I love to be a copycat wife! Xu Meiju accompanied Lai Jintian to live in seclusion in Taitung, maintaining 30 hectares of forest dream.

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He was obsessed with planting trees and did not hesitate to borrow money to buy land for afforestation. Twenty years have passed in the mountains, with small saplings growing into trees several meters high, tens of thousands of trees covering the previously barren hills, and hundreds of species of birds returning to the forest. He is Lai Jintian, living in seclusion with his wife Xu Meiju. In the bustling and dazzling modern society, he is happy to be a copycat king in the deep mountains of Taitung.

The couple, who had not seen each other for a long time, came to Ilan to "go home and live" to share their mountain life. They live deep in Changbin Mountain in Taitung. Their home is surrounded by tree crowns, and they are the only family in the mountains. The two men own 30 hectares of land around them, but except for the 10 hectares of land in their original home, the remaining 20 hectares are either bought or rented. 1/3 of the land is used to build their fruit orchards, plantains, oranges and more than 40 kinds of fruit; the rest is used to plant trees or to buy idle land simply not to be developed.

(from Zhuhu Mountain residence Facebook)

When asked about her life after living in seclusion in the mountains, Xu Meiju said with a smile that there is no good or bad, and the forest has become a part of life. "but if you leave that environment, you will be very homesick and miss the early bird calls." First, Hsu Mei-ju is still working in Hualien. "every time I drive back to Changbin, the lights are turned off all over the sky. I naturally miss that feeling."

At the beginning of their marriage, Hsu Mei-ju still worked as a senior executive at the Hualien City Hospital with a good salary, but she still yearned for life in the mountains, and her children preferred to stay in Taitung. Therefore, before opening residential accommodation, he resolutely resigned and had no choice but to rely on his old capital, and his savings were getting smaller and smaller. Fortunately, the two gradually got through the period of financial hardship, supporting their livelihood with accommodation and orchards. "We have survived the hardest time, and we are very lucky not to give up at that time."

The forest dream of the shanzhai king has worked hard, but it is worth it. The shady woods and the incessant sound of birds are all rewards.

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