The Happy Life of a 1970s Academic Ace

Please add my next historical-era story, The Seventh-Decade Imperial Decree Matriarch, to your reading list. The blurb is at the very bottom.

Blurb: Cheng Lin was reborn.

In his previous life, he had ability but no education, and missed his chance to become a worker-peasant-soldier student.

He could only watch as people less capable than him went to the city for university,

while he was set up to die in a flash flood.

This time, he's determined to study hard

and lose the label of illiterate as soon as possible so he can attend university!

Everything else is just as before, and he has it all under control.

Except, why hasn't the female educated youth who returned to the city so quickly in his previous life left?

And why does she seem so... strange?

Cheng Lin narrowed his eyes. Something was off.

Si Wen was a top student who knew nothing but studying and reading.

Maybe she had stayed up too late reading and suddenly died.

Whatever happened, she opened her eyes in the glorious 1970s, when labor was the highest virtue.

This was a nightmare for Si Wen, who had never lifted anything heavier than a book!

If she ate without working, the whole village would criticize her!

And why was there a man who kept giving her suspicious looks and trying to pump her for information?

Just when Si Wen thought she might have given herself away,

the man brought her a delicious meal.

"Eat up. Once you're full, teach me how to read this character, okay?"

Si Wen...

He looked pretty sharp, but it turns out there's something a little wrong with him!

Later, that man who seemed to have something wrong with him spoiled Si Wen to the heavens.

Blurb for The Seventies: My Partner Is a Cat

Qing Lan had dropped out of school and returned to her hometown. On the way, she found a cat with a broken leg. Its fur was pure white, and even injured, it carried itself with impressive dignity.

She carefully carried it home, played with it, cuddled it to sleep, and even gave it half of her two-flour flatbread.

Qing Lan's mother looked at her daughter, nearly eighteen and still so playful. "Lan, stop thinking about going back to school. The girls your age in the village already have children. Your aunt can introduce you to someone..."

With a crash, the cat knocked the only celadon jar in the house off its perch. Qing Lan's mother grabbed a broom and chased it all over the yard, furious.

Qing Lan picked up the cat she had hidden away and affectionately rubbed her cheek against its head, dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth.

"You're the clever one. You knew how to save me."

The white cat narrowed its eyes in delight and proudly stretched out its little paws.

When the autumn floods came, the land Qing Lan's family depended on was washed away before they could harvest. Her mother clutched Qing Lan's hand and wept.

"Daughter, at least meet him. Your aunt says he has a state job and comes from a first-rate family."

Qing Lan looked at her bedridden father and her naive younger siblings, then gritted her teeth.

The white cat was gone. Qing Lan searched everywhere she could think of, then clutched the little cloth pouch she had made for it and cried.

A few days later, the matchmaker came to propose a match for Qing Lan. "The young man will pay for your father's treatment. He has just one condition: he wants the girl to go to school."

For that one condition, Qing Lan nodded. She peeked through the swaying curtain and saw a man sitting in the main room, tall and so handsome and fair he almost dazzled her.

As if he knew Qing Lan was watching him, the man smiled and glanced at the gap in the curtain. That one look made her heart tremble. Oh my, why were his eyes just like a cat's, making her heart flutter so?

Cats are born hunters: solitary, aloof, sensitive, stubborn, and fiercely proud. They act like kings around everyone else, but with the one person who is special to them, they're so affectionate they'd place you right in their heart.

The Exceptional One Wants to Serve the Motherland Too

Su Qing bound herself to a patriotism System and must travel to different worlds to complete the sacred mission of serving the motherland.

System: Increase the affection people around you feel for you. Once you reach the target, you can learn a skill and serve the motherland, making people's lives better.

Su Qing: No problem! Everyone around me likes me. Reaching the target will be easy.

The System chuckled and, for once, stayed silent.

Su Qing immediately sensed something was wrong. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

The System lowered its voice. "It's actually the Exceptional Patriotism System. You have to reform the exceptional troublemakers and earn the approval of the people around them to complete your missions..."

Su Qing... I think you're the biggest troublemaker of all!

World One: An exceptional old woman in a historical-era story feeds the people by farming! (Don't be afraid when famine strikes. With this old woman around, every family will have grain to spare!)

World Two: An exceptional mama's boy joins the army and becomes an all-around ace soldier through sheer determination and skill! (I'm an ace soldier, and I'm super strong!)

World Three: An exceptional sister-in-law becomes a master physician! (Who has time to obsess over her brother and sister-in-law? I'm busy saving patients with difficult illnesses!)

Turn exceptional troublemakers into people everyone respects, build the motherland, and take pride in it!

Theme: Share culture and eradicate illiteracy with precision