Liu Ju raised his eyelids, looked at Liu Qumao, and asked calmly, "What do you mean, Prime Minister?"

Although Liu Qumao was the prime minister, he was not as cautious as other prime ministers, so he spoke directly: "Your Highness should be very clear about what I mean. This is an ominous sign."

Liu Ju looked at him quietly for a while, then suddenly smiled and said, "The Prime Minister reminded me of this. I wonder if you have any other advice?"

Liu Qumao wanted to mention Liu Bo, but then he realized Liu Ju was no fool, so he said in a roundabout way, "I don't deserve your advice. I'm just worried about Your Highness. Your Highness is now isolated and helpless in the capital, and the King of the Northern Territory... I heard that he even bribed Princess Dangli. The King of the Northern Territory has many rare treasures, and I'm afraid those people in the palace are also... Your Highness must be very careful."

Liu Ju sighed and said, "I know what the Prime Minister is thinking. But when the Emperor decides to favor someone, how can he tolerate anyone else's interference?"

Liu Qumao said carefully, "It may not be impossible."

Liu Que said, "The Prime Minister said that the King of the Northern Territory should return to his fiefdom as soon as possible?"

Liu Qumao shook his head. "The King of the Northern Territory has been gone for several months, but he hasn't been forgotten. I'm afraid it won't work if he leaves too soon."

Liu Ju suddenly laughed and said, "Since Prime Minister has said that, there must be a solution. I wonder what you can teach me?"

Liu Qumao suddenly stopped talking, smiled, and said nothing. Liu Ju immediately understood and said, "It just so happens that there is something I don't understand. The emperor is probably not in the mood to discuss politics today. Prime Minister, please come with me to the Crown Prince's Palace and resolve this matter so that the emperor won't have to worry about it anymore."

Liu Qumao immediately smiled and said, "Your Highness, I will obey your orders."

After Liu Ju brought Liu Qumao to the Crown Prince's Palace, he asked Liu Qumao to wait for a while under the pretext of changing clothes. Then he said to the eunuch beside him, "Send someone to find someone close to the King of the Northern Territory and have them bring a message to the King of the Northern Territory, asking him if he had offended Liu Qumao."

Although he said so, Liu Ju was still a little puzzled.

Liu Qumao became the prime minister after Liu Tan became a vassal. Liu Tan had almost no contact with him, so how could he have offended him?

After Liu Chuan finished speaking, he turned around and prepared to continue testing Liu Qumao.

At this time, Liu Tan was still trapped in the vast ocean of the people, no, among the ministers and had not returned home.

He originally thought that these people just thought the porcelain was novel, so they wanted to ask more questions and might even want one or two pieces.

However, Liu Tan had already made up his mind that he would not give away too many pieces of painted celadons, because so far he was the only one who could paint. Could ordinary people use the things he painted?

At most, only Liu Che, Chen Ajiao and Liu Ju could use it without any burden. He dared to give it to the rest but did not dare to take it back.

But he can hype up the plain celadon. The emerald green color of the thousand peaks is very beautiful in itself, not to mention that it can also be used to create relief patterns.

However, what he didn't expect was that few of these ministers asked about porcelain, but all asked about paintings!

He really underestimated these people's level of artistic appreciation.

Some of these people were curious about how the painting was done and asked about the brushwork, but Liu Tanyou didn't understand the professional terms and had no way of describing it accurately.

Although those people felt regretful, they still said, "It seems that this skill can only be given by God."

Liu Tan didn't quite agree. If you want to go in the direction of art in painting, you must have talent, which is of course a gift from heaven.

But if you just want to entertain yourself and feel a sense of accomplishment when you draw, then you can draw good paintings as long as you practice hard.

Sang Hongyang, who was standing by, suddenly asked, "Your Highness, can you teach this skill to others?"

Liu Tan was stunned for a moment: "Of course you can, but I may not have the time."

This... is he planning to open a class? Don't be ridiculous, he's afraid of misleading the students!

However, if teaching is not possible, people can watch him draw. What if everyone understands after watching, and many talented painters emerge?

It can be considered as his contribution to art.

Someone curiously asked, "Where did His Highness get the indigo he used?"

They all knew where the black and red colors came from, and they were not unhappy about the gold painting, but the green color with a hint of blue made them very curious.

Liu Tan immediately said, "Oh, this is simple. First, grind lapis lazuli into powder and apply a light layer of color. Then, add another layer of powdered malachite on top. That's how you get that high effect."

After he finished speaking, the surroundings suddenly fell into silence.

Everyone: Forget it, forget it, we can’t afford it.

Even Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang couldn't help but look at each other. This method made them feel luxurious.

They originally wanted to persuade him, but Liu Tan quickly realized what was happening and said nonchalantly, "This kind of pigment is very hard to come by, so only my father and mother have porcelain like this. I don't have any myself. In the future, I'd be lucky to have a piece of black and white porcelain."

Liu Tan's face was full of regret and pity, and it seemed as if it was real.

However, neither Shangguan Jie nor Sang Hongyang believed that the King of the Northern Territory would think such paint was expensive and could not afford it.

However, Liu Tan had shut their mouths in advance, so they couldn't say anything.

What's wrong with the emperor and empress using such porcelain? No matter how precious lapis lazuli is, can't the emperor and empress afford it?

As for other people, if they want to use this incident to attack the King of the North, they should think carefully about whether they have any evidence to prove their mistake.

Liu Tan finalized a lot of business deals while chatting and laughing with a group of people, of course they were all plain.

After Liu Tan left the palace and got in the car, he stroked his chin and thought. He had originally wanted to wait until after the New Year to make a batch of spoons and other things, and try to replace them for his parents and even the prince.

Using lacquerware for a long time, the raw lacquer is very toxic. How much poison must he have taken in over the years? It's a pity that he doesn't know how to detoxify. Anyway, he just changed it quickly.

As for his own, he had replaced it long ago and used ordinary celadon. Anyway, he didn't need anything so fancy.

While Liu Tan was pondering, he heard Miao Rui whisper, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince has sent someone to ask if you have any grudge against Liu Qumao."

Liu Tan was stunned for a moment: "Liu Qumao?"

He quickly understood without waiting for Miao Rui to continue. After a moment's thought, he said, "Well, I'll send a letter to the Crown Prince later, asking him to keep an eye on the interactions between Liu Qumao and the Prince of Changyi."

Although he didn't know why Liu Qumao was so devoted to King Changyi, this matter was definitely related to Liu Bo.

Miao Rui responded and sent someone to inform Liu Ju.

On this side, Liu Ju was trying hard to stabilize Liu Qumao and wanted to see what he was going to do.

As a result, Liu Qumao's lackeys had already started to take action. Liu Tan had just delivered the porcelain the day before, and the next day someone wrote a letter saying that the King of the Northern Territory was extravagant, arrogant and lazy.

When Liu Che saw this, he suddenly remembered the information that the embroidered robes messenger had sent to him before Liu Tan returned to the palace. He suddenly laughed and said, "Excessive luxury! Hmm, let's go and see where Tan'er is."

So Liu Tan, who was thinking about whether to paint patterns on the spoon, received the most distinguished guest since the construction of this palace.

When Liu Tan saw Liu Che walk in in casual clothes, he was completely stunned. After a while, he put down the brush in his hand and went to greet him and said, "Father?"

After Liu Che entered the study, he looked around, frowned slightly, and asked, "What do you have here?"

Isn’t it true? Liu Tan’s study is a mess. From the antique shelves to the desks, there are all kinds of blanks.

Before Liu Tan could answer, Liu Che picked up an unfinished spoon, raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you still playing with mud?"

Liu Tan: I feel tired and feel like I can’t get rid of this label.

Liu Tan said helplessly, "Why didn't you tell me ahead of time that Father was coming so I could have someone prepare something."

Liu Che laughed and said, "Some people say that you live an extravagant life. Let me come and see if it is really so."

Liu Tan: "Ah?"

He was full of disbelief. How could Liu Che not know whether he lived an extravagant life? He dared to say that among all the princes and dukes, even including the crown prince, the families of the embroidered robe messengers might not be as many as his family.

Liu Che should know everything about his family's situation.

Liu Che took two steps and said, "Come here, have them bring the things from my storehouse."

After Liu Che finished speaking, he turned around and said with disdain, "How come you don't even have a decent display here?"

Liu Tan really wanted to say that it was because he had not been here for a long time and there were only a few servants left to look after the palace, so it would be a waste to keep so many things.

However, he thought about it and wondered if Liu Che asked him to return to the capital every year. Wouldn't that delay things? The round trip would take at least two months, not to mention the time he would spend in Chang'an.

Liu Tan smiled and said, "I haven't had time to prepare yet. I have everything. Father, please don't spend money."

Liu Che turned a deaf ear to him and walked out, saying as he walked, "It's time to eat. We haven't had the sweet and sour pork ribs and boiled vegetables for a long time since you left. Let them prepare them."

Liu Tan: ...

Okay, he finally knew why Liu Che came to him.