Chapter 591 [Update 1] 591

As the saying goes, every policy has a countermeasure, and Lu Xuan's countermeasure is... to climb over the wall in the middle of the night.

The first time he climbed over the wall, he was almost shot into a hedgehog by the elite patrol of the Northern King's Palace - the Northern King had the special permission of His Majesty the Emperor, and his subordinates could be equipped with crossbows.

Fortunately, the Northern Palace was still brightly lit even at night, and those people were very familiar with Lu Xuan, otherwise someone might have died.

The leading captain broke out in a cold sweat and quickly ordered his crossbows to be lowered. He saluted and asked, "Your Highness the King of Wusun, you...how did you get here?"

Lu Xuan smiled and said, "That's convenient. Where's your prince?"

The captain said with a blank expression: "In... in the study."

Lu Xuan replied, "You guys go about your business. I'll go check on him."

After Lu Xuan left, someone whispered, "Shouldn't we report this to His Highness? Just letting the King of Wusun go like this...what if he has any bad intentions..."

No one else could feel how deep the feelings between Lu Xuan and Liu Tan were. Many people even thought that they were just young and frivolous for a while, so there were always some people who didn't believe him that much.

The captain patted the soldier on the head and said, "What do you know? His Royal Highness the King of Wusun is different."

Only the newcomers don't understand how devoted the King of Wusun is to their prince. The old people have all seen it.

At that time, Liu Tan was making final arrangements and preparations for the "performance program" for the Lantern Festival.

The Lantern Festival in recent years was initially prepared by the prince, but after it became a fixed routine, Liu Ju no longer cared much about it. However, this year was a little special, so Liu Ju still asked about it.

Then he felt fortunate that he had asked about it, otherwise he wouldn't know what big trouble his brother had caused. He didn't even have a backup plan and was just looking for trouble.

Especially in the palace, Liu Tan had to apply for an application if he wanted to get the air cushion.

If it was just in the harem, then Chen Ajiao's consent would be enough, but if it involved the Star Picking Platform, then the emperor or the prince had to agree.

Liu Ju specifically inquired about it and only let them go after hearing Liu Tan say that it was preparations made for safety.

What Liu Tan is preparing now is how big this inflatable cushion should be.

If you just rely on manual inflating, it seems impossible to make the inflatable cushion too big. After all, who can blow air into it continuously for so long? And after it reaches a certain level, manual inflating is no longer possible.

Liu Tan thought that he had wanted to get an air pump before, and now was the perfect time to get one.

When Lu Xuan came over, Liu Tan was drawing a picture of an air pump. In fact, the most important thing about the entire air pump is the material of the piston, which must not leak and must be able to withstand a certain amount of pressure.

When he heard the study door being pushed open, Liu Tan looked up in surprise and asked, "How did you get here?"

He was very sure that he had not received any news that Lu Xuan had gone out before curfew, so he assumed that Lu Xuan would not come today. He was still thinking that he could do something else while Lu Xuan was away, but how come he came in the blink of an eye.

Lu Xuan said cheerfully, "We're close, so it shouldn't be that easy. We can just climb over the wall."

Liu Tan: ...

He felt that when his father chose the location of the Wusun Palace, he must have followed the behavioral logic of ordinary Han officials, but he did not expect that this person never played by the rules.

Lu Xuan came over and asked, "Why aren't you sleeping so late?"

Liu Tan looked at him expressionlessly: "You haven't slept either? You're climbing over the wall in the middle of the night."

Lu Xuan's eyes instead gleamed with excitement: "It's quite interesting."

Liu Tan sighed and said, "Put away your excitement and let me finish the job first."

Lu Xuan came over to take a look at the picture on the desk and asked curiously, "What is this?"

Liu Tan said, "It's a little gadget that can be used to pump air."

Lu Xuan was obviously confused and didn't understand what it was.

Liu Tan patted his head and said, "You'll know when it's done."

Although there is no rubber these days, in fact, rubber is not necessarily needed in many cases. Rubber is just a cheaper and easier to process substitute. The absence of rubber does not mean that you can't do anything. For example, for an air pump, Liu Tan can use cowhide or sheepskin instead.

As long as he folds the cortex layer by layer and then processes it through certain means, he can still achieve his goal.

The craftsmen under Liu Tan have become accustomed to His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory always coming up with something new.

The body of the air pump was made of bamboo, and later generations used metal because metal is actually stronger and cheaper than wood. After all, the smelting level has improved.

Now... it's not for Liu Che to play with, so there's no need to make it so good. Bamboo is enough.

As for the air nozzle, it is also very simple. Just make it into a needle type. If you don’t have a suitable hose, don’t make it. It is not impossible to directly install the air nozzle on the air pump.

In short, keep everything simple.

However, there is still a very serious problem, that is, the air holes on the air cushion also need to be redone, at least it cannot leak while being inflated, right?

Of course, this is not difficult. Just add a piece of hard leather inside the air hole and fold the hard leather together to allow the air pump and soft plug to enter.

After Liu Tan figured it out, he asked someone to try it out. This method was indeed much better than having someone blow air into it.

In the midst of busyness, Zhengdan arrived.

Liu Tan once again put on his full suit of armor. Perhaps because he had grown taller, the winter suit that he used to think looked like a ball in now looked much better. At least his height could support such a suit.

With the joint care of the emperor, empress and prince, Liu Tan's tuxedo was remade. It was so dazzling and eye-catching, but all of this became a foil to his face.

Liu Tan originally thought that he was just a rich and idle man in Chang'an, so during the New Year's banquet he should be able to hide away and leisurely eat, drink and enjoy the world.

However, in reality, it was fine at the beginning. In the second half, when everyone was able to move freely, Liu Tan was almost surrounded by people - they were all envoys from small countries in the Western Regions, and even the Hun envoys were among them.

Liu Tan: ...

I was careless.

He should have thought that these small countries were neighbors of the Northern Border Kingdom - you know, the Northern Border Kingdom had established several military governorates and a protectorate in the Western Regions.

With the precedent of Cheshi Kingdom, even if they don’t plan to get too close to the Northern Territory Kingdom, they have to take this opportunity to improve their favorability with the Northern King, hoping that the capricious Northern King will let them go.

Although the envoys from these small countries in the Western Regions have a narrow vision, they are surprisingly sensitive to such matters.

They arrived so quickly that even the officials of the Han Dynasty couldn't find a chance to interact with the King of the North!

Not to mention Liu Tan, even Lu Xuan was the same. He had originally thought that he could sneak out with Liu Tan to find a place to enjoy some peace and quiet.

Although the two of them have been inseparable these days and don't care about this little time, sometimes the more this happens, the more exciting it feels.

Comrade Lu Xuan has now learned all kinds of tricks without any guidance.

Who could have imagined that not only would they not be able to sneak out with Liu Tan, they almost didn't even have a chance to be alone!

Although Liu Tan was usually very rude when talking about those small countries in the Western Regions, he still had to give these small countries face at this time.

Of course, he was not giving face to Xiaoguo but to his father. This was his father's New Year banquet. He couldn't embarrass others at such a banquet and make the atmosphere of the banquet awkward, right?

As a result, it was not known whether these envoys from the small countries in the Western Regions were mentally ill or not. After Liu Tan became a little more friendly, they became bolder and some even wanted to seek cooperation with the Northern Border Country.

Liu Tan was quite speechless after hearing this. Your entire country is not as big as Shuofang City, yet you dare to boast about Haikou's cooperation with the Northern Border Country. Aren't you overly proud of yourself?

After finally getting through the night, Liu Tan almost fell asleep on the way back, not to mention staying up all night. The emperor and empress wanted to keep him because they saw how tired he looked, but before they could say anything, Liu Tan quickly dragged Lu Xuan away.

Logically speaking, Lu Xuan already had his own mansion, so of course he had to go back to take charge. Liu Tan originally wanted him to go back first, but he didn't expect Lu Xuan to bring everyone to the Northern Border Palace.

Liu Tan looked at him and a group of people coming over with a bewildered look on his face: "Why... did you come here?"

Lu Xuan said, "I'll accompany you."

Liu Tan hesitated and said, "But...shouldn't you be staying at your residence to celebrate the New Year's Eve?"

Lu Xuan was very confident and righteous: "We in the Wusun Kingdom are just celebrating New Year's Day!"

Liu Tan: ...

Yes, people now follow local customs. In fact, they don’t celebrate this festival at all.

Originally, Liu Tan thought that after the New Year banquet, he and Lu Xuan would be able to have a good rest for fifteen days.

However, in reality, Liu Ju called him every day: Brother, do you think this is okay for the Lantern Festival?

Liu Tan even suspected that Liu Ju did it on purpose!

Fortunately, fifteen days later, the Lantern Festival finally arrived. That night, the emperor and his family were supposed to be waiting at the Star Picking Terrace to take a hot air balloon to watch the fun, but Lu Xuan suddenly intervened.

When Liu Che saw Lu Xuan coming with Liu Tan, the smile on his face froze.

His pair of dark eyes stared at Lu Xuan steadily. Lu Xuan was quite calm and let him look at her. Then he even... slightly... nudged towards Liu Tan.

Liu Tan noticed this and immediately leaned over slightly, blocking Lu Xuan's way and saying, "Father, the King of Wusun must be feeling lonely in Chang'an. I'll take the initiative and have him come over to liven things up."

Liu Che raised an eyebrow at his son's reaction: "So many envoys from the Western Regions must be quite lonely in Chang'an."

Liu Tan said confidently, "What does that have to do with me?"

Liu Che choked, and in a daze he thought that it had been a long time since anyone dared to speak to him like this.

The one who was speaking was not aware of it at all, and even urged: "Father, the lanterns outside have been lit, and my ice sculptures are also finished. Let's go up and take a look."

Liu Che: ...