usatvline Chapter 284
Chapter 284
The hatred that originally belonged to Zhou Chu was all drawn to Chen Wanyan. No one talked about Zhou Chu anymore. The people talked about which officials Chen Wanyan had persecuted in the past two days, and how many officials had carried boxes of gold and silver treasures into Chen's mansion.
This has almost become an open secret in the capital.
It was only then that the people of the capital suddenly realized that a year ago everyone said that Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had persecuted loyal officials, but they had never heard of this commander accepting any benefits from anyone.
At that time, the number of people sending visiting cards to the Zhou family every day was countless, and no one had ever heard of this Lord Zhou actually receiving anyone.
Many people live around the Zhou residence, and many things cannot be hidden from their eyes, just like the rows of people in front of the Chen residence.
In comparison, the people of the capital suddenly realized that perhaps the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not persecuting loyal officials.
“Who told you that Lord Zhou is a bad person? Let me tell you, my son works at the cloth shop that Lord Zhou owns. Lord Zhou pays them the highest wages in the entire capital, and they eat better, with meat at every meal.”
A woman in her forties or fifties, waving a handkerchief in her hand, spoke vividly to her neighbors.
"Isn't that right? I don't know about others, but Lord Zhou's confiscation of the Wang family's property can be considered revenge for my poor brother's family. The Wang family has done all sorts of bad things. Heaven has eyes! To tell you the truth, I have been secretly keeping Lord Zhou's longevity tablet for the past year."
Another woman started wiping away tears as she spoke.
This kind of thing happens frequently in the capital. Time will reveal the truth. It took more than a year for those who were angry at Zhou Chu to realize that they had cursed the wrong person.
So those who had initially criticized Zhou Chu turned their guns on him, attacking those who had criticized him before, and began to glorify Zhou Chu, exaggerating some things to the point of absurdity.
People are often like this, easily swinging from one extreme to another, overcorrecting.
Zhou Chu also heard many outrageous rumors, such as that before he became an official, a certain official's daughter cried and begged to marry no one but him.
Many stories have become increasingly outrageous as they've been passed down, almost turning into veritable folk tales.
However, Zhou Chu was too lazy to correct it, just like a year ago when he was misunderstood and too lazy to defend himself. Zhou Chu knew very well that this situation was only temporary, and as time went by, everything would gradually be restored to normal.
Compared to these, Zhou Chu had other things to attend to.
Yun Jin has returned to the capital.
Zhou Chu sent a letter specifically asking Yun Jin to return to the capital. After all, Yun Jin had been away from the capital for over a year. It would be a lie for a girl to say she didn't miss home after being away for so long.
Zhou Chu didn't want Yun Jin to be constantly commanding troops outside because of him. If the emperor really wanted to harm him, he could always find an opportunity.
At the very least, the Ming Dynasty currently faces numerous problems, and Zhou Chu believes that given Jiajing's vision and strategic thinking, he would not dare to harm him.
After all, he had even temporarily handed over the Tiger Legion to Lin Lu, so he posed no real threat to the emperor.
Except for Wanli Emperor, who was incompetent and short-sighted, few emperors of the Ming Dynasty purged their meritorious officials. Even Zhu Jianshen only sent Wang Zhi to Nanjing to retire and did nothing to him.
Fang Hong and Xiao Dao returned with Yun Jin.
Fang Hong took advantage of this trip back to marry Shen Qing.
Xiao Dao hadn't seen the old beggar for over a year, and as soon as he returned to the capital, he went straight to the old beggar's house.
The old beggar had grown increasingly old in recent years, and his health was not as good as before. This winter was also unusually cold. As early as last year, Zhou Chu had let the old beggar live in a house he had bought next door, and also help Zhou Chu look after the house.
Zhou Chu had already bought up many of the surrounding houses and even dug secret passages for them.
The old beggar had been working with the Imperial Guard for years, so he was naturally not short of money. Every winter, he would stock up on charcoal so that he could survive another year.
"Old man."
Xiao Dao's eyes instantly reddened when he saw the old man's suddenly aged appearance.
She never imagined that the old man would age so quickly in just one year since she left.
"Why are you crying!"
Jin Youcai said with some helplessness.
The reason he was in such a hurry to entrust Xiaodao to Zhou Chu was because he knew his body probably wouldn't last more than a few years. In their line of work, who lives a long life? They're exposed to the wind and sun all day, fighting with people, and have countless old wounds on their bodies, yet they're reluctant to use medicine.
He knew his own body well, which is why he shamelessly entrusted the knife to Zhou Chu back then, never expecting to encounter a true god.
Jin Youcai knew very well that if it weren't for Lord Zhou, he probably wouldn't have even survived last winter.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Just as Jin Youcai was about to speak with Xiaodao, his dilapidated body, like a bellows, couldn't help but cough.
Xiao Dao looked at the medicine being brewed by the bedside.
How much longer do we have to endure this?
Xiao Dao said anxiously.
"That's about right, the heat is just right."
Jin Youcai wasted his energy.
Xiao Dao then picked up the clay pot, carefully poured the medicine into a bowl, and then helped the old beggar up, carefully feeding him the medicine.