Liu Tan felt a little uncomfortable. "What the hell? How can we get engaged when we don't even know whether the child is a boy or a girl? What if they end up having boys?"

Lu Xuan chuckled and said, "Don't worry, no matter whether Princess Danyang's child is a boy or a girl, there will always be someone who is a good match for her."

Liu Tan was silent for a while, and suddenly felt a little sympathy for the unborn child whose gender was unknown.

He sighed softly and said, "Forget it, let's take it one step at a time."

He has so many things of his own to do, how could he have the time to care about others?

Liu Tan put this matter aside and turned around to study hot pot.

Or it is to study how to make hot pot more innovative.

For this purpose, he specially ordered people to dig a basement in the Northern Palace, and then set up two walls inside. One was adjacent to the ground, and the other was about three feet away from the first wall. This distance was used to place ice cubes.

Even if you build an ice house, you can't leave the ice exposed, otherwise the cold air from the ice will penetrate your back directly, no matter how thick your clothes are.

And the most important thing is the current temperature, and if you eat hot pot inside, the ice will melt. This wall is also to prevent the water from flowing out after melting. With the obstruction of this wall, and the drainage trough set up inside, the water should not flow into the room.

The ice house actually doesn't require much technical knowledge. Liu Tan just needs to give orders, but what really makes him think is the hot pot body.

Because there was no chili pepper, Liu Tan did not choose the double-boiled hotpot. He would not make two kinds of soup anyway, but having only one kind of soup base always made him feel too monotonous.

It is true that it can be paired with other dishes, but Liu Tan always feels that it is a bit strange to have any stir-fried dishes other than cold dishes when eating hot pot.

After thinking about it, he simply modified the previous copper pot, turning the middle part of the pot into a round disc to serve as a baking tray.

Copper pots are usually ventilated by adding carbon from the top. After Liu Tan modified the top of the copper pot, he could only split it into two parts and open the opening from the bottom for ventilation. As for adding carbon... just add enough carbon from the beginning. If you eat it for a long time, just change the pot.

After all, the flavor of the hot pot soup base will decrease over time, which will easily affect the taste.

Three days had passed when Liu Tan's modified copper pots were all made.

Three days later at lunch, Liu Tan directly invited Liu Che to the Northern Border Palace. Liu Che knew at a glance that he had something new, but even though he was mentally prepared, he was still surprised when he was taken into the basement.

There are two rooms in the basement. The first one is for changing clothes. After all, it is relatively cool inside. If you wear summer clothes and eat hot pot while sweating and being attacked by strong cold air, you are likely to catch a cold. What's more, the temperature outside is already high, so it is easy to get sick when going in and out.

When Liu Che entered the first basement, he was surprised to see the cloak Liu Tan had prepared for him. "Although it's a little cooler here, there's no need to wear so much."

Liu Tan said with a smile, "It's a little colder inside than here, so just put it on, Father."

As Liu Che put on his clothes, he asked, "What new tricks have you come up with?"

Liu Tan smiled slightly and said nothing. Seeing Liu Che put on a cloak, he also put on a brocade robe and then helped Liu Che walk all the way to the second basement.

At this time, the basement was decorated with bright lights and was magnificent. However, this was not the point. The point was that as soon as Liu Che entered, he felt a cool breeze blowing towards him.

He felt it carefully and found that it was indeed colder here, not just cool, but freezing.

Only then did Liu Che understand why Liu Tan insisted on him wearing the cloak. If he didn't, he would probably catch a cold if he stayed here for a while.

At this time, copper pots have been placed on all the food tables in the room, and the soup has been boiled. The rich aroma of the soup base wafts through the room, and just smelling it makes people salivate.

Liu Che was not hungry originally, but when he smelled this smell, he actually felt a little hungry.

He walked all the way to the top seat and sat down, while Liu Tan sat on his right.

Only the two of them were having hotpot today, the rest of the people had to either eat at the inn or go out to find something to eat.

It’s not that Liu Tan is stingy, but he is afraid of too many people. If there are too many hot pots, the carbon monoxide produced by the charcoal burning indoors will also be high. If someone gets carbon monoxide poisoning from eating hot pot, wouldn’t that be a disaster?

Even if the basement wasn't completely airtight, he wouldn't dare take the risk. However, correspondingly, Lu Xuan wasn't eligible to come and eat for free.

It is one thing for everyone to know it in their hearts, but it is another thing to show off on the surface.

After Liu Che sat down, he saw plates of thinly cut meat being served, including beef, mutton, pork, and even some chicken and duck.

Then there were soy products like fish balls and bean curd sheets, so many that they filled the entire food table. No, they couldn’t even fit all of them.

Liu Che watched helplessly as a palace servant pushed a three-tiered cart with many dishes on it. When it was brought to him, the food plates in the cart were pulled out. Liu Che could clearly see what was on them. He just asked the palace servant to take down what he wanted to eat.

These were not too surprising, but what made Liu Che curious was the round plate in the middle of the hot pot.

At this time, a layer of oil had been brushed on the round plate. As the temperature rose, the aroma of the oil wafted away, and the palace servants began to put the cut meat on it little by little.

Only then did Liu Che realize what the round plate was used for. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "I'm afraid you've spent all your time thinking about eating."

Liu Tan was originally staring at the meat in the pot. Because the meat slices were extremely thin, the meat had to be taken out of the pot after a dozen or so cuts, otherwise it would be overcooked.

At this moment, after hearing what Liu Che said, he could only put down the meat in the pot and turned around and said seriously: "Who said that? I can also play!"

Liu Che: ...

You are quite proud of being able to eat and play, right?

He said unhappily, "How's the investigation going into that ballad?"

Liu Tan rolled his eyes and said, "Father, don't discuss political affairs while eating. It will upset your stomach."

Liu Che sneered: "It seems that it was not found."

Liu Tan said, "Indeed, we haven't found him. That person is so good at hiding. I even suspect he has left the Northern Territory. If that's the case, I'm afraid it will be difficult to catch him."

Liu Che frowned. "I've told you countless times to be more careful, but you seem unhurried. Even if they leave the Northern Territory now, they will always come back. These people are like poisonous snakes lurking in the dark, ready to bite you when you're not paying attention."

Liu Che felt that he was really worried about this useless son. You know, he had never put so much effort into teaching the crown prince.

Although the prince is kind-hearted, he is also intelligent. There are some things that Liu Che does not need to explain clearly. Liu Ju will understand what he is doing just by giving him a hint. He will not be merciful to those who are behind the scenes.

But Liu Tan... looks a little too naive. He acts as if there are no bad people in the world.

If Liu Tan knew what Liu Che was thinking, he would probably be in a dilemma. He also wondered whether Li Guangli, who had been crushed to ashes, and the prefect of Xi'an Yang County, who was stabbed to death unexpectedly, would cry out of grievance in the underground.

Liu Tan didn't know what Liu Che was thinking, so he just said, "It's not that I'm not paying attention, but it's easier to avoid an open attack than to guard against an arrow from the dark. There's no such thing as a thief on guard for a thousand days. Anyway, I've already ordered everyone to keep an eye on this. It's best if the mastermind doesn't show up. If he does, I won't let him off lightly."

Liu Che took a bite of the beef and found it tender and smooth, cooked to perfection. While enjoying the food, he said casually, "Originally, I didn't really want to care about how you solved this matter, but you've always been smart, so why are you so stupid about this?"

Liu Tan was caught off guard and was called stupid. To be honest, he didn't think he was smart, but Liu Che had never called him stupid before.

For a moment, he could only look at Liu Che with grievance and ask, "Then... what does your Majesty say we should do?"

Liu Che said, "There's a mix of good and bad people there. It's not surprising that your people couldn't find anything there. Some people are bound to hide the truth to protect themselves. Why don't you just order the people to report it? If they still conceal the truth, everyone will be punished if they find out. Do you think they will dare to hide it?"

Liu Tan's hand trembled upon hearing this, and the freshly blanched meat fell into the pot. He looked up at Liu Che and forced a smile. "Your Majesty, this is a good idea, but I think if they have already formed a group, they might not dare to report it easily even under the threat of collective punishment. It would be better to offer a reward for reporting, and then pay the reward after verification. If anyone reports casually, they will be punished."

Liu Che glanced at him and said helplessly, "You are too soft-hearted. Never mind. It's up to you."

In Liu Che's opinion, Liu Tan had encountered too few things. That was good, since he had him to cover for him, so no big trouble would occur. Letting Liu Tan face the viciousness of human nature himself was also a kind of training. If it could make him less naive, then Liu Che would really be thankful.

But Liu Tan breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he realize that he had broken out in a cold sweat in just such a short period of time.

In fact, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with allowing people to report, but the degree must be measured and reporting cannot become a weapon for mutual attacks.

However, the mutual denunciation that Liu Che mentioned was probably different from the reporting he understood.

That report was the beginning of the formation of a cruel official. Regardless of whether the person was guilty or not, once he was reported and exposed, he would be arrested. Whether he could walk out of the prison alive depended on luck.

Most of the people who go in usually don’t have much luck.

A cruel official would make everyone in the court feel insecure, and even ordinary people might be affected. Liu Tan would rather not find this person than allow any cruel official to appear in the Northern Border Kingdom.