Live-in son-in-law starts a tea garden, and his road to prosperity changes beyond recognition

Wearing a suit and tie, with his center-parted hair slicked with gel, Zhao Zhanhai's slightly thin face showed a touch of vigor. It is hard to imagine that half a year earlier, he still looked utterly defeated, with unkempt hair and a stubbly beard, wandering the tea garden every day and drunk whenever anyone saw him.

"Now that I'm a boss, I have to watch my image," Zhao Zhanhai always says shyly whenever someone asks about his transformation.

Zhao Zhanhai, 45 this year, lives in Nanchuan Village, Nanlong Town, Linxia Village, Linxia City. In fact, Zhao Zhanhai and his wife get along fairly well, and both of their children have been admitted to university one after another, so he is someone who brings honor to the family. How could he have left people with the impression of being so defeated?

This starts with Zhao Zhanhai's role in the family - his father-in-law had no son, only a daughter, and Zhao Zhanhai is a live-in son-in-law who lives together with his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

In some rural areas where attitudes are relatively backward, a live-in son-in-law often draws strange looks from others. To stand tall and gain recognition, a live-in son-in-law needs to put in even more effort, and Zhao Zhanhai was no exception.

Since he was taken in as a live-in son-in-law in Nanchuan Village more than 10 years ago, the relationship between Zhao Zhanhai and his father-in-law grew more strained by the day.

In his father-in-law's eyes, Zhao Zhanhai worked outside with a decoration crew, working when there was work and idling at home when there was none, lacking any drive. Unable to stand the sight of a son-in-law who did not strive to improve, his hot-tempered father-in-law scolded him whenever he saw him, showing no mercy at all.

Unable to earn money and unable to win his father-in-law's approval, Zhao Zhanhai naturally had no "standing" among the young people in the village either.

With no respect at home and no face outside, as time went on Zhao Zhanhai simply gave up on himself and began fleeing from life, drinking whenever he went out and sleeping whenever he came home, looking listless at all times.

Seeing a son-in-law who was "beyond help", his father-in-law completely lost confidence. Gradually, the two barely said a word to each other when they met.

The young and strong had no motivation; the older and weaker lacked manpower - a family that originally was not doing badly thus slid into poverty.

After Linxia City launched its "poverty alleviation through virtue" work, Zhao Zhanhai was designated a key target for assistance under Nanlong Town's "poverty alleviation through virtue" program.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Doing ideological work with Zhao Zhanhai was not easy.

Wang Zhiqiang, full-time deputy director of the Political and Legal Affairs Office of Nanlong Town, was a member of the "poverty alleviation through virtue" work group assisting Zhao Zhanhai. Although he had mentally prepared himself that "this family's conflicts will not be easy to resolve", the first time he arranged to meet Zhao Zhanhai, he was rebuffed with a single "No."

What to do? The work group members talked it over and decided to take turns, refusing to believe an iron pestle could not be ground into a needle.

Zhao Zhanhai could not hold out, and agreed to sit down and talk. But when they met, he spoke in fits and starts, and the conversation simply could not continue.

"Going on like this definitely won't work." After Zhao Zhanhai left, Zhang Qi, a cadre at the Nanshan Afforestation Station in Linxia City, suggested starting from the softest spot in Zhao Zhanhai's heart.

Zhang Qi was the cadre responsible for Zhao Zhanhai's household under the "targeted poverty alleviation" work and was fairly familiar with the family's situation. He felt that an important reason Zhao Zhanhai had not left his father-in-law's home for so many years was that he cared deeply about his two children.

"Start from the angle of doing it for the children." Following Zhang Qi's suggestion, the cadres met with Zhao Zhanhai again.

The moment the work group mentioned the two children, they struck a chord in Zhao Zhanhai's heart.

"In the short term, both children have been admitted to university and need money; in the long term, the children will eventually start families of their own, and as their father you have to set them an example too, don't you?"

"With you the way you are now, how will the children feel, and in the future when they find a partner, how will they tell them about their father?"

　　……

"My heart is bitter..." Zhao Zhanhai lowered his head and covered his eyes with both hands, and opened up.

In that moment, the grievances Zhao Zhanhai had accumulated in his chest for years and found hard to tell others poured out all at once like water through an opened sluice.

"We will go down and talk with your father-in-law, but you do have plenty of problems yourself. You must become diligent and live like a man."

After many rounds of communication, Zhao Zhanhai finally roused himself. He decided to apply for a twin-link loan and open a tea garden. Over the years, he had wandered into tea gardens whether he had business there or not, and had imperceptibly accumulated a lot of experience in running one.

In October 2015, amid a burst of ear-splitting firecrackers, Zhao Zhanhai's tea garden opened on the outskirts of Linxia City. Over the following months, Zhao Zhanhai rose early and returned late, keeping the tea garden in perfect order, and business improved day by day. With the work group's coordination, the relationship between Zhao Zhanhai and his father-in-law also loosened somewhat and began to "warm up"...