Post-80s returnees studying in France: growing vegetables with Forrest Gump Spirit

After working in a real estate company for two years, Wang Mian, a returnee who has been studying in France for six years, decided to give up his job from nine to five and plunge into the countryside to grow vegetables. Now, the "Natural Music" Farm he founded has sent more than 60 kinds of organic vegetables cultivated by biological control technology to the dining table of Beijing citizens.

The vegetables on the "Natural Movement" farm are growing happily.

Slow down with the pace of plant growth

In the freezing weather, the bathroom standing alone in the garden had long been frozen, but as soon as it entered Wang Mian's "destination"-- the kitchen, a heat wave hit. The aunt who came to cook cooked the noodles and fried the sauce, and three or four young men ate quickly with bowls next to the steaming cooker, so there was no need to add a few more chairs in the cramped room.

The vegetable greenhouse with thick quilts and direct sunlight became the only warm place during the day. In the afternoon, Wang Mian sat inside and talked to reporters about the mountains for more than two hours. The employees of the natural movement are very comfortable sitting around drinking water, listening to music and reading books.

It doesn't take much time to grow vegetables. Several young people live together in the cabin next to the park, wash and cook together, and spend three or four hours chatting everywhere, which is a bit extravagant in Beijing, which is used to impetuous and fast-paced. In Wang Mian's words, such a leisurely life is like "slowing down with the pace of plants".

Since childhood, Wang Mian has suffered from a disease that is currently incurable. He is not very energetic. He only has an hour or two to deal with affairs in the afternoon, and he may even fall asleep regardless of time and occasion. He used to spend two or three hours a day on the road from nine to five, watching Wechat and making phone calls, but now the slow pace of life is almost tailor-made for him.

Wei Xuke resigned from a good job in the medical device industry to grow vegetables, but his family naturally disagreed and felt that he was "asking for trouble and jumping from comfort and stability to suffering." But the reason for this "post-90s" boy is "want to do something seriously", which is probably the common idea of many entrepreneurial young people. There are not many employees in this start-up company, all of them are highly educated elites, but so far no one has been paid a penny.

"Mr. Wang is a man with ideas and has a good grasp of the general direction, and we trust his ability." Wei Xuke told Youth reference, "the next tuyere should be agriculture, and it will improve."

"Don't label me a returnee."

Born in 1981, Wang Mian is an out-and-out Beijing. After graduating from Dalian University of Technology in 2004, this engineering student who likes to think is "bored" and plans to go abroad to "get a diploma and broaden his horizons". This has been going on for six years.

During the three and a half years of studying in France, the word "no money" was almost the main theme of Wang Mian's life. In order to repay government and bank student loans and pay the cost of living, he works apart from studying every day, washing dishes, cutting vegetables, preparing cold food and making desserts in restaurants, picking peaches and apricots on the farm, harvesting lavender, cleaning toilets at railway stations, handing out newspapers at subway stations, and driving to big cities such as Brussels and Cologne to buy LV bags for domestic people. He "will do anything" as long as he meets his own moral standards.

Fortunately, France is a very tolerant country with diverse values. Poor students evade their tickets by bus, and drivers always turn a blind eye to them, and even open the back door to facilitate their escape when someone checks their tickets. This made Wang Mian realize that not everyone has to copy the same behavior system.

"whether it is bitter or not is just my own inner feeling." Wang Mian recalled to Youth reference, "at that stage, I was able to live calmly and live a valuable life that I recognized."

After graduation, the boy who went abroad with the idea of "giving his parents and himself one more choice" stayed in France to fight. At first, he could only rent cheap berths in high-rise buildings. Three bunks in 10 square meters were occupied by five people. Most of his roommates were stowaways from all over the world with a "European dream", and everyone had their own story.

After paying off the loan, Wang Mian, who got two master's degrees in economics, successfully got a job in the Paris representative office of the Export-Import Bank of China, but the monotonous days bored him. The original goal has been achieved, the French social environment is too dull, personal growth encountered the ceiling, are the reasons why he wants to leave. Wang Mian had a chance to emigrate (Weibo) to Canada to get married, but it was not a suitable place for parents and there was not much room for play.

In this way, Wang Mian, who had not returned to the country once in six years, unexpectedly returned to Beijing. Half a month later, he had a job offer when he had planned to travel to Southeast Asia for half a year, so he naturally joined the real estate company Sunshine 100.

When he first returned to China, Wang Mian really experienced a period of integration because of his poor Chinese expression ability and slow speaking speed. But at the mention of "returnees", he was in a hurry to draw a clear line and "Don't label me."

Wang Mian does not feel that he is a typical "returnee" and has not joined any association, because "the circle of life and the way of entertainment are different." In his view, the characteristics or commonalities of "returnees" are not different from those of other groups. On the contrary, there are obvious differences in family circumstances. The family imprints of "rich second generation", "official second generation" and "grassroots" can be seen at a glance.

In 2012, after two years of working in Sunshine 100, Wang Mian, dissatisfied with the existing benefit distribution system, decided to end his blind journey and do something "worthy of himself". Soon, agriculture, which can "meet the needs of himself and his friends for clean vegetables," came into his vision.

"Forrest Gump grows vegetables" requires persistence and simplicity and a clear goal.

When he first resigned and started his business, Wang Mian, who knew little about agriculture, chose to "become a farmer." more than half of the reason was that agriculture had a "low threshold" and little competition, and "grassroots" with little capital could come in. After plunging into the countryside, he realized that the seemingly low threshold was actually due to "the same inside and outside the door, with ventilation on all sides and leaking rain on the roof." this foot was "neck-deep and almost wiped out."

During the year and a half of growing organic strawberries in Changping, Wang Mian roughly found a direction and a way out, but he did not have the money to develop his ideas and was even fooled by crafty local farmers. At that time, his girlfriend lived with him in a three-room farmyard with poor living conditions, no heating facilities in winter and shivering with cold when taking a bath.

The road to starting a business is never easy. After hundreds of thousands of yuan of savings were thrown in, Wang Mian realized that he "did not have the ability to manage that much." In 2013, he moved to Jiuxianqiao, which is closer to the city and has higher rents. In order to save money, he laid off all the workers and mobilized his parents to grow strawberries with him, and the family of three lived in a humble tool shed next to the greenhouse. When friends of the same age lived a stable life of having a car and a house, getting married and having children, Wang Mian, who was busy "tossing about", broke up peacefully with his girlfriend.