Novels like The Years We Shared, Brothers
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Years We Shared, Brothers, best match first.
- 1 The Martial World: The Wild Heavenly Fragrance 江湖：混世天香 The martial world is about both fighting and human relationships. If you know how to get by, you can live in luxury, surrounded by beauty. I always thought I was an honest kid. People bullied me from elementary school all the way through vocational school. A guy who was five feet two inches tall had me, at six feet one inch, pinned to the ground and rubbing my face in it. It wasn’t until my biological father came to take me home that I found out how much power and how many connections I had behi 13.8kReads8.4Score1.8k14d adds
- 2 I Joined the Underworld to Pay Off My Debts, and Became a Big Shot 我，混黑道，从还债开始当大佬 After his father dies suddenly, leaving behind 300,000 yuan in debt, Lin Mo is forced to enter the rough-and-tumble underworld to pay it off. He becomes the least important underling in the Loyalty Hall. When he first arrives, he's mocked for his soft, delicate appearance and bullied by old hands. The Red Hair Gang, a rival outfit, also marks him as a thorn in its side. But no one knows that this seemingly meek young man hides a fierce streak and a calculating mind. When others make trouble fo —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 3 Wrong Turn: Northeast China’s Underworld in 1998 歧途：九八年东北黑道风云 [Urban Underworld] [Ensemble Cast] [Underworld Crime Lord] In 1998, Gao Zhengbei, a young man from Northeast China, heads south to find work with three fellow villagers who have criminal records. Their boss has withheld a year’s wages. To stand up for his brother, Gao Zhengnan “kidnaps” the boss’s child without laying a finger on him, forcing the man to pay up by “teaching him a lesson.” Rather than seek revenge, Shan Dabin respects his courage and restraint. Gao Zhengbei glimpses the underworld 17Reads—Score12414d adds
- 4 Xie Wenyuan: Rise of the Underworld 谢文渊：黑道崛起 [Violent Underworld] [Suit-Wearing Thug] [Cultured Scum] “Adjusting my glasses is a habit. Slitting throats is my profession.” Xie Wenyuan has always believed himself to be a reasonable, respectable man. Even when issuing an order to wipe out an entire family, he would still gently push up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, a harmless smile playing at the corners of his mouth. It began in a dark, damp alley in H City, reeking of rot; It began with a ballpoint pen piercing a local gangster’s pa 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 5 Gray Zone: Embers 灰域：余烬 A school-set gang story with one female lead. Not a wish-fulfillment power fantasy. No absolute good or evil. Set in a parallel world with no connection to reality. The world has never been simply black and white. Most people live somewhere in the middle, neither thriving nor dying, in a gray zone. We hold knives in our hands and softness in our hearts. We can be neither saints nor demons, only struggle to live in endless gray until we're reduced to ashes. 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 6 The Years I Wandered the Jianghu 我走过的江湖岁月 The day I went to the city with the 3,000 yuan the whole village had scraped together to seek help from my cousin, I caught him kneeling and kowtowing in his rented room, calling a burly man with a fierce face “Boss.” My first lesson in society: I thought my cousin was a respectable man who'd made it in the city. Turns out he was a thug who acted like a dog for others, and he wanted me to serve them tea and water too? I thought the city meant factory assembly lines and shared dormitories, a stab —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 7 Fearless Youth: The Vocational College Chronicles, Yu Chengfei's Story 年少轻狂之职院传：宇城飞的故事 This is a fanfiction based on The Reckless Years of Youth, telling the story of those days from Yu Chengfei’s perspective. I’ve tried to stay as faithful as possible to the original in writing Yu Chengfei’s story. Some parts may differ from the original because I’ve forgotten details or because the plot calls for it, and he may not match the image of Yu Chengfei you have in mind. Please accept my apologies in advance. This story shares a setting with my other fanfiction, The Reckless Years of Yo 158Reads7.4Score—14d adds
- 8 Youth! The Road of No Return 青春！不归路 Xu Tiancheng comes from a good family and has impeccable roots, but his grades are terrible, so his parents send him to a county boarding high school. He never expected his classmates to be a pack of demons. In this violent environment, six rebellious teenagers gradually set foot on a road of no return. —Reads—Score114d adds
- 9 After Becoming a Tragic Male Side Character, He Became Everyone's Favorite 穿成BE男配后他成了团宠 [Scheming, fragmented gong × goofy, wisecracking shou] (1v1) Xiang Bei drinks some mysterious milk and falls unconscious. He has a System and is assigned missions to win people over. Because it’s him, things tend to turn out differently. Here’s why. Xiang Bei! He’s romanced hundreds of virtual men, cleared multiple routes in romance games at record speed, and never taken a hit. He left his newly founded company in his younger brother’s hands, only to end up happily living as a shut-in layabout. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 10 The Underworld Boss Who Rose from a Small Town 从小地方走出来的黑道大哥 Li Xiao gripped a steel knife, facing the group of young street toughs before him without a hint of fear. He swore he would make Shi Longhu pay. Anyone who hurt his friends would pay the price... 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 11 The Legend of Lin Chusheng 林楚生的传奇 A fortune-teller once predicted that he would be a doormat. Then, on one rainy night, he chose a path of no return and carved a road to greatness through blood and fire. The price was his brothers and his own name. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 12 Border Town of the Past: Don’t Call Me a Vegetable Seller 过往边城：别叫我卖菜佬 The unfairness of fate has never been a reason for us to bow our heads. Human nature is nothing more than these two words split apart: some people have humanity, and some just have sex. I can't choose where I was born, but at least I can make sure they stop calling me a stinking vegetable peddler. The only constant is change. On this one-way road I'm destined to walk to the end, you can laugh at me all you want, but you can't stop me from dancing to my heart's content in this ill-intentioned age —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 13 Wolf Hunt 狼狩 Lin Qiwen watches his honest, hardworking parents get beaten right before his eyes. As a boy, he’s falsely accused and sent to juvenile detention. Five years later, he walks out and stirs up the underworld. Revenge is only the beginning. He wants far more than that. Watch Lin Qiwen climb step by step to the very peak of power! 624Reads6.6Score10214d adds
- 14 Tales of Qingdao: The Jia'ao Brothers 青岛往事：胶澳兄弟连 Nine young men with nothing to their names risked their lives to uphold one word, loyalty, amid an era of upheaval. They lost brothers, lovers, and their health. In the end, some became tombstones, some became legends, and some became ordinary people. But the words they spoke at Xiaogang Wharf in the early hours of the third day of the Lunar New Year in 1998, facing fifty men with machetes, carried more weight than any underworld code: “What the hell is there to be afraid of?” 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 15 A Man of the Jianghu 江湖混的人 What kind of people are these? They’re a rowdy bunch, a bunch who think they’re better than everyone else. The brothers we ran wild with back in the day. When our youth had passed and we looked back, some familiar faces were nowhere to be seen. Some had gone far away, some had faded into silence, and some were still eating from the same communal pot. Why? Because the road we took was one we could never turn back from. 1.4kReads8.2Score—14d adds
- 16 The Thirteen Peaks of Nancheng 南城十三峰 Nancheng, a lawless buffer zone where 120 factions carve up a chaotic world and thirteen powerful families look down on everyone else. People call them the Thirteen Peaks of Nancheng and the 120 Ridges of the Northern Kingdom. Police chiefs, Blackie, Brother Long, young masters and young gentlemen, students and PhDs: all as rare as phoenix feathers, their true nature obscured like flowers in the mist. Beneath this bustling world, undercurrents surge and untold stories lie hidden. 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 17 Young and Reckless: The Yu Chengfei Side Story 【年少轻狂】宇城飞外传 Yu Chengfei went from a boy anyone could bully to a ruthless figure no one at the vocational college dared provoke. He fought his way up through bloodshed and sheer grit. From a local overlord in Beiyuan City to an underground kingpin who dominated the south, he eventually made his way to the UAE and carved out a legend of his own overseas. Bloodshed and brotherhood marked every step of the way. Rising from the dust, beyond the rules, he became the brightest legend of all. All characters appeari 32Reads—Score—14d adds
- 18 I'm the Most Wanted Man in the Underworld, Yet I'm a Five-Star Citizen 黑道悬赏第一名，我是五星好市民 [1990s] + [Underworld] + [Ruthless] + [Political Scheming] + [Cunning] In this life, I’ve been poor, I’ve suffered, and I’ve been trampled underfoot. But I’ve never been afraid! When I’m down on my luck, I can bow my head and endure. When fortune is in my hands, I can stand tall. I’ve never cared for things like benevolence or morality. In the law of the jungle that ruled the underworld of the 1990s, staying alive was all that mattered. 23.8kReads7.2Score2.1k14d adds
- 19 The Underworld: Ruling the World 黑道：雄霸天下 An honest man avenges his wife and mother, wiping out the killer’s entire family in a single night! Wang Chao: “You violated my wife and broke my mother’s leg. If I had another chance, I’d do it all over again!” Wang Chao: “If nobody will step in, if nobody dares to, then I’ll take matters into my own hands!” 953Reads6.8Score10414d adds
- 20 After Getting Kicked Off the Police Force, I Took Down the City’s Criminal Underworld 被警队开除后：我掀翻全城黑恶 Forced to take off the uniform I wore to defend the righteous path, I won’t join the underworld. I’ll punish it and fleece it. I devise clever schemes and turn their own force against them, specializing in fleecing underworld bosses. I’ll take ill-gotten gains, clear out their criminal territory, and settle every score. Today they ignore me. Tomorrow there won’t be anywhere left for the wicked to swagger. I’m Xiao Zhang. I do things with a swagger, and I’m the godfather to every thug in the city 48Reads—Score—14d adds
- 21 Madman of the Martial World: Power Without Limits 江湖狂枭：权势滔天 Gao Wen has only one rule for life in the underworld: anything can be fake, but survival is always real. Gao Wen fought his way to a place in the underworld with his fists, only to be stabbed eight times while collecting a debt. His cousin Gao Lin is thrust into the role at a critical moment, and every faction is ready to make its move. There is the authority of the hospital security department, the interests surrounding the Second-Floor Restaurant, and enemies threatening to take his life... In 164Reads—Score—14d adds
- 22 The Inner Game of the Underworld 黑道风云局中局 On a stormy night in an unfinished building, Long Xiao, once the crime boss whose every footstep could make an entire street tremble, falls into the hands of the brother he trusted most! After a gangland betrayal, he goes from a king who could command the winds and rain to a hunted fugitive. The iron bars of the holding cell can lock him up, but they can't extinguish the fire in his eyes. His former underlings scatter like birds and beasts, while his enemies' spies are everywhere. No matter! Whe 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 23 The Underworld's Dark Domain Kingpin 地下秩序之暗域枭雄 The underground order shifts, and ruthless power players rise and fall in turn. Some rule through sheer brutality, others grow fabulously wealthy through schemes. Some bask in glory, while others lose everything and fall into disgrace. When an anti-crime storm sweeps across the land, every “underground emperor’s” golden dream crumbles! This is the most realistic history of the rise and fall of the criminal underworld. 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 24 The Old Days of Northern Jiangsu 苏北社会往事 This is not just a school story. It is a snapshot of an entire generation’s coming of age: On dignity: When fists become the “rules,” can books still defend our dignity? On choices: In the gray areas, how do we draw the line within ourselves? On leaving: That train ticket to Nanjing is the coming-of-age rite shared by every boy from northern Jiangsu. 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 25 The Gray Wolf at Dusk 暮夜苍狼 , a fiery youth and glorious days. He was once a bona fide second-generation gangster, but overnight he lost everything. Driven by hatred, he entered the jianghu and set foot on a path of no return. He is the proud Wolf King, a true leader! In his enemies' eyes, he is cunning and ruthless. In his brothers' eyes, he is loyal and devoted! From school to society, from having nothing to standing at the summit, he wrote a legend of his own. 5Reads—Score214d adds
- 26 Judgment on a Rainy Night in the City 都市之雨夜裁决 Judgment on a Rainy Night in the City 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 27 A Blood-Red Underworld 血红色的江湖 The martial world is a blood-red place... This is not a power fantasy. Through real-life experiences, it shows everyone just how cruel the martial world is, and warns them to stay out of it. Yang Hai, a young man from somewhere in Northeast China, was determined to enter the martial world. Ten years later, his heart has turned cold. The glories of the past have vanished like smoke, and all that awaits him is judgment! 1.7kReads—Score12414d adds
- 28 How the Bad Guy Was Made 2: The New Generation 坏蛋是怎样炼成的2：新世代 Ten years ago, Xie Wendong led the Wendong Association in sweeping through the underworld, bringing both the black and white worlds to heel. A decade later, the times have changed. Guns and blades have given way to capital, technology, and the dark web as the new battlegrounds. Just as the Wendong Association was going all-in on its transformation, Jiang Sen was assassinated, dark web forces began lurking in the city, and old allies suddenly returned. Under the surging undercurrents, a new gener 6.2kReads6.9Score59714d adds
- 29 Reborn: I Went on a Killing Spree in the Underworld 重生后我在黑道大开杀戒 [Everyday urban life + wild imagination + powerful lead + scheming + reborn + billionaire + thrilling and suspenseful + laugh-out-loud comedy + invincible face-slapping + underworld + big boss] Li Wei’s family is hounded by loan sharks until their lives are destroyed. Fleeing for his life, Li Wei loses his footing and falls to his death from the 21st floor. To his surprise, Li Wei is reborn as Mo Lingfeng, the son of the billionaire Mo Xiaotian. He gets his revenge using underworld methods. Afte 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 30 Black Panther: The Bloodstained Throne 黑豹：血色王座 [Black Gangster Revenge Thriller | Two Powerful Leads Raised Together | Strong Female Lead’s Growth | Ensemble Cast | Love Triangle Chaos] At twenty, she became the youngest female gang leader in Dong Province. But her story began in a corner of Dawnlight Orphanage, where Xiao Mo gave her a name. “A smile that can beguile Yangcheng and captivate Xia Cai. I want you to bloom into the most dazzling flower in the world.” She thought they would be together forever, until he fell into the hands of B 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 31 The Unyielding Fist 不屈的拳头 This is a world of black and white, with no shades of gray. Twin brothers were forced apart while still in their swaddling clothes, and from then on lived completely different lives. Years later, they meet again at the same high school... 66Reads—Score—14d adds
- 32 The Rise of the Wind and Clouds in 1990, Starting in Niujia Village 风云1990，从牛家村开始崛起 Name’s Goudan. The only college student in the village? Bullshit! Now all I want is to be the biggest bastard around! That old lecher Wang the Lame thinks he can touch Liu Xue, the goddess I’ve had a crush on since we were kids? And he even wants to strip her naked in front of everyone? My brother gets beaten, my goddess gets humiliated. How the hell am I supposed to swallow that? The old Goudan died with that slap. Let me introduce myself again: I’m Goudan. “Dog” as in son of a bitch, “dan” as —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 33 The Tiger Descends the Mountain 2 虎出山2 Fanfiction, fanfiction, fanfiction!!! [Who Can Match Me] [Young King] [Dragon Raises Its Head] [Tiger Emerges from the Mountain: Sequel] [Tiger Emerges from the Mountain: Fanfiction] [Tiger Emerges from the Mountain: Extra] After Li Hu defeated the Butcher, the Red Chamber honored him for his service, presenting him with a personally inscribed commendation and a wealth of honors. Later, he returned home in triumph to Xiang County and settled into a simple life. Unexpectedly, he ran into his ex-g 160Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 34 Reborn: The Principal of My Vocational School Calls Me Big Brother 重生，我在职高校长叫我大哥 Reborn on the first day of vocational high school, Fang Wu looked at the familiar school gates, his body trembling slightly. In his previous life, he drifted aimlessly, bullied and good for nothing, until he dropped dead at the factory from working himself to death over a twelve-year-old iPhone. This time, back at school, he would turn it into his own empire! While everyone else coasted through school, chased a diploma, or tried to make a name for themselves, Fang Wu brought the toughest stude 4.1kReads6.5Score28014d adds
- 35 On the Run 亡命天涯 A story from the jianghu, born of mental illness, so subversive it beggars the imagination. Mental illness. Dissociative identity disorder. Two completely different personalities. In the winter of 1982, a man left someone else’s house carrying a child. On his way home, he was shot dead, and the child was grazed across the cheek. In a single night, the child became an orphan. Just as a teacher was about to take him in, a man who claimed to be a friend of his father adopted him. In the end, he too 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 36 Bad Boy: The Sequel to No Rules, No Limits 不良之无法无天续写 Our youth was bold and unruly, and in our reckless years, brotherhood always came first! The martial world was full of excitement, but also rife with bloodshed, schemes, and deceit! Brothers stood by each other through life and death, but there was no shortage of backstabbing and betrayal! Loyalty endured with righteous strength, but even heroes could fall short and meet an untimely end! Power could make you stand above the crowd, but it also brought drunken excess and the ruin of everything you 1.2kReads—Score—14d adds
- 37 Underworld Days 江湖岁月 [Pure Gangster Fiction + Ensemble Cast + Realistic + Underdog Comeback + First Person] They say life in the underworld means living by the blade. I don’t care about that. All I know is that in my second year of high school, people called me a bastard and held me down to beat me. Calling the police was useless. The school did nothing. I couldn’t even afford to get my injuries examined. Then I took matters into my own hands. One brick, and I smashed Zhou Lei. From that day on, I was no longer Wang 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 38 A Pot of Liquor in Dongguan, Jimei, Come with Me 东莞一壶酒，集美跟我走 [Passionate Wuxia] [Love and Romance] [Humorous and Funny] Chen Hao’s wife died young, and he was so consumed by grief that he couldn’t pull himself out of it. Seeing how much he was suffering, his parents-in-law urged him to head south to Dongguan and seek help from his sister-in-law. But when he arrived in Dongguan, he discovered the shocking reason she had always been single... To save her from this living hell, Chen Hao had no choice but to raise his fists. After spending a while here, h 8.3kReads8.8Score1.4k14d adds
- 39 Black Ice 黑冰 In 1993, in Shenyang’s Tiexi District, mechanic Xu Mo is an honest man, until local gangster Zhao Hu comes knocking and one of his men slaps Xu Mo in the face in front of everyone. His master told him to stay on the straight and narrow before he died, but this world won’t let him live that way. He turns to four brothers: an orphan, a veteran, a laid-off worker, and a petty crook. Five men crushed to the very bottom of society stack their hands together in a rundown repair shop. “Hurt one of us, 448Reads—Score—14d adds
- 40 Heir to the Underworld: Xia Yu of Tianmen 黑道继承者之天门夏宇 Xia Yu, originally named Li Tian, is 18 and a member of Tianmen, a gang company in Haizhou. After offending someone he should never have crossed, he is forced to flee to a special school in Nanwu under his new identity, Xia Yu, accompanied by two loyal underlings. But this school is an educational institution in name only: in reality, it is a training ground where Nanwu’s four major gangs groom their successors, and the gangs’ junior leaders vie for power behind the scenes. Reborn with the hard- 1.1kReads—Score—14d adds
- 41 Tales of the Underworld in Dongguan 莞城江湖往事 The jianghu isn’t a world of free-spirited heroes, revenge, and fine clothes atop spirited steeds. It’s a filthy, chaotic reality twisted by darkness! I, Zhang Xingheng, entered the jianghu to play the game of schemes and use my brains. Everything in the world was part of my calculations, including myself! So, you ask why I succeeded? Because every big shot in the jianghu fell victim to my schemes! They fell amid blades, guns, and blood! From the moment I stepped into the jianghu, every big shot 11.4kReads6.8Score65114d adds
- 42 South City's Fierce Eagle: No Way Out 南城雄枭：上天无门 The son of a dockworker starts with nothing but the grief of his father's murder. Over ten years, amid the blood and fire of a southern port city, he builds an underground empire with his own hands. Then, in the sweeping tide of the crackdown on organized crime, he makes the most difficult choice of his life. 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 43 My Thirty Years 我这三十年 You can take this seriously, or just read it for fun. From one era to the next, the world has changed many times over. We can leave the public upheavals aside for now. How much of what happens in the city after dark can ordinary people like us really know? After the 1979 self-defense counterattack ended, Qichao's father, Qilin, took advantage of the call to support local economic development and volunteered to leave the military and return to civilian life. He brought along Qijing, who was alrea 11Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 44 The Reckless Youth 不良之狂妄青春 “Smash anything you see! Hit anyone you see! Flatten No. 6 High School!” I’m Zhang Ling. I’d only just started high school when I crossed the school’s resident delinquents. At first, I fought back just to protect myself. But as one problem after another came along, it wasn’t so easy to walk away. Before I knew it, I’d become the top delinquent in the school... 18Reads—Score—14d adds
- 45 Legend of the Black Flag 黑旗传说 A bloody journey through the underworld, alongside a band of passionate young men who live for vengeance and loyalty. Who says the modern city has no underworld? When Wei Tianyi was born, strange signs appeared in the heavens, and his mother died in childbirth. A wandering fortune-teller declared that he was born with the Three Extinctions fate. His father feared being dragged down by him and fled to another land. Wei Tianyi was raised by his grandmother, and after she died, he and the brothers 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 46 Bloodshed and the Rise of a Young Man 血染，少年崛起 (This work is set in a fictional world and contains science fiction elements.) This is a story about brotherhood and the code of the underworld... Do good people really get what they deserve? Do so-called bad people have their own reasons...? In these chaotic times, perhaps the only way forward is to join the underworld. The saying that good and evil are always repaid in the end is nothing but words meant to comfort people. Before true power, perhaps we are no more than ants. Perhaps only after 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 47 Ten Years Later, I Became a Gang Boss One Step at a Time 十年后，我一步一步成为帮派大佬 Ten years ago, I, Lei Zhen, was nothing but a good-for-nothing whom everyone despised... But remember this: You may look down on an old man with white hair, but never look down on a young man just because he’s poor... Ten years later, a mysterious gang quietly rose from the shadows of the city. Its leader, Lei Zhen, used his exceptional leadership and iron-fisted methods to carve out a path for his men through the city. But their rise drew the covetous attention of other powers, and one bloody c —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 48 The Gangster Heiress 黑帮名媛 In a dog-eat-dog world, only the capable rise to the top, whether man or woman. When self-interest is at stake, family ties are the most likely defense to hold until the end. Every member of the Song family is a fine actor. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 49 Who Can Compete? A First-Year's Rise to the Top 谁与争锋：高一立棍实录 [School gangsters] + [old-school hoodlums] + [always get even] + [scheming] When sixteen-year-old Wu Dong walked into No. 3 High School, all he wanted was to get through high school in peace. But a kick to the chest in the bathroom and protection money slapped across his face pushed him to the other side of the rules. When the top student’s glasses shattered on the ground, he understood one thing: around here, weakness earns no respect. He joined forces with his childhood friend Lei Dalei, who w 168Reads—Score—14d adds
- 50 The Brothers’ Comeback 哥几个的逆袭人生 The six brothers each have their own area of expertise. They struggle up from the bottom of society until they reach the very top. (This story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental.) 774Reads—Score10314d adds
