Novels like Nine-Tenths Foolish
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Nine-Tenths Foolish, best match first.
- 51 The Sizzling Days of 1970 七零滚烫日子 Yang Tao was born in a small mountain village to a family so poor they had nothing. She had two older brothers waiting to trade her for bride price, and her parents were already preparing to find her a match: a lame widower in the village behind the mountain, a good-for-nothing from the neighboring village... She didn't want to spend the rest of her life trapped in poverty. Then, suddenly, a young man came into view. The county of Lijiang was building a bridge across the river, and Song Yan, a p 4.6kReads8.8Score56714d adds
- 52 Scholar or Tyrant: Who Can Have a Good Life? 学霸和枭雄，什么人能过上好日？ (Dual male leads. Period story. Urban.) One is a poor scholar, the other a big shot in the underworld. They struggle for fifty years. What does it take to live a good life? And what is a good life? 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 53 Between Neighbors 邻里之间 Distant relatives are not as dependable as close neighbors, and close neighbors are no match for the folks across the street. But life is full of contradictions: without conflict, there is no struggle, and without struggle, there is no progress. Neighbors don’t always get along, either. As the saying goes, a neighbor is like a set of scales: they hope the other neighbor stays poor. 345Reads6.5Score—14d adds
- 54 Love Between Two Generations: An Inescapable Bond 两代情之逃不出的羁绊 A bloody maelstrom was set in motion by a marriage swap in the late 1980s. One bride died, and the other fled. The humiliation Hua'er endured on her wedding night is enough to make anyone blush with shame, while the hardships Zijun faced as she fled her marriage are deeply moving. Though the story is named for two generations, it is really about three generations and the sweeping changes in their views on love, marriage, and life. It also shows China's tremendous economic boom and the profound s 5.4kReads9.0Score74014d adds
- 55 Water Willow 水性杨花儿 (The rating was just added and will rise. It's already going up!) Neighbor Guo Hongmei ran off with another man? What? That man is Yang Hua'er's husband, Zhao Dashan? Talk about gossip coming right back to bite you. They say nine out of ten people born in the Year of the Sheep are fated to have a hard life, but Yang Hua'er doesn't believe in fate. Even without a man, she can still make a warm and happy life for herself. 10.1kReads8.2Score65814d adds
- 56 Spring Dawn in a Small Village 小村春晓 Li Village is backward in its thinking, with deeply entrenched male chauvinism and a strong preference for sons over daughters. Women have low status, and village rules forbid them from taking husbands into their families. As a result, families without sons are effectively left without descendants and must also endure many forms of unfair treatment. Li Guoqing used to work at an arts and crafts factory in the city. Later, he returned to the village and became its head. With the help of his wife, 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 57 Transmigrate into 72: I Won't Be the Doormat Male Supporting Character 穿越72：不当怨种男配 [Period novel transmigration] + [schemes and plotting] + [everyone is sharp] + [revenge served on the spot] + [the special space isn’t for farming, it’s for killing enemies] Revenge isn’t limited to killing your enemies. Ruin their reputations and make them infamous; make them wish they were dead. Do-gooders and the morally squeamish, enter at your own risk! The protagonist occasionally goes off the rails. There are no absolute heroes or villains; good and evil often depend on where you stand, a 6.4kReads8.3Score45314d adds
- 58 Transmigrating to the 1980s: Keeping the Peace at Nursing School 穿越八零：我在卫校守平安 [Transmigration]+ [Period]+ [System]+ [Daily Life]+ [Slow Pace] After an accident, Wang Chuan transmigrated to 1980 and became a glorious defender of the country, starting out with a disability. Fortunately, the System may have arrived late, but it did arrive. Let's see how he makes his way through this beautiful and magnificent golden age! Everything in this book is fictional. Any similarities are purely coincidental, so please don't assume it refers to anyone in particular! 2.2kReads8.3Score15014d adds
- 59 Childhood in the Old Days 旧时光里的童年 The author recalls a rural childhood in Wuchang County, Heilongjiang Province, during the 1970s and 1980s. The book describes rural life and the changes brought about by the household responsibility system in the early days of reform and opening up, along with the joys and hardships of the author’s childhood before the age of ten, major family upheavals, and the warmth and coldness of human nature. 39Reads—Score314d adds
- 60 Fifty Years of Bride Price: In 1974, It All Began with a Broken Engagement 彩礼50年，1974从悔婚开始 In the bitter winter of 1974, Zhao Shuangzhu publicly called off his engagement and was given three days to come up with a hundred yuan for the bride price. He swallowed his pride and borrowed from every neighbor he could, took the old folks’ burial savings, and went into the mountains at night to hunt rabbits and trade them for cash on the black market. Dodging the market inspectors, he stumbled through the hardest hurdle of his life. He spent the rest of his life marrying, raising children, an 113Reads—Score—14d adds
- 61 Late at Night, I Fell Under His Spell 深夜，对他着了魔 Their late-night story… It’s thought-provoking, and leaves you filled with regret. Was she too devoted, or was he too heartless? What can you even say about love? 218Reads—Score—14d adds
- 62 The Road Through Life’s Storms 西北人的新书风雨人生路 Welcome, everyone, to my story. It tells the separate stories of a family living in the countryside. The mother and older brother, in particular, have suffered many hardships, and their long illnesses have had a profound impact on the younger generation's physical and mental well-being. The story examines the kind, selfish, and ugly sides of human nature. 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 63 A Lifetime for Her and Me 我和她的这一生 In 1992, at the age of twenty, I left my hometown. My family was crippled by illness and poverty. We were on the verge of starving to death. If I stayed, we would all be trapped on that patch of barren soil. If I left, there might be a way for them to survive. The southern wind, laden with cement dust, swept into that big city filled with construction sites. This place had no name, only countless steel bars, scaffolding, and faces waiting to sell their labor. We came here to fight for our lives. 13Reads—Score—14d adds
- 64 In 1975, I Went to the Countryside to Escape Disaster 1975年我下乡避祸 This is not a feel-good power fantasy. There is no pocket dimension, no System, no rebirth, and no transmigration. The times are turbulent, and the road ahead is uncertain. To protect Li Chengxiao, his family bears the pain of sending him to the countryside for an assigned rural posting, away from danger. Alone, he puts down roots in the village, enduring hardship and lying low with quiet resolve. With his unique insight and steady temperament, he establishes himself amid adversity, discreetly b 89.5kReads8.5Score10.9k14d adds
- 65 Reborn in a Bygone Era: Never Forgive 重生年代：永不原谅 Reborn in the 1970s: Refusing Rural Reassignment, Turning the Tables, Cutting Off Family, Marrying His One True Love, and the Fake Young Master Mystery. No Space or System. In his previous life, Luoyang was utterly ruined by the so-called family he trusted. They stole his job, signed him up for rural reassignment, took his university spot, and saddled him with his brother's lover. Finally, they had both his kidneys removed, leaving him to die a miserable death! Reborn, he defies fate: passing th 4.3kReads8.0Score27414d adds
- 66 This Is Awesome! I Transmigrated 太爽了！穿越 The heroine, Wu Yanrong, is a concubine-born daughter of the ancient Mingyue Manor. Although her family is a martial arts clan, her fate was decided from the moment she was born because her mother was of humble origins. She learned a few basic martial arts to keep fit, but was mainly expected to learn needlework and embroidery, as well as reading and bookkeeping. The idea was to make concubine-born daughters like her more valuable when it came time to marry them off for political alliances. Unf 2.1kReads9.0Score22114d adds
- 67 A Love Story in Chaoshan 潮汕情事 In the old homes of Chaoshan lie the wildest lives and the warmest hearts. In the 1970s and 80s, a group of Chaoshan people who refused to give up fought their way through poverty, loved through storms, and lived by the bonds between people. Some dared to fight and forge ahead, dragging their lives up out of the mud. Others were loyal and true, unwilling to betray anyone even when it cost them. Love brought tangled relationships, family brought its share of strain, and neighbors argued, but when 367Reads8.2Score—14d adds
- 68 My Life: Saving Myself 我的人生，渡己 I moved from the countryside to the big city when I was twenty. On my first day at the factory, I was five minutes late. Those five minutes felt like a slap in the face, waking me up and changing my life. More than ten people crammed into one dorm room. For breakfast, I could only bring myself to buy a tea egg and soy milk. Watching others eat fried rice noodles, I secretly vowed to work hard and make a solid place for myself in the city. There was no sudden wealth and no romance, just a country 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 69 Transmigrating to the 1970s, I Lie Flat! 穿越七零我躺平了！ A 48-year-old man who’d chosen to lie flat transmigrates into the body of 18-year-old Li Changshun! He becomes one of the sent-down youths heading to the countryside in 1973. In Kaoshan Tun Brigade, Dongfang Commune, Dong’an County, Danjiang City, he lies in bed, keeping a low profile as he waits for the new era to arrive. (This is simply a story about the ordinary life of a sent-down youth. The writing is unassuming, and the plot moves at a fairly slow pace. It’s steeped in everyday life, not a 62.6kReads7.0Score4.9k14d adds
- 70 A Way Forward Through Mountains and Rivers 出路之山重水复 [Period setting + Family + Women + Career + Workplace business battles + No romance + Society + An exploration of human nature] No cheat powers, no dramatic comeback. A deep look at the struggles and prospects of 99% of ordinary people! Wish-fulfillment stories are everywhere, but once the excitement fades, only emptiness remains. In the end, we all have to face the grind of daily life and the warmth or coldness of human relationships. This slow-burning work of realism offers no lucky breaks or 2.5kReads9.5Score36214d adds
- 71 The Caregiver Who Came to Repay a Debt 还债的保姆 Yan Yan had always lived a pampered life, but when her husband was in a car accident, everything fell into hardship. She spent all her savings and racked up a mountain of debt. Their two children needed money for school, and her husband required ongoing treatment. With no one to turn to, she went alone to the big city to find work and earn a living. 67Reads—Score114d adds
- 72 The Brash Stepmother from the Eighties Becomes a Nobody 八零泼妇养母成了路人甲 Liu Peiyun was ready to enjoy a quiet retirement, but instead transmigrated into a book as Lu Xuebi, a village girl whose engagement had been broken off in the 1980s. Since she was already here, Lu Xuebi decided to make the best of it. She studied for college entrance exams while leading her whole family to seize the opportunities of the times. Only later did she learn she had transmigrated into a book: she was the heroine’s shrewish adoptive mother, an obstacle on the heroine’s road to wealth a 646Reads5.8Score11614d adds
- 73 The Ugly Daughter-in-Law Takes on Her Cruel Mother-in-Law 丑媳妇大战恶婆婆 The print edition is titled The Fading Embers of Mortal Life and is available on Taobao. [Satisfying highs and heartbreaking lows] [Traditional period setting] [Family drama] [The hardships of real life] This is the story of the joys and sorrows of three generations of women in a dysfunctional family, and how they grow amid the chaos of family life. Fu Ying is born into desperation. Her mother is a gambler, and her father is violent. When she reaches marrying age, no one dares take her as a wife 57.6kReads9.1Score2.1k14d adds
- 74 Two Abnormal Humans and a Motorcycle 两个非正常人类与摩托车 Love that defies social norms has often been seen as a symbol of courage and freedom, admired and celebrated. This is the one kind of love people will always despise. This is not a novel, just a story from real life. There are no thrills, no climaxes, no pacing, only despair and oppression. It might be of some small help to people who truly love motorcycles, but be prepared to be mocked. This story has an unconventional outlook on life, values, and the world, and portrays a world of abnormal peo 2.2kReads—Score38114d adds
- 75 What's Got You So Proud? 你牛什么牛 Also known as The Yueyue’s Terrible Mother-in-Law. Through the story of an unusually strong-willed woman’s life, this novel offers a profound look at the dialectical relationship between personality and fate. From many angles, it examines the rise of extreme feminism in contemporary society. It also gives serious thought to marriage and romance, raising children, and human relationships in the modern world. It offers important guidance for a new generation in the twenty-first century on developi 12Reads—Score—14d adds
- 76 1961: I Was Only Eight the Year I Was Reborn 1961：重生那年我才八岁 Note: This is a slow-paced, slow-burn novel!! Not much excitement; the focus is on amusing everyday life!! The figures in this story belong to a parallel world. Please don't compare them with reality! [Homesteading] + [Period] + [Pocket Dimension] + [Laid-back] + [Homesteading] + [Raising children] + [Transmigration] + [Lighthearted] + [Slow-paced] + [Slow-burn] + [Daily life] + [Amusing moments] + [Nonsense] + [Made up] A young man had possessed a mysterious pocket dimension since modern times. 1.2kReads8.0Score—14d adds
- 77 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
- 78 Home on a Unicycle 独轮车上的家 The novel follows Liu Shouren and his family from the late 1970s to the present day. As society changes and the countryside is transformed, they weather a tumultuous journey. Through stories from in and around the village, it portrays the lives, resilience, struggles, and growth of countless ordinary rural families across China... 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 79 I'm Reborn, So Who Would Still Marry Into His Wife's Family? 都重生了，谁还倒插门？ [Period Setting, Countryside, Space, Building Wealth, No Simping] Hao Weiguo was starved to death by his three stepsons at the old family home in a mountain village. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and found himself back in a cornfield in the 1980s. There he met the most important woman in his life. That day marked the turning point in his tragic fate... For the woman he couldn't stop thinking about, in an era when communal meals made life especially hard, Hao Weiguo knew she was a widow with three 386Reads5.4Score—14d adds
- 80 1973: Starting with Educated Youth Sent to the Countryside 年代1973：从知青下乡开始 [Sent to the Countryside in the 1970s + Lighthearted Humor + Everyday Family Life + Cunning Old Fox] On the day Lu Yuan is sent down to the countryside, he saves the village’s five-year-old little matriarch. From then on, even the village dogs salute him... ... ... (From the start, there’s no stealing houses or jobs, an abusive stepmother, or cheating followed by revenge. Read with caution if that’s what you’re looking for!) 3.6kReads7.6Score14514d adds
- 81 Back to 1993: Making My Fortune Hunting in Northeast China 重返1993：我在东北打猎发家 Zhao Dongxu was reborn, back in the Changbai Mountains of the 1990s. He didn’t have a single penny to his name, but the mountains were teeming with game! In his previous life, he’d been blinded by greed and abandoned his wife and children to return to the city and start a business. Given another chance at life, all Zhao Dongxu wants is to enjoy a warm home with his wife and children. And, while he’s at it, tame this savage era! 415Reads7.8Score—14d adds
- 82 Misplaced Lust for Power 错位的权欲 Misaligned Ambitions for Power 44Reads—Score—14d adds
- 83 Back to 1978: From Odd Jobs to Hunter 重返78：全职，从猎人开始 After returning to 1978, Xu Shaoping became a young educated youth at the foot of Changbai Mountain. After decisively settling there, he began his new life as a hunter. In the mountains, he could hunt bears and pigs and find ginseng; back down below, he could catch fish, treat illnesses, and cook delicious food. He was a master of every trade: whatever he learned, he could do, and whatever he could do, he mastered... With reform and opening up on the horizon and the entire nation’s economy poise 10kReads7.9Score64014d adds
- 84 Breaking the Bottom Line 打破底线 In the eyes of others, he has it all: an executive title at a branch company and a happy family. But he also has plenty of secrets he can’t let see the light of day… A routine audit at the head office becomes the turning point in his fate… 14.1kReads8.2Score68914d adds
- 85 The Domineering Village Chief Gets Caught 霸道村长落网记 [Rural] [Period Drama] [Tragedy] Synopsis: The domineering village chief Hu Gang, backed by his family, bullies men, preys on women, and commits every kind of evil. After Hu Ying, the heroine, is abused by Hu Gang and his son, she escapes. With Yang Jun's help, she ultimately brings down the entire Hu family. Yet Hu Ying's tragic fate is only just beginning... (You won't believe it until you read it!) 1.3kReads7.5Score10314d adds
- 86 The Many Flavors of Life, Part One: A Snowy Night of Lost Souls 百味人生第一部：失魂风雪夜 Family, love, and adultery. This small mountain village seems peaceful, but undercurrents run deep, and human dramas of sorrow and joy unfold every day. On a bitterly cold, snowy night, a young and beautiful mother is assaulted and becomes pregnant. Afterward, she lives every day in fear and pain, desperately trying to keep the secret. When the truth comes to light, the demon who has appeared in her dreams countless times has never really gone away. What will the mother do? This book offers a 14.5kReads9.2Score1.5k14d adds
- 87 Reborn in 1976: Leading the Whole Village to Prosperity 重生76，带领全村吃肉奔小康 Li Xiangdong lived in wealth until the age of sixty, surrounded by children and grandchildren, only for his wife to send him to his death with two horns on his head. When he opens his eyes, he’s back at fourteen. Since he’s been given another chance, he’ll make up for every regret, one by one. His fourth sister, forced into a marriage swap; his third sister, who died young; his younger brother, raised to be good for nothing; and his mother, oppressed by her mother-in-law her whole life. Li Xiang 1.5kReads8.6Score12014d adds
- 88 Upholding Justice 公义立身 Xu Zhiqiang was born into a poor rural family in the 1960s. Through sheer hard work, he got into university. After graduating, he was assigned to work at a steel mill, where he brought a near-bankrupt factory back from the brink. Later, an anonymous letter changed the course of his life once again. After enduring setbacks in life as well as pressure and blows at work, Xu Zhiqiang entered the real estate business and rose to the pinnacle of success. 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 89 A-Dou’s Comeback 阿豆的逆袭 He was born with a disability: no neck, his head almost resting on his shoulders... On top of that, he lost both his parents as a child. Yet this very man eventually made a comeback like Forrest Gump. He not only married the village beauty, but also found success in his career. How did he turn his life around and rise to the light? Was it luck? Character? Talent? Maybe it was a bit of everything. 9Reads—Score—14d adds
- 90 A Middle-Aged Woman's Reckless Years 中年荒唐的女人 The story is about Yang Liu, an ordinary woman from the bottom of society. Hardworking and capable, she refuses to settle for an ordinary life, but ends up making a complete mess of things, surrounded by chaos and constant commotion... 2.7kReads8.6Score22414d adds
- 91 The Kung Fu County Magistrate 功夫县长 After the former county magistrate dies by suicide, the higher-ups parachute a new magistrate into Shuanghe. Secretary Qin stares in utter disbelief at the new magistrate before him, who carries a shabby old-fashioned bundle on his back and has gauze stuck to his forehead! But Wang Xiaoneng doesn't care what anyone thinks. With his master's ancestral peachwood sword in hand and his master's ancestral whip wrapped around his waist, no demon or ghost can stand in the way of his great ambition and 463Reads6.3Score—14d adds
- 92 Reborn in 1978: I Make My Fortune by Plagiarizing 重生1978：我靠文抄发家 Reborn in 1978, just as the national college entrance exams resume and a cultural wave sweeps the country, Jiang Mingchun gets into Yanda and becomes a university student. Drawing on memories from his previous life, he becomes a ghostwriter. 2.4kReads8.6Score10614d adds
- 93 Things That Happened When I Was a Kid 我小时候的事 I really don't have much talent for writing novels. I simply pieced together people and events from my childhood, along with scattered fragments of memory and everyday trivialities, as best I could. It's like sewing a patchwork garment out of scraps of floral fabric: from a distance it looks colorful and busy, but up close the seams are obvious, and it never quite comes together. Even so, I weighed every word and poured my passion and love into it, because I wrote it for my daughter. 52Reads—Score—14d adds
- 94 An Ordinary Family 平凡一家人 Every era in which an ordinary family lives is unique and impossible to repeat. The hardships of difficult times, the years of struggle and deprivation, the pain that cannot be put into words, and the fiery passion of a new age, the spirit of never giving up and striving onward, the stories of joy and sorrow: all shine brightly through every ordinary day. Life is the passing down of the human spirit. Everyone in an ordinary family has something worth preserving and building upon. Life is a flame 3.3kReads8.9Score29214d adds
- 95 Reborn in 1976: Starting Over as a Sent-Down Youth 重生1976从知青开始 [A refreshing, long-running political drama] In a freak car accident, Liu Yan gives his life to protect the woman he loves. When he wakes up, he has transmigrated to the 1970s and been reborn as a young educated urbanite sent to the countryside, who shares his name. To his surprise, his new self’s wife has the same name as the woman he loved in his previous life. From then on, Liu Yan embarks on a successful path to a career in government… 1.6kReads—Score—14d adds
- 96 Period: Returning to 1977 to Become a Literary Master 年代：回到1977当文豪 [Period setting] [Literary giant] [Lighthearted] [No System] [Not brainless] Lin Xiangwen transmigrates back to a small mountain village in 1977. But from the start, everything goes horribly wrong. His beautiful educated-youth wife, whom he married just days ago, is demanding a divorce so she can return to the city. Fine, let's get divorced. Just wait and regret it later! Lin Xiangwen is full of confidence about the future. The college entrance exams are about to resume, and with his foreknowled 4.9kReads8.0Score20714d adds
- 97 The Long-Suffering Younger Sister 苦妹 This is a bloodcurdling, suffocating epic of female suffering. It tells the tragic story of a woman called Ku Mei, whose life was mercilessly crushed by fate over more than half a century, from the early 1960s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. In 1960, during a famine-stricken winter, she was born the second daughter in her family and named Pan Di, “Hoping for a younger brother.” From then on, her grandmother saw her as a “jinx” and branded her Ku Mei, “Bitter Girl.” In a family that 3.5kReads8.8Score41414d adds
- 98 The Night Is Hungry, and There’s No Escaping His Possessiveness 夜色贪婪，逃不开他的占有 After her fiancé and best friend joined forces to take everything from her, Su Xiaoran fell from the clouds into the mud. In her moment of despair, she stumbled into Gu Haifeng's arms. The man gripped her chin and said in a low voice, “From today on, you're mine.” The scumbag and the bitch? She'll make sure they lose everything and end up disgraced! As for this powerful tycoon? Su Xiaoran only wants to run, but he pins her in a corner, possessiveness overflowing. “Running? Where do you think you 614Reads—Score—14d adds
- 99 It All Began in 1983 一切从1983那年开始 He opens his eyes to find himself back on the day before his wife gives birth, the day when everything can still be changed. His wife was pushed, causing their son to be born a month premature and suffer from poor health ever since. The couple worked from dawn till late at night to pay for their child’s treatment, until his wife died in a mining accident. This is where all their hardships began, and where they will end. 3.6kReads8.9Score15114d adds
- 100 The Starved Cast-Off Wife Is Back for Revenge 那个被饿死的弃妇杀回来了 Transmigration, rebirth, farming, building an information network, establishing a power base, household intrigue, palace intrigue, rising to the pinnacle of power Shen Zhao, a modern-day female assassin, transmigrated to ancient times and into the body of Yuan Yihe, a discarded wife who had suffered abuse for years. Her family had always ignored her, left her hungry, and married her off in place of her elder sister to a spoiled young master. On her wedding day, the groom ran away. She asked to 1.4kReads9.1Score17914d adds
