The book is both satirical and true to life. It feels as if women are destined from birth to take on the role of doing housework. Parents raise their daughters as if preparing them to be someone else’s daughter-in-law — expecting them to be presentable in public, competent in the kitchen, and capable of tutoring their children’s studies. Then, when their grandchildren are born, they step in again to care for the next generation, and so it goes, endlessly.
— Reader “I Am Butterfly”

The writing is vivid and cinematic, perhaps because the author is a screenwriter. It reads like a gripping TV drama. The protagonist’s thoughts often echo my own, and the dilemmas she faces feel very real. After finishing it, I was deeply impressed. Truly, being a woman is a condition. If I were a man, alone and fighting my way in an unfamiliar place, I would see it as a grand, wondrous adventure. But as a woman, I instinctively wonder whether someone will come to help me, to save me. In truth, I could get through it on my own. Women can also relish their own extraordinary journeys.
— Reader “Summer Guava”

I picked up the book because of its title — “don’t want to do housework” has been my real-life persona these years since having a child. This is a skillfully written slice-of-life novel, portraying the most common stories we see around us: pressure to marry, marriage itself, petty calculations, housework, disagreements, divorce, despair, and a complete reversal. The psychological descriptions and emotions are finely drawn.
— Reader “moon”

★ Received a 9.2/10 rating on Douban, China’s core review platform (its equivalent of Goodreads). It focuses on universal themes such as household labor division, gender equality, and intergenerational conflict, connecting with women globally through authentic everyday stories.
★ From marital difficulties and domestic work to career pressures and parenting duties, women’s self-identity is often overshadowed by roles imposed by family and society—this time, the women decide they’ve had enough!
★ A realistic novel about women’s self-awakening and reshaping family dynamics. It tackles core issues like the division of housework and childcare, directly depicting modern women’s struggle between family and self.
★ Three-generation female ensemble narrative: Using a multi-threaded structure, it portrays the struggles and awakening of women across three generations, highlighting the diversity of female identity.
★ The author is a winner of China’s highest screenwriting award, with multiple works adapted into hit series. For example, I Am Not a Loser was preemptively licensed by top-tier Chinese studio Dongyang Daylight Entertainment (compared to HBO). Its adaptation, Born to be the One, became a 2024 hit, airing in CCTV-8’s prime time—comparable to a Sunday night premiere on HBO or a top Netflix feature.

Lin Yue, a 30-year-old “Beijing drifter,” is about to marry her local Beijing boyfriend, but repeated clashes over the division of household chores lead to the wedding being called off.

Zhang Xuehua, Lin Yue’s 53-year-old mother, is a homemaker whose decades of “brother-enabling” behavior enrage her husband, who drives her out of the house. She arrives in Beijing and drifts without a fixed home.

Lin Ruiling, Lin Yue’s 70-year-old aunt, has raised her children’s children until her health is nearly broken, yet finds herself trapped once more in childcare under the pretext of surname rights, enduring endless hardship.

She is a wife, a mother, and, above all, herself.
From marital entanglements to domestic labor, from workplace survival to parenting duties, women’s sense of self is constantly yielded to the roles imposed by family and society.
Open this book and witness how women redefine their own lives.

Ji Jingrong

Screenwriter and author, her creative focus lies in realistic themes. With a nuanced and incisive pen, she delves into societal pain points and the essence of human nature. Skilled at evoking public resonance through the life stories of ordinary people, her works have been praised as “epochal portraits that give voice to the common individual.”

She has published several novels addressing pressing issues in contemporary society, such as Secondhand Life, If Running Is My Destiny, and I Am Not a Loser. Among them, the film script adapted from her novella Understanding won the “Promising Film Script Award” at the Xia Yan Cup, known as China’s highest screenwriting honor. Her novel I Am Not a Loser was adapted into the television series Born to be the One, starring Yin Tao and Wang Xiao, which aired in 2024 on CCTV-8 during prime time.

Prologue: I Will Never Marry in This Life
Chapter One: Weighing and Measuring at the Engagement Banquet
Chapter Two: On a Bright Sunny Morning, Lin Zhimin Wants a Divorce
Chapter Three: The First Test of Engagement Reveals Its Stakes
Chapter Four: She Finally Has a Home, Yet Her Mother’s Home Is About to Vanish
Chapter Five: Pre-made Dishes Have No Soul
Chapter Six: Food Is the Heaven of the People, So Is the Sky Falling?
Chapter Seven: Is My Daughter’s Home Also My Mother’s Home?
Chapter Eight: A Table of Home-cooked Dishes Can Comfort a Lifetime
Chapter Nine: My Mother Is Homeless
Chapter Ten: Ning Zhuo’s Original Name Was Ning Dapeng
Chapter Eleven: Beijing Doesn’t Believe in Tears
Chapter Twelve: Should Marriage Be a Matter of Calculation?
Chapter Thirteen: The First Live Stream Sells Out
Chapter Fourteen: Mother Has Run Away
Chapter Fifteen: I Cannot Become a Wife Like Your Mother or Mine
Chapter Sixteen: There Is No Savior
Chapter Seventeen: Live in the Present, for the Present Is the Future, and the Future Is Already Here
Chapter Eighteen: Put a Man in a Woman’s Place, and He Becomes a Woman
Chapter Nineteen: The Warmth of Daily Life Is Most Precious
Chapter Twenty: Unexpected, Yet Entirely Reasonable
Chapter Twenty-One: A Fleeting Encounter Leaves No Trace
Chapter Twenty-Two: Thinking From a Me-Centered Perspective
Epilogue: Where Are You?