"There is salt and taste" has spirit, "Sichuan taste salt wife" love and nostalgia

Grandpa Qi and Grandma Yan are filming videos. (Courtesy of the interviewee)

In the autumn, Qingchuan County, Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, was clear, and in the evening, Grandpa Qi and Grandma Yan washed their dishes in the creek behind the house, came to the earth stove in the corner of the old house, and skillfully chopped up the peppers in front of the camera.

"Life is precious, and love is more expensive." If there is a chicken claw, both can be thrown. Speaking in the Sichuan dialect, Grandpa Qi generously introduced the chicken feet of pickled pepper that were about to be made. Grandma Yan lowered her head and laughed, and while preparing the material sharply, she instructed: "The old lady should quickly start the fire." ”

Through recording Sichuan cuisine tutorials, Grandpa Qi and Yan Po's Douyin video number "Chuanwei Salt Wife" has accumulated more than 10 million fans. His own kitchen is a fixed scene in the video, a yellow clay wall, a red brick earthen stove, a stack of black-edged earthen bowls, and rustic furnishings, creating a kind garden.

Some people envy the sweet love of the second old, some people love to listen to their witty dialogue, some people like the simple rural style, some people think of the elders who accompanied their growth... The story behind the "silver-haired net red" hides the love and nostalgia that people yearn for.

"Salt Wife" and the man behind her

The kitchen for the old couple has always been easy and cheerful. Mother-in-law holds the spoon, grandpa plays the hand, a dish from the preparation to the pot, the need for tacit cooperation in the hand, but also indispensable to the humor on the mouth.

"The soul of Sichuan cuisine is red oil spicy seeds." When making cold mixed hair belly, Grandpa Lacquer summed it up while adding spices. Yan Po Po answered quietly: "Old Lady Qi's soul is Mode (no) teeth." After tasting the freshly baked green dough, the mother-in-law said with some regret: "Today this failed." Grandpa nodded: "Failure will not affect your gain." ”

Their videos have no script, no rehearsal, no director, some are just the tacit understanding and simple humor cultivated in the years, coupled with the interesting appearance difference between the two old people, so that they have a sense of photogenic cross-talk actors in the video: the mother-in-law's face is like a full moon, full of green silk, love to wear big red and green, and the simple enthusiasm of the mountains; Grandpa's face is thin, his beard is silver, he loves his coat, and he has a weak atmosphere of a bookish person.

More than 50 years ago, Grandpa Qi was introduced from Mianyang City to Yan's mother-in-law's house. This polite young man carried only a book box. Knowing that Grandpa Qi has culture and loves to read, Grandma Yan is surprised and likes it.

The first meal my mother-in-law cooked for grandpa was cold noodles. "It was a luxury to eat a bowl of cold noodles, so your mother-in-law 'tricked' me into using a bowl of cold noodles." This "deception" has lasted half a century.

Grandpa likes to "pick" her mother-in-law's cooking too salty, simply call her "salt wife". Once, the mother-in-law deliberately did not put a grain of salt in the dish, and grandpa tasted it as usual and said: "Salt wife, your salt does not need money." The mother-in-law immediately dismissed: "I didn't put salt today, specifically to try you." Grandpa quickly changed his mouth: "This salt taste is appropriate." ”

The old couple usually love to joke with each other, the atmosphere in the family is lively and joyful, and the 3 children have never separated. Today, the extended family has three great-grandchildren and can sit at two tables at each meal. "Eating every day is like the New Year."

The old couple has walked hand in hand for half a century, and "fairy love" has become the focus of fans' attention. Grandpa Qi said that the original intention of recording the video was to see the high divorce rate of young people in the news, hoping to encourage them to cherish their hard-won love more by showing the way they get along with their mother-in-law.

"What is the secret of your love and your mother-in-law?" In the face of the reporter's question, Grandpa Qi smiled and said: "Only when you spend a hard life together do you know how to cherish." ”

Grandson's entrepreneurship is blocked The second old man took a video to help

Qingchuan County, Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, is located in a mountainous area, with high mountains and long roads, and most young people choose to go to the city to pursue their dreams. Chen Jie, the grandson of the old couple, was also one of them.

When I was a courier in Chengdu, the time of the day was racing against the clock, and Chen Jie's busy footprints were all over the corners of the city, and every evening, the traffic was calm, and the idea of going home became more and more intense.

In the end, Chen Jie made up his mind to leave the bustling city and return to his hometown of Qingchuan, looking forward to using the Internet to promote the food in the mountains. He opened an online shop specializing in local products from his hometown, and the increasingly fierce market competition made him realize the importance of publicity. After that, Chen Jie decided to teach himself to shoot short videos to promote products.

Easier said than done. Without the support of the team and funds, and without unique highlights, the creation and promotion of short videos was once frustrated. Grandpa looked in his eyes and encouraged Chen Jie: "A person's life is like swimming in the sea, and there is nothing to be afraid of occasionally choking on two sips of water." "I'm in my 80s, and I still want to do things."

Grandpa Qi graduated from high school and often discussed current affairs with Chen Jie. During the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, Sichuan Province donated a batch of "children's vegetables" to Wuhan City – a vegetable unique to Sichuan. The grandfather and grandson hit it off, and the first video was filmed to teach the people of Wuhan how to make "children's dishes" well.

"Starting a business is quite hard, and I'm willing to try this thing with a thick skin." Grandpa Qi introduced himself and became the first "actor".

"Children's vegetables" is a kind of mustard green with large buds in the center and small buds around it, because it resembles many children snuggling next to their mothers, so it is called "children's vegetables". When Grandpa Paint recorded the video, he did not use the traditional method of cutting and processing, but treated a whole tree under the pot. Grandpa explained in the video that the country is the "mother" of the center, and everywhere is the "children" around, and "everyone should unite together in times of crisis."

The video received more than 600,000 likes, and many Wuhan netizens left messages to express their touch and gratitude. Chen Jie took several videos of his grandfather making Sichuan cuisine in succession. In the shot, Grandpa gradually entered a better situation, witty remarks, and the number of fans and likes rose rapidly. The mother-in-law secretly dyed her hair black and joined in, from being a little shy in front of the camera at first, to gradually becoming more successful later.

The continuous attention and praise made Chen Jie very surprised, since recording the video, the spirit of the old two is better. See two or three days without a new on the "urge": "Prepare Oh, let's go to the video one." ”

Chen Jie told reporters that the whole family hopes to "bring out" the characteristic products of their hometown through the video number, and at the same time "bring in" tourists from other places, drive the neighbors in the village to increase their income and become rich, and also promote the development of tourism in their hometown.

The square inch of the countryside hides a strong sense of nostalgia

Nowadays, there are thousands of messages under every video of the "Sichuan Salt Wife" account. In addition to praise and encouragement, this is also a "tree hole" where you can reveal your heart.

Someone missed his relatives through the video: "I miss my grandmother, and my grandmother chopped peppers like this." "It's a pity I'll never see my grandfather again." There are also people who feel familiar with the mountains and villages in the video: "I have never been to Sichuan, but it is like my home when I was a child." ”

Those who were once people and things leave only a vague impression based on remembrance. Through the rural food video, many people seem to be able to see the appearance of their relatives in their memories, and they transform their own sighs into blessings for Yan Grandma and Grandpa Qi.

Some fans saw from the video that the mother-in-law's hand was somewhat swollen, and quickly sent a private message to Chen Jie to let him take his mother-in-law to the hospital for examination, and also chased after the results of the examination. A 40-year-old female fan drove to visit her home to eat a bite of her mother-in-law's meal. The old couple said: "It is really happy that you can still be liked by so many people when you are old, and you can still do something meaningful." ”

"The simple, simple and strong humanistic feelings carried in the video are precisely the thin and scarce in urban life." Cai Shangwei, a professor at the School of Journalism of Sichuan University, believes that the traditional concept of the countryside is poor, backward and weak, and the rural customs are simple and rough, but rural food bloggers can consciously enhance their aesthetic attributes and highlight the beauty of pastoral life, so it is easier to deeply resonate with the audience.

After the reform and opening up, the society has rapidly urbanized, and many rural populations have been directly transformed into urban populations, and the situation of more than 40 years is enough for people to precipitate full of nostalgia. In a survey conducted by the China Youth Daily Social Survey Center, 43.7 percent said they were sometimes nostalgic, and 37.5 percent were often nostalgic.

"Although many people are in the city, they are still local people in their hearts." Cai Shangwei said that China has gradually entered a nostalgic society, and the quiet, kind and natural tone in these rural food videos is the carrier of people's good memories, and also the quiet and kind nostalgia. (Xiao Yonghang Participated in the writing: Zhang Zhiyi, Sheng Ziwei)

Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph