Returning to the City in the 80s, I Married Up by Hearing My Ex-Mother-in-Law’s Thoughts

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Novel Info

Author:
李兔叽
Status:Ongoing

Summary

Bei Qinghuan, who had just returned to the city, had no money, no job, and no education. Her fiancé’s family, who had always looked down on her, suddenly proposed marriage.

But Bei Qinghuan could hear her mother-in-law’s inner thoughts, revealing a constant scheme to get her hands on Bei Qinghuan’s precious old medicine and her good kidney.

How could she tolerate this? She had to break off the engagement, of course.

The moment she brought up breaking off the engagement, she unexpectedly uncovered many secrets.

It turns out that in her past life, Bei Qinghuan had a child with that scumbag? No, no, no, that dead scumbag better stay far away from her in this life.

It turns out that in her past life, all her abilities were used to make her in-laws rich? No, no, no, in this life, the money she earns must be her own.

It turns out that in her past life, her mother’s identity was stolen and replaced? No, no, no, in this life, her mother’s background is her cheat code.

Bei Qinghuan glimpsed a different world through her mother-in-law’s inner thoughts, and even after breaking off the engagement, she thrived.

Her picture-story book was reprinted again and again, earning her a year’s worth of wages in a single month. Her acupuncture room went from deserted to having long queues with just a single needle. Her fashion design sketches frequently won awards, becoming a top-tier resource everyone fought for.

The more her mother-in-law schemed, the more freely she lived, and the more miserable the scumbag’s family became. Isn’t that infuriating?

Suddenly, her mother-in-law stopped scheming against her and turned her attention to the factory’s unattainable flower.

That powerful and influential man was incredibly handsome; she definitely had to step in and save him.

She saved him, but why was this man, who was clearly out of her league, now so responsive to her every need and so considerate, yet also feeling insecure? This was a problem that even her mother-in-law’s inner thoughts couldn’t explain. How frustrating

Novel Items

Sewing machine

Betrothal Gift

Offered by the Qin family as part of the betrothal gifts for the wedding between Bei Qinghuan and Qin Zhenghua. Mei Suqin proposed this as part of the wedding arrangements.

Bicycle

Item

Gu Yizhi's bicycle used to transport An Ruoyan to the county bus. He rides it himself and she sits on the back.

malted milk powder

Food

Lu Shili bought two big tins of malted milk powder at the cooperative.

Pickled cucumbers

Food

Homemade pickled cucumbers belonging to Bei Qinghuan. Yan Guifang instructed her to add some to the lunch box along with braised pork and rice to take as a gift to Representative Jing.

Acupuncture skills

Skill

A traditional medical skill passed down from Bei Qinghuan's maternal grandfather. Bei Qinghuan considers using these skills to open an acupuncture room near her home through the neighborhood committee if she cannot find other employment.

Medicinal formula

Document

Part of Bei Qinghuan's dowry, mentioned in Mei Suqin's inner thoughts. Mei Suqin secretly calculated that the medicinal formula could sell for a fortune, which was one of her motivations for pushing the wedding forward.

Latest Release

Date	Group	Release
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c185
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c184
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c183
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c182
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c181
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c180
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c179
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c178
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c177
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c176
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c175
2026-08-11	shanghai fantasy	c174

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Moonlightsword Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ February 10,2026

I need to talk about the objects in this chapter because they're doing SO much heavy lifting. First: the silver bracelet. Bei Qinghuan goes home and rummages through chests and cupboards, finding 'a piece of slightly musty woolen fabric, a child's silver bracelet, and lastly, a marriage certificate.' Three objects. Three different kinds of value. The fabric is practical — warmth, utility. The bracelet is sentimental — a child's keepsake, something preserved from the past. The marriage certificate is legal and social — an arrangement, a contract, a future she didn't entirely choose. The fact that she finds them in this order and then 'seems to relax' suggests that holding onto these objects, these pieces of her history, is what grounds her before she has to face whatever comes next. Then there's the saline bottles. She asks Ye Xiaoyun if she can take three empty ones, and later we learn she's washing them at a public restroom faucet to save water for her family. This is such a small detail but it tells you everything about her situation. She's a barefoot doctor with real skills returning to the city, and she's counting empty medical bottles as a resource. She's not above recycling. She's not above scraping by. And yet — and this is the thing that hits me — she's also planning to open an acupuncture treatment room. She's thinking about her future while washing trash in a public restroom. The contrast between where she is and where she wants to be is the whole story right there. And Mei Suqin's oral ulcers and Watermelon Frost — 'who has oral ulcers for three hundred days a year!' Ye Xiaoyun's theory that she's secretly reselling the medicine is a small but perfect detail. It paints a picture of a woman who is performing illness, using her body as a tool for gain. Meanwhile, Bei Qinghuan is about to marry into that family. The thematic echo is almost too on the nose, but I'll take it.

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w3bnovelreader Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ January 8,2025

I need to stop and appreciate the visual of those military green trucks rolling out of the 3508 Factory. The author paints this whole scene—tall pine trees lining the road, seven or eight trucks fully loaded under tarpaulins, the security guard stopping Bei Qinghuan. It's so specific and grounded. You can practically hear the engines rumbling and feel the dust. And then Jing Xiao in that front passenger seat, military cap, stern expression, saluting the guard. The contrast between his composed exterior and the moment he catches Bei Qinghuan's eye-roll is everything. The sunlight, the greenery framing her—that's a movie shot right there. The factory compound itself feels so alive. The gatehouse with its mail sorting, the residential area with its thirty-square-meter apartments, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative with its cigarette counters. This isn't just a backdrop; it's a character. Everyone's job, their housing, their social standing—it all ties into this industrial factory town ecosystem. The toilet scene had me laughing out loud. Bei Qinghuan following a stranger just to use gossip as a cover to ask about Tao Su. The image of her pretending to be enthusiastic with a complete stranger while internally panicking—comedy gold. And Qiao Meiyang's reaction, puffing out her chest like she's the top busybody in the entire supply and marketing system, vowing to find out if Tao Su has a mole on her butt. That woman is a force of nature. The period details are what really make this world breathe—the cold drink subsidy for outdoor workers, the housing allocation system, the fact that being a section chief in the technical department was something to brag about. This isn't generic historical fiction; it's specific, textured, and real.

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NStar Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ February 8,2026

This chapter is a pacing rollercoaster and I need to talk about it. It opens with a heavy family exposition dump—Yan Guifang's infertility, the pregnancy scandal, Bei Qingming pushing her down the stairs, the housing sacrifice, the years of silence between father and son. That's a LOT to absorb in one go. But the author does something smart: they don't just info-dump it. It comes through Bei Qinghuan's own reflections as she's walking to the gatehouse, thinking about her grandfather's visit and how her birth was never wanted. The exposition is filtered through her emotional state, which makes it feel organic rather than forced. Then—bam—right after that weighty family history, we get the military truck scene with Jing Xiao. The eye-roll moment, her chasing the truck shouting about her bracelet, his amused imitation. It's light, almost comedic. The author knows when to let the reader breathe. The Qiao Meiyang sequence is pure comedic relief. After the Tao Su mystery deepens and the family drama weighs on her, we get a nosy coworker who wants to help find a girl with a mole on her butt. It's funny, it's fast, and it resets the tone perfectly. And then the money order. Six hundred and twenty-four yuan. The chapter ends on this note of possibility and excitement—her hands shaking, the editor's letter, the certificate. The pacing here is deliberate: heavy → light → funny → hopeful. It's a well-structured chapter that knows exactly when to push and when to pull back. The only question I have is whether the Tao Su thread will get resolved soon or if the author is building toward a bigger reveal. Either way, I'm not letting go of this book.

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novelmeisterBy Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ April 22,2026

The dialogue in this chapter is genuinely funny and I want to highlight a few moments that made me actually laugh out loud. First, Bei Qinghuan sprinting after the truck yelling 'My token of love! Hey, you, what's-your-name, stop! Give me back my token of love!' and then realizing how that sounds. The internal monologue where she processes that she just sounded like she was breaking up with her boyfriend on a moving truck—brilliant. Then she corrects herself to 'The bracelet! My bracelet, you have to give it back to me!' and Jing Xiao's reaction of deliberately mimicking her eye-roll. The chapter title 'Do You Even Hear What You're Shouting!' is basically the author winking at the reader. The Qiao Meiyang dialogue is a masterclass in comedic voice. 'As long as she's in our supply and marketing system, just tell me her approximate height, weight, and age, and I guarantee I can even find out if she has a mole on her butt!' This woman has a specific rhythm—enthusiastic, invasive, proud of her invasiveness. You can hear her voice distinctly from every other character. Liu Fang's dialogue is more grounded, more casual. His complaint about the heat and the cold drink subsidy feels like real working-class banter. And Bei Qinghuan's quick pivot from envy to gossip mode—'By the way, I remember you said you were classmates with Qin Zhenghua?'—shows how she reads a room and adapts her voice instantly. The narrative voice itself is sharp and wry. Bei Qinghuan's internal commentary is where the real humor lives. She's self-aware, slightly sarcastic, and never takes herself too seriously even when the situations are tense. That voice is what keeps the whole thing feeling fresh.

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UnknownFan Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ September 6,2025

Okay so I have to talk about how this chapter handles the Bei family backstory because honestly it was a lot to unpack in one sitting. Let me just say—Bei Qinghuan's birth was treated like a catastrophe by everyone involved. Her mother Yan Guifang was supposedly infertile, everyone knew it, and then boom, pregnant within two months of marriage. The whole family erupted. Bei Qingming, the eldest grandson, actually pushed her down the stairs nearly killing both of them. And the grandfather? Still wants her to show respect to the brother who tried to murder her as a fetus. Make it make sense. But what I found really interesting is how the plot threads are weaving together. There's the main thread of her trying to escape the engagement with Qin Zhenghua, then there's this mysterious Tao Su person that Mei Suqin apparently hates so much she threw a scene at the grandfather's house. Who is Tao Su? Why is she worse than Bei Qinghuan? The author is playing with us here and I am HERE for it. Also the money order moment—six hundred and twenty-four yuan from her first picture-story book. That's a plot bomb dropped right when we need it. It changes everything about her options. She was considering opening an acupuncture clinic, but now? She has capital. The stakes just shifted. The subplot with Jing Xiao is also interesting—he's this military correspondent type who saw her roll her eyes at him and instead of being offended, he mimicked her. That's not how a typical gruff male lead would react. He found it amusing. There's something there. And the Qin Zhenghua scene where he's standing behind the cigarette counter looking proud of himself while she walks past completely unnoticed—chef's kiss. The author doesn't even need to describe Bei Qinghuan's feelings, the image says it all.

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SakiKaitoW7e Review ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ March 4,2025

I am not okay with how good this scene is. Bei Qinghuan literally makes sweet and sour marinated fish with her mom, packs a lunchbox, goes to Qin Zhenghua's house to deliberately provoke him, then runs to eavesdrop on their family argument while eating the fish she made. The imagery alone is cinematic. Picture this: dark evening, street lamps lit up in the compound, her squatting by a window like a little spy, holding a lunchbox straight out in front of her like a gecko pressing its ear against the glass. And she's eating the best part of the fish—licking the sauce first, then the meat, gently spitting out the bone—while Qin Zhenghua is screaming inside about Tao Su. The contrast between her calm enjoyment of the fish and the chaotic drama unfolding behind that wall is almost comedic. But underneath it all, there's this deep sense of justice being served. She's been wronged, manipulated, looked down upon, and now she's literally feasting while her enemies destroy themselves. The Tao Su revelation is the emotional climax here. Qin Zhenghua finally admits he's been sending his salary to another woman, that he wants to marry a country girl, that he finds Bei Qinghuan 'uncomfortable' because they grew up together. It's disgusting but also liberating for Bei Qinghuan. She doesn't need to marry this man. She never did. And the best part? She's not crying about it. She's eating fish. That's the kind of emotional independence I want in my protagonists. The brief romantic hint at the end with that magnetic voice asking 'For me?' is giving me chills though. Who is it? Is it Representative Jing? The Correspondent? I need answers.

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