The Future on the Ledger

"The Future on the Ledger" tells the story of Zhao Yang, a young working man, and his adventures and struggles in a southern factory. In the Pearl River Delta in 1990, Zhao Yang, who had just grown up, entered Hongda Plastics Factory to raise money for his family, but unexpectedly found an old account book in the warehouse. The pages of the account book were yellowed, and not only did they contain code words for smuggling transactions, but there were also records about his future - "In June 1990, Dongfang changed owners", "Zhao Yang went to Hunan", "Joined others to open a small factory"... What's even weirder is that the "via port to Xin" route and mysterious molds that appear repeatedly in the account book correspond to the weird details in the factory. Zhao Yang wanted to make money safely and leave, but he was involved in a smuggling conspiracy: the seemingly kind factory director was secretly smuggling weapon parts, the man with a gold watch at the dock had sinister eyes, and even the trusted police officer Li seemed to be hiding something. His only ally is Chen Mei, a female worker who is always picking up discarded plastic bottles. The writing on the ledger occasionally seems to come alive, with new prophecies appearing. From Hongda to Dongfang Factory, from the wharf to the countryside of Hunan, Zhao Yang takes the ledger and secrets and collides with the pursuit of smugglers and hints of fate. What he has to fight against is not only the gun-wielding desperadoes, but also the trajectory that seems to have been written in the ledger - when the future is revealed in advance, should he accept his fate and compromise, or should he tighten his grip on the wrench and carve out his own path in the oil and fire? This is a story about ordinary people struggling in the folds of the times, with the smell of engine oil in the factory floor, the salty smell of the sea breeze at the dock, and the resilience and brightness of the little people that cannot be hidden in the pages of the ledger.