Professional Ethics of a Concubine

After returning to the East Palace, Ye Qingzhi took a nap and woke up to receive a message from the eunuch saying that the prince had gone out of the city and would not be back that night.

Ye Qingzhi nodded to indicate that she understood.

When they came back from the Western Regions, she was busy visiting relatives and delivering gifts, while the prince was busy handling government affairs. He came back later and later every day, and today he didn't come back at all.

This may be because you think that the years are peaceful, but you don’t know that someone is carrying the heavy burden and taking on everything.

She couldn't help much, so she could only lie there and cheer for her leader, while enjoying the blessing that her leader could not enjoy.

Ye Qingzhi hummed a tune happily and read a book. After a while, she told Ruyi,

"Send a eunuch to pass on a message to ask Princess Nine and Princess Lingyue if they are free to come to the East Palace to have a gathering in the evening. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not be here tonight."

Ruyi agreed and went to find the eunuch who was to deliver the message.

There is no need to post messages in advance between good sisters. It is not that particular. Just get together when you are free. If you are not free, get together next time.

The grapes in her yard are ripe. Pick some to eat, drink some wine brought from the Western Regions, and some raisins, and make some diced grape chicken... a whole grape feast.

Ye Qingzhi was happy when she thought about this, but she still asked Nanny Zhang and the others to make arrangements first, and of course other dishes also needed to be prepared.

More than an hour later, the eunuchs came back and told them that the Ninth Princess and Princess Ling Yue would come.

Ye Qingzhi's things were almost ready, and were prepared in accordance with the requirements for the two of them to come for the appointment.

More than half an hour later, the Ninth Princess and Princess Ling Yue arrived at the same time.

This was the first time Ye Qingzhi met them after she came back.

So when the three of them met, they were all quite excited. They hugged each other and talked affectionately, with their voices all at high decibels.

"Come, come, take a look at the grape feast I prepared for you..."

Ye Qingzhi pulled them towards the grape trellis, smiling as she pointed at the wine on the table, as well as raisins of various colors, and various snacks and beets made with raisins.

"Are you planning to make our teeth fall out with sweetness?" Ling Yue looked at the food on the table and just shook his head. His teeth were already starting to feel sour.

She prefers spicy and salty dishes to sweet ones.

The Ninth Princess likes sweet things. When she saw the food on the table, her eyes lit up and she said with joy,

"Wow! That looks great, I like it!"

"Look, Han Yan likes it. If you don't like these, we have prepared salty and spicy ones for you."

Ye Qingzhi smiled and pushed them to their seats, then asked Ruyi to tell them to bring the other dishes.

Princess Ling Yue picked up a grape and ate it. She grimaced because of the sour taste, and quickly ate a sweet raisin. She couldn't help but say,

"Grapes from the Western Regions are still sweeter. The grapes here are always a little sour."

The Ninth Princess ate a few raisins and expressed her agreement, then asked Ye Qingzhi,

"Is it fun in the Western Regions? Tell us anything new and interesting."

Ye Qingzhi talked about some of the things she saw and heard along the way, and briefly explained how the fifth prince served as a messenger of God and used firearms to destroy an old nobleman and intimidate others.

"Wow! So interesting!" The Ninth Princess and Princess Ling Yue were the most interested in this matter and grabbed Ye Qingzhi to ask her about the details.

Ye Qingzhi,...

No, why are you all so obsessed with this charlatan thing!

Even though I know it's fake, I'm still so excited.

"Can we take a look at it? I feel like religion has a particularly powerful effect in educating the people and can easily change their ideas."

The Ninth Princess said with bright eyes,

"If we create a religion that respects women, will it significantly improve the status of women?"

"How can you say that women are respected? I don't agree with your idea. We are now advocating to break the shackles on women, but the progress is very slow. It's not even the men who are opposing it, but the women."

Princess Ling Yue frowned and said,

"Some mothers are against their daughters' right to marry autonomously and still want to force their daughters to death if they lose their 'innocence'. They are also spitting on those fickle women.

Some women are abused by men, and they refuse to divorce, set up a hen household, or even arrange a job for them to support themselves.

She still wants to live with the man, saying it's for the children.

But you allowed her to take the child with her, and she didn't have the courage to break free, and was afraid to live without a man, which was really infuriating and helpless."

The Ninth Princess also fell silent and depressed.

Because her people also encountered this kind of situation when they were promoting the new etiquette outside. It was not an isolated case, but happened many times.

Seeing that the two of them were talking and getting back to business, Ye Qingzhi felt helpless.

When good sisters get together, shouldn’t they be happy, eat, drink, and chat about meaningless daily things?

They are all workaholics who are concerned about the country and the people, but she is the only one who is just wasting her time.

"Qingzhi, what do you say?" The Ninth Princess asked her, and Ling Yue also looked at her.

"This is very normal. It's a concept of etiquette that has been passed down for thousands of years. How can you change it all of a sudden?"

Ye Qingzhi said,

"What's more, we are only talking about abolishing some of the more stringent etiquette laws. There are no supporting girls' schools, no more jobs suitable for women to earn money, and the imperial examinations are not open to women.

These things need to be followed up step by step.

When more and more women gain economic power and can earn their own money, we don’t have to do anything more, and the status of women will gradually improve and become equal to that of men.”

"So what do you think of the religious ideas I just mentioned?" the Ninth Princess asked again.

"To be honest, I don't think it's that great. If nothing else, this is the only reason why you can only do a minor thing, or even fail to do anything."

Ye Qingzhi stuffed a raisin into her mouth, chewed it, then shook her head and said.

"Which point?" The Ninth Princess frowned.

"Your religion of female supremacy does not conform to the needs of political rule, nor to the interests of those in power. It will exacerbate the conflict and contradiction between men and women in society and cause some social unrest. Those in power will not agree to it."

Ye Qingzhi spoke.

The Ninth Princess thought about it and realized that Ye Qingzhi was right, so she became discouraged. "Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's take it slow. More haste, less speed."

Ye Qingzhi nodded, handed her a piece of sweet cake, and comforted her,

"Yes, yes, yes, calm down and don't be so anxious. This is just the beginning, and things will get better day by day."

All three of them were smart women, so they changed the topic to talk about interesting things around them.

Princess Ling Yue began to complain about the former Second Princess, now the commoner Xie Qingying.

"Ever since Xie Qingying came to work at the manor again, I have to clean up her mess almost every day. She is really good at finding trouble. She insists on saying that others are humiliating her and humiliating Gaozu. It really makes me so angry."

When Ling Yue mentioned her, his brows furrowed tightly and anger flashed in his eyes.

"How do you say humiliating Emperor Gaozu?" Ye Qingzhi asked curiously.

"She now knows the Emperor's biography by heart, and when she sees those dandy boys misbehaving, she uses Emperor Gaozu's words to punish them, and uses the Emperor's biography as a talisman.

If anyone dares to hurt her, she will say that you can humiliate her, but you can't humiliate Emperor Gaozu. Even if she is not the second princess, her grandfather is still Emperor Gaozu. What's wrong with her asking for his protection? "

Ye Qingzhi,...

What a great granddaughter of my great-grandfather!

"Haha, that's not wrong." The Ninth Princess also laughed and took over the conversation.

"I've heard about this, too. Now, no one who goes to the State Banquet Garden dares to offend Xie Qingying. They all call her two-faced behind her back."

Ye Qingzhi couldn't help laughing, and after thinking for a while, she asked again, "You said she was looking for trouble with those playboys, but did she bully others?"

"Not yet. She is now strictly abiding by the rules and regulations of the manor. She has not relied on her previous status as the second princess to order other servants to work for her so that she can be lazy or something like that."

Although Ling Yue hated the second princess, she had to admit that the second princess was much more clear-headed than before and knew who could be bullied and who could not be bullied.

"She's a smart person." The Ninth Princess said with a smile, "How should I put it? I think her rogue nature is quite interesting."

Ye Qingzhi also smiled and nodded.

Ling Yue rolled her eyes and disagreed, "You will be annoyed to death if you work with such a double-faced person. How can it be fun?"

Ye Qingzhi and the Ninth Princess also knew about the grudge between her and the Second Princess, so they smiled and expressed their support for Ling Yue.

"Yes, yes, you're right. She's getting really annoying. Why don't you kick her out and stop cleaning up her mess."

"...That's not necessary." Ling Yue waved her hand again, "I just watched it for fun. After she left, the manor became boring. She is now a signboard of the manor."

Ye Qingzhi couldn't help laughing again and said with a smile,

"That's great. Let the Crown Prince advise the Emperor not to rush to restore her to the status of the Second Princess. Let her work like this for a few more years and shine in the manor."

"Hahaha, this is good, this is good!" Ling Yue also laughed when he heard it, and immediately poured a glass of wine to toast Ye Qingzhi and thank her for her good suggestion.

The Ninth Princess also happily joined in the toasting to celebrate the fact that she had two good friends.

Days like this are so pleasant.