Old Zhou's "Landmine Shell" Business

Old Zhou is known in the village as a "lazy man." He spends his days holding a purple clay teapot, squatting under the big locust tree at the village entrance, watching clouds roll by, and sitting there for half a day. Villagers are busy farming and working elsewhere, only he seems uninterested in anything.

"Old Zhou, when will your days of leisure end?" passing villagers often tease him.

Old Zhou doesn't get annoyed; he just leisurely takes a sip of tea, squinting at the clouds in the sky, and says, "Why rush? The timing isn't right yet."

In fact, Old Zhou has been holding back a drive inside. He had also ventured out when he was young, running small businesses, trading agricultural products, but all ended in failure. On a rainy night after his fourth startup failure, he squatted under a bridge and suddenly understood a principle: he used to focus on "what I want to do," but ignored the "environment that allows me to do it." He was too eager to "set a goal" but forgot to "go with the flow."

From that day on, he returned to the village, not to retire, but to observe. He observed the land, the villagers' planting habits, and the market supply and demand changes. He discovered that every household in the village grows corn, with high yields but low prices, unable to fetch a good price. Meanwhile, city folks now emphasize health preservation and prefer organic grains, but they are expensive and unaffordable for ordinary people.

Old Zhou had a plan, but he didn't rush to act. He was waiting for a "trend."

That year, the county promoted the "Return Land to Forest" policy, encouraging farmers to plant economic trees on land unsuitable for grain cultivation. Old Zhou keenly sensed that this was an opportunity. But he didn't plant trees; instead, he turned his attention to the abandoned threshing ground at the village entrance.

That threshing ground used to be a place for setting off firecrackers and celebrations, leaving behind lots of shredded paper and... landmine shells (a type of firecracker casing, paper, lightweight, flammable).

Old Zhou began collecting landmine shells from the threshing ground. He gathered the discarded paper casings, washed, dried, and crushed them. Villagers saw what he was doing and laughed out loud.

"Old Zhou, are you crazy? Collecting these scraps? How can they feed you?"

"I think he's gone broke, not letting go of trash."

Old Zhou just smiled and kept working. He mixed the crushed landmine shells with cow manure and straw, fermenting them into a special organic fertilizer. He named this fertilizer "Red Prosperity Fert" (symbolizing prosperity and success).

Once the fertilizer was ready, Old Zhou went to the county agricultural bureau to apply for organic fertilizer certification. With the certification in hand, he approached several large vegetable bases in the county.

"Use my 'Red Prosperity Fert,' and the vegetables you grow will be truly organic, taste better, and fetch higher prices," Old Zhou told the farm managers.

The managers were skeptical but decided to give it a try and bought a batch of "Red Prosperity Fert."

Miraculously, the results were remarkable. Tomatoes grown with "Red Prosperity Fert" were bright in color, sweet and juicy, much better than those grown with ordinary fertilizer. The vegetable base owners were overjoyed and immediately signed long-term cooperation agreements with Old Zhou.

Old Zhou's "Red Prosperity Fert" became an instant hit. Instead of building his own factory, he taught the technique to impoverished villagers, helping them collect landmine shells and process the fertilizer. He was responsible for sales and branding.

In just one year, Old Zhou not only made a lot of money but also helped more than a dozen poor households in the village escape poverty. He became a leading figure in local wealth creation and even appeared on TV news.

When asked about his secret to success, Old Zhou, holding his purple clay teapot, said leisurely, "I didn't do much; I just went with the trend and acted after planning. I used to think about what I wanted to do but overlooked the changing environment. Now I understand, only by following the big trend and seizing the right moment can you achieve twice the result with half the effort."

Old Zhou's story spread through the village. People no longer called him "lazy man," but "Master Zhou." And Old Zhou still spends his days holding his purple clay teapot, squatting under the big locust tree at the village entrance, watching clouds roll by. But now, his eyes carry a sense of calm and confidence.

He knows that the next "trend" is quietly brewing. And he is already prepared.