Everyday Life in a Bare-Bones Marriage in the '80s

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[New serial now underway] My Stepmom's Easygoing Life Raising Kids in the 1970s, originally titled The Village Beauty's House Swap

[Next book, seeking follows] Remarrying a Fool in the 1970s or After the Genius Village Beauty's Downfall (I'll write whichever one inspires me more)

Synopsis of The Everyday Life of a Barefoot Bride in the 1980s:

The most despairing thing for Chen Cha isn't that her father and stepmother sold her for a huge bride price to an old widower who had beaten two wives to death.

It's that after escaping from human traffickers, she sees the only man who might be able to save her, only to discover he's a cripple!

Fortunately, this cripple bravely (under duress) risks his life (reluctantly) to save her.

Cheng Tang is forced to play the hero and save a young woman, who insists on marrying him in return.

He refuses: I have no house, land, or money, and I'm a cripple.

Chen Cha clutches her heart: I want you, not your money!

Cheng Tang: !!! She's not only a liar, she's a drama queen. And not only is she a drama queen, she loves causing trouble.

She can flee a wedding, fight, raise silkworms, run a household, take down scumbags, make money, and have children...

Later:

Cheng Tang has money, earned to support Chen Cha.

Cheng Tang has a house, bought for Chen Cha.

Cheng Tang has land, which... No, Chen Cha grabbed it from his crooked relatives.

Cheng Tang has a child, born to him by Chen Cha.

Synopsis of Remarrying a Fool in the 1970s:

Lin Shichu, who often has strange dreams, dreams this time that she's become a doomed bride in the 1970s.

On her wedding day, she catches her groom running off with a female educated youth.

Then the shameless couple even taunt Lin Shichu.

Why put up with that in a dream?

Lin Shichu slaps the faithless man, takes the betrothal gifts he gave her and the money from the wedding guests, commandeers (ransacks) the wedding setup his family prepared, and marries a foolish man she happened to pick up by the roadside.

Lin Shichu thinks, since it's only a dream, she might as well go all the way, and doesn't even skip the wedding night.

But when she wakes up... she's still in the 1970s.

Lin Shichu can only weep at the mess she's made by doing whatever she pleased in what she thought was a dream.

Her family knows nothing of what happened, while her faithless groom's family comes knocking to make trouble.

In the production team's extremely crude cowshed, Lin Shichu is utterly dumbfounded by the foolish man she picked up by the roadside.

The villagers crowd at the door to watch the spectacle.

Oh! Huh? Hey!

Gradually, the villagers stop laughing!

It seems Lin Shichu and her foolish husband are doing pretty well.

They have meat to eat, money to spend, schooling, prizes, and even a genius little one?!

I'm bad at writing blurbs. This is just something I made up.

The Village Beauty's House Swap, also known as My Stepmom's Easygoing Life Raising Kids in the 1970s

Synopsis:

Because their house is so small, Xu Wen shares a kang bed with six other family members across three generations.

Suffering from severe insomnia, Xu Wen decides to marry herself off.

Her biggest requirement for a husband: he absolutely must have a room of his own!

Xu Wen is famous far and wide for her beauty, and matchmakers come flocking. She picks one man, but her family objects.

*

Grandmother: No, he has neither father nor mother.

Xu Wen: Perfect, then I won't have to wait on my in-laws.

Besides, he has five rooms.

Parents: No, his family's so poor even the mice stay away.

Xu Wen: That's fine, he has five rooms!

Sister: No! He has a child. If you marry him, you'll be a stepmother. Being a stepmother is hard!

Xu Wen: That's fine, then I won't have to suffer through having my own! Besides, he has five rooms!

Brother and sister-in-law: No, he's got a scar on his face and is hideously ugly. He could scare a child to tears!

Xu Wen: That's fine, he has five rooms.

On the wedding day, the man vanishes into thin air. A few months later, word comes that not a trace of his body was found.

Family: We told you not to marry him! You're so young, and now you're a widow with a stepchild. How are you going to get by?

Xu Wen: I get two pensions. I'm doing just fine! I don't need to marry again!

Outsiders: Don't marry Xu Wen. She's cursed and will kill her husband!

Xu Wen: I have money, a house, and a child. Why would I marry again?

Xu Wen quietly builds a memorial for the man, though she feels a little guilty. I'm sorry, but your house, your child, and your money are all mine now!

Lu Yuanzheng: ????

Sorry, I'm still alive!

Synopsis of After the Genius Village Beauty's Downfall

(Title and synopsis are tentative.)

Also known as The Village Beauty and the Village Bully Return to Their Hometown

Li Xiao is the only "other people's child" in Xishan Village!

She's clever: she skipped two grades in primary school and one in middle school. She didn't skip any in high school, because a top university in China admitted her early when she was a sophomore.

If she hadn't started school late, she should have gone to university at fifteen.

She's beautiful, too. She became the school beauty at a young age, in primary school, middle school, high school, and university.

She's also the village beauty and the town beauty...

Talent scouts came after her in high school, but she turned them all down.

Yet after becoming the only phoenix to fly out of this mountain ravine, Li Xiao went right back to impoverished, backward Xishan Village after graduating.

The village's great hope has fallen from grace!

Everyone laughs that genius Li has turned into a fool!

They mock her for giving up a bright future in the city to return to a poor mountain village!

Her father slaps her in a fit of rage. To make her see the error of her ways, he sends her out to work in the fields as punishment, hoping she'll understand how hard farmers have it!

A few months later, everyone who had been waiting to laugh at the village beauty comes to the Li family's home to apologize and ask for advice.

Li's father: Xiao Xiao, is the spacing between these seedlings I've planted right?

A neighbor brings over a bowl of chicken soup: Xiao Xiao, can you get that internet thing installed at my place too?

A stubborn old villager shows up with a pig leg: Xiao Xiao, do you think we could sell our pigs for a good price too?

And young people who've returned from working in big cities come to ask: Xiao Xiao, can I work at your cooperative?

The only problem is that she runs into her childhood rival, the "village bully" of her youth, when they compete for the village head position.

He says, "Li Xiao, marry me! Forget being village head, even I'm yours!"

A note before reading:

This story is entirely made up, so please don't scrutinize the details!

Important things to keep in mind:

1. Prices. Prices are incredibly complicated, and they vary greatly across the country. Even today, pork bones might cost less than ten yuan where I live, but over twenty yuan in some southern cities, so don't get hung up on the prices.

The story only uses prices from places the author could find information about. They're approximate.

2. Slice of life, told day by day.

3. I'll add more if I think of anything.

Theme: A woman in the new era realizes her personal worth, finds love and a career, and leads the people of her hometown out of poverty.