Daughter Starts a Business Just to Help Her Father Regain His Confidence

Many people said she did not know how to raise chickens. A reporter set out to find the truth, and the result was surprising. Seeing chicken bones scattered all over the hills, she made a startling remark. Not only did she make money raising chickens, she also helped more than 100 local farming households get rich together. What exactly makes her chicken farming so different?

This is Xu Xiaolan's hometown. The reporter came specifically to interview Xu Xiaolan, but before meeting her, the local villagers said this to the reporter.

Villager: A lot of the chickens look like they have been frightened. I feel that if a person like this could raise chickens successfully, well, I feel she cannot.

Villager: The way she does things does not look like chicken farming at all. She raises chickens in a way that sends them flying and the dogs jumping.

Xu Xiaolan's farm is in these mountains. The villagers' remarks made the reporter curious. When the reporter met Xu Xiaolan, she was leading her dog to the chicken farm.

Xu Xiaolan: Here comes the dog mom. Letting the dog out. Go, go. She wants some water. Drink up, quick. Do what you need to do. Drink some water and then we are off on our mission. We have a mission this afternoon. Ready? Let's go, let's go.

Xu Xiaolan: Comrades, charge forward, charge, charge, go. There, there, there, don't chase that one, go!

After entering the chicken farm, Xu Xiaolan's behavior made the reporter even more curious. She actually had the dog chase and bite the farmed chickens.

Xu Xiaolan: Come on, come on, hurry, that chicken. Even so, it still cannot catch them.

Reporter: Aren't you afraid it (the dog) will bite your chickens?

Xu Xiaolan: You see, it cannot catch them right now. Come on.

Reporter: How often do you do this?

Xu Xiaolan: Every few days I have to do it, every few days.

Watching this scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping, the reporter could not help but recall again the villagers' assessment of Xu Xiaolan.

Villager: The chickens that run look very scared, it feels like the dog is about to catch the chicken and bite it at any moment. I feel that if a person like this could raise chickens successfully, well, I feel she cannot.

Xu Xiaolan: The crime scene is right ahead.

That was not all. Next, Xu Xiaolan took the reporter to see some things.

Xu Xiaolan: Look, from here on there are (chicken) feathers.

Reporter: There is also a broken egg here.

Xu Xiaolan: Look, there are bones too. These bones, who knows how long they have been here, probably a very long time, look. Here, look at this big skeleton, and over there there is still a backbone.

The crime scene Xu Xiaolan spoke of turned out to be this ground covered with chicken feathers, chicken bones and eggshells. Clearly, these were traces left after chickens and eggs were eaten by natural enemies. Yet faced with such a scene, Xu Xiaolan said this.

Xu Xiaolan: This is exactly what I want. Only by raising chickens this way can they be raised well, right?

After further interviews, the reporter discovered that it was precisely through this method that Xu Xiaolan not only made money raising chickens, but also helped more than a hundred local farming households get rich together. How exactly did she do it?

Xu Xiaolan: Let's go, calling it a day, go.

Xu Xiaolan is from Qingchuan County, Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province. In 2009, she began raising free-range chickens. The reason she raised chickens was to help her father regain his confidence.

On the way to interview her father with Xu Xiaolan, Xu Xiaolan turned into a shopping mall.

Xu Xiaolan: Didn't you say you wanted to film (interview) my dad? So I thought, this kind (of clothing) looks quite like a boss when worn.

Reporter: You even have to dress your dad up to look like a boss?

Xu Xiaolan: My dad used to be a boss. Boss, do you have this in 180 (cm)?

Clothing store owner: Yes, we have it in 180 (cm).

Xu Xiaolan: Then get me one (piece).

This is Xu Xiaolan's father's home.

Xu Xiaolan: Dad, I'm back.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Come, come over.

Xu Xiaolan: These are the people from the TV station.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Come sit, good, good, sit.

Xu Xiaolan: Let's get a stool.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Good, good.

Xu Xiaolan: I bought you some clothes.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Thank you.

Xu Xiaolan: Try them on in a bit.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Come, come up and sit.

Reporter: Good, good.

Xu Xiaolan: Dad, are you ready? You look more than ten years younger all at once, suddenly looking young.

Xu Xiaolan: Dad used to be, in our village, the most handsome young man in my eyes. I have always thought in my heart that if I were to marry, I would marry a man like that.

In the early 1990s, Xu Xiaolan's father had once opened a coal mine locally and at one point became the richest man in the area.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Back then it was especially easy to make money. Sometimes I would treat three or four friends to a meal and spend three or five thousand yuan, no big deal. When you walked, your back was straight, you had face. People were very proud back then, proud to go out anywhere, full of spirit, in good spirits too.

Xu Xiaolan: At that time, it just felt like we were always better than others, that's how it was. Because I had a dad like this, I lived better than others.

Villager: Back then we only earned thirty-some yuan a month. What they earned in a day took us half a year. Half a year's wages could not match one day of their income.

But the good times did not last. In 2000, Xu Xiaolan's father lost everything because of a failed coal mine investment, and he also owed tens of thousands of yuan in debt. The Xu family, once so prominent locally, suddenly fell into dire straits.

Villager: At that time he had also fallen on hard times. When a person is down on his luck, once he falls he cannot get up. Whatever they ate, his (wife) was searching for it all day long. After making and eating breakfast, she would hurry to figure out lunch. It got to that extent of hardship.

Xu Xiaolan's father: Life at home was truly hard. I really did not even want to live, I had thoughts of dying. That is true. It would not matter if I died, but the family still had to live, I had to be responsible for them. A man must stand tall between heaven and earth and take on these things.

In 2001, in order to repay their debts, Xu Xiaolan's parents went to Shanghai to work. At this time, Xu Xiaolan, who was only 16, had just graduated from junior high school. Because she could not afford the tuition, she was forced to give up her studies and went out to work as a nanny. In 2004, Xu Xiaolan went to Zhangjiajie, Hunan to work. During one phone call with her father, her father spoke of a knot that had been in his heart for many years.