Retired teacher Kuang Zhenghua earns 100,000 a year to grow Chinese chestnut in the mountain.

In Qiushang Village, Yangnao Township, Anren County, Hunan Province, when the name of retired teacher Kuang Zhenghua was mentioned, people all gave a thumbs up. Over the past 10 years, he spent more than 50,000 yuan of his savings to reclaim 6.7 hectares of barren mountains into a high-quality chestnut base.

Qiushang Village is a mountain corner more than 60 kilometers away from the county seat, where transportation is inconvenient and information is not available. It is a famous poor village in the county. Farmers who have lived here for generations have gone out to work after the reform and opening up. In the spring of 1994, Kuang Zhenghua retired from school and was deeply worried about the backward situation in his hometown. He thought that to change the backwardness of his hometown, it was not a long-term solution to rely on a part-time job, but to choose the right projects according to local conditions and take the road of getting rich through hard work. One day, after he saw a report on television that farmers in a village in western Hunan got rich by planting Chinese chestnut, he could not help but be struck by the fact that chestnut trees are highly adaptable, are not afraid of drought, do not choose soil, and their products are easy to sell. When local chestnuts are on the market at the beginning of the market, they can also sell 6 yuan per kilogram in peak season. An adult chestnut tree can produce 10 kilograms of chestnut per year, and its output value can reach 60,100 yuan. Planting chestnut trees is undoubtedly planted with a "cash cow". However, when he told the villagers this message, they shook their heads, either worried about large investment and slow results, or worried about unsuccess and low cost. Kuang Zhenghua thought that planting fruit trees does require investment and bear certain risks, and it is inevitable that the poor villagers will have too many worries for the time being. He also thought that since he had retired and had nothing to do, why not start to build a chestnut base, and once successful, the villagers would naturally follow suit.

His idea met with opposition from his three sons and daughters working in Beijing. Yes, the sons and daughters all have stable jobs and earn a lot of money. Lao Kwong himself also has a pension of more than 1000 yuan a month. He should be comfortable and secure in providing for the aged. Why did he put down his chalk head and carry a hoe to spend a lot of money and sweat? and the result is still unknown.

Lao Kwong, who had made up his mind, still picked up his hoe and went up the mountain. He first planted chestnut seedlings on his own 2-hectare barren mountain, and the next year contracted his brother's 4.7-hectare barren mountain to plant chestnut trees in conjunction with his own barren mountain. In order to save money and ensure the quality of planting trees, he and his wife did all the work of 6.7 hectares of Chinese chestnut base from soil preparation, digging holes to planting seedlings and fertilizing, without hiring anyone else. For more than 10 years, Lao Kwong has worn out dozens of raincoats and dozens of pairs of rubber shoes, and his hands are covered with thick cocoons. The hoe he used was also specially made, with an axe on one side and a hoe on the other, killing two birds with one stone.

There is a kilometer of mountain road from Kuang Zhenghua's home to the chestnut plantation. In order to save the round-trip time, he gets up and goes up the mountain in the haze every day, and his breakfast and lunch are delivered to the mountain by his wife. Once when it rained heavily, my wife slipped while delivering meals and hurt her right leg. She lay in bed for more than 10 days and spent more than 1000 yuan on medical expenses, but Lao Kwong was still obsessed with it.

However, planting chestnut trees is not as simple as they first thought. four or five years later, the 2 hectares of chestnut trees developed by Lao Kwong have gradually grown to the age of hanging fruit, but these chestnut trees only grow and do not bear fruit. As a result, cynical words blew into Old Kwong's ears: he also said that he would guide others to plant chestnut trees to get rich, but his own chestnut trees would not bear fruit.

Old Kwong was not discouraged. After thinking calmly, he understood a truth: growing Chinese chestnut is the same as growing rice, it is impossible to rely on hard work, and must rely on science and technology, so he asks for advice from his teachers everywhere. One day in the summer of 1999, braving the heat and the scorching sun, he walked 25 kilometers of mountain road to the chestnut plantation in Majiang Town, Chaling County, nearby, and then returned hungry until midnight. In 2001, when he got the news that Beijing would hold the China International Agricultural Expo on November 7, he and his wife brought 3000 yuan to Beijing. Moved by their father's persistent pursuit, the children working in the capital accompanied their parents to the exposition and took them to the orchards on the outskirts of Beijing to learn lessons. Before leaving Beijing, Lao Kwong went to the Central Agricultural Radio and Television School and bought more than 1000 yuan worth of technical CDs to take home to study.

Kuang Zhenghua not only went out to study, but also invited two masters who knew the grafting technology of Chinese chestnut from other places, and paid them 0.45 yuan for each bud grafting, which cost more than 10,000 yuan alone. He took the opportunity to learn from his master, and the sharp knife cut his finger dozens of times. Through "the price of blood", Lao Kwong mastered the unique skill of grafting.

In order to keep abreast of relevant scientific and technological information, Kuang Zhenghua also insisted on subscribing to a variety of popular science newspapers and periodicals, and often mailed science and technology books and CDs from Beijing Golden Shield Publishing House to become a member of its "readers' Club." In this way, he learned in work, worked in school, and finally became an expert in chestnut cultivation from a layman.