I don't know how long it took, Xie Wu's eyes moved, she glanced at Lu Zhan, and finally slowly took her hand back.
Although she retracted her hand, she could still vaguely feel the scorching temperature of Lu Zhan's chest and the beating of his heart.
Bang bang.
Bang bang.
"What are you going to do?" Perhaps in order to calm down her mood, Xie Wu took the lead in changing the topic.
"Your cousin has returned to Yangzhou safely!" Lu Zhan said suddenly.
Xie Wu frowned. Although she was a little surprised as to why Lu Zhan asked this, she still nodded, "Well, as I expected before, it was smooth sailing before Yuzhou. My uncle saw that the end of the road was done, so the rest will be left to his own devices.
He got it."
Lu Zhan nodded, "The plague in the south is almost out of control."
"Is there a plague in the south?" Xie Wu was stunned.
She only vaguely remembered that there was a severe drought in Yuzhou next year, and several other grain-producing prefectures and counties had not had rain for several months, and many prefectures and counties had no harvest. Although Emperor Zhengxuan ordered the opening of granaries for grain storage, in fact, several major granaries had already
Most of it was empty, and the remaining ones were not enough to cope with this sudden disaster. They were just a drop in the bucket! The King of Qi and the Crown Prince had a huge quarrel in the court. The King of Qi kept claiming that the Crown Prince had resold the grain in the granary. Emperor Zhengxuan was so angry that he became seriously ill.
There was a big fight, and the major grain dealers took the opportunity to raise grain prices. For a while, the people complained. In the end, Lu Zhan took the initiative to ask for help to raise grain for the disaster.
It was precisely after this incident that Lu Zhan officially came into the eyes of the nobles in the court, especially Li Yannian, the Minister of Rites, who highly praised Lu Zhan.
But the plague...
She hadn't heard about the plague in the south!
Lu Zhan nodded, looked at Xie Wu and continued, "It should be early June..."
After hearing what Lu Zhan said, Xie Wu's eyes widened even more.
The plague broke out in early June, but until mid-September, the capital had not received any news. Needless to say, someone must have concealed the news.
"Who belongs to the south? The prince or the king of Qi?" Xie Wu frowned and looked at Lu Zhan and said.
"The Chief Secretary of Jingzhou is a disciple of Xu Shoufu. It was Xu Shoufu who helped him go to Jingzhou to take up the post of Chief Secretary!" Lu Zhan looked at Xie Wu and answered her question calmly.
Sure enough.
The prince has already angered Emperor Zhengxuan twice. If this matter is brought out again at this time, then he, the prince, will probably end up in trouble.
Even if Emperor Zhengxuan intended to protect him, those in the imperial court would probably be impatient to support such a prince. Without the support of hundreds of officials, how could he secure his position as prince?
But……
"Lu Zhan, you, when did you know about this?" Xie Wu suddenly looked at Lu Zhan and asked.
Lu Zhan's eyes suddenly moved.
He looked at Xie Wu, and his throat suddenly felt a little blocked.
"Lu Zhan, when did you know about this?" Xie Wu asked again without giving up.
Lu Zhan closed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "After Miss Chen Si's accident..."
"A month and a half ago. Lu Zhan, you knew about this a month and a half ago!" Xie Wu frowned, and her eyes gradually turned cold and serious when looking at Lu Zhan.
"Yes." Lu Zhan closed his eyes and said "yes" again.
Seeing Lu Zhan's dejected expression, Xie Wu moved the corners of her lips, and suddenly she couldn't speak out what she was full of.
She had no position to accuse Lu Zhan.
The plague in the south was not caused by Lu Zhan, nor was it Lu Zhan who concealed the plague and refused to report it. He just stood aside and watched all this with cold eyes, as if...
It was like watching the Marquis of Wu'an's Mansion collapse suddenly in the past.
As soon as this thought flashed through her mind, she felt a sharp pain in her chest.
Obviously everything has passed long ago, and she has tried to persuade herself to let it go countless times. Why, why does her heart still feel tingling every time she thinks about it?
"Ah Wu, it's not that I don't want to expose the matter, it's just that my identity is not suitable for me to come forward..." Seeing Xie Wu pressing her chest, Lu Zhan guessed that she must be thinking of her previous life. He pursed his lips and tried to think
I wanted to explain to her, but as soon as I said it, I felt that my words were superfluous.
He originally wanted to use King Qi's mouth to reveal the matter, but unexpectedly, King Qi rarely calmed down this time.
Emperor Zhengxuan still valued the prince. Even though the military pay and Yang Hefeng incidents came up one after another, he easily exposed the matter. He felt that even if he exposed the fact that the prince's family concealed the plague at this time, it would be a big deal.
It couldn't affect the prince at all. Moreover, only a few villages were affected by the plague at that time. Even if it was brought out, it wouldn't be able to seriously hurt the prince. It would be better to delay it...
But even so, Lu Zhan did not dare to say that he was not responsible.
After all, he did stand by and watch.
Moreover, he did not tell Xie Wu. King Qi not only delayed it, but also secretly sent people to spread rumors in those villages. As a result, those villagers who were not willing to wait for death fled out of the village one after another, and even
Now the plague is getting more serious.
He could have avoided all of this, but just because of his hesitation and selfishness, countless lives were lost in his hesitation.
Thinking of this, Lu Zhan couldn't help but close his eyes again.
And when Xie Wu saw Lu Zhan's guilty look and dared not look directly at her, her cold heart couldn't help but soften again.
"So, are you planning to expose this matter now?" Xie Wu looked at Lu Zhan and asked.
She knew Lu Zhan too well, and she also knew the emperor's suspicions too well. If Lu Zhan hadn't been so careful, given his status, how could he have escaped Emperor Zhengxuan's suspicions and been entrusted with such an important task?
Wasn't her grandfather killed by Jiu on his way back to Ningxia because of Emperor Zhengxuan's suspicion?
He just wanted to take her back to Ningxia.
Lu Zhan saw the worry in Xie Wu's eyes, and the corners of his lips moved. After thinking for a long time, he finally said to Xie Wu, "I originally wanted to use King Qi's mouth to expose this matter, but unfortunately...
Now we can’t wait any longer.”
If we wait any longer, I don’t know how many lives will be lost at the hands of those officials!
In order to prevent the spread of the plague and make things worse, they have already gone to great lengths to prevent the spread of the plague.
"King Qi? Are you talking about disturbing King Qi?" Xie Wu asked again hurriedly.
Hearing Xie Wu mention King Qi, Lu Zhan's lips suddenly raised a sarcastic smile, "I informed King Duan of the matter immediately after knowing the news, but as you said, it has been a month and a half, but King Qi has
Still no movement, he is still waiting..."
The King of Qi can wait, but the people can no longer wait.
"Then what are you going to do? If King Qi refuses to speak, then King Duan will be the one?" Xie Wu frowned, looking at Lu Zhan with a hint of anxiety in her eyes.
At this moment, she also saw that Lu Zhan didn't want to stand by and watch, but that his identity really made it inappropriate for him to come forward!
Her grandfather ended up dying just because he was suspected by Emperor Zhengxuan, let alone Lu Zhan...
Duke Dingguo's Mansion will only be more eye-catching than Marquis Wu'an's Mansion, not to mention that Lu Zhan always behaves like a playboy who doesn't care about worldly affairs in front of him. If he knew that he was meddling in the affairs of the court...
Just when Xie Wu was anxious, Lu Zhan said something that shocked her even more.
"Ah Wu, you are so smart, how could you not guess why King Qi suddenly became so calm..."
"You, are you talking about Prince Duan...how could it be, he, isn't he the one you chose?" Xie Wu was completely stunned.
She stared hard at Lu Zhan's eyes, trying to see something in his eyes, but there was nothing but bitterness and coldness in Lu Zhan's eyes.
how so?
how so!
"I never chose him, I just... I just had to hide behind him." Lu Zhan seemed not to see the shock on Xie Wu's face. He watched him drop another bomb.
Originally, he didn't want to tell Xie Wu this.
He wanted to wait a little longer, wait until Xie Wu accepted him, wait until she got closer to him, but he had been carrying these secrets for two lifetimes and he was too tired. At this moment, he suddenly didn't want to carry them anymore.
"You can only hide behind him?"
"Yes, we can only hide behind him." Lu Zhan looked into Xie Wu's eyes and answered her affirmatively.
"I don't understand, Lu Zhan, I don't understand what you mean?" Xie Wu was completely confused by Lu Zhan's words.
Hiding behind King Duan, giving him advice, and helping him gain a foothold in the court. If he didn't choose King Duan and wanted to push him to the throne, then why did he do this?
"I need a hand to handle the affairs of the court on my behalf, and this hand can only be Prince Duan." Lu Zhan patiently explained to Xie Wu.
Xie Wu shook her head, "I still don't understand!"
"Fool, because King Duan has ambitions and desires, such a person can be used by me with just a little provocation!" Lu Zhan raised his hand and gently rubbed Xie Wu's head and said in a soft voice.
"Then why not King Cheng?" Xie Wu asked again.
But just after she finished asking, she immediately figured it out.
King Cheng has neither divine favor nor family background, and has no sense of existence from birth to now. If it were just these, then he still has uses, but he has no interest in the throne at all, and he never makes friends with officials
, except for going to the palace to pay respects to the emperor during holidays, he spent the rest of the time in his palace behind closed doors. Even the prince's right to go to court was removed from him by his initiative to ask Emperor Zhengxuan to exempt him.
Such a person with no desires or demands is indeed not as useful as King Duan.
"So, Lu Zhan, what are you using to stir things up? If Prince Duan is not your choice, then who is your choice? Prince Cheng?"
Seeing that Xie Wu finally asked the most important point, Lu Zhan's lips finally curved into a smile, "No, not King Cheng!"
In his previous life, he did think about King Fucheng ascending to the throne.
But what he didn't expect was that King Cheng flatly rejected him. He said that he had never been in contact with the court to protect himself, and he didn't know how to govern the country. Even with the support of hundreds of officials, he couldn't be an emperor.
.
That was the first time he had a heart-to-heart talk with King Cheng.
It was also the first time he saw someone facing that supreme dragon chair without any emotion.
"Not King Cheng? Not King Duan? Not even Prince Qi, so... Lu Zhan, who did you choose?" Xie Wu finally couldn't sit still and straightened her body.
Emperor Zhengxuan only had a few sons, but he didn't like any of them, so who did he choose?
Could it be that the one he chose was not the son of Emperor Zhengxuan, but the grandson of Emperor Zhengxuan?