On the day they returned from the farm, after sending Nanny Xiao and Granny Qin back to the mansion, Tian An and Zhao Yiming went directly to the south of the city.
Although the south of the city is still in the capital, it is very far from the inner city. It was already late afternoon when they arrived.
The only normal houses in the south of the city are the rows of shops on both sides of the street. Apart from the shops in the row, most of the houses are short and dilapidated. Although it is also the outer city, it is far worse than other places in the outer city that Tian An had visited before.
Some of the houses were even worse than those in Shangba Village, Jinning County. Tian An had never expected that there would be such places in Beijing.
Compared to Tian An's shock, Zhao Yiming acted extremely calm. "Where there is wealth, there is poverty. The Imperial Palace is the center of wealth and power in the capital, and the south of the city is the poorest place in the capital."
Tian An looked around and saw that poverty was indeed visible to the naked eye.
Chen Feng drove the carriage around several streets in the south of the city twice but couldn't find the Hu people that Nanny Xiao mentioned.
"Mammy, I hope you didn't remember it wrong!" Tian An muttered. She had been out for a day and was a little hungry.
Zhao Yiming saw her touching her belly from time to time, and he understood what was going on, so he said, "Let's eat something first and then look for it!"
"This is the only way." Tian An nodded.
Seeing Tian An nod, Zhao Yiming asked again: "Do you want to eat at a restaurant or a roadside stall?"
"Let's just find a roadside stall!" They still had work to do, so they just found a stall to eat something.
After wandering around, Chen Feng found a bustling snack street. At the street corner, he found a carriage attendant, gave him some money to buy some horse feed, and asked him to help feed the horses and store the carriage. Then, the three of them headed towards the snack street.
It has been a long time since I last ate at a street stall. Tian An was envious and wanted to try everything.
I first found a wonton stall, "One small bowl, two large bowls."
Tian An had just finished ordering wontons when he saw the golden and crispy fried cakes on the stall across from him. He called out again, "Old man across the street, could you give me some fried cakes, please?"
It was not mealtime, so not many people were buying things. When the old man heard Tian An's voice, he immediately stood up and said excitedly: "Okay, I'll be right there."
After ordering some fried cakes, he saw some sugar-roasted chestnuts not far away and asked Chen Feng to run over and buy one.
"Can you finish all this at once?" Zhao Yiming looked at Tian An and said with a smile.
"Isn't this still you?"
"The wontons are ready, please enjoy your meal!" Just at this moment, the wontons arrived, and Tian An scooped some wontons from his bowl into Zhao Yiming's bowl with a spoon.
Zhao Yiming was in the growing period and had a big appetite. Coupled with his martial arts training, his consumption was even greater. He had to eat three bowls of wontons like this to barely fill his stomach.
Tian An only ordered one bowl for him so that he could eat more.
"Okay, if you give me more, you won't have enough to eat."
Seeing that Tian An was about to give all the wontons in her bowl to herself, Zhao Yiming hurriedly stopped her.
"Let's buy other food later!" Tian An scooped another wonton over before stopping.
Just then the fried cakes were ready, and Tian An was about to take out the copper coins, but Zhao Yiming had already taken out ten cents and gave them to the stall owner.
Tian An didn't care. He picked up the spoon and started eating the wontons.
Chen Feng, who had just bought sugar-roasted chestnuts, also returned. The three of them ate wontons and occasionally a piece of fried cake. In no time, they had finished everything.
Zhao Yiming was quick. After finishing his wontons, he took the sugar-roasted chestnuts and gave them to Tian An to peel.
By the time Tian An finally finished his wonton soup, he had already peeled several.
Tian An happily ate a ready-made chestnut, then worriedly said, "Where should we go to find the Hu people now?"
Zhao Yiming said as he peeled chestnuts, "As long as they're here, they'll definitely find it. If they can't find it today, just come back tomorrow."
The old stall owner, who had nothing better to do, sat nearby and listened to their conversation. Seeing their frowns, he smiled and interrupted, "Are you looking for some Hu people, gentlemen?"
Hearing this, Tian An put down the chestnuts in his hand and turned to look at the old man. "We want to buy some sheep from them. Does Grandpa know where to find them? We have been around this area for a long time today and haven't seen them."
When the old man heard that someone wanted to buy a sheep, he came over with a small stool and sat down.
"It's a good idea to buy sheep from them. The Hu people are good at raising sheep. The grass on the prairie is lush and the sheep they raise are better than those in Tianling, and the price is cheaper."
"Since the sheep are good, why are the prices cheaper?" Tian An asked in confusion.
Nanny Xiao only said that there would be some here, but didn't tell her the price, so she really didn't know about it.
The old man looked around and whispered, "They come here secretly to do business. They are afraid of being caught, so they naturally sell it at a lower price."
Tian An looked at Zhao Yiming and saw that he didn't react. Then he smiled and said, "No wonder we couldn't find them. It turns out they were hiding."
The old man sighed, "These days, it's not easy for anyone. Even though they are barbarians, they are ordinary people after all. They came all the way here just to make a living."
Tian An didn't go off topic and just asked, "Does the old man know where they are?"
The old man looked at the few people and pointed in the direction of the street. "Go straight across this street from here. You can often see them in the alleys over there. You can go over there and look for them."
Without further ado, after receiving the news about the Hu people, Zhao Yiming paid the money and took the two of them in the direction the old man said.
The old man counted the copper coins in his hand and found that there were a few extra coins. He hurriedly chased after him and said, "Sir, you gave me too much."
Unfortunately, the three people were no longer seen on the busy street.
At this time, Tian An was waiting for freshly baked osmanthus cake at a cake stall. She was busy making mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, and she had never tasted osmanthus cake yet!
How could she miss the opportunity when she met him now? Besides, Zhao Yiming's empty stomach was waiting for her to fill it with delicious food.
Not only osmanthus cake, but also anything on the entire snack street, whether eaten or not, as long as she sees it and it catches her eye, she will take a portion.
After walking from the beginning to the end of the street, the three of them had already filled their stomachs. Chen Feng was still holding a lot of food in his hands, which he was going to take back for Xiaokang and Xiaoqi.
After eating and drinking, the three of them went to the alleys that the wonton man had mentioned.
As they walked, Tian An said, "They came here secretly. Nothing will happen if we buy their sheep!"
Zhao Yiming pondered for a moment and then said, "Although they came here secretly, they traveled a long way and must have brought a lot of sheep with them.
Moreover, this is the capital city, and the defense under the emperor's feet is naturally extremely strict. It is impossible that we were not discovered along the way.
Since he wasn't arrested, I think it was approved by the higher-ups, so he's fine."
Tian An nodded, then frowned and asked, "Why did they come secretly? Is the border becoming chaotic again?"
In addition to the Hu people, Tian An also saw many other foreigners. They all appeared on the streets openly to do business and did not need to hide like the Hu people.
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