There were many people watching the lanterns on the street. There were also many people who were tired of watching and looking for a place to eat snacks. However, there were also many hawkers who set up stalls. Therefore, the business was diluted. The business volume of each hawker was not too big. Most of them were not full. Only the most popular hawkers might be full.
However, there were too many customers at such a stall. They needed to line up and wait, and Li An was the one who hated waiting the most. It was too much of a waste of time. Moreover, the most popular desserts were not necessarily the best. Some were indeed not very healthy, but they were popular because they tasted good.
For example, there were many junk food in the future. Its nutritional content was very worrying. There was not much nutrition at all, and it was harmful to the body. However, ordinary people liked to eat this junk food because it was delicious!
The most impressive junk food was a lot of fried meat products. For example, fried chicken legs and wings were veritable junk food. Fried noodles were even more so. There were also some high salt pickled braised meat which was the garbage of the garbage. However, all these junk food were delicious. They were all food that ordinary people loved to eat.
Ang Lee naturally liked to eat junk food. The taste of those junk food was too magical. As long as he was an ordinary person, he should like to eat it. However, these delicacies could not be eaten often, nor could they be eaten too much. Eating it once in a while and tasting the taste would be enough.
With the abundance of food, the market supply of grain and oil had become more and more abundant. With enough grain and oil, there were naturally more fried snacks. The most basic delicacies, fried noodles, fried dough twists, were already very common in the Tang dynasty. There were even fried dumplings and fried buns. The sales of these fried snacks had always been very good.
There was also barbecue food that had been available for a long time. The business of these junk food had always been very good. Among them, many barbecue stalls were run by foreign hawkers. Many of them came from the grassland. Barbecue was their strength. The taste of the barbecue was also very authentic. However, due to the limitations of the materials, the barbecue they made could not be compared with the barbecue made by Ang Lee. The difference was not just a little bit.
Pickled food was a tradition of the Tang dynasty. This kind of food was mainly pork, chicken, and duck. Through special pickling methods, the food could moisten people's taste buds in a more delicious state.
All these pickled, fried, and barbecued foods were the most popular categories. They were the favorite snacks of the people of the Tang dynasty. However, the pickled and barbecued meat was basically meat. The fried meat was also mainly meat. The price of meat was relatively high. Therefore, although these snacks were very popular, the boiled dumplings and noodle soup still had a place because the cost of these foods were lower and the price was very friendly..............
Ang Lee appreciated the lanterns along the way. He was not only looking at the lanterns, but also at the people. He looked at the ordinary pedestrians and people on the street. He wanted to see how their expressions were, whether they were happy, what they were talking about, how the roadside stalls were doing, what kind of food the people preferred, what kind of snacks different people chose, and so on. These were the key points of his attention.
Through his observations, Li An had already discovered that the younger children and the rich liked to eat fried and barbecued delicacies, as well as pickled food. The older people preferred to eat a small amount of pickled meat with ordinary noodles, while the poorest people directly chose to eat noodles with some pickled vegetables made from radishes.
Of course, this did not necessarily mean that they really liked these foods. Many people chose to eat snacks not according to their own preferences, but according to their financial situation. For example, some poor people chose to eat noodle soup on the roadside. It was warm and affordable. It was the best choice, but this did not mean that they liked to eat it the most. They might also like roasted mutton and fried meat, but they did not have enough money in their pockets. Therefore, they were forced to choose the cheapest noodle soup.
Therefore, what he saw might not be the real situation. Some people were eating noodle soup, but in fact, they did not like to eat it. This was all because they were financially forced. For example, some elders in the future liked to eat fish bones and bones. This did not mean that they liked to eat fish bones and bones, but because they gave all the delicious fish to their children and only had fish bones and bones left. They were willing to do this. This was what they were willing to do.
After a while, another table of guests came. The stall owner was busy taking care of this table of guests. After he was done, he saw that Ang Lee and Yan Zheke had only eaten a little. He thought that his snacks were not ready, so he quickly came over to greet them.
"Dear guests, is the snack not well made? It is not to your liking. Would you like to make another set for you?"
The stall owner asked politely.
Yan Ruyu quickly said, "It is already very good. We are not hungry. We will be fine after tasting it."
"You ordered so much if you are not hungry …"
The stall owner muttered with a distressed expression.
This was called being capricious when you are rich. It could also be called being stupid with a lot of money. In short, they ordered so much. As long as they could afford it, they could be capricious. If anyone dared to be unconvinced, they could smash him with money.
"How is your business? How much can you earn in a night?"
Ang Lee asked.
"Dear guests, this is really hard to say. The business is different every day. It is just hard work to earn money."
The stall owner still refused to tell the truth. Or he did not know how to say it. The income was indeed different every day.
"How much is the stall fee? Is it calculated by the day or by the month?"
Ang Lee continued to ask.
"Usually, it is calculated by the month. It is five hundred coins a month. There will be more people in the next few days, so it will be calculated by the day. It is fifty coins a day. It is three times more expensive than usual."
The stall owner said with a distressed expression.
"Oh, is that so? Then is it more in a day or in the next few days? "
Ang Lee asked with a smile.
This was obvious. The reason why the lantern festival would charge so much in the next few days was because there would be more traffic and business would be better. At the same time, there would be more garbage. The imperial court's patrolling soldiers would also need to invest more. Therefore, the fees would naturally be higher. These hawkers who aimed to make a profit naturally had to pay more for their stalls. Moreover, even if they paid more, they would definitely earn more than usual. Otherwise, they would not be doing this business during the lantern festival.
"Dear guests, you must be joking. Today is the first day of the lantern festival. The business is not done yet. It is not easy to compare!"
The stall owner said.
Li An nodded and said with a smile, "That's right! Today is the first day of the lantern festival. Did your stall start business this year? "
"Yes, dear guests. My stall has just arrived in the capital this year. Last year, I have been in Huaqing County. That is my hometown. It is not far from the capital and I have my own shop and house."
The stall owner said.
"Not bad! Then when you were in your hometown, your life must have been quite good! Why did you think of coming to the capital to develop your business? It seems like you don't have a shop in the capital. Do you have property? "
Ang Lee asked with a smile.
The stall owner did not have any customers to attend to at the moment. Therefore, he had enough time to chat with Ang Lee. He replied with a smile, "The houses in the capital are too expensive. I don't expect to be able to afford one in this lifetime. The few of us rented a small house outside the city. The rent is much more than the stall owner. The rent in the capital is not cheap either! It is much harder to make a living here than in Huaqing County. However, although it is a little hard, we are willing to do it. There are more rich people here than in Huaqing County. The business here is also better than in Huaqing County. We can earn more money. As long as we are not afraid of the hard work, we can earn several times more here than in Huaqing County. However, after deducting the rent and stall fees, it is only two to three times. The rent is too high. It is really too high. One year's rent is more than all of the money we earn in Huaqing County. It is too greedy. "
Speaking of the rent, the stall owner's face was filled with anger. Obviously, in his opinion, the rent was too ridiculous. It was so high that it made one's heart ache.
When the diner who had just arrived heard the stall owner's words, he was so excited that he stopped eating and said, "The shop owner is right. The housing prices and rent in the capital are sky high, especially the houses inside the city walls. They are as if they are made of gold. It's too expensive. We can't afford to live in them. The houses outside the city are not cheap either. After working hard for a day, one-third of the salary has to be given to the owner. It's too expensive, sigh!"
A sigh poured out the pain and helplessness in the customer's heart. He worked so hard to earn money, but in the end, he had to give one-third of his income to the owner of the house. Only those who had experienced it could understand the pain and helplessness. One-third of his income was given to the owner of the house. This ratio was not small.
Of course, this also reflected that the customer's income was too low. He was among the group of people with the lowest income in the capital. In other words, he was at the bottom of the working class in the capital. He did the most difficult and tiring work, so his income was indeed the lowest.
However, although one-third of his income was used to pay the rent, the remaining two-thirds of his income was still higher than the income of the surrounding county. Otherwise, this customer would have left the capital long ago and gone to other places to make a living.
Of course, these people who came to the capital to work were families and groups. They also had a lot of equipment. Therefore, they had to rent a normal house. Some people who came to the capital to work were more economical. They could choose to rent with others. This way, the rent could be saved a lot. There were even some guys who would casually find an uninhabited temple and make do with it. There were even people who lived under bridges. This way, they could save a lot of money.
Some employers, in order to attract more people to work in their shops, would provide additional accommodation. This was more attractive. They could even consider it if the salary was lower. However, the accommodation conditions would definitely not be good. For example, the accommodation provided by the restaurant for the employees was likely to be a warehouse or a demolished house during meal time. It might even be a dog kennel.
"Why is the rent so expensive? It's because the housing prices in the capital are rising too fast. It's almost a monthly price!"
"Yeah! The housing prices are rising too fast. How can the rent not be expensive? It's all the fault of the high housing prices! "
"In the end, there are too many people. The population in the capital is increasing. There are also many merchants from the Western Region. With so many people wanting a place to live, it would be strange if the housing prices in the capital weren't expensive."
"That's right. Just like the few of us, we're not from the capital. Since we're here, we have to find a place to live! With so many people wanting to live in a house, how can the rent not be expensive? In the end, it's our own fault! Who asked us to come to the capital to join in the fun? "
"If only we came to the capital a few years ago and bought a few more houses. Then, we don't have to do anything now. We can just sit at home and count the money."
"It looks like in a few years, the housing prices in the capital will double. I'm afraid that the rent … Sigh, it's really hard to live."
"No matter how high the rent is, as long as it exceeds half of my daily income, I won't serve you anymore. I'll go back to my hometown and not suffer in this place."
Several of the diner's companions started chatting with the stall owner.
At this moment, Ang Lee didn't interrupt. He just nodded quietly. This was indeed a big problem in Chang 'an. Many people came to Chang' an to look for opportunities to earn money. However, the housing conditions in the capital were limited. Although many three or four-story buildings had been built over the years, they still couldn't meet the huge demand for housing. There was always a shortage. Otherwise, there wouldn't be people so poor that they had to live under bridges.
This problem was very serious, even more serious than traffic congestion. If it wasn't controlled, the prices would continue to double in the future. It would really drive the people crazy. This was very detrimental to the prosperity of Chang 'an.
To let the residents have their own houses was Ang Lee's dream. It was also a problem that Chang 'an urgently needed to solve. This problem could be big or small. If it wasn't dealt with for a long time, the people would really not be able to make a living.
To solve this problem, in addition to building more houses, it was necessary to strictly control the rich people from hoarding houses. Or directly build some small public rental houses. The imperial court would be responsible for the construction and then rent them to the ordinary poor at a price that the ordinary poor could accept. In this way, the poor would be more satisfied.
The land area in the capital was limited. If more houses were to be built, they had to build higher floors, at least five or six stories, so that more people could live in them. However, the imperial palace and many government offices were located in the north of the city. Obviously, it was not allowed to build a five-or six-story building near these places. Otherwise, the ordinary people standing on the roof would have a clear view of the imperial palace. How could this be allowed? The imperial palace was a sacred place and it couldn't be spied on in any case. Therefore, the location of the five-or six-story building had to be in the south, which happened to be a relatively slum. There were still a lot of vacant land that hadn't been developed. If this place was not enough, more houses could be built in the south of the city.
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