The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 302

What Zhou Chu said was true. The Chen Wanyan incident was indeed orchestrated by Jiajing, partly to weaken the power of Yang Yiqing and others, and mainly to shield Zhou Chu from harm.

After the incident with Chen Wanyan, Yang Yiqing and his ilk no longer dared to indiscriminately praise Zhou Chu to the point of ruin.

Of course, it wasn't just Chen Wanyan and his son who needed to be dealt with, but also the officials recommended by Chen Wanyan.

Zhou Chu ordered the Northern Garrison to seize a batch of these officials, but he did not deal with them all. Instead, he left some for Yang Yiqing and his men to fight, thus drawing some attention to them.

By the time Chen Wanyan's case was almost resolved, half a month had passed. During this time, a lot had happened, such as Yun Jin and Fang Hong leaving the capital again and heading straight for Xuanwu Army by boat.

They were only on temporary leave and couldn't stay in the capital forever. Otherwise, the Xuanwu Army would eventually get out of control. After all, the Xuanwu Army wasn't officially part of the Ming Dynasty's organization, and its only two direct superiors were Yun Jin and Zhou Chu.

Yun Jin's absence from the army is fine for the short term, but if it goes on for too long, they won't know what to do.

Another thing is that Lu Wei's wedding day is approaching.

Lu Bing is the eldest son of the Lu family, and they should have arranged a marriage for him first. However, Lu Bing has always said that he is not in a hurry. As a close minister to the emperor, he does not want to get married too early.

Zhou Chu knew that Lu Bingcheng's family in history was very old, with only two daughters, who married Xu Jie's son and Yan Shifan's son respectively, causing the Xu family to die out.

Lu Bing's decision was not surprising.

After Lu Song and his wife tried to persuade him to no avail, they decided to arrange a marriage for Lu Wei. Zhou Chu recognized the Lu family's in-laws; they were none other than Master Yang, who had taught Lu Wei and Zhou Chu.

Master Yang has a young daughter who is about the same age as Lu Wei.

When the Lu family was imprisoned, Master Yang never visited them, and he always felt guilty about it. Even after the Lu family was released and Lu Bing and Zhou Chu later held high positions, Master Yang still couldn't bring himself to visit them.

However, Master Yang felt guilty towards the Lu family, but Madam Yang did not want to sever the marriage. She could understand why Master Yang did what he did back then. Although she had some resentment in her heart while in prison, after she came out, Madam Yang still wanted to visit her family more often.

I just haven't found the right opportunity.

Some time ago, the Yang family sent someone to Master Yang's house to propose marriage for Lu Wei. Master Yang already felt guilty towards the Lu family and towards his disciple Lu Wei, so he had no reason to refuse.

So the two families resumed their relationship, and the marriage was arranged two months earlier.

Master Yang's youngest daughter is named Yang Ran, who is one year younger than Lu Wei. They are already distant cousins, and now that they are engaged, they are even closer relatives.

Lu Wei's wedding is still more than three months away, and Yun Jin will make a special trip back to attend their wedding.

Many years ago, Yang Ran had heard her father mention his two disciples, Lu Wei and Zhou Chu. At first, he was disappointed in Lu Wei, but later he praised him highly, which made Yang Ran very curious about Lu Wei.

As for Zhou Chu, he was just a pageboy at the time. Although Master Yang would occasionally praise him, it was far less than the praise he gave Lu Wei.

Later, when the Lu family encountered trouble, Master Yang often sighed to himself, feeling that he had let down Lu Wei and the Lu family. This made Yang Ran's impression of Lu Wei even deeper.

Later, when the Lu family was released from prison, the patriarch Lu Bingfei rose to prominence and achieved great success, while the former pageboy also rose to become the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. This left Master Yang dumbfounded. He didn't want to mention his two disciples, Lu Wei and Zhou Chu, in front of outsiders, but he mentioned them more and more often at home.

When Yang Ran learned that she was to be engaged to Lu Wei, she did not object, but she didn't have any deep feelings for him either, since she and Lu Wei had never met before.

It wasn't until the two families had finalized the marriage that Lu Wei and Yang Ran met during a visit to relatives. The two were a perfect match, and their eyes met, which made Madam Yang and her husband very happy.

However, Yang Ran's curiosity about Lu Bing, the patriarch of the Lu family, and Zhou Chu, the powerful commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, grew even stronger. She wondered what these two looked like. Were they blue-faced and fanged?

When Chen Wanyan left the capital, he was in a very miserable state, completely different from his usual glory. Apart from Zhou Chu, no one saw him off.

"Lord Zhou, it's rare that you've come to see this old man off."

In just half a month, Chen Wanyan looked much older than Yang Yiqing, with most of his hair turning white.

"His Majesty sent me to bring you some travel expenses."

As Zhou Chu spoke, he handed a packet of silver coins to Chen Wanyan.

Looking at the package in his hand, Chen Wanyan was overwhelmed with emotion.