Novels like Setting the Trap
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Setting the Trap, best match first.
- 1 My Years as a Male Nanny 我做男保姆的那些年 [No harem, no cuckoldry, no invincibility. Urban slice of life + mystery. To be clear, this has mystery elements. Don’t read if that’s not your thing.] I only went to interview for a male nanny job, but after meeting the female employer, I was dragged into a room with eight doors, where I encountered all kinds of bizarre things. An ex-convict, a male model, a nun, a lawyer, a beautiful streamer, a UN expert, a rich second-generation heir, and a butcher: what will happen when all eight are trappe 35Reads—Score614d adds
- 2 Ten Years After the Wicked Minister Died, He Came Back to Life 恶臣死后十年，他活了 The emperor was dead, the crown prince was weak, and sycophants held the court in their grasp. Traitors ruled the land. Loyal officials dared not speak, and the court bowed as one. Those who refused to kneel had their bones broken. Those who dared to speak had their tongues torn out. Men of principle died beneath the executioner’s blade, while vile opportunists became honored guests in the halls of power. A spark smoldered in the mountains, barely clinging to life. A hidden dragon lay coiled in 236Reads8.9Score10814d adds
- 3 A Life of Gambling 赌涯人生 I'm a card cheat! Behind the seemingly glamorous card tables lies a world of knives and swords, where every step could be deadly. I thought I'd learned how to rig the game and deceive others, but I never realized that perhaps I was just a pawn on someone else's board. 343Reads9.0Score13014d adds
- 4 The Thousand Gates Saga Continues: After Chu Liu 千门未了：初六之后 Important Announcement: Now that Teacher Ma Xiaohu has resumed updating, I won't presume to teach my grandmother to suck eggs. I only regretted the hiatus and wanted to chat with fellow Qian fans. Starting today, I will stop updating permanently. Anyone who wants to discuss the continuation of my story or the plot of Old Qian is welcome to join the group. Next month, I will take this book down. The unpublished content will stay buried in my gut. I'll write a new book called Midnight, with an up 8.7kReads8.2Score63814d adds
- 5 The Thousand Gates 千门 There's an old saying: nine out of ten gamblers get cheated. Wrong. All ten get cheated. My name is Chen Jiu. I'm a card sharp, and I'll use my own story to show everyone that not gambling is the real win. 2.6kReads8.4Score17714d adds
- 6 A Book Above the Clouds 云上的一本书 1.8kReads9.0Score16114d adds
- 7 The Dead: Samsara Sacrifice Game 死者：轮回祭杀游戏 [Twists and Deception + Squid Game + Class Division] (Short title: Dead Man's Game. A first full-length novel packed with thrilling battles of wits. Watch the protagonist turn the tables.) “How can there be fairness in the six paths of reincarnation? Ordinary people are nothing but playthings of the Grim Reaper. The end of life is set from birth, and death is already decided.” 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 8 My Life in the Underworld of Cardsharps: Unstoppable 我的老千江湖之所向披靡 A showdown between professional cardsharps isn't just about winning or losing. It can mean the difference between life and death. My name is Lin Lingdong. I'm a professional cardsharp and a powerful gang boss who commands respect throughout the underworld. As the saying goes, one thought can lead to heaven, another to hell. The underworld is a place where the strong prey on the weak, and in the world of cardsharps, you can get rich overnight or lose everything just as fast. Where do we go from h 3.9kReads8.2Score18614d adds
- 9 My Life in the World of High-Stakes Gambling 我的老千江湖 [Based on a lifetime of gambling experience, revealing the secrets behind a hundred cheating techniques] I grew up in casinos. In the noisy halls, the lure of money blinded people to everything else: cheating, feuds, traps... They sank deeper and deeper into gambling, losing everything they owned, destroying their families, and plunging toward the abyss! After years of rising and falling, I became a professional cheat-catcher, feared throughout the gambling world! In this seemingly glamorous wor 2.3kReads8.8Score19714d adds
- 10 The Game Within the Business World 商海局中局 I thought I was riding high, only to discover I was a pawn in someone else’s hands. In the great game of life, only the truly skilled can maneuver in every direction, adapt to circumstances, and emerge as the final victor. Follow Gao Yuan as he rises from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of success. 1.4kReads9.2Score19314d adds
- 11 My Casino's Golden Eyes Can See the End of All Life 我的赌场金瞳，能见众生末路 I’m Zhao Fan. I make my living in casinos, with a pair of eyes that can see through fate. But who knew this wasn’t some divine power? It was nothing but a shackle, one that bore the weight of human hearts and human nature. After spending enough time around gambling, I came to understand: Nine out of ten games are rigged, and every gambler loses in the end. Stay away from gambling. The moment you sit at the table, you’re taking the first step toward ruin. You’re after money, but everyone else is 15.5kReads8.4Score98714d adds
- 12 I Roam Jianghu with Fortune-Telling, Seeing Through Hearts and Breaking Deadlocks 我靠算命闯江湖，看透人心破死局 [Period Mystery + Jianghu Secrets and Arts + Wits and Schemes + A Battle of Human Nature + Underdog's Rise + No System] In 2002, I was twenty years old, yet everyone within ten li addressed me respectfully as "Mr. Chen." When the village Party secretary married off his son, he came to me to pick an auspicious date. When a pig farmer lost a pig, he came to ask me where to look. Then one day, the town mayor's wife knelt outside my house, begging me to divine the whereabouts of her missing daughter 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 13 The Cheat's Underworld 老千蓝道 Trained in the Southern School, with knowledge of both Chinese and Western methods. This is my true account of years spent as a professional swindler! Using all kinds of cheating techniques, I’ve fought my way through casinos large and small across the land. Burning with ambition, I clawed my way upward, enduring the hardships of the underworld and a life of wandering with no way back! Schemes within schemes, tricks within tricks, and all kinds of dark and shady memories: I’ll expose every techn 1.6kReads7.1Score10714d adds
- 14 Autumn Wind Tower 秋风楼 An ordinary man entered the world of cultivation only in his twilight years. He toyed with the martial world through strategy and rode into the imperial court through sheer cunning. He spent fifty years laying his plans, waiting for the day autumn arrived. Autumn came, the play began, and all the people of the world became its audience. 397Reads8.8Score—14d adds
- 15 A Thousand Paths 千人有道 [Modern underworld] [Stories of crooked gambling] [Gambling scams] [Anti-gambling] When I was six, my grandaunt said I was doomed to a life of loneliness. She sold me. She sold me to an old man who had lost one hand. An old man who made his living as a swindler. From then on, I learned how to cheat at gambling from him. The old man became my master, but he told me to call him Fourth Master. I became a professional swindler, too. But on the day I graduated from my apprenticeship, Fourth Master di 12.9kReads8.8Score1.2k14d adds
- 16 Perfect Revenge: Please Follow My Script and Die 完美复仇：请按我的剧本赴死 What you see is coincidence. What I write down is inevitable. They think they won because they believe they’re clever, not knowing it was a plot I had written long ago. Every betrayal, every moment of triumph, was a script I handed them. Fang Wen has returned from the shadows for one reason: to invite his enemies onto the stage, one by one, and watch them laugh, watch them gloat, then watch them step toward the ending he has arranged. You think you’re in control? No, you’re just an actor. And th 13.9kReads8.3Score1.1k14d adds
- 17 At the Poker Table: The Dirtiest Underworld Around You 牌桌：你身边最肮脏的江湖 [The World of the Cardsharps] The card table is the easiest place in the world to get something for nothing, bar none. That is precisely why it is filled with greed, madness, and debauchery. Beneath the table lie filthy conspiracies, deceit, schemes, cruelty, and every unscrupulous trick imaginable. As the owner of a mahjong parlor for many years, I solemnly warn you: become hooked on the card table, and you’ve plunged into the devil’s abyss... 607Reads9.4Score11014d adds
- 18 One Brain to Scheme for the World from the Start 开局一个脑子谋划天下 [I’m terrible at coming up with titles (இдஇ; )] [Studying the Thirty-Six Stratagems as I write] [Schemes] Wang was sentenced to five years in prison for phone scams. He was caught after escaping prison and committing murder and robbery. But after being executed, he transmigrated. Even during his transmigration, he was struck by five bolts of thunder. After transmigrating, the protagonist reflects on his mistakes, repents, and vows to become a good person. As he stabs the person beside him, he sa 124Reads—Score—14d adds
- 19 The Swindler: Through Fire and Water for You, Uncle! 老千：赴汤蹈火啊，二叔！ If you learn the art of cheating, you’ll see me as a mayfly sees the heavens. My name is Feng Shiqi, a veteran swindler who came out of the mountains. PS: The best quit-gambling novel on the whole internet, and the most wholesome swindler story online. ⚠️ Don’t open it at night, or you won’t be able to sleep. 18.5kReads8.4Score1.6k14d adds
- 20 King of Gambling 赌王 Macau, a city where gambling is legal. You think gambling is all about luck? Actually, it isn't. Skill, probability, cheating… Often, a game is already decided before it even begins. And that means one thing: you lose! Anyone who comes here and gets hooked on gambling will never get back on their feet! Gambling isn't a game for ordinary people to dabble in. In the hands of those with an agenda, it's a blade that kills without drawing blood! 11.9kReads8.8Score1.1k14d adds
- 21 Making Money on the Side! 捞偏门！ [After graduating from college, I went from a shady fortune-teller to a political fixer] This book pulls back the curtain on political fixers, giving you an in-depth look at the scams hidden from view in both the underworld and the corridors of power. “Do you think officials are all fools? They know I’m a con artist. They just happen to need a con artist like me to do things for them.” 9.9kReads8.9Score1.5k14d adds
- 22 The 27-Year-Old Beauty Boss Won’t Leave Me Alone 27岁美女老板赖上我 Wherever there are people, there are rivalries. On my first day at work, I ran into my beautiful 27-year-old boss, Tang Ruoran. We had only just met when she accused me of being the father of her daughter. Heaven knows, it was my first time meeting her! I asked for a paternity test, but the results showed that I really was her daughter's biological father. Watch as I turn the tables, uncover layer upon layer of mystery, and finally discover just how greedy human nature can be... 2.1kReads8.5Score10514d adds
- 23 Taking Power While Pregnant, So Step Aside, You Crazy Little Uncle 带球掌权，疯批小表叔靠边站 [A Powerful Alliance + Unhinged Cousins + Hatred and Political Scheming + Workplace Power Struggles + Corruption + Power Struggles in a Wealthy Family + Marriage for Mutual Benefit] Pregnant with twins, Wen Canlan takes over the Jing Group in a crisis. Just as she finds her footing, she falls into a series of deadly traps laid by her unhinged younger cousin, Bo Jinlin. A trap involving hundreds of millions in funds, a stolen bid, sabotage at a construction site, and a deadly car crash come one 82Reads7.0Score—14d adds
- 24 The Hidden Wife 隐妻 [The comic adaptation is now available! Tap “Adaptation Theater” in the lower-right corner of any page of this book to watch instantly. The original novel and short drama each have their own appeal. Share it with your friends!] No rebirth, no transmigration, and no System golden finger, just the true golden years of an entire generation! Having fled an arranged marriage, he joins the tide of migrant workers heading south. In a southern metropolis brimming with both opportunity and challenges, he 805Reads6.2Score10414d adds
- 25 I Became a Tutor and Got Caught Up in an Imperfect Revenge 我做家教，卷入了不完美复仇 [Realism] [High-IQ Crime] [Ultimate Battle of Wits] [No Female Lead] [For Logic Lovers] Li Hongjian, a top-tier star influencer with tens of millions of followers, is enjoying a relaxing seaside vacation when an uninvited guest interrupts him: Che Xinggang, the police officer who investigated that serial murder case years ago. Did it all begin with that accidental fall from a building? No. It began even earlier, with an invitation to tutor someone for half a million yuan. A poor-born top stud 104Reads—Score—14d adds
- 26 The Cardsharp: Back to the Underworld 老千：重返江湖 11.5kReads9.0Score96614d adds
- 27 The Gambling Den 赌城 My new book, I’m a Proper Chinese Medicine Doctor, So Why Am I Being Treated Like a Gynecologist?, is out. As the saying goes, nine out of ten gamblers lose. But as someone who lost everything and worked as a junket agent, I can tell you for sure: every single gambler loses! Even if you can avoid a cheat’s tricks, you can’t escape the odds of the casino. Gambling is a game ordinary people should never touch. It’s a blade that kills without drawing blood! 5.7kReads9.1Score47914d adds
- 28 Stealing Faces 偷脸 One day, a stranger added me on QQ and told me my girlfriend was a man. I called him an idiot. Then my girlfriend died, and when she died, she really did become a man. Her head had been cut off and sewn onto the neck of a male corpse... 225Reads8.9Score—14d adds
- 29 The Winners' Club 赢家俱乐部 He can predict the outcome of a match with near-perfect accuracy. But if the stake is your conscience, would you still place a bet? A born cardsharp, the likes of whom appear only once in a thousand years, spends the rest of his life trying to atone for the crimes he committed before becoming a crime boss. Does that make him a good person? A group of nobodies, caught up in gambling and the underworld, find the good and evil in human nature magnified. How should they choose, how should they liv 121Reads—Score—14d adds
- 30 The Crooked Path 走偏门 [Adapted into the short dramas Fishing in the Shadows, Taking the Crooked Path, and The Mastermind; and the animated dramas Fishing in the Shadows: Drifting North, A Crooked Road to Comeback, A Thousand Faces in the Underworld, and Tales of a Shady Deal. Check them out if you’re interested.] What is the crooked path? Those who walk it seek a way to survive for themselves and plot certain doom for others. Once you step onto this path, it stretches as deep as the sea. You’ll roam far and wide, mix 23.7kReads9.1Score3.7k14d adds
- 31 After Sending My Husband to a Psychiatric Hospital 把丈夫送进精神病院后 When I received my husband Zhou Huai’s psychiatric diagnosis, I sobbed so hard my whole body shook. Only I knew those were tears of excitement. After all, I was the one who had slipped drugs into his coffee every day for the past six months. He had it coming. His diary was filled with plans to use psychological manipulation to drive me to suicide and inherit the billions my parents left behind. I had him committed to the most heavily guarded psychiatric hospital in the city, thinking I’d won. U 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 32 A Book by Black Shackles 黑色枷锁的一本书 My new work is out! You can read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you enjoy it. Your support is what motivates me to write, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well! 3.1kReads9.1Score24314d adds
- 33 The Chinese Bodyguard 国产保镖 54Reads6.3Score87714d adds
- 34 A Master Plan 深度布局 A High-IQ Revenge With a single move, the “Soul-Severing Meridian Needle,” he can kill without a trace. On a crowded bus, he makes his target die silently, without anyone noticing. Police captain Zhao Gang sees everything clearly on the surveillance footage, yet is powerless to act. This is the third unsolved case, and every clue points to his own older brother, missing for twenty years... When the person closest to him becomes the prime suspect, how will he choose between the law and blood ties 887Reads6.4Score10014d adds
- 35 It's Only Fifty 不过是五十而已 An inspirational, unyielding story of midlife crisis, workplace struggles, bank managers and tellers, married life, and everyday urban life. This book tells the story of Huang Wenxue, a bank manager facing a midlife crisis. She is at that awkward age when she is considered too old to find a new job, yet still too young to retire. How will she answer the unavoidable questions surrounding her career, marriage, family, children, and caring for her aging parents? Even in middle age, even when confro 432Reads8.9Score—14d adds
- 36 Men’s Forbidden Zone 男人禁区 A wisp of fragrance brushed gently across Zhang Yijin's face. “Ah, where am I?” A beautiful young woman lay in Zhang Yijin's arms, smiling at him. “Brother Jin, we're in a hotel room.” “What? No way. How did we end up together?” Looking at his ex-wife's best friend, Zhang Yijin was completely bewildered. “You got drunk, so I brought you to the hotel!” As she spoke, the beauty leaned close to Zhang Yijin's ear and whispered softly. Suddenly, Zhang Yijin remembered his situation: he had cancer, hi 16Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 37 The Profiteer 奸商 [Read the first 10 chapters patiently, and you'll see: in studying, daily life, work, and love, there are tricks everywhere!] There are no honest businessmen. Nine out of ten merchants will cheat you. But nine out of ten salespeople will become bosses. I'm a salesperson, and I became a boss too. I'll use my own experience to show you the tricks these unscrupulous merchants use… This book aims to teach you how to avoid scams. Imitate anything in it at your own risk. 10.7kReads9.1Score1.6k14d adds
- 38 Being Reborn Is Fine, But Why Am I Facing the Execution of My Entire Family from the Start? 重生没问题，开局就来满门抄斩？ With his entire household facing execution from the start, he saves himself with a prophecy: "The tiger tally will be stolen tonight." From then on, he wields brush and ink as a blade and plays with memories as his pieces. But every time he wins, he loses a memory. The closer he gets to victory, the closer he comes to becoming a "blank slate." When he finishes rewriting history, will the history books record his own ending? 357Reads—Score—14d adds
- 39 A False Marriage 假嫁 Lang Xi, a businesswoman bent on revenge, is willing to put herself in harm’s way and marry her enemy’s son, Liu Ze. But Liu Ze cheats on her repeatedly during their marriage. Hounded by her mother-in-law and locked in a bitter struggle with his mistress, Lang Xi joins forces with her biological father, Liu Huazi, to avenge her mother and reclaim her grandfather’s estate. Lang Xi’s monologue: After I married into this family, my mother-in-law hit me, my husband hit me, and even his mistress hit 142Reads—Score1014d adds
- 40 The First Book by Jianghu Laoliu 江湖老六的第1本书 Stay away from gambling, or you’ll ruin your family. This book exposes all kinds of cheating tricks at the gambling table and reveals one rigged scam after another. Nine out of ten gamblers lose. The underworld isn’t just about fighting and killing; it’s about human relationships and social savvy! 2.6kReads9.1Score26814d adds
- 41 Aunt Mei 媚姨 Male Lead: Ding Yuan Female Lead: Liu Meiyi No one is reborn, and there is no System. This is an era of struggle belonging to the older generation! That year, Ding Yuan earned top marks in the imperial examinations, only to have his life stolen from him when his stepmother conspired with her family to switch his results. His father, unaware of the truth, set out on a rainy night to sell goods in the mountains and raise money for Ding Yuan to retake the exams. But the tractor overturned in a ravi 5.6kReads8.8Score47914d adds
- 42 Cangyuan Demon Emperor: Reborn to Avenge Every Blood Debt! 苍渊魔帝：重生归来，血债血偿！ Revenge + Strategy + Invincibility + Myriad Worlds + Ensemble Cast The invincible Demon Emperor Cangyuan ruled the Myriad Worlds, yet he was betrayed by his beloved and his sect, nearly suffering the annihilation of his soul and eternal ruin. With only a remnant of his soul, he was reborn in the lower realm, in Xuanxin Heaven, on the Xuanxin Continent, in the Great Qian Dynasty, in Thundercliff City. Reborn and revived, he returns in a trail of blood! He swears to ascend to the upper realm and m 915Reads—Score10114d adds
- 43 Family Business Wars 家族商战 Love and hate collide in the business battles of a family enterprise, amid corporate warfare, marriage, family, and human selfishness, all against the backdrop of the China-US trade war. The son-in-law of a wealthy family, a cad, asks for a divorce, sparking a business battle between companies from China and abroad. The conflict begins with three women battling the scoundrel, then unfolds through schemes within schemes. It's like a modern-day palace intrigue mixed with the Three Kingdoms... 182Reads9.3Score—14d adds
- 44 The Heyin Coup: Empress Dowager Ling's Sixteen-Year Thirst for Power 河阴之变一灵太后的十六年权欲 Hu of the Northern Wei, the Empress Dowager Ling, was born into the Hu clan of Anding. Because her aunt was a Buddhist nun, she was able to enter the palace as a child. At the time, the Northern Wei's harsh old rule dictated that a mother must die when her son became crown prince. She insisted on giving birth to Yuan Xu anyway, and won that gamble with death. On the night Emperor Xuanwu died suddenly, she evaded an assassination attempt by the Gao clan with the protection of Yu Zhong and Cui Gua 19Reads—Score—14d adds
- 45 Fox Ji Mi's Fifth Book 狐姬幂的第5本书 My new work is out! You can find it on Tomato Novel. I hope you enjoy it. Your support is what drives me to write, and I'll do my best to tell every story well! 36Reads—Score—14d adds
- 46 How Many Autumns Have Passed Over These Rivers and Mountains 山河几度秋 In the first half of Zhao Lanxi's life, three men mattered most to her. One was her master, who had raised her; another was Yan Mo, the Vice Minister of Justice, who had recognized her talent; and the third was her full-blooded older brother, Zhao Jin, Duke of Zhenguo. Later, her master died, and Yan Mo died too. Zhao Jin, however, did not die. Not only was he alive, he also brought her a fourth man. One more thing: why does the heroine of a historical romance have to be a girl of fourteen or fi 53Reads6.0Score—14d adds
- 47 The Blade's Shadow in Love and War: A Choice Between Power and Loyalty 风月刀影：权谋与情义的抉择 When a great fire devours the red gates of the Jun family estate, the young man who emerges through the smoke is no longer the dashing, carefree playboy who once spent his days cockfighting and chasing dogs. His eyes hold fire and blood, and in his hand he clutches half of a broken jade pendant, the last keepsake his father gave him before the family fell. Fate sweeps him like a tide into one abyss after another. From a life of luxury to utter poverty, from the son of the powerful to an outcast 73Reads—Score—14d adds
- 48 The Texas Underworld 德州江湖 A tale of hooligans in Dezhou, Shandong, China? No. A tale of gangsters in Texas, USA? No. Texas hold 'em? Getting warmer. There are no miraculous gambling skills, no tense showdowns at the poker table, and no underdog comeback story. All there is is a poker table and the assortment of people around it: cops, businessmen, spies, brothers, high-ranking officials, lovers, and lowlifes. The worlds of money, power, loyalty, and love are all deadly. They aren't gambling on cards. They're gambling on 343Reads—Score—14d adds
- 49 Drawing the Sword in Officialdom 官场亮剑 Mu Dongfeng had just reached the bottom of the office building when he heard a loud bang. The man who fell was his superior, Zhou Qingyang. Mu Dongfeng was the only one standing below. Two hours later, he was removed from his post and placed under investigation. He had never taken anything. But the entire network was convinced he had. By the time he fought his way out of that room, everyone had already set their sights on Pingnan. There really was a USB drive in the bird's nest under the eaves o 31.7kReads8.5Score2k14d adds
- 50 Foolish Mother 傻娘 My father was dead, my mother had gone mad. The day I came home, I saw someone destroying it... 43.1kReads9.0Score1.3k14d adds
