Spring Rain | These Years

Spring Rain

Once past age 30, time feels like it has a buff, moving a bit faster than in my 20s. I remember when I was in my teens, I would often look up at the calendar. Even after tearing off page after page, it was still thick. That eagerly awaited year—why hadn't it come yet? Now, how is it that another year has ended? Yes, 2024 has ended, and it is already 2025.

Today I tried hard to think about what happened this year that I could remember in an instant. It seems there was nothing, and yet there was so much.

Recently I've been cleaning up my phone's storage. In two years, I've taken over 14,000 photos. As I deleted photos, I looked at each face. Some were like scenes replaying—I remembered her (or him). Some photos were blurry in my mind. At that moment, a lyric from Chyi Chin suddenly came to me: 'Let the past go with the wind, all with the wind, my heart moves with you. Yesterday's flowers bloomed and fell—was it a dream? Not a dream, not a dream, not a dream.' Yes, everything truly happened.

Speaking of the past 2024, I want to thank my own perseverance and my family's support. I grew another year in my career. A beekeeper with over 20 years in the industry—is it really because beekeeping is very profitable? The answer is definitely no. Is it because there is no other choice besides beekeeping? Not that either. It is because of my pursuit of freedom and my reluctance to part with the bees.

I remember the outbreak hit at the end of 2019. As the number of infections outside the province increased, Dali's epidemic prevention and control measures became stricter. That year I became a father. I worked hard to decorate the house in an area I wasn't good at, and we were about to move to a new home. But at that time, we lived on Sanyue Street, and the bees were placed in Shuangyuan Village. Just a few kilometers away, but because control was village-based, I couldn't get to Shuangyuan Village during the day. I had no choice but to ride my electric bike alone at night, taking small paths, to secretly come check on the bees.

Who knew the pandemic would last three years? During those three years, many customers from outside the province wanted to buy honey, but due to the pandemic, I couldn't send couriers. So we spent year after year under the shadow of the pandemic. In 2022, my wife and I discussed and made a decision: move. After deciding to move, we started taking action. Before even looking for a house in Kunming, we packed up our daily items and furniture and loaded them into our car. We took our child and drove to Kunming to find a house. After finding a suitable one, we unloaded the car's contents into the house, then returned to Dali to start packing again, making final preparations for the move to Kunming. That year, we gave up a lot of clothes that were stored in the wardrobe but seldom worn, and items with low usage. With the rear seats of our five-seater car folded flat, all our family's belongings were moved in just two trips.

After arriving in Kunming, my wife worked, and I stayed home to take care of our child. The happiest thing every day was going to the metro station with our child to pick up my wife from work. While deciding to live in Kunming, the bees at the foot of the mountain still couldn't be abandoned. Alongside the move, someone needed to take care of the bees. I said to my parents, 'You all come to Dali. Maybe my mom can come first.' Because at that time I had a job managing bees at an agricultural company in Xizhou, so one person came to take over my work, and at the same time I moved my existing bees to the company in Xizhou where my mom could help care for them together. I thank the company I once worked for, Dali Daben Agriculture Company in Xizhou. (I can talk separately later about the good memories that company left me)

In the blink of an eye, 2022 was coming to an end. During that period, my dad also came to Dali. We decided to return to Dali for the Chinese New Year. During the 2023 Chinese New Year, the wind in Dali was really strong. During the holiday, I discussed with my wife that I didn't want to go back to Kunming. It wasn't that I didn't want to be with you all, but in Kunming I felt I had no value. I felt if I kept eating 'soft rice' (living off my wife) like this, I'd be ruined.

Thank you to my dear wife for her support. (There is also a story during this period)

I stayed in Dali, while my wife, child, and mom returned to Kunming. Before deciding to stay in Dali, I already had the idea of bee experiences, but I didn't know how to start. During that time, I would chat with friends. The appearance of Tanding indirectly pushed the development and realization of the experience forward. Tanding is a documentary director. During our chats, Tanding thought my life was quite rich and suggested I document it in the form of a beekeeping diary. If I didn't record it, as time stretched on, I wouldn't remember what happened on a specific date. If recorded, there would still be traces to look back on. So on April 11, 2023, I started the beekeeping diary, and on August 19, 2024, the beekeeping diary came to an end.

After writing the beekeeping diary for 17 days, Xiaochun messaged me, asking if I was still beekeeping in Dali. She had bought honey a few years ago and said it would be a nice thing if people could learn about bees. I replied with a message and sent my location. Xiaochun and Jason soon came over. We didn't talk much about the experience; we talked more about the past in Dali. Late-night diner was a place where we all ate and chatted after closing down the stall. (I don't remember Xiaochun buying honey. I do have an impression of Xiaochun's moments from around 2018, often posted in the late night or early morning—some complaints, perhaps deleted after waking up sober)

I also remember the last time I saw Xiaochun before that. It was at a concert by Zhou Wang Laohu at the inn of Muzi in Dayuanzi Village. When I arrived, it had already started. Xiaochun was sitting alone on the sofa, smoking continuously. My wife and I sat next to Xiaochun, and we didn't speak. Now Muzi and Laohu's child should be about to start elementary school)

In the following days, Jason scheduled a trial experience with me. On May 13, we officially welcomed our first group of guests. Worried it might rain, Jason even drove over to deliver a large umbrella to me. On April 29, 2023, the idea became reality. To this day, I believe this was the most correct decision I have made in my life.

Over these two years, we have welcomed and sent off countless guests. Some are deeply impressed in my memory, some have gradually faded with time, and some have come back again. The guests have also brought me gains. Guests from different industries have opened my eyes, and I have grown in awareness personally.

At the end of 2024, I had an idea of 'Traveling with Bees'. Thank you all for your support. The 2025 plan is in progress... Looking forward to meeting on the road, and meeting again.