In 1986, the ice of the planned economy was beginning to thaw. Order and chaos coexisted, and ambition grew amid scarcity.
Zun Tonglu is reborn into an ordinary family in northwest China. Outwardly, he's a lively, clever child; inside, he carries the soul of a bartender from 2025, along with an uncannily detailed “future history” of China's economy.
There is no System and no supernatural ability, only a deep understanding of human nature, a keen instinct for information, and the indescribable loneliness unique to someone who has transmigrated.
He carefully exploits every information gap, from bartering goods and arbitraging government bonds to taking over small township factories and driving corporate reform, navigating the edges of policy and maneuvering through the complexities of people's hearts.
Friendship and betrayal, love and responsibility, ideals and desire... As he builds a capitalist empire, he also reshapes his own destiny and the lives of those around him.
This is a long story about how memories can become capital, how personal connections can be leveraged in business warfare, and how an individual can move in step with the times.
It's also the story of a bartender who spends forty years mixing a one-of-a-kind “drink of the times” for himself and for an era of upheaval.
