Taiji Palace.

Li Jue memorized Li Er's collection of poems in just one morning.

This is mainly because Li Er wrote too few poems, far less than a certain later poet. However, in terms of quality, any one of his poems could easily surpass that of the latter.

Just as Li Jue was idly calculating how much money he could make from honeycomb briquettes, Si Zi sneaked over furtively.

"Nephew, haven't you had lunch yet?"

"yes!"

"I don't know where your father went. He's not in Ganlu Palace, and those damned eunuchs won't even give me any food!"

As if by magic, Si Zi pulled an oil paper package from his sleeve and tossed it to Li Jue.

"Freshly baked meat pies!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue's eyes lit up. It wasn't easy to get beef in the Tang Dynasty, so he quickly opened the oil paper package and began to wolf it down.

"Nephew, could you teach me how to make a cake?"

"That thing is simple, you can learn it after watching it once. If you really can't, go to Sanglin Village in Xianyang and find Aunt Wu. Aunt Wu makes the best."

"Okay, I'll try it myself first, and if it really doesn't work, I'll bother Aunt Wu."

"By the way, what gift are you planning to give your grandfather?"

"Gift?"

"Don't you know? Your grandfather's birthday is coming up soon!"

"A birthday celebration..."

Li Jue thought for a moment and said.

"The glass workshop in Sanglin Village seems to have some new products recently. How about we just pick one out and give it to your father?"

Upon hearing this, Si Zi immediately shook his head.

"No, that's too perfunctory!"

"You'd better put some effort into it and give a decent gift that will outshine everyone else!"

"Outshine everyone else?"

"That might be a bit difficult!"

"It has to be done, no matter how difficult it is. This matter must be done. For now, stop doing anything else and focus all your energy on thinking of a birthday gift!"

"this……"

Li Jue was stumped on the spot, unable to think of what birthday gift to give.

Although his Hall of Universal Love contained many fine things, such as a clock with a bit of error and a large size, a steam-powered cart that could move on its own, and a semi-finished, semi-automatic fountain, etc.

But many of these things are experimental in nature, so they're not really suitable as gifts, are they?

Li Shimin happened to be walking to the door when he heard the two talking about sending birthday gifts. He immediately stopped and eavesdropped with a look of curiosity.

"Nephew, your clock that can walk by itself and announce the time is quite good!"

Li Jue looked surprised when he heard this.

"Auntie, do you want me to give that thing to Grandpa?"

"yes!"

“Your grandfather is so busy with work that he forgets to rest every day. With that thing, he can be reminded of the time…”

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin racked his brains, trying to recall if there was anything so magical in the Hall of Universal Love.

However, there were too many things in the Hall of Universal Love, so it's possible that he didn't notice them at the time...

Li Jue stared blankly at Si Zi, then rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Auntie, I'm starting to doubt if you're even your father's biological daughter..."

Upon hearing this, Si Zi asked with a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Isn't that thing good enough?"

Li Jue smiled sarcastically upon hearing this.

"good!"

"It couldn't be better!"

"If your father knew I gave him such a thing, he would hang me from a tree and beat me to death."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin coughed, and the two immediately shut up and looked towards the door.

"Your daughter greets Your Majesty!"

"Grandson greets grandfather!"

Li Shimin walked into Ganlu Hall with a serious expression.

"Have you memorized the poems I asked you to memorize?"

"I've memorized it!"

Recite a few of them for me!

"promise!"

Li Jue immediately recited several poems in order. Li Shimin saw that his grandson was indeed clever and quick-witted, having memorized the entire collection of poems in just one morning, and happily gave him a few days off.

"You don't need to go to the East Palace to study these few days, go find somewhere to have fun!"

"ah?"

Li Jue could hardly believe his ears. Could Li Er, that old man, be so kind?

Little did he know, the reason Li Er gave him a few days off was simply so that his grandson could properly prepare birthday gifts.

Although he was happy with whatever Li Jue gave him, he would lose face if the gift was too bad and he was outdone by others.

But these words cannot be spoken; this grandson must understand them himself.

However, Li Shimin was destined to be disappointed. After leaving the palace, Li Jue returned to the Jian'ai Hall of the Prince of Qin's Mansion and devoted himself to the research and development of steam-powered textile machines.

As for birthday gifts...

He had even forgotten that Li Er was going to celebrate his birthday, so how could he be in the mood to pay attention to birthday gifts?

However, during his busy days, his subordinates made him a lot of money.

The shops in the Yiwu Small Commodities Wholesale Market in Dongshi are frequented by many people every day. Some buy glassware, others rare stones, and still others other small commodities.

Although the prices of small commodities in Yiwu are very high, with even a single stone costing hundreds of strings of cash, it still attracts many dignitaries and nobles.

The reason is simple: their shop sells all sorts of rare and exotic treasures.

For example, there are stones with the character "寿" (longevity) on them, and turtles with the characters "万寿无疆" (long life without end) faintly appearing on their backs.

These things were considered rare treasures by the people of the Tang Dynasty, but for the great inventor Li Jue, they were nothing more than an effect that could be achieved by simply acid washing.

Three days later, it will be Li Shimin's birthday.

Li Tai and Li Jue, uncle and nephew, reluctantly left Jian'ai Palace only after Yan Wan's repeated urging.

"Nephew, what birthday gift are you planning to give your grandfather?"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!