Raising Kids with Their Mom in the 1960s

Completed: The Great Beauty of the Eighties Courtyard

Next up: The Reborn Housewife of the Eighties; The Sweet and Adorable Betrothed of the Seventies

Lin Qiao was raised like a precious jewel by her parents and older brother. When her family suddenly falls on hard times, her childhood fiance immediately breaks off their engagement. Her parents debate whether to find her a respectable factory worker to marry or send her to a remote village to lie low.

Lin Qiao dreams that she marries the director of a factory office. Her husband rises through the ranks to a powerful position, but he's a hypocrite. Unable to have children himself, he forces Lin Qiao to have a baby with another man. Lin Qiao decides she absolutely can't jump into that pit of fire.

The organization worries that Gu Lin will spend his whole life single and urges him to find someone soon.

At a matchmaking event, Lin Qiao tries to slip away, but Gu Lin, who has also left early, calls out to her.

Gu Lin says firmly, "I'm here to give a report, not to find a partner."

But when he sees the lovely young woman before him, with rosy lips and bright, sparkling eyes, Gu Lin's heart is stirred. He really should start a family.

Lin Qiao lowers her head and asks, "My father has been sent away for reform. I'm afraid you won't accept that."

Gu Lin exudes confidence. "What's there to be afraid of? I'll protect you."

He's a bit rough around the edges, but his background is impeccable. Once cleaned up, he's rather handsome too, so Lin Qiao agrees to the marriage.

The organization and Gu Lin's family are fairly relieved. At least Captain Gu's marriage problem has been taken care of.

But no one thinks the marriage will work. One is after the other's family background and status, while the other is after the other's looks.

A marriage built on mutual scheming can't last. They'll surely divorce within two years.

Who could have guessed that the rough soldier would cherish Lin Qiao, the former pampered capitalist's daughter, and love her tenderly for the rest of their lives? The family of five lives happily together.

++ The male lead's name was already used in an earlier novel I had listed for preorder. I'll take responsibility for any confusion caused by the duplicate name.

Completed novel: Sweet and Happy Couple in an Eighties Hutong

As a native of old Beijing, Chu Ying is always asked, "Your family must own several houses, right? You must be rich, right?"

In reality, Chu Ying's family spent most of their lives in a crowded courtyard in Yangshan Hutong, near Prince Gong's Mansion. Later, when the hutong relocation project began, they were given an apartment in the South Fourth Ring area. Her three brothers sold the apartment and split the money for down payments on their own homes. By the time they were close to retirement, they had finally taken on a huge debt to buy a two-bedroom apartment of their own.

By then, her proud, secure government job had become ordinary manual labor, completely at odds with her husband Fang Jian's work as a prosecutor. They were divorced but still lived under the same roof, with nothing to say to each other.

Chu Ying is reborn. Now she's a young, spirited bus driver, proud of her work, while Fang Jian is a tall, handsome prosecutor at the district procuratorate, full of upright conviction.

Under the faint streetlights at a little after four in the morning, Fang Jian thoughtfully pedals her to work. The bitter wind carries his voice: "Yingying, are you cold?"

"We can't sell the room we freed up at home!" Chu Ying says, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Preorder: The Sweet and Adorable Betrothed of the Seventies

Song Qiao has rosy cheeks, soft black hair, and fair skin. She's a sweet girl who gets along with everyone.

One day, she awakens to the fact that she's a doomed side character in a period novel. As a child from a military compound, she's volunteered to go to the countryside. She's now enthusiastically helping build up the Great Northern Wilderness, but before long she'll die there of hemorrhagic fever.

Song Qiao quickly sets two small goals: first, absolutely do not go reclaim the wilderness; second, return to the city.

As she achieves her first goal and steadily works toward the second, her former childhood fiance, Zhao Duo, suddenly appears.

"My grandmother is near death, and the old woman keeps urging me to get married. How about we settle for each other?" Zhao Duo suggests.

They used to dislike each other. Song Qiao thought he was a big, rough, unruly brute, while he thought she was spoiled.

Seeing the surprise on her face, he hurries to add, afraid she'll refuse, "It can just be a fake marriage."

Song Qiao wants to leave the Great Northern Wilderness but doesn't want to go home. Besides, she has to get married at some point, so a fake marriage with someone she knows sounds fine.

After dreaming that Song Qiao falls ill and dies, Zhao Duo wakes up with red-rimmed eyes. He sets two small goals for himself: first, get promoted to deputy battalion commander as soon as possible; second, hurry and get Song Qiao out of the Great Northern Wilderness.

His comrades notice that Zhao Duo has changed. The man who used to loaf around suddenly takes on a dangerous mine-clearing mission, earns a commendation, and gets promoted to deputy battalion commander. Everyone thinks he's finally focusing on his career, but it turns out that after his promotion, he goes home on leave and brings back a stunning young woman with porcelain skin, delicate features, and expressive, limpid eyes.

Oh, he wanted to qualify for a military family posting.

For this woman, he would even give up his life.

This man, who claims he has no interest in women, is always holding his wife's fair, soft hands, rubbing them and breathing warm air onto them as he says tenderly, "How about we stop studying?"

His comrades feel the pressure. Anyone guarding the border is a tough, passionate man, but Zhao Duo takes things to another level. He has to come first in every competition and eagerly volunteers for every dangerous mission. In just over a decade, he works his way up to becoming a commanding officer and turns his division into an elite unit.

Zhao Duo: Do you believe me when I say I'm doing it so my wife can have a bigger house and I can get more allowances to buy her Snowflake cream?

His wife is no ordinary woman, either. Other soldiers' wives are farm workers, doctors, teachers, or members of arts troupes. His wife is the finest jade carver in China.

More completed novels in the same genre:

Sweet Life in a Seventies Military Compound

The Pampered Wife Who Returned to the City in the Eighties

Theme: Let flowers bloom even in adversity