Siheyuan, integrating everything, cultivating the city

The sky gradually darkened, and the dark clouds gathered thicker and thicker. Li Xiangqian walked back to the eaves of his house, lit a cigarette, and took a deep breath. The burning sensation made him sober up a little. The potatoes were rotten, what should he do next? This was not a problem of one or two bags of potatoes, but his entire winter ration plan was ruined. He had originally planned to exchange these potatoes for some coal and firewood for the winter, but now the potatoes were all ruined, and the dry firewood piled in the yard was not enough. The cold winter wind in the courtyard poured in from all directions, chilling him to the bone.

He shuddered unconsciously, standing in front of the door and looking at the gray sky in the distance, feeling lost. He suddenly remembered an old neighbor who had moved away a few years ago. The neighbor seemed to have said that there was something strange in the north corner of the yard, and that he could always hear the wind whispering at night. He had always treated this kind of strange rumor as a joke, but at this moment, these vague memories were like shadows, lingering in his mind.

Just as Li Xiangqian was lost in thought, there was a sudden knock at the door. Li Xiangqian was stunned for a moment, not expecting someone to come at this time. He walked over and opened the door. Standing outside was Wang Tiezhu, a well-known farmer in the village. Tiezhu wore an old straw hat, his face was full of vicissitudes, but his eyes were shrewd.

"Li Xiangqian, I heard that all the potatoes in your house are rotten?" Wang Tiezhu asked straight to the point, his voice low and slightly anxious.

Li Xiangqian nodded and said with a wry smile, "Yes, Old Zhang also took a look just now and said that it might be because of the bad Feng Shui of the land. I don't understand these things either and I'm worried about it."

Wang Tiezhu frowned and scanned the yard, finally landing on the direction of the potato field, his expression became more serious. He walked in, bent down, grabbed a handful of soil from the field, put it in front of his nose and smelled it, and then his face changed slightly.

"Sure enough, something is wrong." He muttered to himself, then stood up and looked at Li Xiangqian, saying in a deep voice, "I've seen a lot of farmland, and this situation is rare. There seems to be a yin energy in your field, and it seems to be related to something underground."

"Underground?" Li Xiangqian was startled and immediately remembered the strange stone. He hesitated for a moment, but still told him about the stone digging that day: "Uncle Tiezhu, when I was turning the soil a few days ago, I did dig up a strange stone. I didn't think much about it at the time and threw it away. Could it be related to this?"

A strange light flashed in Wang Tiezhu's eyes, and he immediately asked, "What kind of stone? Do you remember where you threw it?"

"It's a big stone, shiny black with some silver lines. I thought it was a bit weird, so I threw it into the corner." Li Xiangqian said, pointing to the north corner of the yard.

Without saying anything, Wang Tiezhu quickly walked to the corner and bent down to search. Li Xiangqian followed behind him, feeling increasingly uneasy. After a while, Wang Tiezhu dug out a black stone from the soil. It was the stone that Li Xiangqian had thrown away that day.

The stone shone with a strange luster in the dim sky, like something that never belonged to this world. Li Xiangqian stared at it, and his heartbeat accelerated involuntarily.

"This stone of yours... is not an ordinary thing." Wang Tiezhu's voice was low and cautious. "I have heard some older people say that there are some things underground that should not be touched, especially things that have been buried for a long time. If you touch them, strange things will occur. This stone is very likely to have affected the vitality of your field, causing the potatoes to rot."

Li Xiangqian's scalp tingled when he heard this, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath. He had never thought that such a thing would happen to him, but Wang Tiezhu's words were so convincing that he couldn't help but believe it.

"Then, what should I do?" There was a hint of panic and helplessness in his voice.

Wang Tiezhu's silence made Li Xiangqian feel suffocated, as if time was stretched into an invisible thread that could break at any time. The air in the yard seemed to become heavier, like an invisible hand strangling his throat, making it difficult for him to breathe. Wang Tiezhu's wrinkled face looked particularly gloomy under the dark clouds, with a complex light in his eyes. Li Xiangqian suppressed his anxiety, but he could feel an inexplicable uneasiness gradually spreading in his heart, just like the rotten smell, lingering.

"Uncle Tiezhu, don't scare me. Is this stone really so weird?" Li Xiangqian finally broke the silence, his voice trembling. He had never had any special beliefs since he was a child, and had always disdained these feng shui and geomancy, but now these strange things happened one after another, making him start to doubt his past cognition.

Wang Tiezhu weighed the stone in his hand and frowned slightly, as if he was weighing something. After a moment, he finally said slowly: "I dare not say it too absolutely, but this situation is indeed rare. People who grow crops know that the land has its own vitality. The problem with this piece of land may be because the vitality is suppressed by this stone. If it continues like this, I am afraid that you will not be able to grow anything good on this piece of land in the future."

This sentence hit Li Xiangqian's heart like a heavy hammer. His face turned pale in an instant, his heartbeat accelerated, and cold sweat oozed from his forehead. Is it difficult to grow good things again? He couldn't imagine how he would make a living if this piece of land in the courtyard was completely ruined. All his hopes were on this piece of land, growing potatoes and vegetables. Over the years, he barely survived by relying on these crops. Now all the potatoes in the field are rotten. If it is true as Wang Tiezhu said, there will be no hope of growing crops in the future, then wouldn't his future be dark?

"I can't just let it go like this..." Li Xiangqian felt a strong resistance in his heart. He didn't want to accept such an outcome, and he didn't want to see his hard work go to waste. He had always been a hardworking and capable person since he was a child. Although his life was hard, he always believed that as long as he was down-to-earth and worked hard on the land, God would never treat him unfairly. But now, this strange change made him feel an unprecedented sense of powerlessness, as if everything was showing him that his efforts might be in vain.

"Uncle Tiezhu, tell me, is it possible... is there any way? No matter how difficult it is, I don't want to give up this piece of land." Li Xiangqian's voice was low and firm, with a kind of unwilling tenacity.

Wang Tiezhu looked at him, with a complex emotion in his eyes, as if he felt a little helpless and a little admiring of Li Xiangqian's persistence. He sighed, gently put the stone in his hand on the ground, looked up at the sky, and said in a slightly heavy tone: "Xiao Li, I know you care about this piece of land, but this problem cannot be solved by strength alone.