Professional Ethics of a Concubine

"After all, I'm old." Xie Niankang smiled faintly, "A few days ago, I was thinking of finding a time to pay a visit to His Highness, but I didn't expect that by chance, I met him outside."

"I heard from my mother that you are not planning to go out to sea again this time you come back?" Ming Yan asked him.

"Yeah." Xie Niankang nodded.

"The prodigal son has returned?" Ming Yan asked again, "You've finally had enough of wandering and want to settle down?"

"I was frightened by my aunt's accident. I suddenly felt that life is short. It's meaningless to go out all the time to see new things and take risks. It's better to stay by my family's side and ask about their well-being."

Seeing her raise her eyebrows in surprise, Xie Niankang also felt a little embarrassed and said to her,

"Don't you think this is something I should say?"

"Yes." Ming Yan nodded. "I'm quite surprised. It's true that people's hearts are fickle. No one can say that they will always have the same character."

Xie Niankang nodded in agreement.

When I was young, I felt that I would be out there all my life, yearning for the novelty and excitement of the outside world, and wanting to embrace the stars and the sea.

However, after seeing all kinds of different places, Xie Niankang discovered that although people outside have different skin colors and different civilizations, upon closer inspection, they are nothing more than eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, the seven emotions and six desires, and birth, aging, sickness and death.

When drifting on the sea, looking at the endless, unchanging sea, after losing the initial excitement, a feeling of loneliness often comes over you.

However, because of his aunt's sudden accident and the constant panic and fear, he completely changed his mind about wandering.

"Has the emperor assigned you a position?" Ming Yan asked him again.

"I said I wanted to rest for a while, but the emperor didn't make any arrangements for me." Xie Niankang immediately looked at Ming Yan and said,

"No way, Your Highness can't bear to see me idle, so you want to assign me some work."

"I learned good morals from my father. I can't stand talented people just hanging around and basking in the sun." Ming Yan smiled.

"The court has an office for external shipping. You are familiar with this area. Why don't you go in and become the governor of shipping?"

"Governor? Doesn't that mean he is a third-rank minister?" Xie Niankang asked in surprise, "I suddenly became a third-rank official. Isn't this a bit too much of a backdoor?"

"You deserve it." Ming Yan rolled her eyes at him. "The doors of this palace are open to you. You are allowed to enter the palace at any time, not to mention this back door."

Xie Niankang touched his nose, smiled awkwardly, and then bowed his hands in thanks, "Then I will respectfully obey your command."

"I will be in charge of shipping. If you have any business in the future, you can report to me directly without informing the emperor."

Mingyan said again.

"I understand. My superior is His Highness, not the Emperor." Xie Niankang nodded. "From now on, I will work under His Highness. I hope Your Highness will tolerate me."

"Listen to your tone of voice, if someone doesn't know me, they would think I am the head of a village, deliberately giving myself an identity, pretending to be His Highness."

Mingyan glared at him with amusement.

Xie Niankang also smiled, "I was indeed impolite, please forgive me, Your Highness. I will definitely correct it."

"Not bad." Ming Yan nodded with satisfaction. As she spoke, she couldn't help but yawn lazily, "Where are you going? I'll take you there."

"Your Highness is tired, you can take a nap in the carriage. I will walk around and return to the Duke's Mansion in a while."

Xie Niankang said this and was about to get off the carriage.

"By the way, this is a gift for the little prince's third-day baptism ceremony." Xie Niankang turned around, took out a small box from his arms and handed it to Mingyan.

Mingyan opened it and saw a very large night-shining pearl inside. It was bigger and rounder than any others that the people below had offered as tribute.

"Are you addicted to giving beads as gifts?" Ming Yan looked at him with amusement, "There's nothing else you can do."

"There's nothing we can do about it. There are only a lot of these things on the sea." Xie Niankang added, "This is the biggest one I picked. I put a lot of effort into it."

"...I see." Mingyan smiled, "Then I'll take it."

"Your Highness, I will take my leave now." Xie Niankang jumped off the carriage, bowed to it again, then turned and left.

-

Mingyan returned to the East Palace, changed her clothes, then held her son in her arms and kissed him.

The little guy is already ten months old. He loves to talk and babbles, and occasionally he can make a sound similar to "mother".

"Xi'er is awesome. He can even call me mom." Mingyan smiled and kissed him. She then put him on the bed, letting him lie on his stomach. Then she took out the night pearl and gave it to him.

"Look at this bead. Hmm, it's yours... your brother gave it to you..."

Mingyan couldn't help but laugh when she talked about Xie Niankang's seniority.

The little guy was also very excited when he saw the night pearl. He crawled forward, grabbed it in his hand, turned over, and wanted to put it in his mouth as he looked at it.

"You can't eat this." Ming Yan quickly snatched it from his hand, and seeing him howling in displeasure, she coaxed him,

"If you like, I'll have someone string these night-shining pearls together for you so you can wear them for fun, but you can't eat them."

After being gently coaxed by his mother, the little guy became happy again.

Mingyan played with the child for a while before asking the eunuch beside her, "Where is the emperor? Isn't he in the palace?"

"Your Highness, the Emperor is out." The eunuch replied, "He has gone to attend a poetry banquet."

Mingyan nodded and didn't ask any more questions. She played with the child for a while and then asked the wet nurse to play with the child while she handled government affairs.

Half an hour later, Meng Guanyu came back, changed out of his alcohol-smelling clothes, and came to see Mingyan and the child.

Seeing that Mingyan was busy, Meng Guanyu did not bother her any more and went to play in the yard with the child.

In the evening, after dinner, Mingyan accompanied the child to sleep, and after the child fell asleep, she continued to deal with government affairs.

"Your Highness, can you please ask the Emperor to serve you today?" the eunuch beside her asked her.

Mingyan paused while writing, "No need, tell him to go to bed early."

"Yes." The eunuch responded and went to the bedroom where Meng Guanyu lived to inform him.

Meng Guanyu was not surprised when he heard this, but just sighed slightly.

The emperor's husband cannot participate in politics. He doesn't have much to do on weekdays, just attending various banquets, but he must restrain himself, not drink too much, not be unrestrained, not...

Just like the behavior and conduct of the Crown Princess, there are also a set of strict rules for the Emperor's husband, as a man.

Although I have wealth and status, life like this is really boring.

-

Qiwu Palace.

After receiving the assignment, Xie Niankang came to Ye Qingzhi the next day and told her that he had found a job.

After hearing this, Ye Qingzhi smiled and asked him, "Your future boss will be Ming Yan, do you feel any pressure?"

"Of course not. Even if I'm not the Crown Princess now, I won't be in the future." Xie Niankang was puzzled by her smile.

"Aunt, what do you mean by laughing like that?"

"I'm just a little embarrassed for you." Ye Qingzhi said with a smile, "After all, you two grew up together as childhood sweethearts. Now that you've grown up, things have changed and you're together again to do things, don't you have any feelings?"

"Why has my aunt become so gossipy now? There is no reason for her to have so many sentiments." Xie Niankang said.

"Back then... it's true that I was young and ignorant."

"Why do I hear a hint of regret in your voice?" Ye Qingzhi sneered at him.

Xie Niankang touched his nose and said nothing.

"Do you want to start a family?" Ye Qingzhi asked him again.

"Let me think about it." Xie Niankang said, "I think I should get married. This way, my aunt and dad might be relieved."

"It depends on you. If you find a girl you like, your aunt and father will naturally want you to have someone to accompany you."

Ye Qingzhi said,

"If you don't mind, then I'll hold a few large-scale blind date banquets. I have nothing to do anyway, so I can create some legitimate blind date opportunities for single men and women in Beijing."

"Then follow your aunt's arrangements." Xie Niankang said with a smile, "If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"Just come when the time comes." Ye Qingzhi picked up something from her dressing table and put it in Xie Niankang's hand.

"Oh, take this. Remember to apply this whitening cream on your face every day. You are so dark and your face is so rough. Don't scare away girls."

Xie Niankang,

He touched his face and found it was indeed quite rough.

But the Crown Princess didn't mind her dark complexion.

Xie Niankang left Qiwu Palace and happened to run into the emperor outside.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Xie Niankang bowed and said, "Hello, Uncle."

The emperor smiled and asked him to excuse himself, and then asked about his mission.

"Mingyan has arranged a position for me as the Governor of Shipping. If you don't like it, you can refuse it and your uncle will arrange another one for you."

"No need to change to anything else. I think no one is more familiar with shipping than me. It would be exciting to be a governor and command the people below and show off my power."

Xie Niankang said with a smile.

The emperor found what he said funny, so he smiled and patted his head, "Okay, then you should do your best and don't embarrass Mingyan. She is the one who promoted you."

Xie Niankang,

All of a sudden I felt a lot of pressure.

-

The court of the Great Zhao Dynasty paid great attention to efficiency in taking up their posts. A day later, Xie Niankang went to the Ministry of Personnel, got a certificate for taking up an official post, and then officially took up his post as the head of the Maritime Transport Office.

The new official took office three fires.

Xie Niankang was no exception. He made drastic changes to the Shipping Office, and all organizational structures and personnel underwent significant changes.

Some people were dissatisfied and wrote memorials to Ming Yan.

When Ming Yan received the impeachment letter, he called Xie Niankang over and asked him personally what was going on.

Xie Niankang looked at the memorial impeaching him and asked Ming Yan, "Do you believe in my ability?"