Chapter Ninety-Six: Purple Robe!

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Whatever the reason, Li Yi could tell that these young women were not doing these things of their own free will, and so he did not want to add another unnecessary layer of psychological burden to their hearts. Perhaps the women could sense Li Yi's goodwill, for their earlier tension eased somewhat, though none of them sat down. Seeing this, Li Yi made no further demands—perhaps standing made them feel more at ease.

"Heh, let me ask you a few questions. Don't worry, I won't ask you anything secret. And I believe that since Ugly Aunt could safely place you here, she wouldn't fear anything you might say. So speak freely—of course, if you don't want to say anything, that's fine too."

The woman in purple hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "If we speak, will you truly not touch us?"

Li Yi replied, "Rest assured, whether you speak or not, I will not touch any of you."

The woman in purple gritted her teeth and said firmly, "Fine, go ahead and ask."

Li Yi asked, "What's your name?"

The woman in purple replied, "Purple Robe."

"Purple Robe? Good! Purple Robe, why don't you start by telling me about the Four Heavenly Maidens?"

"The Four Heavenly Maidens? This... this I really don't know much about."

"That's alright, just tell me whatever you know."

"Very well. All I know is that the Four Heavenly Maidens are the four elder sisters: Mei Ling, You Lan, Zhu Yun, and Ju Meng. Among them, Sister You Lan excels at song and dance, Sister Zhu Yun excels at poetry, calligraphy, and painting, and Sister Ju Meng excels at the qin and chess."

"Ho! Song, dance, qin, chess, poetry, calligraphy, and painting—that covers everything! Seems your boss is quite accomplished. What about Mei Ling, the one ranked first?"

"I don't know. Sister Mei is the most mysterious of us all. Every time we see her, she wears a veil, and she seldom appears here. So to this day, no one has ever seen her true face. However, she holds great power here—whatever she instructs us to do, we must obey."

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Li Yi was not at all surprised upon hearing this; rather, it was as if he had expected it all along. "Haha, interesting! By the way, are they still chaste, like you all are now?"

Purple Robe nodded quickly. "Yes. It is no easy matter to obtain any of the elder sisters. Since the establishment of this establishment, only His Highness the Prince of Han has passed all the trials and tests. However, he was solely focused on obtaining Sister Mei Ling and did not touch the other three sisters. But to obtain Sister Mei Ling, one must pass her own test. Unfortunately, the Prince of Han failed, so to this day, the three elder sisters remain chaste."

"And what are the temperaments of the three?"

"Good, very good. The three elder sisters usually take great care of us. If not for them, our chastity would have been lost long ago. Even this time, the three elder sisters pleaded for us with Ugly Aunt on many counts, but her attitude was resolute, so we could only obey."

"Yes, yes! The three elder sisters treat us very well!" Another woman chimed in. "I've also heard that the three elder sisters were once just like us, but later Ugly Aunt took a liking to them and personally trained them for nearly a year, which is how they came to their current position. That's why they take such good care of us—because they understand our suffering."

Li Yi nodded upon hearing this, fell into thought for a moment, then raised his head and asked, "So that means the Prince of Han is a regular patron here?"

Purple Robe thought for a moment, then raised her head and said, "No, that's not the case. His Highness the Prince of Han seems to have only come once."

"Only once? Are you certain?"

"I'm certain. This inner hall may look large, but in truth it only has a few rooms. Moreover, if the Prince of Han had come, some of the sisters would surely have gossiped about it, and I haven't heard a single whisper."

Li Yi thought to himself—true enough. This was ancient times, with few forms of entertainment, so gossip was their best way to pass the time. If Prince of Han Li Yuanchang had truly come, he would certainly not have escaped their notice. But if that were the case, then something didn't add up.

Just as Li Yi's brows knitted tightly, Li Ke suddenly chimed in, "Brother Yi, I just remembered—the Prince of Han indeed never comes to the inner hall, because every time he visits Xiaoxiang Pavilion, he stays in the outer hall. The Prince of Han is extremely skilled at calligraphy, so the outer hall often holds calligraphy gatherings with him at the head."

"Hm?" A sharp glint flashed in Li Yi's eyes. "If that's the case, then everything fits together! Ha, I hope my guess is right! Damn it, solving this case really takes too many brain cells!"

Li Yi now had a hypothesis; all that remained was to prove it. So he felt somewhat more at ease.

Li Yi stretched lazily, looked at the women standing in neat rows, and joked, "What? Aren't you tired? You just want to keep standing like that?"

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The women exchanged glances, first nodding, then immediately shaking their heads.

Li Yi shook his head helplessly. "Alright, come over and sit down! Seeing you all standing like this is tiring for me too. Uh, Purple Robe, set an example for the others—you go first."

Purple Robe hesitated briefly, then gave a slight nod. "Sisters, let's all go sit. I can tell that he won't harm us."

The others seemed to defer to Purple Robe as their leader. Seeing that Purple Robe had agreed, they all consented and each found a place to sit—though all of them kept a certain distance from Li Yi. Only Purple Robe sat directly beside him.

Seeing this, Li Yi smiled lightly. "You're not being shy at all, are you?"

Purple Robe, rather uncharacteristically, gave a soft smile of her own. "Actually, I'm a very good judge of character. I can tell that you're a good person."

Li Yi was taken aback. Why did that line sound so familiar? "You're a good person"? Wasn't that the prelude to being rejected? Wait—it wasn't as if he had asked for anything. Where would a rejection come from?

"Do all of you want to leave?"

Li Yi's words made a blazing light burst forth in the women's eyes, for they believed that Li Yi had the means to purchase their freedom. But after a moment's thought, the light in their eyes quickly dimmed again.

Li Yi was startled. "What? Don't you want to leave? Or do you not believe I have the means?"

Purple Robe let out a bitter laugh. "We all believe you have the means. Though we don't know you, we do know His Highness the Prince of Shu by your side, so we don't doubt your capability. It's just that we don't know—even if we left, what could we do? Half of our dozen or so sisters are orphans, and the rest, even if they still have parents, are already in this state. Even if we went back, we would only be burdens to our parents and bring them shame and ridicule. It's better to stay here—at the very least, we can send some money back to our parents every month. We've already fallen; why make futile struggles? The way things are now is actually not so bad. At least we can comfort one another."

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