Novels like I Once Promised You a Golden Age of Joy
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as I Once Promised You a Golden Age of Joy, best match first.
- 151 The Duke of Zhen's Divorce Decree Made Me Empress 镇国公一纸休书，我当上了皇后 I'm a pomegranate spirit. To repay a debt of gratitude, I married a great hero. He guarded the frontier, while I spent four years as a wife in name only. I never imagined he'd send me a divorce letter for the sake of his love rival. “Help me marry her, or I'll have no choice but to divorce you.” But as soon as he said those words, the green tea schemer turned on him, leaving him disgraced and ruined on his return to the capital. With the blood from my heart in my hand, I smiled as I watched him 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 152 Scumbag CEO, I Don’t Deserve Your Devotion 渣总你的深情我不配 [Physical and Emotional Torment + No Reconciliation] Jiang Li loved Fu Jinyan with all her heart. She once believed he would be her whole world, but he was the one who sent her to prison. She suffered every humiliation behind bars and was left unrecognizable. She thought getting out would mean a fresh start. But fate had never been kind to her. After her release, Fu Jinyan dragged her into another abyss, tormenting her like a plaything. In despair, she gritted her teeth and said: “Fu Jinyan, if 8.9kReads8.5Score51414d adds
- 153 I Saved Him, but No One Saved Me 渡他，无人渡我 I’ll save you, though no one will save me. 1.7kReads—Score—14d adds
- 154 Brother, the Rain Has Stopped 哥哥，雨停了 [Chi Nian × Jiang Shi] I held a bouquet of roses, wanting to give them to the brother I loved most. Sadly, I never got the chance... In 2007, I saw my brother for the first time. The young man stood by the window, looking relaxed as the bow in his hand played a beautiful melody. In 2010, the rain stopped, and my brother left. In 2012, my brother promised that the following summer he would return to Beicheng and never leave me again. In 2013, the white flower pinned to my chest kept reminding me 316Reads8.7Score10114d adds
- 155 Goodbye, Hansheng 再见，寒生 A homeless boy falls in love with a stubborn rose covered in thorns. Though he knows he’ll be left bleeding, he throws himself into saving, embracing, and protecting her. The road to fame in show business is fraught with danger, and the jungle of fame and fortune is full of peril. Fans, idols, unspoken rules... Temptations lie everywhere, and only love can see through them. He is Han Sheng, an orphan who scrapes by with Bai Xiaoqi, his half sister in all but blood. He gives her his hope for a br 987Reads9.3Score26714d adds
- 156 Captive Wild Rose 囚禁野玫瑰 Angsty romance + unhinged male lead (if you dislike this, don’t read) + no reconciliation Another warning: the male lead is obsessive and unhinged. If you dislike that, don’t read. Aloof, noble doctor Shi Yi VS gentle, well-behaved teacher Yu Huan From the moment the first rose bloomed, the Creator had been plotting this encounter, one called redemption. Shi Yi was like the moon reflected on water. Yu Huan had gazed up at him for five whole years, loving him humbly as her bright, clear white ros 2.5kReads8.7Score11414d adds
- 157 The Wolf and the Tuberose 狼与荼蘼 There's a scam in this world called Shen Muyan loving Su Qianyang. When the deception is exposed, he gradually closes in on her, baring his vicious fangs. His voice is gentle yet cruel. “A Yang, do you know a wolf's nature? Once its loyalty has been killed, all that remains is hatred!” When a wolf turns back, it's either to repay a kindness or to take revenge! Shen Muyan says he will repay Su Qianyang a hundredfold for the trap she laid for him! So he tortures her until she is utterly broken. * 416Reads8.3Score—14d adds
- 158 I Divorced My Husband to Set Him Free for His First Love, but He Refused 离婚成全丈夫和白月光，他却不干了 I divorced my husband to reunite him with his first love, but he refused to go along with it. 69Reads—Score—14d adds
- 159 The Adorable Baby Is Here: CEO Daddy, You’re Such a Handful 萌宝来袭：总裁爹地太难缠 “Woman, you spent five years in prison. Why are you still so ruthless?” Bo Ye grips her by the throat. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Tang Shi smiles, her eyes reddening. “If I weren’t ruthless, how would I have survived those five years in prison?” Only later does he realize that he owes her an apology. But she is already gone… 3Reads8.8Score10714d adds
- 160 The Art of Deception 过分伪装 [Short tragic romance + fast-paced + bad ending] On a night of torrential rain, Huo Chenyiao pinched her chin and sneered. “For six years, every single day I've thought about how to destroy you.” - He forced her to sign a mistress contract and took what he wanted from her night after night. When he discovered she was pregnant, he personally sent her to the operating table. He didn't know that the strange woman he'd spent the night with at the bar was her. Even less did he know that the ink on he 4.1kReads8.5Score27714d adds
- 161 He Knows He Was Wrong 他知道错了 [Bullying + tragic ending + coercive love + mutual devotion] That year, at the park, she found a place in Jiang Ye's heart. But in Su Yin's heart, he was a demon, a nightmare. When they first met in the classroom, Jiang Ye said to Su Yin, “I don't want anything in particular. I just think my dull, boring life might finally get a little more interesting. We have plenty of time!” He had no idea those words would mark the beginning of Su Yin's nightmare, pushing her into an endless abyss! . 1.5kReads8.1Score10314d adds
- 162 After Being Reborn, I’m Done Pretending 重生后，我不装了 At seventeen, I married Xie Wei, just as I had always wished. But I had stolen this marriage from the woman he loved most. Then, during the palace coup, I was struck down by a rain of arrows. He rushed toward me without a thought for his own safety, as if he wanted to die with me. At last, I was certain: he loved me. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 163 The Royal Family Is Truly Heartless 最是皇室无情人 For generations, the Mu family had loyally served the country. In the end, their entire clan was sentenced to execution. The official presiding over the execution was her husband, the most brilliant and extraordinary of the Great Jing Kingdom's Third Princes. Then she awoke to the truth: The man she loved was a member of the royal family, the most heartless people in the world... 621Reads7.0Score11914d adds
- 164 Daybreak Came, and I Couldn’t Find You 天亮了，我找不到你了 Day has broken, and I can't find you anymore. 169Reads—Score—14d adds
- 165 You Are All I See 目光所至都是你 After three years of marriage, Huo Mingxuan repeatedly hurt Qin Qianmo, the woman who truly loved him, for the sake of the woman he held dear in his heart. It wasn't until someone cut out her heart that he suddenly realized his own heart had gone empty too. Years after their separation, at a grand banquet hosted by the He family of the imperial capital, the woman he couldn't bear to see even in his dreams arrives beneath the starlight. Huo Mingxuan loses control on the spot and rushes to her lik 291Reads8.3Score—14d adds
- 166 The Lies of Love 爱情的谎言 Lu Wanwan had been married for two years, but still hadn’t gotten pregnant. She secretly got tested without telling her husband, only to discover that he had been swapping her vitamins for medication that caused infertility. The reason was that the man he truly loved was someone else. She was merely a stand-in, unfit to bear his child. As she agonized over confronting her husband, the true love who had disappeared for years suddenly came back. 208Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 167 Where the Swallows Return, We Must Not Meet Again 燕归处，莫相逢 Her name was Jun Mo. She had spent her life on horseback and on the battlefield, battle-hardened, bold, and arrogant. He was the person she loved most, and her only weakness. She feared he might get hurt if she so much as held him in her palm, and feared he might melt if she kept him in her mouth. But a weakness is itself a poisoned blade. At first, the pain is not fatal. In the end, the fatal wound no longer hurts. No one knew that later, amid the bitter winter snow, some people were only acti 315Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 168 Bo Yu, I Don't Dare Love You Anymore 薄欲，我不敢再爱你了 Su Qingwu had been married to Bo Yu for five years, and he had trampled her sincere love until it was shattered to pieces. She thought he really was as cold as the rumors said, even in bed, utterly devoid of emotion. But after Bai Xiaoxiao returned, Su Qingwu realized that Bo Yu hadn’t been born cold and indifferent. He knew better than anyone how to treat someone with tenderness and affection. Su Qingwu was left battered and broken, eventually losing all feeling. When she returned in full fin 945Reads7.0Score10214d adds
- 169 We Were Never Meant to Meet Again 相逢相聚本无期 There was never any promise that we would meet again. 51Reads—Score—14d adds
- 170 Love Hasn't Fallen Asleep Tonight 今夜爱未眠 Fifteen years ago, Lu Xiaozhen risked her life to save Huo Heng. Fifteen years later, she got her wish and married him, only to suffer his coldness and humiliation after their wedding. Two years later, he asked for a divorce and went to another woman. Lu Xiaozhen didn't cry or make a scene. She gave up on him and left with her head held high. Only after the truth came to light did Huo Heng try to win her back, but by then, it was too late. 115Reads8.1Score—14d adds
- 171 Spring Grief in the Western Palace: Whose Heart Has Fate’s Splendor Left Cold? 西宫春怨：命途繁锦冷了谁人心 The sorrowful women who emerged from behind the beaded curtains wept for all they longed for but could never have, all they begged for but could never reach. Their tears smudged their makeup and aged their faces. Year after year, their silk brocades faded, until they hardened like cocoons and their hearts turned to ash… The palace walls were red, richer than the last glow of sunset. Deep courtyards could never lock away the breeze from a maiden’s round fan. Women carried so much sorrow. Beneath 35Reads—Score—14d adds
- 172 Deep in Love, Yet Unaware 情深且不知 [Tragic Romance] He was the man who killed my father, and I hated him with all my heart. In the end, I discovered I had hated the wrong person. The daughter of a bandit chief happened to save a scholar, and from then on, she gave him her heart. But her wedding night became the night her family was slaughtered. Her beloved, once the person closest to her, had become her father's killer! He was an emperor, cold and indifferent. He unexpectedly fell in love with her, yet could only push her further 67Reads7.8Score514d adds
- 173 Ci Ci Like Dust 辞辞如尘 What I owe Cen Ci, I will repay with my whole life, even if I must humble myself to the dust... 98Reads8.2Score—14d adds
- 174 Mr. Mo, Your Wife Says You're Crazy 墨总，夫人说你是疯子 After three years in prison, Lin Xiaohan finally sees daylight again. On her wedding night, she is humiliated in every way and vows to become the CEO's wife. Mo Zhan despises the Lin family, yet loves Lin Xiaohan desperately. “If loving you can't make you stay, then I'll make you hate me. Hate is better than leaving!” “You're insane!” “That's right. Loving you drove me completely mad.” They torment each other even as they fall in love, locked in a bitter romance for years. Will this ill-fated re 280Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 175 After I Got Out of Prison, My Mad Brother Begged Me to Come Back 出狱后，疯批哥哥跪求我回头 Gu Ran, the eldest daughter of the Gu family, is set up and spends one wild night with Gu Mochen, the man who is her brother in name only. Then he personally sends her to prison. She is sentenced to life, but the sentence changes when the woman he loves desperately needs a blood transfusion. “Trade your blood for your freedom. How about it?” So she agrees to donate blood in exchange for a reduced sentence. Three years behind bars bring the loss of her child, along with the wanton trampling of he 1.3kReads6.5Score10014d adds
- 176 After My Son Was Bullied, I Chose to Do This 儿子被霸凌后，我选择这么做 After my son was bullied, I chose to do this 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 177 My Girlfriend Is Intersex 我的女友是雌雄同体 My Girlfriend Is Intersex —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 178 Red Roses in December 十二月的红玫瑰 (Dual male leads, angsty 1v1 romance, both devoted only to each other, bad ending, power couple, mutual salvation, pure love with plenty of heartbreak.) My dear Mr. Mo: I’m sorry. In the end, I failed to keep my promise to you and became a coward who fled this world. If you can forgive my selfishness and weakness, then when spring returns next year, please leave a bouquet of red roses at my grave. Choose the most beautiful one in the flower shop. I think I’ll be able to smell its fragrance. [Nei 70Reads8.6Score1214d adds
- 179 Say Your Name Again 再念一遍你的名字 Midsummer, cicadas singing, and we met. “Xu Xiaomo, if you're cold, you should've brought a scarf.” Lu Jinan patted her head and wrapped his scarf around her. “Silly.” “Xu Xiaomo, come ask me if you don't understand something.” “Xu Xiaomo, if everyone else gets one, I'll buy you two.” “Xu Xiaomo, you're wonderful.” “Xu Xiaomo, Xu Xiaomo...” Later on, lots of people liked to call Xu Mo “Xu Xiaomo.” But she could never again hear the boy she loved most calling her that. Lu Jinan, the wind is r 105Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 180 The Sect’s Beloved Little Junior Sister: The Max-Level Expert Comes Down the Mountain 宗门团宠小师妹：满级大佬下山了 The Sect's Beloved Little Junior Sister: A Max-Level Expert Comes Down from the Mountain 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 181 After My Fiancé Lost His Memory, I Stopped Loving Him 未婚夫失忆后，我不爱他了 After My Fiancé Lost His Memory, I Stopped Loving Him 63Reads—Score—14d adds
- 182 At Last, I Admit Defeat 终于愿赌服输 “Why couldn't you be the one who got sick?” “Why couldn't you be the one who died?” With drunken eyes, the man bends down and whispers the most heartless words in the gentlest voice. But he doesn't know that she really is going to die. 13.1kReads8.2Score86314d adds
- 183 My Wife Brought Home a Male Dog and Won’t Let Me Get Rid of It. Then I Discovered Her Secret 老婆捡回家一只公狗不让我送走，我发现了她的秘密 My wife brought home a male dog and wouldn’t let me get rid of it. Then I discovered her secret. 27Reads—Score514d adds
- 184 My Own Little Sister Tricked Me into Losing Everything 被亲妹妹骗得倾家荡产 His younger sister tricked him out of every last penny. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 185 On Our Wedding Day, I Gave My Wife a Grand Surprise 婚礼当天，我送老婆一份大礼 On our wedding day, I gave my wife a very special gift. 40Reads—Score314d adds
- 186 Kiss the Breeze 吻清风 The boy standing against the light: Tang Qingxu. I used to write about you. Now, at last, I can write about us. My greatest delusion in this life was that I could try to hold back the wind. *Content warning: This is a tragic ending. The male lead moves on and gets married; the female lead dies the day he lets go. If you can’t handle that ending, feel free to skip this one. 101Reads8.9Score—14d adds
- 187 Fishermen’s Lights on the River, Keeping Me Awake with Sorrow 江枫渔火对愁眠 She waited for him all her life, but he would never come back. 822Reads8.6Score15914d adds
- 188 After Prison, I Got Heart Disease and Had Two Kids in Tow 出狱后，我得心脏病还揣着两个娃 Original title: On Our Wedding Night, General Lu Cried Over His Wife's Grave After Torturing Her to Death The humiliation of their three-year marriage wasn't enough. Now her beloved husband was going to send her to prison with his own hands. After getting out, Lin Miao was diagnosed with “end-stage heart disease.” Her heart throbbed with pain again and again. All she wanted was to live out the rest of her days in peace, but Lu Beixiao never stopped tormenting her. When the truth came to light, 712Reads8.1Score10014d adds
- 189 After My Husband Cheated, I Chose to Divorce Him 丈夫出轨后，我选择离婚 After My Husband Cheated, I Chose Divorce 44Reads—Score—14d adds
- 190 Young Master Bo’s Second Wife, Bound by Guilt 薄少的二婚罪妻 After a setup, he believed she was a murderer and sent her to a year in hell: her fingers were severed, she lost her baby, and she suffered every kind of torment. She pleaded desperately, “Mr. Bo, please let me go. The Lu family and I have nothing left.” He gave a cold, scornful laugh. “Let you go? You wish.” Only after her family was destroyed and she leapt into the sea, leaving no body behind, did he sit for three nights in the pouring rain, clutching her ashes. Only then did he realize he lov 1.1kReads7.7Score10314d adds
- 191 The Diary of the Man Who Belongs to Him 属于他的先生日记 (This is a story about the secondary couple. The main couple’s story, Pretending to Be a Couple, Becoming True Love, has a bonus ending where everyone gets a happy ending.) Mo Lie x Bai Ren [Two male leads + unrequited love + tragic ending + angst] Mo Jia x Mu Qingzhou To Mo Jia, falling for someone was a wonderful thing. But... The person he loved was a man. A man he was not allowed to love. If unrequited love was bitter, then for Mo Jia, it was something very, very sweet. What was the meaning 241Reads8.0Score10014d adds
- 192 He Loves Me, Yet He Married Her 他爱我，却娶了她 He Loves Me, Yet He Married Her 18Reads—Score—14d adds
- 193 After His Wife Dies in a Fire With Their Child in Her Arms, Mr. Lu Goes Mad 夫人抱崽葬身火海后，陆总他疯了 [Angsty romance] + [win-her-back-at-all-costs] + [never forgive] + [no getting back together] + [obsessive] + [second male lead wins] Lu Hengnian hates Fu Xingran so much that he forces her to donate skin without anesthesia, slaps her, pushes her in front of a knife, and makes her give birth prematurely… When he has to choose between two lives at death’s door, he doesn’t hesitate to save his first love, abandoning her and their child to die. At last, he drives her to the brink. Yet through the v 1.1kReads8.5Score10114d adds
- 194 Young Master Ye, Stop Tormenting Me. Your Wife Is Already Gone 夜少别虐了，夫人已尸骨无存 [Elite Family Tragedy | Obsessive Love | CEO’s Regretful Pursuit | Faked Death and Rebirth]“Su Yan, a wicked woman like you might as well be dead.” Su Yan had loved Ye Xiaohan for twelve years, but Ye Xiaohan despised her in every way. Su Yan thought that one day, Ye Xiaohan would realize how good she was, but he continued to hurt her without restraint. After suffering endless humiliation and abuse, and even having the child they shared taken away from her... Su Yan finally understood that Ye Xi 1.6kReads8.3Score15814d adds
- 195 After the Foolish Substitute Wife Faked Her Death 当替身傻妻假死以后 (Completed. A deeply angsty novel with a devoted heroine and a scumbag hero who gets what he deserves.) Huo Chenzhou's first love ran away with another man, so when he couldn't marry her, he married her older sister instead. Forced to be Meng Jiao's substitute, Meng Sheng spent two years loving Huo Chenzhou with all her might. In return, he gave her nothing but endless neglect. She lost her child, then her kidney... and was locked up in an asylum, where her hand was severed, leaving her a la 1.9kReads8.5Score10314d adds
- 196 On the Seventh Day After My Death, He Dug Up My Grave 死后第七天，他刨开了我的坟 On the seventh day after my death, he dug up my grave. 70Reads—Score—14d adds
- 197 Three Years as a Live-In Son-in-Law, Today I Lay Down My Armor and Return to the Sect 三年赘婿，今日卸甲归宗 Three Years as a Live-In Son-in-Law, Today I Lay Down My Armor and Return to the Sect 11Reads—Score—14d adds
- 198 Go Find Your White Moonlight. I Don't Want You Anymore 去找你的白月光吧，我不要你了 Go Find Your Moonlight, I Don't Want You Anymore 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 199 After I Died, My Forensic Pathologist Husband Dissected Me with His Own Hands 我死后，法医丈夫亲手解剖了我 After I died, my forensic pathologist husband dissected me with his own hands 522Reads—Score714d adds
- 200 Surrender 臣服 Shen Nian was brought back to the Shen family at the age of eight to reunite with her relatives. There, she met the older man who had saved her life, Third Master Fu. More than ten years later, Third Master Fu married someone, but the bride was burned at the wedding and left in a vegetative state. Shen Nian was framed for arson, and her biological mother forced her to take the blame in her younger sister’s place. After six years in prison, Shen Nian had been utterly changed by the torment. To ge 711Reads7.7Score10014d adds
