Family/Village/Clan/Wealth Building, Poor to Rich, Business Management
Family/Village/Clan/Wealth Building, Poor to Rich, Business Management
Any recommendations are very welcome! All the family/village/kingdom building poor to rich, wealth making business type of stories I've read because this is one of my favourite tropes of all time! Including any business management! (Just discovered there is a tag for it haha) Its just that usually its not done very well or only the kingdom building is good and the characters and scaling is so bad its not enjoyable to read anymore. The stories included will have things like improving the quality of life of the village/kingdom, introducing modern advancements into an ancient/medieval culture type of place. And with likeable characters to keep you going. I'll only include the novels where I read 100% of it or most of it. Probably won't include any dropped novels.
Hard-Working ProtagonistModern KnowledgeCraftingAncient ChinaAncient TimesBusiness ManagementPoor to RichClan BuildingFarmingKingdom Building
44 Followers
Created: Aug 22nd, 2022, Updated: Jul 4th, 2025
Created Aug 22nd, 2022
Updated Jul 4th, 2025
CN (3.8)
373 Chapters Every 26.5 Day(s) 4034 Readers 51 Reviews 07-29-2024
3.9 Stars On-Hold:C208... more>>
Overall
Currently, I'm waiting for more chapters to be TLed before I go back to finish it. It will probably take a year++ lol. I am enjoying it so far. I would rate it as 3.9 ish so far?
Writing/Translation: 3.9/5
The translation I read is from ontimestory up to C106. It's pretty good, no complaints. The rest I read through mtl. It is understandable most of the time. And how to say, thte story is a typical poor to rich ancient time type of story so I didn't need to know everything to get the direction of the story iykyk.
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CN (4)
176 Chapters Every 15 Day(s) 1117 Readers 14 Reviews 12-17-2024
3.87 Stars... more>>
Date Read: 27/3/2025
Personal Enjoyment: 3.9/5
I love myself a decent 70’s era type story. This one is 1998 though but the tone and vibe is the same. It has a lot of flaws but I still enjoyed myself. Guilty pleasure anyone?
My personal issue was how rather depressing everyone else's life felt. They were all poor, then they started being able to improve their lives after so much hard work. But then, even after that, they get swayed by the rich people's vices. Friends go astray, friends die, people get older and sicker, regret and loss types of what-ifs. Sigh.
In addition to that, the wealthy people they get to know, also have a horrible time. Child trafficking, husbands cheating, wrong identity, sigh. I wanted a more escapism-type story not get hit by the grim realities of the world lol.
Plot: 4/5
The business details isn't that detailed because it's done by the husband. But I surprisingly didn't mind because I feel like there are progress being made and the Mc isn't a passive person. She also does things to move the story along. Especially when dealing with family and close friend matters.
Despite my issues, it was decent. Something was always happening to keep my interest. Most of it was how the Mc lived her life raising her kid in a less ideal environment, dealing with the in-laws, studying, and communicating with the scary husband. It moved on to more of that and also how the husband was making money, seeing how past bad events can be solved or avoided, helping friends and so on.
It was more of the same as the Ml’s business grew bigger, the intimate scale of the issues surprisingly didn't feel too big and distant. The humanising feeling of them was still down to earth. Like issues with bullying or imposter syndrome. Then with the wealthy people's issues, all the problems introduced were still personal types such as feelings of anger and betrayal when one's father keeps a mistress outside. The focus is more on the personal effect. I like this. I just don't like how depressing it all is haha. Even when you get rich, life is still so messy.
Writing/Translation: 3.6/5
The translation I read is from Shanghai Fantasy. I feel the translation or maybe the author's writing is worse than the Sweet Stepmother in the 60’s story. Lots of pronoun and name errors, different translations of the same paragraphs and a couple of cut off sentences.
The biggest issue for me was how contradictory the characters were written. I'm not sure if this is a translation issue or a writing issue. In the first chapter, the MC transmigrates into a pregnant lady and doesn't know anything. Then her mother-in-law came over to give money and food while complaining she was lazy. Which, I can understand from her view the MC just slept while her son was at the police lockup. So I thought the OGbody was a bad woman and the mother-in-law was just annoyed at her. The MC too. It wasn't written that she went to bail out her husband and leisurely spent all that money that I thought was to bail him out.
Then, a lot later in the chapters, we find out she did pay bail for him from his brother's pov. Bad writing this was. Furthermore, the mother-in-law was portrayed as some annoying lady a few chapters later. Then why did she give vegetables and money so freely in the first chapter? According to her character from later on, she wouldn't have cared?? Contradictory.
Now for the baby. It was constantly written that she has no fear of strangers and wouldn't cry when picked up by them. But then later on, she's written as being pretty shy. Did the author forget what she wrote before? Or is this some quirk of Chinese writing that is hard to translate into understandable English?
Pacing: 4/5
Pacing is good. No parts felt too slow or rushed. Some parts did feel slow like one sentence before something interesting happens.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.8/5
I think it could be better but still, it is pretty decent. Lots of different places, schools, rural homes, cities and towns. I do wish it was more detailed.
Characters: 3.9/5
A good variety of characters for this type of novel. The Mc is fine. The Ml is very good. Love the character development. The child is okay. The friends and family are all unique. No NPCs.
Romance: 3.9/5
The romance is one of the better ones. The ML respects the MC and I like that. The romance is also pretty gradual and not insta love. They like each other because of their actions for one another. It makes sense.
I also like that the s*x isn't ridiculous where the guy chases after it uncomfortably all the time while the girl is reluctant. Here, the MC also likes it and wants it. It feels so natural and normal lol. Luckily it's not explicit.
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CN (4.2)
190 Chapters Every 35.3 Day(s) 4191 Readers 29 Reviews 03-14-2024
C150... more>>
3.857 Stars
Date Read: 1/4/2025
Personal Enjoyment: 3.9/5
It was a bit above average for me. Love the business management parts. I quite liked how rooted in reality it felt to expand the business. It wasn't built on plot armour, dreams and convenience lol. Did not like any of the romances. They felt so... childish somehow? It felt like a young teen’s version of a romance.
Short Summary: MC transmigrates himself into an ancient china world with gers. He sets up an income stream with a snack stall and slowly builds up into a couple of restaurants. Along the way, he deals with getting the ger, helping his family out and then making connections to help his business.
Plot: 4/5
Decent. The poor to rich part is above average. I have nothing to complain about. I also like that the scale is still small and intimate. Although the MC grows the business bigger, it still feels like he's a hands-on person instead of completely hands-off. If he isn't in the restaurant, he's busy doing other business management stuff. It still feels like progress even near the end of the story.The last 10+ chapters seem to be about pregnancy and babies which I'm not interested in lol. So I'm gonna stop there.
Writing/Translation: 4.2/5
The translation I read is from hololonovels. Quite good. They added a ton of food pictures so it adds to the atmosphere. They also added AI art at the top of the scenery or the characters as well.
Pacing: 3.8/5
The romance parts are pretty predictable and kinda annoying to read through so I skipped all of them. The business aspect though was good. I like how we don't get stuck in numerous days of the MC cooking a new dish over and over with nothing else happening which is common in other slice-of-life cooking novels. This one, there are variations. Like in the morning, they cook something new, and the next they cook something new to sell.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.9/5
A generic ancient China type of world. However, the town/city has a busy port and that is pretty refreshing. So they have fish and shrimp and stuff like that that is new for me in these types of stories. Nice. I also like that the city on the other side of the river also has some effect on the story. The world feels bigger.
Characters: 3.7/5
The characters are okay. The side characters are all different and not just there to prop up the MC. But it does feel like some of the other characters got a bit forgotten lol.
Romance: 3.5/5
The romance is pretty meh. The main one, the power imbalance feels too one-sided. It felt like the MC was g*ooming the ML to become someone to his taste. The ML was already 20 but the MC was a lot more educated and also from a modern society so he kept teaching and training the ML to be more confident, talk back, have his own opinions, and be open to s*x etc etc. I don't know if it feels a bit icky or not since all those things are good for the ML to know but I just don't know how I feel about the MC doing it so he can have a partner he likes.
I also am not a fan of the completely unnecessary secrets the ML keeps. The misunderstandings and stuff from that feel so dull. It's not even the annoying misunderstandings that cause s*upid conflict. It's just he kept secrets and then during the thing he has to explain it all later anyway? Like nothing about any of it was contentious or worrying. It added nothing positive OR negative to the story so what was even the point? It felt like a waste of pages lol. You can remove those parts and absolutely nothing would change. It only happened a couple of times I guess.
The side character romance. Goodness, was it weirdly boring. The surprising thing was that the ger is a lively person and was likeable at the beginning. I don't understand how the romance became so boring. It might be because he was weirdly oblivious when he was the one who teased the ML about his before. And also, because he had strong opinions of marrying for love, you would think he would actively go out and get a guy. But the romance was the other guy kept coming on to his oblivious face until it was obvious to him. That feels so boring. I completely skipped all of his romance and don't feel like I missed anything important
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CN (4.4)
223 Chapters Every 2.7 Day(s) 7996 Readers 132 Reviews 05-25-2021
3.8 Stars... more>>
Translation/Writing
I read the translations by Foxaholic. There are some typos, awkward sentences and grammar mistakes but you get used to them and the translation improves as the story goes. It's definitely quite readeable though and doesn't break the immersion once you get used to it. The translator is pretty enthusiatic in the translating with footnotes so no worries on not getting it. It feels a bit like the level of English is not as fluent as Chinese. No hate though, they know 2 languages haha. As for the writing style, it's not bad, it doesn't focus heavily on just dialogue or just descriptions.
Plot
It's slice of life, making a better life by farming and doing business in the first half, then the capital arc twice, and then a modern world arc. I definitely liked the slice of life, farming and business making way more than the capital parts until the end. Once they become important figures in the capital, we don't get that slice of life warmth anymore. Other than that, there are unfinished plot threads or plot holes in the story. One is the part where there was foreshadowing with the MC helping a pickpocket that apparently will be a super good turn later in the story but it was never mentioned again. Another was the MC's real body, what happened to it? The MC appeared in a 14-year-old's body but we find out in the modern world arc that his body had actually disappeared. I also feel like at the halfway point, the author didn't really know what exactly they wanted to write and was rushed to finish. It was like they included some plot points, then decided they didn't want it and rushed the plot points to the end.
The capital part I actually didn't mind and still enjoyed in spite of some things that I didn't like. First is the whole medicine stuff. I found it rather unbelievable. The MC with zero training can use all these practical diagnosis techniques like just by feeling the pulse, he can tell what ailments they have faced, how many years in between ailments, how long to live etc, all unrelated to what, blood pressure? Heartbeats per minute? Too unbelievable.
But then, after this, they had to rebuild a county. This was done so quickly, it only took a few chapters, none of the detail from the first half. We only got the broad strokes. Then, we get to go back to the modern world. I have no idea what the author actually wanted to do here. The acclimation of the ancient people to the modern world felt like a joke. In what, 5 days/ They can move around in the modern world like they were born there? -.- Next, it felt like they set up lots of stuff like career for the ML, acting for the twins, medicine stuff for the MC, the MC's original family who treated him badly, but then they made the MC change his mind to just have fun sightseeing. It felt like lots of things were left hanging kinda. Then, very quickly they went back to the ancient world again, the end.
Themes/What Story Tried to Achieve
I think the author meant for this novel to be pure wish fulfilment and self-indulgent for themselves haha. There are so many tropes in here that some do feel out of place. I was expecting a mostly farming/business making story but it has more stuff. First was the golden finger space of the MC. This is Ancient China so I was expecting like 85% of the story to be kinda realistic and 15% of the story to be able to happen because of the golden finger. So I thought this space was the golden finger. But then we get cultivators with all the related cultivator elements like pills, moving the Force, controlling other people, spirit sensing, soul leaving the body, illusions, flying, etc. This was kind of a genre clash for me but eh, I went with it. After that, we find out the old man who thought the ML fell through space to get there so he was the only cultivator in the world at that point so then I felt, wow, now there are space time elements too? So then it feels not realistic anymore but it's not really a fantastical setting because really only the main couple uses these fantastical elements. Not only are there too many and too clashing, they've been expanded way too little. Like it just says, there are pill refining and tool refining workshops and books but this was told in like one sentence and all the processes and ingredients and whatnot weren't explained at all. This happened for basically every golden finger except the business parts. So I really wished the author had just stuck to farming and making money because that was the most interesting to read! And actually relateable haha
It can feel self-indulgent, as I said, some parts feel like fanfiction to me. An example is when the couple made a stable high income and finally got good clothes, the description of those clothes and how amazing the author described definitely felt like fanfiction because it was only then that the author really described anyone's clothing in that much detail lol. And then they added all those tropes I said above to give the couple as many good things as possible. So much emergency money, the mystical space that was actually created by a random artificer and alchemist from dunno where that was never spoken of again, intelligent pets that can also cultivate, babies bron from 2 male parents, cultivator powers in a non-cultivator world, a mysterious past ML etc etc.
Pacing
As you can tell, the first half felt smooth more or less but then the ending felt kinda messy and in the end, quite rushed like the author just wanted to end it lol. Also, since from almost the beginning, we knew that the ML had saved a lot of money, there really is no urgency to make money. Just to have a peace of mind to have steady cashflow. I didn't really mind because it is slice of life and they could still live better.
Characters
The MC and ML were likeable. I really loved the first half when the 2 of them were cultivating feelings with each other, getting to know each other, taking action to improve their lives together and just spending time during holidays together. It was wholesome to read about haha.
The side characters are unique and nice to follow. The 2 kids that appear halfway through the story are also developed haha. It is too bad the village characters got left behind after the 2nd half. Then we don't really spend that much time with any side characters anymore unless you count the Emperor which I don't. He's kind of a villain to me since he made it so the main couple had to leave the village.
As for the bad guys, they were satisfying by making drama everywhere and I liked seeing them get beat down by the MC effortlessly hahaha. It's just that their final end all happened suddenly, randomly and offscreen. It's like living with a roar and then dying with a whimper. We don't personally see their end. The MC gets to know what happened to them from a 3rd party for all of these bad guys. So that wasn't satisfying. They were all conveniently taken out of the story just like that.
Overall
Overall, despite all the negative things I wrote above, I enjoyed my time reading this story. The first half alrd justified my time haha. It was interesting, there is a lot of delicious food, lots of cosy heartwarming scenes with the ML, etc. I did not feel like I wanted to stop reading at any point. I know this is no literary masterpiece and I am only here for my guilty pleasure, poor to rich, farming and business making tropes haha. As long as the main couple are halfway likeable, the writing doesn't break my immersion, and I can ignore everything else.
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CN (4)
233 Chapters Every 39 Day(s) 1540 Readers 19 Reviews 01-06-2024
3.8 Stars... more>>
Date Read: 8/5/2024
Personal Enjoyment: 3.9/5
Happy to find another poor-to-rich story with lots of business ideas. Pretty long too. However, there wasn't a lot on the emotional side of things that would have carried the story more and covered up a lot of the poor parts of the story. There wasn't much time spent on the relationships. The MC side is even less so. The poor parts need to have suspension of disbelief lol. The modern technology brought over starred bicycles y'all. I enjoyed it enough for the money making and business side nonetheless though it could have been a lot better. I can understand why the rating is more than those 3+ stars but not higher than 4 now haha. It really fits.
Short Summary: 30-year-old assassin transmigrates into some ancient China-esque era as a widow with 5 young dependents, 2 of whom are the eldest just a married couple. She strong-arms her way into living richly in the countryside through a lot of poor-to-rich business ideas. Along the way, she also solves everyone's problems because they keep coming to her for solutions. Zero romance, she remained a widow until the end.
Plot: 3.9/5
The whole plot is pretty long actually which I liked. The poor-to-rich aspect was nice and a bit more detailed than others. Despite this though, a lot of the midway business ideas started to feel unbelievable. Even for this type of story. The MC is OP. She knows a lot of random knowledge in a lot of detail enough to replicate them in this backwards era from scratch. Bicycles for example. Waterways too. Why would she need to know such things lol.
The story also has the usual capital and war plot even though she doesn't move to the capital at all. Luckily, it really is only at the very end. Not a fan of war so I wasn't interested at all.
There are other inconsistencies that you just have to take with a grain of salt. Like everyone commenting how very different the MC is but never justifying the change in behaviour even in their heads.
Writing/Translation: 3.8/5
The translation I read is from akkNovel. Some minor translation mistakes like Bay instead of family branch or something similar. Overall it is pretty understandable with only some minor hiccups when the name is the wrong person but from context, I could understand the correct person.
Also, some of the naming is left untranslated so I'll explain here a bit. There are 4 sons so Da is big, Da Zhuang is the eldest son who's married. Er means 2nd so any combination of Er something is the 2nd son. San is 3 so San anything is the 3rd son. Sometimes the author appends Er to the end of the name and this is an affectionate suffix. Xiao Si is Little Four so he's the 4th and youngest son. The translator didn't make it clear and the names can become one word or three words.
Pacing: 3.7/5
Some of the business stuff was pretty detailed but some felt like the achievement came, was done and is on to the next one in a short amount of time. Or the story just didn't elaborate on the time in between business ideas so it felt fast. Again, this might have been fixed or be more hidden if the author had added some genuine family heartwarming scenes with feelings to take place between businesses.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.8/5
Because it is so long, there was some variety in the setting. The village, town, county, border, palace, mountains, forests etc. Unfortunately, most of them are pretty generic. But some places do get expanded apun like the MC’s home, the mountains and a few others. Still could have been better.
Characters: 3.7/5
Characters are all mostly one note. The minor young adult antagonists had a bit of character development and were more fun for me than any of the good guys lol. The MC is quite OP and every single person is heavily dependent on her. So they never come up with their own thing. It never got annoying like some other similar stories but it was noticeable.
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CN (4.5)
133 Chapters Every 26.7 Day(s) 6354 Readers 66 Reviews 12-07-2024
3.7 Stars... more>>
Personal Enjoyment: 4/5
I rather liked it. The business management side which is what I usually come to these transmigrate to ancient china, poor to rich stories for, is not quite the focus. But what is there I did like to read about. The thing that carried me through were the characters, a bit rare in these types of stories. The dynamic of the relationship between the couple was nice and a bit sweet. The gong MC really respects the ML. I was a bit put off by his intro because he was rather combative, loud and a little reckless. But once he transmigrates, I love how he acts toward his husband. I also like the ML here. The character setting setup is similar to "The Only Favoutire Ugly Husband." But the MC here is far less forceful towards the ML than that one. I like their dynamic here more. The ML also has character development and isn't just a wallflower. The changes in the ML between the end and the beginning are different haha. Like it! Furthermore, the ML comes from a wealthy family and is a martial artist, whereas the MC comes from a low-income family and is a businessman and scholar. Their expertise is different and I also like that. The ML felt like a proper character in a story.
However, some of the things lacking are: one, the translation after C59 does not exist so you have to rely on MTL. The experience surprisingly, doesn't really suffer despite that. It would have been preferable, however, if I had read the entire translated version. Next, the drama and potential faceslapping situations aren't resolved by the main characters. The plot just happens to naturally face slap the villains by other higher-up characters instead. It's too bad but it didn't really bother me. Just a missed opportunity. Next, as usual for most poor to rich, transmigrate to ancient times, business management type stories, I wish there were more detail in all they do.
Writing/Translation: 3.5/5
The translation from C1 to C59 I read is from Yummy Yogurt. I wouldn't say it was great but it is at least quite readable. Common careless mistakes, but it doesn't interrupt the flow too much. I would rate it 3/5. The rest I read seems to be MTL at the readwn website. It's at MTL level, but it actually isn't bad. You still have to put in some effort to read it but anything you don't fully understand won't impact your understanding of what is happening. Since it's MTL, in one sentence, the order of its parts might be messed up. So you have to rearrange it in your head. There will also be some wrong nouns or weird names but you can either guess the correct person or it doesn't matter if you don't know who it is. The level of understanding the MTL is like trying to understand a little kid who doesn't quite grasp the language yet and has a habit of saying things too fast before his mind can arrange them properly. So the grammar and everything else are not correct at all but you can guess what the little kid is trying to tell you, more or less. Also, if you read this type of poor to rich, transmigration to ancient times type of novels, it's even easier to guess what is happening because of how familiar you are with the tropes. Like if the little kid is your own child, you can almost mind read the kid lol. I got pretty used to it by the end.
Pacing: 3.5/5
It was a little stuttering. There will be lots of parts where things are just going as normal, then suddenly, the characters just decide to go to the capital and within 3-4 sentences, they go from living a normal life to packing up and setting off immediately with no pondering or discussion. There are also not few parts that goes to the next event so quickly like that.
Plot: 3.7/5
Fyi, the parallel modern world plot line is chapter 44, 67, then the extras. Also, I am not sure if chapter 67 should be the start of the modern story instead of chapter 44, it isn't clear. Also, it definitely feels like it was unfinished. The MC is basically cast out of the family and at the end of the last extra chapter, he found a potential networking opportunity but we don't know why, what for, or how he's going to get it.
The main plot. It's story is a typical poor farmer, a big shot in the village, who passes exams, sets up restaurants, passes more important exams, sets up restaurants in more lucrative places, etc. There is a battle/war arc at the end which I surprisingly did not mind and kind of enjoyed. Normally, I don't like wars and fighting to interrupt my peaceful and calming farm life stories but the war arc really flowed well with the story and there were lots of instances where the MC doing modern knowledge in the war so that definitely helped. It was also quite short and the language was simple so the war didn't feel dark and grim. I only wish the MC was more direct with his faceslapping.
Romance: 4/5
The romance was rather nice actually. The MC is the gong but he is quite caring and has lots of respect for the ML’s silent wishes, thoughts and wellbeing. I also love this interesting dynamic of the MC Gong being the physically weaker scholar while the ML is this manly martial artist, Ger Shou. Unlike in The Only Favourite Ugly Husband, this ML really doesn't try to become feminine (in the Ugly Husband, while that ML is also a manly ger and actively trains to get stronger physically too, he still does small little things to improve his looks like shading from the sun, use creams etc. While I don't discriminate them doing that if they like it themselves, it just felt a bit conformist to the ideals in that story.). Also, the ML really takes into heart that his husband really loves him no matter what he looks like and gets more confident befitting his status. Nice character development to see there too.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.5/5
It's a typical ancient china setting. There isn't too much detail but I can get the farming vibe. I would like more detail about the surroundings though.
Characters: 3.9/5
The main characters are rather nice as said above. The MC is the gong but he isn't overbearing or anything. He runs around, working hard to provide a nice life for his husband and himself. He's confident and rather sweet to the ML. He likes to cook. The ML is insecure and lost his memories at the beginning. But after reassurance from the MC and getting back his memories, he slowly gets more confident and achieves his potential with support from the person he loves :)
We have some delightful side characters who are likeable but we don't really focus on them after a while. But I did like them. I just wish they were more present. The bad guys were villainous and all but I just wish the couple had confronted them head-on.
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CN (4.2)
90 Chapters Every 91.5 Day(s) 5754 Readers 71 Reviews 11-15-2021
3.7 Stars... more>>
Translation/Writing
I read using KnoxT. The translation is better than mtl but it's not really great. The sentences are a bit awkward and there are countless small grammar mistakes. It's readable and when you get used to it, it doesn't stop the flow of reading but it is noticeable. I believe it's because the translator is new? However, they do put in footnotes and even pictures of things like the food. There is one point that might bother some people. In the first half-ish, the footnotes are directly after the paragraph in the story instead of at the bottom. Some might prefer not having to scroll to the bottom to read them, some might find it annoying to scroll to skip them to the main story. The writing style, well, there are a few more idioms than I'm used to in these farming stories if that bothers anyone.
Plot
Its a typical food, business, poor to rich, countryside story but the peak of the cp lifestyle is only up to the landlord of their village and town which I am quite happy about. The farm/business/slice of life genre is there from start to finish, unlike other similar types of stories where the cp becomes country-level powerful which then involves action and politics which I dislike. I'm here for the slice of life yo not action.
Themes/What Story Tried to Achieve
It's a slice of life story and a food business trope. It is pretty typical, and the food is easy to believe and understand that the MC can make them. All the food are kinda normal modern day food, so it's not unbelievable that the MC can make them. I also liked that the MC and the Gong didn't have any golden fingers to be successful. It's all a bit more realistic than normal farming business stories like this. I do wish there were more details in the business of making money though, like stating the prices more in the latter half of the story. Once the money started getting bigger, the author didn't say what cost what, not as detailed as when the MC was selling the noodles at the beginning. As for any drama, there isn't much really, definitely much less than other similar stories.
I kinda wish the ML kept his childish personality for the romance part. After he got better, he became a confident person so the MC could do less work. I actually thought making the ML a fool was a good idea for slowing down the pace of the MC's business because then, only one person is the head and providing most of the effort instead of a doting ML with so much capability that takes care of everything. This way, the MC gets a lot of time to shine. As for the s*x, ugh. The s*x dynamics are the kinda typical uke gong in bed where the more the uke struggles and frowns, the more cute and excited the gong is =_=. Although the uke here is not the shy rabbit type but a confident type, I didn't like the language used. The ML will hug the Mc tight and no matter how the MC struggles or pushes away the arms, he isn't strong enough and just gives up. I reaaaally don't like it. I kinda just skim, ignore the s*x parts and almost imagine the cp as other people haha.
Pacing
This is slower than other similar stories. For one, there isn't much action or drama after halfway. On the other hand, the peak of the cp is only at the village/town level for less than 100 chapters. The MC is also very cautious about trouble from being too successful so if it takes awhile to move to the next step, it is fine. At the end ish, there will be lots of tiny timeskips and time will pass by quickly so it's a little bit rushed. Although I admit, nothing much happens by then because everything is already on the right track.
Characters
I like the MC. He's hardworking and has friends instead of being focused only on himself and the ML. It's just at the beginning when you first see him, there were too many exclamations in his thoughts and words that I had a slightly bad impression of him. That disappeared once he separated from the in-laws, haha.
The ML is fine. I think it would have been nicer to have the fool ML for the whole story though haha. Cultivate all the caring feels XD I just don't like how the s*x dynamics are portrayed when he forces the MC and it is all portrayed romantically.
The side characters are all quite important here! They basically appear often and never fade away due to the plot. I like them all. There are even side pairings! The cp all also have good feelings of family and close friends with them. I find in other similar stories, the cp will treat them well but don't really put them inside their hearts.
As for the villains, they appear but are easily defeated right at the beginning and never shown in detail again. There will usually be a couple of confrontations that are shown in detail but the rest are just told in one sentence after they happen. So no drama or faceslapping unfortunately.
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CN (4.2)
148 Chapters Every 43.8 Day(s) 4733 Readers 60 Reviews 11-04-2023
3.7 Stars... more>>
Overall/Personal Enjoyment: 3.9/5
I quite enjoyed myself. I've been in a reading slump since Nov so I said F it and started reading all the poor to rich not Completed webnovels in my list that I had reeeeally wanted to read. Normally, I would ignore the incomplete webnovels because I don't like the quality to drop halfway because of MTL but I didn't care anymore because I have read all the Completed novels with this type of trope haha.
I think I only read two other good transmigrate to the 50s-90s type of stories that were completed and that I really liked, Back to the 60s, Getting Wealthy, Raising Cubs and Bai Shumei in the 70s. The rest were quite disappointing. So I am happy to read this one. The story itself is pretty solid and I love that the business management part played a big role in the story. I wish the story focused more on that with even more detail haha. It only reached the level of the village and maybe the town or city. I wanted a business empire hahaha. I also would have liked more explicit information during the making of the products being sold like the recipe of the popsicles and what fruits exactly were inside. Also, for the greenhouses, I wanted to know in more detail each plant's drawing and planting detail like in the Pastoral Life. And also, what exactly are the greenhouse techniques the Mc learned in the capital. Well, this is my most common complaint for all webnovels most likely. More detail lol.
Writing/Translation: 3.4/5
The translation I read is from Lazy Sakura Translations. The translation is okay, there are often some mistakes but they don't affect the reading experience for me. Some missing words, things like that. Also, the writing is pretty simple and straightforward so any translation mistakes are easily ignored. It isn't finished yet at chapters 85/148 so I continued with the MTL at the mtlnovel website. Like another reviewer said, it's quite readable. Far superior to most MTL and some terrible translations, such as a tea novel, which is simply too difficult to read.The MTL has frequent add-ons to the names, wrong substitutions to nouns and so on, but the grammar is surprisingly good. And yes, sometimes there are paragraphs or something happens but you can't understand because of the mtl but it doesn't really detract from the experience. The cuteness of the baby isn't as clear but it is still there. Basically, if someone wants to clean up the mtl, it really wouldn't take much effort.
Pacing: 4/5
I thought it was pretty good especially during all the money making bits. Nothing really felt rushed or slow.
Plot: 3.8/5
The plot is really simple which is good for what it is. The MC moved to the 1980s with a 2-year-old, broke ass poor, he has to use his brain and rely on himself to provide for this poor child. The money making from the beginning to about 3/4 is quite detailed, especially how much was made exactly, which I liked. Then, as it got bigger and bigger, more people noticed and when it looked like he could live a good life no matter what happens next, the characters' past came back to make some drama. I admit that the drama part was okay but I wished it was more satisfying to faceslap and that it would have concluded much faster so I could go back to the business management part haha.
Romance: 3.3/5
The romance is kinda lowkey haha. It really only happened in the latter half of the story because the MC is just too busy making a living for his family. But I didn't dislike it. It's fine for me.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.5/5
This is a typical olden days rural China setting. I wish it was more detailed but the focus was more on the running a business part.
Characters: 4/5
The main characters are pretty good. The MC is lowkey, smart, hardworking and serious. His son is arguably also a main character because he appears almost all the time haha. He's 2-3 years old but he's quite eloquent. Although he is so eloquent, you can tell he's still a little kid which is good. A lot of other stories I read with kids either show them briefly then throw them to other caretakers or show the kid as a mini adult which is too unbelievable that it broke me out of the immersion. This is just right. The kid is super cute and the MC is really involved in the kid's daily life. I admit, the repetition of the kid's unique characteristics, ie, the constant food obsession and how the other characters keep teasing him about being handsome and/or a little fatty, got a bit annoying by the end. But I still prefer this kid. He added a lot to the story.
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CN (4.5)
28 Chapters Every 127.9 Day(s) 2677 Readers 34 Reviews 06-22-2022
3.7 Stars... more>>
Also not really sure if I should put this one in this list. This has a minor part of making sure the family is provided for but it is not the main focus of why he's investing on all the famous companies of the time. But since there is a small part of it, I'll include it here anyway.
"2nd Chance, Poor to Rich, Business Management, all my favourite things!. It seems to really dive into investing which is novel considering how most web novels treat investments and picking stocks and choosing movies to invest in because of future knowledge and that's it. I've been eyeing Epiphanies of Rebirth becuse of the same tropes and this was one of the reccomendations"
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Writing/Translation: 2.2/5
The translated parts from Miss Lemon’s MTL I read were quite good. All the investment jargon was clear enough. There were no errors that I remember.
The rest I read in MTL using the default browser translation for Google and Safari. Reading only one version of MTL was kinda bad but if I read two at the same time, it's quite readable. I understood the gist of what was happening. All the investment stuff got more dry and maybe a good translation might have helped in that department but I don't think it would have had much effect.
Pacing: 3.5/5
Hmm, the investing were quite detailed. But after the first setup and establishment of initial funds, the start of the main big business and the rest got quite dry and had a lot of telling what was going on. Yes, there are also a lot of show-not-tell parts but still a lot of info dumps haha.
Plot: 4/5
I think people who love this kind of stuff would adore this story. This is a pure power fantasy for someone who has future knowledge and is ambitious enough to fight on the big stage for it. For me, I am not really interested in such things haha. So while objectively, this type of trope is good but I personally didn't enjoy it that much.
Romance: 4/5
The romance is pretty slow haha. Only in the last fourth of the story did it really gain traction. I didn't mind it. It's better than the normal seme uke teenaged fantasy BL romance lol. The two is a bit more realistic or mature?
Setting/Worldbuilding: 4.9/5
The world setting includes the US and various provinces of China. And in each there are different industries and businesses the MC is doing so the world is definitely bigger in this story. Also, lots of real-world history is being thrown around for that time period.
Characters: 4/5
The characters are pretty good. There are a lot of characters here.
Personal Enjoyment: 3.3/5
Not really a fan of these huge, mind-boggling amounts of money being thrown around. Not relatable anymore for me haha.
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CN (4)
20 Chapters Every 111.7 Day(s) 4955 Readers 61 Reviews 04-02-2021
3.7 Stars... more>>
Writing/Translation: 3.8/5
The translation I read is from Konila. Just small harmless errors like a couple of wrong pronouns and names but it only happened like twice or something. My only issue is that sometimes in the beginning, I didn't really understand a sentence. It got way better after awhile.
Pacing: 4/5
The pacing was chill and even the entire way really.
Plot: 3.7/5
It was good to provide this chill farmer lifestyle. The con is that there weren't really many ups and downs haha. Just two people working hard in their own lives to make up for not having a good life previously. This isn't perfect, though. As I can't quite get a solid handle on all their personalities, goals or motives. If you read it, you'll get it. The other characters kind of feel meandering. I can't really understand if they are bad, if they are good, what do they actually want and stuff. Ambiguous and a bit wavy. For example, the MC’s relationship with Mrs. Zhou. I can't get if she likes her, finds her meh or what. Mrs. Zhou too. Is she a weak-willed person to her four sons since they all keep going against her to marry? But then she was super cool when dealing with the separation and was so fair. And then, at the end, our couple kind of broke things off with her or at least wasn't as close as before. All the interactions between our couple and other people feel so up and down lol. But weirdly, I still get the chill slice of life vibe throughout the entire story.
For the money-making part, it isn't the best, despite what everyone is saying. This is because our MC didn't state any plans she has. So whenever they do something money-making-wise, it just feels like going with the flow. So there isn't that satisfying catharsis in buying more assets or making more money. Because there isn't any buildup. But this is still that poor-to-rich rural area type of story and the chill bibes are definitely there. The fact that it is fully translated definitely helps.
Romance: 3.5/5
The romance is sweet when it's there. At the beginning and first half, we don't really understand the ML’s personality. Is he the stoic type? Feeling inferior type? But he's unexpectedly a bit playful. The only con is that we don't get much romance since they kind of act like an old couple who likes to do things together in peace. Which I admit I do appreciate because normally, the couples in CN novels are very cringey to me.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 4/5
Live the vibe very mych.
Characters:3/5
I like that there are so many characters. But I don't like that they are so hard to pin down lol. An argument can be made to say that this is life and people are not static or whatever but I’m here to enjoy reading and it's hard to know if I should root for a character or not when they are so wishy-washy
Personal Enjoyment: 3.9/5
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CN (4)
304 Chapters Every 1 Day(s) 3054 Readers 25 Reviews 09-14-2022
3.7 Stars - On Hold: C116... more>>
I enjoyed it enough as a time killer but I feel a bit like I'm losing interest now. So I'm putting it on hold for a little bit. Normally, there is faceslapping to pull me in but here there isn't. There are lots of heartwarming outings or banquets but they are too short and don't happen often enough. And I feel like the meaningful cultivation of feelings seemed to happen at the beginning ish and no more after that.
Translation/Writing
The translation I read is by A Wandering Potato. At the beginning, the translation was above average but had some typos. Maybe it was because I was still trying to wrap my head around the world, I couldn't understand some of the sentences. But whether I have learnt enough about the world, I got used to it or the translation just got much better, probably all of it, the errors don't appear anymore. The flow is good, and the humour was presented effectively.
Plot
Basically, the MC, as the newly transmigrated Demon King, develops his undeveloped demon realm and neutralises the humans who were the manpower that defeated his people by using human culture to turn them into his realm's fans. After the setup at the beginning, we get movie after movie, food after food, and entertainment after entertainment projects from the MC in between which he restructures and develops the demon world to align with his goals.
Pacing
The first few things he did felt impactful and novel but after that, it felt like the highs and lows felt the same intensity. So it felt a bit slow or like nothing much was really happening. Even though he was clearly very busy. Maybe it was a bit repetitive.
Themes/What Story Tried to Achieve
This is very much a kingdom building story but we mostly focus on the business side of creating and spreading Earth's greatest hits to the human realm. At least up to the part I've read. In between the MC is developing his realm too but he needs to raise money to pay off his debts.
at the same time haha. This part is very detailed and quite interesting. I had read/watched a lot of the things the MC was redoing so it was a nice nostalgia trip and also it felt super relatable to the MC's and the other humans' reactions to the entertainment. For the ones I haven't watched/read, it was interesting to read about something new that seems to be popular in real life too. And the level of detail the business endeavours have is quite satisfactory for me, quite detailed! I definitely loved that. The MC also has all kinds of different business endeavours going on, which is very interesting to read about. The kingdom building/business part is definitely the main point of the story.
This story is quite funny! There's basically no drama or faceslapping. Any faceslapping plot was easily defeated and turned into an opportunity for humour and it is actually funny haha Or just easily turned into a fan. Humour is subjective but it definitely landed for me. I laughed countless times at the interactions of the MC and his followers lolol.
Characters
The MC. My only problem with him is how quickly he accepted his role as the Demon King and accepted the burden/responsibility of the Demon Realm and its people into his heart. At the beginning, he was super scared of their appearances and how they were gonna sell his corpse to pay off the realm's debt. Then he has to find food that is palatable and not gross. And do this among strangers, in a foreign land with people who might kill him if he acts too ooc. This was kinda shown at the beginning. Then, a few chapters later, when there was no reason given for him to care so much for the demons because he didn't really spend much time with any of them except his servant, he basically throws himself into his role. There were some sentences that implied he was being busy so he didn't have time to miss his old world but this happened many, many chapters later. Also, we don't get much info on his specific circumstances in his old life which might have made me more invested in him. Aside from that, I find him to be a hard worker, a funny smartass (haha), and a pleasant person to read from.He's funny lol.
The supporting characters. They are all varied, quite unique and have so many different lives and circumstances. And they are all likeable and the followers are all adorable hahaha Cute. It's just that we don't follow the followers who eagerly support the MC in detail. The time they take up is rare compared to other business activities. They basically appear often but shallowly. They are my favourite interactions with the MC though because they are so funny with him haha.
The human collaborators appear more often and go through changes more frequently. We also get the POVs a lot more but they are a bit more serious and have their own thoughts on what they are doing. It's not for the MC really so it's not as much of an investment for me to read about it.
As for the ML..., the beginning was kinda interesting and he has a personality... We get his past and his beliefs and thoughts which I liked. Then, after he turns into a demon, he kinda appears rarely, and when he does, it's just some short banter and nothing really happens. Also, his cute naively serious side is gone and he kinda becomes a little boring. It's like we won't get any new development from him anymore since he alrd reached his peak of character development.
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CN (4.6)
217 Chapters Every 27.9 Day(s) 9221 Readers 98 Reviews 07-25-2024
3.64 Stars... more>>
Not sure if I should add it to this list because it feels like the MC is earning absurd amounts of money just to do it or just because he's in the position to do so and make a name for himself. Because he and whoever he cares about is alrd set for life pretty erly on so for me, the main driver to continue reading this trope is alrd gone.
Writing/Translation: 4.1/5
For chapters 1-43.1 by Betwixted Translation, I rate as 5.
For chapters 43.2-48 by Pure Love Translation, I rate as 5.
The rest I read mtl using google and safari default translation on mobile. I rate as 2.4
Pacing: 3.7/5
The pacing at the beginning is a bit too quick. But I think that was just an intro arc to give the MC some hidden fame and accomplishment and also to introduce the people close to him. The business parts in the middle were fine but the ending felt a little bit lacklustre because we focused more on the bad end of the various villains that were handled by other forces because the MC didn't care about them anymore. It would have felt more engaging if the MC was the one who did it on page.
Plot: 3.7/5
The plot was objectively fine. All the loose end was tied anyway. I just didn't really feel it or really liked it because the money being made was alrd too big to relate to anymore lol. And I couldn't really get why the MC would want to continue making money when all his and his close people are alrd set for a rich life by then. Also, I couldn't really understand the two friends and their interests. They joined the internet course and one of them got really into it a bit later on. But then both aren't focused on internet stuff anymore.
Romance: 3.5/5
The romance is just there.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.6/5
It was a modern world so I am already somewhat familiar.
Characters: 3.5/5
The characters were okay I guess. I didn't really feel one way or the other.
Personal Enjoyment: 3.4/5
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CN (4)
0 Chapters Every 1402 Day(s) 1428 Readers 8 Reviews 09-25-2021
3.61 Stars... more>>
"- getting initially rich from interior decoration for individual and then commercial customers"
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Writing/Translation: 3.7/5
I read everything in MTL because the current translation is even more incomprehensible than Google Translate. The MTL is surprisingly pretty good. I didn't really feel like I missed anything.
Pacing: 3.7/5
It's fine except there are some parts before a time skip that the author kind of glazes over all the events. And the ending was also like this. The author lined up the ML’s achievements after college in one chapter so quickly lol.
Plot: 3.7/5
Well, I preferred the author's other poor to rich works because they really started from scratch and step by step, got so great that it was very satisfying. This one, yes, there is still the satisfying building up but the jump to making big bucks felt too early for me. Still interesting, though. I didn't like all the BL in this backwards era, oh noooo side because I feel it was just a token effort that I was not interested in. I would rather they just skipped it. Now that I think about it, I feel like the author could have made it much longer to give the few side characters a better deal. In their other works, they felt... just more to me haha.
Romance: 3.3/5
The romance, eh. I didn't like the whole, ML had long loved the MC and was a total simp for the MC from the start while the MC, for one reason or another, is mature and holds back kind of dynamic, this author likes to do. There isn't as much to like. My favourite dynamic is the one from the Stone Age Husband Raising Journal haha. Very refreshing.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.8/5
Pretty okay for this type of story.
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CN (4.4)
130 Chapters Every 24.4 Day(s) 3505 Readers 52 Reviews 07-31-2024
3.6 Stars... more>>
Writing/Translation: 3.5/5
I read all the existing translations up to C27 by Travis Translations and then moved to MTL with the default Google and Safari browser translations. The Google one was noticeably better than the Safari one, so I would only refer to the Safari one if something didn't make sense in the Google one. I still lost some details though.
Pacing: 3.8/5
The pacing was pretty smooth except at the end ish. When they started getting three-digit earnings, the detail and impact of any subsequent business idea weren't as powerful anymore. Mostly because for the main characters, they have already reached their peak lifestyle.
Plot: 3.5/5
A pretty standard plot only it stopped at the village level instead of going all the way to develop at the capital. It definitely fit the characters and their goals, though, so I'm quite happy about it. I always hated going to the capital to develop part because it always felt unnecessary and bloated. I enjoyed the beginning half more, though, because everything the characters did created a good ROI in improving their quality of life. Also, all the effort of the business-making can be read and felt. But after they started earning in three digits, meh, there wasn't much excitement left. So I do wish there was more detail in the business part.
Romance: 3.8/5
The romance is okay. There was a progression and the writing was also pretty good. No weird insta love or super typical uke and seme relationship. And the ML also had some development that doesn't usually appear in these types of stories. Also, no in your face disrespecting of the uke here. Not bad.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3/5
Just the typical ancient china ish world. We don't get much outside their land lol.
Characters: 3.8/5
The main characters are okay haha. They are pretty refreshingly gentle, actually. This is quite a peaceful and relaxing type of story and the main characters are a good cause for it. They are just living thteir lives quietly and happily. They aren't calculative, sharp or cunning. But they aren't pushovers.
Personal Enjoyment: 3.8/5
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CN (3.9)
62 Chapters Every 48.3 Day(s) 4304 Readers 39 Reviews 12-26-2024
3.59 Stars On-Hold: C822... more>>
"The first 150 chapters or so are really not convincing enough to say that it's a high quality BL. I was honestly annoyed most of the time. But once the royal arc starts, everything starts to go towards the right direction and suddenly everything becomes good. This story focuses on child care, farming, business, medicine, poison, economic development, palace drama, military training, war, weapons development, and so on. Writing is strong, although sometimes repetitive. Nevertheless, the novel is worth reading."
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Writing/Translation: 3.3/5
The translation I read is from Flying-Lines Guy Gone Bad. As expected of a Flying Lines TL, it isn't exactly good. I would say above MTL but way below good. There are wrong pronouns and wrong names that the translator keeps missing. So sometimes, especially when the author does this info dump in a dialogue by someone in the capital, I have no idea who's related to who or what their goals are until a good deal of chapters later when I get more familiar with the new people. I love farming, poor to rich, family-type stories, though, so this didn't faze me.
Pacing: 3.5/5
Most of the time, I thought it was fine. But sometimes, after some long events happen, the author will cram lots of stuff that the characters did in like a couple of paragraphs. It's a little jarring but it doesn't happen all that often. Also, some of the torture stuff the MC did felt a bit too fast to get results but eh.
Plot: 3.5/5
Hmm, how to say? I love the first half when the MC is just a villager and everything is purely about how to get rich for his family and close people. It was heartwarming and I love reading about all the stuff the MC does to get rich. I also liked reading how they designed a big home to live in, all that stuff. Then, well, they had to go to the capital and get thrown into all the political intrigue and all the face-slap scheming. There are still those setting up shops and stuff but it's like 10% of the story now. I still enjoyed it because the heartwarming stuff is still there. But I would still love more farming stuff than fighting lol.
Romance: 3.5/5
The romance is not bad for a BL novel haha. The main romance is surprisingly, the most “healthy”. The couple thinks about each other's views a lot when doing stuff and never force the other to do anything. The development of the romance is a bit iffy where it felt like for a while the MC was in wait-and-see mode and overnight, he suddenly decides that the ML is a good catch and he probably had long-developed feelings for the ML. Kinda out of the blue, I didn't see the building up of feelings but eh. Just roll with it. The other couples are kinda of weird, though. Like the two princes from the Xi kingdom and the MC’s disciple as well as the MC’s nephew and the shadow guard. Wow, kinda toxic relationships in there “side eyes” but eh, just roll with it “laughing face”.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.5/5
The setting is typical of ancient China, which I like. I learned a lot of new stuff, like medical things from the MC and stuff like salty land not growing anything XD. All that was fun haha. After we reach the capital, there is a lot less new knowledge and more about the different families and the other kingdom’s movements. Not much detailed world-building, I must say.
Characters: 3.7/5
The main character is definitely vibrant, has a strong personality, is smart and adores kids. So the adores kids part I really like because it adds a lot of family and heartwarmingness to the story. While I am not a fan of most of the Mc’s decisions in how to raise the kids logically (1000 eyes for an eye and ruling through fear than respect, and teaching this to the kids kind of just make them another arrogant bully, well, this isn't that type of fluffy rainbow of a story hahaha). The ML is a typical adoring strong male lead with a powerful background. The kiddos are all noiooce except the big brother when they were still at the village scale. Gosh, he was so annoying then. The whole nagging the MC thing about money got old pretty fast. Luckily, the author mostly stopped it at the capital part.
Personal Enjoyment: 4.1/5
I am enjoying myself quite a bit haha. Especially because it's so long. I completely forgot it wasn't completed after I started it, so now I have to wait hahaha
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CN (3.7)
22 Chapters Every 13.1 Day(s) 2231 Readers 26 Reviews 07-28-2025
3.4 Stars... more>>
Overall
Farming, Business Management, Transmigrate to Ancient Era, Improve quality of life, Slice of Life. This is the same type of story as Transmigration of Mian, Lu’s Convenience, and Favorite Ugly Husband. But I feel it is a bit inferior. The level of depth in the business by the MC is pretty shallow, we don't really follow him in much detail. Instead, he dips his toes into many different business ideas. He sells off the ideas instead. The narration of the story, too, tells rather than shows what happened. The pros of this story are that it is longer than most similar stories, the MC has no golden finger, the cast of characters is kind of big and different even if we don't spend much meaningful time with them, it is not all smooth sailing and there is even death in the story, which is different.
Writing/Translation: 3.3/5
The translation I read is from Flying Lines, Alanese Fantasy. I read at the readwn aggregate website. I believe most other websites have the complete translation too. The translation is okay and readable. There are mostly no grammar or spelling mistakes. However, there are some weird translation choices that are kinda too weird. For like 70% of the story, the men who can get pregnant are just called "Daddy" :) So even adults and elderly people will call others Daddy [name] like Daddy is a title. So the characters will say, "My Dad and Daddy are... " First of all, I didn't realise Daddy refers to gers. I just kept thinking it was a typo because Dad is the short form of Daddy in the English language :) Not to mention I kept confusing the Dad and Daddy characters because I thought they were the same person. Other than that, it's too weird for normal adults who aren't the playful coquettish type, to call their parents Daddy to other people. Then, at the 70% mark where the characters travel to the north arc, the translation started using the word, "childe". And until now, after reading everything, I still don't know if childe means a child, some nobility term or is another word for Daddy or what :) Sometimes, the choices of sentences chosen as the final translation is kinda weird and too modern like the characters calling Bro instead of Brother. Still quite readable, better than MTL, but definitely not perfect.
Pacing: 3.3/5
Most of the execution of the events is even, sometimes to its own detriment. The climax of things is sometimes solved very evenly. However, some conclusions got solved too quickly too. Particularly the final chapter in the extras. There were so many one-sentence conclusions to hanging plot lines lol.
Plot: 3.7/5
There were surprisingly more things that happened other than just farming and business. There was a mystery, disappearances, a disease, some army fights, making a winter, poor province rich, exams, etc. It didn't feel too jarring as well. I could still feel the ancient China vibes from all of the events. However, the story didn't tie up everything satisfactorily at the end. The children's happy ending was only briefly mentioned after focusing on it for so long and the eldest one was kinda open-ended and left to our imagination.
Romance: 3/5
The romance is just, it exists for me. The couple were already married when the MC came over. So they just accept it. There are the usual insecurities, such as both thinking the other is too good for them, and so on. I don't really feel the love so I just went with the flow and assumed that they loved each other. The ML kind of has a weak presence after the first few chapters when he was the pillar of the family since the MC’s body was a fool and there are two toddlers to protect. After the MC came, the ML became more and more a typical female love interest lol.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3.5/5
Very rural Ancient China setting. Quite typical. When they went to the north, that was slightly more interesting because I haven't read anything with a snowy setting before. And the barbarians' clash was new, although the execution of the arc was kinda shallow.
Characters: 3.3/5
The MC was nice to follow. He's a hardworking person who can sometimes be cute when he's in a daze thinking of new business ideas lol. This isn't used much, sadly. He is also lowkey and really sticks to just being a lowkey farmer and villager instead of haring off to the capital for who knows what. He leaves that for his kids haha. Surprisingly, he doesn't go to live in the town either.
I thought the ML would be stronger when I first read about him. But after the MC took over, the ML became more and more like a typical weak wife type, even though he worked super hard and was a hunter for 5+ years to protect his family. Kinda sad to see.
There is a large cast of characters which I liked. They all have their own personalities and some of them have their own relationships (only as love interests for each other, unfortunately). The unfortunate part is that we don't really get to know them much or develop with them beyond solving one problem for them.
Personal Enjoyment: 3.5/5
I love these tropes, poor to rich, business management, improving the family’s lives, etc so I might be a bit biased. But the execution was a bit too shallow, even compared to other similar stories. And the romance wasn't as investment-worthy. I did like the variety of situations that the MC encountered, even if the story didn't dive too deeply into them.
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CN (4.1)
107 Chapters Every 46.7 Day(s) 2650 Readers 29 Reviews 12-13-2023
3.33 Stars... more>>
Overall
I finally finished a web novel after a long while! I've been in a slump the past couple of weeks and kept dropping so many web novels but I bit the bullet and read one with my favourite tropes even though this has only 31 chapters translated. Luckily, the MTL is pretty readable, better than some bad translations like Tea Novel. That one, I could barely understand 40-50% of it and it was so frustrating to read that I pity my younger, less knowledgeable self. Anyhoo, this is an apocalyptic reborn novel where the main plot is infrastructuring and setting up the world again after the apocalypse happens. I love this type of stories because I love the hoarding and doomsday preparation for the end times type of work, the more detail with gradual progression the better XD.
Writing/Translation: 3.6/5
The translation I read is from Hololo for 31 chapters. The translation is good. Some minor imperfections but quite good. The rest, until chapter 108, I read from the readwn website which I believe is MTL because there aren't any other English translators and the current translator hasn't updated since Jul 2022. So needs must. The MTL is quite readable. I would say compared to Hololo Novels translations, the MTL is minus 0.7 stars. A few characters' names are frequently misspelled, particularly our MC. His name, Ji Cha, gets translated as season tea around 80% of the time. I believe it's because "cha" means tea in Chinese. Also, some of the detail in the infrastructure stuff got a bit lost but it didn't really affect my enjoyment much because I got the gist well enough and these are some of my most favourite tropes so just because there is so much of it anyway, what got lost can be mostly ignored by myself. I will say that I am glad I read the translated parts first so I could know all the characters, names and other details properly first before I got thrown into MTL land and could better guess what it was trying to say.
Pacing: 3.5/5
The pacing is fine for the most part, but as the scale increased, the intimacy of hands-on farming and working for only a few people compared to setting up and opening larger farms, well, the latter part was slightly less detailed because all of that was already shown with the smaller factory farming. The final chapter sums 7+ years of progress in one fell swoop.
Plot: 3.3/5
It did fairly well as an infrastructure novel. There was a lot of detail in the setup that the MC did and I love learning things from novels so that was good. However, other than infrastructure, I feel like lots of small things in the plot that felt like they would be important later on, were never touched on until the end. For example, the MC's and the grandmother's house, the MC didn't do anything with them after the apocalypse started even though it was implied that the real estate would belong to the locals. Next are the ML's family and friends. It feels way too heartless for the ML to have zero reaction to their existence after he joined up with the MC at the factory and after he got all the power needed to try and locate them. He has that little sister and that golden-haired friend who kept teasing him that he seems to have good relationships with at the beginning. But no mention of them at all. I thought there would be some drama with the father later on but nothing. Also, I thought the classmate who helped and directed the renovation of the factory was gonna join the MC as planned by the MC from the start? But it seems there was no mention of him after that. I don't know if I just missed what happened to the guy after the renovation was completed. Overall, I liked the infrastructure part a lot but everything else has a lot of room for improvement. It didn't detract from the infrastructure part though which, good enough haha
Romance: 3/5
The romance is just meh. The two characters have personalities, are proactive in doing their own things and feel distinct. But their romance is just simple and did not draw me in in any manner except maybe a bit at the beginning when the ML was trying hard lol. After they got together, there was no more chemistry or tension and I skipped all the s*x scenes because they are cringey. Anyway, I don't think romance is the main focus.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 3/5
The setting is average. There wasn't much detail about the world, the zombies or what not. The only thing with detail is the setting up of the infrastructure part.
Characters: 3/5
The main characters are okay. I like the MC because he's pretty likeable, kind and hardworking. The ML is a typical ML for me so I don't have much feelings for him. The other side characters kinda dropped off when the scale got bigger. The villains got refreshingly annoying but got rather casually dealt with lol.
Personal Enjoyment: 3.9/5
I really liked the infrastructure part because I haven't read much of it haha. I love poor to rich and societal development or clan and kingdom building tropes so this was nice. It kept me going until the very end. I only wish it was longer with better everything else lolol.
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CN (4.5)
189 Chapters Every 12.2 Day(s) 1968 Readers 19 Reviews 03-12-2025
3.31 Stars Dropped: C57.1... more>>
Date Read: 23/3/2025
Personal Enjoyment: 3/5
I wanted a poor-to-rich story with some familial feelings and came in with that expectation. Someone reviewed in another novel that they preferred this so I had some wrong expectations coming in lol. It was a bit too boring for my specific taste. I already know I don't like cooking-type novels because it's too boring. But the high rating, the super pretty book image and it having a poor-to-rich tag made me hope it had other things to pull me through.
Plot: 3/5
I didn't finish it so I can't say how it was. But until half the story, it was pretty slow for me.So the vibe of this story is the MC's slow day-to-day life of the food she made that day during the various days and celebrations in that dynasty. Lots of food-type scenes, musing on the history of something at the time, telling stories and so on. Very peaceful. However, also, kinda boring for me personally While she aims to make money and all that, it doesn't feel all that at the forefront. Because she's so chill. And other than the beginning with mentioning how much to price things, we don't feel how much money she saved as time goes by. So vaguely we know she's doing well. But not how well. At 50+, she bought a building for 100k teals and the other for 60k. I did not know that the amount she saved was in any way in that ballpark. So yeah.
Also, normally CN lightnovels have a bunch of petty antagonists that will constantly go and trouble the MC. Who will then, face slap them in some mildly satisfying manner. This is also one way for me to enjoy a story that might be dull. Giving me small doses of dopamine lol. Sadly, this story doesn't have that.
Pacing: 3/5
Up to where I read, pretty slow. Which was why I dropped it in the end.
Writing/Translation: 4/5
The translation I read is from PureLoveTranslations. Quite good, I notice no errors. I found the parts too short though and wished they were by chapter instead. A lot at the beginning, the footnotes felt almost as long as a chapter at times. They sometimes put in videos of the food. Or links. But I would prefer if they just added a picture of the food instead. Because the website loads pretty slowly.However, I did find that some things went over my head. It was also rather tiresome to scroll to read the long footnotes to understand properly. Regarding the humour, there are a lot of Chinese idioms, Chinese poetry, and clever sayings that you have to read to footnotes to get. I hadn't realised how big a part history had to do with the story so take that what you will.
Setting/Worldbuilding: 4/5
Lots of info on history by the MC. Though the footnotes helped a lot. By chapter 30+ though, I just completely skipped the footnotes haha.
Characters: 3.7/5
It was okay. I like that the side characters feel distinct and not just NPCs. The Mc is okay. Not the most likeable or whatever. But she's not bad. But I felt like the ML is pretty meh. He doesn't do anything for most of the story. I don't really know him much.
Romance: 2.5/5
On the romance front, I feel nothing whatsoever. Even though it's a pretty slow burn romance which I appreciate over insta love, I feel zero chemistry for the couple. Or even particularly liking the ML. He's so invisible lol. So I couldn't rely on this part to feel any progression on something.
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JP (4.5)
416 Chapters Every 127.7 Day(s) 24892 Readers 196 Reviews 06-23-2020
3 Stars... more>>
Hmm, the first book was quite bad where all the characters didn't quite make sense and it was hard to really identify with Iris though this may all just be translation issues haha. Moreover, all the ideas Iris gave out just seemed to be completed very fast one after the other that it felt too unbelievable.
Moreover, some parts were left up to the reader's imagination too much or just weren't elaborated such as how on earth did Tanya become basically a leader of an elite spy organisation? I mean I can kinda believe it when it shows her increasing capability in investigating from Milo and Dean's conversation but then how did she get so many people to spy for her? And even loyal enough to just go off to infiltrate overseas in another kingdom in super short time. Her spy kingdom was the most unbelievable.
Other than that, there were some lose ends such as her friends love interest and what happened to Dawson? The Knight's son person. Also, a lot of what happened in the beginning was similar to Ascendence of a Bookworm although it way all just be a common trope thing haha. But Bookworm did it much better so it kinda lowered my opinion on this. Also, I thought the romance were kinda insta lovey and the chemistry was average. Otherwise, all the character backstories were quite good. And the first prince was not what I expected which was nice. Iris' loyal servants too.
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CN (4.1)
136 Chapters Every 70.4 Day(s) 2652 Readers 41 Reviews 09-10-2022
2.7 Stars... more>>
Overall
I feel disappointed because I really liked the Pheasant Makeup Artist. But the details of the doctoring are woefully vague with only the general gist thrown in. For being someone from an experimental lab with modern medical knowledge, she just uses taking the pulse to somehow diagnose diseases. The herb knowledge + farming medicinal herbs was not explained or expanded at all. It was just given like a summary. The MC describes the various herbs she needs the ML to find from the mountain. There is no further explanation. The author will give the MC general modern medical knowledge and these things are deemed good enough for the story like CPR. I expected something more fancy. I also, reeeally disliked how the author really dives into the idea that the son is a fatty sthick. The connotation of fat = insult is deep in my bones so every single time the MC calls her unborn child, fat, little fat man, little fatty, fatty, I keep imagining the body of an obese person with icky massive folds of fat. And since she kept saying little fat man, I kept thinking of the baby as an obese adult man. It's a baby, why keep calling it a man? Also, they know being too fat is a negative because they keep saying they are too fat and you won't get married! I also don't like the decision to make the mother and unborn child in her womb so combative. The author even made it so that the unborn child seems to understand what is happening outside. So when the MC scolds him in the stomach, the baby will kick. Then, when the baby is born, this combativeness continues. And the baby is smart and cunning enough to be sly. And he seems to understand things as if he were not a baby. So this made his baby actions incredibly spoiled which made me dislike him. There was this whole thing about how the kid loves to fake cry to get what he wants and the MC sees through that and scolds him. This whole dynamic and the choices the author made are just weird. Why make him so unnaturally smart and why include this combativeness between mother and child? Furthermore, I’m not a fan of letting 3-year-olds pretend to do adult things like hug other kids and kiss them like adults. Or pretend to drink wine and be so proud of it. It's edging into pe*verted territory for me. I don't understand why the author added those things. It's not cute, heartwarming or funny. Other than that, I am unsatisfied with how Xiao Shitou was handled. He was six years old and the couple agreed to raise him. So, why is he considered a brother instead of a son by the couple? At first, they were acting like parents but then he became the uncle to their unborn child. And then, he just fades out of the story after the child is 3. I thought since he was adopted, his development would also be focused on but we only get a summary at the end. Basically, this story is really very web novel-ly. Not really real.
Writing/Translation
The translation I read is from Shanghai Fantasy. The translation has many pronoun errors but is otherwise perfectly readable. There are some pauses when the pronouns switch but I can easily substitute in my head. I am a bit confused about how the pronouns weren't fixed because the translator seems to really read through the story whilst translating. So shouldn't they easily notice the wrong pronouns? Eh. There are also some footnotes at the bottom. The writing is pretty simple and straightforward, with almost no complicated idioms for being located in Ancient China. No awkward sentences either because it's so straightforward. What you see is what you get.
Pacing
The pacing is a bit eh. The beginning was a little slow when the story was setting up the romance, okay for the 2/3rds in the middle of the story, then, it was jumpy at the end where there were a lot of timeskips.
Plot
We follow the MC's stay with the ML for a few chapters, gets subtly seduced by his goodness and his food, breaks with him to move to the city by herself as planned from the start, realises she really misses him and likes him, comes back with lots of money. Then the fun business part of the story begins until the annoying pregnancy and the addition of the weird mother-son relationship spoiled the story for me. After that, the business expanded which was mildly interesting. There weren't many details except that they did it though. Then, the ending was kind of rushed. The extras summarise the youngest daughter and the son. The last chapter was about the couple dying of old age if you wanna skip that. I really don't like those scenes. Can't we just get a happy ever after into the sunset? Why put in the end of their lives?
Characters
The MC was a refreshing change from other similar novels. She's strong and thinks things through. I also like that she knows medicine. My only issue is her weird, combative relationship with her son. For the ML, I think he is adorable, especially at the beginning. Then he became a husband, and he no longer appears to have any conflict to deepen his character. He just became that husband s*ave. The side characters are just props for the couple. They don't feel real other than to give the couple someone good to befriend. Especially the friend of the MC from the city. They became friends way too fast on the premise of 2 meetings because "their outlook and temperament are the same". I’m like, where? How? What is the same? The lady sounds exactly like a rebellious rich lady while the MC just wants to make sure her shops succeed for her family. What is the same? They haven't talked about their beliefs at all, so how do they know they are similar?? *Rolls eyes* For the son, I found him too unnaturally smart. It's too off for me. Also, when he was unborn and as a baby, his intelligence made me feel that even though he's just a baby, he knows what he is doing and is acting like a spoiled brat in front of the MC that I wanted him to just go away. I wish Xiao Shitou was the son instead. He's cute, smart, has a bad past and they could have built on that. Too bad he got sidelined later on.
The villains were meh. The face-slapping was so mild and not satisfying. The young master suitor has so little presence. After the main brush off, he takes it resignedly and goes back home just like that. No more drama when the couple sets up shop in the city. For the second aunt, after she gets muted for four months, she comes in to try to let her son be a teacher at the school, gets rebuffed mildly, and never appears again. The eldest son that was studying just appeared once to look down on the ML at the beginning and then never appeared again. I was looking forward to some drama there for some spice but nope. We don't get any conclusion for that side of the family in the end. The ending for the youngest daughter was too quick and out of the blue.
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Comments (2)
I also love this trope. Here's some I personally like.
Fubo
https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=4167043
Take Taobao with you to Another World
https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=1335351
North and South Grocery
https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=2965103
Snow Leopard Farming in Another World
https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=6376614
Wolf King
https://www.novelupdates.info/series/wolf-king/