Raising Pandas in the 1980s

[Please add my upcoming novel, Raising Pandas in the 1990s, to your reading list~]

Xia Yao graduates after studying animal husbandry for four years. Just as she's worrying about what she can do with her future, she transmigrates.

The good news: she's transmigrated into a book and found a job suited to her degree.

The bad news: she's gone back to the underdeveloped 1980s, and her job is raising pigs in the countryside.

Xia Yao: ???

In the book, the original Xia Yao is the female lead's foil.

The female lead strives to get ahead. She's the first person in the village to buy a home in the city, and she marries the son of a brick kiln owner. With no worries about food or drink, she lives a life everyone envies.

The equally beautiful Xia Yao, on the other hand, schemes and flirts with every young man in the village. In the end, everyone calls her a shameless woman. Only the village idiot is willing to marry her, and on their wedding day an accident happens: she dies in the pigsty...

Xia Yao: Dealing with people is exhausting. There's nothing wrong with just raising pigs in peace...

The villagers all laugh at Xia Yao for being foolish. She spends every last bit of her family's money on pigs, horses, cows, and sheep, and sometimes carries a sack of steamed buns and bamboo shoots into the mountains to feed the wild animals.

One day, a village thug follows her and tries to take advantage of her, but the wild animal she has been feeding bites his arm. The commotion draws the nearby forest patrol, and everyone assumes those smelly animals are about to be taken away.

But when they arrive, they see Xia Yao playing happily with a group of round, black-and-white creatures...

Forest Patrol Captain: Th-That's a giant panda?!

As the times progress, the number of wild giant pandas dwindles. But without telling anyone, Xia Yao has built them a little paradise behind the mountain.

To ensure they get better care in the future, Tang Cheng, the head of the animal protection center, decides to find a way to bring them all back to the center.

Tang Cheng: Whatever it takes, we have to bring them back!

Later, people notice that Director Tang, who used to have eyes only for animals, has changed.

A former soldier, he's as tough as iron and blood, and never cracks a smile. But now, whenever he sees Xia Yao, the corners of his mouth keep turning up.

Then one day, a subordinate catches him buying an exquisite bow tie at the mall...

Tang Cheng: Well, Tuantuan the panda is about to give birth. I've always thought of it as my own child, so this is a gift for it.

His subordinate glances at the card that says "To Miss Xia": Yeah, right! I don't believe a word of that!

Tang Cheng: A panda is a child, and giving its mom a gift makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

Reading Guide:

1. The female lead is a devoted animal mom, with no supernatural powers or golden finger

2. Sweet, sweet, sweet; satisfying, satisfying, satisfying

3. Set in 1980

4. I won't delete comments unless they're personal attacks. If your comment disappears, it may not have passed the System's review.

5. There are countless great novels on Jinjiang. If this one isn't for you, just move on. No need to tell me you've dropped it (kamsahamnida!)

Upcoming novel: Raising Pandas in the 1990s. Please add it to your reading list.

Blurb:

Cheng Sui, who is dedicated to protecting stray cats, transmigrates and becomes a doomed supporting female character who dies young from a serious illness in a period novel.

According to the story, the original girl is too weak to lift or carry anything, but she has nimble hands and can weave all kinds of little things from bamboo strips. Even though she's gravely ill, the pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks she raises are all plump and healthy.

She's clever with her hands and good at raising little ones... Isn't that the perfect talent for raising cats?!

After transmigrating, Cheng Sui spends every day hoping to get back to her old line of work, wishing the heavens would send her a kitten.

Then one day, she rescues a truckload of pitiful animals from smugglers.

A giant panda cub comes tumbling out of its cage, calling out loudly as it crawls straight toward her and hugs her pant leg...

Cheng Sui: ??? A panda cub? Well, if you round things off, it's a kind of kitten!

The old folks say Cheng Sui is asking for trouble. If a giant panda gets angry and turns on her, it'll slap her to death.

But when Cheng Sui catches the giant panda misbehaving and smacks its paw, it only gives a pitiful little "Mm-mm"?

The aunties say a giant panda isn't human, and no matter how good she is to it, it'll never repay her. She'd be better off getting married and having children to rely on.

But when Cheng Sui encounters wolves in the mountains, her blind date abandons her and runs. The giant panda saves her life from the pack.

The experts say giant pandas belong in nature and should be returned to the forest.

Cheng Sui steels herself and sends the giant panda back to the mountains, but a few months later it returns on its own, and has even given birth to twins?!

As the number of captive giant pandas grows, zoos from all over head to Sichuan Province, hoping to borrow one to raise.

"An'an won't do. Director Cheng said she's just back to recover after giving birth. Once her cubs are born, she's leaving."

"Tuantuan won't do either. Director Cheng said he passed his wild training assessment and will soon be released into the wild."

"Zhusheng doesn't need to be released, but Director Cheng said it's antisocial and scared of people, so it's being transferred to the base."

The zoo directors all scratch their heads: You're not making this up, are you? There are more than a hundred pandas here. How could your Director Cheng know every single one?

Staff member: I'm telling the truth. She raised every one of those hundred-plus pandas herself, and she gave them all their names, too.

Everyone: !!!

Reading Guide:

1. The female lead is a devoted animal mom, with no golden finger

2. A sweet, everyday story about raising pandas

3. Set in 1990

Theme: Protect little animals