Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

"Dad?" Li Xiangqian called out in a low voice.

Li Qimin stood at the door, wearing an old grey cotton jacket, looking a little tired, as if he hadn't rested for a long time. He didn't answer immediately, his eyes swept around the room, and finally stopped at his mother. A trace of complex emotions flashed in Li Qimin's eyes, and his lips were slightly pursed, as if he was suppressing something. After a moment, he finally spoke, his tone was low but concerned: "Is she okay?"

Li Xiangqian's heart moved, and he suddenly felt that his father's appearance was not entirely a coincidence. His father seemed to have noticed his mother's dazed look. He walked towards his father and whispered, "Mom has not been well. It seems that there are some things she doesn't want to talk about."

Li Qimin was silent for a moment, his eyes a little dazed. "I know," he said slowly, his tone steady, but with an undisguised fatigue, "She does have something that she can't let go of for a long time."

Li Xiangqian's heart suddenly sank, and he had a bad feeling: "Dad, what do you know? Why didn't you tell me?"

Li Qimin did not answer immediately, but turned around and looked at the darkness outside the yard, as if he was a little hesitant, and as if he was not ready to face the things that had passed. He whispered: "Your mother, her time - I don't want to talk about it anymore, many things are over, there is nothing to mention."

Li Xiangqian clenched his fists, confusion and anger in his eyes almost bursting out. "You just ignore her?" He asked almost through gritted teeth, "Just let her handle it all by herself?"

"She can handle it." Li Qimin's voice was filled with a helpless firmness, "Your mother is stronger than you think." He paused, turned around and looked at Li Xiangqian, his eyes suddenly became a little deep, "However, there are many things in her strength that you don't know, and you don't understand it now."

Li Xiangqian was stunned. He looked at his father's exhausted face and suddenly felt a silent weight pressing down on him. His father obviously knew something, but he never told him. Why? Was he afraid that he couldn't afford it, or was he not qualified to know?

Li Xiangqian's heart was filled with all kinds of complicated emotions, anger, confusion, pain, and an inexplicable feeling of powerlessness. He wanted to ask again, but every time he tried to speak, the words were always stuck in his throat, as if something invisible was suppressing him.

"Dad, Mom's hair is falling out a lot, and I'm losing a lot of hair too." Li Xiangqian finally couldn't help but voice out his doubts, "Does this have anything to do with her? Does it have anything to do with what happened in this yard?"

Li Qimin frowned, a hint of uneasiness flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly concealed. "Your mother's affairs are not yours to interfere in." His tone became more serious, as if to warn Li Xiangqian not to dig any deeper. "You just need to take care of yourself now, and leave the rest to us."

"We?" Li Xiangqian was a little stunned, his voice was a little sarcastic, "What do you mean? What secret do you and mom have?"

Li Qimin was not angered, but seemed unusually calm. He looked at Li Xiangqian quietly, his eyes gradually softening, "Some secrets and some things are beyond your ability to bear now. You are young, you should think more about how to live, instead of being entangled by these past events."

Li Xiangqian's heart was like the calm before the storm, as if everything had become even more confusing. His father's words were like an invisible shackle that locked him in an inescapable cage. No matter how he asked, his father was always unwilling to tell him the hidden truth, the truth that might be closely related to his and his mother's health, and even their future.

Li Xiangqian's mind began to become confused. He kept asking himself, what was his father hiding? Was his mother's illness really caused by something he couldn't see? Was the tranquility and peace of the courtyard all these years really just an appearance?

"Dad, I don't know what to do." Li Xiangqian's voice finally became low, full of helplessness. He clenched his hands into fists, his knuckles slightly white, as if he wanted to release the depression in his heart in this way.

Li Qimin sighed, walked to Li Xiangqian and patted his shoulder. "What you need to do now is not to ask these questions, but to stay calm. Your hair is falling out not because of anything you did, but because you have been thinking about these things. Your mother and I already knew a lot of things, but we don't want you to bear these things."

Li Xiangqian felt as if needles were piercing his heart, and the pain made him almost unable to breathe. He looked at his father's old face and suddenly felt as if he was deeply trapped. Everything around him became blurred, as if a huge pressure was constantly approaching.

"Dad, is it really because of...the things that have accumulated over the years that Mom has become like this today?" Li Xiangqian's voice was almost choked, and an inexplicable bitterness welled up in his eyes.

Li Xiangqian stood there, his father's words like a heavy iron chain, tightly locking his thoughts. His heart was still suppressed by an invisible force, and his thinking became abnormally slow, as if he had walked into a dead end with no way back. The firmness in his father's words made it difficult for him to refute, but the depression and uneasiness still lingered in his heart.

"She can carry it, but can I?" Li Xiangqian murmured in a low voice, his heart full of heavy doubts. He looked up and saw his father's old and tired face, and an unspeakable guilt surged in his heart. He used to rely so much on the protection of his mother and father, but he didn't expect that there were so many unknown secrets hidden behind them. They chose to remain silent, but he could never understand why these things couldn't be told to him, why they always let him bear it alone.

"Dad..." Li Xiangqian said, his voice low and choked, "What are you hiding from me?"

Li Qimin glanced at him, a complicated look flashing in his eyes. He did not answer immediately, but lowered his head and slowly walked towards the gate of the courtyard. Li Xiangqian followed him, stood behind his father, and watched him slowly push open the wooden door. The air in the courtyard was a little dull, and the courtyard was still as quiet as usual, but today, there seemed to be a sense of oppression in this silence.

"Li Xiangqian, life is complicated enough, don't get yourself involved in these meaningless things." Li Qimin's voice was calm, but with a hint of unquestionable firmness, "What you want now is just a simple life.