There are many such children, all of whom are passing through the wet and muddy streets, but they are all pale and thin.

There are very few such people in Chang'an City, but here they are often like a crowd.

They were squatting against merchants, or at some food stalls, and whenever they saw someone buying cooked cakes, they flocked to them.

They are still children, but they are of different heights, ragged clothes, and dirty bodies. They all look thin and thin. In this cold winter, they are barefoot in the mud and they don’t feel cold. There is also a child, only Chen Zhengtai is so tall at his waist, and there is a baby girl behind him. The baby girl is crying, but she is tied tightly to his back with a cloth strip.

They were both bold, but they were also very timid. What was bold was coming in a swarm, and what was timid was that once they got closer to the distance between two steps in front of Li Shimin and others, they stopped very smartly.

They dare not provoke these merchants because they are still children. If the merchants are more vicious and fist at them, no one will support them.

So they kept a distance and looked at it from a distance, and their eyes fell straight on the steamed cake. They didn't dare to ask for it, but they seemed to be waiting for the owner of the steamed cake to eat and throw away some leftovers of the soup and fry them.

Li Shimin looked down at them.

They dared not look at Li Shimin's eyes.

For a moment, Li Shimin felt a little confused.

When he was young, he had seen such people when he was in Taiyuan, but there were not many such people. It was a very distant memory. Moreover, Li Shimin was still very young at that time. He was at a heartless age and would not take these people seriously, and even felt that they hated them very much.

Now that he is the emperor, the people around him are either eunuchs or ministers. Even if the one with the lowest status is also powerful soldiers of Kong Wu. These people are well-maintained, occasionally some are thick-skinned and have big belly. The clothes they wear are the worst and the most well-cut cloth clothes, let alone those silks and satin.

Li Shimin subconsciously put a steamed cake in his mouth and chewed it.

The steamed cake should have some salt on it. The person who sells the cooked cakes is quite conscientious and the cooked cakes are quite chewy, not to mention that Li Shimin was also a little hungry in his stomach.

But... countless pairs of eyes were looking at him, and they subconsciously smacked their lips when they looked at him putting the cooked cake into their mouths.

The baby carrying the baby had to shake his body because the baby kept crying and said vague comforting words in his mouth.

At this time, Li Shimin felt that the steamed cake had no taste at all, and the smell was like chewing wax, and even his heart felt like it was blocked by something.

Li Chengqian was behind and ate a bite of steamed cake. He was used to being rich and frugal. The pancake was extremely rough for him. He only took one bite and spit out, which was unpalatable and threw away the steamed cake in his hand.

As soon as the steamed cake was thrown on the muddy ground, the children suddenly became boiling.

The older children were as crazy as if they were eating, and picked up steamed cakes full of mud and whistled away with a group of children. They cheered, like victorious generals, and wanted to hide in the street corner to share the spoils.

Li Shimin: “…”

Li Shimin looked at the scene in front of him silently, but his eyebrows were furrowed deeply.

Zhang Qian behind him reluctantly smiled and said, "Your Majesty, look at these children, it's so pitiful."

Li Shimin pursed his lips and nodded in a heavy mood.

The person who stood behind the stall selling cakes said, "Customer, don't pity them. If you are pitiful, you can't be pitiful. There are many such children in the world. Now the prices are rising sharply. How much money can their parents make? Where can they raise them? They are thrown on the street and ask for food by themselves. If the customer is kind, there will be more such children, and they can't count them. Can the customer help one, ten or eight, help one hundred and one thousand? Need to pay attention to them, they will disperse when they see the customer ignore them. If there are brave people who dare to take food, you need to be more fierce than them. If you raise your hands and want to beat them, they will run away."

The peddler was obviously used to this and was numb on his face. In the peddler's eyes, he seemed to think that this is what the world should be like.

Li Chengqian, who was standing aside, finally felt a little sympathetic. He looked at the steamed cake he had lost and was snatched away by the children, and felt a little disgusted. So he stared at the peddler angrily and scolded, "What do you know, your heartless thing?"

When Li Chengqian was angry, the peddler grinned and showed his yellow teeth. He said slowly: "Tier-hearted, this is too unfair to me. I was born here when I was urinating. I saw this all day long, and I still have to make ends meet. Isn't this a common thing? Why did it become a stern heart? In this world, some people should be rich and some people go hungry. This is what the Buddha said, who made me not accumulate virtue in my previous life? But I asked me to say, it is not right for this Buddha to teach everyone to do good. Look, like a few guests, you are in a rich and elegant manner. It is not easy for you to do good.

I added some sesame oil to the temple and bought a few pancakes to give them to those children. Isn’t this good enough? I will be reincarnated in the next life, and I will still be rich and noble families. But like me, I will not be able to eat enough, and I have old and young people. If I am not sturdy, wouldn’t my daughter also go to the street to beg for food? In order to support my family, I am not sturdy and do evil things, can I live? So I should be as the Buddha said, and I will still be poor and humble people in the next life, and I will never be able to make a living in my life. As for all the guests, don’t worry, you will be the Duke and Marquis for generations in life."

His words were a bit sarcastic, but more like self-deprecating.

He then said, "Okay, don't hinder the business. If I can't sell my cake today, I will be even poor and humble. I have to become a thief or beg for food on the street. I will really fall into hell after dying."

When Li Shimin heard this, he was also angry at this peddler, but at this moment... his anger disappeared suddenly.

He didn't say a word from beginning to end, but Li Chengqian was very dissatisfied and hummed. In fact, he did find that he seemed powerless to refute, but he just refused to admit defeat.

Li Shimin said at this time: "You can pack up all the cakes here, and I've bought them all."

The peddler didn't plan to pay attention to them anymore, but when he heard this, he suddenly felt refreshed and a surprise smile appeared on his face: "Really? You really care about the business..."

As he said that, the peddler seemed to be afraid that Li Shimin would regret it, and quickly poured all the steamed cakes in the steamer into lotus leaves and quickly wrapped them.

There was no expression on Li Shimin's face, and he only looked at Chen Zhengtai: "Pay."

Chen Zhengtai was still very moved just now, but now when he heard the word "payment", he suddenly felt cold again.

It turns out that I paid professionally this journey!

Li Shimin seemed to feel a little disgusted, so he added: "I didn't bring any money."

Chen Zhengtai couldn't say anything, so he quickly withdrew the money and paid Li Shimin.

So Zhang Qian held the steamed cake he brought up, and was speechless for a while.

Li Shimin looked at the child carrying a baby girl. The child was squatting barefoot on the street corner eating some steamed cake crumbs that the older child gave him. He licked a few bites, then put them in his mouth and held them, reluctant to swallow them. He smacked his lips until the steamed cake crumbs were filled with it, and he looked very enjoyable.

The baby girl behind him started crying again, so he untied the rope he tied and put the baby girl in his arms. While coaxing her in a low voice, he pinched some steamed cake crumbs and placed them in the baby girl's mouth.

The baby girl was like a lion fighting a rabbit. She opened her mouth and sucked the child's fingers all at once. She refused to let go. She stopped crying, but just bit her feet and refused to let go, and a humming sound came from her nose.

Perhaps it was because the baby girl gave birth to baby teeth, which bit the boy's fingers. The boy grinned his teeth in pain. While scolding the baby girl, he comforted him: "There is more, and there is more, my second brother gave us more, don't bite, don't bite."

After the boy finished feeding the baby girl, even though the baby girl ate all the steamed cake crumbs, she still seemed to feel hungry, so she started crying again.

The boy had to tie her back back and Yangyang walked to another street.

All this... Li Shimin could see clearly. He had a good eye. After all, he was very good at riding and shooting.

Subconsciously, Li Shimin paced and chased the boy.

His pace was slow and slow, and he didn't seem to want to frighten the boy.

Everyone didn't know what Li Shimin wanted to do, but seeing Li Shimin like this, they had to follow him obediently.

Only Zhang Qian was the most pitiful, following behind with a large steamed cake, exhausted and panting.

Going further ahead, there is the canal.

There are countless low thatched houses by the canal river. Looking around, they are actually connected in a piece, and they are countless.

The child came here with a baby girl on his back and went to a thatched hut. The hut was very short. He said hello first, and a thin woman came out and took off the baby girl behind the boy. The boy went to the shed and went to play by himself.

The baby girl was still crying, and the woman began to coax her. She could vaguely hear that as long as your father came back from work, he might get a few dollars and he could buy yellow rice to make porridge.

When the boy outside heard that he wanted to drink porridge, he suddenly became energetic. He started chattering and cheered, "Drink porridge, drink porridge..."

Li Shimin stood from afar, looking at the endless thatched hut.

After a while, he turned back to Chen Zhengtai and said, "Why do the people gather here?"

"This..." Chen Zhengtai blinked and said, "Students have to go and ask."

He really doesn't know, I'm a decent person.

But obviously, Your Majesty wants to know, so... he must ask clearly.

…………
Chapter completed!