In a city in the north, it was the season between late spring and early summer, when willow catkins filled the air.
With nothing better to do, Zhang Heng lay on the sofa, scrolling through TikTok.
Suddenly, a video caught his attention.
In the video, a man in his thirties, his face beaming with irrepressible excitement, shouted at the camera in a thick local accent, "Guys, I've found a way to get rich—collecting willow catkins! A lot of people around here don't know this yet, but you can gather over a hundred pounds a day. At three yuan a pound, you can make three or four hundred a day. Isn't that way better than working a normal job?"
The video then cut to the man, who, while still talking, expertly swept the willow catkins on the roadside into a pile with a broom and stuffed them into a massive woven sack, looking full of vigor.
Zhang Heng watched the video, his brow furrowed. 'Is this for real?'
