Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

Li Xiangqian's eyes lit up slightly, and then a complex emotion surged. His father was not a person who often took the initiative to visit. Although they had always had a good relationship, his father was always very busy due to work and life. Today, his father's sudden arrival was obviously not a simple visit.

"Dad?" Li Xiangqian responded subconsciously and pushed open the door.

Standing outside the door was his slightly old face and a pair of eyes full of traces of time. His father was wearing an ordinary dark blue jacket and holding a simple plastic bag. He seemed to have just come back from outside, with a slightly tired look on his face, but his eyes had a deep look that Li Xiangqian could sense.

"Dad, why are you here?" Li Xiangqian asked subconsciously, feeling vaguely uneasy.

"I came to see you. I heard that you were in a bad mood recently." His father's tone was somewhat calm, but Li Xiangqian could see a hint of unusual tension in his eyes. Li Xiangqian's heart suddenly moved, and he felt that there seemed to be some invisible distance between him and his father.

"Dad, I'm fine, it's just...some things have been a little annoying lately." Li Xiangqian unconsciously avoided his father's gaze and walked into the house.

His father's eyes followed him closely, and his seemingly calm face could not hide his worry. "What's the matter?" He walked into the house slowly and put down the bag in his hand. "If you have anything, tell me. Don't keep it to yourself."

Li Xiangqian felt a little anxious, and vaguely felt that his father had noticed something. He didn't expect his father to appear in front of him at this time. The anxiety in his heart became heavier, and even some indescribable fear began to spread. He took a deep breath, sat on the sofa, and looked at the sweet potatoes on the table with empty eyes, but he didn't speak for a long time.

"Dad, something is not right in the courtyard recently." Li Xiangqian finally spoke in a low voice, "You know, I... I feel a little uneasy."

The father did not rush to answer, but sat silently opposite him, staring at him deeply. After a long while, the father slowly said: "I know you have something on your mind. It seems that you have not been calm these days."

Li Xiangqian was suddenly stunned, and an indescribable emotion surged in his heart. There was no blame or excessive concern in his father's eyes, but a deep silence, as if he had already seen through everything in Li Xiangqian's heart, but was waiting for him to face it himself.

"Dad, you also think..." Li Xiangqian hesitated, his eyes a little confused, "The atmosphere in the courtyard is very strange recently, isn't it?"

The father did not answer immediately. He just lowered his head and rubbed the hair on his forehead, as if thinking about something. At that moment, Li Xiangqian saw a hint of fatigue and heaviness flashing across his father's face. In these few short seconds, Li Xiangqian seemed to understand that this was not the first time his father felt uneasy about the courtyard.

"You noticed it too?" Li Xiangqian's voice was a little lower, and he looked at his father with complicated eyes. "I went to buy sweet potatoes today, and I always felt that someone was following me on the way. There were some unknown movements in the yard at night, and it seemed..."

"It seems something is happening." His father took over his words softly, with a hint of deep meaning in his eyes. "I know that some people have been coming in and out of the courtyard frequently recently and have done some things that are not reassuring."

"What on earth is it?" Li Xiangqian finally couldn't help asking, the vague fear in his heart gradually became clearer, "Dad, do you know anything?"

The father was silent for a moment, with a complicated look in his eyes. He stood up, walked to the window, turned his back to Li Xiangqian, and said in a low voice: "There are indeed some people in the courtyard who are not as simple as they seem on the surface." He turned around, his eyes deep, "In the past few years, there are many things you don't know, and you don't even know that your father has been involved in it."

Li Xiangqian's heart suddenly shook, as if something heavy hit his chest, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. He stared at his father blankly, stunned. The pain and complexity in his father's eyes made it impossible for him to maintain his original calmness.

"Dad...you..." Li Xiangqian's voice trembled a little. Suddenly, he felt as if he had fallen into a huge black hole. Those details that he had always ignored were suddenly exposed at this moment and became impossible to escape.

The father sighed deeply, his eyes still calm, as if he was making some kind of decision. He walked to Li Xiangqian and patted his shoulder, "Some things are beyond your control. Your recent hair loss and the anxiety you feel are actually warnings. Do you know? Those unknown movements are not just trivial matters, they are telling you that you should be more alert."

"Alert?" Li Xiangqian's mind went blank, his eyes full of confusion. "Dad, what are you talking about?"

"You already know too much," the father's eyes became complicated, "something is happening in the courtyard, and those things that you think are wrong are not accidental." He paused, "If you continue to investigate, you will find that many things are related to us."

Li Xiangqian's heart suddenly sank, as if his head was hit by something. He suddenly understood that his father's silence was not only out of concern, but also because he himself was in this situation and deeply involved.

"So, what should I do?" Li Xiangqian asked, his heart full of confusion, as if he had fallen into a bottomless black hole and could not find a way out.

The father did not answer immediately, but looked at Li Xiangqian with deep eyes, "If you want to know the truth, you have to make a choice for yourself. Are you willing to face everything?"

After his father left, Li Xiangqian still sat on the sofa, staring blankly ahead. His father's words were like a heavy stone, weighing on him so much that he could hardly breathe. He tried to sort out his chaotic thoughts, but his mind was filled with fog and he could not see anything clearly.

It seems that he is not the only one who has felt the changes in the courtyard. His father's attitude and the obscure but not negligible warning indicate some unknown danger. He knows that this problem is more complicated than he thought. Suddenly, all the things that he once took for granted are no longer certain. He reached out and picked up the bag of sweet potatoes on the table, and his eyes unconsciously drifted over. He bought the sweet potatoes specially today, originally to make some light meals for his mother, but now, he feels that they have become particularly heavy.