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

"Chu Liu's father was beaten to death by Liao Shun's men. That guy knew a little bit of cheating. He was targeted by Chu Liu's father and won a lot of money from him. When he got angry, he knew that Chu Liu's father was definitely cheating, but he had no evidence. So he bribed someone to expose Chu Liu's father's cheating tricks and had him beaten to death."

Jin Youcai sighed as he finished speaking.

“He once said that after he died, no one should collect his body; his son would collect it himself. As a con artist, he had long anticipated that this day would come.”

"I haven't dared to tell Chu Liu because I'm afraid he'll act impulsively."

Zhou Chu nodded upon hearing this.

"Don't tell him yet, I'll handle this."

The next morning, Zhou Chu saw an acquaintance.

Lu Bing.

Six months ago, Zhou Chu had Lu Bing relay the current situation to Zhu Houcong, who was then the heir apparent.

Not long after, Prince Xing fell seriously ill and died, and Zhu Houcong succeeded him as Prince Xing.

At this time, Zhu Houcong was only twelve years old, even younger than Zhou Chu, but he was extremely shrewd.

After becoming the Prince of Xing, Zhu Houcong spent his days drinking and making merry, mingling with a group of maids, looking exactly like a child who had just inherited the throne and was indulging in pleasure.

Zhu Houcong's mother, Madam Jiang, reprimanded him many times, but to no avail.

All of this naturally fell into the eyes of certain people.

However, despite his outward appearance, Zhu Houcong was far from calm inside.

No matter how cunning he was, he was still just a twelve-year-old boy. He had been trying to contact Zhou Chu to ask him what he should do next.

He was also afraid that the letter to Zhou Chu would be intercepted, and if it were intercepted, all his previous efforts would be in vain, so Zhu Houcong dared not take the gamble.

After all, those people's henchmen were spread throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.

Even the late emperor and his own grandfather died at their hands, so Zhu Houcong believed that intercepting a letter would be a piece of cake for them.

Zhu Houcong had been waiting, waiting for an opportunity.

The rescue of the Lu family this time is a perfect opportunity.

At this time, it was perfectly reasonable for Lu Bing to return home to visit his family, and it would not arouse any suspicion from anyone.

As early as when Princess Deqing was preparing to save the Lu family, she sent a letter to Zhu Houcong.

Upon receiving the letter, Zhu Houcong wrote two letters, one to Lady Yang and the other to Zhou Chu, which he instructed Lu Bing to take back to the capital under the pretext of visiting relatives.

Lu Bing traveled through the night, not wanting to waste a single moment. The Lu family had been in prison for so long, and now that they were finally out, he naturally wanted to reunite with his family.

Upon arriving in the capital, Lu Bing immediately went to see Lu Song and his wife.

If I were to visit Zhou Chu as soon as I got home, it would definitely arouse suspicion from those with ulterior motives.

Zhou Chu was somewhat surprised to see Lu Bing.

I had expected Lu Bing to come back, but I didn't expect him to come so soon.

"Let's find a place where it's convenient to talk."

Lu Bing said in a low voice.

"It's alright, there's only one servant in my new house who has no ears."

Despite saying that, Zhou Chu still led Lu Bing into the study.

Zhou Chu did not buy another house for the new property because he did not trust anyone else.

If there were no other servants at home, Chu Li would have a much larger range of activities. However, in order not to implicate Zhou Chu, Chu Li usually only went between her own room and study.

Even so, with so many servants in the household, someone is bound to accidentally stumble upon it.

When I stayed at the Lu family's house before, I couldn't just send all the servants away, as that would only arouse suspicion.

Now that he has moved to a new house, Zhou Chu naturally won't be buying servants anymore.

After all, the only ones who really needed servants to wait on them were Zhou Chu and Mu Yunjin, as Mu Yunjin spent most of her daytime at the Lu family's residence.

Even servants bought from the countryside have weaknesses and families. If they are targeted, they can easily turn their guns on Zhou Chu, since these people don't have much loyalty to him.