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

Chapter 282

Most importantly, with Shen Qing in the middle, everything seems quite reasonable.

Han Yuan'er and Sun Jiaojiao both had a heartfelt admiration for Zhou Chu. After all, he was such a legendary figure with immense power and influence. Zhou Chu had so many halos that their gazes towards him were automatically bewitched.

So much so that their gazes were always unconsciously drawn to Zhou Chu.

This is the spotlight effect. When a person has too many halos and is too legendary, even if the person is very ordinary and average, the people around him cannot see him with normal eyes, but instead see him through a filter.

It's more reasonable that Zhou Chu himself is anything but ordinary, which is why he is so charming to Han Yuan'er and Sun Jiaojiao—a dangerous kind of charm that makes the two women unconsciously talk about him whenever they are together.

Now that Zhou Chu invited them to stay for dinner, they didn't feel any problem at all; on the contrary, they felt flattered.

While Zhou Chu and the others were eating, the results were announced in the imperial court. Jiajing ignored the officials who impeached Chen Wanyan. After all, Chen Wanyan had only been in office for a short time and had not done anything heinous. Most of these officials' accusations were baseless and lacked credibility.

However, Chen Wanyan's son, Chen Shaozu, has done a lot of bad things in the past year, but Jiajing is well aware that it is not yet time to settle accounts.

"Liu Ji, what else do you have to say?"

When Jiajing looked at Liu Ji, who had been impeached by Chen Wanyan's men, he realized that Liu Ji was a fourth-rank official whose political future was already ruined. Jiajing didn't even know his courtesy name and didn't bother to address him by it.

"Your Majesty, I am innocent! I do not know why they are slandering me like this."

Liu Ji said, tears streaming down his face.

At this moment, Liu Ji panicked, extremely panicked. He never expected that these officials seemed to have conspired together to impeach him without any warning.

The Ministry of Works has always been a lucrative position. Over the years, Liu Ji has embezzled an unknown amount of money from the court by taking bribes and demanding kickbacks. He and other officials in the Ministry of Works have pocketed seven or eight tenths of the funds for many projects.

His affairs couldn't withstand investigation; they would be exposed immediately. That's why he was afraid and couldn't help but look at Yang Yiqing beside him, hoping that this Grand Secretary could protect him.

"Your Majesty, I believe that those who impeach Liu Ji are all harboring ulterior motives. Why not impeach others, but specifically Liu Ji? It seems as if they had planned it together. I hope Your Majesty will investigate thoroughly."

As the Grand Secretary, Yang Yiqing naturally had to protect his own people; otherwise, who would follow him?

"Your Excellency is mistaken. We impeached Lord Liu because he has problems. Shouldn't we impeach him if he has problems? Whether there are problems or not, let the Northern Garrison investigate, and then it will be clear."

One of Chen Wanyan's fourth-rank officials stepped forward and confronted Yang Yiqing head-on.

He used to be so terrified that even a glare from Yang Yiqing would scare him half to death, let alone confront the Grand Secretary.

However, things are different now. He thought that with Chen Wanyan as his powerful backer, he could rest easy. That's why he came out to fight, hoping that Chen Wanyan would give him priority when he got a suitable position.

"I do think this makes sense. Whether there's a problem or not, we can find out by having the Northern Garrison investigate. If there's no problem, I'll then pursue these people. Shi Cong, what do you think?"

While Jiajing appeared to be thinking objectively, he was actually taking sides. Everyone could see that the emperor was speaking up for Chen Wanyan's side.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yiqing's expression turned solemn. Only then did he understand why the emperor had been so indulgent towards Chen Wanyan these past few days. It turned out that the emperor was using Chen Wanyan as a weapon to cut down his own people.

Even though he understood this, Yang Yiqing didn't have any good solutions for the time being. He knew very well that the emperor would at most say that he had been deceived by treacherous officials.

Are such things rare? It's just that in the past, emperors mostly used eunuchs like Liu Jin, and rarely used officials.

However, Chen Wanyan is so stupid that he's actually quite useful.

Having figured this out, Yang Yiqing realized that he had no choice but to back down.

"What your Majesty said is absolutely true."

Yang Yiqing said helplessly.