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

The days went by like this day by day.

Lu Wan'er became increasingly obsessed with military strategy.

Every day, she would pester Zhou Chu to tell her how Han Xin and Li Jing used troops.

He was particularly interested in Li Jing's almost supernatural military tactics.

To this end, Zhou Chu and Lu Wei even made a sand table.

The three of them would play sand table simulations whenever they had free time.

Moreover, Zhou Chu often had Lu Wei put himself in the shoes of civil officials from various dynasties, simulating how to govern a country.

And identify the problems that existed in each dynasty.

Lu Wei has always enjoyed this kind of game.

Within the academy, the old drunkard seemed to be living near Lu Wei's study.

I come every day.

Zhou Chu was not stingy and would share some food with him every day.

Later, Lu Wei simply shared some of his food as well, so Zhou Chu didn't have to give away much.

In Lu Wei's words, "When you are successful, you should help others."

Although I cannot be like Prime Minister Zhuge Liang or Lord Han, I can still help an old man.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, Zhou Chu has been at the Lu family for two months.

Winter is just around the corner.

This winter seems unusually cold.

It's only November, and it's already so cold that people are shivering.

Zhou Chu knew that the Ming Dynasty was in the Little Ice Age, and the winters would likely get colder and colder in the future.

Zhou Chu finally received his first month's pay.

Four hundred coins.

The monthly salary isn't much.

But in that month, Yang gave Zhou Chu a total of twenty taels of silver, which was almost as much as the money Yang had spent on buying Zhou Chu.

After all, with Zhou Chu's help, Lu Wei was officially accepted as a disciple by Master Yang.

I've found a great teacher.

Lu Song and his wife have both witnessed Lu Wei's changes and progress.

I am extremely gratified.

Moreover, her daughter had to study with Zhou Chu every day.

Yang even felt that she hadn't given enough.

"Madam, there's no need for that. I know that my daily food costs a lot of money."

Zhou Chu's words made Yang feel very gratified, and she felt that Chu-ge'er was a child who knew how to be grateful.

That day, Zhou Chu took half a day off, bought a leg of lamb, and went to the brokerage firm with his own money to find his uncle.

"Brother Chu, how are you doing at the Lu residence?"

Uncle was also very happy to see Zhou Chu.

"My wife and husband are both very kind to me, and I have grown much taller."

As Zhou Chu spoke, he handed the lamb leg to his cousin.

"Thanks to my uncle's kindness, with winter just around the corner, he took this lamb leg to make soup to warm us up."

"You child, why are you wasting money? This leg of lamb must have cost a lot, right? How much do you make a month? Return the leg of lamb."

My uncle didn't accept the lamb leg.

He knew Zhou Chu had it tough, after all, he had such a large family to take care of.

“It wasn’t much money. My wife gave me a lot of money. As soon as I received my monthly allowance, I thought of my cousin and came to see you.”

Zhou Chu said nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, his uncle's eyes reddened with emotion, and he patted Zhou Chu on the shoulder.

"Good boy, you will definitely have a bright future."

Under Zhou Chu's insistence, the uncle did not continue to refuse.

"You stay here for a while, I'll stew this lamb leg, and we can eat it together, you and me."

My uncle said with a happy face.

Zhou Chu shook his head.

“I took leave to come here, and I can’t stay for long. This is a letter I wrote to my mother. She can’t read, so I’ll have to trouble my uncle to read it to her.”

As Zhou Chu spoke, he took out a letter that he had written long ago.

He then took out another ten taels of silver.

"Please take this money back with you, Uncle, so they can buy some charcoal for the winter."

"so much?"

Uncle looked at the silver in Zhou Chu's hand with a shocked expression.

He then looked around and, after making sure no one was paying attention, lowered his voice.

"You didn't steal the master's money, did you? If you did, return it right away. Don't let a moment of confusion happen."

Zhou Chu smiled when he heard this.

"Uncle, don't worry. I helped my young master find a famous teacher. This is a reward from my wife."

My uncle breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

"That's good. I'm going back home in the next couple of days anyway, so I'll stop by your house on the way."

In the end, Zhou Chu did not stay to eat the stewed lamb leg.

Instead, he hurriedly went to the academy.

Upon arriving at the academy, they saw a beautiful woman who looked to be in her thirties but still possessed a captivating charm, helping the previously drunken old man.

She didn't mind the old man's stench.

They even thoughtfully handed the old man a pot of wine.

The old man ignored it, took the wine pot, waved his hand, and staggered into the academy.

The woman watched the old man's retreating figure, her face filled with desolation.

"Hey, this old man is so old, yet he still has beautiful women who like him."

Zhou Chu smiled and quickly caught up with the old man.

"Why are you so late today?"

The old man looked at Zhou Chu with a dazed expression and asked.

"Winter is almost here, so I'll have my uncle send some money home so we can buy some charcoal for the winter."

Zhou Chu told him the truth.

Upon hearing this, the old man seemed to remember something and fell silent.

The two soon arrived at the study, where the old man plopped down at the doorway and began to indulge in a life of debauchery.

Master Yang didn't know if he recognized the old man.

I can't help but sigh every time I see the old man.

As for the old man's identity, neither the old man nor Master Yang would say, so Zhou Chu and the other two naturally wouldn't ask.

Lu Wei was curious and wanted to ask, but Zhou Chu stopped him.

"Many of the older scholars in the academy have painful pasts to recall, so why reopen old wounds?"

Lu Wei then gave up.

"You old man, you eat these two kids' food every day, you should at least put in some effort."

Master Yang looked at the old man, who was living a life of debauchery, and said with dissatisfaction.

Master Yang said this because he wanted the old man to teach Zhou Chu and Lu Wei something.

Secondly, I also wanted to help this former friend get back on his feet.

He figured it out: this old fellow came here every day without fail, he must have taken a liking to talent.

She must have taken a fancy to that young page.

Zhou Chu had been lecturing Lu Wei every day for so long that it was impossible for him to keep it from Master Yang.

Master Yang had long harbored a fondness for talent.

When they recruited Lu Wei, they also recruited Zhou Chu.

"It's really troublesome."

The old man said it was troublesome, but he didn't refuse.

"Your handwriting is so bad it looks like a dog's scribbles. I couldn't stand it anymore. From today onwards, you'll learn to write with me every day for one hour. No more than that."

Master Yang was overjoyed upon hearing this and looked at the two of them.

"Hurry up and come over to become my apprentice."

"There's no need for me to become your apprentice; calligraphy is not my forte."

The old man said, his eyes still blurry with drunkenness.

Master Yang did not insist.

“From today onwards, you two will spend one hour each day learning calligraphy from this old fellow.”

"is teacher."

Zhou and Chu replied respectfully.

The old man walked up to the desk, picked up the brush, and his entire demeanor changed.

This was the first time Zhou Chu had directly felt an aura emanating from someone.

Then the old man picked up his brush and wrote a piece in small regular script.

Zhou Chu did not understand calligraphy.

However, it was also clear that the old man's calligraphy was extraordinary.

At the very least, it cannot compare to Master Yang's calligraphy.

Even someone like Zhou Chu, who doesn't understand calligraphy, could see it clearly.

It's easy to imagine how big the difference is between the two calligraphers.

Zhou Chu still remembered that the old man had just said he wasn't good at calligraphy.

Just who is this old man?