[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 the water.
Could it be that he saw that I despised him?
[Could it be that she felt sorry for me because she saw that I didn’t eat much? 】
[He does have some vision.] 】
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 sound and saw Li Ji not far away. The two of them found a deserted corner. 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. Some refugees came, but it's so cold that the refugees won't survive for many days."
Li Ji was not surprised by the fact that people froze to death, which showed that what Xiao Fuzi said was almost right, that good days were only for the upper class, and most of the lower class were like cattle and horses, unable to escape poverty, cold, and hunger.
In ancient times, there were many disasters, heavy taxes, low productivity, and a harsh living environment. All the people were in the hands of powerful families, and the people were exploited layer by layer 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 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 made noodles, boiled them, 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, Emperor Xiao thought of this and his eyes rolled.
Why should I 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 used to run outside, but now he is familiar with the route, so 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 full of the New Year atmosphere because it was New Year's Day. 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 street, where you guys come from. How could there be any refugees from the porridge stalls?"
An Jiu thought about it and thought so.
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 is the Inner City, where all the dignitaries live. As you go outwards, the levels decrease in order, and the outermost area is of course where the lower class lives.
Eunuch Li frowned slightly. He was afraid that something might happen to the emperor and didn't want the emperor 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 very curious about the outside world.
As expected, the further you go outside, the more dilapidated the houses become. The scene on the street is different from the scene inside. When you reach the outermost part, you can see ragged beggars on the roadside, skinny and shivering refugees, a few shabby porridge stalls, and even people who are not sure if they are dead lying on the roadside without moving.
The air around me seemed to have an indescribable smell, and there was even 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 street.
As soon as the carriage passed, people gathered around asking for food.
"Please have mercy on us..."
“Save us…”
"Give 껙 something to eat..."
Seeing that more and more people were blocking the road and they couldn't move forward, Lin San drew his knife. Everyone was frightened and dared not move forward. They all huddled aside, their eyes emitting 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 in a bad mood. This was still the foot of the imperial city. One could imagine how cruel the world outside was. It was completely different from what was shown in the TV series.
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 refugees' deaths were caused by the cold.
An Jiu sighed. Indeed, with 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 it 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 wealthy nobles could wear clothes made of cotton, while ordinary people wore clothes made of reed catkins or needle and thread mashed together to barely keep warm.
Even firewood is not something that anyone can chop. There are firewoods on every nearby mountain. The poor are not qualified to chop firewood. If they want to chop firewood, they have to go to the Fireless Mountain a hundred miles away. But before they get there, they will 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 shook his head and sighed.
After the emperor Lin San finished speaking, he motioned to go back.
Lu 껗, the emperor is only thinking about one thing.
How to weaken and eliminate the powerful and aristocratic families.
He felt that only when these things were gone and their bodies returned to the people could they live a good life.
The emperor exhaled.
And An Jiu followed his thoughts.
She remembered such 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! ! !
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