National Tide 1980.

On May 1, 1993, Labor Day arrived as scheduled.

But for millions of ordinary people in Beijing, what truly changes their lives and rewrites the course of time on this day is never the festival itself, nor the various novelties that are hotly discussed in the streets.

Even though the Capital Airport Expressway, which took 14 months of round-the-clock construction to complete and was officially opened to traffic, making the road from Beijing to the country wide, smooth, and accessible in all directions, it failed to capture people's attention.

Even though bodybuilding coach Ma Hua has established himself in Beijing and opened his own fitness club, and with his well-known slogan "Follow me every day, five minutes a day," he has brought the TV program "Five Minutes of Bodybuilding" into thousands of households and set off a new trend of mass fitness, it is still just a topic of casual conversation in the city.

Even though the Chinese national football team welcomed its first foreign head coach in history, German Klaus Schlappner, and the sports newspaper reported on it extensively, with the whole country eagerly anticipating it and rekindling fans' fervent hope of reaching the World Cup group stage, it ultimately couldn't outweigh a major issue concerning the daily lives of countless families.

On this day, there was only one thing that truly deeply affected the nerves of the entire city's residents and permanently changed the daily lives of ordinary people in the capital—the grain coupon system, which had been in use for decades, was officially abolished.

From the old-fashioned radio cassette player, the female announcer's voice was gentle and steady, carrying the unique solemnity and tranquility of the 1990s, her words slowly spreading throughout the streets, alleys, and courtyards of Beijing.

"Effective today, grain coupons and oil coupons will be officially abolished in Beijing, and the purchase and sale of grain will be fully liberalized."

Without any fanfare or grand official announcement, this news was as subtle as a drop of lukewarm water falling into boiling water, quietly but profoundly resonating in the lives of millions of ordinary families.

For decades before that, the lives of several generations were tightly confined and restricted by thin ration coupons.

During the planned economy era, resources were scarce and supplies were tight. Every household had to be frugal and careful with every penny. Each person's food ration was fixed well in advance, with no more and no less.

During those difficult years of scarcity, food coupons were worth far more than cash. Money didn't guarantee you could buy food, but food coupons were essential to ensure you had enough to eat.

The scarcity of fine grain coupons and the abundance of coarse grain coupons was the norm for every household. Fine flour was always saved for the elderly and children, while couples in their prime often made do with cornbread to fill their stomachs.

You need vegetable coupons to buy vegetables, oil coupons to buy oil, and even if you're just buying a block of tofu or two ounces of noodles, you need to hold the corresponding coupons. You can't do without any of them.

The most worrying and challenging time to manage a household is always the end of each month.

For decades, almost every household faced a shortage of food coupons at the end of each month.

Housewives always have to hold their little ledgers and repeatedly calculate how many ounces of rice they need today and how many ounces of noodles they need tomorrow, counting their three meals on their fingers, not daring to make the slightest mistake.

If guests came to visit, the children had a big appetite, or if it was a holiday and they wanted to steam an extra pot of buns to improve their meals, they had no choice but to swallow their pride and go door to door to borrow food coupons from their neighbors.

In the courtyards of the hutongs, families would share their surplus grain coupons and help each other out when they were short of them at the end of the month. This was the most simple and heartwarming aspect of human relationships in old Beijing.

Those families who received assistance often remember this kindness for years or even a lifetime.

These thin and small ration coupons, seemingly insignificant, have tightly bound ordinary people's daily meals and restricted their most basic right to choose their lives.

This is why saving food coupons was an essential skill and means of livelihood for every qualified housewife over the past few decades.

The more food coupons a housewife saves and the more reserves she has, the more stable her family's life becomes, the more confident she is, and the more respected she is among her neighbors.

Even by 1993, cloth coupons, food ration coupons, and industrial coupons had long since disappeared from the historical stage, and the "vegetable basket project" had been fully implemented, completely alleviating the predicament of material shortages, and the market was gradually becoming more abundant with goods.

But for the older generation who experienced the era of hunger, the sense of crisis ingrained in their bones has never dissipated.

No one understands the value of food better than them, and no one fears the hardship of not having enough to eat more than them.

Deeply ingrained habits of life have led every household in Beijing to maintain the practice of accumulating grain coupons, regarding stacks of grain coupons as the most reliable and secure hard currency in their homes.

However, once a government order is issued, decades of inertia are instantly shattered.

Overnight, all the "food coupon assets" that families had painstakingly saved were wiped out.

There was no real financial loss, but there was a real psychological letdown.

The confidence that countless housewives had built up over years of hard work and frugality vanished in an instant.
That feeling of disappointment, loss, grievance, and bewilderment lingered in the ordinary alleys and lanes of the entire capital city.

Young people were unmoved and indifferent to this.

Having never been in charge of a household and unaware of the high cost of firewood and rice, they naturally couldn't understand the struggle involved.

But for housewives who have spent their lives carefully managing their finances and being thrifty, and for the older generation who have endured famine and poverty, this sense of loss and defeat is both reasonable and deeply unforgettable.

This feeling is like a child's hard-earned popsicle tickets, treasured and cherished every day, only to be carelessly burned away by adults as firewood in the blink of an eye.

The frustration of all previous efforts going to waste, the desolation of having nowhere to express it, and the bewilderment of wasted years—only those who have experienced it firsthand can truly understand.

In the first few days after the news spread, the elderly people throughout Beijing were somewhat dazed, and it was hard to believe that their lives had suddenly become more relaxed.

In the courtyard of No. 2 Shan'er Hutong, Meishi Street, Aunt Bian, who usually loves lively gatherings and visiting neighbors for chats, has lost interest in going out for several days. She stays at home all day, sorting out various invalid tickets and certificates with Uncle Bian.

The elderly couple held stacks of national and Beijing local grain coupons that they had accumulated over most of their lives, rubbing them and looking through them repeatedly.

The Tiananmen Square and wheat ears on the ticket are still bright and vibrant.

It's hard to accept no matter what; a hard currency that was once comparable to cash has become useless overnight.

The elderly couple had been accustomed to "living by ration coupons" their whole lives. They never asked about the price of grain and could not buy too much. It was ingrained in their bones.

Especially Grandpa Bian, who worked in a grain store his whole life, has a deep and ingrained affection for grain stores, ration coupons, and the grain industry.

Nowadays, state-owned grain stores on every street corner have been restructured and closed down. The remaining stores have completely abolished the verification of tickets and certificates, and only accept money and do not limit the quantity. Rice, flour and cooking oil are available for open supply and can be purchased at will.

This was supposed to be a matter of public welfare, but in the eyes of the old grain store worker, it was the collapse of half a lifetime of faith, leaving him only with a heart full of confusion and helplessness.

The other two housewives in the courtyard, Aunt Mi and Aunt Luo, reacted even more intensely and sincerely.

The two huddled together, sighing and regretting their decision as they looked at the thick stack of colorful, useless grain coupons in their hands. They kept muttering to themselves, "If only we had exchanged them for eggs, washbasins, or everyday items earlier. At least they could have gotten something useful, which would have been better than them being nothing but a pile of waste paper."

The more they thought about it, the more heartbroken they became; the more they talked, the more aggrieved they felt. The two women, who had been managing the household for many years, finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears on the spot.

This is not surprising. It's hard for anyone to let go of the confidence accumulated through a lifetime of hard work and frugality when it's all wiped out in one day.

But the tide of the times rolls forward relentlessly, and no one can reverse it. Even Ning Weimin, whose vision and perspective far surpass those of ordinary people, is powerless to change it.

This is the cruelty and gentleness of societal change, which unexpectedly and gently shattered the inertia of a generation's lives.

However, for every person who is sad, there is someone who is happy; every event has two sides.

Abolishing the grain coupon system, on the one hand, would be a devastating blow to state-owned grain stores, causing a short-term rise in grain and oil prices in the market, and causing panic among the people.

On the other hand, this is a huge boon for the private catering industry. In the past, opening a restaurant required applying for grain quotas from the grain bureau, and these quotas were limited, severely restricting the size and capacity of restaurants.

It's not impossible for private catering businesses to open branches or expand their stores, but it's quite difficult.

The first problem to solve is the issue of grain and oil.

Now that grain coupons have been abolished, rice and flour can be freely purchased from grain wholesale markets and farmers, with ample supply and no longer subject to monthly rationing. This is equivalent to completely removing the biggest shackle on private catering enterprises.

In addition, many people from other places and migrant workers are unable to eat out because they do not have local or national food coupons.

Now that these people are no longer restricted from dining out, they have become a significant source of customers for Beijing's catering industry.

Even if the prices of raw materials such as grain and oil rise in the short term, and restaurants adjust their prices accordingly, the increase in customers can fully cover the cost increase.

In addition, the current trend of indulging in food and drink has reached its peak.

Many people have become increasingly distorted in their pursuit of culinary desires, almost completely disregarding prices, which has pushed the price ceiling of the mainland catering industry to the sky.

The China Youth Daily recently reported a lot of related news.

For example, in Guangzhou, a city with a developed economy, the best meal at a five-star hotel can cost as much as 100,000 yuan.

Huacheng Restaurant also launched the Golden Banquet, which sold more than 100 tables in a month.

The most extreme example is the lavish banquet held at an entertainment venue in Shenzhen.

It is said that an investment group booked five tables for a banquet, with each person paying HK$18888. Including drinks, the cost of the meal exceeded one million.

Therefore, the abolition of the grain coupon system further promoted the prosperity of the private catering industry, resulting in an explosive growth in revenue for almost every restaurant.

Restaurants serving everyday dishes, hot pot establishments, breakfast and night markets, and street stalls throughout Beijing are all booming with business, packed to capacity, and their revenues are visibly skyrocketing.

Even state-owned restaurants, which were originally declining and on the verge of being eliminated, have been revived and brought back to life thanks to this wave of economic benefits.

Established restaurants have seen their occupancy rate return to over 50%, steadily maintaining their balance between income and expenditure and managing to survive.

With the tide of the times blowing high, all the businessmen who have established themselves and laid out their plans in the catering industry have ridden the wave and made a fortune.

Mi Xiaoran is a lucky one who has accurately seized this wave of opportunities and is at the very center of the trend.

May 1993 was destined to be a fruitful and highly profitable month in her business career.

Benefiting from the abolition of food coupons, the freedom to choose ingredients, and the surge in consumption, her meticulously planned entire catering industry chain has experienced explosive growth.

Every store is packed with customers every day, and the revenue curve is rising almost vertically, far exceeding all the forecasts at the beginning of the year.

Dongsi Alan Restaurant and Xidan Xin Ajing Cantonese Restaurant, two major established establishments, have firmly established themselves as top Cantonese restaurants in Beijing thanks to their prime locations, established reputations, and consistent menus.

After May Day, both the city and the city were fully booked from noon to evening. High-end private rooms needed to be booked three days in advance. The tables were turned over one after another. From noon until late at night, the bustling atmosphere lasted all day long. The waiters worked non-stop. The daily turnover of a single store steadily exceeded 50,000 yuan, and the revenue broke records every day.

To accommodate the surge in customers, the two established restaurants broke with the usual business hours of restaurants in Beijing and started operating 24 hours a day, completely seizing the market.

As a newly opened restaurant, Guang'anmen Alan Roast Duck Restaurant has quickly surpassed many established state-owned restaurants and established itself in the core market of the southern city by offering authentic Beijing-style roast duck, innovative fusion cuisine, and a sufficient and stable supply of ingredients.

Long queues form in front of the store every day during mealtimes. Government and corporate banquets, business gatherings, and family dinners are all preferred to be held here. The store is bustling with activity and making huge profits, and its momentum is in no way inferior to established stores.

The Asian Games Village Alan Restaurant has accurately grasped the regional advantages, focusing on delicacies from land and sea and high-end private banquets, precisely matching the banquet needs of wealthy businessmen, foreign businessmen, and government and business elites in the area.

A single high-end banquet can easily cost thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, with a constant stream of high-priced orders. It became an instant hit upon opening, firmly securing its place in Beijing's high-end catering market, with its pricing power and profit margins far exceeding those of its competitors.

Not only are the established stores making huge profits, but Mi Xiaoran's new store layout is also steadily taking shape and is ready to go.

The two new branches of A Jing Cantonese Cuisine in Hongmiao and Dongsi Shitiao are undergoing rapid renovations. With their trendy style and exquisite craftsmanship, they are aiming to match the latest trends in Cantonese cuisine and secure a large potential customer base in advance.

Following the trend of internationalization, Rogers Western Restaurant in Guomao focuses on Western-style light meals and business casual dining, accurately filling the market gap in the international business district, and waiting to reap the benefits after its opening.

After all the new stores open this summer, the company will achieve complete coverage of the entire Beijing city, with multiple locations opening and overall profitability.

At the same time, Wang Dadong's "one-to-ten-thousand" blockbuster product strategy and "unified standard" chain operation model have been fully validated by the market.

The major stores feature popular dishes, and through standardized operations, they have significantly reduced costs and stabilized the taste and texture, completely solving the biggest problem in chain expansion and maintaining a high gross profit margin. This has become the core weapon for Mi Xiaoran's continuous expansion and stable profitability.

Looking at the bills showing a clear upward trend and the continuously surging turnover, Mi Xiaoran recalculated her investment returns, feeling more confident and her vision becoming increasingly certain.

Based on current customer traffic, average transaction value, and occupancy rate, coupled with the multiple benefits of long-term policy easing, controllable costs, and consumption upgrading, there is no need for the initially estimated two-year payback period.

She anticipates that within a year and a half at most, she will recoup all her initial investment in the catering industry, after which she will reap continuous profits with zero cost, effortlessly enjoying the benefits of the booming era.

Having discussed restaurant investment, we should now turn to securities investment.

What gave Mi Xiaoran even greater success and increased her wealth was her early entry into the short-term speculation in the securities market.

Since opening an account at Huaxia Securities' Dongsi branch in March, Mi Xiaoran, with her overseas study experience and bits and pieces of knowledge from Wall Street, coupled with first-hand market information and short-term trading experience provided by Zhang Shihui, thrived in the volatile and divergent stock market of 1993.

She never envied others who made big bets and won big money. She always adhered to her own speculative logic of quick entry and exit, only doing short-term trading, and taking profits as soon as possible.

We do not covet long-term value, do not get bogged down in fundamentals, and do not tie ourselves to listed companies. Instead, we focus on market sentiment, price fluctuations, and short-term trends, accurately identifying the highs and lows of each round of market volatility.

She consistently maintained a position of around 50% in her stock portfolio, selling some when prices rose and buying some when prices fell.

While others panic and get trapped, she buys at the bottom and sets up positions; while others greedily chase highs, she secures her profits, perfectly avoiding the common mistakes of retail investors who chase highs and sell lows.

Compared to the ordinary stock investors in the hall who were clueless and blindly followed the crowd, trading stocks based on gut feeling, Mi Xiaoran's initial capital of 500,000 yuan, mature trading mindset, and professional overseas financial perspective were a game-changer in the wildly growing A-share market.

In just two months, she made several precise trades and arbitrage opportunities, resulting in a snowballing increase in her account funds, with short-term profits accumulating layer upon layer, and her stock market earnings soaring.

All things considered, her investment in the stock market has more than doubled; in terms of investment return alone, her return is much higher than Zhang Shihui's.

Zhang Shihui almost regarded her as a goddess, and was extremely envious.

He frankly admitted he regretted not bringing her to invest in stocks sooner. (End of Chapter)