Viewed through a sociolinguistic lens, Xu Zechen’s fiction presents a multi-dimensional portrayal of and profound reflection on “language life”. At the micro level, his perceptual writing transforms a dialect into an aesthetic symbol and an instrument of power that conveys nostalgia, confirms individual existence, and negotiates identity, thereby revealing the deep linguistic identity anxieties of the individual. At the meso level, the Grand Canal-centered narrative space constructs a trans-lingual field integrating ancient and modern times as well as local and global contexts, demonstrating the complex interactions among the social stratification of language, translation ethics, diachronic transmission and multilingual landscapes. At the macro level, his aesthetic construction of “language as method” is particularly prominent, manifested as stylistic awareness based on elegance and propriety, the recognition that language has evolved from a practical tool into a “token of trust” and a “pathway”, as well as methodological support from empirical investigation and knowledge-based intertextuality. Altogether, the three dimensions elevate the aesthetic representation of language life into a paradigmatic literary practice. Xu Zechen’s works not only record the linguistic changes in modern and contemporary China, but also address three core issues at the intersection of literature and linguistics: the value of literary texts as research materials for language life, how fictional narratives transcend empirical research, and the possibility of in-depth interdisciplinary integration to jointly construct the panorama of language life.