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

Zhou Chu waved his hand dismissively.

These assassins left no survivors, and even if they had, the difficulty of getting them to confess would have been unimaginable. And even if they had confessed, it wouldn't have been enough evidence to bring down high-ranking officials in the court.

This kind of evidence is never needed to bring down a high-ranking official in the court.

Looking at Fang Hong in front of him, Zhou Chu felt that there was something strange about this subordinate.

He seems too handsome, too handsome to look like a man.

Even though he seemed to be trying very hard to make himself look rough.

After everyone had cleaned the courtyard, they all came to Zhou Chu and waited for his next instructions.

"Everyone else, step down. Fang Hong, stay."

Zhou Chu waved his hand and said.

"Yes."

Everyone retreated one after another.

At this moment, Chunlan had already gone to help Yunjin wash up.

Only Zhou Chu and Fang Hong remained in the courtyard.

"Keep your head up."

Zhou Chu looked at Fang Hong and said.

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong trembled, but finally raised his head, a hint of panic flashing in his eyes.

Zhou Chu pinched Fang Hong's chin, turned his face left and right, and looked at his neck, finally confirming his guess.

"Take off your clothes."

Zhou Chu gave the order.

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong panicked even more. She realized that the commander in front of her must have seen through something, and immediately knelt down on one knee.

"Please forgive me, sir. I did not mean to deceive you."

Are you the only one in your family?

Zhou Chu said with a half-smile.

"Yes."

Fang Hong understood that he could no longer hide this from the commander, so he told him everything.

Fang Hong's father was a centurion in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a hereditary position. However, the Fang family only had one daughter in his generation, Fang Hong. Fang Hong's mother died in childbirth shortly after she was born. Unfortunately, her father was deeply in love with her mother and never remarried.

From then on, Fang Hong's father dressed her up as a boy and told others that Fang Hong was a boy.

Fang Hong learned martial arts from her father since she was a child. Her father had long planned for her to inherit his position as a centurion, so that the Fang family's legacy could not be broken.

Such incidents are not uncommon within the Embroidered Uniform Guard; although extremely rare, they do occur.

In addition, when Fang Hong's father was alive, he had excellent relationships with his colleagues and could be considered a kind-hearted person who never sought credit and did not like to compete for anything.

Therefore, after Fang Hong inherited her father's position as a centurion, she was occasionally seen through, but everyone chose to pretend not to know.

"My lord, Fang Hong deserves to die. Please punish him."

Fang Hong had already resigned himself to his fate.

"What crime deserves death? Take your men and go to the Northern Garrison Command to gather more troops. Surround Lord Xia Yan's residence and make a big commotion, the bigger the better."

Zhou Chu immediately changed the subject.

Fang Hong was taken aback when he heard this, but then he realized what was going on.

"Your subordinate thanks you, sir."

After Fang Hong left, Zhou Chu looked in the direction of Xia Yan's house, his eyes filled with an inscrutable expression.

The person who could have planned tonight's assassination was either Yang Tinghe or Xia Yan.

However, Yang Tinghe and Xia Yan are quite different. Yang Tinghe prefers to use his power to intimidate others and dislikes resorting to underhanded tactics.

For example, after Zhu Houzhao returned to the capital, he was placed under house arrest in the palace by Yang Tinghe, who even demolished the Leopard House where Zhu Houzhao was hiding.

In short, this disease needs to be treated whether you want to or not.

Even though Zhu Houzhao repeatedly emphasized that he was cured, Yang Tinghe ignored him.

Such a person would disdain using assassination as a means of communication.

If we rule out Yang Tinghe, then the most suspicious person is Xia Yan.

Xia Yan is like a dark wolf, lurking in the shadows, ready to strike at any opportunity.

To deal with this kind of person, you need to give him enough of a deterrent; otherwise, if the assassination fails this time, he might set himself on fire next time.

For Xia Yan, this was an old skill.

Zhou Chu knew very well that he had to give this Minister of Rites enough of a deterrent, so that he would understand whether he could bear the consequences of provoking him.

Of course, Zhou Chu had already made ample preparations.

The reason Zhou Chu's family didn't hire servants for the previous six months was mainly to set up secret passages and mechanisms.

Zhou Chu had Sun Qiang find some people to buy all the houses around his home under other people's names.

Over the past six months, Zhou Chu, Sun Qiang, Chu Liu, and Chunlan have been digging secret tunnels whenever they have time.

As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. Since Zhou Chu was going down this path, he would have left himself enough escape routes.

Soon, Fang Hong transferred another twenty or so men who were on duty from the Northern Garrison Command. The group of men arrived around the Xia residence in a grand procession, drew their embroidered spring knives, and began hacking at the gates of the Xia residence.

Xia Yan, who was waiting for the results at home, was startled when she heard the noise.

"What exactly happened? Let's go check it out right away."

Xia Yan glanced at the butler beside him and said.