Lijiang, China
Lisa said, Xiao Peng, come with me to buy vegetables, help me carry the basket. I said, ok. I stayed at the Fu Linju Inn that Lisa and Shana opened together. Two girls from Shanghai have always experienced such a thing as buying vegetables.
The inn is located behind the Sifang Street Arch, which drowns out the buzzing noise of tourists in the ancient city. One flower and one tree, two worlds completely. Walking up the stone road behind the archway, you will first see the "Ancient Bell Monster", a small shop selling bells. The owner, Adam, is a Taiwanese man who sometimes sits outside the shop and strikes a nice piece of music with a bell. It is said that he was a composer and wrote songs for many singers.
Further up, you can see the fire pit, which was also bought by Adam. During the day, the gates are closed and it gets lively at night. The night in the fire pond is the favorite place for backpackers who have been idle in Lijiang for a long time. The roaring flames, singing and chatting, are the home of the ideal. Walk up another 50 meters and you will see Fu Linju.
Lisa recognized every road in the ancient city, and we crossed The Square Street, through the shops selling silver jewelry, through the shops selling wood carvings, through the shops that printed on T-shirts, through the Naxi print shops that didn't allow you to take pictures, through starbucks, through the Mu Wangfu— the most famous attraction in the ancient city, and the only place I wasn't interested in walking in.
The wet market occupies the northeast corner of the ancient city. It sells not only vegetables, but also all kinds of daily necessities. Those who sell pots and pans are in the first row, those who sell melons, fruits, pears and peaches are in the second row, those who sell oil, salt, sauce and vinegar are in the third row, those who sell onions and garlic are in the fourth row, those who sell rice and noodles are in the fifth row, and those who sell potatoes and cabbage are in the sixth row. The pet market next to it also sells dogs and eagles.
Lisa asked each vegetable seller in the vernacular, less, less (not that the suspects were short of two pounds, but asked if they could be cheaper). I bought apples, grapefruit, watermelon, tomatoes, ribs, chicken wings, and filled a basket full of them. Back to the deputy neighbor, give the basket to the Naxi little sister who cooks. Move a chair to the second floor terrace, which overlooks the entire ancient city. The green tiles of the Naxi stilt house overlap and overlap, covering the square street and covering the tourists who rise and fall like the sea.
Sunlight shines through the eaves, casting longer and longer shadows. I know, it's getting dark. That airport meeting was the highest firework in my life, but it was only a moment. Nobody did anything wrong. You say my dreams are unrealistic, you have to live a life that can see the future. This is something I can't give.
But the pain of falling out of love still exceeded my limits. I even felt like I couldn't live in the same city as you, and that would make me short of breath. So I chose to leave Beijing. I went to Shanghai first, but I found that it was still not far enough. The irrepressible thoughts in my heart will also make me buy a train ticket to come back to see you. So I left again, and my classmates who worked in Shanghai went to the train station to drop me off, and he was my brother who had slept on my top bunk for four years in college, and bought me enough food and drinks to eat and drink on the train for two days and two nights. Two days and two nights later, when I saw the dark red soil of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, my mood finally changed. For the next two months, I lived in the ancient city of Lijiang, did not go to the Yulong Snow Mountain, did not go to Lugu Lake, and stayed in the ancient city. All the costs of staying for meals and laundry and internet access per month are RMB 800. Life is also simple, read novels, surf the Internet, walk from Fu Linju to the stone arch, and then slowly walk back from the archway.
In the early morning, when there are few tourists, they will also sit on the stone benches of Sifang Street and watch the Naxi elderly walk in the morning. They are the most punctual clocks, and the ancient city will slowly awaken to the sound of their laughter and footsteps. In addition to Lisa and Shana, she also met many professional idlers, "landlords" dressed in Tang costumes and beautiful "landlord wives", Azhi who ran away from home from Guangdong. I also worked in a bar in the old city, and my salary was only a bottle of Budweiser beer every night.
