After losing 200,000 yuan overnight, what did he go through?

He borrowed money to play the stock market and lost 200,000 yuan overnight. Young and jobless, how would he repay it? He makes money with his brain, opening a car rental business without investing any money. Borrowing a chicken to lay eggs, he netted 4 million yuan in three years. Growing mushrooms under big trees, he sells them for 300 yuan per kilogram. If he thinks of it, he goes and does it. What clever tricks does he have that could take a company on the verge of bankruptcy and, three years later, push its annual sales to 60 million?

Beneath this 10,000-mu forest farm, a special kind of mushroom is grown. According to the locals, due to the unique growing environment, this mushroom is extremely rare and priced sky-high.

Today, the reporter followed Zhao Jiafu, the owner of this forest farm, here to see for himself just what makes this mushroom so special.

Zhao Jiafu: Look, there's one right there.

Reporter: This is it, right?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, yes, yes.

Reporter: Can I just put it here?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes. Normally, you see, this mushroom is very dry, very thin and small. A mushroom like this can be eaten directly.

Reporter: Eaten directly?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, you can eat it right now, any one of them will do. A small, firm one like this, you can just eat it directly, very fresh.

What surprised the reporter was that the mushrooms grown here were just casually placed under the trees. If Zhao Jiafu hadn't pointed it out, the reporter would never have imagined that this kind of mushroom sells for such an astonishingly high price!

Zhao Jiafu: The most expensive ones sold right now go for over 300 per kilogram.

Reporter: Over 300 per kilogram?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes.

Reporter: This kind, not processed?

Zhao Jiafu: Not processed, fresh mushrooms.

Zhao Jiafu told the reporter that not all the mushrooms here can sell for such a high price. Since the 300 yuan per kilogram mushrooms are premium grade, their output is very small.

Zhao Jiafu: Sometimes you can't even find one, sometimes you might find two or three.

Reporter: Extremely rare?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, very few.

After all that talk, it turned out that what Zhao Jiafu had shown the reporter was not the 300 yuan per kilogram mushroom. So what exactly does a 300 yuan per kilogram mushroom look like? The reporter decided to search for one.

Reporter: This one looks so white.

Zhao Jiafu: It's been quite dry these past two days. You definitely won't find a single one (worth 300 yuan per kilogram) in this fungus stick.

Reporter: This one's nice. What about this one?

Zhao Jiafu: This one, in a few more days, can be harvested as an 80 yuan per kilogram or 60 yuan per kilogram one.

Reporter: So it's still not the 300 yuan per kilogram kind?

Zhao Jiafu: A mushroom like this can be harvested at over 100 yuan per kilogram.

Reporter: This one can reach over 100?

Zhao Jiafu: This one can also reach over 100.

After searching for ages, they only found mushrooms worth 100 yuan per kilogram. Where was the 300 yuan per kilogram mushroom?

Zhao Jiafu: In this fungus stick you can find two. This one.

Reporter: This one?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, this one.

Reporter: This one can be harvested now.

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, it can be harvested.

Reporter: So this is the 300 yuan per kilogram mushroom.

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, it can be harvested.

Reporter: This one's about the same, right?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, this one is just right. If this one were harvested a bit later, these two mushrooms wouldn't fetch 300 yuan per kilogram, they wouldn't have such high value.

Reporter: They wouldn't have such high value, right?

What the reporter held in hand was the 300 yuan per kilogram mushroom. But in the reporter's eyes, this 300 yuan per kilogram mushroom looked no different from an ordinary 30 yuan per kilogram mushroom. So what exactly is so good about the mushrooms grown here? Why can they sell for so much?

This is Yaoguan Town, Shidian County, Yunnan Province, another one of Zhao Jiafu's mushroom growing bases. Every year during this season, Zhao Jiafu has to give the fungus sticks here a necessary awakening treatment!

Zhao Jiafu: This is what we call shaking the sticks. After shaking, stimulating them makes them grow mushrooms. Shake it harder like this. If I shake it harder in every way, it will produce a lot of mushrooms.

Three years ago, the fungus sticks produced at this base had no buyers, and it was once on the verge of bankruptcy. Now, at the busiest times, this place produces up to 30,000 fungus sticks a day, and over 10 million sticks a year.

Road to Wealth: After losing 200,000 yuan overnight

In 2015, by selling fungus sticks and shiitake mushrooms, the base's sales reached over 60 million, and more than 2,500 surrounding farming households became wealthy by growing shiitake mushrooms.

Wang Huilan: Boss Zhao found a lot of technicians who could guide us hand in hand, allowing us to grow scientifically, so the quality of the mushrooms went up and the yield went up too.

Yang Chaosuo: I can earn five or six hundred thousand a year. After deducting the workers' wages, there's still two or three hundred thousand left.

Reporter: Not bad.

All these changes are because of Zhao Jiafu. In just three short years, what exactly did Zhao Jiafu do to bring a base on the verge of bankruptcy back to life? And what clever tricks does he have to sell mushrooms for 300 yuan per kilogram?

This small village is Zhao Jiafu's hometown. As a child, Zhao Jiafu was famously mischievous in the village. Skipping school, getting into fights, he nearly worried his parents to death. Even now, his mischievous nature hasn't changed much.

Road to Wealth: After losing 200,000 yuan overnight

Zhao Jiafu: My family even gave me a nickname, calling me "Three Weirds."

Reporter: Three Weirds?

Zhao Jiafu: Yes, very weird.

Reporter: What three weirds?

Zhao Jiafu: It's not about which three weirds. It just means that whatever I got involved in was no good, whatever I did was no good. Whatever I wanted to eat, I had to eat. Whatever I wanted to take, I had to take.

This small grocery store at the head of the village was opened by Zhao Jiafu's mother and was the family's only source of income at the time. Although the family wasn't very well off back then, Zhao Jiafu was like a spoiled child, eating, drinking and wearing the best in the village.

Zhao Jiafu: Our clothes and pants used to be patched, but I never wore patched ones. I remember, I'd rather die than wear them. Same with shoes. I wouldn't wear rubber shoes, I had to wear leather shoes.

In 2004, Zhao Jiafu graduated from vocational school and found a job in Yunnan. Just when everyone thought Zhao Jiafu would finally stop being a worry, he did a foolish thing, and this thing nearly ruined his whole life.