The prosperity of Ping Kang Square fully proved that the prosperity of a city did not only depend on the wealthy, but also the contributions of ordinary people. Without the participation of ordinary people, any bustling street would instantly become deserted.
This also seemed to reflect a problem. In the Empire where the gap between the rich and the poor was severe, the truly wealthy nobles were only a minority. In other words, those who could enter the shops on both sides of Ping Kang Square were only a minority. If one wanted to enrich the entire street and make it bustling with pedestrians, it would be inseparable from ordinary people. And the only thing that could attract ordinary people on the street was undoubtedly the hawkers who set up stalls on the side of the street.
Of course, if there were too many hawkers on the street, it would cause serious traffic congestion and even make it difficult to move an inch. As such, it would be difficult for the wealthy to ride a car to enjoy themselves. Under such circumstances, it was natural to carry out a certain degree of control to maintain a certain number of hawkers on the street. This way, not only would the street be bustling with activity, but it would also not be too crowded. As for how to control the degree of crowding, this was naturally the responsibility of the relevant government office.
For example, on the streets of Ping Kang Square, there were many hawkers who were prohibited from entering. For example, those who sold farming tools, seeds, and furniture were all prohibited. Those who sold candied haws, roasted sweet potatoes, dumplings, and other snacks, as well as various small accessories and cosmetics were allowed to set up stalls. However, the number of stalls would be limited to a certain extent. Every hawker would be at a fixed location every day. Their stalls would diverge from each other. In addition to the contrast of the pedestrians, the entire street looked lively and at the same time, it would not be so crowded that it would be difficult to travel.
Rich nobles who came to enjoy themselves would basically go to restaurants or brothels to have fun, especially sitting by the window on the second or third floor. They would enjoy the delicacies and talk about everything while admiring the bustling crowd outside. As for ordinary people, they came to experience the bustling atmosphere here. At the same time, they could also buy some snacks to try and buy some small accessories and cosmetics. This was undoubtedly something that made people very happy.
The three-story building was not tall, and the window was at most seven or eight meters away from the ground. Therefore, the conversations of the pedestrians and peddlers on the nearby street could be heard clearly even if the conversation was slightly louder.
A child who was not even two years old was pointing at the tanghulu in front of him and crying. The crying was very clear, and the reason for the child's crying was very simple. He wanted to eat the tanghulu. As long as the adult carrying him bought the tanghulu, the child would stop crying.
However, the adults did not agree to the child's request, and the child's request was not satisfied. Naturally, the child cried even more fiercely. He cried loudly and endlessly, and soon attracted the attention of passers-by.
The expressions of the passersby were all different. Some of them had smiles on their faces and felt very happy. Perhaps they felt that children were all like this, throwing a tantrum when they saw something delicious and not being allowed to buy it. This resonated with them. Their own children had also been like this before.
There were also some passers-by who had blank expressions. It was hard to tell what they were thinking. Perhaps they had seen such scenes too many times and were just numb to it. Of course, there were also some passers-by who frowned slightly. Perhaps they felt that this parent was too unreasonable and couldn't even bear to buy a stick of candied hawthorn.
There were also children who passed by. They were licking the tanghulu in their hands while staring blankly at the crying children of the same age. Perhaps they were a little pleased that their parents had already bought them the tanghulu.
Under such circumstances, the parents who were being watched naturally did not feel very comfortable. They picked up their palms and slapped the child's buttocks many times in a row. The child cried out and cried even more sadly.
"Hahaha!"
The child cried out as he was slapped, but the people around him laughed. They were not gloating, but they had seen too much and felt that the child was quite cute. The child's cry was not unpleasant and it made people happy. Some people even liked to listen to the cry of a baby. This kind of happiness was based on the child's pain. It was not very good, but it was also harmless. After all, it was too easy for a child to cry. Even if it was just because the parent did not buy them the tanghulu, this kind of grievance would only make people feel that it was cute and laugh it off.
"Hahaha! Children are still the best! If you want to cry, cry. If you feel wronged, cry. You don't have to hide it at all. "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
This was a child's privilege. If an adult wanted to cry, he must have a good reason. Otherwise, if he cried for no reason, he would be laughed at. Since ancient times, there was a saying in the Hua Xia that men should not cry easily. Even if they encountered sad things, they should not cry easily. They should endure as much as possible. It seemed that only by enduring and not crying could they be in line with the characteristics of a man. Only then would they be an iron-blooded man worthy of everyone's admiration.
If one was injured, one must not cry. Even if one's arm or leg was broken, one must grit his teeth and persevere. If one's status was high, one must not cry casually. For example, Ang Lee now, no matter what he encountered, he could not cry easily. Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing.
But sometimes, he had to cry. Even if there were no tears, he had to find a way to make himself cry. For example, when a close relative passed away or an emperor died, he had to cry. At least, he had to squeeze out a few drops of tears.
In ancient times, loyalty and filial piety were very important. Those who were not loyal and unfilial would be spurned by the world. Loyalty naturally referred to the emperor, and filial piety referred to the elders and relatives. Therefore, when the emperor and relatives passed away, it was allowed to cry. Except for these rare cases, it was not allowed to cry normally.
Li Yu nodded and said, "That's right! A child is a child. If you don't buy snacks for him, he will cry and make a fuss. He lives freely. Look at this kid, how he cried. His face is full of tears! Hahaha! "
"But people will always grow up. Like him, he can make a fuss and be free for only a few years. When he gets older, he will suffer!"
Ang Lee said thoughtfully.
In fact, in the Tang dynasty, children did not suffer. They were much happier than children in later generations. The pressure of competition was not great. Children from rich families would go to school to study when they reached a certain age, while children from poor families would help with the housework when they reached the same age. They were not very free. But now, with Ang Lee's forceful promotion of the development of education, children from poor families were the same as those from rich families. When they reached a certain age, they had to go to school to study cultural knowledge. They could no longer play freely.
The situation in later generations was the same. When they reached a certain age, they had to go to school, but the pressure of competition was much higher than in the Tang dynasty. Because everyone in that era competed fairly, the competition was naturally extremely fierce. In order for their children to surpass other children in the future and obtain better living conditions, many children's parents asked them to study hard from a very young age. The degree of study hard was cruel. A child who was only a few years old had to go to school every morning at dawn. After school at night, he had to go to a cram school to study for another two to four hours. When he returned home, it was already very late. He had to wash up and go to bed. Then, he would continue to do so the next day. Rest on the weekend? This was just an unrealistic fantasy. There were weekends, and it was two full days. But in order not to lose to others, children also had to attend cram school. They even had to attend cram school all day long. It was very stressful.
In other words, children in later generations had already entered a very serious competitive environment from a few years old. The difficulty of learning knowledge was increasing, and the content was increasing. Naturally, the pressure was increasing day by day. It even caused many children to have myopia early on. Even among children who were a few years old, some of them had a phenomenon of being tired of life and felt that there was no attachment to life.
When a child of a few years old said, "Don't have a younger brother or sister. Let me suffer in this world alone!" This kind of sigh was shocking. There were many children of a few years old who made similar sigh in later generations.
The imperial court naturally saw this phenomenon, so they also introduced a lot of measures to reduce the children's burden. There were fewer school classes, and the weekends were also taken as scheduled. However, these measures were not effective at all because they still had to take exams in the future. If they did not work hard to learn more through extra-curricular tutoring, it was very likely that they would be eliminated in the exams in the future. In this way, the fate of life was completely different.
Therefore, although the imperial court proposed to reduce the burden and let children grow up more easily, they still needed to take exams to go to better schools in the future. Therefore, parents still did not dare to take it lightly. Even if the imperial court proposed to reduce the burden, the parents did not dare to really reduce the burden of their children. Instead, they would increase their children's learning time, hoping that their children could be admitted to a better school in the future and have a better future.
When all the parents tried their best to cultivate their children, the competition began. The pressure of learning depended on how many people participated in the cruel competition. There was a clear difference between ten people competing for a position and a thousand people competing for a position. When there were too many people competing for the same position and were willing to pay a lot of effort for it, then the pressure of this competition could be imagined.
Ang Lee knew how fierce the competition was. When he was young, he was already in the top few in the class if he could get more than ninety points. It was a great existence. More than ten years later, more than half of the primary school students in a class would get more than two hundred points. In other words, more than half of the students would get full marks. This pressure could be imagined.
When it came to the entrance examination, the exam questions would inevitably be more difficult in order to widen the gap. If they did not study very hard, how could they win in the extremely difficult exam? Therefore, reducing the burden was just a wishful thinking.
Unless some children's parents felt that their children were not good at learning and that they could just carry bricks in the future. It did not matter whether they could learn well or not. In this way, under the background of reducing the burden, the child could study more happily and have a very happy childhood.
However, this was at the expense of the child's future life. Carrying bricks was very difficult. Moreover, if they used machines to carry bricks in the future, the craftsmen who carried bricks manually would be eliminated. As a result, these children who did not learn well would be unemployed. Their future would certainly not be very smooth. They could even see the child's future at a glance.
In the Tang dynasty, it was still okay. Various industries had not been refined yet. Opportunities could be said to be everywhere. No matter how a child's academic performance was, it did not matter much. In the future, they would still have a job. At most, they would continue to be at the bottom and could not be promoted to the rich class.
Therefore, Ang Lee felt that the children of the Tang dynasty were quite lucky. They had not caught up with the white-hot competition society. Even if they farmed at home, they could live a good life and marry a wife. They did not have to worry about not being able to afford a wife and being single for a lifetime.
For the people of later generations, farming in the countryside was also possible, but farming did not make money at all. It was even more impossible to buy a property in the city by farming. Without a property in the city, it was difficult to marry a wife. They could only be forced to be single for a lifetime. Most people certainly did not want to have such a life, and many people had such a life. It was really quite helpless.
Li Yu seemed to understand Ang Lee's words and nodded thoughtfully.
There was an endless stream of pedestrians outside, and some hawkers selling candied haws were also walking back and forth in the crowd. As they walked, they shouted the candied haws. The tone was very unique, so people could not hear what they were shouting at all. However, after listening to it, people would know that they were selling candied haws. The reason why they were selling candied haws while walking might be able to achieve better sales! Ang Lee had not personally tested it, so he had no right to speak.
The business of the stall selling pan-fried pan-fried dumplings was very good. There was a constant stream of customers. Some sat at the small table to eat, and some took away. Many of the nobles who came out of the restaurant would also ask the servants to pack a few portions to take away.
Pan-Fried noodles only needed a small piece of oiled paper to pack, which was very convenient. However, snacks like wonton needed to be packed in pottery bowls. Therefore, the cost of packing was relatively high. The nobles naturally did not care about the cost when packing, but ordinary pedestrians would bring their own big bowls if they wanted to pack away. It was just like the later generations who went out to get soy milk. Many times, they would take a tea bottle to get it. It was not until later when solid plastic bags were popularized that they switched to plastic bags. However, this was really not environmentally friendly. The imperial court did not advocate this method. It was just that the people used this wrong method for convenience.
Would the existence of these hawkers affect the business of the roadside restaurants? This naturally didn't have much of an impact because the restaurants in Peace Square were all top-notch restaurants. Ordinary people couldn't afford them. Without hawkers selling snacks, these ordinary people wouldn't come. It would only reduce the popularity of the street.
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