A Late-Night Ride Refusal, and Ten Ways to "Change Your Destiny" | Linear View

Life is like a quantum experiment — full of unknowns and possibilities. Everyone wants as much luck as possible, and as few bumps in the road. But how do you make that happen? Some say your life's foundation is set at birth. Others believe you can reshape your destiny through sheer effort.

Today's story comes from a casual chat inside Linear Capital. Harry Wang, the firm's founder and CEO, recounts a magical conversation that began with a refused ride during a late-night trip home from the airport.

On an elevated highway in Shanghai at 1 a.m., a driver at rock bottom and a passenger exhausted and indignant from being turned away — two strangers who ended up talking about fate until dawn.

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Speaker | Harry Wang

Have you ever had one of those nights? You wrap up a packed business trip, you're at the end of a long day, all you want is to collapse into bed — but a string of petty frustrations blocks you at every turn, and your mood just unravels.

That was me last week, getting out of Shanghai's airport well past midnight. What started as a terrible run of luck, though, turned into one of the most rewarding conversations I've had in a while.

It was past 1 a.m. I'd just flown in from Shenzhen. Walking out of the terminal, I looked at the brightly lit departure hall and had a sudden thought — I hadn't taken an actual taxi from this airport in nearly ten years. Ride-hailing apps are so convenient now. But for some reason, I felt nostalgic for that old ritual: standing in the taxi queue late at night, watching the line of cars roll up with their "vacant" lights glowing.

On impulse, I headed for the taxi stand. No wait, luckily.

I wheeled my suitcase toward the first cab in line. A young guy, very polite, opened the door for me.

"Where to, boss?"

"Zhongshan Park."

His face froze for a split second. Then, in a carefully gentle tone: "Hey, can we talk? How about... maybe you grab a Didi instead? I've been waiting here forever, and your ride's kind of short..."

I was furious. I pulled my bag out of the trunk. Part of why I'd chosen a taxi was precisely because it was so late — I wanted to throw some business to these drivers still hustling out here. And this is what I get? A refusal, right off the bat.

I marched over to the ground staff to file a complaint. By the rules, a driver who refuses a fare can't pick up another passenger. The attendant went over to talk to the guy, but he just stood there grinning, not budging. Thick skin really is a superpower sometimes.

The complaint went nowhere. The attendant told me to get back in line. Fuming, I stood at the edge of the queue. He pointed me to the next car. I walked over — only to find the trunk completely stuck. I knocked on the window for ages before the woman driver finally rolled it down, looking thoroughly annoyed: "Why are you giving me the short ride nobody else wanted? If they didn't want it, I don't want it either." She'd deliberately locked the trunk because the fare was too short.

At that moment, two miserable experiences back-to-back, I felt like my luck for the night had hit rock bottom.

Finally, after more coordination from the attendant, he told me to just open the door of the third car and get in. I did. The car pulled away from that whole mess.

What I couldn't have predicted was that those two frustrating "bad breaks" may have been exactly what led me to an extraordinary driver. At one or two in the morning, on an elevated highway in Shanghai, the two of us had a fascinating conversation about fate.

Once we were moving, I started chatting with the driver to shake off my bad mood. He was from Chuzhou, Anhui — you could tell from his accent and the way he spoke that this was someone with stories to tell. I threw out a casual compliment: "Anhui's always been a province of culture, rich with talented people."

That single sentence opened the floodgates.

He told me these past two years had been the lowest point of his life. The year before last, a business partner had screwed him over, and he'd lost more than a million yuan. For an ordinary family, that's catastrophic. But he hadn't run away, and he refused to become a "deadbeat debtor." He'd sold his car and started driving a taxi, determined to pay back his bank loans and credit card debt with his own two hands, little by little.

He reflected: "Back then, every night was either drinks here or banquets there, all business talk. Now, I finally have time to sit still and really think about my life."

He said this difficult period had given him the chance to explore things he'd once dismissed as superstition — the I Ching, bazi fortune analysis. "You know what?" he said, smiling. "I study this stuff not to tell fortunes, but to understand one thing — how much of a person's fate is controllable, and how much isn't?" He added, "I won't be in this line of work much longer. I believe these few years are just a transition to get through the low point."

That hooked me instantly. A late-night conversation was about to begin.

"Our ancestors summed it up long ago," the taxi driver said. "One fate, two fortune, three feng shui. These three set your life's foundation."

First, "fate" (命): This is your factory settings. The moment you're born — who your parents are, where you're born, the corresponding heavenly stems and earthly branches, the year, month, day, and hour — these bottom-layer "codes" are largely already written. And they determine so much of your life's beta. This part, we basically cannot choose.

Second, "fortune" (运): This is the sum of choices you make along the way. At critical junctures, do you turn left or right? Do you settle into a stable job at a big tech company, or throw yourself into the startup wave? It reminded me of choosing between Google and Facebook back in the day — every major decision shapes your acquired "fortune." Whether it's right or wrong often only becomes clear years later.

Third, "feng shui" (风水): This is your environment, your circles, the energy of the place. Broadly, the city and industry you're in; narrowly, your company and family — your surroundings are constantly influencing and shaping you.

"But these first three are just the foundation." The driver shifted gears. "What really lets us exert ourselves after the fact, even change the trajectory of our fate, are the next seven."

Fourth, "accumulate virtue" (积德): Do good for others. It doesn't need to be earth-shattering — even a helping hand at work, a piece of professional advice. The world isn't easy for anyone, but we can choose to help where we can, and at minimum, do no harm, don't screw people over, hold our bottom line. This is the most朴素 and most powerful force there is.

Fifth, "study" (读书): Reading is the highest-ROI way to change your fate. Here, "reading" doesn't just mean books and exams, leaping through the dragon's gate. It includes watching video talks, listening to podcasts — essentially, learning from those who came before. Success comes in all kinds of unique forms, but the patterns of failure are strikingly similar. Reading lets us stand on the shoulders of giants and avoid repeating those fatal mistakes. Of course, some errors you still have to make yourself to truly understand.

Sixth, "name" (名): Your name is an energy symbol you're called by every day. The driver joked that a positive, forward-looking name works like a good psychological suggestion. It might sound mystical, but research has long shown that language and thought influence reality. It reminded me of a book I'd read, which said that when your mind is filled with positive thoughts, the energy of the entire universe resonates with you; conversely, when you're filled with negativity, it feels like the whole world is against you. That sounds a bit "idealist," but think about it — keeping a positive mindset never hurts.

Seventh, "appearance" (相): Your appearance reflects your heart. Here, "appearance" doesn't mean handsome or ugly — it means your mental outlook, your bearing. Does your face radiate integrity or hostility? Gentleness or irritability? This may not be entirely "scientific," but it's often remarkably accurate. It's the long-term external projection of a person's inner world. Sometimes you meet someone and, without being able to say why, something just feels off. That intuition lacks scientific explanation, but it's usually worth heeding. From another angle, maybe it's also the output of a "people-reading large model" algorithm built from everyone you've ever met.

Eighth, "revere heaven and earth" (敬畏天地): Especially for entrepreneurs, there's always that impulse that humans can conquer nature, that you can break every rule. But first you have to understand and revere the laws and "rules of the game" of this world, this industry. Only by understanding the existing rules can you possibly find opportunities to break them.

Ninth, "befriend benefactors" (交贵人): Everyone, at some point, encounters their "benefactors" — the mentors who give you a single sentence of guidance when you're lost, the people who bring you into a new field, the ones who lend a hand at the critical moment. Knowing how to recognize, cherish, and cultivate relationships with the benefactors in your life is a crucial part of getting things done.

Tenth, "nurture your health" (养生): Physical and mental well-being is the foundation of everything. Without the "1," all the "0"s that follow are meaningless. Exercise, tend to your inner state — this is the most fundamental investment we can make in ourselves.

After hearing his "ten methods," I was deeply moved. He also told me the story of Liao Fan's Four Lessons: the author Yuan Liaofan's fate had been precisely calculated by a Taoist priest, down to the last detail — but later, through befriending a benefactor (the Zen master Yungu), revering heaven and earth, and persistently doing good, he completely transformed his "predetermined" destiny.

The night deepened. We arrived at my destination. When I got out, I rounded up the fare and paid a bit extra. The driver said "thank you" with genuine surprise in his voice.

What I was grateful for wasn't just the safe ride — it was this rare conversation. What started as aggravation had turned into something richly rewarding.

Good fortune hides within misfortune; misfortune hides within good fortune.

If the first driver hadn't refused me, I wouldn't have filed a complaint. If the second driver hadn't locked her trunk, I wouldn't have ended up in the third car. Without those two infuriating "bad breaks," there would have been no magical encounter with this unexpected sage.

Isn't this just how life works?

We always feel dejected, angry, even bitter when bad things happen, when we fail. Whether it's investing in a failed project or botching a task at work, getting criticized or blamed — in the moment, it always stings.

But as this experience taught me: These "bad breaks" may be the necessary path to the next good thing. What matters is the mindset with which we face and interpret them.

What matters is that after taking the hit, we reflect and learn. Without the first two failures, there might not have been a third success. Every "screw-up," handled properly, can become a precious learning opportunity that makes us better people.

Even "science" itself seems to confirm this. I was recently reading Does God Play Dice? The History of Quantum Physics, and I was struck by how our universe is fundamentally uncertain. Many great scientific discoveries originated in unexplained observations, intuition, and guesses. We can't dismiss something just because it looks "unscientific" — there may be profound wisdom behind it.

Life, perhaps, really is like a quantum experiment — full of unknowns and possibilities. We can't control the "fate" of our birth, but we can actively choose and create our "fortune" through accumulating virtue, studying, befriending benefactors, maintaining our health... Fate is never fully predetermined, nor fully free. It's like a particle in quantum mechanics — both wave and particle, both determined and uncertain.

So the next time something "bad" happens, take a deep breath and tell yourself: Don't panic just yet. Maybe the "benefactor" who'll bring you a pleasant surprise is waiting in the very next car.