Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

Li Xiangqian stood aside and watched, with mixed feelings in his heart. He remembered that when he was a child, his mother had also scattered similar talismans on the fields. At that time, he was young and thought it was just a strange ritual. Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he felt a little confused. He was very familiar with this piece of land, which carried countless memories and hopes for him, but now it has become a mystery, and even has to rely on these ancient practices to save it.

As Wang Tiezhu moved, the air seemed to be filled with an inexplicable atmosphere. Li Xiangqian's anxiety gradually increased. He felt an invisible pressure, as if the whole yard was waiting for some kind of result to be revealed. He suddenly felt a little regretful. Why didn't he realize the seriousness of the problem earlier? If he had been more cautious at the beginning, perhaps it wouldn't have come to this point today.

Wang Tiezhu was busy for a full hour and finally stopped what he was doing. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, turned around and said to Li Xiangqian: "Okay, let's do this for today. When the air in the field recovers tomorrow, we'll see how it goes. But don't forget that you have to plant new things."

Li Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered that he had prepared new seeds before. He hurried back to the house and took out a small bag of new potato seeds from the table. He bought these seeds from the city. He heard that they were improved new varieties, not only with high yield, but also strong disease resistance. Originally, he intended to use these seeds to improve the quality of potatoes, but he didn't expect that they would become his last hope.

Li Xiangqian held the bag of seeds and walked up to Wang Tiezhu, saying with anticipation, "This is a new type of seed I bought a while ago. I heard it's pretty good. Uncle Tiezhu, do you think it can be planted?"

Wang Tiezhu took the bag of seeds, looked at it carefully, and nodded: "This variety is not bad, but it's best not to plant too much at once on the land that has just awakened. Choose a small piece of land to try planting first, and then decide whether to plant on a large scale."

Li Xiangqian nodded quickly after hearing this, secretly relieved. He was originally worried that these seeds would be rejected. After all, the process of "awakening the earth" was mysterious enough, and he was afraid that these new seeds would conflict with traditional things. But now that Wang Tiezhu nodded in agreement, he also felt a rare confidence in his heart.

The next day, Li Xiangqian devoted himself to a new round of work. Following Wang Tiezhu's advice, he carefully marked out a small area in the field to try to plant these new potatoes. Although he was still frightened by the last failure, he knew that there was no way out. This piece of land was his only support, and he had to do his best no matter what the cost.

In the evening, Li Xiangqian finally buried the seeds in the soil. After filling the soil, he stood at the edge of the field, quietly looking at the dark brown land with mixed feelings. After planting these seeds, he was still uneasy. He was not sure whether these seeds could take root and sprout in this "awakened" land, nor was he sure whether he could harvest again. However, he had no other choice.

The sky gradually darkened, and the courtyard fell into silence again. Li Xiangqian sat in the yard, lit a cigarette, and smoked silently. The smoke drifted in the night sky, and the faint smell of smoke made him feel a little comforted for a short time. But the uneasiness still lingered, like a heavy stone pressing on his chest.

He recalled the time when he bought seeds at the market. The vendor enthusiastically recommended these new varieties to him, claiming that they were disease-resistant and adaptable, and guaranteed to be much better than the old potato varieties. Li Xiangqian was excited at the time, thinking that he would make a fortune with these new seeds and live a good life. But now, his hope seems to have become illusory.

"Will it succeed?" He kept asking himself, but he could not get an answer. He knew that the most fearful thing for farmers was to lose hope, and he was now on the edge of this anxiety. Was Wang Tiezhu's "awakening the land" really effective? Could the new seeds really be as strong as expected? He had no way of knowing, and could only wait, wait for the unknown future.

Time passed by little by little, and the night in the courtyard was particularly quiet, with only the occasional sound of the wind echoing in his ears. Li Xiangqian sat in front of the door, staring at the field with a dull look in his eyes, his mind full of chaotic thoughts. Various scenes from the past flashed through his mind, his father teaching him how to farm when he was alive, his mother working in the fields, and the excitement and pride he felt when he first planted a whole field of potatoes. But all of this has now become a distant memory.

As the night deepened, Li Xiangqian returned to the room, lay on the bed, and stared at the dilapidated ceiling. The cold wind blew in through the window, and the temperature in the room was a little cold, but he did not feel sleepy at all. The suppressed emotions in his heart surged up like a tide, making him feel anxious and uneasy.

Li Xiangqian has been restless these days. Although there is some hope for the potato issue, his inner anxiety has not eased. Whenever he thinks of that piece of land, his heart is like being tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and he can't breathe. Especially every time he sees those new seeds buried in the soil, he always feels uneasy. He is looking forward to seeing the new sprouts break through the soil, but he is also afraid of failure again.

That evening, the clouds in the sky dyed the whole yard red, giving people an illusion of tranquility and peace. Li Xiangqian was sitting at the gate of the yard, looking at the ground silently. There was no movement on the ground yet, everything seemed to be waiting for something. He sighed and was about to get up and go to the house when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey, Li Xiangqian, why haven't you been out much these days? Is there a problem with your land again?"

A frivolous voice interrupted Li Xiangqian's thoughts. He frowned, turned around and found He Yuzhu standing at the gate of the yard with a half-smile on his face.

Li Xiangqian actually never liked He Yuzhu. Although they had lived together in this courtyard for many years, He Yuzhu always gave people a slick and shrewd feeling, and spoke harshly, as if he could always find someone's weakness. Li Xiangqian was usually a decent person, and when he met such a person, he always chose to avoid him.

But today, He Yuzhu was clearly well prepared. Seeing Li Xiangqian's unfriendly expression, he didn't care, but walked into the yard carelessly, glanced at the land where Li Xiangqian was, and the corners of his mouth slightly raised, as if with a slightly malicious smile.