Today, over 80 percent of the nearly 25,000 residents are indigenous, lending authentic vibes to local life. By the river, people dry cured meat, and at bridges, they sell rice cakes. Alleyways are dotted with Miao embroidery shops.

During peak seasons, Tian says, over 30,000 visitors come here daily.

"Most of them come from Guangdong province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region."

They mostly take home ethnic Miao embroidery, silver hats, necklaces and bracelets, as well as creative cultural items full of ethnic elements, she notes.

Tian has also received Southeast Asian tourists who know about the place from Shen's novel.

"They know something about Border Town, and are eager to find places in the novel's description," Tian says.

As we are about to bid farewell to the place, we come across a yellow dog dozing at the dock, seemingly indifferent to passing tourists.

Tian half-jokingly says that perhaps it has seen too many come and go.

"Unlike Cuicui, who had waited for just one."

Perhaps that is Border Town's deepest magic, which lies in the fact that literature has never left.

It lives in every local girl — visitors can greet them as "Cuicui", and they'll smile, recognizing the name as a kind of homecoming.

Shops here and there are also bearing the names of items from Shen's novel, tugging at visitors' hearts, leaving us to wonder: where does the story end, and where does reality begin?