Liu Tan suddenly realized that it was him.
To be honest, after half a month, he had already forgotten about this person. If Miao Rui hadn't reminded him, he probably wouldn't have remembered him.
He didn't expect this person to be so persistent. He had been staying at home in the farm for half a month. Could it be that he had been squatting outside for half a month?
Curious, Liu Tan asked Miao Rui to ask him what he was up to. Miao Rui replied, "That madman said he only wants to see Your Highness. If Your Highness truly believes he has no talent, then you can expel him."
Liu Tan sighed. "The imperial court is still recruiting talents. Even the Crown Prince's Bowang Garden is open to talented people. I don't recruit anyone, so why are you looking for me?"
Miao Rui stood aside and didn't dare to say anything, but he felt in his heart that this person was probably trying to stir up trouble.
Of course, strictly speaking, Liu Tan was not a cold stove. His Majesty had just bestowed him a Shihe Garden. The previous one to be given it was the crown prince, and the legendary favored Sixth Prince Liu Fuling did not have it.
In this situation, the prince was surrounded by a bunch of people, while Liu Tan only had Li Buyan. However, Li Buyan himself was an official and did not look like a counselor, so it was normal for someone to want to come and join him.
Liu Tan was anxious to return to the palace, but he didn't want to be too rude. Scholars' mouths can kill people. Just look at Chen Shimei and Dengtu Zi. These two were obviously good people, but they were portrayed as unfaithful men and hooligans and were infamous for thousands of years. As for the First Emperor, there is no need to say more. The burning of books and burying of scholars really misled people for thousands of years.
He thought for a moment and said, "Go tell him that I'm not interested in literature or martial arts, but I like divination. I want to find someone who shares the same ideals as me, so forget it if he doesn't know divination."
Miao Rui was puzzled, wondering why Liu Tan would make things difficult for this person. This arrogant student was indeed a little arrogant, but his prince was short of people now. If the arrogant student was good, why not accept him?
How could he know that Liu Tan was not afraid of having no helpers but was afraid of having bad teammates. What if someone came and instigated him to fight for power? Would he still want to live?
This time, Miao Rui did not run errands himself, but instructed a young eunuch to run errands back and forth.
What Liu Tan didn't expect was that Wei Guan actually claimed to be able to perform divination. Liu Tan was now somewhat interested. He stroked his chin and said, "Then I'll give him a question to test him. If he can answer it, I'll meet him."
Liu Tan had no pen and paper so he could only ask someone to dictate the answer. In order to make the person give up, he maliciously used the question of chickens and rabbits in the same cage. The question went like this: There are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage. There are thirty-five heads on the cage and ninety-four legs on the cage. How many pheasants and rabbits are there?
This question can also be regarded as a classic arithmetic problem in ancient times.
However, that question appeared about five or six hundred years later than now.
The young eunuch was responsible for the oral narration, but after Liu Tan finished speaking, not only him, but even Miao Rui and Bi Gao were confused.
These two people can be regarded as the fighters among the eunuchs. Most people these days are illiterate, let alone eunuchs. It is not easy for these two to be able to read, and arithmetic problems are obviously beyond their scope.
The young eunuch finally memorized the answer by rote. Liu Tan added, "This question is difficult, so I won't set a time limit. When he solves it, he should go to Shihe Garden and give me the answer. I'll also tell him that cheating doesn't count."
After Liu Tan finished speaking, he instructed Miao Rui to send someone to tell Shi Heyuan, so that he wouldn't be turned away if this person finally solved the problem. That would be bad.
Even if Liu Tan didn't think he could solve it.
In any case, the man seemed to see hope and did not try to stop the car. He just stepped aside and watched Liu Tan leave. Liu Tan didn't even see this man from beginning to end.
After returning to the palace, he changed his clothes and went to the Pepper Room.
When Chen Ajiao saw him, she snorted coldly and said, "I think you're getting wilder and wilder. You've been out for almost a month. If I don't call you, do you still not want to come back?"
Liu Tan quickly smiled and said flatteringly, "It's not that I don't want to come back, it's just that the roads to my farm are broken and have been rebuilt, so this has delayed me."
Chen Ajiao looked at him suspiciously: "Broken? How did it break?"
Liu Tan said innocently, "It's really that broken. Well, it's all fixed now, so don't worry about it. Mother, I brought something fun to show you."
Chen Ajiao sat there calmly watching Liu Tan's performance.
When Liu Tan took out the silver lunch box filled with various cooked foods, he couldn't help but frown: "What is this? It's already cold. If you want to eat it, ask someone to make you a new one."
Liu Tan said with a smile: "No need for others, just use this one."
As he spoke, he put the cloth bag containing lime powder into the bottom layer of the silver lunch box, poured water into it, put the inner layer of the lunch box on top, and finally closed the lid.
Chen Ajiao looked bewildered and turned to look at Liu Tan: "What is that?"
Liu Tan pretended to be mysterious and said, "You'll know soon, mother."
Chen Ajiao raised her eyebrows: "I want to see what you come up with."
The reaction of lime is almost instantaneous. In order to prevent the steam from coming out in an instant from fumigating hands and causing injuries, Liu Tan specially asked to use several more layers of cloth on the outermost layer when making the cloth bag to give the lunch box time to be placed in it.
Of course, he actually wanted to make a special lunch box with a mechanism. He didn't have to take the lunch box apart, he could just open the mechanism and mix the water and quicklime, but that still took time.
Not long after, when Chen Ajiao saw steam coming out from the loosely sealed area around the lunch box, she was very surprised.
She looked around curiously and said, "Strange, I don't see any charcoal fire."
Liu Tan said, "This doesn't require charcoal fire!"
As he was speaking, he smelled the aroma coming from the hot pot, and thought it was about time, so he opened it.
After opening it, the steam rises up, and the soup and dishes inside have become warm and easy to eat again.
Liu Tan handed over a pair of chopsticks and said, "Mother, please try it."
Chen Ajiao picked up a piece of vegetable and tasted it, and was very surprised: "It's really hot, how did you make it?"
She was not interested in the food. After all, it was cooked and hot, and it could never be as delicious as fresh food.
In reality, who would dare to reheat food for Chen Ajiao after it had cooled down? Usually, when it cooled down, it would be removed, given to a palace servant, or thrown away. If she wanted to eat it again, she would cook a new portion.
What Chen Ajiao was more interested in was that she saw Liu Tan put a cloth bag and water into the layer below, and after a while the dishes became hot. She couldn't understand the reason behind this.
Liu Tan explained, "This is something I discovered accidentally. Quicklime and water can be heated. Although it doesn't last as long as charcoal fire, it's safer and more convenient."
Chen Ajiao looked at him and asked, "Why did you think of doing this?"
Liu Tan was also embarrassed to say that this thing was actually a by-product of his cement work. To be honest, every time he wanted to make something, the by-product would be produced earlier than the original thing, which made Liu Tan always feel like he was not doing his job properly.
To prevent Chen Ajiao from thinking the same thing, he said casually, "It's nothing, I just think this thing is more portable and less hassle if I'm traveling long distances."
As for why he had to travel such a long distance, well, he hadn't figured it out yet.
Chen Ajiao, however, looked thoughtful after hearing this. After a while, she said with a touch of emotion, "My Queen Mother knows. You made this for Danyang, right? It took you a month to make this."
After hearing this, Liu Tan was a little confused at first, and then he remembered that Princess Danyang might be getting married soon, and her marriage would be a long journey.
Chen Ajiao misunderstood Liu Tan and it was difficult to deny it, so she could only say vaguely: "I think the emperor will not treat Danyang badly. This thing may not be useful."
Chen Ajiao said, "If you don't treat me badly, that's it. Come to think of it, what did you say to Danyang before? I saw her a few days ago and found that she was not so opposed to the marriage."
Liu Tan broke out in sweat after hearing this. If Chen Ajiao knew that he was instigating Danyang to control the Wusun regime, would she turn against him?
Of course, the most important thing is that he can tell Princess Danyang those remarks but not Chen Ajiao. What if Liu Che finds out? Oh, there is no need to guess, Liu Che will definitely find out. What if he then misunderstands that he instigated Chen Ajiao to rebel?
If people further misunderstand that he has the intention to fight for the throne, then wouldn't he be in trouble?
Thinking of this, Liu Tan smiled and said, "Nothing much. I just told her that the grassland scenery is very different from the Central Plains. The sky is very clear and clean, and it seems as if you can touch it. The grassland is also green and beautiful in the summer. When she is on the grassland, she doesn't have to restrict herself. She can go out and play whenever she wants. Maybe she will have more freedom than in the palace."
Chen Ajiao also felt a little yearning when she heard it: "If you put it that way, there are some benefits there, right?"
Liu Tan immediately stopped praising Cao Yuan and whispered, "No matter how good it is, she's still away from home. There's no turning back. Danyang has no choice but to marry him. I can't just watch her cry. If I do, I'm afraid that in a few years, she'll..."
Chen Ajiao knew what the consequences of being depressed were. She had died that way in her previous life, so after hearing this, she was silent for a long while before saying, "You did the right thing."
Liu Tan felt quite guilty, but at the same time he was somewhat grateful to Princess Danyang. He felt that his sister still had some brains and did not directly tell Chen Ajiao what he had said. It was also thanks to him that he had dismissed his attendants when he was talking to Princess Danyang, otherwise Chen Ajiao would probably have known it.
Chen Ajiao was melancholy for a moment, then turned to look at Liu Tan and said, "You've been busy for Danyang all day, are you ready to pack your things?"
Liu Tan said with a smile: "Mother, the date hasn't been set yet. It's still early. I'm not in a hurry."
"How can we not be anxious? We should at least select a few good horses so that we can have a replacement when the time comes."
Liu Tan was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and asked cautiously, "Horse? Should I still ride over there?"
Chen Ajiao looked at him strangely. "Of course, at least on the day of the ceremony, as the elder brother accompanying the bride, you will have to ride a horse. Once we leave Chang'an, you can change to a car."
Liu Tan: ...
He can't ride a horse, what should he do? !
The author has something to say: Liu Lengkurutan: People who can't do math problems are not worthy of joining me!
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