swallow

The first time I met Yan Zi was at her stall in Yangren Street. She came here every night to sell second-hand books, and she would also go to a fixed stall in March Street every week. I thought that she probably couldn't make much money from selling second-hand books for five or ten yuan, but she, who called herself the Dali Book King, set up her stall on time every night.

Although Yan Zi had a buzz cut, she looked like a pretty girl. But I came to find her because I heard from friends who knew her that she was very strong, liked to climb mountains, and even liked to climb to the top. When she went hiking with friends, she would carry a big watermelon in her backpack and eat it together after reaching the top of the mountain. After hearing this description, the first thought in my mind was that I wanted to find her.

Throughout the summer vacation, Yan Zi became my work partner. Every day, we carried hot tea, fruits, and other things for tea breaks. I carried a 1000 ml water bottle, and Yan Zi insisted on carrying a 2000 ml large water bottle. If a child couldn't walk anymore, she would carry him down the mountain. Her skinny body concealed the strength of a big man.

I remember that summer, we each wore out two pairs of rain boots. Even after Yan's second pair of rain boots tore, she continued to wear them.

When I first started leading a team with Yan Zi, I was a little uncomfortable because she would instantly turn on her social mode from the moment she saw the guests. Yan Zi knew a lot and talked about this and that, with endless topics to output. Basically, every time Yan Zi led a team, the guests heard all of her experiences from childhood to adulthood.

This is very different from the way I usually interact with guests. Therefore, after witnessing the entire process of Yan Zi leading the team, I felt that her social style was difficult. I even said to her self-righteously after the first team leading: "Actually, you don't need to say so much if you don't want to say it in your heart."

But then I thought, maybe this is just her personality. I think talking so much is tiring, but she may feel that more output and communication will make her more comfortable.

But later on, I found that although Yan Zi seemed to be very talkative and sociable, she did have the opposite side. As soon as the tour was over and the guests left, she would relax and not say a word, as if she had automatically entered another mode.

One day, Yan Zi, Yang Mi and I were camping in the mountains. We gathered firewood and sat on the ground, talking about our childhoods. Coincidentally, the three of us were left-behind children who grew up in the countryside. The difference was that although Yang Mi and I had a hard childhood, we missed that time very much.

Yan Zi: "I don't understand why everyone likes to reminisce about their childhood. I don't think there's anything good about childhood. In my childhood, all I wanted was to grow up and leave my hometown."

"When I was a teenager, I decided to take a bus to Tibet. Before leaving, I took my sister to see a movie as a farewell, because I heard that going to Tibet would be very difficult and it might be possible that I would never come back."

With this fantasy in mind, she went to Tibet, and later moved to Lijiang and Dali. She has now lived alone in Lijiang and Dali for more than ten years.

Yan Zi's hometown is Nanping, Fujian. In her hometown story collection, I heard many real-life versions of the movie "Blind Mountain". Yan Zi told these stories vividly, but she couldn't describe them in words. So, one time when Yan Zi was telling a story to Yang Mi, I recorded an audio clip.