At that time, the purchase price for the grapes they grew was 1.20 yuan per jin, while the retail price was 2.00 yuan. The villagers only saw the 0.80 yuan difference, unaware that if the grapes didn’t sell, they’d rot, and for every jin that spoiled, he’d lose 1.20 yuan. The villagers started badmouthing him behind his back, saying he was making dirty money—that since they were all from the same village, earning a mere 0.10 yuan per jin in profit was already plenty.
The following year, some villagers stepped forward, refusing to let anyone sell their grapes to him. They organized the villagers to personally take the grapes to the city to sell, earning an extra 0.80 yuan per jin. As a result, the entire village refused to sell him their grapes anymore. He was relieved of the burden and went to work in a coastal city, paying off the debt of over 100,000 yuan within a year.
When he returned home for the New Year, the villagers came to his door, demanding that he resume buying their grapes. They even guilt-tripped him, saying that planting grapes was his idea in the first place. Liao Zhen was furious at the time. When he encouraged the villagers to grow grapes, everyone had volunteered—he hadn’t forced anyone or made any promises. He had done his best to help them, yet they had slandered him behind his back. He refused to take on that mess again. After all his hard work, he hadn’t received a single word of thanks and had ended up over 100,000 yuan in debt.
Still, he didn’t give up on his entrepreneurial ambitions. So he took out another loan of over 300,000 yuan and contracted 100 acres of land in the village to grow pumpkins. He carefully selected the pumpkin varieties—sweet, smooth-skinned, and easy to sell in the market. Plus, pumpkins were easy to store, unlike grapes that spoiled quickly. This time, he was confident he would succeed.
He also leveraged the power of the internet, deliberately filming short videos from the start. He recorded everything—from tilling the soil and planting to managing the crops. Because he borrowed filming techniques from other big influencers, his videos went viral and gained massive online popularity. He became a major blogger with over a million followers. His fans left comments saying they’d definitely buy his pumpkins when they were ready. Some even planned to buy a farm tricycle to haul pumpkins from his farm and sell them, hoping to ride the trend. Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction.
Naively, he believed that life would follow the planned course. But he never expected an accident to happen when the pumpkins ripened. A rumor spread from somewhere, claiming that all his pumpkins were free for the taking. Nearby villagers drove their tricycles and electric scooters to his fields to haul away pumpkins. He tried to drive them off with a drone, but an old man knocked it down with a clod of dirt. Rushing to the fields, he found chaos—like a boiling pot of oil, he couldn’t manage one side without losing the other. The fields were busier than a market fair. Even the police were helpless because there were too many people. Despite loudspeaker announcements that the pumpkins were owned, the villagers just listened and stayed. Those who hesitated to leave saw others staying, so they stayed too. The announcements fell on deaf ears.
The pumpkins he had worked so hard to grow were all looted. People picked pumpkins from his fields more easily than from their own. He once grabbed an old man who had taken the most. The man had used his electric tricycle to haul pumpkins to the city, sold them, and returned for more. Liao Zhen caught him and tried to hand him over to the police, but the old man glared and threatened him: if he didn’t let go, he’d lie down and fake an injury to extort him.