She wakes up one morning as a factory girl in 1983. With ten thousand yuan in her pocket, she thinks she’s about to take off. Buy a TV? You need ration coupons. Eat at a restaurant? You’ll be grilled as a suspicious character. Try to invest? That’s “speculation and profiteering,” and she could end up in jail. Having money you can’t spend is worse than having none at all. Then she meets him. When a modern financial mind collides with a planned economy, even a life where you can’t spend your money can give rise to a business empire.
