One Hundred Ways to Whitewash Villains [Quick Wear] ━ Vol.1

2.12

　　It's snowy in Chang'an, and it's hard to find birds.

　　Among them, the noble house is surrounded by walls made of pepper and mud.

　　Red stoves are burning everywhere, and Luo Mi comes back every week.

　　Warm your hands to adjust the golden thread, and dip it into a cup of Qiong liquid.

　　Drunk singing jade dust flies, trapped in the fragrant juice dripping.

　　Little did he know that the hands and feet of a hungry and cold person would be chapped.

　　This poem became popular two months after Wei Chengze disappeared. Listening to others reporting on the recent folk rumors, Lou Fufang pressed her eyebrows, her face full of exhaustion.

　　Since Wei Chengze walked away from the building that day, he seemed to have disappeared from the world, and there was no news from the world. The body of the bodyguard who escorted Chengze that day was found in the moat. Judging from the appearance, someone must have wanted to sink the body to the bottom of the lake after killing it. However, unexpectedly, the temperature dropped sharply in recent days, and even the moat actually solidified into ice overnight. As a result, that The foreign objects in it are also particularly conspicuous.

　　"I shouldn't have let him go out alone..." Liu Jinzhong's face was full of pain and regret, as if he had aged ten years overnight. Lou Fufang looked at the man whom Wei Chengze regarded as his father, and her lips moved, but in the end she didn't make a sound.

　　In fact, both Lou Fufang and Liu Jinzhong knew very well that even if Liu Jinzhong followed Wei Chengze out of the palace that day, things would not change in any way. Even the palace guards could not protect Wei Chengze. What was the point of an old man like Liu Jinzhong who did not know any martial arts? The only difference is that there is one more corpse in the moat.

　　However, looking at his sad expression, Lou Fufang couldn't say these words anyway, and even the contempt in her heart couldn't help but diminish a lot.

　　After all, Wei Chengze is a person who always puts Wei Chengze on the top of his heart.

　　When it comes to self-blame, Lou Fufang is no less guilty than Liu Jinzhong. Wei Chengze had people come to his house with a memorial just because he claimed to be ill and refused to enter the palace. It was also because he disagreed with him that he hurried back to the palace in such a hurry. If he had known earlier If something like this happened, Lou Fufang would definitely not just watch Wei Chengze leave like that.

　　However, the most useless words in life are "I knew it would be so".

　　The disappearance of the king of a country involves too many and too many things. If you are not careful, it will cause turmoil in the entire country. With such concerns, Lou Fufang naturally did not dare to make the matter public easily, and could only declare that Wei Chengze was seriously ill and bedridden. Fortunately, Wei Chengze had always been a willful person who acted according to his own mood. Even in the morning court, he often found excuses not to go, so not many people in the court showed doubts about this.

　　But after all, paper cannot cover fire. Such behavior is like walking on silk thread. If there is a slight mistake, you will fall into the abyss and never recover.

　　Now all affairs in the court are handled by Lou Fufang. Without Wei Chengze at the front, Lou Fufang finally realized some things that he had never noticed before, and those who were recruited to Wei Chengze one by one The people under his command gradually began to show their talents, and Lou Fufang couldn't help but marvel at Wei Chengze's ability to see people.

　　Lou Fufang originally thought that Wei Xiurong, who was dissatisfied with him, would look for opportunities to target him when he saw him monopolizing power. But to his surprise, the other party seemed to have completely forgotten about him during this period. It's like he's a living being, locking himself in his home every day, not knowing what he's planning secretly.

　　He did not stop looking for Wei Chengze, but the clues that were always broken halfway made his heart sink a little bit. This feeling is too familiar, just like when he was trying to find the murderer of his parents, he was always cut off from the path forward halfway, and ultimately made no progress.

　　It was the same person who committed both things.

　　There is no reason, this is what Lou Fufang concluded. And if you follow this line of thinking, you will find that the methods in the two incidents have many similarities, such as knowing Wei Chengze's whereabouts well, and implicitly knowing the whereabouts of Wei Chengze and him. The estrangement between Ze. If Liu Jinzhong hadn't come to him immediately after the incident, he might have mistakenly thought that Wei Chengze had ignored the entire country because of his anger.

　　The person who did this knew the temperaments of Wei Chengze and Lou Fufang very well, so he could play with them every time.

　　Taking a deep breath to suppress the anxiety in her heart, Lou Fufang picked up the memorial on the table and took a look at it, but couldn't help but throw it aside. The annoyance in her eyes became even worse.

　　The heavy snowfall since the beginning of winter has not stopped, but has intensified. Many people's houses collapsed due to the weight of the snowstorm. Lakes of all sizes have been frozen. The only source of drinkable water is unfrozen well water. The white snow has covered animals that died of illness and freezing. Some people died because of melting snow to quench their thirst. Suffering from an unknown disease, the plague spread silently. When the next spring comes, the frozen rivers will melt, which will definitely cause the river banks to collapse and flood the fertile fields, creating another scene of hell on earth.

　　Disaster relief money and food have already been distributed, but in the face of such a large number of victims, this is just a drop in the bucket.

　　Businessmen from all over the country drove up prices wantonly, and falsely reported their family reserves when collecting grain. In the end, not only did they fail to collect much grain, but they became known as official bandits.

　　Lou Fufang set his sights on the generous military salary more than once, but in the end, he gave up the idea. As Wei Chengze said, if you really do this, you will just destroy the city wall.

　　Although Lou Fufang is not good at these convoluted calculations, his greatest strength is probably his ability to listen to other people's opinions. Although Lou Fufang didn't understand why Wei Chengze was so angry at the time, when he raised the matter and discussed it with others later, he understood the key points from others' words.

　　Disasters are most likely to trigger wars, and this has not changed since ancient times.

　　Even if we can still manage to support it now, when the money and food in the treasury are exhausted, then the world will no longer be stable - even now, there are complaints from the people, wars are everywhere, and the bandits are like scurrying around. The mouse can't be caught or hit, but it still jumps out and bites you from time to time.

　　After not sleeping for several days, Lou Fufang's eyes were green and black, and his eyes were bloodshot. In just two months, he had lost weight, as if he could collapse with a single blow of the wind. Down.

　　Turning her head and looking at the wooden table by the window, Lou Fufang looked a little stunned. At this time in the past, there would always be someone there, sitting or standing, sometimes lying down and falling asleep. He is always so smart and smart, and can see through everything at a glance, as if nothing in this world can trouble him.

　　Lou Fufang knew very well that there were many things that Wei Chengze could handle better than him, which was even more amazing, but every time Wei Chengze just watched from the side, leaving all the decision-making power in his hands. , watching him stagger forward.

　　"Because the way you pursue your goals is very charming." Wei Chengze's eyebrows stretched, and the tenderness in his expression made Lou Fufang involuntarily take these words seriously, "I like it very much."

　　His heart seemed to be softly touched by something. As the ground caressed her, there was an almost tingling softness. Sometimes even Lou Fufang herself couldn't tell whether she was working hard for the ideal in her heart or just for Wei Chengze's casual words. Even if Wei Chengze doesn't do anything, just looking at him is enough to make him feel at ease.

　　Suddenly, she missed the person who always had the innocence and willfulness of a child. Lou Fufang smiled bitterly, feeling sorry for her incomprehensible mood.

　　If something hadn't happened to Wei Chengze, maybe he would never understand his thoughts in this life. He will marry a gentle and virtuous wife as he planned. He doesn't need too many children. One son and one daughter are enough. If it doesn't go so well, it doesn't matter. After all, the children are the same. He will raise his children well and does not need them to do any big things in the future. He only wants stability and happiness. When he is old, he will resign and go into seclusion. If the mood comes, he can also talk to his grandchildren about the emperor who never looked like a king.

　　Nowadays, whenever he thinks about the future he desires, Wei Chengze's face always appears in his mind. Lou Fufang even once saw Wei Chengze wearing a bright red wedding dress and worshiping heaven and earth with him. Ridiculous dream.

　　But dreams are just dreams after all.

　　The three cardinal guides and the five constant principles, the way of a monarch and his ministers, all he could do was to bury this intention deeply in his heart and become a minister who would do his best to assist Wei Chengze.

　　With a long sigh, Lou Fufang put away this inappropriate mood, picked up the memorial that he had thrown aside, and looked at it with his forehead.

　　What this brochure talks about is exactly the problem of insufficient money and food that Lou Fufang had just been having. After some rectification by Wei Chengze, there were fewer pedantic elders in the court, and there were many young people with ambition and talent. There are a lot more. Of course, Lou Fufang is not the only one who can see the problem.

　　The "work-for-relief" method was proposed above. In such a famine year, when wages are at their lowest, it is most suitable for large-scale construction projects. It can not only alleviate the shortage of money and food for disaster relief, but also consume the energy of the victims and reduce This is actually a good way to avoid disputes. It also lists projects that can be started during this season, such as repairing temples, building granaries, and official residences. The entire plan is very complete.

　　Glancing at the signature above, Lou Fufang was not surprised to see a familiar name. Wei Chengze had spent more than a month recruiting this person to his staff. Sure enough, the person that Wei Chengze values ​​​​so much is definitely not a simple character.

　　After reading the excerpt from beginning to end, Lou Fufang picked up the pen, made a few comments on it, and then put it aside.

　　Work-for-relief is naturally an effective method, but this method is more targeted at those healthy, healthy and healthy men, the old, weak, women and children, and people infected with the plague, but they are all unable to go to school. Working. It is impossible for Lou Fufang to give up on this group of people. Therefore, this is only a way to alleviate the problem, but cannot fundamentally solve the problem.

　　——What would Wei Chengze do if he were here?

　　Involuntarily, Lou Fufang thought of that person who seemed to be careless about everything, but what he said casually always hit the point without any bias. If Wei Chengze were here, he would definitely not be like him, unable to come up with any effective solution despite his hard work, right? Thinking of Wei Chengze's smile that always hung on his lips, Lou Fufang couldn't help but chuckle.

　　"Sir," a sudden knock on the door interrupted Lou Fufang's thoughts. He was stunned and raised his head to look at the figure reflected in the door. "Your Highness the Crown Prince is here to visit."

　　Lou Fufang raised his eyebrows in surprise. Fang really didn't expect that Wei Xiurong would come to him at this time.

　　Since their first cooperation failed, their relationship has become somewhat tense. This is not a strange thing. After all, the person who originally wanted to help him seize the throne has come to the opposite side. It is impossible for anyone to be replaced without a little dissatisfaction. But for some reason, Lou Fufang always felt that the way Wei Xiurong looked at him was not just because of that. Maybe it was his illusion, but he seemed to see something in Wei Xiurong's eyes - jealousy?

　　However, Wei Xiurong was much higher than Lou Fufang in terms of identity and status, so what did he have to be jealous of?

　　Wei Xiurong's thoughts were so hidden that Lou Fufang had never been able to see through his thoughts - should he be said to be the heir of Wei Chengze? Although they are not related by blood, they have grown up together, so it is not surprising that they have similar temperaments.

　　Although Wei Xiurong didn't like Lou Fufang, Wei Chengze didn't dare to do anything too blatantly because of how much Wei Chengze valued him. He could only create some small troubles for him from time to time, which were not serious. hinder.

　　I just don't know why Wei Xiurong came to his house at this time.

　　Suppressing all the speculations in her heart, Lou Fufang straightened her clothes and walked into the side hall.

　　Wei Xiurong did not wear the prince's clothes today, only dark blue casual clothes. He stood in front of the window with his hands behind his hands, looking focused, as if he was admiring the snowy scene outside the window.

　　"Obviously such a beautiful scene brought such a tragic fate to the world. It's really ironic." Wei Xiurong withdrew his gaze from the window and turned around, squinting at the building. Fufang, "Are you saying yes or no, Mr. Lou?" He took out a folding fan from his sleeve and put it against his lower lip. The smile on Wei Xiu's face seemed to hide some deep meaning. Obviously what he is holding in his hands is particularly out of place in such a season, but Wei Xiurong's own demeanor has not been diminished in the slightest.

　　"I have met His Highness the Crown Prince." Without answering Wei Xiurong's words, Lou Fufang bowed respectfully to him, but she kept thinking about Wei Xiurong's purpose of coming here. Although he had less interaction with Wei Xiurong in recent years, he could still feel the other party's faint targeting. For such a person to come to his house at this time, Lou Fufang really couldn't think about it in a good direction.

　　However, Wei Xiurong didn't mean to beat around the bush, and spoke out the purpose of his visit: "I heard that my father is seriously ill in bed, and all matters in the court are left to Mr. Lou to handle?" He smiled half-heartedly. He looked at Lou Fufang so hard that it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

　　His eyes stayed on the folding fan in Wei Xiurong's hand for a while. Lou Fufang's fingertips moved and he lowered his eyes: "The Holy Lord thinks so highly of me, I am grateful." He accepted Wei Xiurong's words, Lou Fufang didn't say anything more.

　　Except for him and Liu Jinzhong, no one knew about Wei Chengze's disappearance. Firstly, they were worried that the news would be leaked, and secondly, they were afraid that they had trusted the wrong person - until they could find out who was behind the scenes, no one would know. They were all suspected. Even Lou Fufang was regarded as a prisoner by Liu Jinzhong and was questioned for a long time like an interrogation.

　　Fortunately, Wei Chengze did not seem to inform the internal affairs manager of the two people's backgrounds, otherwise the other party would not have been able to rule him out as a suspect so easily.

　　"Your Majesty trusts you, so I trust you too." Although he is over fifty years old, Liu Jinzhong's eyes are still extremely sharp, "I hope you won't let us down."

　　Except for Lou Fufang, everyone else has the same relationship with Wei Chengze Everyone who has had contact with him is on the list of suspects, and Wei Xiurong is no exception. If Wei Chengze hadn't made it clear in public that unless Wei Xiurong died unexpectedly, he would never establish another prince, and maybe he would still be placed at the top of the list.

　　"It is really enviable for Mr. Lou to be so favored by the father." Not paying attention to Lou Fufang's attitude, Wei Xiurong took two steps with the folding fan in his hand and stopped ten steps away from Lou Fufang. As he stepped down, he narrowed his eyes and the curve of his lips widened a bit, "It's just that to this day, Mr. Lou doesn't seem to know how to deal with the famine?"

　　Wei Xiurong's words made Lou Fufang frown involuntarily. , his lips moved, but he didn't say anything to refute.

　　Logically speaking, if the emperor is unable to handle government affairs due to illness, these tasks should naturally be left to the prince or other respected princes. However, because Wei Chengze's attitude was so clear before, no one in the court paid any attention to it. Lou Fufang objected to taking over these matters. As a result, Wei Xiurong's face naturally didn't look good. Lou Fufang had already prepared for Wei Xiurong to come and question him, but he did not expect that the other party would let him control Chao Gang for more than two months. But what made Lou Fufang even more confused was that Wei Xiurong Since Xiurong had decided to ignore this matter, why did he come to visit her after two months?

　　No matter what Wei Xiurong's purpose is for coming here today, what he just said is indeed correct. He betrayed Wei Chengze's trust in him.

　　Nowadays, the world is full of disaster-stricken people, and the previously restrained talk of natural punishment is becoming more and more rampant. The refugees who have lost their homes are looting everywhere, officials and gangsters are colluding, and the money and food used for disaster relief are secretly used. They were all in his eyes, but he couldn't do anything about it - incompetent and useless.

　　There is nothing wrong with Wei Xiurong's words.

　　"Severe cold, plague, famine—all are indeed troublesome problems," Wei Xiurong's lips widened a bit as if he had understood Lou Fufang's thoughts, "But compared to Lord Lou's helplessness, Come on, I have a way here -" Wei Xiurong tapped his palm with the folding fan in his hand, and paused deliberately for a while before continuing, "If Mr. Lou doesn't mind, would you like to listen?"

　　Hearing Wei Xiurong's words, Lou Fufang couldn't help but have a look of surprise on his face, obviously not expecting that the other party would say such words.

　　He guessed many of Wei Xiurong's reasons for coming here - to be dissatisfied with him for exceeding the rules, to blame him for his incompetence, or to find clues about Wei Chengze's disappearance. However, Lou Fufang never thought about Wei Xiurong at all. He would come here specially to tell him how to deal with the disaster.

　　Although she didn't understand Wei Xiurong's intention, Lou Fufang didn't let go of a possible opportunity because of this. He glanced at Wei Xiurong and said in a deep voice: "I would like to hear the details."

　　There was not much surprise about Lou Fufang's reaction. Wei Xiurong narrowed his eyes and said the words he had prepared. come out.

　　It's not a special method that no one can think of, but it's just a way to get those merchants who have hoarded a large amount of food and medicinal materials to provide the supplies needed for disaster relief.

　　"Your Highness," Lou Fufang said after hesitating for a while, "it is somewhat difficult to implement this method."

　　This is already a very euphemistic way of saying it, not "somewhat difficult" but "completely unfeasible."

　　Those wealthy merchants began to purchase and hoard grain in large quantities at the beginning of the snow disaster, in order to raise prices at this time and make such a fortune. It was natural that Lou Fufang, who was devoted to disaster relief, had not thought about digging out all those things from their bodies, but neither soft words nor forced expropriation had much effect—— You can't just grab it directly, right? If that were the case, they would be no different from those wandering bandits.

　　But after all, Wei Xiurong was here to help, and Lou Fufang couldn't say anything too hurtful, so she could only mention it tactfully.

　　"Difficulty?" But Wei Xiurong didn't seem to take Lou Fufang's words seriously, "That's just because Mr. Lou didn't find the right method."

　　"Then what do you think, His Highness the Crown Prince?" Feeling angry due to Xiurong's attitude, Wei Xiurong asked. He never looked down on anyone, and he didn't think Wei Xiurong was the kind of person who couldn't recognize his own abilities and was arrogant.

　　As if a little surprised by Lou Fufang's attitude, Wei Xiurong glanced at him and raised the corners of his lips slightly: "Of course..." He paused before saying the second half of the sentence, "Given enough price tag."