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

Chapter 272

The next day, news came from the palace that the Empress had been diagnosed with a very serious pregnancy by the imperial physician. This should have been a cause for celebration, but instead, the Empress learned that her father, Chen Wanyan, had been arrested and imprisoned in the Northern Garrison.

Empress Chen then caused a scene in the palace, leaving Jiajing with no choice but to order the Northern Garrison to release the prisoners. He then severely reprimanded Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, for abusing his power and showing no respect for him as the emperor.

Emperor Jiajing ordered that Zhou Chu's power as commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard be temporarily revoked, leaving him only with the position, as a warning to others.

To put it bluntly, Zhou Chu was still the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but he no longer had the power of the commander on the surface. As for whether he still had it in secret, only Jiajing, Zhou Chu, and the people of the Embroidered Uniform Guard knew.

When Zhou Chu received this news, he was somewhat surprised, not because he was surprised that the emperor had taken away his power as commander, but because he was surprised that Chen was pregnant so early.

In the original history, Empress Chen should have conceived five or six years later. After becoming pregnant, she indulged in her own desires and even tried to interfere in the affairs of the court. Emperor Jiajing disliked her and deposed her from her position as empress, banishing her to the cold palace. Not long after, she miscarried and died in the cold palace.

However, Zhou Chu thought about it and understood. It was probably because all the imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital had been replaced. The original Imperial Hospital was now in the hands of civil officials, so it wouldn't be easy for the Empress to conceive a child. The imperial physicians only needed to do a little something to make her infertile for a long time.

In that sense, he had indirectly helped the Chen family. However, Zhou Chu did not mind at all. Everything has two sides. To destroy someone, you must first make them go crazy. With her pregnancy, the Chen family would only let herself go and become more and more unscrupulous.

This would only make the emperor and his officials even more resentful.

Chen Wanyan emerged unharmed from the Northern Garrison Command, while Li Zhaofan, the sole victim of the incident, remained in the Northern Garrison Command's prison, becoming a sacrifice.

Li Zhaofan is now disliked by both Zhou Chu and others, as well as Chen Wanyan. In addition, his own background is not clean, so he cannot withstand the investigation of the Northern Garrison Command.

If Li Zhaofan had stood firmly on Chen Wanyan's side, Chen Wanyan might have helped him out. Unfortunately, he was two-faced and offended both sides, which destined him to a tragic end.

"Hmph! Wasn't Zhou Chu arrogant? I wonder if he can still be arrogant now."

Back home, Chen Wanyan was full of pride.

Those officials who received the news and wanted to use connections all sent visiting cards to the Chen family, hoping to get on the good side of this powerful figure.

Chen Wanyan was now riding high and accepted all the visiting cards from officials. He had become completely arrogant, after all, in his eyes, even Zhou Chu, the once powerful commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had lost all power because of him.

What could possibly make him more arrogant? Moreover, Chen Wanyan himself was not a person with particularly strong self-control, and he became increasingly complacent, granting every request from officials who came to him seeking favors.

A few days later, Zhou Chu was not present at the court assembly. After all, Zhou Chu was already resting at this time. He did not mention retiring or taking a break, but only said that he was resting. As for how long he would rest, no one knew.

Seeing that Zhou Chu was no longer in the court, Xia Yan felt uneasy. If Zhou Chu, his enemy, was gone, would the emperor still keep him around? Or would he be demoted?

These are all things Xia Yan needs to worry about.

Times have changed. If it were when Jiajing had just ascended the throne, Xia Yan would not have taken the emperor seriously at all. But now, the court is basically under Jiajing's control. Jiajing can decide an official's career with a single word. At the very least, for an official like Xia Yan who has lost his roots in Jiangnan, if Jiajing wants to demote him, there are probably very few people in the court who would speak up for him.