Several people entered the yard, and suddenly a sharp-mouthed man laughed: "Ye, did Widow Liu take the man at home?"

Widow Liu immediately stood at the door and cursed: "Damn Hou Baogui! You are itchy all over if you don't get scolded for a day, right? You are a naughty! A turtle calf..."

Hou Baogui wanted to speak again, but when he looked at Liu Shisan who was following him from behind, he looked at him coldly, and immediately shrank his neck and hid in the room.

Widow Liu scolded at the door for a minute or two, looking unsatisfied, but when she saw several people waiting for her, she stopped her momentum: "Bah, the whole family looks like a human being every day, wearing human skin and not doing human affairs!"

Turning around and explaining to Liu Shisan, "Brother Liu, don't mind. You said that if I am an orphan and widowed mother, I would not be bullied to death by these people!

Please, please see whatever you want!"

Widow Liu lives in two rooms south of the west wing of the slum. Liu Shisan explained to Chongzhen and his son: "There are six rooms in this yard, and there are two families living in it. They are two brothers. This yard was theirs before.

Later, the family fell into ruin and gradually sold part of it. Four rooms in the east and west wings, two rooms in the Widow Liu's family and two rooms in the west, four rooms in the east wings and three rooms in the Hou Baogui's family, and the remaining one was a Shandong tenant, who went home during the Chinese New Year.

There are two ear amps on the south side, two are rented out for the east side, and two are in the west. There are some miscellaneous items on the west side."

Widow Liu had only two houses in her house, and then shed was built in the yard as a kitchen. The kitchen could only accommodate one person to clean up, and the use of the honeycomb coal stove from the Ming Dynasty.

When I walked into the house, I saw the coal balls that occupied one-quarter of the house. It should be because Widow Liu used coal balls for cooking at the tea stall and cooking, so I bought a lot of them.

Then the other quarter was piled with debris, and in the front half, there were a small square table and two benches, and four low benches were placed scattered in the room.

Zhu Cixuan asked: "Can we go to the inner room to see it?"

Widow Liu nodded generously: "Then what's wrong, who can see!"

Chongzhen and Zhu Cixuan entered the inner room. There was a long table beside the window, with rice and noodles piled up to eat. On the other side was a large kang, but there was a cloth curtain in the middle. When sleeping, the six of them squeezed together to sleep.

There are tea bags on the kang cabinet, stacked together in packs.

Chongzhen did not expect such an environment, such a small space, crowded people, and messy things.

Chongzhen deliberately observed the New Year goods prepared by the other party, a large piece of bacon, four pieces of roasted pork, and then a small basket of fried chicken and fish wrapped in noodles. There were two dried rabbits next to it, two pickled salted fish and two bags of rice noodles.

There are two small jars under the table, which contain rice and flour.

Widow Liu pointed to the rice, noodles and eggs and said, "Those rice, noodles, bacon, salted fish and rabbits are sent by the imperial court. The New Year's goods prepared by our family are here. Have some of these dishes for the New Year, and after the New Year, relatives will eat some more.

There are cabbage, green onions, radish and other places under the eaves outside the house. There are dumplings for New Year’s Eve dinner.

I can't say it's all, just like this, most of them are like this, right? That's the question of how much dish and meat you prepare.

The rich man killed a whole pig, and several relatives ate it together, and the poor man cut a little meat for the New Year.

If you can't afford meat, I heard that the court would still release the New Year meat with dry rabbit meat and kangaroo meat when it was 29 or 30 years old. I would make dumplings for everyone. If I was too lazy to pick up the New Year meat, I could still get the dumplings during the New Year.

In other words, we caught up with the good emperor, and the court really thought about us poor people.

If this were the past, we orphans and widows like us would sleep on the kang after eating meat, and we would be grateful to have a full meal during the Chinese New Year. There are people who freeze to death every year, and there are people who starve to death every year."

The Ming Dynasty was not short of meat. Whether it was Siberia in the north, Mongolian grasslands, Central Asian grasslands to the west, Mississippi River basin in the New World, the southern continent, and African grasslands, these places were all pastures of the Ming Dynasty.

The entire Pacific and Indian Oceans are the fishing grounds of the Ming Dynasty. Within the sphere of influence, people can fish anywhere.

There is no shortage of meat, it is just a difference between good and bad food.

The fresh beef, mutton and pork of rich families, the poor families eat all kinds of dried rabbits, bacon made of kangaroo meat, and salted fish.

Of course, such good treatment is limited to the custody, and only citizens of the Ming Dynasty can enjoy it.

Like Widow Liu, one is because she is a widow, widow, orphan, and has a pension, and the other is that she has four children, and there is also a parenting shop to collect food.

Therefore, Widow Liu's family was not as short of food as Chongzhen imagined, and of course this was limited to food.

Zhu Cilang can guarantee that they will not starve to death. As for how they can live, they still have to work hard. This is why children still wear patched clothes even though they eat well.

Being able to eat enough does not mean you are in poverty, because the foods eaten by Widow Liu’s family are some of the cheapest things in the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, this is the capital city and it's the New Year again, so it's so rich.

Chongzhen felt a little harsh when he heard Widow Liu's sigh. More than ten years ago, he would just say that when he was in charge of the situation, and scolded the bald man in front of the monk. Widow Liu really couldn't speak!

However, Chongzhen had to admit that this preparation for the New Year was believed to be that more than ten years ago, the families of the Ming people were not so rich. Only wealthier people could have such rich New Year goods.

Chongzhen was a little curious. Since all poor families could be prepared like this, what would the two families living in the main house look like?

Guixi handed the thing to Widow Liu, and Widow Liu happily took it: "Thank you so much, why don't you leave at noon and have a meal at home?"

Chongzhen shook his head: "Let's go around and disturb me! What are the two main houses like?"

Gui Xi quickly signaled to Liu Shisan, and Liu Shisan smiled: "I am familiar with the two brothers. One is working as a clerk in the East Street shop, and the other is having a mine in the Xishan Coal Mine. The one on the east side is a little bit smaller. The younger brother on the west side is a little rich. Which one do you want to see first?"

Chongzhen thought for a while and said, "Then let's take a look at my brother's house first."

Liu Shisan was not polite: "Then let's go, I'll take you there."

My brother decorated the door curtains with cotton cloth, and there should be a fire kang in the house. This shows that the gap between the two families is coming. Widow Liu's house probably only burns a fire kang before going to bed at night, but the two families in the main house can be burned all day long.

When I opened the curtain, I was eating hot pot on both sides. When my brother saw Liu Shisan, he immediately put down his chopsticks: "Ye, isn't this Brother Thirteen? Why are you here for free? Have you eaten? Why would you add a pair of dishes and chopsticks to eat?"
Chapter completed!