Chapter 180

Housewives Leaving Home had been airing for two weeks straight—four full episodes! No missions, no challenges, and barely any interaction between the guests and the local villagers. The show was just a laid-back journey through mountains and rivers, a complete display of doing nothing and embracing the art of slacking off.

Even the cameramen following the guests around looked like they hadn’t been paid by the TV station. They filmed a flower here, a cloud there—this was a show that practically had the word “slacker” carved into its forehead.

And yet, this seemingly “aimless” show became a must-watch for every housewife across the country after 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Young stay-at-home moms loved it because it showed the kind of vacation life they dreamed of—no responsibilities, just relaxation.

Middle-aged women loved it because their motivation for juggling work and childcare was the hope that, after retirement, they could find a paradise like Yuan Stream Township. A place where they weren’t someone’s daughter, wife, or mother, but just themselves, living life on their own terms.

Even elderly viewers like Grandma Hu enjoyed it—not for the lifestyle, but for the scenery of Yuan Stream Township. With few tourists and even fewer permanent residents, the slow pace and peaceful atmosphere made the show especially appealing to those who valued quiet.

Y Province TV Station was determined to use this variety show to make a strong comeback. To boost ratings, they even added a ten-minute exclusive behind-the-scenes segment at the end of each episode.

Since the show was produced by Y Province TV Station, they were the only ones with access to this exclusive footage.

Guagua Video nearly choked with frustration and immediately approached the station, hoping to get a share of the behind-the-scenes content.

Heh. That would cost extra.

No one knew exactly how much Guagua Video ended up paying, but before long, they too began releasing some of the bonus footage.

However, what Y Province TV Station didn’t expect was that the cunning Guagua Video chopped the entire segment into multiple clips and released them separately. Unless you were a VIP member, you had to sit through a full minute-long ad before watching each one.

Director Yang Pingzhou: “…”

Well played, Guagua Video. You managed to squeeze ten times the ad revenue from a single clip!

After the first four episodes aired, it was no surprise that Yuan Stream Township—the filming location—blew up in popularity. Many stay-at-home moms who hadn’t won the lottery to participate, along with plenty of unmarried women, now wanted to visit and experience this “slacker-style vacation” for themselves.

Who would’ve thought that a poor township with no tourist attractions, no famous landmarks, and not even a bus stop could go viral online thanks to the aesthetics of doing nothing?

Even Yuan Stream Township itself was stunned. They couldn’t believe that the show had barely started airing and it had already jumpstarted their tourism industry.

Now what?

Sure, the natural scenery was decent, but there were no inns, no hotels, not even a single farmhouse stay. The only “dining options” were a noodle shop and a breakfast stall in town. Damn! This was like being thrown into battle completely unarmed.

But as the saying goes, “When in doubt, ask the higher-ups.” True to their nickname as the “Township of Slackers,” the local officials in Yuan Stream Township quickly decided this was way beyond their pay grade. They promptly turned to the county for help.

Nine Streams County, where Yuan Stream Township was located, was equally at a loss. Even if they were miracle workers, they couldn’t conjure up a bunch of hotels and guesthouses out of thin air to accommodate the incoming tourists.

The more they thought about it, the more frustrated they became.

This was such a golden opportunity! Any other tourist city would’ve been overjoyed, mobilizing the entire county to focus on developing the tourism sector.

But the problem was, the county didn’t have the resources. Time was tight, and even if they had enough time, where would they get the money to build hotels and guesthouses?

Just as Nine Streams County was at its wit’s end, Wei Sheng appeared like a timely rain.

“What? Boss Wei, you want to invest in traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivation in Yuan Stream Township? Not rural tourism?”

“I don’t have the resources to invest in tourism. Besides, Yuan Stream Township hasn’t even started building the necessary infrastructure. Speaking of which, when does the county plan to kick off the tourism infrastructure development?”

The leaders of Nine Streams County: “…”

Kick off? That’s not happening. Even county-level investment and financing is tough these days!

Well, nothing to be done.

Wei Sheng had only started making money in the past couple of years. Just over two years ago, he was still a contract worker at a TV station, earning less than 10,000 yuan a month. How could he possibly come up with billions to fund infrastructure for a township?

Still, even though no one had money right now, there was another way…

“If we can develop the traditional Chinese medicinal herb industry, we could use it to drive tourism. Eventually, we might not even need external financing. Once the locals become more prosperous, the collective economy could fund tourism development through community crowdfunding.”

Wei Sheng wasn’t just talking out of thin air. This was exactly how Houzhai Village had developed.

Back then, Houzhai Village was just like Yuan Stream Township. Its infrastructure was stuck in the 1980s and 90s—extremely outdated.

But once the village’s collective economy took off, they didn’t need government help or outside investment. The village launched a crowdfunding initiative for all residents. The resort hotels, guesthouses, and recreational facilities were all funded by the villagers themselves.

Of course, the villagers weren’t just donating money. After the facilities were built, the profits were distributed annually to the “shareholders.”

According to insider gossip, some of the wealthier families in the village, who invested heavily, now earn hundreds of thousands a year just from dividends. They expect to recoup their costs within ten years, and after that, it’s pure profit every year.

What’s more, these shares can be passed down to their children and grandchildren. As long as Houzhai Village’s tourism industry continues to thrive, their descendants will enjoy a steady stream of income from the village.

It was practically a license to print money.

Those who were too cautious and only invested a few thousand to test the waters now regret it deeply.

But regret won’t help them now. The village only had a few projects, and the fundraising period ended long ago.

So the saying goes: fortune favors the bold, while the timid go hungry. The ancestors weren’t wrong!

The villagers who missed out on Houzhai Village’s first round of large-scale investment had no chance to turn back the clock.

Now, thoroughly convinced by Wei Sheng’s pitch, the leaders of Nine Streams County were already considering: if the locals in Yuan Stream Township weren’t willing to participate in crowdfunding, maybe they could expand the pool of investors to include government employees and public institutions across the county?

So—

Boss Wei, let’s talk in detail about how exactly we’re going to develop this traditional Chinese medicinal herb industry.

The officials of Nine Streams County weren’t unfamiliar with medicinal herbs. A few years ago, during the poverty alleviation campaign, they had considered tapping into the region’s abundant wild herb resources. But at the time, the domestic herbal medicine market was chaotic. Their pure wild herbs couldn’t compete on price with adulterated ones, and as for quality, there simply weren’t enough knowledgeable buyers to appreciate it.

What made things even worse was that in an industry where the majority of players were profiting through adulteration and passing off inferior goods as top-quality, any medicinal herb farm that tried to operate with integrity would end up being ostracized by the entire industry.

Nine Streams County tried to focus on quality, but no one cared. They couldn’t compete with the seasoned fraudsters either. Though a few Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs cultivation projects had been introduced in the county, they all ended the same way: after pocketing government subsidies, the investors vanished, leaving behind hills full of subpar medicinal herbs. The locals, seeing no value in them, treated them like weeds, cleared them out, and went back to planting potatoes and corn.

Can you really blame the local Poverty Alleviation Cadres for being irresponsible? The truth is, they weren’t professionals. They had no idea how lucrative this industry was, or the shady rules that governed it. The projects were packaged so convincingly, with flashy presentations and real money on the table. Some even brought in actual medicinal herb seedlings from other regions and planted them. Everything looked flawless. Without at least ten years of hands-on experience in the field, how could anyone see through the act?

That’s why, despite years of hard-fought poverty alleviation efforts, which did help many impoverished areas seize opportunities and break free from generations of hardship, there were still regions that got burned badly by opportunists looking to scam subsidies.

Nine Streams County had already been burned once. So if anyone else had come along and suggested, “Let’s start a Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs cultivation base,” the county leaders would’ve kicked them out on the spot, thinking they were just another con artist.

But Wei Sheng was different.

His metaphysical aura might only have a niche following in the entertainment world, but when it came to poverty alleviation and rural development, he was undefeated. Not a single failure. At this point, it wasn’t even metaphysics anymore—it was practically divine intervention.

Just look at the impoverished villages Wei Sheng had visited. Every single one of them had clung to the leg of the God of Wealth and soared to prosperity.

And sure enough, Wei Sheng didn’t let down those who believed in the God of Wealth’s halo.

He didn’t just draw up a construction plan for the medicinal herb base. He laid out a full five-year development blueprint for the entire industry chain. It included tapping into the ancestral ointment formulas held by old traditional doctors in Yuan Stream Township, building an automated factory, and developing both online and offline sales channels.

Put it this way: with Wei Sheng’s plan, the county wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. He could single-handedly get the entire industry chain up and running.

But if investors weren’t interested, the county would be disappointed. If investors were too eager, the county would still feel a bit left out.

Did Boss Wei not need them to help with anything? Like, say, financing?

“No need! The line of people waiting to invest in me stretches from J City all the way to your Nine Streams County.” Wei Sheng waved his hand grandly. The God of Wealth didn’t lack money.

County leaders: “…”

Amazing! Truly worthy of the title God of Wealth. He really doesn’t need money!

So… does that mean they had no chance to ride the God of Wealth’s coattails to riches? o(╥﹏╥)o

Of course not.

After wrapping up the main discussion, Wei Sheng actually did have a business matter he wanted the county to help with.

“Developing supplementary industries around the Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs cultivation base? What do you mean?”

Wei Sheng’s ideas moved so fast that even the well-informed county officials were caught off guard by this sudden twist.

But once he finished explaining, those who had watched the show “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation” immediately understood what he meant by a supplementary industry.

It was essentially a spin on the model used in Houzhai Village—the “Youth Experiential Learning Base.” Nine Streams County had a long history with Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs. Even if it hadn’t been officially recognized as an “intangible cultural heritage,” it was still a distinctive local industry. How could local students not understand their own cultural roots?

Wei Sheng’s plan was: instead of letting schools spend their labor class budgets on buying random craft materials online or purchasing grow kits, why not redirect that money to support the local economy?

For instance, they could use the medicinal herb cultivation base to build a youth experiential learning center in Yuan Stream Township. Every year, during the planting, maintenance, and harvest seasons, local schools could organize class trips there for hands-on learning.

First, these trips could replace the usual spring and autumn outings, giving students a break from their textbooks and a chance to breathe fresh air in nature.

Second, by exposing children early on to the local specialty cultivation industry, they might spark interest in Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs. Some students might even choose to study agriculture or medicine in college and return home to work in the field, providing fresh talent to sustain the industry’s future.

“Well said! That’s exactly it! Developing a local specialty economy has to start with the next generation! If our children don’t even understand Nine Streams County’s Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs industry, then all these treasures passed down by our ancestors could be lost forever!”

If Wei Sheng’s earlier proposal for a medicinal herb base gave them hope for lifting the locals out of poverty, then this idea—this vision—took everything to a whole new level.

This wasn’t just a youth learning center. This was about preserving the most precious spark of life for Nine Streams County’s Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs industry.

At this point, forget about making money from the youth learning base. Even if it didn’t earn a cent, the county would be willing to pour money into it just to get the project off the ground as soon as possible.

Wei Sheng: “…”

Wait, you guys trust me this blindly?

(End of chapter)