Compounding Chen's lack of a good night's sleep was the fact that the sandy land below the Hsiluo Bridge was devoid of vegetation at that time. Chen and association director Wang Liang-hsiung, standing in the scorching sun drenched with sweat and teaching the farmers to plant watermelons, appeared to their colleagues to be two fools spouting pipe dreams.
陳文郁苦笑著回想當年情景，除了無法一夜好眠外，當時西螺大橋下的荒沙田草木不生，陳文郁和王良雄頂著烈日，揮汗教導農民種西瓜，看在其他同仁眼裡，只覺得這兩個傻小子根本是癡人說夢。