Li Chen raised his head and looked at Wu Huaishi who suddenly stood up with great confusion, wondering why he was so panicked.
"Where is it? General Wu asked who is there?"
Facing his stupid look, Wu Huaishi realized his gaffe and asked: "Isn't Shiba Lang afraid?"
"Afraid? Why...are you afraid?" Li Chan said dejectedly, thinking that he has lived to this point in his life and has become the laughingstock of the world, what else is there to be afraid of?
"It was in order to support Prince Shou and you as the heir apparent that the case of three commoners was committed. If the emperor's grandson was still alive, wouldn't you be the first person he wanted to take revenge on?"
"revenge?"
Li Chan didn't know what revenge was. He laughed at himself when he thought about his hatred for taking away his wife and the shame and humiliation. He never thought about revenge. In the emperor's family, who cares about grudges, only power, if you have the power, you can do whatever you want, if you don't have the power, you must accept the situation, nothing more than that.
But the eunuch in front of him had a narrow-minded character and was determined to retaliate. There was forbearance and cruelty hidden in his eyes, and his malice was like a poisonous bee. It stung Li Han and scared him so much that he ducked back.
"But even if he is alive...how can he seek revenge from me?" Li Xuan said: "He is the son of a traitor. Even if he is alive, he will still be imprisoned."
With these words, he seemed to have found his backbone, and added: "Moreover, brother said that this matter was absolutely impossible. Li Qian must have died back then, and Xue Baida must have lied to him."
Wu Huaishi's eyes flashed, thinking.
He was also sure that Li Qian was dead, but in this case, why did Xue Bai want to trace the past events?
Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind, and his pupils dilated instantly as if he had been shocked by electricity.
Although he knew that this idea was absurd, it suddenly made him realize that everything would make sense.
No wonder, Xue Bai and Princess Hezheng are innocent...
Seeing Wu Huaishi's eyes rolling around and being silent for a long time, Li Chen couldn't help but curiously asked: "What is General Wu still thinking about?"
"If it's fake, why did Xue Bai lie to King Ruyang?" Wu Huaishi lowered his voice and said, "Has Shiba Lang ever thought that maybe Xue Bai is the fish that slipped through the net?"
"This is...impossible. Are you telling a ghost story?"
Li Quan finally felt afraid. He had not dealt with Xue Bai many times, but he knew that Xue Bai was a very capable person. In just a few years, he became a new noble in the court and managed both Li Heng and Li Linfu. , he does not want to be an enemy of such a person.
But as Wu Huaishi said, if Xue Bai is really Li Qian, the first target of revenge will be him.
"I know why Xue Bai went to Yeting. It must be to meet someone related to the three common people case. If it's not Princess E, then it's Princess Boping."
"What?"
"The old slave is saying that what Xue Bai did was not groundless. He has been deliberately plotting rebellion."
Li Chen felt that Wu Huaishi was stunned and what he said was nonsense, and said: "No one would do this unless he is looking for death. If I were Li Qian..."
"If you were Li Qian, would you find a place to hide? But Xue Bai is not you!" Seeing that he could not wake up Li Qian, Wu Huaishi became angry and said: "Xue Bai is willing to give up everything for the sake of power. Risking your life, you use your thoughts to control his thoughts, what kind of person are you..."
Halfway through his words, he suddenly stopped talking.
But that tone had deeply hurt Li Chen.
Li Chen knew that Wu Huaishi looked down upon him. Even if anyone in the world would have to accept his fate, the world still looked down upon him.
It should be said that countless people who are more cowardly than him deeply despise his cowardice.
No one can empathize with him.
Li Chen sat down slumped, lowered his head feebly, and said: "It has nothing to do with me. I am just a useless person who was imprisoned by my father. Who cares who is Li Qian and what does Xue Bai want to do?"
Jiji used the method like this, Wu Huaishi sneered slightly, then whispered again.
"You don't know, Shiro Shiba, yet? Xue Bai and the imperial concubine are already living alone..."
"What?!"
"Don't you understand? He is humiliating you. In order to take revenge and regain everything that his grandfather lost, he will do anything."
Li Chen's heart was filled with confusion and his expression changed.
Finally, he asked slowly: "What does General Wu want me to do?"
"What does the old slave want you to do? This matter has nothing to do with the old slave. It's just that I discovered the matter and reminded Shishiro to 'strike first' and report it to the saint as soon as possible..."
Li Chen was at a loss.
His father, who had insulted him deeply, had completely destroyed his personality. When he encountered anything, he was like standing in a ruins without knowing where to go. Therefore, he easily fell into Wu Huaishi's inciting anger. In the eyes.
He didn't dare to resent the saint. When he met someone he could afford, he could take revenge and vent his anger.
~~
Right Prime Minister's Mansion.
Today, Jia Chang, the prodigy chicken boy, came to visit him, so Li Xiu set up wine in the court to entertain him.
"It's weird, Juro is actually free to sit with me today?" Jia Chang was a little flattered and said with a smile: "In the past two years, Juro always said that the prime minister's office is busy with affairs."
"In the past," Li Xiu said, "In the past, I couldn't use people, so I had to work hard by myself."
"Oh?" Jia Chang couldn't help but be curious, "Juro has recruited a lot of talents recently?"
It was impossible for Li Xiu to tell people that his grandpa was sick so he would stop beating and scolding him frequently, or that Xue Bai could share many of his problems for him, so he waved his hands and didn't answer, and only talked about his recent insights.
"That's not the case, but my state of mind is different. I used to always think about what the prime minister's son would be like, but recently I realized that life is so fleeting and that fame and wealth are always endless."
"This is not like what Li Juro said."
"Actually, I have always been like this, but in the past, I lived in the shell of 'Li Julang'. I was still dealing with official documents under the lamp at three and four o'clock, and had no time to rest until the cockcrow at five o'clock. As a result, my grandfather was still dissatisfied. But once I figured it out... … I finally had time to visit Master Qi Xuan a few days ago and asked him to take my pulse. Only then did I realize that I am no longer young, that I am weak in energy and spleen, and that I have low energy. It is time for me to recuperate.”
"Yes." Jia Chang is also good at maintaining health. He nodded repeatedly and said, "I see that the circles under Juro's eyes are no longer dark today, and his complexion has improved a lot."
"I went to bed early for five days in a row, and after having some free time, my mind became much clearer."
Li Xiu smiled calmly and said, "What's more important is that I have a sense of control over my life."
Jia Chang didn't know where he learned this rhetoric, but it was very fresh to him.
…
A few walls away from the courtyard, Xue Bai was reviewing official documents on behalf of Li Xiu under the supervision of Li Tengkong.
Of course, these are not important matters. They are nothing more than Li Xiu trying to save some time and hand over some of the most tedious and insignificant matters to Xue Bai. Most of them are financial accounting in various places, criminal cases in prefectures and counties, etc., which are troublesome to deal with. If something goes wrong, Li Linfu will scold him.
Li Xiu was not good at this, and was worried about doing it, so he did it with half the effort, but Xue Bai was very good at it, did it quickly, and never made any mistakes.
In fact, Xue Bai also encountered many problems that he didn't know how to solve. He would collect them every time and ask Li Linfu about them.
But the biggest difference between Xue Bai and Li Xiu is that Li Linfu will scold Li Xiu, but he knows that scolding Xue Bai is useless, so he is too lazy to scold and only answers businesslikely.
"Isn't the amount of rations for Shuofang's army this year wrong?"
While approving the official document, Xue Bai suddenly murmured.
Li Tengkong was sitting aside and asked, "Less?"
"yes."
Xue Bai took the abacus and fiddled with it a few times awkwardly. Li Tengkong took the abacus and whispered: "I'll do it, whatever you say."
"As far as I know, there are 64,700 soldiers in Shuofang. Each soldier eats two liters of food a day, which is seven stones and two buckets a year, and the millet is converted into twelve stones. In addition, there are 14,300 horses. One hundred horses, each horse eats one bushel of millet per day in winter and spring, and eighteen shi of millet per year..."
Xue Bai spoke quickly, and Li Tengkong calculated quickly. His slender and beautiful fingers moved the abacus beads, and the abacus "crackled" for a while.
After he listed a long list of figures, he pondered: "Based on this, we need food and grass for soldiers and horses every year..."
"One million two hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred stones." Li Tengkong said.
"Now that the military system of the government has been defeated, the soldiers are not good at farming, and the farmland and taxes are only more than 200,000 dan. Therefore, the imperial court will pay 1.05 million dan this year."
"good."
"But look, this official letter from He Bian envoy says that the grain will be 120,000 dan."
"There are also those from Tobe."
"The Ministry of Revenue only paid 318,600 shi." Xue Bai said, "I remember."
Li Tengkong said: "This still does not mean that this year's payment is wrong. The autumn grain has not been escorted yet."
"But compared to this time in previous years, it is already a full 470,000 dan less."
Xue Bai said, putting the official document aside and said: "Keep this too, I will ask your grandpa later."
Afterwards, he turned around and saw Li Tengkong looking at him with those shining eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"No wonder you do these things ten times more smoothly than my brother, but how did you write down these?"
"When you are an official, you should know what you are doing."
"Do you have a very good memory?" Li Tengkong couldn't help but be a little curious about Xue Bai, and he did not put on the airs of a profound Taoist at this time.
Xue Bai shook his head and said: "It's not that you have a good memory, it's just that you use your heart. You can distinguish what is important and what is not important. Pay more attention to important news when you see it, and pay less attention to frivolous information, and you will naturally remember it."
"You don't care about the love between children." Li Tengkong muttered in a low voice.
"What?"
"It's nothing." Li Tengkong said: "You pay special attention to Shuofang's army, but is there any other reason?"
Seeing that he couldn't hide it from her, Xue Bai couldn't help but smile and said: "Okay, I know that your uncle wants to replace Zhang Qiqiu, the governor of Shuofang Army, with An Sishun or Abusi. The so-called border towns use barbarians. But now that the battle of Nanzhao is coming, I hope he can stop."
Li Tengkong turned his head and said nothing.
To be fair, she agreed with Xue Bai's view on this matter, but if she spoke out, Grandpa would only think that she was doing it because of a personal relationship, so it would be better not to say anything.
…
That afternoon, Li Linfu heard Xue Bai's question and said calmly: "The reason why I asked you to assist Juro is to give you a chance to practice. Do you really think that you are the right minister?"
"I have indeed benefited a lot from being in the Right Prime Minister's Mansion." Xue Bai said, "But I don't know whether the Right Prime Minister should deal with Zhang Qiqiu first or Zhang Bian first?"
Li Linfu heard Xue Bai's threat. If the matter could not be reached, Xue Bai would probably turn to Zhang Bian immediately.
The biggest difference between now and the time when he covered the sky with one hand was that Zhang Bian Pingzhang was in charge of Zhongshu's family, and he was ill.
Under such circumstances, the risk of breaking up with Xue Bai was very high, so it would be better to change Shuofang Jiedu later.
"Military rations can be transported by water through the meanders of the Yellow River. The prime minister will personally approve the official document, and the Hexi Army will temporarily send part of the rations to Shuofang's army."
"Just remember it, right Prime Minister." Xue Bai said.
Li Linfu closed his eyes, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said: "Seventeenth Mother, you stay here, my father has something to say to you."
Seeing that he meant to see off his guests, Xue Bai took his leave.
Li Linfu listened to his footsteps leaving without opening his eyes, and said rather unhappily: "I said at the Taichi Banquet that you and Xue Bai are innocent, and you are proud of it."
Li Tengkong was stunned and didn't understand what his grandfather meant when he suddenly said such words.
"Xue Bai is a sharp sword, but it has no hilt. There are sword edges all over his body. Your brother can't hold it. You are different. Tenderness can overcome toughness. You should also have some means. A woman can make a man do it for you. The ones used... Ahem, cough, cough, do I still need my father to teach you this?"
"Master, are you trying to drive your daughter back to the Taoist temple?"
"You are claiming to be arrogant even if you say a few words." Li Linfu looked a little more anxious today and lost his previous magnanimity. He scolded: "If this continues, Li Hua's daughter will be able to get ahead of you."
The relationship between father and daughter, which had only gotten better, was once again at loggerheads. Just as Li Tengkong had something treacherous to say, a maid hurried over and whispered something in Li Linfu's ear.
"Let him come to see me and set up a screen." Li Linfu whispered, "Seventeenth Mother, you go down first."
"Grandpa wants to meet guests? But you..."
"It doesn't matter, as a father you can't see guests anymore, right?"
~~
Wu Huaishi entered the hall and could see Li Linfu's vague figure through the screen.
"Right Prime Minister, I have something very secret to say."
"Say it."
"Does the right minister still remember Concubine Xue's son?"
Wu Huaishi asked, wanting to see Li Linfu's reaction, but unfortunately, it was as quiet as ever behind the screen.
He felt the right prime minister's calmness and couldn't help but ask: "Did the right prime minister know that someone was inquiring about this matter?"
"How did King Ruyang die?" Li Linfu asked.
"I ate too much Yurong Powder," Wu Huaishi said, "But I found out that it was Xue Bai who encouraged him to bring up old things again..."
"The truth has warned Xue Bai that he will restrain himself and this matter is over."
"The chamberlain saved two people from death, how can it be easily solved? I came here today to ask the right minister if he had thought of a possibility."
When Wu Huaishi said this, he took a few steps forward and pressed his whole body against the screen. Here, he could see Li Linfu half-lying on a couch.
Then, he said in a mysterious tone: "I'm thinking, maybe, Xue Bai is... the emperor's grandson Li Qian?"
"You have already killed Li Jing, do you want to kill him?"
"Don't dare."
Wu Huaishi quickly took two steps back.
Li Linfu then said: "You personally confirmed the death of the emperor's grandson, Li Jing, Gao Lishi, Chen Xuanli and others. Instead of asking them, you came to ask the truth?"
"Right Prime Minister, please don't forget that we were the ones who planned this back then. If Li Qian were still alive, how would she let us go?"
One sentence brought Li Linfu back to the fear of the 25th year of Kaiyuan.
That day was April 21st, when the three brothers Li Ying and Xue Xiu stained Lantian Station with blood. He was very happy to get the news and thought that everything was due to his and Yang Hui's plan. Of course he was sure that he had arranged a frame-up with his own hands.
But when he entered the palace, he saw three eunuchs gathering in front of the palace to talk, Gao Lishi, Yuan Siyi, and Wu Huaishi. Among them, Wu Huaishi was still the servant of Concubine Wu Hui, but he did not avoid Li Linfu when he spoke. When he passed by, he said - "If it is done, will the child return to Concubine Hui?"
That was the most shocking time in Li Linfu's life. He shuddered and suddenly realized that everything was planned by the saint.
It seems that Concubine Wu Hui is competing for the throne, but in fact the saint is using Concubine Wu Hui to get rid of the fledgling prince and Zhang Jiuling, who is restraining the imperial power. When people like them think they are smart and want to seek positions and reserves, in fact they are just a donkey, staring at carrots and grinding them for the saint. Even Concubine Wu Hui's ambition was the saint deliberately sending a eunuch to her side to encourage her constantly. Come.
At that time, he walked up to the saint with a feeling of walking on thin ice and said, "This is your Majesty's family matter, which is not something I should worry about."
…
"Prince Qing still has the son of the deposed prince under his knees, and I don't see them saying they won't let anyone go."
"Right Prime Minister! Can the ones raised in the Shiwang Mansion and the Baisun Courtyard be the same as the ones outside that grow up and crawl around? The ones raised in captivity are dogs, and the wild ones are wolves."
Perhaps it was precisely because of these old events that Wu Huaishi was more afraid of the fact that Li Qian was still alive than Li Chen and Li Linfu.
"Xue Bai has already gone to Yeting Palace to meet Princess E or Princess Boping. Do you have to wait until he starts to deal with us? Will the right minister believe it?"
"Do you have any evidence?"
"You will know after you try it, Prime Minister," Wu Huaishi said.
Li Linfu paused for a moment and said, "How to try?"
"He is tracing the participants at that time. The right minister can use the information to deceive him. As long as it is confirmed, the saint will either kill him or imprison him. It is not our decision..."
Li Linfu was silent for a while, feeling very tired.
After finally trying to stabilize the situation by wooing Xue Bai, they learned that Xue Bai might be Li Qian. If it is true, he is afraid that his plans are not small and he wants to eat the Youxiang Mansion alive.
No wonder Xue Bai clearly cared about Qi Niang in his heart, but he distanced himself from her and said he despised him as the prime minister.
"If he is really the grandson of the emperor," Li Linfu said, "then all he has done is concealed heresy and evil intentions, even worse than the deposed prince. The saint will definitely kill him."
"In this way, Xue Bai's life is in the hands of the right prime minister. The right prime minister can also use this incident to get rid of Zhang Prince Consort and Wang Zhongsi. The court still has the final say."
"Understood."
"One more thing. The imperial concubine has been kicked out of the palace. Does the right minister know about this?"
Wu Huaishi said and waited for a long time but did not see Li Linfu's answer.
Unable to suppress his curiosity, he walked towards the screen again, but a mute maid came over from behind the screen and asked him to leave with a cold face.
~~
When Xue Bai left the Prime Minister's Mansion, Diao Bing stepped forward to lead his horse without saying a word, and just led him towards Fenghui, Dongshi.
Something is wrong.
When they arrived at Fenghuixing, Xue Bai walked into the secret room calmly and saw Du Si and Du Jin looking sad.
"What happened?"
"Yes." Du Jin said, "Your case has been committed."
Du Wei was reluctant to betray Xue Bai, so she directly told the whole story.
"After Chi Shu's death, we sent people to keep an eye on Prince Shou's Mansion. Today, Wu Huaishi went over and had a long talk in secret."
While they were talking, another message came. Du Wei went to pick it up and said: "Wu Huaishi went to the Youxiang Mansion. When you come out with your front foot, he will go in with his rear foot."
"Mom, please help me keep an eye on it."
Du Jin knew that the two of them had some crazy plans and wanted to talk alone and didn't want to go away, so Du Jin stepped forward and whispered a few words to her.
"It's nothing else. I'm afraid you'll be worried after hearing this. I promise not to eat alone, and I'll let my sister eat alone later."
"Stop talking nonsense."
Du Wei had no choice but to help them keep an eye on the news.
When she went out, Xue Bai said: "It seems that I bumped into Wu Huaishi's hands again. He should have known that it was me who told Li Jing that Li Qian was still alive."
"I have arranged a few good men." Du Jin said, "If you nod, we can kill him on his way back to the palace."
"It's easy to kill him, but the trouble left behind is harder to end. Killing two people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs made the matter even bigger."
"Don't be afraid. This is a palace secret. If Wu Huaishi is killed, the palace will not investigate it in a big way."
"You can't kill." Xue Bai thought and said, "But you are right. This is a secret matter of the palace, which is different from the government. Li Longji will not listen to the opinions of the courtiers on this matter, and will only ask one or two people. Gao Lishi, Chen Xuanli."
"The difficulty is that your status in their hearts is far inferior to that of Wu Huaishi. After all, he is the one around them."
"Yes, it is easier said than done to break the situation this time, but it is difficult to make Li Longji completely disbelieve what Wu Huaishi said."
"It's not necessarily difficult. You can deny it flatly. No one will believe that you are investigating the case of three common people."
"Not only do some people believe it, but some people also think that I am Li Qian. What do you think?"
Du Jin thought about it and couldn't help but laugh.
"That's right. Who would dare to impersonate Li Qian except a madman?" Du Jin smiled proudly, "I'm afraid you and I are the only two people in the world who have such a crazy idea."
"So, others are more likely to think that I am the real Li Qian."
"That's even simpler. Li Longji and Gao Lishi won't believe it if they know that Li Qian is dead."
"But they will still kill me, because when Wu Huaishi complained, I really overstepped my bounds." Xue Bai said: "Unless I can bite him in turn, I want to survive. During the confrontation, I cannot become the one the saint hates, just like a cockfight in front of the emperor. , so far, one chicken always survives every time.”
"But what evidence can he have?"
"yes."
Xue Bai responded casually, and then became distracted because he thought of other things.
"What are you thinking about?" Du Jin scratched him with his hair.
"I'm thinking that if Wu Huaishi mistakenly thinks that I am Li Qian... it may not be a bad thing." Xue Bai said: "In the future, we will still find ways to prove it."
"In the future, it will be the throne, but now it is a capital offense."
"So, creating evidence now is much more credible than later."
Du Jin said: "Can you still help Wu Huaishi create perjury that you are Li Qian?"
"Why not?"
"Too greedy."
What they were considering was nothing more than two things. One was how to be more like Li Qian and leave traces for people to find later. The other was to prove that it had nothing to do with Li Qian. Once Wu Huaishi complained, it would be ridiculous.
These are two completely contradictory directions. It seems impossible to find a way to satisfy Xue Bai's ideas at the same time.
Xue Bai had an idea to find the answer. He closed his eyes and imagined that he was Li Qian.
As a survivor who has shouldered a heavy responsibility and returned from being wronged, what do you want to do now, and how can you protect yourself?
"If it were Li Qian, he would get rid of these enemies one by one." Xue Bai murmured to himself, "Unlike me, I am too tolerant to them."
"Who does Your Highness want to get rid of?"
"Yang Hui made a plan and coaxed Li Ying into the palace in armor, so he should be killed; Li Linfu helped Concubine Wu Hui and her son in the court, so he should be killed; and King Shou Li Xuan, all of this seems to have happened because of him, so it is impossible not to kill him …”
At this point, Xue Bai stopped, opened his eyes, and had an idea.
"Longevity King Li Xuan, Li Longji hates him very much."
Du Jin looked at him and immediately understood. His eyes lit up and he said: "Sometimes, even the best plan may fail because of a bad helper. The first person Wu Huaishi met was Li Heng."
"Then there is a preliminary plan."
Xue Bai was more clear than Wu Huaishi that Li Qian was really dead, because he was the one who deceived Li Jing.
And Li Longji is the person who knows the truth best, and he also knows that Li Qian is really dead. The things that Wu Huaishi made up because of his resentment can indeed arouse Li Longji's murderous intention. He needs to find a way to push away the murderous intention. On top of Li Han.
It’s difficult, and exactly how to do it has yet to be finalized.
Xue Bai turned his head and asked, "Am I too greedy?"
Du Jin couldn't help but hugged her and whispered: "You know? In my eyes, you are more qualified to take the throne than the real Li Qian."
"My heart."
Du Jin didn't dislike it, nodded with a smile, and said, "The methods are also dirty."
…
Many people in Chang'an City knew that Xue Bai's rapid promotion in officialdom was very impressive, but they didn't know how much power Xue Bai had secretly.
In the next few days, more eyes were fixed on Wu Huaishi.
In Anyefang, the waiter carrying a food box stood near Tangchang Temple and looked around, looking for the address where the food was delivered. Occasionally, with a glance, Wu Huaishi could be seen coming out of the heavily guarded Tangchang Temple.
"Wait in Tangchang for half an hour."
Soon, the news was delivered from Anyefang to Dongshi Fenghui Bank.
After reading it, Du Jin threw it into the brazier, thinking about what Wu Huaizhi had talked with Princess Tang Chang in half an hour, and whether he had weaved a story about his transformation from the emperor's grandson to Xue Bai.
And below the attic, another waiter came in a hurry, reporting that Wu Huaishi had sent people to the Shiwang Mansion to keep an eye on Prince Qing.
Undercurrents are surging, but Xue Bai has not found the reason why Li Chan and Wu Huaishi colluded to frame him, nor the evidence of their crimes.
He still lacks the key to break the game.
~~
Until one night, he faintly heard singing in his dream.
"The golden bird hairpin and the jade head scratcher are the gifts you gave me..."
Xue Bai opened his eyes, only to see that it was already dawn, and Yan Yan was sitting by the couch, wearing socks, shaking her head and humming a song.
She was not very good at singing, and the tune she sang was fragmented and strange. The only good thing was that she had a nice voice.
"Huh? Where did you learn this song?"
"What you hummed last night, I followed suit."
"Did I hum?"
Xue Bai was a little surprised and worried.
Then an idea flashed in my mind, and I thought of a way to get rid of Li Chen and Wu Huaishi... but I'm afraid it won't be implemented.
How could that person help him harm Li Chen?
I am still too greedy. It is difficult to save my life this time, but I am still thinking about the future...
(End of chapter)
