Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

After working for a long time, Li Xiangqian wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood by the field panting, his eyes still showing anxiety. He knew that he could only do this step, and the rest depended on luck.

"God bless, no more accidents..." He prayed silently in his heart.

Just as he was about to leave the melon field, he heard several footsteps on the road in the distance. Li Xiangqian's heart instantly rose to his throat. He turned his head and saw several blurry figures walking towards the melon field. His heartbeat began to speed up, and cold sweat oozed from his palms again.

"They are coming..." Li Xiangqian's heart was filled with alarm. He knew that the gangsters were really coming, and it seemed that he could not avoid this tough battle today.

He took a deep breath and told himself to stay calm. He had no way out at this moment. These watermelons were his last hope. He had to protect them and not let anyone bully him anymore.

Li Xiangqian stood by the melon field, watching the gangsters coming from a distance, his heart tense. He knew that he might have to face off today, and those people were obviously coming for his watermelons. When he saw their figures just now, he subconsciously clenched his fists, and his fingertips almost dug into his palms. He told himself not to panic, even though these people seemed to be ill-intentioned, but he couldn't back down. This field and this batch of watermelons were his family's only hope to get through this difficult time.

"What? Are you really guarding here?" One of the thugs approached with a playful smile, a cigarette in his hand, and staggered towards Li Xiangqian.

Li Xiangqian didn't reply, but stared at him coldly, his eyes full of vigilance. Another thug walked up to him, gently kicked the watermelon on the ground, and raised his eyebrows: "These watermelons are good, it seems that you guarded them very closely."

"I planted these with great effort, don't even think about touching them!" Li Xiangqian finally spoke, his voice was calm but full of determination.

"Hey, don't say that. We are all here to make a living. Don't get so nervous." The gangster smiled, but his eyes were a bit teasing, as if he didn't take Li Xiangqian seriously at all. They had already investigated and found that Li Xiangqian was just an ordinary melon farmer. His family was not rich. It was easy for a few people to deal with him.

Li Xiangqian knew that he had to not give in today. But at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from a distance. Li Xiangqian turned his head and saw that it was several neighbors in the courtyard. The one in the front was Yi Zhonghai, followed by Jia Zhang and several old people who had been bossing around in the courtyard all year round. Li Xiangqian frowned slightly, and a trace of doubt arose in his heart.

"Li Xiangqian, what are you doing?" Yi Zhonghai's voice was unkind, and seemed to carry some kind of hidden anger. He strode to Li Xiangqian with a gloomy face.

Li Xiangqian was stunned for a moment. He had never expected Yi Zhonghai to show up at this time. He remembered that Yi Zhonghai had always had some prestige in the courtyard and was a senior figure, but his tone at this time did not sound like he was here to help.

"Uncle Yi, I'm just guarding my watermelons, and these thugs..." Li Xiangqian pointed at the people in front of him and explained calmly.

But Yi Zhonghai didn't even finish listening and interrupted him directly: "Stop talking nonsense here! Do you think I don't know what you are doing? Yesterday, Jia Zhang said that she heard you secretly colluding with people outside and preparing to sell these watermelons to people on the black market! Do you think everyone is blind?"

"What?" Li Xiangqian was stunned, his eyes full of shock and anger, "I never did this! This is a false accusation!"

Before he finished speaking, Jia Zhang snorted disdainfully and stood behind Yi Zhonghai, glaring at him: "I heard it with my own ears, and you still want to deny it? Do you want to eat all these watermelons for yourself? Everyone is usually very kind to you, and you actually do this behind their backs?"

Li Xiangqian felt a surge of blood, and he couldn't believe that these people would frame him like this. He clenched his teeth and tried to control his anger, but the frustration and anger in his heart surged like a tide. He knew in his heart that although the people in the courtyard were harmonious on weekdays, their hostility towards him never diminished when it came to interests. He was just an ordinary melon farmer, why did he have so many calculations?

"You are deliberately looking for trouble! I didn't do it, you can check! I grew the watermelons with great effort, they are my hard work!" Li Xiangqian's voice trembled a little, with strong resentment and grievance.

However, Yi Zhonghai did not give him a chance to explain. He smiled coldly, turned to the thugs beside him and said, "Are you also under the instructions of Li Xiangqian? Do you want to make a fortune from this little chaos? I tell you, whoever did this today will give everyone an explanation!"

The thugs just wanted to scare Li Xiangqian, but they didn't expect things to become so complicated. They looked at each other, and although they were impatient, they didn't want to get angry in public. At this time, one of the thugs shrugged and said with a smile: "This is none of our business. We were just passing by and saw that it was quite lively here. How about we just forget about it?"

Li Xiangqian's heart sank. He felt that he was trapped in a trap. Not only were these hooligans forcing him, but even the neighbors in the courtyard were standing on the opposite side. What should he do now that things have come to this point?

"Uncle Yi, I really didn't do anything shameful!" Li Xiangqian couldn't help but defend himself again, but his tone was already a little weak. He obviously did nothing wrong, why did things turn out like this?

Yi Zhonghai was not moved at all, his tone was still cold: "You didn't do it? Do you dare to say that you didn't see these outsiders in the melon field last night? Do you dare to say that you didn't want to sell the watermelons while everyone was not prepared? Can you guarantee it?"

"I can guarantee it!" Li Xiangqian raised his voice a few notches, unable to suppress the grievance and anger in his heart any longer. "I grow melons wholeheartedly to support my family. How could I possibly do such improper things? You are wronging me!"

He was filled with resentment. He thought that this group of hooligans was the biggest threat today, but he didn't expect that the person who really attacked him was actually his trusted neighbor. Although there were some frictions between these people in the courtyard on weekdays, who would have thought that they would stand on the opposite side of him and even make up such absurd lies to frame him?

"We didn't wrongly accuse you," Jia Zhang sneered, "We have all lived in the courtyard for so many years, everyone knows what kind of person you are. You have been sneaking around these past few days, not letting anyone get close to your melon field. We all know what you want to do."