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

Yang echoed this.

"This kid is better than me in many ways."

Tang Bohu also praised Zhou Chu generously, without worrying at all that Zhou Chu would become arrogant.

He had never met anyone of Zhou Chu's age with stronger self-control and self-awareness than Zhou Chu. Not to mention his peers, Tang Bohu knew that he was far inferior to his student in both aspects.

"Please stay for dinner later. It's been a long time since my manor has been this lively."

Princess Deqing was delighted to have so many people chatting with her, and naturally didn't want them to leave so soon.

The Lu family banquet was therefore cancelled. After the princess learned of this, she specially arranged for someone to invite Lu Song, Lu Bing, and Mu Yunjin.

The princess had long suspected Mu Yunjin's identity, after all, when the Lu family had their accident, the little girl from the Lu family was said to have died, but no one saw her.

Since then, Zhou Chu has had a cousin by his side.

However, this kind of thing is very common. In the capital, countless families are hiding female relatives of officials who have committed crimes. This kind of thing is an unspoken rule, and no one will expose it.

Once exposed, it will not benefit anyone.

After all, nothing lasts forever, and no one can guarantee that they won't run into trouble in the future. Everyone wants to leave themselves a way out.

The princess, of course, wouldn't expose her.

Soon, Lu Bing and Mu Yunjin arrived at the princess's residence. Even Lu Song, upon learning that the princess had invited him to the princess's residence, immediately took half a day off and came to the princess's residence as well.

If someone else were to invite him, Lu Song would naturally not need to ask for leave; the lunch break would suffice.

However, Princess Deqing had done a great favor for their family, so Lu Song naturally dared not neglect her.

Tang Bohu found an opportunity to secretly tell Princess Deqing about Zhou Chu's idea of ​​partnering with the princess's residence to do business.

Princess Deqing's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.

The princess's residence was too large, even though she had brought a lot of money and shops with her when she married into the royal family.

However, the daily expenses of the enormous princess's residence were terrifying.

These expenses are necessary and cannot be reduced. After all, the princess's residence is in the capital and represents the face of the royal family, which is of paramount importance.

Civil and military officials might advise the emperor to be frugal, because although the money the emperor spends comes from the imperial treasury, a large part of the imperial treasury's money comes from the Ministry of Revenue. If the imperial treasury runs out of money, the emperor will naturally try to get the civil and military officials to give him some.

As for the Princess's residence? What business is it of theirs how much money they spend? The expenses of the Princess's residence have always been Princess Deqing's own money, and have nothing to do with the imperial court.

I've never heard of a princess's residence asking the Ministry of Revenue for money when it's short of funds.

Princess Deqing has been in charge of the household affairs of the princess's residence for many years. She has to be very careful with many expenses. If she is not careful, it will cause an imbalance between income and expenditure.

When Princess Deqing had previously sent someone to investigate Zhou Chu, she was extremely impressed by his business acumen and even considered partnering with him in business.

However, since the issue of Lin Zhi needed to be resolved first, Princess Deqing hadn't dared to bring it up before, as she felt it would be too much trouble for Zhou Chu.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that Zhou Chu shared the same idea.

Princess Deqing then summoned Zhou Chu to her study to discuss the specific details.

What kind of business does the weighing equipment company want to do?

Princess Deqing smiled.

"I plan to expand Yun Gui Fang and open three more branches."

Zhou Chu didn't beat around the bush and directly stated his thoughts.

Today, although Yun Gui Fang's throughput of goods and customers far exceeds that of ordinary cloth shops, it can only serve most of the western part of the capital.

Most importantly, although many noble ladies came to Yun Gui Fang to buy silk or clothes, these noble ladies only accounted for a small portion of all the high-ranking officials in the capital, and they were mostly officials of the third rank or below.