Returning to 1995: Contentment with Modest Prosperity

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Jian Li died. A heart attack from working 996 hours as a corporate s*ave, combined with low blood sugar from skipping meals to lose weight, led to her untimely death when she couldn’t catch her breath.

After dying, Jian Li realized one thing: in her next life, she would never chase after success again.

Life is about two things — eating and drinking. She would absolutely never diet and would enjoy each day as it came.

When she opened her eyes again, Jian Li found herself back in 1995 — when she was just in her second year of middle school.

Her mom had a stall in the market selling sesame flatbreads.

Her dad was about to be laid off the following year.

Jian Li looked down at her 180-pound body and her test paper with a score of 18. Covering her eyes in despair, she groaned…

Associated Names
One entry per line
重回九五之小富即安
Related Series
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Recommendations
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Recommendation Lists
  1. Period Setting Girlbossing
  2. WTR / CURRENT READ 1st Half 2025
  3. Shanghai Fantasy Translations (Part 2)
  4. SOL / POOR TO RICH, yoo~ pt2
  5. Doting family

Latest Release

Date Group Release
08/02/25 Shanghai Fantasy c50
08/02/25 Shanghai Fantasy c49
08/02/25 Shanghai Fantasy c48
07/06/25 Shanghai Fantasy c47
07/06/25 Shanghai Fantasy c46
06/24/25 Shanghai Fantasy c45
06/24/25 Shanghai Fantasy c44
06/04/25 Shanghai Fantasy c43
06/04/25 Shanghai Fantasy c42
06/04/25 Shanghai Fantasy c41
04/19/25 Shanghai Fantasy c40
04/19/25 Shanghai Fantasy c39
03/26/25 Shanghai Fantasy c38
03/26/25 Shanghai Fantasy c37
03/26/25 Shanghai Fantasy c36
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Shortk
New Shortk rated it
July 16, 2025
Status: Completed
I was actually really enjoying this but I'm sorry but I'm on my high rocker okay. This was written in 2025 And the main character is from the future. So even if she went back to through the 2000s. What right does she have literally what right does she have to perpetuate stereotypes about mental illness in order to insult people and to obviously confuse them. I understand she's like trying to get people out by her side using the typical stereotypes that we're really prevalent during that time period.... more>> But unnecessary.

Yes it's a crime to be honest that a guy can make rumors about a girl just because there's some images with her being with her father and making such slanderous rumors during a period where obviously women were not viewed very well in terms of like the fact that they had to protect themselves and they were the reason why or something for bad rumors. Yeah that sucks but then why do you have to perpetuate homophobic behavior and language. Literally using the only way you can think of bringing him down is using the stereotypes and hate perpetuated towards gay people and also insinuating that gay people are all holding diseases in order to hurt him. Yes he hurt you but like could you do it another way? Genuinely. There was another way. This was written in 2025 babes. Even if she is transported back to the early 2000s right now during her college years, she's supposed to be a woman from 2025 hello? This author is from 2025? Yes I know they're probably utilizing tactics that were very effective for getting people upset and disliking the other person from that time era in order for her to get that person off the main characters back for doing something shitty like making bad rumors, but you could have made bad rumors not a perpetuating homophobic language and stereotypes. That are genuinely hurtful to other people not just him. It's like crazy. I'm sorry I just cannot accept that. I actually was really enjoying this novel. But that is the end of the line for me I can't recommend this novel. I would recommend it for casual reading but other than that don't expect anything. I mean I know a lot of people read this not expecting anything. But I try to find bits of like diamonds in even the most like fluffy kind of novels like this. Because there can be unique ones and there can be very engaging ones. And I think this is engaging but just sorry no that is unfortunate but I'm never going to increase my rating because of that.

Update: I finished it. I always was going to. I think story wise I like it and I like how detailed did was at least until the end. I think the end always feels a little more rushed with these kind of slice of life for some reason even though they took their time the entire novel and then some reason the end is just like a a rush of words when if they took the time in the beginning then why didn't they take their time at the end but sure. Even then though it's still good. Story wise. But yeah the romance is a suggestion. It's not bad but it's just a suggestion really. It happens and there's only a couple lines really about it once they get together. But even honestly the chasing wasn't that much except a suggestion. So that's a bit of a disappointment but family wise it's very wholesome I guess. But moral wise kind of problematic like I said earlier. Those two remarks were very brief but they were always used as insults so I just think it's a very interesting frame of mind for the author to use it considering the reader is still a modern reader of 2025 regardless of the fact that she is going back into time to the early 2000s. So there must be some level of the author thinking that the modern-day readers will not find it offensive it just like interesting. I guess it's a short line so maybe I'm crazy for being offended but I think some things maybe especially for a certain minority group maybe you don't have to like perpetuate stereotypes about In a negative connotation like an insult When there are so many other ways to insult a person. But anyways. That's my two cents. <<less
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Loganlock
Loganlock rated it
March 1, 2025
Status: Completed
So good!! Fun light novel. Great characters development. Easy to mtl. Really love the story buildup although with little romance but its still cute, sweet and really love how the author prioritize family bonding in this slice of life story!

Thanks to the author n kudos to the translator <3 Recommended👍🏻
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Vylzana
Vylzana rated it
June 6, 2025
Status: c176
It's definitely a nice go-back-in-time novel with a smart MC that takes things step-by-step as to how to better and resolve all of her past grievancies. I like how she doesn't obviously remember everything in her childhood — my main gripe with most back-to-the-past novels. Looks to be a great read though I would honestly appreciate it if we had an appendix or something of everyone's names and their connections to the MC (It gets too confusing with the amount of characters, specially with all her aunts and uncles)

Alas,... more>> as the free chapters are only upto 43 I guess this will go back to the shelf until I find an alternate site or have the brainpower to understand the mtl.. Though it definitely seems like a novel I would binge through the night, still a 5/5 based on what I initially read!

review as of mtl-ing up to 176

Spoiler

While I would still recommend it, I can't say that the story was much compelling during the further chapters. The MC's entire high school life was barely glimpsed as the author focused on her parents and their other relationships with other characters - though it looks like the MC is becoming the focus again once she entered college. As I read it, it was more like a drawn-out epilogue as the MC's grievances seemed to have been mostly resolved during the first half. Not to mention the sheer amount of characters that you have to keep in mind, MC hardly has any problems as the story goes.

I liked how the author put some emphasis on other side characters, giving them some mini arcs and having them solve most of their problems without much input from MC or her parents. In a way, you can say that about half the novel focused on the characters that were not the MC and how MC's actions affected them in some butterfly effect. Definitely more of a family novel with way too many different branches.

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Saffari
Saffari rated it
April 8, 2025
Status: Completed
This novel just hits the spot! It's wholesome, cozy, and warm, great for a chill read, especially if you're tired of those dog-blood dramas focused on revenge and standing on top of the world. Our protagonist just wants to live a happy life with her family, she's not interested in doing too much.

Jian Li lived a tough life in her first go-around. Her parents were both factory workers who both haven't had easy lives but who love their daughter very much. Papa Jian is a classic tough but sentimental man,... more>> he's had a tragic upbringing that made him susceptible to being taken advantage of by those who helped him when he was young. Meanwhile, Mama Wang is the fierce tiger of the family who's secretly really soft with her own daughter. She's from a family who favored sons over daughters, and is protective over Jian Li. Our protagonist's parents love her very much, and are both determined to provide her with a future free of their own tribulations. It becomes truly evident throughout the novel that Jian Li's love for her parents is well-deserved.

If this novel had a motto, it would be 'slow and steady'. You can really appreciate the family's rise in circumstances is gradual and steady. It's a reasonable progress that makes the characters appreciate their progress. Some novels have a tendency of making everything go well for the main characters, making them only meet good people, and all the bad people they meet getting their supposedly deserved bad endings, but it's not the case for this story.

The Jian-Wang family meets all sorts of people, not all of them good, not all of them even staying good, but the conclusion of their meetings and partings are always reasonable. The novel tends to be gracious for most of its characters, treating them with respect to their circumstances and acknowledging how their own backgrounds and environment influences the choices they make. Bad guys get to redeem themselves and become better people if they choose to, and if they persevere, they can earn their happy ending, too.

While Jian Li, by the end of the novel, is considerably 'the neighbor's child' that everyone's parents compare their own children to, I wouldn't say that her achievements are unreasonable. While she's high achieving and accomplished, it's not to the point of ridiculousness. While a top student of her class, there are those who achieve better than her in her year. Her accomplishments are always equal to the efforts she applies herself to.

Her parents also work very hard to improve themselves. Jian Li doesn't carry the burden of carrying her whole family to the top of the mountain. At most, she nudged her parents to a certain direction very early on and speaks out when she thinks it's necessary, but even she is surprised at her own parents' capabilities when they are given the chance to grow beyond the walls of their cotton mill factory.

Another thing that I love about this novel is that Jian Li tries to make the life of the people around her better. This is particular to her own cousins who led tough lives after being pushed and prodded by their own parents to particular oaths their parents projecting their own life experiences, dreams, and insecurities to them. I really love how the Wang family got to improve their lives, as well as the relationships among the family. Granted, none of them are perfect, but they try.

My only gripe about the novel is that near the end of the story, Jian Li comes into conflict with what is essentially the prototype of a toxic netizen in their university forum who slanders her reputation by claiming that she's dating a rich old man and must have gotten into their prestigious uni through unscrupulous means, which, spoiler alert:
Spoiler

the man is her dad

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Jian Li resolves this by first telling the truth of the matter, then by digging out the poster's identity and confronting him in real life, exposing his other posts about friends and women, as well as suing the poster in court. Unfortunately, before she does this, she has her friends slander him back by falsely accusing him of being gay in the same forum. Jian Li herself posts something particularly offensive behind a username.
Spoiler

something about everyone knowing that gay people are infected and maybe the poster has infected his girlfriend as well

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Jian Li supposedly says this to make the poster get his fair share of false controversy, but this makes her terribly hypocritical especially when she sues him for defamation, later.

All in all, the novel is a great read that leaves you cheering for the characters and wishing the best for all of them. I'm not ashamed to say that the end left me a tad emotional. <<less
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