Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

He put down the cup and said leisurely: "What kind of tea is this?"

The old lady replied slowly, "I made it myself, it's good for my health."

Li Xiangqian sighed: "You are in good health, do you really need to take special care of yourself?"

The old lady smiled, her eyes meaningful: "If you live long enough, you have to take care of yourself."

The two looked at each other and no one spoke, but there seemed to be a lot of unspoken things hidden in this silence.

The wind outside the window blew across the yard, the leaves rustled, and a fallen leaf gently floated into the door, rolled a few times on the ground, and finally stopped beside the leg of the table.

Li Xiangqian looked at the leaf, feeling a little uneasy. He always felt that the old lady's purpose of going out these days might not be as simple as she said. And the subtle changes in the yard these days might not be a coincidence.

He didn't ask any more questions, but just reached out and picked up another peanut, slowly peeling it. The old lady didn't rush him, and continued to peel her own peanuts leisurely.

In this room, two people sat quietly, and the sound of peeling peanuts could be clearly heard, like a silent contest, or like a silent wait.

Li Xiangqian grabbed a few more peanuts and peeled them slowly. With a light pinch of his fingertips, the sound of the peanut shells breaking was particularly clear in the room. He didn't rush to speak, and the old lady didn't rush him. There was no other movement in the room except the sound of peeling peanuts. The wind outside the window rustled the leaves, and occasionally someone in the yard talked, but the sound was blocked outside the door and became unclear.

After a while, Li Xiangqian spoke casually, "Old lady, where have you been these days? You can't really just be wandering around the yard, right?"

The deaf old lady paused while peeling peanuts, looked up at him, and with a slight smile on her lips, she slowly said, "Go out and buy something."

Li Xiangqian raised his eyebrows: "Buying things?"

The old lady nodded, pushed the peeled peanuts forward, and motioned Li Xiangqian to eat them, while she took a sip from the teacup. Her eyes were calm, revealing a kind of indifference that came from years of experience, as if she was not impatient or anxious about anything.

Li Xiangqian stared at her and asked thoughtfully, "What did you buy? Is it worth it for you to disappear for so many days?"

The old lady put down the teacup and squinted her eyes slightly, as if recalling something. After a moment, she said slowly, "It's nothing special, just some household items."

Li Xiangqian said "Oh" and continued to peel peanuts, but his eyes were a little unconvinced. Although the old lady would go out to buy things normally, she had never been out for so long at one time, not to mention that her words sounded a bit vague, obviously avoiding the main point.

He thought about it, then asked with a smile: "What's missing at home? Rice, flour, oil, firewood, rice, soy sauce, vinegar? Or did you buy something rare?"

The old lady looked at him with a half-smile, a meaningful light flashing in her eyes: "Guess?"

Li Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Let me guess? That depends on whether you can give me some hints."

The old lady didn't say anything more. Instead, she reached out and picked up a peanut kernel from the plate on the table, put it in her mouth and chewed it slowly. She looked calm and obviously had no intention of revealing anything easily.

Li Xiangqian was even more certain that the old lady had gone out these days not just to buy things, but he also knew that no one could get the old lady to tell him what she didn't want to tell him.

He stared at the old lady for a while, and suddenly changed the subject: "Since you went to buy something, there must be someone who can prove it, right? Where did you buy it? A store near here, or somewhere further away?"

The old lady paused in chewing, then raised her eyes and looked at him calmly: "Are you so concerned about this?"

Li Xiangqian shrugged and said with a smile: "Many people in the yard have been talking about you these days, so I just asked casually."

The old lady was silent for a while, as if she was considering whether to tell him or not. After a while, she slowly said, "He went outside. He's not around here."

Li Xiangqian's eyes flickered slightly when he heard this. Sure enough, she was not going to an ordinary place to buy things, otherwise she would not have avoided the topic intentionally or unintentionally.

He picked up the teacup, swirled the tea gently, and asked casually, "What about the things you bought? Did you bring them back?"

The old lady tapped the tabletop lightly with her fingers, looked at him dimly, and suddenly said, "Li Xiangqian, when you were a child, were you particularly fond of asking questions?"

Li Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud: "That's not the case, it's just that your disappearance this time was too abnormal, isn't it? I'm just curious, isn't it?"

The old lady stared at him for a while, as if judging his attitude, and finally said slowly: "I brought the things back and put them in the house."

Li Xiangqian's eyes moved and he glanced at the corner of the room, but the old lady's room was as tidy as usual, and there was nothing particularly conspicuous.

He smacked his lips and deliberately asked, "Can you let me see it? It's so mysterious, it makes me very curious."

The old lady smiled faintly: "What's there to see? It's not worth anything."

Li Xiangqian knew that she would not reveal it easily, so he simply stopped asking and just picked up the teacup and continued drinking it, but his eyes were scanning back and forth in the old lady's room, with some doubts in his heart.

What exactly did the old lady buy? Why did she avoid the nearby shops and go to the faraway ones? Moreover, could the changes in the yard in the past few days have anything to do with her going out this time?

These questions kept turning around in his mind like a tangled thread, but he knew that since the old lady refused to say anything, she must have her reasons.

The wind outside the window blew a little stronger, the branches in the yard swayed gently, and the leaves fell rustling, like a silent whisper. In the room, two people sat quietly, each with their own thoughts. The sound of peeling peanuts was still crisp, but there seemed to be an indescribable breath in the air.

Li Xiangqian stared at the deaf old lady, with a faint smile on her lips, but her eyes revealed a hint of speculation. He could feel that the old lady was deliberately avoiding the point, but he was not in a hurry. The old lady was not a person who liked to gossip. She took the initiative to say the three words "buy things", which was already a way out. However, where this way out would lead to depend on how he asked.

The room was quiet for a while. The old lady peeled a peanut and put it in her mouth, chewing it slowly, as if she was savoring something. Li Xiangqian raised his teacup and took a sip, still looking at her. Seeing that she didn't say anything, he deliberately sighed and said, "Hey, it's rare for you to go out, but you have this expression when you come back. What's wrong? Are you not satisfied with your shopping?"

The old lady raised her eyebrows, her eyes moved from the peanut plate to his face, stared at him for a moment, and then said lightly: "Nothing, just had a quarrel with someone."