At 9 p.m. on November 29, "Aunt Goose Legs" did not appear outside the southwest gate of Peking University as usual. Since she inexplicably became an "Internet celebrity" a few days ago and topped the hot search on Weibo, Aunt Chen decided to suspend her roast goose leg business and wait until the situation cooled down.
But she was in a hurry, roasting goose legs for more than 7 years, except when she returned to her hometown during the winter and summer vacations, she and her lover rarely stopped. "In addition to the rent of more than 2,000 a month, my two children are not married, and we sell roast goose legs in the hope of leaving a little more for the children. ”
Aunt Goose Legs" and lover Mr. Liang. Photo by Fu Yao.
A few years ago, Aunt Chen was interviewed by the campus of Peking University**, but compared with the posture of this "popularity", it is a world of difference. At present, they are also considering whether to rent a store to expand their business, but the 54-year-old couple can withstand the state of more fatigue, they are also muttering.
On the evening of November 30, "Aunt Goose Legs" posted a message in the WeChat group, promising that students would be able to eat their own goose legs as soon as possible. "I just want the days of 'popularity' to pass as soon as possible, so I quietly roast goose legs for students every day and send goose legs, and make a little money. Aunt Chen said.
Uncatchable "flow": can only make more than 200 roast goose legs a day
Aunt Chen, 54, cried.
On the evening of November 29, she opened her own short ** account under the name of "Aunt Chen with goose legs", and after saying "Hello classmates, the social volume is too large", Aunt Chen choked up for a few seconds. "I'm just an ordinary person, I just want to make a barbecue peacefully, the amount of ** is too big in the past two days, the pressure is too great, I don't dare to do it in the past two days. ”
That night, Aunt Chen and her lover did not appear at the southwest gate of Peking University. Two days before, they would pack the goose legs in several incubators, send them here, and distribute them to students who have successfully paid on WeChat in advance.
Aunt Goose Legs" gives goose legs to students outside the gate of Peking University. Photo by Fu Yao.
In the past two days, whenever Aunt Chen appeared here on an electric car, she would be quickly surrounded by students and onlookers, with fill lights, cameras, and mobile phones aimed at her and the incubator that had just been opened. In addition to the students with goose legs, Aunt Chen also talked to live broadcast anchors, e-commerce companies who hope to seek cooperation, and citizens who watch the excitement.
Some people have not paid on WeChat in advance, so they will take the goose legs away, and many students who really order the goose legs can't get the goods, so I can only refund them on WeChat afterwards. Aunt Chen said.
On the 29th, Aunt Chen's eldest son Xiao Liang rushed to Beijing from Hangzhou, where he worked, and with his help, Aunt Chen opened a short ** account and released the first **. Xiao Liang told the Red Star News reporter that in recent days, on the way home after his parents sent goose legs, he met several people who were following him by car, saying that he hoped to help them **run a short** account.
We are ordinary people, and it doesn't make sense to ask others to help run them, but then I saw that there were a lot of people pretending to be my mother on the Internet, so I proposed to let her open an account to explain the situation and avoid others from impersonating. Xiao Liang said.
In the eyes of netizens, many people can't get such a high level of attention from Aunt Chen, but Xiaoliang told reporters: "The traffic and attention are given to us, but my parents are old, and they can bake more than 200 goose legs a day at most. ”
The Red Star News reporter learned from a staff member of the short ** platform that in recent days, many people have indeed pretended to be "Aunt Goose Legs" to post ** online, and have even begun to bring goods, and the platform has cleaned up some of the accounts that violate the rules. However, on the afternoon of November 30, the Red Star News reporter noticed that on many short ** platforms, there are still people who use account names such as "Aunt Goose Legs" to publish content, and some people even directly use Aunt Chen's avatar.
On the short** platform, in addition to "Aunt Goose Legs Chen" herself, many people have created new accounts related to "Aunt Goose Legs".
From selling fruits to roasting goose legs: rooted outside the southwest gate of Peking University for more than 20 years
On the trunk of a street tree that walks more than 10 meters north outside the southwest gate of Peking University, there are still nails that Aunt Chen nailed to it more than ten years ago, which she left behind when she hung up the lights at night when she was buying fruit here in 2009.
Aunt Chen and her lover Mr. Liang are both from Lianyungang, Jiangsu, they got married in 1994, and in 1996, soon after the birth of their eldest son, they went to Baotou, Inner Mongolia to do a small business selling fruits, and in 2000, they came to Beijing under the introduction of their fellow villagers and began to live in the "North Drift".
From the very beginning, Peking University became a place for them to earn a living. "At that time, there were stalls on the campus of Peking University, and my wife and I were selling fruits in Peking University. Later, he rented a storefront room in the school and still sold fruits. In 2009, we started setting up a stall outside the school. Aunt Chen said that during that time, they were outside the southwest gate of Peking University, and they still sold fruits, but the old couple had no experience in setting up stalls outside the school, and sometimes they could only sell for dozens of yuan a day, and they almost didn't make money except for the cost. And fruits are easy to spoil, and sometimes if they can't be sold, they throw away a lot.
During that time, some people found them and said that they had a "ghost scale" that could cheat**, but they were all rejected by Aunt Chen and her lover. "I especially like these students, they are very polite every time they come to buy things, they give me gloves in the winter, umbrellas and raincoats when it rains, and I can't lie to them. Aunt Chen said.
Later, Aunt Chen and her lover Mr. Liang decided to switch careers to barbecue. "At that time, I had no experience at all, I went everywhere to ask for people, I wanted to learn the craft, people didn't teach you at all, and then I heard that a fellow and others learned to make barbecue, I hit ** in the past, the fellow simply said a few words to me about the recipe or something, but did not say the specific proportion, we groped for their own learning, and slowly opened. ”
Aunt Chen said that at first, because of her lack of experience, the barbecue she made was really not delicious, but then she slowly found her way out while selling it, and the roast goose leg "stood out", and they decided to focus on this product in 2016.
Open all year round except for winter and summer vacations: "Making roast goose legs is a very tiring job".
Aunt Chen and her wife now live in a bungalow in Xibeiwang Town, Haidian District, where the house is separate from the room where the goose legs are roasted.
In addition to giving roast goose legs to the students, the husband and wife almost live a life of "two points and one line". After coming to Beijing for more than 20 years, except for when the children came to see them when they were young, they took them to the Forbidden City, and the couple almost never entered the fourth ring road of Beijing.
Every day we get up at 7 o'clock in the morning has been in a state of work, goose legs to wash, cut, pickle, and then can be baked, we are roasted with a fruit wood stove, can only bake about 30 at a time, a day at most is more than 200, many people say that we can make the business bigger, and it is online shopping and bringing goods or something. Everyone wants to make more money, but we can only do so much, and we don't feel at ease when we leave it to others, so when I think about it, it's best to keep it in the current state. Mr. Liang told the Red Star News reporter that the goose legs he purchased were all fresh, and the seasonings used were all natural. For so many years, word of mouth has been made little by little, and it has "not overturned" in terms of quality.
Recently, due to the attention of the Internet, "Aunt Goose Legs" and her lover want to rent a small storefront, but they are worried that they will not have time to take care of it after renting the storefront, and the income from selling goose legs cannot support the relatively high rent.
My wife and I are both 54 years old this year, our physical strength and energy are not as good as before, making roast goose legs is a very tiring job, we have tried to hire someone to help before, but the other party stopped doing it after a day, saying that it was too tired. Aunt Chen said that in recent years, the time that students have been able to rest every year is when the students have winter and summer vacations, and they need to go back to their hometowns to take care of their younger son, who is also on winter and summer vacations.
Since the couple began to wander abroad more than 20 years ago, they did not spend much time with their two children, and when they were young, the two children lived with their grandparents, and now every time they return to their hometown during the winter and summer vacations, they also hope to spend more time with their second son who is studying abroad.
But Aunt Chen said that despite the hard work, she still likes the city of Beijing for so many years, and likes the college students who usually have the most contact with her.
Speaking of which, I owe a lot to my two children, and I have rarely accompanied them since I was a child, so I always feel very close to these children who buy me fruit or goose legs, and I think that my children are also begging for a living outside, and I am better to these college students, and other people will be better to my children who work and go to school outside the home. Aunt Chen said.
I hope that the days of "becoming popular" will pass sooner: "It is enough to sell goose legs to students".
Aunt Chen and her lover's finger joints are larger than ordinary people's, which is the root of the swollen joints that began to fall a few years ago after washing goose legs in cold water in winter. Whether it is raining or snowing, or a windy day on a winter night in Beijing, as long as she makes an appointment with the students in advance, she will appear outside the school gate on time with the roasted goose legs.
Aunt Chen fell into the root of a swollen joint. Photo by Fu Yao.
The eldest son, Xiaoliang, lived with his parents in Beijing for a few years a few years ago, "I came to deliver goose legs at the earliest, and it was next to Peking University at that time, and I always joked that I was also half Peking University." Since 2016, Xiaoliang began to sell goose legs by forming a WeChat group, and then in 2017, because he was going to Hangzhou for development, he transferred the WeChat group to his mother, and gradually formed the current WeChat group payment in advance and delivery to school at night.
My younger brother is now studying in Suzhou University, and he is about to graduate this year, and he has already begun to Xi, and our brothers should not inherit our parents' roast goose leg skills in the future, which is indeed too hard. Xiao Liang said that he also rushed from Hangzhou after seeing the news that his mother was being followed by the Internet on the Internet. There are a lot of people who come to talk about cooperation, Xiao Liang is worried that he is not there, and his parents are being deceived by others, "In addition, the pressure on parents has been too great recently, how can ordinary people have experienced this situation, help them feel relieved." ”
Xiao Liang is 27 years old this year, but Aunt Chen has begun to "urge marriage", but she herself has not specifically thought about when she will "retire" and leave Beijing.
After all, the two sons are not married yet, and I also think that we can help them materially in the future, but our ability is so big, it is enough to sell goose legs to students every day, stop making a fuss. Aunt Chen said that in the future, she still only wants to give goose legs to students.
On the evening of November 30, "Aunt Goose Legs" posted a message in the WeChat group, promising that students would be able to eat their own goose legs as soon as possible.