The talented "Spicy King" was born
In the summer of 2008, the temperature in Zhengzhou, Henan Province reached 38°C in one day. At the peak of the meal, Li Yongzhi and his co-workers were eating noodles at a street shop to pass the time.
The restaurant was full, so everyone waited patiently for their noodles to be served. Li Yongzhi hadn't eaten breakfast at all, and he was so hungry that he couldn't hold it back, so he had to pick up the chili noodles on the table next to him to temporarily satisfy his hunger.
Surprisingly, Li Yongzhi, who tried first, did not react, but was still unsatisfied. This move immediately attracted the sideways attention of the people around him, and everyone coaxed him to try again.
I saw Li Yongzhi eating another plate with a calm expression, without showing any spiciness. When the other workers tried to follow suit, they were all in tears and drooling.
Seeing this, the proprietress came over and thought that Li Yongzhi and his co-workers were playing a prank and secretly disposed of the chili noodles. So in front of everyone, he asked Li Yongzhi to try again empty-handed, and after confirming that there was no problem, he was also stunned by his ability to eat spicy food.
Since then, the nickname "Spicy King" has spread like this, and has become an opportunity for Li Yongzhi's fate to turn in the future.
In fact, Li Yongzhi has always liked spicy food. But in the past, I only tasted one or two bites occasionally, and never received the baptism of chili peppers in its entirety. And this unexpected discovery made him realize for the first time that his spicinessness tolerance was far beyond ordinary people.
This also aroused Li Yongzhi's impulse and courage to seek a breakthrough and change his fate. He had a hunch that this might be another gift and opportunity from God.
Hibernate for three years, and become famous in a fight
The acquisition of the name of "Spicy King" inspired Li Yongzhi's impulse to change his appearance. Since then, he has started to buy all kinds of chili peppers for self-training, with a daily intake of up to 5 catties.
At the same time, he also realized that the people in Henan, located in the Central Plains, were simple and simple, unlike Hunan, which was spicy, and it was difficult to display his spicy skills. As a result, Li Yongzhi began to actively look for opportunities and find breakthroughs.
In 2009, Li Yongzhi rushed to Hunan and signed up for a county-level spicy food competition. He first tried his hand and ate the spiciest fragrant pot in Changsha with a relaxed attitude.
After that, he took on more difficult challenges and continued to show his amazing spicy endurance and finally won the championship. This officially gave Li Yongzhi the title of "Spicy King", and also made him famous in the local media in Hunan.
In the following three years, Li Yongzhi continued to actively participate in various spicy food challenges of various sizes. He continued to learn from various folk masters, and in the process, he also sharpened his spicy skills and temperament.
It wasn't until 2012 that a satellite TV reporter who had interviewed him suddenly came to the door and invited Li Yongzhi to participate in a TV show with the theme of spicy food.
The opportunity has come! Li Yongzhi naturally will not let it go easily. In the show, he has accepted several difficult extreme spicy food challenges, and successfully passed all of them, which not only shows the amazing spicy endurance, but also allows people to see his hard work and spirit of not admitting defeat and fighting spicy to the end.
Since then, he has become famous in the first battle, and Li Yongzhi has really entered the field of vision of the Chinese people in the name of "Spicy King".
Five consecutive championships, the home has begun to appear
The high popularity and influence of TV shows in China made Li Yongzhi popular overnight. He quickly completed the transformation from obscurity to household name like a roller coaster, and the title of "Spicy King" also built one high platform after another for him.
A series of interviews, program invitations and commercial performances have filled Li Yongzhi's schedule, and he is also happy to continue to attack higher and farther goals.
In 2013, Li Yongzhi was invited to India to be interviewed and photographed by the largest local media. He ate 32 of the hottest "devil chilies" in front of the camera one after another, successfully breaking the Guinness World Record.
Since then, he has won the reputation of "Chinese Spicy King" in the international spicy food circle. In the following years, Li Yongzhi represented China in a number of large-scale overseas spicy food challenges, and finally won the championship five times, which became a good story.
However, behind the fame and achievements, Li Yongzhi's personal life has undergone subtle changes in the past few years. He gradually became obsessed with the pursuit of "spicy", and needed to consume up to 5 catties of chili peppers a day to be satisfied.
He insisted on eating and drinking, and forced his family to adapt to such tastes. The wife and son endured the bitter torture for several days, and finally a conflict broke out at a dinner party.
A family conflict began, but Li Yongzhi had no intention of reflecting at all, and still went his own way.
became an Internet celebrity and was victimized by the company
With the passage of time, the rise of short videos has changed the form of Internet content consumption. In 2020, Li Yongzhi, who has entered middle age, decided to follow the trend and join a short video company to enter this field.
However, this became another Waterloo on the road to a turning point in his life.
At the beginning, the short video company made a big fuss about Li Yongzhi, with a high salary and generous rights. Li Yongzhi is also full of confidence in creation, looking forward to recreating the style of the "Spicy King" of the year.
However, the company soon turned to touting the newcomer and began to limit his creative freedom and business space. The liquidated damages in the contract are much higher than the returns, which puts Li Yongzhi in a dilemma.
Under grief and indignation, Li Yongzhi could only cry online to accuse the company of what he had done, hoping to get attention and help from the outside world. However, his voice was only a few words of support, and most people were not interested in the joys and sorrows of the influencers.
The company's aggressive behavior and the public's cynical attitude have put Li Yongzhi in an unprecedented painful predicament, fighting alone in this encounter.
A year has passed in a flash, but Li Yongzhi's situation has not changed. In desperation, he chose to return to the short video platform again, hoping to regain some hope and dignity.
However, it is difficult for him to predict what the outcome will be.
re-emerged from the rivers and lakes and ended miserably
A year after leaving the network, Li Yongzhi reappeared on the short video platform. He has not appeared for a long time and became the focus of attention again for a while, and all kinds of messages and comments flocked to him.
However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is no longer the high-spirited "spicy king" of the past. Frequent competition consumption and long-term high intake of chili peppers have unwittingly damaged Li Yongzhi's health.
Despite his pale face and panting, Li Yongzhi still desperately smiled in front of the camera, and chose to eat spicy food to attract attention as always. His new videos are always full of punching spirits: feasting at a new spicy restaurant, taking on a challenge to be more spicy, or taking the initiative to pour chili peppers and soup base into hot pot...... However, these actions can hardly hide the fact that his physical condition is declining day by day.
Fans expressed their concern in the comment area, but Li Yongzhi still went his own way. He still chooses to turn a blind eye, blindly pleasing the audience by sacrificing himself, repeating the role of the "Spicy King" in the past.
Until the spring of 2023, Li Yongzhi's videos have often seen the appearance of sweating and shortness of breath. All signs indicate that this 61-year-old body is on the verge of collapse.
It is undeniable that the story of "Spicy King" Li Yongzhi is full of drama and has also been desirable. However, with that chili-like passion, there is also an indelible fate and helplessness in the second half of his life.
We have only mercy, for that is the only consolation that can be given to him at this moment; We need to reflect even more, because every seemingly successful story must imply its lessons.
When we look back on Li Yongzhi's life path, we may not help but think of Lin Daiyu's sentence "life also" - he is a person who has attained the Tao with much help, and those who have lost the Tao with little help. Decades of spring and autumn have gradually passed in it, and the pride of the sky in the past will not escape the vicissitudes of life after all.
For us ordinary people, what we need to learn more Xi is moderation and planning. No matter how great the talent and opportunities are in front of us, we should not be impulsive and try the Fa.
Gradually, fate put away its wings to favor Li Yongzhi and no longer favored this middle-aged man. In addition to regrets, we can only choose pity, and sincerely hope that he can regain hope and dignity and live his life without regrets.