When the Roots Die

Scientist Chen Zhao planted genetically mutated wild prickly ash as a biological barrier to prevent giant bamboo rats from the mountainside. His cousin Chen Feng, aiming to profit from sugarcane farming, teamed up with their father Chen Jian'an to incite villagers—claiming the trees blocked sunlight and violated land-use regulations—and falsely accused Chen Zhao of greed-driven slander and fabricated rumors about the rat infestation, filing a joint complaint to the township government.