Reporters Zhang Jian, Liang Aiping, Zu Shiqi
"Hi, everyone, I'm Sister Xia!" Facing the camera, Sister Xia's opening was naturally relaxed.
There is no delicate makeup, no bright clothes, no high-end stoves, and no expensive ingredients. Sister Xia from northern Shaanxi, who is cooking firewood cauldron in front of the cave, has a round face and a kind smile.
In the simple and moving picture, chopped ribs with knife, stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts, braised elbows, crystal skin jelly, stewed noodle soup, roasted lamb chops... One after another farmhouse dishes in northern Shaanxi made people in front of the screen feel warm. Follow Sister Xia The family members said "Mengxiangli" together.
In front of the cave, there are some tomatoes, spring onions and peppers that we eat at home in half an acre of land. The yard is surrounded by a home-made wooden fence. Several sieves and baskets made of red willow branches are neatly placed in the corner. A docile rhubarb The dog was lying under the table in the center of the yard, basking leisurely in the sun.
From an ordinary peasant woman to a food celebrity with 6 million fans, "facing the loess" and "backed by the mountains", the simplicity is like a clear stream, this is the happiness philosophy of Xia Jie in northern Shaanxi.
It makes me happy to see my family love the food I cook
Sister Xia's real name is Wang Min, and her nickname is Xiaxia. She is a native of northern Shaanxi.
Born in Zhidan County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province in 1987, she was trained to cook since she was a child.
"The first time I cooked was 12 years old. At that time, my mother was working outside and didn't come home very late. My younger siblings were really hungry, so I steamed a pot of rice, and a few people ate deliciously with kimchi. When my mother came back and praised me for growing up and taking care of others, I was very happy at that time." That was the first time Sister Xia understood happiness.
As the second child in the family, her elder brother is away all year round. Sister Xia took on the responsibility of taking care of her younger siblings very early on.
At that time, for the convenience of going to school, their family lived in the town, and their parents worked in the village 40 miles away during the day. The task of cooking fell on the shoulders of the young sister Xia.
Every day after school at noon, she was always the first to rush out of the classroom, and the last to come back before class in the afternoon. Later, the teachers found out that this little girl was rushing home to cook for her younger siblings.
She told reporters that at that time, the family was poor and only had potatoes and sauerkraut, and dried noodles were commonplace.
The younger brother always shouted: "Sister, enough noodles, can you change the taste today!"
In order to take care of her younger brother's emotions, she thought of ways to make the noodles in different ways every day, sometimes adding some salted meat, sometimes adding some lard, adding some spicy pepper today, and some soy sauce tomorrow.
She said that now, her efforts in developing sauces and innovating dishes are all practiced little by little back then.
Since then, cooking is no longer a job for Sister Xia, but a heavy love and responsibility for her family.
"I don't feel tired. I feel very satisfied watching my brother and sister eat the delicious food I made." She said with a smile.
"Photographing real life, everyone likes to watch it"
In May 2019, Chen Lang, a husband who likes to surf the Internet, suddenly thought of his wife who is good at cooking and the meals that his neighbors always praised when he was swiping short videos on his mobile phone, so he registered a Douyin account.
"Why don't you try to take a photo of Xiaxia's cooking process? Everyone will definitely like to watch it!" Chen Lang said and did it.
So, he called on Sister Xia's younger brother and sister, a few people, a DV, a computer, and a small "studio" of "Sister Xia in Northern Shaanxi" was established.
Sister Xia was in charge of appearances, her husband and younger brother were in charge of filming and editing, and her younger sister helped with some farm work.
"Cooking, farming, feeding pigs, and filming what we do, just film our daily real life." Chen Lang said.
At the beginning, everyone had no experience, and it took seven or eight hours to shoot a video.
"If you don't shoot it once, do it again. Sometimes it's dark after a meal is shot." Sister Xia said.
Filming is done, editing is also a challenge.
Chen Lang, who graduated from junior high school, has no experience in this area. "I saw the editing software on the Internet, so I downloaded it, and tried it out function by function according to the instructions, and then I got the feeling." Chen Lang said with a blushing face.
In the camera, Sister Xia also became natural from being cramped and nervous at the beginning.
Washing vegetables, preparing ingredients, blanching, sauteing, coloring... In the cordial voice of Sister Xia, each process was carried out quickly and neatly on the operating table in the yard.
"Now we basically go through it one by one. After filming everyone's dinner, we cut the film at night, and sometimes we can send the video on the same day." Chen Lang said.
"Liangliang (brother), Li Ning (cousin), and Rongrong (sister), it's time to eat!" Following Sister Xia's bright shout, a large group of people gathered around the table, watching a large pot of steaming hot water. Braised pork dishes, Li Ning couldn't help but grabbed the first chopsticks, "Oh, it smells fierce!"
"Happy Troubles"
Today, more than 700 videos have been posted on the Douyin account of "Sister Xia from North Shaanxi", which has attracted more than 6 million followers.
"One day, my younger brother said, 'Sister, you are on fire'." Recalling the situation at that time, Sister Xia said, "I don't know how to be an internet celebrity, but since that time, people around the door have asked me about it. Is it Miss Xia?"
After she became famous, Sister Xia still lived in the cave of Zhidan's hometown, and happily recorded her life with her family every day.
Fans from other places often come to Zhidan, just to taste the food made by Sister Xia.
At this time, Sister Xia, the "favorite fan", always took the trouble to warmly entertain every fan who came to the door. "You said that people are so far away, so I'm so sorry for not making a meal to entertain them." Sister Xia told "the troubles of happiness" .
There are not many tourists due to the epidemic on May 1st this year. According to Chen Lang, people came from other places almost every day during the holidays in previous years, from Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou... At most once, Sister Xia cooked 7 meals a day. Just after washing the pots and dishes, another wave of fans came over there.
Sister Xia said frankly that she was moved and moved by her interactions with fans time and time again.
On January 3 this year, Sister Xia filmed a video of visiting a sick child in her neighbor's house. The 3-year-old Liu Xueer unfortunately suffered from leukemia. The elderly at home washed their faces in tears every day. The doctor said that she might not survive the Chinese New Year.
Once the video was released, it received more than 200,000 likes and 29,000 comments. Some fans even called on Sister Xia to open a donation channel, saying, "Sister Xia has 6 million fans, and even one dollar for each of us is enough for a child to heal."
Sister Xia looked at the messages one after another, and was so moved that she hadn't slept well for two days and two nights.
"I put the child's mother's Douyin account in the message, so everyone took the initiative to contact her to donate, some people 2,000, some 500, and in a few days, they raised more than 800,000 surgical fees, and the remaining money they All returned." Sister Xia opened the video to show reporters.
Sister Xia said: "Now that Xueer's condition is stable, and after a bone marrow transplant, we will go to see her again, which can be regarded as an explanation for the kind fans."
Northern Shaanxi is my root, I will not change
Sister Xia and his wife have never forgotten their hearts.
"There used to be a lot of big companies who came to me and wanted me to help sell their products, but I saw that they had nothing to do with me." Today, the few products displayed in Sister Xia's live online store are all from Shaanxi. Northern local products: yellow rice cake, potato flour, millet, buckwheat, and her homemade chili sauce.
Sister Xia told reporters that she just wanted to promote the specialties of northern Shaanxi, so that people outside could see the current life in the old district of northern Shaanxi and taste the food of northern Shaanxi.
Not long ago, Sister Xia was elected as a deputy to the Yan'an Municipal People's Congress and received the "May 1st Labor Medal" in Yan'an City.
"If I have this ability, I have to do something meaningful. All my fame is given by fans and the society. I have to do more good deeds to give back to them." In the past two years, due to the epidemic in Wuhan and heavy rain in Henan, Sister Xia Always keep donating.
During the epidemic in Shaanxi at the beginning of this year, she also specially killed a pig with her family and made pig-killing dishes to send to the epidemic prevention personnel in various posts in Zhidan County.
While running their own accounts, Sister Xia and his wife also actively help other Internet celebrities in northern Shaanxi.
"There are fewer people making short videos in northern Shaanxi, and there are fewer local Internet celebrities. We will share our experience without reservation. We are not afraid of others' fire. It is best for everyone to be popular and form a joint force. Even if we are from northern Shaanxi, we go out!" Sister Xia said.