Professional Ethics of a Concubine

Because the beautiful mother wanted to meet her future daughter-in-law, Ye Qingzhi asked someone to send an invitation to Miss Feng, asking her to come to Prince Jing's mansion first.

Then I will take her to visit my mother at Prince Su’s Mansion.

Ye Qingzhi met Miss Feng just after the Chinese New Year and had a good impression of her.

If she were born in modern times, she would definitely be a strong woman in the business world. Unfortunately, she was born at the wrong time.

Miss Feng's name is Feng Shengxue. She has thick eyebrows and big eyes, regular features. Moreover, her appearance is determined by her heart. She does not have the delicate and coquettish manners of a girl, and she speaks and acts cleanly and efficiently.

When she changes into men's clothes, you can say she is a handsome young man and will definitely not arouse suspicion.

The next day after receiving the post, Feng Shengxue came to the door with gifts.

"Sheng Xue is here. No need to be polite. Please take a seat." Ye Qingzhi greeted her with a smile.

Although Feng Shengxue knew that Ye Qingzhi was very kind, this was only their second meeting and she was the concubine of the prince's mansion, so she felt a little reserved.

Because she didn't want to be looked down upon by Ye Qingzhi, and she didn't want the servants in the palace to think that she was unruly.

Of course, Feng Shengxue really likes Ye Qingzhi.

The other party has cleared the name of these merchant daughters, and few people now mock them for their humble origins by using the smell of money.

Moreover, the other party was very tolerant and did not mind her disguising herself as a man to do business. Instead, he admired her very much.

It goes without saying how grateful Feng Shengxue was to have met such a noble person, who was also her sister-in-law.

"How are the wedding preparations for you and your elder brother going? Is there anything I can help with?"

Because Feng Shengxue's mother was in poor health, her brother was young, and her relatives had all fallen out, she had to take care of everything in the house by herself, and she was also responsible for the dowry.

Generally, when a daughter gets married, it is the mother who takes care of all affairs, and the wedding on the man’s side has nothing to do with the woman’s.

However, because the Ye Mansion now has no mistress, Ye Junfeng is busy with the Ministry of Revenue, Ye Yongyuan also has to go out of town for business, and Ye Junyi is too young to do any good, so there is no master in charge.

Therefore, Feng Shengxue took over all the preparations for the wedding at the Ye Mansion in advance.

"My Lady, everything is almost ready." Feng Shengxue briefly recounted the story.

Because many people came here to curry favor with Prince Jing's Mansion, there were quite a lot of guests, including officials and people of noble status, so naturally there was a lot to prepare.

There was no hostess in the Ye Mansion to take care of all these things, so Feng Shengxue was also shocked when Ye Junfeng handed the wedding matters over to her.

But since her future husband and father-in-law don't mind, there's nothing wrong with her planning her own wedding.

It's good to be shocking or to have no rules or etiquette. She has done many things that are against the rules, and this one is not a big deal.

In fact, she was glad that she chose Ye Junfeng. Not only was she not despised or criticized, but she was recognized and valued instead.

Therefore, she is full of expectations for her future married life and attaches more and more importance to her wedding.

However, the specific affairs were all done by the servants, and there was also an experienced housekeeper to help. She just focused on the general direction, which was similar to her management of a shop, so it was not hectic.

Ye Qingzhi chatted with Feng Shengxue for a while, then took her to Prince Su's Mansion.

"Since this is your first time here, we won't take you through the small back door. We'll get in your carriage and enter through the main gate. This is also a sign of respect for you.

I usually go in through the small door at the back, which is more convenient. I don’t have to take a carriage to go around. Also, going in through the back door is closer to the courtyard where my mother lives.”

When they arrived at the gate of the mansion, Ye Qingzhi pointed to the back door of Prince Su's mansion and explained to Feng Shengxue with a smile.

Feng Shengxue felt warm at heart when he heard this, and smiled at Ye Qingzhi gratefully.

Ye Qingzhi and the other person got into Feng Shengxue's carriage. The carriage was not moving fast, so their maids walked on both sides of the carriage.

In just a quarter of an hour, the carriage arrived at the main entrance.

The doorman saw the strange carriage but didn't think much of it. But when he saw Ye Qingzhi getting off the carriage, he quickly came forward to greet her warmly and bowed to her.

"This is Miss Feng, my eldest brother's fiancée. I brought her here to meet mother. You must remember this clearly. Next time if Miss Feng comes by herself, don't turn her away."

Ye Qingzhi held Feng Shengxue's hand intimately and gave instructions to the doorman.

"I would never dare to do that." The doorman glanced at Feng Shengxue quickly, then lowered his head and said respectfully.

"Sister-in-law, let's go in." Ye Qingzhi said to her with a smile.

Feng Shengxue felt more and more grateful for her thoughtfulness and protection. He responded and followed Ye Qingzhi into the mansion.

After entering the mansion, Feng Shengxue followed the rules and did not dare to look around. He followed Ye Qingzhi to Tingyu Pavilion.

It felt like she had been walking for a long time but still hadn't arrived. The palace was so big that it was beyond her imagination.

"Your feet must be tired, right? Every time I come in through the front door, I get tired of walking." Ye Qingzhi said to Feng Shengxue with a smile.

Feng Shengxue smiled. After hearing what she said, her tense mood instantly relaxed a lot.

"Meet Concubine Ye."

On the way, when the servants in the palace saw them, they would stop and step aside to greet Ye Qingzhi.

"No need to be so polite." Ye Qingzhi waved her hand casually and continued walking forward.

Along the way, Ye Qingzhi met many servants from the palace. She kept asking them to be polite as she walked, just like a big leader inspecting the office, except that she didn't say thank you for your hard work, comrades.

This is also the reason why she is reluctant to go out through the front door, as the back door leads to the backyard where there are not so many servants.

After a while, I met a few servants.

Two of them were wearing coarse cloth and were obviously common people, not servants of the palace.

Ye Qingzhi didn't take it seriously. The palace had to feed so many people. There were countless vegetable vendors coming in and out every day, not to mention other people from outside.

However, after those people left, Feng Shengxue frowned and turned back to look at the two civilians.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Ye Qingzhi also stopped.

"Those two people smelled strongly of tung oil," Feng Shengxue said. "Tung oil is flammable. Previously, one of my warehouses caught fire due to improper storage of tung oil. I'm a little sensitive about it."

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingzhi immediately said to Ruyi and Chunyu beside her, "Go catch up with them, detain them temporarily, and go find Eunuch Zhang and ask him to find out what's going on with the tung oil smell on those two people."

"...Is it making a fuss out of nothing?" Feng Shengxue asked.

Just one word from him caused such a huge mobilization, which would put Feng Shengxue under a lot of pressure.

It would be embarrassing to find out that the carpenter was the one who used tung oil to paint furniture and that was why he had this smell.

"You can never be too cautious. If you find something strange, you must investigate and ask questions immediately. Don't be afraid of trouble or mistakes. This applies to you when you are the head of the Ye Mansion. With a large family and a large business, there will be many people with bad intentions."

Ye Qingzhi said to Feng Shengxue seriously.

Feng Shengxue took note of it carefully and was grateful again to Ye Qingzhi for her trust and guidance.

Ye Qingzhi's series of actions today conquered her.

At this moment, thick smoke and flames rose from the sky above the big kitchen, as well as faint shouting.

"The water is gone! The water is gone!"

Ye Qingzhi looked in the direction of the fire and her heart sank. Something must have happened.

"Concubine, there's something wrong with those two people!"

Feng Shengxue looked at the thick smoke not far away, stared and screamed.

Ye Qingzhi nodded with a serious face.

After a while, Chunyu and Ruyi came running over breathlessly to tell Ye Qingzhi that when the two men heard that they were going to be detained, they immediately injured the people and ran away.

Chunyu and Ruyi were lucky and were not hurt, but they were also quite frightened.

Now the entire Prince Su's Mansion was in chaos. People were trying to put out the fire and catch the arsonist. There were shouts and screams everywhere.

Ye Qingzhi grabbed Feng Shengxue's hand and pulled her to run, trying to get to Tingyu Pavilion as quickly as possible.

She didn’t know if today’s incident was directed at her beautiful mother. She was very worried that her mother would be taken advantage of.

Feng Shengxue often checked the shops outside and had better physical strength than Ye Qingzhi. At the beginning, Ye Qingzhi pulled her to run. After running seven or eight hundred meters, she was the one pulling Ye Qingzhi to run.

Ye Qingzhi was so tired that she was panting. She thought that it wouldn't be so difficult for her to run 800 meters in modern times.

Now he is really spoiled by the luxurious life with fine clothes, delicious food and hordes of servants!

No, I must get back to exercising.

Fortunately, they were not far from Tingyu Pavilion, about two hundred meters away.

When she arrived outside Tingyu Pavilion, Ye Qingzhi saw a dozen guards surrounding the yard and she breathed a sigh of relief.

With this level of protection, unless the fire spreads over here, it would take at least a dozen people to get through if only one person attacks.

After checking their identities, Feng Shengxue was allowed in because Ye Qingzhi guaranteed that she was fine. However, their maid had to wait outside.

Feng Shengxue was still frightened after being interrogated, and once again experienced the majesty of imperial power.

Feng Shengxue thought that even though she knew that the prince had good intentions and wanted to protect the safety of her future mother-in-law, if she was protected in this way and stayed in this courtyard forever, she would still be unwilling and unhappy and feel imprisoned.

What she wants is the outside world, to display her talents and achieve great things.

Feng Shengxue judged others by herself and even suspected that her future mother-in-law was depressed, haggard, or even full of resentment.

However, when he entered the house and actually saw her, looking at the gentle smile on her face, her calmness and the light in her eyes, Feng Shengxue knew that he had been overthinking.

People are indeed different.

What she wants doesn't mean others want it.

What she thought was a cage of confinement was actually someone else's comfortable and warm home.

What right did she have to imagine like that?

Feng Shengxue quickly adjusted her mentality, behaved properly, and saluted Mu Nianqiu respectfully.

"Mother, this is Sheng Xue. She is amazing, smart and alert. When she came in with me just now, she discovered two suspicious servants..."

Ye Qingzhi introduced the two people with a smile, and quickly recounted what was happening outside, Feng Shengxue's abilities, and her contributions.

Hearing this, Mu Nianqiu looked at Feng Shengxue with a softer gaze. He walked to her side, held her arm affectionately, and said gratefully,

"Shengxue, thanks to you today, otherwise the palace would be in even greater chaos. You are so smart and capable, just like my ideal daughter-in-law. With you, I don't have to worry about Junfeng anymore.

If Junfeng treats you badly in the future, don't keep it in your heart, come to me or Qingzhi, we will support you."

"Thank you... Mother." Feng Shengxue was very moved when she heard this, because she could feel her sincerity, so she hesitated for a moment and called her mother instead of Mu Shufei.

"Good child." Mu Nianqiu was very happy because of her mother's words, and said apologetically,

"Sheng Xue, I should have been the one to organize your wedding, but my situation is special and I can't fulfill my responsibilities as a mother. I feel guilty about this.

I heard from Qingzhi that you are the only one who is in charge of everything. You have worked so hard and you have been wronged."

"Mother, please don't say that. I just like to handle these affairs. I don't feel wronged at all. On the contrary, I think it's very good. If you don't let me do it, I can't stand it."