Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

At this moment, Li Xiangqian suddenly felt guilty. Perhaps he should have put more effort into educating Xiaoxue instead of always regarding her rebellious behavior as a challenge. After all, she was just a child.

"Okay, I understand." Li Xiangqian replied reluctantly.

After breakfast, Li Xiangqian stood up and prepared to go out. Lin Xiaoyu told Xiaoxue beside him: "Go to the fields to help Dad. He is tired today. Don't let him work alone."

Li Xiaoxue sat at the table with her head down, seemingly uninterested in the proposal. Her eyes flashed with a hint of impatience, but soon returned to calm. Li Xiangqian looked at her, and his heart sank. Xiaoxue was no longer the naive little girl who depended on her parents. She was becoming more and more mature, even a little indifferent, and he seemed to always try to catch her, but found that her world was getting farther and farther away.

"Go, Xiaoxue, Dad is waiting for you." Lin Xiaoyu urged again.

Xiaoxue finally raised her head, her eyes revealing a hint of reluctance, but she still nodded and walked towards the door. Li Xiangqian looked at her back, feeling an indescribable loss in his heart. In the past, he and his daughter had many intimate times, but now, as Xiaoxue grows up, this intimacy seems to be less and less. Her silence and independence made Li Xiangqian feel an untouchable distance, and this distance made him feel more and more lonely.

They walked towards the field together. Xiaoxue kept her head down, as if she was thinking about something, and her steps seemed a little slow. Li Xiangqian suddenly felt guilty. He seemed to have not fulfilled his role as a father and could not really understand Xiaoxue's inner world. He once thought that as long as he provided her with material security, she would be satisfied. But he did not expect that his daughter's needs were far more than that.

"Xiaoxue," Li Xiangqian tried to break the silence and spoke softly, "Have you been worried about something recently? I think you seem to be a little unhappy."

Li Xiaoxue did not respond immediately, but lowered her head and frowned slightly. Li Xiangqian felt that there was no need to force her to speak. After all, children of this age often have many unspeakable troubles. He paused and said softly, "If you have any questions, remember to tell Dad. Dad is your strongest support."

Li Xiangqian didn't believe he could say this, but he hoped it could bring some comfort to Xiaoxue. However, he felt that his words were too heavy and didn't seem to really touch Xiaoxue's heart. Her expression was still indifferent, without any fluctuation.

Finally, Li Xiaoxue spoke, her voice a little low: "I know."

Li Xiangqian looked at her with mixed feelings. This short answer seemed to make him even more confused. He hoped that his daughter could be more sensible and understand the difficulties at home and the efforts of her parents, but he didn't know how to communicate with her better. He didn't want her to feel that he was forcing her to accept something, but at the same time, he hoped that she could understand his responsibilities and expectations.

When they walked to the field, Li Xiangqian began to get busy, checking the condition of the land. Xiaoxue stood quietly by the side, occasionally lowering her head to play with the stones on the ground, and seemed to be uninterested in these farm work. Li Xiangqian looked at her back, and his heart was heavy again. She grew up, became more and more distant, and even lacked interest in these trivial matters of life. He was a little confused, how should he play the role of a good father?

"Aren't you going to help?" Li Xiangqian tried to tease, but there was a hint of helplessness in his tone.

Xiaoxue didn't respond immediately. She just turned her head and gave him a cold look: "Just pretend I'm not here."

This sentence was like a thorn piercing Li Xiangqian's heart. His lips moved slightly, but he didn't say anything. He knew that Xiaoxue was experiencing her own growing pains, and he seemed to have lost contact with her in the process. He originally thought that children only needed to be sensible and obedient, but now he realized that understanding and communication are the most important.

Xiaoxue lowered her head and continued to play with the mud at her feet. Li Xiangqian looked at her, his heart full of contradictions and pain. He wanted to be closer to her and be a father she could rely on, but he knew that he was not good at doing it. It seemed that Li Xiaoxue's world could never be fully integrated into his life, and he gradually realized that he could never go back to the moment when the father-daughter relationship was the closest.

He looked at the fields in the distance. The sun shone on the endless land. The air was fresh and the tranquility made people feel an indescribable loneliness. Life is like this land. Although it is full of hope, there are also many uncontrollable variables. And he seemed to be at a crossroads without an answer. He wanted to continue to contribute to his family, but he could not completely find the way to inner peace.

Li Xiangqian has been feeling that something is wrong lately. Every morning when he wakes up, even though it is not yet completely light, the air is filled with a heavy atmosphere that makes him feel depressed. This is not the first time he feels that his luck has been particularly bad these days - from work to life, it seems that nothing is going well.

First, yesterday morning, he went to his neighbor's house to borrow a hoe and accidentally kicked his foot on the door sill, causing him to gasp in pain. That kick not only made him lose consciousness for a few minutes, but also caused his old back problem to relapse. He felt severe pain in his spine for the whole day. Then there was the farmland incident. The originally scheduled fertilizer application time was delayed due to the sudden change in the weather. As a result, the best opportunity was missed, and the final harvest was estimated to be difficult to achieve the ideal state. Then, yesterday evening he went to the town to deliver goods to someone, and the car broke down on the way. He waited for nearly an hour before it was repaired, which delayed a lot of things. When he finally got home, he found that the persimmon tree in the yard was blown all over the place by a gust of wind, and almost all the fruits on the tree fell off and scattered all over the ground, wasting them in vain.

All these things seemed to be silently reminding him that things had not been going well for him recently.

He frowned, thinking back to this series of bad luck, feeling a little irritated. He hadn't had a good night's sleep for several days, and when he woke up in the morning he always felt an unknown fatigue, as if he had been dragged into a whirlpool, sinking deeper and deeper.

Li Xiangqian stood at the kitchen door and heard Lin Xiaoyu busying around inside. She hummed a soft tune while washing vegetables, seemingly not noticing Li Xiangqian's silence. Today, Li Xiangqian decided to go to the fields first, after all, farm work could not be delayed, but the feeling of oppression in his mind could not be shaken off.