A Warehouse Full of Mountain Treasures

In 1993, after a broken engagement, a family split, and 800 yuan in grain payments owed to the cooperative, the whole village was waiting to see him fail to pay up. He had no golden finger, only the sharp eye he'd honed working in the kitchen of a city restaurant: which dried goods were truly valuable, how to grade them, and how to dry them without letting them go moldy. First, he would save the old house and the mountain woods. Then he would sell the mountain produce for a good price, one batch at a time.