Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

Li Xiangqian was feeling annoyed, and was distracted by what he said. "Yes, we need to find a few people... But we need to solve the water problem first. How about we dig a well first?"

Yi Zhonghai nodded, "Digging a well is one way, but we need to find a professional to do it. If you really want to do it, I can help you contact Lao Zhang, he used to do this."

"That's great!" Li Xiangqian's eyes lit up, and he was full of gratitude towards Yi Zhonghai. But this happiness didn't last long, as he felt his scalp itchy again and couldn't help but scratch it.

Yi Zhonghai saw this and frowned even more tightly, "What's wrong with your head? Why do you keep scratching it?"

"Nothing, maybe I accidentally got some dirt on me." Li Xiangqian said with a smile, but he felt a little uneasy. He knew he couldn't hide it from Yi Zhonghai, but he didn't want him to know that he was entangled by bugs. After all, it was too embarrassing.

Yi Zhonghai was not someone who could be easily fooled. He stared at Li Xiangqian for a while, then suddenly said, "Don't move. Let me see."

"Ah? No need, it's okay..." Li Xiangqian subconsciously took a step back, but Yi Zhonghai had already reached out and grabbed his shoulders, pressing him into a chair beside him.

"Don't move!" Yi Zhonghai's tone was full of authority that could not be refused. He carefully looked through Li Xiangqian's hair and soon found the problem, "Hey, why are there so many bugs on your head?!"

Li Xiangqian's face instantly turned red. He lowered his head, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. "Maybe it was stained on the ground just now..."

"This is not a possibility, this is a certainty!" Yi Zhonghai said as he took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "You are too careless. If you don't clean up these bugs, they might bite your scalp!"

"What should I do?" Li Xiangqian raised his head, his eyes a little flustered. He had never encountered such a situation before, and for a moment he didn't know how to deal with it.

Yi Zhonghai exhaled a puff of smoke, thought for a moment and said, "Wait a minute, I'll go get some kerosene. This thing can't be cleaned with water, you have to wipe it with kerosene to kill the bugs."

"Kerosene?" Li Xiangqian was a little hesitant. "Will this thing be bad for your hair?"

"Why do you care about your hair now? Do you want to lose your hair or your scalp?" Yi Zhonghai said unhappily, and then stood up. "Wait, I'll be back soon."

Li Xiangqian sighed helplessly, sat on the chair, and rubbed the corner of his clothes unconsciously. He felt embarrassed and annoyed, thinking that he was really unlucky. He originally thought that looking at the land was a good thing, but in the end he got himself into a mess, and had to ask Yi Zhonghai to help clean up the mess.

Not long after, Yi Zhonghai came back with a small bottle of kerosene in his hand. He poured out a little skillfully, dipped it on a clean cloth, and handed it to Li Xiangqian, "Here, wipe it yourself."

Li Xiangqian took the cloth, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly rubbed it on his hair. The smell of kerosene was so pungent that he couldn't help but frown, but as the cloth was rubbed back and forth between his hair, the bugs really began to fall off slowly, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this all right now?" Yi Zhonghai looked at him with a hint of a smile on his face. "Next time you go out, be careful and don't let this kind of thing target you again."

After Li Xiangqian wiped his hair, the pungent smell of kerosene still lingered. He raised his hand and sniffed his hair, frowning even more tightly, feeling annoyed: "This is not clean at all, my hair is full of kerosene smell, it's awful." He stood up and nodded to Yi Zhonghai, "Uncle Yi, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, I would have been completely screwed today."

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand, holding a cigarette in his mouth and smiled, "Okay, go home and wash yourself. I can't stand this smell."

Li Xiangqian smiled awkwardly, picked up his cloth bag and walked home. On the way, he was still thinking about what happened just now, feeling ashamed and helpless. He has always been a man who has some sense among his neighbors, but today he was so embarrassed by the bugs that he couldn't hold his head up.

When he reached the door, he pushed it open and found that the house was quiet, without even a sound of human voice. Li Xiangqian frowned and called out, "Cui Lan? Are you home?"

no respond.

He threw the bag on the table, walked into the inner room, looked around, and found that his wife was not at home. The things in the room were neatly arranged, and the quilt on the bed was folded meticulously. It was obvious that she had gone out long ago. Li Xiangqian felt disappointed: "Where did she go in the middle of the day?"

He took off his coat and hung it on the back of the chair. He walked to the water tank, scooped a bucket of water, and poured it on his head. The cold water flowed down his hair, washing away the kerosene smell on his scalp, bringing a refreshing feeling. He lowered his head and rubbed his hair with his hands, but he couldn't help complaining in his heart: "This woman is really something. Usually she is either doing needlework at home or chatting with people in the yard. Why did she disappear today?"

As he thought about it, he took a piece of soap from the shelf and rubbed it on his hair vigorously, trying to wash away the kerosene smell completely. But after rubbing it several times, the pungent smell still lingered. He sighed helplessly and thought: "It seems that this kerosene smell is not so easy to get rid of. It will take several days to get rid of it completely."

After washing his hair, he wiped it with a towel, sat down at the table, picked up the teapot on the table, poured a glass of water, and drank it in one breath. The water was cool and had a slightly sweet taste, which made his tired body relax a little. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the beams on the roof in a daze, but a sense of uneasiness gradually surged in his heart: "Where did Cuilan go? Usually she would say hello to me when she went out, why didn't she say a word today?"

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He felt like a stone was pressing down on his heart, and he felt very depressed. He stood up and paced back and forth in the room, his eyes sweeping over the sewing basket on the table, the broom in the corner, and the pot of flowers on the windowsill, all of which were things his wife often touched. But now, these things seemed deserted and lonely, as if the whole house had lost its vitality.

"Could she have gone to buy groceries?" Li Xiangqian tried to comfort himself, but he felt that it was unlikely. Cuilan usually went shopping at a fixed time and never took too long, let alone ran out before finishing her housework.

He walked to the door and looked into the yard. Several neighbors were gathered together chatting. Li Xiangqian hesitated for a moment, walked over and asked, "Has anyone seen Cuilan?"