Chapter 168 Going Out of the Palace for Fun

[Ah~ Comfortable~]

Inside the hall, everything seemed normal if it weren't for the emperor's obscene and suspicious voice that kept echoing.

Every time An Jiu hit him, he let out a strange cry.

She couldn't stand it anymore and stopped what she was doing.

The emperor turned to look at her, he was cold and handsome, his expression seemed to be asking her: Why did you stop?

An Jiu forced a smile: "Your Majesty, are you hungry? I'll cook you a bowl of noodles."

The emperor frowned slightly.

[Didn’t I just have my meal? ]

[Could it be…]

The emperor looked at An Jiu suspiciously.

An Jiu swallowed.

Could it be that he could see that I disliked him?

[Could it be that she felt sorry for me because she saw that I didn't eat much? ]

【I have a bit of vision now. 】

The emperor nodded coldly.

An Jiu was speechless and quickened his pace to leave Guanghua Hall.

Then I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xiaojiu."

An Jiu heard the voice and saw Li Ji not far away. The two of them found a corner where no one was. An Jiu asked, "Brother Li, are you going to leave the palace?"

Li Ji nodded: "I'm taking a day off today."

An Jiu was very envious.

She remembered what Xiao Fuzi said.

So she asked, "Brother Li, are the people outside having a hard life?"

Li Ji nodded: "Probably. It snowed a few days ago, and many people froze to death outside the city. There were also some refugees, but it was so cold that the refugees wouldn't survive for more than a few days."

Li Ji was not surprised by the fact that people froze to death, which was similar to what Xiao Fuzi said, that good days were only for those in the upper class, while most people at the bottom were like cattle and horses, unable to escape poverty, cold, and hunger.

In ancient times, there were natural disasters and man-made disasters, heavy taxes, low productivity, and a harsh living environment. The land was in the hands of the powerful and wealthy families, and the people were exploited at every level and lived in dire straits.

"However, the court has set up soup kitchens to help the people. Although the effect is not great, it is better than nothing." Li Ji sighed, and seeing that she was interested, he briefly told her about what was happening outside.

An Jiu heard that some wealthy people in the city would also donate some things, so she asked Li Ji to wait and ran back to get three months' wages.

"Buying some food or something would be my token of my appreciation." This was all An Jiu could do.

Li Ji took the silver, looked at An Jiu deeply, and finally nodded: "Okay, I'll take it."

After Li Ji left, An Jiu went to the kitchen. She skillfully kneaded the dough, boiled the noodles, and even poached two eggs.

The emperor was hungry, and after eating, he sweated all over. After a while, he said he wanted to go digest the food.

An Jiu was so worried. When had he ever had trouble digesting his food?

As An Jiu complained like this, the emperor also thought of this and his eyes rolled.

[Why do I need to digest my food in the palace? ]

【Why not go out of the palace and take a look. 】

An Jiu "..."

It would be better to be in the palace.

"Xiaojiu, get ready."

An Jiu paused.

The emperor smiled and said, "Let's go out of the palace and take a look."

When the emperor was still the prince, he went outside every day. Now he is familiar with the route. He changed into ordinary clothes and left the palace with An Jiu, Eunuch Li, Lin San and others.

Although it was very cold, the streets were filled with a strong festive atmosphere because it was Chinese New Year. There were vendors selling New Year's goods everywhere, as well as people out shopping. It was very lively.

An Jiu asked, "Sir, I heard there is a porridge stall in the city, why can't I see it?"

Eunuch Li smiled and said, "This is the main street, where nobles come. How can there be any porridge stalls and refugees?"

An Jiu thought so too.

The emperor became interested.

"Let's go to the outer city and have a look."

The imperial city is a large circular structure. The innermost part is the inner city, where all the dignitaries live. The outermost part is where the lower class people live.

Eunuch Li frowned slightly. He was afraid that something might happen to the emperor and didn't want him to go outside. However, he didn't dare to disobey the emperor. He could only follow carefully and winked at An Jiu, signaling her to be smart.

An Jiu is very smart and she is also very curious about the outside world.

Sure enough, the further you go outside, the more dilapidated the houses are, and the people on the street are different from the people inside. When you reach the outermost part, you can see ragged beggars on the roadside, skinny and shivering refugees, a few scattered and simple porridge stalls, and even people lying motionless on the roadside, not knowing whether they are dead or not.

The air around seemed to be filled with an indescribable smell, and there was a faint sound of crying. The wind here was much colder than that in the inner city.

An Jiu sniffed and looked at the emperor.

He stopped thinking from the beginning and just looked at the people on the street.

As soon as the carriage passed by, people gathered around and asked for food.

"Please have mercy on us..."

“Save us…”

"Give it to Stutter..."

Seeing that more and more people were gathering and blocking the road, Lin San drew out his knife. Everyone was so frightened that they dared not move forward. They all huddled aside, their eyes glowing with a faint green light, staring at the carriage...

Even after walking a long way away, An Jiu could still seem to feel those needle-like gazes scratching his skin.

"We've arrived at the government's porridge stall." Lin San said.

The emperor lifted the curtain to look, it was not time for dinner and there were few people around.

The emperor gave Lin San a look, and Lin San went around to ask around about how the government was distributing porridge, whether it was distributed on time, and whether the porridge was thick or thin.

An Jiu was also in a bad mood. This was still at the foot of the imperial city. One could imagine how cruel the world outside was. It was completely different from what was shown in TV dramas.

Lin San came back soon. He found out that the court did provide porridge. It was a little watery, but basically every refugee could get a bowl, which was enough to keep them alive.

A large part of the cause of death among the refugees was still the cold.

An Jiu sighed. It was true. In such weather, it was unbearable to stay outside for a while, let alone stay outside all the time.

An Jiu lived in the north in his previous life. When the weather was cold, stray cats and dogs were rare. These small animals could not survive the winter.

The emperor cared so much about that little bit of cotton before, not because he was stingy, but because the output of cotton was very limited. Only nobles and wealthy people could wear clothes made of cotton. Ordinary people wore clothes made of reed catkins or needle and thread mashed together to barely keep warm.

Even firewood was not something that anyone could chop. Every nearby mountain had an owner, and the poor were not qualified to chop firewood. If they wanted to chop firewood, they had to go to an ownerless mountain a hundred miles away. But before they even got there, they would probably freeze to death or starve to death.

An Jiu felt more and more uncomfortable the more he watched, so he lowered the curtain and stopped watching.

Eunuch Li also shook his head and sighed.

After the emperor finished talking to Lin San, he gestured to go back.

On the way, the emperor was thinking about only one thing.

How to weaken and eliminate the powerful and aristocratic families.

He felt that only when these people were gone and the land returned to the hands of the people could they live a good life.

The emperor let out a breath.

And An Jiu was also thinking along with him.

She remembered that there had been similar examples in history.

At that time, a hero named Huang emerged. He killed all the powerful men from the aristocratic families and solved the problem perfectly.

An Jiu glanced at the emperor.

She first felt that the dragon throne under the emperor's buttocks was indeed not stable enough.

There are too many internal and external troubles!!!