Liu Tan kept it a secret and said with a smile, "I can't say for sure yet. It hasn't been finished yet, so I can't say for sure what the final effect will be, but it should be very useful."
Liu Che stared at him for a long moment before smiling and saying, "Alright, for what you said, I'll give you a piece of calligraphy. Tell me, what do you want to write?"
Liu Tan rubbed his hands excitedly: "Two words will do. Forget your worries."
"Forget your worries?" Liu Che asked as he waited for someone to lay out his writing brush and ink. "Why?"
Liu Tan felt a little strange. Aren’t these two words difficult to understand?
But he still explained: "It means that you will be happy after eating candy."
Liu Che laughed and said, "Is eating your candy enough to make me happy? How could such a good thing happen in the world?"
Of course there is. Liu Tan forgot where he saw it, but eating candy can make people happy. It seems to have some scientific basis.
But there is no need to argue with Liu Che about this. What if Liu Che asks him why and he can't answer, wouldn't it be embarrassing?
After Liu Che finished writing, he wiped his hands and said, "Take it!"
Liu Tan took it and saw that Liu Che's calligraphy was really good. The ink was flowing and the brush was smooth. He couldn't help but say happily, "Even if it wasn't written by my father, this calligraphy would be excellent for a signboard."
Liu Che could naturally hear his sincerity and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "Remember that you still owe me something. If you forget, don't blame me for punishing you."
Liu Tan immediately said, "I can't forget it. I can't forget it."
Liu Ju, who was standing by, said, "It's getting late, Father. Let them serve the meal."
Liu Che nodded: "Yes."
Liu Tan immediately put away Liu Che's calligraphy and said, "I will not disturb your father and your highness while they are enjoying their meal. I will take my leave."
Just as Liu Ju was about to try to persuade him to stay, he heard Liu Che say, "Is this Prince's Palace a furnace? You're here and you want to leave? Sit down!"
Liu Tan...Liu Tan could only sit down obediently.
He happened to be sitting next to Liu Ju, and opposite Liu Ju was Wei Zifu, which made Liu Tan very puzzled.
Even if Wei Zifu was a concubine or even Liu Ju's biological mother, she couldn't sit in that position, right?
Liu Ju seemed to understand his confusion and explained in a low voice: "Today is Madam Wei's birthday, so I brought her here to celebrate."
After hearing this, Liu Tan immediately said, "Is today Madam Wei's birthday? I was negligent. Big Gao, send someone to deliver a set of fruit wine to Madam Wei's palace."
After he finished giving his instructions, he smiled at Wei Zifu and said, "It's just a small gift to celebrate your birthday. Please don't despise it."
Wei Zifu said with some trepidation, "Your Highness the Fifth Prince's words are so serious. How can I bear this?"
Wei Zifu always felt a little uneasy when dealing with the queen's son. What made her particularly uneasy was that the emperor was obviously more interested in his new son.
Although her attitude towards the crown prince remained the same, Wei Zifu was still worried about the crown prince's unstable position.
It would be fine if the Wei family was still strong, but Wei Qing's three sons are useless, and now the only one who follows the emperor, Huo Guang, has no apparent inclination. He seems to be very respectful to the prince but not as clear-cut as Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.
Liu Ju was not as worried as Wei Zifu. He inferred Liu Tan's attitude towards himself based on Liu Tan's attitude towards his mother.
Anyway, he is relieved for the time being. As for Liu Tan, it was just acting... It doesn't seem appropriate to talk about acting skills for someone whose eyes can express everything he thinks and feels.
There was nothing wrong with Liu Tan. The fact that Wei Zifu and Chen Ajiao were rivals in love was an old story from many years ago.
Now that Lady Wei Zi has grown old and ugly, Liu Che doesn't seem to be very interested in her. The treatment he gives her is because she is the mother of the crown prince. What else is there to argue about?
Even Chen Ajiao herself didn't care so much. If you say she hated him, of course she did, but Chen Ajiao had other rivals. The fact that Wei Zifu was not worthy of her attention already showed her failure.
Although it was Wei Zifu's birthday and the meal was probably specially prepared for her, Wei Zifu seemed like an invisible person during the meal. She kept silent if possible, but she looked at Liu Che and Liu Ju from time to time with her eyes. However, she mostly looked at Liu Ju. The tenderness and kindness in her eyes could not be seen in Chen Ajiao's eyes.
Liu Che left before the meal was over. Liu Ju and Liu Tan hurriedly saw him out. Before leaving, Liu Ju patted Liu Tan on the back of the head and said, "Don't forget about my business."
Liu Tan shrank his neck and said, "I dare not."
After Liu Che left, Liu Tan immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Ju on the side was very puzzled. Their father was not fierce, but quite kind. Why did his brother always look so cowardly every time he saw his father?
Liu Tan turned to Liu Chuan and said, "It is my fault for disrupting Madam's birthday party. I will not disturb you any further."
Liu Ju said teasingly, "Are you satisfied with your father's calligraphy?"
Liu Tan tilted his head and said, "It would be even better if Your Highness could give me another pair. Well, I'll trade it with Your Highness for some candy."
Liu Ju laughed and said, "You owe the emperor so much that you can't afford to owe me?"
Liu Tan sighed, "Alas, there's nothing I can do. Father can't be bought off with a few candies. I can only rely on His Highness's good temper."
Liu Ju certainly didn't care and asked, "What to write?"
"Your Highness, please feel free to write anything you want. I'll hang it up in the shop!"
Liu Ju burst out laughing at what he said, and wrote him a poem called "樛木" from the Book of Songs.
Although it doesn’t seem to fit in with the store, it’s still a blessing.
What's more, this is the prince's handwriting. The plaque at the door is inscribed by the emperor, and the prince's handwriting is hung in the house. I guess there is no store in the whole Han Dynasty that is more prestigious than his.
Liu Tan left happily, and Liu Ju stood at the door, smiling and calling out to his receding figure.
Only then did Wei Zifu come up and ask worriedly, "Zi'er, are you very close to the Fifth Prince?"
Liu Ju didn't answer, but simply said, "I know what you're worried about, Madam. Don't overthink it. Some people aren't born to be in this position, and he is one of them."
Wei Zifu was silent for a while before she said, "Does Your Majesty think so too?"
Liu Ju paused and said, "Your Majesty, your father knows what's going on. Madam, please don't try to guess what your father means. Look at Madam Gouyi... Has your father ever set foot in Gouyi Palace in the past few days?"
When Wei Zifu heard this, her expression relaxed a lot: "But His Majesty still favors the Sixth Prince."
Liu Ju suddenly said, "Who knows? It's useless to rely solely on father's favor. Liu Fuling hasn't understood it yet, but Ah Tan has. That's why you see that father treats Liu Fuling and Ah Tan differently."
Wei Zifu understood and didn't understand, but she couldn't help Liu Ju at the moment, so she just said, "Gouyi is not the kind of person who will sit and wait for death. I don't know if the Queen can protect the Fifth Prince."
Liu Ju shook his head. "Ah Tan, it's best not to count on the Queen. She will only make the situation worse. However...if that day ever comes, I won't sit idly by. Well, today is Madam's birthday. Let's stop worrying about this and go back."
Wei Zifu nodded with satisfaction. She could only come to the Prince's Palace to see where her son lived and let her son accompany her for a day on her birthday every year. Although Liu Ju would also go to see her at other times, he was busy and would leave after just a few words.
It's really not appropriate to talk about these things on such an important day.
Liu Tan didn't know that Liu Ju was still worried about him. If he knew, he would probably want to remind Liu Ju to be careful of Jiang Chong.
But their relationship has not reached that level yet, and what he is more worried about now is what to give to Liu Che.
It was true what he had told Liu Che before that the thing was not ready yet. Not only was it not ready, he hadn't even started working on it. He just had an idea!
In fact, he had this idea when he first went to the farm given by Chen Ajiao. The road was uneven and in poor condition, which was particularly unbearable for people who were used to modern roads.
At that time, Liu Tan thought that he would have to build a new road sooner or later.
But no matter when, road construction is a huge project that requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and he has no idea how to do it. He only knows that cement is the best. If he still builds rammed earth roads or stone roads, the rammed earth roads will become muddy when it rains or snows, and will become bumpy if they are not maintained for a long time.
Is Chen Ajiao actually short of money? The road to the farm was specially built back then, and it's still the same now.
At this time, cement is of course the best solution, but it is not easy to make cement.
After Liu Tan returned to the palace, he had Liu Ju's handwriting framed, and then ordered someone to carve a plaque according to Liu Che's handwriting. After it was finished, Liu Che's handwriting had to be kept as a treasure, as leaving it lying around could easily result in death.
Then he ignored the matter and started sitting there thinking about how cement was made.
In later generations, cement is something that everyone is familiar with. However, people who are not in that industry or have never used it basically don’t know where cement comes from. It is good enough to know that the main material is limestone.
Liu Tan didn't know this at first, and his major didn't allow him to learn about this. However, since he had a hobby of handcrafting, cement was occasionally needed when setting up the scenery, and there were certain requirements for choosing the right type of cement.
After a while, Liu Tan had some knowledge about cement. He knew that in addition to limestone, clay and iron powder needed to be ground together and mixed.
Of course, he didn't need to do anything about this kind of thing, he could just give the order.
Within two days, the farm said that the stone had been polished and asked what to do next.
When Liu Tan heard this, he felt as if the flat continent was waving at him. He excitedly ran to the farm, and then confidently asked someone to mix the fine powder together.
After mixing it, he didn’t know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that the cement seemed different from the one he used back then.
He thought it might be a problem of technique. After all, there was no mechanical operation in those days, and it was simply impossible to make it exactly the same as in later times. But... as long as the raw materials were correct, it didn't matter.
Liu Tan thought so and did so, but he was not so reckless. Instead, he asked someone to set aside a part of it to add water to see if the proportion was correct.
After all, he only knew the raw materials, and the proportion problem still needed to be tried out bit by bit.
Anyway, he has money and can do whatever he wants.
He sat in the pavilion, watching the mute slave outside put the mixed fine powder into a stone trough and then began to add water.
After they poured the water in, Liu Tan suddenly thought of a very serious question: Will quicklime generate heat when added to water?
However, it seemed too late for him to remember this now. As soon as the water entered the stone trough, it reacted violently with the quicklime. It not only heated up but also began to emit steam!
The author has something to say: You still don't understand Liu Tan. He only thinks of making something when he needs it! So everything he makes is practical! He wouldn't think of ceramics right away!
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