Lu Zhi died in the winter when he was 22.
His biological aunt wanted to curry favor with her in-laws, so she offered his six-year-old twin siblings, a boy and a girl, as gifts, even at the cost of his life.
When he opened his eyes again, he was a max-level expert just retired from the quick transmigration bureau, and every trace of clear-eyed naivety had vanished.
Looking at the twins huddled together beside him, and sensing the rich spiritual energy of the Changbai Mountains, Lu Zhi smiled warmly.
"Dear Aunt, I'll give you everything you want."
His aunt wanted to give the twins to her brother-in-law's family, who couldn't have children, but Lu Zhi thought children were easier to raise when they were blood relatives. His aunt's own young son was just the right age.
She wanted to keep all of Grandpa Lu's inheritance for herself, but inexplicable nightmares began to haunt her. She lost control of her words, became despised by everyone, and begged and cried to give it up. Lu Zhi, who felt sorry for his aunt, had no choice but to accept the gift.
The desolate little town became a popular tourist destination. His jealous aunt's family came calling, hoping to seize the ancestral home and move into town.
Holding the property deeds for the entire commercial street, Lu Zhi looked troubled.
"I don't need this house at the foot of the mountain, but I wonder if the person you're currying favor with can withstand the wrath of his own boss.
"After all, his father has been waiting half a year to stay at my homestay."
Lu Zhi took the twins back to their old home at the foot of the Changbai Mountains. The town was deserted as a ghost town, and the dilapidated ancestral home looked ready to collapse at any moment.
To save up tuition for the kids, who couldn't read or write, Lu Zhi leased the hundred mu of woodland Grandpa had left behind.
Once he set up a spirit-gathering array, ginseng seedlings shot up three inches overnight, growing better in one year than in ten.
He raised tasty, plump frogs that made your skin radiant and youthful overnight, strengthened the body, and even treated infertility!
Other people rely on experience to forage in the mountains. Lu Zhi relies on cheats: no matter how deeply a hundred-year-old ginseng root is hidden, its abundant spiritual energy makes it shine like a light bulb.
His medicinal wines had miraculous effects: peach blossom wine for menstrual cramps, blueberry wine for beauty and youthful skin, and "Fairy Water" that could even revive children with polio. Powerful figures from the provincial capital lined up with bottles of Moutai to buy them.
He turned an abandoned elementary school into a "haven for civil service exam prep." Under the spirit-gathering array, people became sharp-eyed and sharp-eared, transforming from poor students into top scholars. Graduate school applicants carried their bedding up the mountain in the middle of the night, and even professors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences brought their research teams to soak up the spiritual energy.
The ginseng fields under the forest had security cameras installed, and tourists could adopt "virtual pet ginseng" online. Earning a million a year was no dream.
For the Dragon Boat Festival, he invited young men from ethnic minorities to come down the mountain and perform shamanic dances. With their dark skin, abs, and ethnic outfits, the female tourists lost control on the spot.
"That ticket was worth it!"
Watching a crowd of powerful people, who could command the winds and rain elsewhere, cry and wave their money around, begging for a chance to go up the mountain and work for him, Lu Zhi could only sigh helplessly.
"I'm just an honest guy, retired and raising kids."
Theme: Keep your feet on the ground and revitalize your hometown
