Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

Old Zhang raised his head and forced a smile: "Xiang Qian, nothing, just sitting around. What are you busy with?"

"I'm not busy with anything. I just came from Aunt Liu's house. Seeing that Aunt Liu eats so little, I was a little worried." Li Xiangqian said tentatively.

Old Zhang was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He tapped his pipe and said, "Well, to be honest, Aunt Liu is living a tight life. I can see that. In fact, many families in our courtyard are in the same situation. Although the price of grain has dropped slightly in the past few months, it is still expensive. For those of us who are old and can't work, we can't live comfortably with that little pension."

Li Xiangqian was shocked when he heard this. He had not expected the situation to be so serious. He suppressed his shock and said, "Uncle Zhang, the people in our courtyard cannot go hungry. Let me think of a way to get more food back."

Old Zhang nodded, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes: "Xiang Qian, you are a man with ideas, we all believe in you."

That night, Li Xiangqian returned home and lay on the bed but couldn't fall asleep. The moonlight shone through the window into the house, casting a faint glow on it. He closed his eyes, but his mind was full of the thin faces of the people in the yard. Aunt Liu's bowl of porridge and Old Zhang's helpless sigh made him feel a little pain in his heart. He thought: No matter what, I must help everyone solve the food problem and not let my neighbors go hungry.

The next morning, Li Xiangqian got up early because he knew that Uncle Wang from the East Courtyard was an early riser. Uncle Wang used to work in a grain store, but later retired and was quite familiar with the grain market. Li Xiangqian planned to talk to him to see if he could find a new supply channel.

"Uncle Wang, you get up so early!" Li Xiangqian greeted with a smile.

Uncle Wang was weeding in the yard. He looked up and saw Li Xiangqian. He smiled and said, "Xiangqian, you're not bad. You came out before dawn. What do you want to talk to me about?"

Li Xiangqian said bluntly: "Uncle Wang, I want to ask you, besides the grain store in the city, is there any other place to get cheap grain? Didn't you work in a grain store before? You should know some ways, right?"

Uncle Wang put down his hoe, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "Alas, the prices in the grain stores in the city are all about the same now. It's really hard to find cheap ones. However, I heard that some rural areas outside the city have too much grain to sell. Why don't we go and ask around? Maybe we can get some cheap ones."

After hearing what Uncle Wang said, Li Xiangqian's eyes lit up: "Is there really such a place? When are we going to see it?"

Uncle Wang nodded and said, "I just happen to be free, so why don't we go there early tomorrow morning?"

The next morning, Li Xiangqian and Uncle Wang rode their bicycles out of the city gate. Along the way, Li Xiangqian was excited and nervous. He hoped that he could find a reliable source of food this time so that the people in the yard could survive this difficult time. After more than two hours of riding, they finally arrived at a small village. The village was not big, but the surrounding fields were full of crops, and it looked like a good harvest was in sight.

Uncle Wang led Li Xiangqian to find an old friend in the village, Lao Zhao, who was a genuine farmer. When Lao Zhao heard that they were here to buy grain, he smiled and said, "You came at the right time. My family had a good harvest this year and has stored a lot of grain. Now the grain price in the city is high, and I also want to find a place to sell it."

Li Xiangqian and Uncle Wang were delighted to hear this. After some bargaining, they bought a large amount of grain at a reasonable price. Lao Zhao readily agreed to deliver the grain to the city gate, which made Li Xiangqian even more grateful. On the way back, Li Xiangqian finally felt relieved. He had already started planning how to distribute the grain to every household in the courtyard.

Arriving at the city gate, Li Xiangqian and Uncle Wang welcomed Lao Zhao's truck in. The neighbors of the courtyard had already heard the news and rushed to help unload the goods. Seeing bags of rice and flour being unloaded from the truck, everyone's faces showed a long-lost smile. Old Zhang patted Li Xiangqian on the shoulder, his eyes full of gratitude: "Xiangqian, thanks to you again this time, we don't have to worry anymore!"

Li Xiangqian smiled, but thought to himself: This is only a temporary solution. The food problem has not been fundamentally solved. He must continue to find ways to find a longer-term food supply. Looking at the busy people in the courtyard, he silently vowed in his heart that he must make sure that everyone in the courtyard can live a stable life.

As winter approaches, cold winds begin to sweep across the courtyard. The locust trees that were once lush and green in the summer are now only bare branches. Although Li Xiangqian and Uncle Wang bought a batch of food from outside the city, the life in the courtyard has improved slightly, but as the temperature drops, problems resurface. After all, the food is limited, and in order to save as much as possible, many people in the courtyard have not eaten a full meal for a long time.

Li Xiangqian has found the atmosphere in the yard to be a bit depressing these days. When he goes out in the morning, he often sees neighbors carrying empty buckets from their homes to fetch water from the well. They look a bit tired, as if they have not slept all night. The children no longer chase and play in the yard like before, but instead sit quietly on the steps, hugging their knees, with a bit of loneliness in their eyes.

One morning, when Li Xiangqian passed by Wang Sao's house, he smelled a faint aroma of porridge. He stopped and looked in through the window. Inside the house, Wang Sao was serving her son a bowl of thin porridge. There were very few grains of rice in the porridge, and almost no white particles could be seen. There was more water. Wang Sao handed the porridge to her son with an apologetic look in her eyes: "Xiaobao, you should drink some porridge today. Mom will go and see if she can get some rice tomorrow."

Xiaobao took the bowl, agreed in a low voice, and lowered his head to drink the porridge. Li Xiangqian looked at the bowl of watery porridge, and his heart ached. He knew that for a single-parent family like Wang Sao, life was already difficult to sustain. Although the courtyard had always advocated mutual help, everyone's life was not easy, and everyone was trying to maintain a basic livelihood.

Li Xiangqian quietly left Wang Sao's house and continued to walk towards his destination - Aunt Li's house in the west courtyard. Aunt Li is the oldest person in the courtyard and lives alone on weekdays. Li Xiangqian often visits her and helps her with things within his ability. Today, he specially brought some sweet potatoes bought from outside the city and planned to give them to Aunt Li.