Novels like The CEO and I Are Deskmates
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The CEO and I Are Deskmates, best match first.
- 51 Three Years After Faking My Death, My One True Love Is Married 死遁三年，白月光已婚 [Marriage first, love later + both leads have no past romantic entanglements + powerful family background + age gap + intense romantic tension][On-location weather reporter ✖️ powerful man in government] Because she loves the wilderness and the wind, Lu Jinqiu stands in the middle of a typhoon, clinging to the principle, “Life is nothing but scallions, ginger, and garlic. Be a little scallion-smart, ginger up a little, and if all else fails, garlic it.” And so, muddling through, she spends three 390Reads—Score10814d adds
- 52 Betrayal Beneath the Collarbone 锁骨之下的背叛 Betrayal Beneath the Collarbone 67Reads—Score—14d adds
- 53 Reborn in the 1960s: I Became Grandma’s Little Sister 重生六零：我成了外婆的妹妹 [When an ordinary person is reborn in a rural village in the 1960s, forget about getting ahead or making grand plans. First, stay alive.] [1960s rural life + family and neighborhood affairs + education and growth + ensemble cast] [Not a wish-fulfillment story, not a wish-fulfillment story, not a wish-fulfillment story. Please don't read if that's not your thing. Thank you.] When Zhu Yan wakes up in the body of her grandmother's second-youngest sister, who died young, she vows to change her grand —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 54 Xiang Beixun 向北浔 [Secret crush becomes love + reunion after years apart + a partner who guides her + both leads are romantically inexperienced] [Government-sector client ✖️ female cost estimator at a construction company] “If you can do the job, do it. If you can’t, we’ll find someone else!” Lu Tingxi never expected to see Jiang Xun again. When he does, her project manager is scolding her until she looks like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand. “When one door closes, another opens. If the south is dark, 626Reads—Score10814d adds
- 55 Stubborn as a Mule 硬颈种 [Not a Power Fantasy, No Cliches, No Stupid Characters, Mutual Devotion, Striving for a Better Life, Realistic Growth] In Hakka, someone stubborn to the core is called a "hard-necked sort." When Wang Lili was ten, she snatched a big chicken leg at the dinner table. Her father ordered her to give it to her younger brother. She said, "I won't." When Zhao Ruxun was ten, he was forced to let his mother beat him fifteen times in public for protecting his younger brother. He gritted his teeth and didn 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 56 The Little Bridge Cave Family Compound 小桥洞家属院 [Period Setting] [Ensemble Cast] [Everyday Life] The results came out a few months after it was completed. This novel is fantastic! Zhang Yan and Deng Yang were born in the Xiaoqiaodong factory compound and grew up beneath the chimneys of the State Chemical Plant. There was no glamour or respectability here, only the bustle of daily life, sweat, arguments, and warmth. In 1997, as firecrackers exploded to celebrate Hong Kong's return, they still thought their parents would wear their work uniform 645Reads8.1Score10214d adds
- 57 The Sun and Moon in the Steamer 蒸屉里的日月 Set against the changes sweeping the northern countryside in the 1990s, this story follows an ordinary rural woman as she spends half her life juggling household chores, conflicts with her sisters-in-law, small business ventures, and her children’s education. With only an elementary-school education, she supports her family with her skill at making steamed buns, putting her son through college and helping him build a life of his own. She lives through the transition from earthen houses to brick 307Reads—Score—14d adds
- 58 She Works as a Maid for a Shenzhen Tycoon 她在深圳豪门做保姆 After her husband divorces her, a nurse from a small county town heads south to Shenzhen to support her child and put her younger brother through school. After losing her job, she is hired as a nanny by Miss Chen, a wealthy heiress. She goes through being framed, misunderstood, dismissed, earning her first savings, suffering a miscarriage after being beaten, and heartbreak. In the end, she marries a local bachelor and becomes the leading lady of a wealthy family. As Miss Chen’s nanny, she witnes 5.9kReads9.2Score70114d adds
- 59 All the Years She Worked as a Nanny 她做保姆这些年 The physical edition has already been published under the title Stories of Life Beneath the Apron. The original title was Her Years as a Housekeeper. This is not a reborn story, nor is it a wish-fulfillment novel. Based on real events in Shenzhen, it tells of the feuds and tangled relationships of a wealthy family, of love and hatred, of a loyal bond between employer and housekeeper, and of spouses standing by each other through thick and thin. It faces both the light and darkness of human natur 14.2kReads9.2Score1.6k14d adds
- 60 Transmigrate into a Book Set in the 1970s: Even a Slacker Has to Hustle 穿书七零，咸鱼也得卷起来 Yun Shu transmigrated into a book, becoming a supporting character in a period novel. She didn't need to be sent to the countryside because she was already there. She didn't need to deal with horrible people because she was one of them. She didn't want to go back to school, but had to hide there to stay alive. She didn't want marriage to change her fate, yet rumors about her never stopped. She didn't want to attract attention, but kept getting thrust into the spotlight... She thought she had alw 2.6kReads8.9Score18414d adds
- 61 I Kissed the Blossoms in Paris 我在巴黎吻过繁花 [Older Woman-Younger Man Romance + Cross-Cultural Love + Reunion After Years Apart] Gentle, adorable heroine vs. scheming, sharp-tongued hero. A new contemporary romance from popular Jinjiang author Xixi Dongdong! After a long run of bad luck, Cheng Xiwei finally catches a break and finds a job that lets her trade work for a place to stay. But it turns out there’s another freeloader in the house: a debt-collecting nightmare! And so begins their noisy life under one roof. Cheng Xiwei follows her 2.5kReads9.5Score37314d adds
- 62 Thirty Days on the Run 逃亡三十天 Five years of deep affection could not withstand greed and scheming. Jiang Ling was set up by his lover of five years and her lover on the side, who conspired to seize complete control of his company. In a single day, his love was shattered, his career collapsed, and his life plunged into an abyss. With all hope gone, he chose to retreat to his remote, quiet hometown in the countryside. By chance, in an abandoned mine in a desolate area, he stumbled upon a ton of gold buried deep underground. Af 48Reads6.9Score114d adds
- 63 During the Cooling-Off Period After Our Divorce, My Straight-Laced Husband Suddenly Gets It 离婚冷静期，直男老公突然开窍了 [Deputy director in government × dermatologist] [Marriage first, love later, winning her back, age gap, sweetness toggles between all sugar, half sugar, three-tenths sugar, and sugar-free] After marrying Director Zhou, who believes rules are more important than anything, Chen Jiayi found herself living a very unusual married life: She had to file a report for everything, including sleeping, eating, and watching short dramas. She was done with this life. She dragged Zhou Jingcheng to get a divorc 7.5kReads8.7Score57314d adds
- 64 Sixty-Year-Old Lovers: The Past of Maitreya 60岁恋人：弥勒往事 At the age of sixty, he jumped into a shallow pool where the water barely reached his thighs. The water was shallow, but he didn't know that. Just as he didn't know that this jump would bring him together with a thirty-seven-year-old divorced woman, that they would have a child, and that he would pursue her from Hefei to Nanjing, then on to Shenzhen. Later, someone asked him, "Why jump when the water was so shallow?" He said, "Because that person was about to fall in." What matters isn't how d 1.1kReads—Score10314d adds
- 65 After Three Years in Retirement Back in the Village, I Lost but Was Not Defeated 退休回村三年，我输了但没有败 After retiring, I was sent back to my hometown to serve as the village's First Secretary. I had barely reached the village entrance when someone smashed a jar at me: “Huai Shu Village doesn't welcome you!” An old flame brought me a bowl of fish soup, with a letter at the bottom that had never been sent, forty years ago. Someone sent an anonymous report to the disciplinary inspection committee, accusing me of misconduct. Three months on the clock. Nobody believes me. Three years later, the person 104Reads—Score—14d adds
- 66 Kicked Out After My Second Marriage, I Thrive Back in the Countryside 二婚被赶，我回农村混得风生水起 Strong Female Lead, Feel-Good Modern Fiction, Period Setting, Building a Career, Comeback, Livestream Commerce, Getting Rich Zhou Xiaoya is forced by her in-laws to have an abortion during her second marriage. Her ex-husband marries someone new, and she leaves with nothing but her daughter, returning to her village. Everyone thinks she'll starve on the streets. Instead, she makes a fortune selling goods through her livestream, and even helps the whole village get rich. How did the woman who was 136Reads—Score—14d adds
- 67 Dear You: I Once Had a Terrible Deskmate 卿卿如晤：我曾经有个坏同桌 The animated comic is coming soon! Two top students flirting with each other | Steamy and sweet | Small-town romance | No contrived plot, not a power fantasy Chen Qingqing thinks her love story with Lin Jingze is too embarrassing to tell anyone. Other people fall in love by dating. First comes a confession, then fingertips brushing, then lips meeting. But the two of them... went straight to bed. They were former deskmates who hadn't seen each other in years, and on the day they reunited, their f 24.5kReads9.0Score3.2k14d adds
- 68 Happiness, or the Lack of It 幸福不幸福 If memories were a game, Happiness would have died many times over. If reality were a game, Happiness would often be left battered and bruised. She wanders the streets of memory, where every shop is shuttered. It seems this world has no room for Happiness. Even as she scrapes by, enduring harsh words and cold looks, she still isn’t ready to give up... 142Reads—Score—14d adds
- 69 Life Is a Rare Gift 人生难得 The National Security Ministry’s Fourteenth Division is a department created specifically to manage spirits. It oversees the work and daily lives of spirits living in secret among humans. Chang Xiaoying, an employee in the Fourteenth Division’s Benefits and Welfare Section, was injured on duty in an accident. She lost three years of memories, as well as her ability to feel hunger and dream. Once she recovered and returned to work, she was assigned to a post in Gongcheng, Yuesheng Province, as a 77Reads8.2Score—14d adds
- 70 Shadows All Around 暗影重重 [Criminal Investigation] [Mystery and Deduction] [Murder-Mystery Game] [Romantic Suspense] [Strong Leads Clash] [Social Realism] [A Cross-Section of Humanity] Some lose the love of their life. Some commit murder in a fit of passion to protect the person they love. Some hurt everyone around them in the name of love. Some are willing to give up everything in pursuit of a little light and warmth! This is a tribute to Keigo Higashino. The writing is delicate, the emotions profound! The plot is tight 671Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 71 The Courtyard Compound: The Warmth of Everyday Life 大杂院：人间烟火气 [Period setting + family drama + everyday life] If you're young and inexperienced, take this as a warning and steer clear. This book probably isn't for you. It has none of the usual wish-fulfillment tropes and no imaginary cheat powers. It's simply an ordinary story about people in northern China. [No transmigration, no System, no pocket dimension, no being reborn, and none of the modern-novel elements you know.] It records the ordinary life of a northern town in the 1980s, capturing the memorie 8.8kReads9.1Score76714d adds
- 72 Those Years Working in Lingnan 岭南打工那些年 This work is a realistic urban novel based on my own experience of heading south to Guangdong for work in the late 1980s. It might be more accurate to call it a memoir of migrant work than a novel. The characters are all based on my colleagues, fellow villagers, and friends I knew well! I chose to write in the first person so that everyone in these pages would feel vivid and real, with a soul of their own. I hope readers will find the voice warm and familiar as they read or listen in their spare 18.9kReads9.3Score1.7k14d adds
- 73 Tales of Nanyang’s Old Town 南阳老城往事 Memories of a bizarre and absurd era, somewhere in the 1980s and 1990s. A girl vanishes into thin air; two murders over a pair of corneas, with a condemned woman repaying her debt at the execution ground; a thousand-year-old pottery shard traps a rich heir for life; a murder in a narrow alley shrouded in mystery; a disfigured old man fishes for ghosts by the river; a family’s secret history spanning half a century... These stories offer more than an eerie atmosphere. They focus on the suffering, 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 74 Survival Journal: Back to the World of Ordinary Life 求生日记：重返烟火人间 Not a wish-fulfillment story, no cheat powers, no rebirth: a realistic struggle to survive against the odds. An innocent only daughter meets the ultimate scumbag. He tricks her into love, saddles her with debt, then runs off, delivering a triple blow. She tries to take her daughter into the lake with her, but survives. Having died once, she finally comes to her senses. There’s no one to catch her when she falls and no one to save her. Every meal and every bit of warmth must be earned with her ow 5.6kReads8.8Score39514d adds
- 75 A Fling at the Gym 健身房里的临时爱情 [Urban]+ [Marriage and Romance]+ [Romance]+ [Rise to the Top] How will Wang Haoyu, a broke college student fresh out of university, turn his life around? What sparks will fly between Lao Liu, a fifty-eight-year-old big shot; Li Siqi, a twenty-eight-year-old beautiful company supervisor; Chen Meiting, a thirty-two-year-old bankrupt business owner; and Feng Duo, a twenty-five-year-old bodyguard to the powerful and a fitness trainer...? 2.1kReads—Score—14d adds
- 76 A Spring Rainy Night Like the Sound of Mountains 一夜春雨似山鸣 [A devoted, restrained media mogul vs. a cool, distant career queen] [Fated connection | Emotional growth | Love that grows over time | A slow and steady romance | Sweet yet heartbreaking | A realistic slow burn] A year ago, two people who had each lost the one they loved met by chance in the drizzle after a funeral. He saw the desolate fragments in her eyes. She saw the icy lake in his. A borrowed flame warmed them for a brief moment. She thought it was nothing more than a fleeting encounter 105Reads9.4Score—14d adds
- 77 Help! I Became a Hot Mom with a Professor Husband and a Kid Who's Bad at School 救命！穿成辣妈，教授老公学渣娃 [Faithful couples + transmigration + adorable kids + marriage first, love later + sweet romance + healing] At 21, Lan Jia got drunk and slept with Professor Su, a top student and a devastatingly handsome man. One night of passion led to a shotgun wedding. But at 28, she was literally angered to death while helping her son with his homework! Her 21-year-old self transmigrated into her 28-year-old body: Huh? Why is her husband so bad in bed?! And why does he keep wanting a second child? Two brilli 2.8kReads8.9Score17714d adds
- 78 Love by Infiltration 渗透式爱情 A troublemaker who seems tough but is soft inside × a younger, scheming man who always cleans up after her Mature adults pushing each other to the limit | Love at first sight, bold flirting, and ambiguous sparks | Dark humor and two crazies falling in love [Playing the fool to catch the tiger, a younger man taming a playboy, and a woman completely under her husband’s thumb] From love at first sight to a love that runs deep: an oddball paired with a lunatic, falling harder with every passing day. 5.7kReads8.5Score53114d adds
- 79 A Marriage of Equals 势均婚敌 [Two equally formidable leads, married first and fell in love later, long-planned romance, both pure, intertwined with campus life] Wen Ying and Lu Yishu are married. They were once deskmates, the top two students in their grade at Elite High School, and alumni and outstanding graduates of Jinghua University. Now they’ve paired off with each other and begun a secret married life. Because of her mother’s insistence, Wen Ying feels she has no choice. Fine, she’ll get married. After all, this sworn 438Reads—Score—14d adds
- 80 The Bank President’s Daughter-in-Law from the Countryside 银行行长家的农村儿媳妇 Brother-and-sister dynamic + Urban romance + Marriage first, love later + Childhood sweethearts + Female growth The wealthy male lead and the rural female lead were born in neighboring hospital beds, just one day apart. The female lead is stunning and attracts admirers wherever she goes, yet she’s gentle and well-behaved. The male lead is a roguishly handsome man of the world, considerate and capable, a born CEO and the king of jealousy. Though their values and upbringings are worlds apart, fate 2.8kReads8.7Score29514d adds
- 81 All Things Must End 皆有尽时 Everyone has a hurdle they can’t get over alone, and sometimes they need someone to give them a hand. Chen Yan knows his life has long been as rotten as his reputation, beyond saving. He has turned every hardship from his past into a cross on which to judge himself, carrying it on his back and refusing to let himself find even a moment’s relief. He can be someone else’s umbrella, even if he’s always standing in the rain himself. Thankfully, everyone who has taken shelter by his side wants to see 129Reads8.3Score—14d adds
- 82 The Little Girl from Secretary Zhang's Family 张书记家的小姑娘 After graduating from college at 24, Sang Ning chose to return to her hometown and take a job in the public sector. A year later, her employer sent her to a township government office for two years of support work. She became Secretary Zhang’s subordinate, and eventually, Secretary Zhang became part of her family. At 32, Zhang Yizheng was a veteran and the head of the township government. One day, a young woman joined the office. She was young, capable, and full of personality. For the first ti 17.3kReads9.1Score1.6k14d adds
- 83 Starting from Scratch: Three Years Flipping Little Boxes Made Me a Millionaire 白手起家，倒腾小盒子三年千万 Selling contraceptives in the dorm from the start gets you mocked? Disciplined? No problem! Make money while teaching in the countryside. After four years of hard work, build a fortune worth over a hundred million, turning ideals, love, and wealth into reality. [No Transmigration + No System + No Pocket Dimension + A Down-to-Earth Story of Striving] 12.6kReads8.1Score93514d adds
- 84 Spring Winds in Winter 冬季有春风 [Female Growth] [Childhood Sweethearts] [Turning the Tables Against the Odds] [Realistic] A girl battered by her dysfunctional family wants nothing more than to save the naive young boy who loves her. Life in the cramped alleyways is always the same, while the surging tide of the times takes everyone by surprise. In the winter at the end of the century, the gears of Xu Chunfeng's fate quietly began to turn. 3.1kReads8.0Score12714d adds
- 85 My Down-on-His-Luck Contract Boyfriend 我的落难合约男友 [Childhood sweethearts, contract romance, she pursues him early on, then he chases his wife] Lin Xiaoxiao pursued Luo Zheng for years, following him from their small town to Hong Kong for graduate school. She loved him with all her heart, but Luo Zheng always seemed out of reach. Then a sudden turn of events sent the once dazzling, confident Luo Zheng tumbling into the depths, with nowhere left to turn. Lin Xiaoxiao handed him a contract: pretend to be a couple for six months, no intimacy, and t 348Reads—Score—14d adds
- 86 We Who Don't Know How to Love 不会爱的我们 [A brave heroine who grows on her own] [A realistic story, not a wish-fulfillment fantasy] [First-person perspective] [A broken family of origin] [The heroine has sound values (she is 16 when the story begins, and still immature enough to have the occasional bad thought)] [Clear-eyed about life] If your very birth was a mistake, how would you make the most of the life ahead of you? Shui Qingqing: Live for yourself and on your own terms. Wield a gentle blade and carve out a kingdom of happiness 2.5kReads9.3Score32014d adds
- 87 The System Forces Me to Be a Star's Personal Bodyguard. Is She Going to Offer Herself to Me? 系统逼我当女明星的贴身保镖，她要对我以身相许？ The System forces me to be a famous actress's personal bodyguard. Is she going to offer herself to me in return? 7Reads—Score114d adds
- 88 A Murder-Mystery Game Binds Me to a Goddess Cashback System, but She Won't Add Me on WeChat. What Do I Do? 剧本杀绑定女神返现，她不加我微信啊怎么办 She Binds to a Script-Killing Game and Gets Goddess Cashback. What Should I Do If She Won't Add Me on WeChat? 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 89 Gluttony’s Execution Ground: Crime and Punishment at the Bottom of the Food Chain 饕餮刑场——食物链底层的罪与罚 The Gluttonous Execution Ground: Crime and Punishment at the Bottom of the Food Chain 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 90 Shared Location Exposed My Wife’s Secret, So I Ruined Her and Left Her With Nothing 共享定位暴露妻子秘密，我让她身败名裂净身出户 My Wife’s Secret Was Exposed by Location Sharing. I Ruined Her Reputation and Kicked Her Out With Nothing 919Reads—Score—14d adds
- 91 Record of the Illusory Sea of Love: The Great Void Livestream 情天幻海录太虚直播间 The Illusory Realm of the Great Void, by the shores of the Sea of Love. Fairy Jing Huan had been staring blankly into a water mirror for three days. What it reflected was not her peerless beauty, but the countless scenes of the mortal world: office workers scrolling through their phones on the subway, middle-aged men and women haggling at matchmaking corners, livestreamers crying, “Brother, love me!”, and exhausted wage slaves staying up late making PowerPoints until they went bald... “Such mudd 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 92 Sacrifice the Protagonist to Heaven! Boundless Magic? 主角祭天！法力无边？ Sacrifice the Protagonist to Heaven! Boundless Magic Power? 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 93 The Age of Turmoil 折腾时代 Life is all about taking chances! In that restless age, Li Anran works in a big city, and her dream is about to come true. But when she returns to Qinzhou for a funeral, she's practically put under house arrest and told to stay and work in the small city. Zhang Huifei has the talent to get into one of China's top universities, but he unexpectedly fails the college entrance exam. To make sure his sister Li Anran can stay in Qinzhou without worries, he starts stirring things up... As a result, Li 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 94 A Post-00s Kid Helps Mom Take Down Her Scumbag Husband 00后帮妈妈整渣斗三 [Modern urban life + inspirational + slice of life + feel-good] Wu Jie is a poor student who loves gaming. After his parents' marriage falls apart, he defies fate and changes his life. First, he helps his mother take down her cheating husband and his mistress. Later, he helps his motherland root out scoundrels and traitors. Step by step, he rises to the brightest peak of his life... 4.3kReads9.1Score59214d adds
- 95 Suspecting My Wife of Cheating, I Hid in a Cardboard Box for Three Days and Nights 怀疑妻子出轨，我躲在纸箱里三天三夜 Suspecting My Wife Was Cheating, I Hid in a Cardboard Box for Three Days and Nights 1.6kReads—Score—14d adds
- 96 The Snow Canon, the Mist Canon: Chronicle of the Twins 雪典，雾典，双生纪 “The first snow between heaven and earth fell atop Kunlun Mountain. Back then, snow did not yet know what melting was, and mist did not know what it meant to disperse. They thought everything in the world would last forever.” “Later, the snow melted and became water. The mist dispersed and became nothing. Only then did they understand: what was eternal was not themselves, but the person who paused in the snow, and the eyes that glanced back through the mist.” 49Reads—Score—14d adds
- 97 The Rivers and Mountains Trilogy 山河故人三部曲 A small town in Jiangnan, Mudanjiang in the northeast, and the ancient city of Xi'an. Different places, the same vision. Beautiful China! Jiangnan's bridges and flowing streams, the northeast's ice and snow, Xi'an's lamb paomo. Beautiful mountains, beautiful rivers, and even more beautiful people. The scenery is written through its people, and the people are reflected in the scenery! 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 98 The Ancestor's Parody of Versailles: A Lecture Hall of Laughter 百家笑谭老祖宗的凡尔赛讲堂 Emergency report! Emergency report! The Chinese cultural heritage system has triggered a Level Three Red Alert! The meeting room at the Heavenly Dao Administration was in chaos. Three curves plunged on the holographic display: The first line, labeled [System Comprehension], had fallen from 85% in the Tang Dynasty to 32% in the 21st century. The second line, labeled [Integrity Index], had gone from the dazzling galaxy of the "Hundred Schools of Thought" era to today's scattered "quotes from fa 17Reads—Score—14d adds
- 99 The Rain Canon 雨典 When rain falls upon the world, it is no longer just water. It becomes a bridge between two people meeting, tears of parting, the sorrow of waiting, and a promise to stay together. How many bonds of affection between heaven and earth last only as long as a passing shower? And I am merely the passerby holding an umbrella. 45Reads—Score—14d adds
- 100 What If I Were a Parasitic Vine? 假如我是菟丝花 Signed for a print edition, publication pending | Instinctive attraction | Pure love in the early stages | Passionate love in the later stages | When they first met, Su Yunluo never dared imagine that Xie Chen would actually seduce her. After all, back then he was the teacher's pride and joy, the top student admired by the whole school, the God of Xie. Everyone said that this God of Xie was aloof and chaste, untouchable, and above worldly concerns. Only Su Yunluo quietly saw through it. It was a 75.2kReads9.4Score10.3k14d adds
