Therefore, when the former prince's mansion and his entourage arrived in Qingping County in the northwest, it was already winter.

The cold wind at the end of December blew through the northwest land over and over again, and it also made my heart flood with layers of waves.

Months have passed in the blink of an eye, and I don't know where the imperial grandmother, Yinglin and Aunt Yingtong will be at this moment? Is it with Uncle Erhuang?

And when exactly will I find them?

is losing his mind, and the voice of the peach heart next to him is getting closer and closer

"Princess? Princess, what's wrong with you? Princess? ”

Probably seeing that I didn't react, Momoshin simply shook my arm.

It made me feel a thrill and finally come back to my senses.

"What's wrong?"

"Princess, what are you thinking? Didn't you say that the weather was cold, and you were going to go to the market to cut a new dress for the second prince? Why did you get stuck in a daze when you arrived at the market? ”

Peach looked at me puzzled.

I tugged at the corners of my mouth a little embarrassed, and then looked at the densely populated streets of Qingping County.

There was always a little melancholy in my heart, after all, this place was not as prosperous as in the past when it was in Gicheng, nor was it more familiar than the bustle in Zhongli, but now it was full of withering, and only cold, suffering and poverty spread everywhere.

I still remember that when we first arrived here, Yin Linxi saw that the people were poor, and he once met with the state and county officials to discuss and make decisions with them.

Unexpectedly, that state and county official was really a villain who relied on officials and power, and he saw that Yin Linxi was now just a prince who had lost his power and was exiled, not only did he say crazy that if Yin Linxi wanted to stay in the northwest, he would have to pay five times more land tax than ordinary people.

In addition, he also said that the people of the northwest have been poor for a long time, and the successive state and county officials have never cared, he poured eight lifetimes of blood mold before he was assigned to the realm where the bird does not, and now he is a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and he can only barely survive by collecting various taxes from the people, and now poverty, hardship and passivity have long become the norm of the people in the northwest, let alone any reform.

In the end, the state and county officials advised Yin Linxi not to meddle in his affairs, and if he had this idle money, it was better to pay him more money, so as to reduce the burden of the people.

Such a brazen remark naturally made Yin Linxi extremely angry, but how could the emperor be far away, even if he had the heart to change the status quo, he had nowhere to tell.

There is also the state and county official, he dared to admit in public without fear that he had collected the people's fat and people's ointment, which shows that Yin Linxi's father who is far away in the sky He knows more or less, but there are very few states and counties in the northwest that are barren and willing to take office, so he turns a blind eye to this land.

Yin Linxi was not convinced, he wanted to go against reality, so he had been stuffing himself in the house in recent days, as if he was thinking of some change strategy.

I couldn't help much, but the weather was getting colder, so I thought about coming out and cutting a new dress for him.

But when I was not far from the ready-to-wear store, a large group of ragged children suddenly surrounded me, and they kept begging me, "Sister, you save me!" Help me"

"You kids!" Peach Heart snorted and raised her hand to carry them away.

Suddenly, I thought of Yinglin, and shook my head at Taoxin.

Then he raised his lips and smiled, leaned down and grabbed the shoulders of one of the little girls, "Tell me, what happened?" ”

"I'm hungry" came out of the little girl's mouth.

I couldn't help but be stunned.

The little girl in front of her is almost the same size as Yinglin at the beginning, with a small black face, the whole person looks shriveled and thin, she should be an innocent age, but she has a pair of infinite sad eyes that do not match her age.

She wore a jacket that was so dirty that she couldn't distinguish the color, and her big black eyes were very timid when she looked at me.

"Sister, I'm hungry" Seeing that I was stunned, the little girl pulled the corner of my clothes.

Immediately, other children like her grabbed the corners of my clothes.

My heart mourns inexplicably.

I touched my sleeve pocket again, and I was a little embarrassed for a while.

To tell the truth, since Yin Linxi's silver was stopped and the property was completely confiscated by Yin Linxi's father, the money and silver we had left were not very much, and then we consumed a little on the way to the northwest.

Now that he is shy in his pocket, even I said that I wanted to buy new clothes for Yin Linxi, but I secretly pawned the ornaments from him in exchange for a little bit.

"Sister, sister" The children who surrounded me didn't react much when they saw me, and their faces showed disappointed expressions.

"That's fine." I sighed slightly, and took out the money and silver from my sleeve pocket that I had planned to buy clothes for Yin Linxi.

I walked to a stall selling steamed buns, "Boss, bring me a drawer of steamed buns." ”

After that, I handed over the money and silver in my hand to the boss's hand, but the man just checked it, and said in a contemptuous tone, "You still want to take a drawer of steamed buns from me for these two money?" ”

"What did you say?" I narrowed my eyes slightly, "You showed me clearly, I could have bought the steamed buns in your entire store with the money in your hand, but now it's just for you to take out a drawer, and you don't have enough money?" ”

The boss glanced at me, and then without hesitation, he took a steamed bun from the drawer and stuffed it into my hand, "Just this one, do you like it or not." ”

"Oh? I didn't expect that everyone in the northwest was in danger, but there was such a "wealthy" person as you! I looked at the steaming steamed buns in my hand, and then looked at the children behind me who looked at the steamed buns like wolves and tigers.

Finally, he quickly took out a cold dagger from his sleeve and stuck it in front of the boss, deliberately threatening and said, "Get me a drawer of steamed buns!" ”

The boss was so frightened by me that he didn't want to get into trouble, so he picked up the steamed buns without saying a word and handed them over to the children in turn.

In the end, he complained to me, "This girl, it's not that I deliberately embarrassed you, it's really that the taxes of the state and county are too high, and Qingping County is suffering, I can't sell a few steamed buns this day, if I don't catch your order, the business is really impossible!" ”

Hearing him say this, I finally withdrew the dagger in my hand, and finally said unhappily, "Even so, you shouldn't do such a black-hearted business, the state and county are squeezing you, and you will go to squeeze the poor people, so what is the difference with the state and county that oppressed you!" ”

"Yes, yes, what the girl said is very true," the boss seemed to be affectionate on his face, but in fact he was very perfunctory, "However, I have been doing business here for almost two years, and I have seen a lot of chivalrous and righteous people like you, girl, but such children are too many to count in the northwest, girl, you can manage today, but you can't manage tomorrow." ”

This is true, and I am only doing this to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.

I couldn't help but be silent.

When I looked back at the children, most of them were still staring at the boss's steamer with a hungry look, and the steamed buns in their hands had already been gnawed.

Only the little girl, with a pair of black hands holding a white steamed bun, swallowed violently, but she was reluctant to eat it.

My heart couldn't help but soften, and I leaned over to sort out the messy forehead on her forehead, and asked, "Why don't you eat it?" Didn't you just call hungry? Let's eat the steamed buns! ”

The little girl shook her head, and sadness gradually overflowed in her sad eyes, "My mother and brother are still at home, they have been drinking grass soup for a month, and they haven't seen such a good thing for a long time." ”

"Good things" I looked at the steamed buns in her hand, which were even a little rough, and then looked at her like holding a treasure, and my heart ached.

Immediately, I got up and took off the only remaining golden hairpin on my head without hesitation, and walked to the boss.

"Princess," Momoki held my hand with a complicated expression, "What are you doing here?" This is the dowry given to you by the emperor when you left the palace to get married! ”

"I know." I finished lightly and took her hand, "But look at these children, can you bear to let them go?" Even if you can only care about today, it's better than doing nothing! ”

What else does "Princess" Momoxin want to say.

But when she looked me in the eye, she finally sighed and walked away.

I smiled and handed the golden hairpin in my hand to the boss, "Boss, this should be enough for you to pay taxes for two months, right?" ”

The boss looked at the golden hairpin in my hand and his eyes were really straight, and his mouth even said, "Enough is enough!" ”

After saying that, he stretched out his hand like a demon to snatch it.

I took the opportunity to raise my hand, "It's natural that you want this, but I also have the conditions, you have to take care of these children's steamed buns here!" ”

"This" The boss heard me say this, and his face was embarrassed.

I made a gesture to take back the golden hairpin.

provoked his face full of panic, lest I would really take it back, and hurriedly said, "According to what the girl said, everything is according to what the girl said, my steamed buns are enough for these children!" ”

"That's good!"

I picked the corner of my lips and handed the golden hairpin into the hands of my boss.

While he was greedily holding up the hairpin to look left and right, he beckoned to the group of hungry children.

After they swarmed forward, they took out two steamed buns from the steamer and handed them to the little girl, "Now that your mother and brother have a share, you can eat it!" ”

The little girl looked at the steamed bun in her hand, and the corners of her eyes were a little moist.

Then he swallowed a steamed bun in three or two bites, but his face was still unfinished.

I smiled wryly, "How's that?" How does it taste? ”

When the little girl saw that I was closer to her, she naturally became bolder, and said with a smile, "I ate too quickly, and I didn't taste it!" ”

"That's not in a hurry, the steamed buns here are enough! Look at them! Momoxin also leaned over and glanced at the gobbling children with a smile.

The little girl shook her head again, "I'm different from them, they have been abandoned by their parents since they were children, and they have a lot more than me, so they should eat more." ”

What a sensible child.

I looked at each other, and we were both moved.

At this time, the little girl suddenly gave me a decent salute, "Thank you sister for the steamed buns, my mother and brother are still hungry, then I will go home first." ”

"Hmm!" I smiled and nodded.

Then he watched the little girl walk away.

Only, when her small figure shrank into a slightly smaller shadow at the end of the street

"Princess!" Mommy suddenly exclaimed.

When I looked at her, Mokmin raised her finger tremblingly, pointing in the direction where the little girl was walking, and said in a trembling voice, "You see, that's not."

I followed her finger and saw another unkempt boy chasing after the little girl not far away.

After catching up, the two talked and laughed, and seemed to be very familiar.

I froze.

"Winlin!"

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