t believe me when I tell you what I do for a living. You’re a liar! That’s right! I make a living telling tall tales and keeping people company as they chat. Anyone can spin a yarn, but I might be the first to turn it into a respectable profession and earn tens of millions a year! I spend all day spinning stories to women, talking nonsense nonstop, and somehow they still like me and are willing to pay me. The secret to business: It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, even if it’
8.9kReads7.5Score65014d adds
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- 47 Working Down South: Those Wild Years 南下打工，风流的那些年 This is a story about Dongguan. After graduating from college, I couldn’t find a job. My cousin was working in the south, so I went to stay with him. My cousin was a carefree sort who dressed like a gangster every day. He took me to internet cafes, played pool with me, and treated me to late-night snacks. Life in the south was slow and easygoing. My cousin was my mentor. He found me a job and showed me how to eat, drink, and enjoy life. My cousin and I had a great time fooling around, but then h 322Reads7.5Score6614d adds
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The Story of Three Working Girls 三个打工女孩的故事
Three young women of the same age, each from a different family background and with a different personality, head to Guancheng to find work. Set in the 1990s, their experiences capture the memories of an entire era. When their birth families are thrown into turmoil, should they stand by and do nothing, lend a hand, or sacrifice their dignity to help them through it? Some come to repay their parents' kindness, while others only cause their parents trouble. The three girls each have a different an
5.8kReads9.0Score49114d adds
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A Lifetime for Her and Me 我和她的这一生
In 1992, at the age of twenty, I left my hometown. My family was crippled by illness and poverty. We were on the verge of starving to death. If I stayed, we would all be trapped on that patch of barren soil. If I left, there might be a way for them to survive. The southern wind, laden with cement dust, swept into that big city filled with construction sites. This place had no name, only countless steel bars, scaffolding, and faces waiting to sell their labor. We came here to fight for our lives.
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- 50 My Life: Saving Myself 我的人生，渡己 I moved from the countryside to the big city when I was twenty. On my first day at the factory, I was five minutes late. Those five minutes felt like a slap in the face, waking me up and changing my life. More than ten people crammed into one dorm room. For breakfast, I could only bring myself to buy a tea egg and soy milk. Watching others eat fried rice noodles, I secretly vowed to work hard and make a solid place for myself in the city. There was no sudden wealth and no romance, just a country 1Reads—Score—14d adds
