Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

Li Xiangqian stood at the gate of the courtyard, looking at the snow-covered land, and couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. It was already the winter of 1960. The famine had begun to spread last summer, like an invisible beast, dragging the entire country into the abyss. Everyone was struggling in this disaster. Hunger, cold, and despair were constantly eating away at people's will.

More than a dozen families live in the courtyard, supporting each other and going through this difficult period together. Li Xiangqian is a key figure in the courtyard. He is young and strong, good at hands-on work, and has great prestige in the courtyard. Whenever there is a problem, everyone always thinks of him first. He has come this far, from a helpless orphan to the pillar of the courtyard today, relying on his unyielding tenacity and kind nature.

At this moment, Li Xiangqian's eyes fell on the well in the middle of the yard. The well mouth was covered by a tattered wooden board, and thick ice had formed around it. He couldn't help but think of his dream last night. In the dream, the well water was crystal clear, and the children in the yard were laughing and drawing water from the well. He hadn't seen such innocent smiles for a long time. However, dreams are just dreams after all, and reality is still cruel.

"Brother Xiangqian, you're out." A clear childish voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and saw the youngest child in the yard, whose nickname was Xiaohua. She was wearing a ragged cotton jacket that looked particularly large, with the cuffs worn white, obviously a piece of old clothing she had picked up. Her little face was red from the cold, but her eyes were still bright.

"Yes, Xiaohua, it's cold outside, let's go back to the house." Li Xiangqian squatted down, touched Xiaohua's head, and said in a gentle voice.

Xiaohua shook her head and said firmly: "I'm not cold, I want to fetch water with you."

Li Xiangqian smiled, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart. In this land of hunger and cold, such pure childlike innocence was like a spring, warming everyone's heart. He stood up and walked towards the well with Xiaohua. Everyone has his own responsibilities and obligations, and his responsibility is to protect this yard and these lovely children.

At the well, Li Xiangqian struggled to lift the frozen board and tapped the edge of the well with his fingers, and found that the water in the well had frozen. He found an iron rod and used it to break the ice, revealing a small piece of water. Xiaohua was watching intently, holding the corner of her cotton jacket tightly in her little hands, her face full of anticipation.

"Okay, the water is coming out." Li Xiangqian put the iron rod aside and drew a bucket of water from the well. There were a few pieces of ice floating on the water, but there was water at last. Xiaohua cheered, rushed forward, scooped up a handful of water with her little hands, drank a sip, and then showed a satisfied smile.

"Thank you, Brother Xiangqian!" Xiaohua wiped the water stains from the corners of her mouth and smiled sweetly.

"It's okay, Xiaohua, go back and tell everyone that there is water." Li Xiangqian patted her little shoulder and motioned her to go back to the house first. Xiaohua responded and ran back happily to tell everyone the good news.

Li Xiangqian looked at Xiaohua's back and prayed silently in his heart: May God bless these children and help them survive this cold winter. He picked up the bucket of water, walked into the kitchen, and began to prepare meals for the day. Although food was scarce, Li Xiangqian always found a way to make sure everyone had something hot to eat. While he was busy, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door.

"Xiang Qian, something happened!" Uncle Zhang ran in breathlessly, his face pale, obviously encountering something big.

"What's wrong, Uncle Zhang?" Li Xiangqian put down the work in his hands and walked quickly to meet him.

Uncle Zhang swallowed his saliva and said anxiously, "The Liu family in the next alley is gone! Their whole family was here last night, but no one was there this morning. The house is a mess, and everything has been turned upside down."

Li Xiangqian's heart suddenly sank. This was not the first time he had heard of such a thing. In a famine, people would do anything to survive. Some people fled in the middle of the night, and some people even killed people to fight for the pitiful food. He knew very well that no one knew how long such days would last, but he had to guard this yard and these innocent lives.

"I'll go take a look, you wait here." Li Xiangqian said in a deep voice, then picked up the shovel in the corner and walked out of the yard quickly.

The cold wind outside was even more biting, and the snowflakes hitting his face hurt like a knife. Li Xiangqian walked towards the next alley in the wind and snow. Many people gathered in front of Lao Liu's house, talking and looking solemn. Li Xiangqian squeezed into the crowd and saw that the door of Lao Liu's house was smashed open and the inside was in a mess, obviously after a fierce fight.

"We heard some noise from Old Liu's house last night, but we didn't expect it to happen this morning..." Neighbor Aunt Wang sighed, her voice filled with endless sadness.

Li Xiangqian walked into the house and took a closer look. There were a few drops of dried blood on the ground. It was obvious that the Liu family had experienced a fight last night. He clenched his teeth, and a nameless anger and helplessness rose in his heart. The world had become so bad, and human life had become so worthless. He was unwilling to accept it, but he was powerless.

"Everyone, go back and stop gathering around. Be careful not to catch a cold." Li Xiangqian walked out of the house and said to the crowd.

People gradually dispersed and returned to their own houses. Li Xiangqian stood in the snow, looking at the dilapidated house of Lao Liu's family, feeling heavy-hearted. After returning to the courtyard, he told everyone about this incident and reminded everyone to be careful, especially at night. After hearing this, the people in the courtyard nodded and said they would pay more attention.

Days passed by in hardship, and the people in the courtyard supported each other and fought against hunger and cold together. Li Xiangqian went out early and came back late every day, trying to find as much food as possible. He went to the suburbs to look for wild vegetables, dig wild grass roots, and even picked up some rotten vegetable leaves that others didn't want. As long as he could fill his stomach, he was willing to try anything.

One day, he found a bag of moldy grains in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Although it didn't look good, it was better than nothing. He carefully brought the grains back to the yard, and after careful washing and selection, he could barely make a pot of porridge. On this day, the people in the yard finally had a meal that was a little filling, and everyone had a long-lost smile on their face.

However, the famine did not end, but became more and more severe. As time went on, food became more and more difficult to find, and Li Xiangqian felt more and more powerless. Every day he thought about how to keep everyone alive for one more day. By chance, he heard that there was a secret granary outside the city, where the government stored food for emergencies.