Three Years at Tilanqiao, Predicting China's Next Thirty Years

(Period novel) + (No System) + (At the center of the storm) + (Tilanqiao Prison) + (Financial genius) + (Riding the wave of the times)

In 1993, Lu Qian walked out of Tilanqiao Prison.

He had 87 yuan, a red notebook filled with nothing but numbers, and a complete economic forecasting model he'd developed in exchange for three years behind bars.

When the bus fare rose from five fen to three mao, Lu Qian paid the extra two and a half fen and casually calculated the inflation rate.

An old woman selling breakfast asked which work unit he belonged to. Lu Qian said it was a restricted unit, the kind that provided room and board.

Most people get out after three years in prison and hurry to find a job.

The first thing Lu Qian did was go to the bank to withdraw his money.

But the 80,000 yuan was gone.

The second thing he did was buy thirty-seven old newspapers from a newsstand.

The third was to find a trading company that was on its last legs and tell the owner's wife, “Your contract is short by 800 dollars.”

She called Lu Qian a con artist. He said, “A con artist wouldn't show up for an interview wearing cloth shoes issued by Tilanqiao.”

Regional price differences in government bonds, buying the dip after a stock market crash, a battle over government bond futures...

None of it had happened yet, but every event was dated in Lu Qian's notebook.

Someone asked how he had figured it all out.

Lu Qian said, “I was locked up for three years. I had to do something to pass the time.”