An old man suddenly became rich overnight thanks to planting a strange plant – everyone thought it was a medicinal plant, until one day a police dog passed by and barked fiercely, the whole neighborhood came and was surprised to discover a shocking secret…
At the end of the red dirt road in the town of Red Oak, Texas, there was an old man named Mr. Lou Bailey – living alone in an old wooden house since his wife died, no children, no relatives. For many years, he only made a living by picking wild vegetables and planting medicinal plants behind the house. Everyone in the neighborhood loved him, poor but gentle as the earth. Yet in just three months, people saw his life change in an… incomprehensible way.

From the rickety house, he re-roofed, repainted the walls, installed 4 corner cameras and bought an old pickup truck. Every morning, people saw him wearing a plaid shirt, a baseball cap, going out to the garden to water a strange plant – dark green leaves, long slender stems, pungent smell like sage.

When asked, he just smiled toothlessly:

“New herbal medicine learned from a teacher in Appalachia. Cools the liver, helps you sleep well!”

He dried the leaves, put them in zip bags, labeled them “Herbal Sleep Tea – natural, cures insomnia”, and shipped them everywhere. Buyers whispered to each other: “Drink it and you’ll sleep like the lights are out!”

The whole neighborhood began to be curious. Some were jealous, others speculated:

“You must have won the lottery and hidden it!”

“No, I heard you’re selling herbal medicine to foreigners!”

“I saw a Westerner come and buy it the other day, and even gave him a bottle of foreign wine!”

Before anyone could investigate, one hot afternoon, a shocking incident happened.

The Red Oak County Animal Control Team went to check after a report of illegally raised wild animals, bringing a K-9 team in coordination with the County Sheriff’s Office. When passing by Mr. Bailey, the police dog, suddenly growled fiercely, jumped into the pile of leaves drying on the yard, barking loudly.

The officer was suspicious and asked to test the leaf samples. Mr. Bailey turned pale, stammered and demanded to… burn the pile of leaves.

But it was too late.

The on-site rapid test kit gave results that left everyone stunned

The plant he grew was not traditional medicine, but a hybrid “Thai stick”-type marijuana—which is banned from cultivation and sale without a license in Texas.

Mr. Bailey still tried to explain:
— “I thought people called it ‘wild celery’, but it turned out to be marijuana! There was a guy online who only grew it to treat insomnia!”

But tea bags were sold online in large quantities; account statements showed tens of thousands of dollars in income in just a few months.

The whole neighborhood was stunned.

People who once praised him for being gentle now only dared to whisper:
“So old, yet secretly growing illegal goods, who would have thought!”

Mr. Bailey was detained for investigation. More importantly: in the camera hard drive, the authorities discovered 12 foreigners who had come to “transact,” one of whom matched the federal watch list for illegal cross-state herbal trafficking.

From then on, the village had another nickname: “Sleepy-Tea Lane” — where sleep woke the whole village up.