Standing at the junction where three provinces meet, with Hunan beneath my feet, Chongqing to my left, and Guizhou to my right, I recall renowned writer Shen Congwen's iconic line from Border Town: "Perhaps he will never return, perhaps he will come back tomorrow."

More than nine decades later, the novel's protagonist Cuicui's beloved didn't return, but generations of readers have followed Shen's words to this place called Chadong ancient town in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Hunan province.

As the real town that inspired the story, Chadong was renamed Biancheng (Border Town) in 2005 in its honor.

In 1988, Shen died in Beijing. Few know that this literary master was born in Fenghuang town, about a two-hour drive from Chadong, and he joined the military at 14, traversing Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces.

During a few days' stay in Chadong, the landscape etched itself into his soul and later emerged in his prose.

Following our guide Tian Xia, we enter the ancient town along the "official road from Sichuan to Hunan" that opens Shen's novel.

Our first stop is Cuicui's residence beneath the white pagoda. Cured meats hang above the fire pit, wine bowls rest on the table and fishing nets adorn the walls.

"This is her grandpa's room — close to the fire, where elders sleep in Xiangxi," Tian explains, while pointing to a smaller one facing the Qingshui River running below.