Poverty Alleviation C16

Chapter 16

“Honestly, even though the economic conditions here are a bit lacking, the environment is absolutely stunning!” Chen Mengjie held up her camera, snapping away non-stop.

That wretched producer! To cut costs, they decided to have one of the guests shoot behind-the-scenes footage for the show.

This way, the production team could save on hiring an extra staff member…

It just so happened that Chen Mengjie loved photography. This young lady’s family had collected nearly every famous and obscure camera in the world, so they didn’t even need to buy extra equipment.

Houzhai (Rear courtyard) Village was nestled in a small valley, with houses built along both sides of the river.

Just how old were the houses here?

Put it this way—if a period drama crew came here, they wouldn’t even need to set up a backdrop. They could start filming immediately and it would look like a scene straight out of the 1970s or 80s.

Most of the houses in the village followed a “three-section” design:

The bottom section was a stone wall made of mountain rocks, the middle was built with handmade mud bricks, and the top was a thatched roof.

The villagers knew that the show was here to help them sell their goods, so they were especially enthusiastic. The village chief even arranged for some of the better-off families to vacate their newer houses for the guests to stay in.

But “new houses” was a relative term—these were just old-fashioned two-story homes with tiled exteriors. Still, in this village, they were considered top-tier.

Wei Sheng, true to his background as a seasoned reseller, had barely put down his luggage before he was already chatting with the village chief about their harvest situation.

“Harvest? What harvest? You can see for yourself—it’s all bamboo forests around here. The town won’t allow us to cut them down to plant tea leaves. A couple of years ago, we did bring in a bamboo weaving factory, but that’s the one that called your show about unsold stock. Look, Director Lu is here.”

Wei Sheng looked up and saw a woman with a sallow complexion and bloodshot eyes.

Lu Meizhen looked older than her actual age—she was only 35. She and her husband had returned to their hometown to open a bamboo products factory nearly three years ago.

At first, they simply wanted to escape the high-pressure life of working in the city. Plus, their child’s household registration* was still in their hometown, making it nearly impossible for them to attend school in the big city.

Unwilling to leave their child as a “left-behind kid*,” they decided to use their savings from years of work to return home and start their own business.

But while their dreams were grand, reality was much harsher.

Hou Pengfei, Lu Meizhen’s husband, came from a long line of villagers who had lived in Houzhai for generations. Nearly every household here knew traditional bamboo weaving, and in the past, there were even artisans specializing in bamboo furniture.

Unfortunately, modern consumers preferred stylish, high-end custom furniture. Traditional handmade bamboo furniture was not only labor-intensive and time-consuming, but also lacked a price advantage and couldn’t keep up with design trends. These days, no one in Houzhai Village made bamboo furniture anymore.

Originally, Hou Pengfei and Lu Meizhen planned to avoid the high costs and heavy initial investment of bamboo furniture and instead focus on handmade bamboo crafts.

This way, they wouldn’t need to hire outside workers. Almost every elderly person and woman in the village knew how to weave bamboo, so they could employ locals for temporary work, providing some additional income.

All they needed to invest in was building the factory and securing sales channels. With Houzhai Village’s vast bamboo forests, their production costs would be much lower than external factories.

But the real challenge lay in sales.

Both Hou Pengfei and Lu Meizhen had come from farming families and had gone to university. They thought that after working in the city for years, they had built up enough connections to rely on. But once they quit their jobs, those so-called connections gradually stopped being useful…

They were already the most “successful” ones in their families, so there was no one else they could turn to for help.

With no sales channels, their factory’s bamboo products piled up in storage, nearly draining all their savings from years of working.

Seeing that the couple had become so desperate that they were growing vegetables outside the factory to make ends meet, the production crew fell silent.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

When they opened the warehouse and saw the stockpiles of outdated bamboo trays, baskets, sieves, and tea trays, the entire crew was at a loss for words.

“Ahem… Director Hou, if I may ask, did you conduct any market research before setting your factory’s production plan?” Wei Sheng couldn’t help but ask.

That question was like a dagger to the heart.

This was precisely the biggest mistake Hou Pengfei and Lu Meizhen had made when they started their business!

They had assumed that with cheap bamboo, low labor costs, and minimal startup expenses, there was no way they could lose money.

They had considered everything—except whether the old-fashioned craftsmanship of rural artisans was still in demand today…

“Director Hou, please don’t take this the wrong way, but product positioning needs to keep up with the times,” Wei Sheng said helplessly, pointing at the beautifully handcrafted bamboo trays in the warehouse.

These trays were once essential for drying grains and vegetables in rural households.

But from Wei Sheng’s recent experience buying local specialties, he had noticed that modern rural families hardly used these traditional bamboo trays anymore.

For one, they took up too much space. More importantly, they didn’t have covers, making them a magnet for flies.

Nowadays, people preferred collapsible drying nets made of nylon mesh.

These nets were structured like fishing nets, allowing airflow while keeping pests out. They even came with zippers!

When drying fish, vegetables, or other goods, people could simply place them inside, zip it up, and hang the net in the yard.

It was convenient, space-saving, and—most importantly—it kept flies away, ensuring that the dried goods looked much better when sold.

The key point is that this method doesn’t attract flies, and the dried vegetables and fish end up looking much better.

“My mom also asked me to buy her one of these drying nets—a six-tier luxury drying net, only 19.9 yuan with free shipping from a livestream store. Director Hou, how much do you sell these large bamboo trays for?”

“If you were to sell them online, including shipping costs, what’s the lowest price you’d need to make a profit?”

Wei Sheng’s words struck the couple like a series of heavy blows.

All the doubts they had been struggling with suddenly seemed to have clear answers.

“Well… first, we have to go up the mountain to cut the bamboo, then hire people to transport it down, process it into bamboo strips with machines, and then find people to weave them. For a bamboo tray with an 80 cm diameter like this, we’d have to sell it for at least 40 yuan at the market to make a profit.”

“We’ve tried selling online before, but our volume was too low to negotiate better shipping rates. We calculated that if we were to list them online, we’d need to price them at at least 70 yuan to offer free shipping.” Lu Meizhen’s voice grew weaker as she spoke.

“So you see, I can buy a drying net for just over ten yuan that’s both practical and space-saving—why would I spend several times that amount on such a large bamboo tray?”

“And think about it, in rural areas, it’s fine since people have space to dry things, but in the city, where would they put an 80 cm tray? City housing prices are sky-high, and some small apartments don’t even have balconies that wide!”

As soon as Wei Sheng said this, not only did Hou Pengfei and Lu Meizhen fall silent, but even the director’s face turned pale.

“Wait! Xiao Wei, if we go by what you’re saying, how are we supposed to continue filming this episode? Hey, stop filming for now, save the battery. Let’s figure out a way to help the locals sell their products first!”

Everyone immediately gathered around.

What a disaster—

Other variety shows had deep pockets. If they couldn’t sell something, they could always get a few planted buyers to purchase the locals’ goods.

But their production team was practically broke. Where would they find extra funds for that?

The real problem was that many of the crew had grown up in the city and had never even used a bamboo tray before. They couldn’t think of a viable solution on the spot.

Chen Mengjie offered an idea, mentioning that when she and her mom visited Paris for a fashion show, they noticed many major international brands promoting eco-friendly concepts and even launching bamboo-woven and bamboo-carved handbags.

It was a great idea, but it couldn’t solve their immediate problem.

Even if they pivoted to producing bamboo bags right now, by the time they were ready for sale, the show would already be over.

In the end, it was still Wei Sheng who came up with a more practical solution.

“I think the reason many people aren’t interested in traditional bamboo products is that they don’t have the right setting to use them.” Wei Sheng pulled out his phone, searched for some images, and showed them—

“Look, many trendy stores have really creative interior designs. Some even buy vintage-style items for decoration. We could hire an interior designer to help our guests set up a bamboo-themed room. As long as the atmosphere is right, I’m sure there’ll be people who love this aesthetic and would buy them to decorate their homes.”

“Also, schools often have kids do creative art projects, right? Look, there are plenty of examples online where people paint on bamboo trays. We could buy a batch of paints and bundle them with the unsold bamboo trays from the factory, creating a ‘DIY Bamboo Tray Painting Kit.’”

Lu Meizhen got excited and quickly searched online for similar products—only to feel a sharp sting in her heart.

They struggled to sell the same-sized bamboo trays at 10 yuan each, with no buyers.

Meanwhile, other online stores bundled them with paint and sold them for over 20 yuan per set—with sales exceeding 100,000 orders…

“There’s also this—some people even buy woven bamboo baskets to use as cat beds, hahaha~”

“I suggest that in this episode, we first look up examples of how bamboo craft items are used in different settings and showcase these use cases. Maybe we’ll attract the right buyers who need them.”

“Great! Let’s go with Xiao Wei’s idea!” The director grew more and more excited, already imagining their show successfully selling out the factory’s unsold bamboo products.

Not only would they save the factory, but they might also create more jobs for the villagers.

Wasn’t that the whole point of producing this variety show?

“Since this was Xiao Wei’s idea, let’s not trouble anyone else—Xiao Wei, you assign the tasks.” Ouyang Xia grinned, paving the way for Wei Sheng.

He had heard about how Wei Sheng helped the villagers in Wutong Town sell their local specialties.

Ouyang Xia never expected that the things he, a college graduate from Wutong Town, failed to accomplish—Wei Sheng had actually done.

No need for words of gratitude. From this moment on, Wei Sheng had gained an honorary big brother title at J Province TV Station!

After all, when it came to seizing opportunities to stand out and take credit at work, Ouyang Xia never hesitated—he would always push Wei Sheng to the forefront first!

(End of Chapter)

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—Hukou (户口) is China’s household registration system that ties a person to a specific location, usually their birthplace or parents’ registered domicile. It affects access to public services like education, healthcare, and social benefits. People with a rural hukou often face restrictions when trying to access these services in big cities.

—A left-behind child (留守儿童) refers to a child whose parents have migrated to work in big cities, leaving them in their rural hometown, usually in the care of grandparents or other relatives. This happens because China’s hukou system makes it difficult for migrant workers to bring their children with them and enroll them in urban schools.