How morel mushrooms changed Zheng Yehua's fate

He was once a down-and-out young man whose father was paralyzed and who was 200,000 yuan in debt. He traveled a thousand miles away to make a living, but unexpectedly discovered a wealth opportunity. Thanks to this magical thing, Zheng Yehua not only changed his family's fate, but also became a local industry leader. Yet when people saw his product, they were both curious and afraid. What wealth opportunity did Zheng Yehua discover, and how did he use it to rewrite his fate?

Zheng Yehua brought his product to the streets of Mianyang City to conduct surveys and promotion.

When people saw what he was holding, they all found it very strange.

Resident: What is this?

Zheng Yehua: Guess?

Resident: I don't know.

Resident: Can you eat it?

Zheng Yehua: You can eat it.

Resident: It looks like corn.

Reporter: The shape is like corn?

Resident: Yes. Look at this, it's a bit like a corn cob.

Resident: Can it still move? Or?? Why does it feel like meat?

Reporter: It feels like meat?

Resident: That's scary.

Faced with this thing they had never seen before, people first started guessing based on its appearance.

Resident: Could it be some kind of pig stomach, no, something like a rabbit's belly?

Reporter: Like a belly, right?

Resident: I think it's a bit like that, this one is a bit like that.

Reporter: Like tripe?

Resident: Yes, that kind of feeling. Maybe it's from some small animal, maybe, it's not a trap, is it?

Resident: What is it?

Resident: It's that thing you eat in hot pot, this looks a bit like it.

Reporter: Looks like what?

Resident: It's a bit like tripe.

Resident: It's like that layer inside tripe.

The thing in Zheng Yehua's hand did indeed look somewhat like tripe. But when people smelled it, they became puzzled again.

Resident: It has a bit of that feeling, like the smell of flour.

Reporter: Like the smell of flour?

Resident: Yes.

Resident: It's a bit, that kind of fragrance, with that Chinese herbal medicine kind of feeling, smell.

Resident: A bit like wood ear mushroom.

As they smelled it, someone got the right idea.

Resident: It has a smell, like the smell of dried mushrooms.

Resident: This has a fungal smell.

Resident: It smells a bit like mushrooms, this one is a bit like that.

It looks like tripe and smells like mushrooms. The thing Zheng Yehua is holding is called by its scientific name: morel mushroom, a rare edible fungus.

Resident: Oh, morel mushroom is this, morel mushroom, right?

Reporter: You've heard of it?

Resident: Yes yes, I know it, I know it.

Reporter: Have you heard of morel mushrooms?

Resident: I've heard of them, they say it's over 100 yuan per jin, fresh ones.

Reporter: Over 100 yuan per jin?

Resident: Yes, live (fresh) ones, this one is dried.

Reporter: What about dried ones?

Resident: I don't know the price of dried ones.

Zheng Yehua: For dried products, it takes about over eight jin to dry one jin, so the price goes up nine times, ten times like that.

Resident: Nine times? That means over 1,000 yuan per jin?

Zheng Yehua: Yes.

The main consumer country of morel mushrooms is France, and the price of morel mushrooms exported to France is even more astonishing.

Engineer He Ronghua: In France, whole morel mushrooms are very expensive, equivalent to about 8,000 yuan per kilogram in RMB.

Reporter: 8,000 yuan per kilogram?

Engineer He Ronghua: Yes, 8,000 yuan per kilogram.

Reporter: The dried whole ones?

Engineer He Ronghua: Dried, dried.

Every year from March to May is the season for locals to harvest wild morel mushrooms. Early in the morning, the reporter set out from Mianyang City with Zheng Yehua to look for wild morel mushrooms. For Zheng Yehua, finding one high-quality wild morel mushroom could bring him tens of millions in wealth.

The altitude gradually rose, and the mountain terrain became steeper and steeper. After more than two hours, they finally reached the destination. This is the mountainous area of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County. Here the reporter met some villagers carrying baskets into the mountains. City people are not familiar with morel mushrooms, but the villagers here know the value of morel mushrooms.

Villager: There are very few. When people pick such a big clump, they take it to sell, a few liang, some one or two liang, even if they pick two or three mushrooms they take them to sell.

Reporter: Even two or three mushrooms are taken to sell, for how much?

Villager: People say they're very expensive.

Reporter: How expensive?

Villager: Several hundred yuan per jin.

Reporter: Is it easy to find?

Villager: Not easy to find. Usually people only pick them when they come across them after grazing cattle and sheep on the old mountains.

Reporter: Can you find one or two jin of them?

Villager: Can't find them, can't find them, there are very few.

Reporter: Very few? Then what are you going up the mountain to look for?

Villager: We're going to pick fern sprouts.

Reporter: Wild vegetables, right? Thank you.

Wild morel mushrooms mostly grow in mountain forests at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 m. When fruiting, the temperature cannot exceed 25°C, and relatively high humidity is also required. Walking in the mountains, all kinds of fungi can be seen everywhere. However, finding morel mushrooms is not so easy. As Zheng Yehua walked, he observed the surrounding environment.

Zheng Yehua: This environment is quite suitable for morel mushrooms to grow. Look, there is water flowing down from above. For wild morel mushrooms, the most critical thing is humidity.

Having confirmed the environment, Zheng Yehua and the people with him began a carpet-like search. Whether they could gain anything from going into the mountains today was related to next year's wealth, so no one dared to be careless.

Reporter: Did you find any?

Villager: No.

After searching for more than half an hour, Zheng Yehua suddenly ran toward a hillside.

Zheng Yehua: After searching so hard, I finally found one.

Reporter: What?

Zheng Yehua: Got it, got it, after searching so long I finally found one. Here, here, here, here, my legs went weak after a whole morning of exhaustion.

Reporter: Which one? Where?

Zheng Yehua: Here.

Reporter: This one is too small, you can't dig it, right?

Zheng Yehua: It's too small. I can only say I'll come back in two or three days, after it grows a bit bigger, and then pick it.

Reporter: Come back to pick it, you're sure this location is no problem, right?

After a two-hour drive plus more than an hour of hiking up mountain paths, in the end they only found such a small wild morel mushroom. But even though it was so small, it was still very precious to Zheng Yehua. In just a few more days, it would be of great use.

Reporter: How big does it have to grow to meet your requirements?

Zheng Yehua: Generally like this.

Reporter: That big.

Zheng Yehua: A cap that big is more valuable to us. Only then is it useful when we take it back, and our income will also increase.

Relying on morel mushrooms, in just two short years, Zheng Yehua went from a down-and-out young man whose father was paralyzed and who was 200,000 yuan in debt to a local industry leader. How did Zheng Yehua become involved with morel mushrooms, and what is the connection between wild morel mushrooms and Zheng Yehua's wealth?

Among a field of rapeseed flowers, this black greenhouse stands out particularly. Zheng Yehua said that his wealth is gathered here. After lifting the greenhouse cover, everyone present gasped in amazement.