Professional Ethics of a Concubine

After seeing off Xie Wenyuan and others, Prince Jing brought Xie Niankang back to the palace, where he was told that Gu Zheng, the Minister of Dali Temple, came to ask for a meeting.

Gu Zheng had been sitting in the flower hall in the front yard waiting for half an hour.

"Uncle, I'm going to go play with my aunt."

Seeing that he was busy, Xie Niankang happily left immediately and ran very fast, for fear that he would be forced to do manual labor again.

Prince Jing thought that he performed well today, so he just let him do as he pleased and went to the flower hall to meet Gu Zheng.

"Sir Gu, are you here for personal or official business?" When King Jing saw Gu Zheng, he asked directly without any formalities.

"It's official business." Gu Zheng said coldly, "It's better to go to the prince's study to discuss it."

Prince Jing raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking that the official business that made Gu Zheng come to his house on his own initiative must be no trivial matter.

He led the man to the study, and after the servant served tea, Prince Jing dismissed the waiter and asked Gu Zheng to sit down. He drank a sip of tea before speaking.

"Master Gu can speak now."

"Your Highness, I suspect that the deposed crown prince is not dead." As soon as Gu Zheng opened his mouth, he dropped a bomb.

Whoever he told about this would be shocked, except for a few people who knew the truth, such as Prince Jing.

"Oh? How do you know? Is this just your guess, or is there any solid evidence?" King Jing frowned and asked, "Does anyone else know?"

Xie Wenyuan just faked his death and left, the truth cannot be exposed at this time.

How did my father find a scapegoat? He was discovered so quickly.

Seeing that he was angry, Gu Zheng misunderstood his reaction, thinking that he was shocked and angry about the fact that the deposed prince might be alive.

"No one else should have discovered this. I discovered it myself." Gu Zheng said in a low voice.

Then he talked about the suspicious points he had discovered, because after the deposed prince was beheaded, he and the coroner collected the body and sewed the head back on.

After all, he was the former crown prince of the current dynasty. Even if he was beheaded, people still had to be treated with some respect. Therefore, the coroner did not dare to examine him too much. After sewing up the head and body, he stepped aside.

Gu Zheng didn't think much about it at first, but when he was changing the clothes of the deposed prince's body, he found a birthmark the size of a fingernail on the left side of his chest.

It’s nothing to have a birthmark, Gu Zheng still doesn’t care.

But when he looked at the man's skin color again, he felt that it was too dark and rough. As the crown prince, who did not practice martial arts, fair skin and tender flesh should be the standard for him.

This made him suspicious.

Moreover, the eunuchs in the palace took away the prince's body very quickly, which made him even more worried.

Just yesterday, Gu Zheng happened to interrogate a skinny horse from Yangzhou who was sold out by the deposed Crown Princess some time ago.

Because the other party had served the prince before, which was a glorious record in her resume, she was quite popular after being sold to the brothel.

However, now that the prince has been beheaded, her brilliant move has turned into a fatal blow. She was praised before, but now she is being trampled upon.

When she was being trampled on, she accidentally killed a patron and was arrested. During the interrogation, the woman cried and talked about the deposed crown prince, saying that it was the deposed crown prince who harmed her.

Gu Zheng thought of the doubts in his heart, so he took the opportunity to ask the Yangzhou skinny horse whether the prince had a birthmark.

The Yangzhou Skinny Horse answered very confidently that there was none, and said that she had served the prince many times and knew it very well.

Gu Zheng was no longer calm.

Although he was strict and impartial in judging cases based on irrefutable evidence, he was no foolish official and did not dare to report such matters to the emperor rashly, so he came to find Prince Jing.

"Did the skinny horse from Yangzhou really kill someone accidentally?" King Jing asked an irrelevant question.

"...Yes." Gu Zheng nodded.

"Okay, let her commit suicide out of fear of the crime." Prince Jing said to Gu Zheng, "The matter of the deposed crown prince not being dead ends with you. Don't make a big fuss about it. All evidence must be destroyed."

"Your Highness knows about this?" Gu Zheng asked him in surprise.

"Since you know it, I will not hide it from you anymore." King Jing told Xie Wenyuan how he faked his death and escaped to the State of Chu.

Gu Zheng,...

Gu Zheng looked at King Jing in shock and couldn't calm down for a long time, because he knew how much vision and courage, ambition and self-confidence were needed to achieve this.

Gu Zheng didn't say a word. He just knelt down and kowtowed to King Jing to show his submission, then stood up and said goodbye.

-

Another month passed.

The controversy over the dethronement of the crown prince gradually faded, and no one in the court or in the capital's gossip mentioned the matter anymore.

Any minister with brains knows that the emperor's preferred candidate for the crown prince is Prince Jing. There is no doubt that Prince Jing will be the next crown prince.

At this time, it may take a year or two before he is officially canonized.

After all, the previous crown prince was deposed and beheaded because he raised private soldiers and wanted to force the emperor to abdicate. The emperor must be a little uncomfortable and perhaps he doesn't want to appoint a new crown prince so soon.

We need to wait a little longer for King Jing.

However, it is said that the emperor’s mind is hard to predict.

Just half a month later, the emperor announced at the morning court that he would enthrone Prince Jing as the crown prince. He asked the Imperial Observatory to choose an auspicious day for the emperor to hold a grand ceremony to enthrone him.

To this end, the emperor also sent invitation letters to countries such as Dayan, Chu, Dongyi, and Gulan, asking them to send envoys to participate in the enthronement ceremony.

Of course, the emperor did this not only to show his respect for Prince Jing, but also to take this opportunity to show other countries the military and economic level of their Great Zhao.

To demonstrate that Da Zhao now has the strength of a great power and to increase its international influence.

But no matter what the reason is, no matter how many political considerations are involved, it doesn’t matter to many people. They just need to know that Prince Jing is already the crown prince recognized by the emperor!

-

Prince Jing's Mansion.

After receiving the eunuch's order, Zhang Jingyi was still a little dazed, and asked Ye Qingzhi in a trance,

"Our prince has become the crown prince already? That's too fast."

She had only been Princess Jing for a year, and had just become proficient in handling the affairs of the palace, and now she was going to be promoted to Crown Princess!

What followed was a bunch of new matters that she had to learn how to deal with, and the burden on her shoulders became heavier.

Moreover, no one had moved into the mansion before, but now that the prince has become the crown prince, isn’t it time to add two noble ladies from aristocratic families to the mansion?

"This is mainly because our prince is too outstanding. A righteous man has many supporters, while an unrighteous man has few supporters. Your Highness is popular, and the deposed prince is digging his own grave, so this process will naturally be faster."

Ye Qingzhi said with a smile,

"From now on, I will call you Crown Princess. Congratulations, Crown Princess. You don't even have a proper mother-in-law above your head anymore, which is a great joy in life.

The ladies in the palace will only be polite to you when they see you, but they have no right to reprimand you."

Zhang Jingyi laughed at what she said, but then she thought it was disrespectful to the emperor and his concubine, so she smiled and warned Ye Qingzhi,

"Don't say things like this anymore. It won't be good if others hear it."