"I don't say it to criticise him, it's just true. Meng Yao is the bastard son of the Jin clan heir, he's the son of a ... I think the word is prostitute." The polite word, anyway. "So you will not hear many speak in good favour of him, it was a big scandal. His father rejected his attempts to join his family so he joined the Nies for a long time. He got the job to find you because of Nie Mingjue. I don't know how long he will work with the Zhao's before moving to the next family." It was hard to say with Meng Yao, perhaps the Zhao leader would let him stay as he had done a good job with getting his accounts and paperwork in order but he suspected it was too much stigma for them.

The Nies were more relaxed, they never cared about those kind of issues. "Nie Mingjue, the leader of the Nies, values hard work over status. Meng Yao was very fortunate to meet him. If you don't meet someone who values your work and you have a bad reputation by nature, you will not succeed."