Novels like Life Is but a Dream
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Life Is but a Dream, best match first.
- 101 A Wife’s Heart Is a Sea of Sorrow 娇妻心似海之沉沦 A middle-aged man’s marital crisis. A torn stocking in the bathroom shatters Chen Fan’s happy life. Has his young, beautiful wife, Wang Bingyu, really betrayed him? Seeing the bald man standing beside his wife in a photo, Chen Fan decides to take furious revenge, only to fall into another carefully laid trap of hers... 281Reads5.4Score—Shelves
- 102 Reborn, I Make My Ex-Wife Beg for My Love 重生后，让前妻当舔狗 The male lead, Fang Yuan, falls in love with An Yinuo, the heiress to a wealthy family, and marries her. He thinks they can live happily ever after. But their marriage lasts only ten years before Fang Yuan is kicked out of the house and left with nothing. In their sleep, they are reborn and return to their high school days in 2008. In this life, Fang Yuan just wants to live as he pleases: play basketball, play games, start a business and become rich, set foot on the moon, research controlled nuc 70Reads5.4Score—Shelves
- 103 Lan Lan's 35th Book 蓝岚兰第35本书 [No cheating + the wife and her whole family regret it + she doggedly tries to win him back + multiple heroines and a love-triangle showdown] After eight years of marriage, Jiang Chen finally discovered that his wife had made her childhood sweetheart call himself her “little husband.” Every time she lied to Jiang Chen and said she was going on a business trip, she had actually been going out with her dear little brother! Even the child they 3.4kReads6.2Score226Shelves
- 104 Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fades 春花秋逝 (Not a wish-fulfillment story, no transmigration, realistic, about an ordinary person struggling to survive in the cracks. Don’t read if that’s not your thing.) Since you all want to kill me, I’ll start by eloping with your daughters!! 588Reads8.3Score—Shelves
- 105 I Fulfilled My Childhood Friend's Wish and Asked for a Divorce: Why Are You Crying? 为竹马完成心愿，我提离婚你哭啥 [No cheating + Determined pursuit of her husband + Wife’s family regrets everything + Love triangle drama] Chen Jingshen and his wife, Su Qingwan, went from dating to marriage, and he thought they would be happy together for the rest of their lives. But her family stood in their way, and she wanted to fulfill 99 wishes for her sick childhood sweetheart. Chen Jingshen saw with his own eyes just how crazy Su Qingwan became over his wishes. She would walk out of an important meeting just because he 43.8kReads5.2Score3.6kShelves
- 106 After the Divorce, the Cool CEO Struggles to Win Her Husband Back 离婚后，清冷女总裁艰难追夫路 [The rating just went live and will rise later, so enjoy the story] [No NTR tropes + devoted pursuit of the male lead + everyday urban life + no rebirth + heartwarming + heroine deeply regrets her actions + divorce from the start] By chance, Li Nanhua, the protagonist, enters into a contract marriage with a female CEO. For three years, he fulfills the terms of their marriage perfectly, then decisively chooses to divorce her and start a new life. But fate always has surprises in store. He is d 1.5kReads6.7Score100Shelves
- 107 A Woman Off the Rails: Are You Keeping Her Until New Year's? 脱轨的女人，留着过年吗？ A woman who’s gone off the rails? Are you keeping her around till New Year? 6Reads—Score—Shelves
- 108 After the Sect Master's Wife Fired Me, I Decided to Lie Flat 被宗主老婆革职后，我躺平了 [Layoffs That Cut to the Quick]+ [The Husband-Chasing Crematorium]+ [Multiple Heroines]+ [Many Children and Grandchildren]+ [Spatial Farming]+ [Pursuit of Immortality] Over nearly three hundred years, Ye Canglan revived the Lingxi Sect from the brink of collapse, turning it into the strongest cultivation sect in the entire Jintian Domain. He also secured his wife Yue Xiyao’s position as sect leader. Ye Canglan thought he could finally step behind the scenes and live like a carefree prince. But h 4.1kReads5.8Score263Shelves
- 109 Regrets? After the Divorce, I Fawned Over Someone Else. You Chose This 后悔？离婚后我舔别人，你选的嘛 (Pursuing Her Husband + Romantic Rivalry + Regret + Redemption + Sweet and Heartbreaking Romance + No System + Not Reborn + No NTR) Chen Shanglu and Gu Baisu, the young heiress of the Gu family, first met at school. After graduation, they overcame countless obstacles and finally got married. Chen Shanglu loved Gu Baisu with all his heart, but she still flirted with other men. If his wife had fallen for someone else, then they should get a divorce. But she regretted it and refused to divorce him 75Reads8.3Score101Shelves
- 110 Official Fortune: Soaring to the Top 官运：扶摇职上 When Chen Fu makes a delivery to his wife Luo Yao's shop, he unexpectedly sees something he shouldn't have. After a huge fight with his wife, he decides, for the sake of their marriage, to rethink his career. As he makes his way through the workplace, he gradually discovers a side of his wife he never knew existed... 200Reads5.9Score—Shelves
- 111 The Door to Vault Three 三号库的门 The Door to Storage Room Three 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 112 Son-in-Law: My Lovely Wife Is Hard to Handle 女婿：娇妻难养 [Male-oriented, no NTR, romance, marriage before love] With a beautiful wife at home, what’s wrong with being a live-in son-in-law? But Liu Chenyang was already a little stunned on his wedding night. This marriage was nothing like he’d imagined. 3.5kReads8.4Score299Shelves
- 113 My Wife’s Lies 妻子的谎言 I had a happy family. From that day on, it was gone forever... 3kReads8.5Score271Shelves
- 114 Love Is Always Part of Life 人生总有爱 Li Ming came from a rural family. At university, his teacher, Zhao Qiang, introduced him to his daughter, Zhao Na, and the two married. During their fifteen years of marriage, they had a son named Li Xuan, who is now a first-year high school student. Zhao Na had a knack for business, and her company thrived. She bought the family home and car. Li Ming worked diligently as a university lecturer. Every month, he gave two thousand yuan to his parents, kept fifteen hundred for himself, and used the 230Reads5.8Score—Shelves
- 115 If We Meet Again in the Next Life, We Won't See Each Other 如果，来世我们不会再相见 You can read this as an angst story. (Quick transmigration + multiple worlds + (a few matriarchal worlds) + urban fantasy + xuanhuan.) Aren’t we… the best of friends? Just you wait… If he gets hurt even a little, you’ll pay for it with your life… What am I to you, exactly… Why… Why, exactly… 418Reads5.4Score—Shelves
- 116 The Tribes Face Catastrophe, So Why Has the Male Lead Gone Off the Rails? 万族劫难，这男主咋崩坏了 In the novel about the calamity of ten thousand races, the human race is in dire straits, but Chen Feng believes that with the protagonist around, everything will work out. Besides, he's activated the System for Better Births and Better Upbringing, and he still has to go home and have children. To avoid fighting the male lead for a woman, he has no choice but to start by pursuing her cousin. [Ding! You've successfully continued your bloodline. Reward: 100 million bottles of Supreme Essence-Nouri 5.6kReads8.1Score479Shelves
- 117 A True Account of a Dangerous Affair: Let’s Get Divorced! 危情实录，我们离婚吧！ Xie Yuxuan and Zhou Qianyi have a loving marriage and a happy life. But trouble strikes out of nowhere: Xie Yuxuan accidentally discovers that Zhou Qianyi may be cheating, plunging their once-warm home into crisis. Xie Yuxuan loves his wife deeply and decides to give their love one last chance. Yet as he tries to deal with the marital crisis, he is shocked to find that his wife’s suspected affair is surrounded by layer upon layer of mystery and dark secrets. Before long, he is drawn into a botto 2.1kReads7.2Score149Shelves
- 118 The Truth Will Not Be Silenced 真相，不会沉默 My name is Zhang San. I was born in the forest region of Northeast China. My parents gave me that name because where we live, wolves are called Zhang San. They hoped I would be braver. My father had been timid and cowardly since childhood, and spent his whole life as a pushover, so he had high hopes for me. But I was weak from a young age. When I failed the college entrance exam, my father was deeply disappointed. Later, our family suffered a crisis, and I became a live-in son-in-law. My wife is 55Reads—Score—Shelves
- 119 Rongcheng Mist Isle 蓉城雾屿 Chen Yu, a 29-year-old independent composer for cultural tourism projects, carries old wounds that have yet to heal and regrets he cannot let go. In an old apartment building in Chengdu's Wuhou District, he hopes to turn a rooftop terrace bar into a haven where he can find peace. But a sudden crackdown on illegal construction and an anonymously placed order under suspicious circumstances draw him back into the whirlpool of a first love that ended without ever beginning ten years ago. They also b 17Reads—Score—Shelves
- 120 You Chose Your White Moonlight and Let Them Toy with You. Why Are You Asking Me to Forgive You? 你选白月光他玩弄，求我原谅什么 [The ex comes crawling back] [Career] [Never looking back] They fell in love at college and were together for five years. Then, on the night they began discussing their engagement banquet, Lu Ming unexpectedly learned that Cen Yao had always carried a regret in her heart: the one who got away. Their romance five years ago had been nothing more than a “little lovers' spat” between Cen Yao and Chen Ze. But Lu Ming had treasured it like a priceless gift, willingly giving everything he had for their 170Reads5.5Score—Shelves
- 121 The Wife's Secret 娇妻隐秘 Chen An never imagined he would contract AIDS, and that it would already have progressed to the symptomatic stage. He's an honest, upright man who has never strayed, so he suspects his wife infected him... 15.4kReads8.6Score1.4kShelves
- 122 After Making a Comeback, My Ex-Wife Wants to Remarry Me 成功逆袭后，前妻找我复婚 Ding Peng and Fang Jia graduated from the same ordinary university and were among countless ordinary wage earners. They fell in love in college. Ding Peng was handsome, tall, and strong, while Fang Jia was gentle and beautiful, with a stunning figure. They built a happy family that everyone envied. Wherever they went, people admired them as a couple. Ding Peng had always been very clever. As a child, he watched martial arts movies and took up martial arts because he wanted to become a great hero 161Reads5.0Score—Shelves
- 123 Forbidden Territory of Human Nature 人性禁区 Zhao Xiaofeng was lucky enough to avoid a car accident, but when he got home, he overheard his wife, Ling Yu, plotting with another man to rob and kill him. With his life at rock bottom, Zhao Xiaofeng fought back with force and turned his fate around. He would take back everything he had lost. 21.9kReads9.1Score2.4kShelves
- 124 A Man's Journey: Starting with Fighting Back Against My Cheating Wife 男人成长录：从反击出轨娇妻开始 Boxing coach Zhou Yuming had never understood one truth in his twenty-eight years of life: no woman is domineering in front of the man she loves. He happily married his lovely wife. After they married, faced with his domineering wife, he handed over all his income and trusted her unconditionally. He thought this was love, and that it was worth it! It wasn't until he was hospitalized with a broken leg and needed to pay his hospital bill that Zhou Yuming realized his wife didn't love him at all. S 879Reads—Score111Shelves
- 125 They Urged Her to Divorce, but After She Did, She Slapped Herself in the Face 被劝离婚，真离后她狂抽自己耳光 Zhang Xiaofeng was a top student at one of China’s elite universities. As a live-in son-in-law of the Su family, he helped manage their business. He was highly capable, and the company flourished under his leadership. But the Su family looked down on him at every turn for being a live-in son-in-law, and were always making things difficult for him. “Zhang Xiaofeng, live-in sons-in-law aren’t allowed to eat at the table. Take your bowl and eat outside!” Zhang Xiaofeng could take no more and flippe 28.1kReads7.1Score1.6kShelves
- 126 Our Long River of Years 我们的岁月长河 Our Long River of Years is divided into three parts. Following the ordinary lives of three generations of Zhao Jiafu’s family, railway workers, it spans from the 1950s to the 2020s. It recounts the joys and sorrows, happiness and heartbreak, and everyday troubles experienced by the three generations of the Zhao family and the ordinary people around them over the long river of time. It depicts the turbulent lives of ordinary people as the times change and society develops. Time flows like a river 180Reads—Score—Shelves
- 127 My Wife's Secret: I Don't Want Her Repentant, Sincere Love 妻子的秘密：悔过的真情我嫌脏 After six years of marriage, he suddenly discovered that the wife he had thought perfect was hiding a deep, dark secret... Betrayal? An affair? Faced with his wife’s increasingly strange behavior, He Fan gradually fell into despair! Once every secret came to light, the betrayer would pay the price! PS: This book is rather intense. There’s no doormat hero and no reconciliation. The protagonist is ruthless and decisive! 15.5kReads7.4Score874Shelves
- 128 Marriage Partners 婚姻合伙人 I have a very beautiful wife. In the eyes of everyone around us, she’s the perfect wife, a dutiful daughter-in-law, and my ideal match. Her career is even going better than mine. By all conventional wisdom, anyone would be more than content with a wife like her, but I can’t stop thinking about divorcing her… 3kReads8.7Score244Shelves
- 129 A Man’s Bottom Line 男人的底线 Zhang Yuanhui was born in a village in Shan Province. Clever and studious from a young age, he met his first love, Zhan Ping, in high school. Later, Zhang San enrolled at an industrial university in Meng Province. To ease the burden on his parents and earn money to help support the family, Zhang Yuanhui tutored Wang Ying, a female employee at the TV University. The two eventually fell in love. One day, while he was on his way to tutor her, Zhang Yuanhui was hit by a car and seriously injured. Th 6Reads—Score—Shelves
- 130 Doctors Wield Knives, So How Dare You Cheat on Me? 医生是拿刀的，你敢出轨欺我 (Please stop reporting this. It’s already finished.) Cheng Mo is an orphan who worked hard to get through college and became a doctor at the county hospital. His wife, Lin Tong, is a county government employee. They’ve been married for seven years and have a five-year-old daughter, Cheng Bao. Lately, he’s noticed his wife keeps working overtime. He has no proof, but in the adult world, some things go without saying. He had already gathered the evidence and planned to divorce her amicably. But ju 73Reads8.4Score—Shelves
- 131 After I Became a Fake Young Master, All My Older Stepsisters Became Yandere 我成假少爷后，干姐姐全成了病娇 After Chu Xun became the fake young master, he thought the Su family would throw him out. To his surprise, the Su sisters all grew excited. Then things gradually spiraled out of control... Chu Xun: Wait, aren’t I the fake young master? Why have you all turned into yanderes? 109.7kReads7.1Score13kShelves
- 132 Sky-Piercing Slaughter 冲天杀 Murder in the Heavens 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 133 A Man's Courage 男人胆色 Han Jiang never imagined that a seemingly casual remark from his eldest daughter, “I'm not your biological child,” would come true. It also revealed layer upon layer of dark secrets buried beneath his marriage and family. His wife is a stunning beauty and the richest woman in town. She and Han Jiang have been married for sixteen years and have two sons and three daughters. As if that weren't enough, further paternity tests show that his other two daughters aren't his biological children either 12.9kReads6.4Score977Shelves
- 134 My Wife Is Liu Ruyan, and the Fishpond Is in an Uproar 妻子柳如烟，鱼塘炸翻天 (No angst, nonstop thrills! So exciting you’ll leap into the air and do a 360-degree backflip with a Thomas Flair!) Qin Fan willingly became a househusband for love, serving his wife and her family around the clock. He did it all so his wife, Liu Ruyan, could focus on building her career. But he never expected Liu Ruyan to have a “Charm System.” Unwilling to settle for an ordinary life, she started keeping a whole pond of men. Qin Fan couldn’t tolerate the betrayal and demanded an explanation, o 28Reads7.6Score114Shelves
- 135 My Wife Cheated with Her First Love, So After Being Reborn, I Let Loose 妻子出轨白月光，重生后我放飞 [Dual rebirth] [Multiple heroines] [Campus romance] [Wife chases husband] [Betrayal] On their fifth wedding anniversary, Shen Xiujie returns early from a business trip and notices his wife's strange behavior. Then he sees her betrayal with his own eyes. With tears in her eyes, Sun Tong begs Shen Xiujie to forgive her and swears she'll never contact Li Xingpeng again. She even brings up their son, Shen Sipeng, and in the end, Shen Xiujie softens and forgives her. But a broken mirror is hard to me 5Reads5.1Score—Shelves
- 136 She Is the Light I Owe 她是我欠下的一场光 “Now your tears look like the real performance of a personality disorder.” Thirty-year-old Wang Mang was shrewd and self-serving, accustomed to weighing every option. He had a fiancée in name only, yet one night at an ear-cleaning salon, he fell into the clear eyes of nineteen-year-old Jiang Qi. He thought he was in control, replacing companionship with “guidance” and masking indifference with “maturity.” He taught her to be sensible, to be independent, and to keep her composure in a cruel worl 6Reads7.0Score—Shelves
- 137 Ex-Wife, Please Behave Yourself 前妻请自重 The man who had been a live-in son-in-law for five years got divorced. Less than three months later, she regretted it... Woman, keep a safe social distance from me at all times, or you'll face the consequences... 2.5kReads7.9Score138Shelves
- 138 After Leaving with Nothing, I Inherited a Trillion-Yuan Conglomerate 净身出户后：我继承千亿集团 To force me to leave with nothing, my mother-in-law and wife actually set up this kind of scheme... For three years, you bullied and humiliated me, trampling me underfoot like a dog. But you never imagined that my true identity was... 2.2kReads8.6Score220Shelves
- 139 Never Looking Back 绝不回头 Zhang Wei was a strong, muscular man. He went to Africa to work, enduring scorching heat and war. After narrowly escaping death, he returned home, hoping to surprise his wife. Instead, he found her in bed with another man. He threw the money he had earned abroad into the room, then silently walked away. 67Reads—Score—Shelves
- 140 His Room Has No Lock 他的房间没有锁 His Room Has No Lock 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 141 Three Children Aren’t Mine: Reborn, I Demand a Divorce 三孩非亲生，重生提离婚 [This novel has been adapted into the short drama Reborn on a Trail of Ashes: No More Being a Fool, Now I’m the Winner] Their third wedding anniversary. At midnight, Xu Fan comes home with flowers and a gift. But his wife, Liu Chuyue, is all dressed up and heading out to meet the man she’s always loved! In his previous life, Xu Fan only learned on his deathbed that his three sons were Liu Chuyue and her beloved’s children, and that his whole life had been a joke. They arranged a car accident for 10.3kReads7.3Score540Shelves
- 142 That Year, Because of the Campus Belle, I Ran Off to Guangdong to Become a Handsome Lad 那年因为校花，我跑路广东当靓仔 [Jianghu]+ [Workplace]+ [Romance]+ [No System]+ [Not reborn] [Based on the author’s real experiences working in Guangdong, this is a story about migrant workers in cities like Dongguan and Shenzhen. This is not a wish-fulfillment novel, so don’t read it if that’s not your thing!] In 1997, Zhang Zaiye, Li Yaocong, Jiang Xinyue, and others met while working summer jobs in Guangdong, and formed a deep friendship. At the time, Dongguan’s economy was growing at a breakneck pace. Workers poured in fr 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 143 The Girl in the Viewfinder 快门里的姑娘 | Romance | | Urban | | Realistic | | Slice of life | I turned my longing into pages. When no one understood them, I burned them into a sky full of starlight. A loosely adapted slice of life [Realistic fiction] After a work dinner, I (Rui) blacked out on the street. At the lowest point in his life, he spent every day drinking away his sorrows. By chance, he met a lovely young woman and began to dream of settling down and building a good life together. Everything seemed to be moving in the right 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 144 A Wife's Heart Is as Deep as the Sea: Regrets 妻心似海之悔恨 [Transmigration] [Revenge] [Conspiracy] A cleaner who operated in the shadows transmigrates and takes the place of her good-for-nothing husband. What else can she do besides get revenge...? Play the kept man while taking charge, switch out the old for the new, and build up her power? Live freely, retire early, and enjoy life? “Darling, I was framed!” “Who can prove it?” “Darling, I really was framed!” “I know. I did it!” “Who are you?” “I like people to call me Mr. Chen!” I pull all the strings 5.1kReads7.7Score352Shelves
- 145 When Love Meets Reality 当爱情遇到现实 My name is Bate, and I was born in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia. I have four older sisters. My parents were determined to have a boy, so they insisted on having me. Because they had more children than the birth quota allowed, they lost their jobs. To avoid the fine, they fled to Balin Taohai Town and opened a little restaurant to make a living. In high school, I skipped classes and got into fights. My father decided I was hopeless and sent me to live with my grandaunt in Xuzhou, where I went to high sc —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 146 After I Stop Being a Simp, the Goddess Becomes My Simp 不做舔狗后，女神变成了我的舔狗 After his confession fails and his life hits rock bottom, Zhao Tianhao is reborn, returning to the day his fate took a turn. Confess? Not a chance! I have incredible skills and wealth beyond measure. Why should I be the one to make the first move? Come on, be my simp, and I might consider making you my woman. His former goddess nearly bursts into tears: “You’ve changed. You weren’t like this before!” 39Reads—Score—Shelves
- 147 Trapped in Her City 困在她的城 Complete [forced love | rekindled love | powerful man bows his head | fated love | both devoted only to each other] One city, two people trapped in it. 1. Overnight, Fengcheng was turned upside down. The once-glorious European-style Ou family went bankrupt. On the day young master Ou Chen lost everything, he stood beneath the gate of his fiancée Xi Jia’s home, eyes bloodshot, and begged her obsessively for seven whole days. The ring he had used to propose was smashed against him. The young man b 413Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 148 The River Moon Shines on the Early Years 江月照初年 Seven years of devotion and giving still couldn't compete with half a month after his first love came back... Heartbroken, Jiang Yan resolves to leave, and Su Jingyao, who is obsessed with her first love, begins to panic... Only when her first love's true, ugly nature is revealed does she wake up and realize how badly she's messed up... By the time she understands how much she loves Jiang Yan, it's too late... The man who once loved her for seven years has left her forever... [Winning Him Back] 2.4kReads8.1Score101Shelves
- 149 The Smell of Money and the Scent of Books 铜臭与书香 The Smell of Money and the Fragrance of Books 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 150 The CEO's Fatal Lover 总裁的致命情人 The CEO's Fatal Lover 3Reads—Score—Shelves
