Chapter 547 [Three Updates] 547
The concept of nude makeup basically did not exist at that time. Women these days only wanted the feeling of makeup. The nobles used rice powder, the common people used lead powder, and they would even paint their faces like a wall.
When Liu Tan told Liu Che that Chen Ajiao couldn't even afford rouge and powder, of course he didn't say it on a whim, but he had discussed it with Chen Ajiao.
So he sneaked back just now because on the one hand he didn't want to stand there and listen to Liu Che and the ministers' nonsense, and on the other hand he wanted to see what was going on with Chen Ajiao.
When he arrived here, Chen Ajiao was putting on makeup again - after all, the weather was hot, and the queen's full dress would not stop her from sweating even if there was an ice basin in the Pepper Room.
Seeing this scene, Liu Tan immediately stopped the maids who were about to touch up Chen Ajiao's makeup. After taking a closer look, she said, "Just add a little powder. No need for rouge and lip balm."
Straight men judge whether a woman wears makeup by looking at whether she wears lipstick. Although this is not absolute, it is true that most straight men do this.
So Chen Ajiao still put on makeup, but the powder was not thick, just a thin layer, which made it look like she had no makeup on. However, she carefully trimmed her eyebrows and was still beautiful. It was just that because she didn't use rouge and lip balm, her complexion didn't look as good and she looked a little haggard.
So in Liu Che's eyes, a tired beauty was waiting for him.
Chen Ajiao was a little uncomfortable at first. She was used to being domineering, so she naturally had to put on makeup to be the most gorgeous in the audience. She was not used to such a light and elegant makeup.
But it seems that the effect is pretty good.
At least Liu Che rarely quarreled with her.
Chen Ajiao's mood improved, and she didn't say anything even though she knew Zhao had followed her back.
Originally, she wanted to arrange Zhao to live in the Gouyi Palace, but after Zhao was named Queen Mother of Qi, the Gouyi Palace no longer belonged to her. Although there is no new Lady Gouyi now, the palace is actually no longer called the Gouyi Palace.
Now that Zhao has returned, Liu Che has not mentioned any title for her, so it is naturally inappropriate to let her live in Gouyi Palace again.
Chen Ajiao thought about it and generously arranged Zhao in another palace, which was the palace closest to the Weiyang Palace except for the Pepper Palace.
Chen Ajiao's arrangement surprised everyone, even Liu Che.
Liu Che hurried over to Chen Ajiao and asked, "Why did you put her there?"
Chen Ajiao raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why? Are you still unhappy about this? Do you want to let her live in Weiyang Palace directly?"
Liu Che stared at Chen Ajiao, feeling that her tone was particularly familiar. He thought about it... well, isn't this the tone his youngest son, who has grown stronger recently, often uses?
So even if they are not biological children, they can still be so similar?
Liu Che sat down and said, "You can place her wherever you want. I don't want to see her."
Chen Ajiao looked surprised: "Did the sun rise from the west today?"
Chen Ajiao originally thought that Liu Che brought Zhao back because Zhao served him well and was soft-hearted. Isn’t that right?
Liu Che snorted and said nothing. Chen Ajiao said, "If you say so, I will arrange for her to stay in Wuyuan Pavilion."
Liu Che waved his hand and said, "Whatever you want."
Chen Ajiao was completely shocked. The name Wuyuan Pavilion didn't sound very good, and in fact it was indeed the case. It was the cold palace in a broad sense. Of course, this cold palace was not specifically used to imprison unfavored concubines.
In Liu Che's eyes, if someone was not favored, he would at most ignore them. If someone really made a mistake, Liu Che would not spare their life.
Wuyuan Pavilion is located in the most remote place in Weiyang Palace. Generally speaking, throwing someone there means leaving her to fend for herself.
However, since Liu Che agreed, Chen Ajiao immediately asked someone to invite Zhao to move to another place. Of course, the issue of Zhao's status was not mentioned.
According to the original convention, even if Zhao Shi was no longer the Queen Mother of Zhongshan King, she should be a Jieyushi after she came back - that is, her previous position. Now that Liu Che doesn't say anything, Zhao Shi can only be a palace maid of Zhao.
If a concubine of Zhao met the legendary virtuous queen, she might speak up for her to Emperor Liu Che, or even if he said nothing, he would give her the allowance according to the imperial concubine's rate.
Unfortunately, the person she met was Chen Ajiao. Even if Chen Ajiao was reborn, she would still take revenge all her life. She would take revenge on the spot. Even if she couldn't take revenge on the spot, she would not delay it until the third day unless she was really unable to take revenge.
Chen Ajiao's lack of intention to kill the Zhao palace maids was a way of giving Liu Che face, and she also didn't want to hold her son back.
This time her son's ability to turn the tide was absolutely brilliant and would add a lot of points to his achievement. Even though Liu Che had no intention of disliking Liu Ju, it didn't matter, she could still wait.
Liu Che came over just to ask about previous events as a routine matter.
He had already understood from many aspects what happened at that time, and he understood what happened even more clearly after Liu Tan came. However, before Liu Tan came, he did not intend to just listen to what the ministers said.
After all, Emperor Wu of Han was forced to sell his family's fat and land in exchange for food for the army. The ministers must have known that he knew about it, so even if they didn't say it explicitly, they would make excuses for themselves or their followers in their memorials.
Is Liu Che such an easy-going person?
He didn't lose his temper at the time because he wasn't sure who was involved in the incident.
Liu Ju did arrest a lot of people, but in Liu Che's view, those people he arrested were too superficial, and he did not touch many people who had problems at first glance.
However, Liu Che could barely understand his eldest son - those people were all old ministers and their cronies, and if any problems were really found out, it would probably shake the foundation of the country.
Liu Ju hadn't done anything yet, but Liu Qumao was planning a rebellion. Given the internal and external troubles at the time, if he had acted too harshly, the Han Dynasty might have been in danger of collapse.
However, Liu Che did not need to care about these things. He had long wanted to rejuvenate the court. He had been tolerating Liu Quma before and was waiting for the new forces to reach a certain level.
So before Liu Tan came, Chen Ajiao's statement was definitely more credible.
Chen Ajiao got angry when she mentioned this, and she almost wished someone would bring Liu Qumao to her and have him executed by slow slicing.
Liu Che couldn't help laughing when he saw her wanting to capture all the civil and military officials in the court, but he did have some ideas in his mind.
After Liu Che left the Pepper Room, he turned around and called Liu Ju over to prepare for action. The first thing he had to do was to deal with those who had rebelled before.
Du Zhou finally found his place to use his skills this time. Unfortunately, he was just a court judge. Since the arrival of the King of the Northern Territory, his only task was to arrest people. He didn't even need to look for clues, as the mastermind had already been caught.
But he was not stupid. After analyzing for a long time, he felt that given the situation at the time, the King of the Northern Territory should not have any particularly strong evidence to prove that Liu Qumao was the mastermind behind the incident.
However, he did not mention this matter, but began to diligently submit various case closing documents.
After Du Zhou handed the things to Liu Che, he thought for a long time and decided to send someone to inform the King of the Northern Territory - according to the emperor's habit, he should not read those confession documents and the like, and usually just look at the results, but what if?
Although he tried to cover up for Liu Tan, some things really cannot stand up to scrutiny.
Du Zhou ran to the Northern King's residence in Chang'an, but he didn't expect that the Northern King would live in the palace after his return. Fortunately, Liu Tan had always left someone here to look after the house, either Bigao or Miao Rui. Du Zhou also knew them and knew that these two were Liu Tan's confidants, so he told them what had happened.
Liu Tan soon learned the news. He thought for a moment and then pushed a box over. "Find someone to deliver this box of pearls and say they're specialties from Jiaozhi."
Miao Rui quickly took the order and left. After he left, Liu Tan continued to worry about the large box of pearls in front of him.
He had spent money too lavishly before and bought too many pearls. After he came back, he asked Chen Ajiao to pick out some of them to make jewelry, and then sent some to Madam Wei - this was to thank Madam Wei for her kind act. If he didn't have this excuse, Liu Tan would not have been able to send things to his father's harem, even though that woman was old enough to be his mother.
Then Princess Dangli and Princess Yangxin left some for officials of all ranks in the Northern Border Kingdom.
As for Liu Ju... Liu Ju took care of his own harem, and he had bought a lot of it anyway.
After all this trouble, he still had many pearls in his hands.
Well, other people count pearls by the piece, but he counts them directly by box, and it’s a very big box at that.
Liu Tan originally wanted to give them all to Chen Ajiao, but Chen Ajiao felt sorry for him and refused to accept them, so she asked him to take them to the Northern Border Country. Even if he let his men sell them, he could still make a lot of money.
But the problem is that Liu Tan doesn't need to do this kind of speculation to make money.
So now he has to find a place for these pearls and consume them directly.
Anyway, when the Han Dynasty builds a port city in Jiaozhi in the future, there will be no shortage of pearls, no matter how many you want.
How to consume these pearls has become Liu Tan’s most important thing now. As for what Du Zhou came to report, it is nothing to him at all.
So he began to rack his brains to think about what kind of pearl-related artifacts he had seen in later generations.
However, when I think about it...it seems that most of them are jewelry.
But the problem is that Chen Ajiao has already ordered people to make jewelry.
Liu Tan thought for a long time, and finally slammed the table and said, "Find me a few craftsmen who can string beads. I want them to make two things."
These two things are pearl shawls. Liu Tan has an impression of pearl shawls. He remembers that he had seen them in several costume dramas in later life. Just follow that. Of course, pure pearls are definitely not enough. Some other accessories must be added, otherwise it will not look good.
Liu Tan used red agate and some broken evil gold to match it.
But even to make a pearl shawl, not many pearls are needed.
Liu Tan looked at the remaining pearls and pondered for a while before saying, "We can't use them all up like this. I guess we have no choice but to use them. Miao Rui, go find someone to help me grind these pearls into powder."
Miao Rui felt very distressed when he heard this, and asked cautiously, "Your Highness, what do you want the pearl powder for?"
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