Cheers for Farmers' Achievements: A Country Kid's Dream

I grew up in a small coastal farming village in Changhua. My family raised us by farming and doing manual work, and put us through higher education. The more educated I became, the more inferior I felt. I was afraid people would find out I came from the countryside, and I had no childhood life worth boasting about. I rejected the land that fed me with its milk. As a child, all I wanted was to get into a prestigious school, then wear a sharp suit and do big things.

I went north for high school, and I really did get into a prestigious national school, wearing a sharp uniform. But on holidays I still had to go home and help farm. I remember one summer Saturday, when my family was growing winter melons. During the day I carried winter melons weighing over 10 jin each with my mother under the blazing sun. It was hot and stifling, and the sweat never stopped. Though we were tired, we were happy, praising how beautiful the winter melons from this harvest were as we picked them.

That day we were exhausted, but the next day we still got up at 3 a.m., because we had to take the winter melons to Xihu Fruit and Vegetable Market to sell. On the dim path where we could not see ahead, we relied on the two small lights on the front of the small pickup truck. Turning left and right, we arrived at the market, found a good spot we thought would bring us a big payoff, and parked the truck. What came next was completely different from my fantasy... What followed was a stream of "your winter melons are ugly," "sell them cheaper," "do you even know how to farm?"... Those vulgar expressions and constant curses I still remember to this day. That was just one episode of my childhood, but this scene is like a horror film that can play over and over. Back then I hated agriculture. I felt that working in agriculture meant being trampled by these people, and it was too undignified.

Life is funny. The more you hate something, the closer you get to it. Through a series of coincidences, ever since I entered society, I have still always been mixed up with the land. Perhaps through society's trials, I gradually came to understand the idea that every trade can produce a master. Now, instead, I throw myself wholeheartedly into agriculture, starting from making jam, and even founding a platform for environmentally friendly fruit - Zhi Guo Tang.

I like working for farmers, and cheering for their achievements