“No, they were all given to Elder Brother.” Saying this, he asked with confusion: “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, I was just asking casually.” Behind her charming smile lay heavy worries. Li Yuan was indeed becoming wary of Li Shimin. Previously, he had given meager rewards, but now he was favoring the Crown Prince and expanding the Crown Prince’s power.

Those two, Yin and Zhang… the Crown Prince had truly made an excellent move!

Li Shimin didn’t think much of it. After instructing Yunyi to rest well and nurture her pregnancy, he went to Laiyi Hall to visit Zhangsun Shi, who was also six months pregnant.

After he left, Yunyi sat silently in her chair, not knowing what she was thinking. Jixiang felt stifled and uncomfortable, wanting to say something but not knowing where to start.

After an unknown amount of time, Ruyi brought in a woman of about forty, heavily made up with rouge and powder, dressed gaudily – presumably the madam from Apricot Flower Tower.

“Princess, I’ve brought her.” Saying this, Ruyi shouted sternly at the woman beside her: “Why don’t you quickly pay respects to the Princess!”

Hearing her rebuke, the woman became flustered and panicked, not knowing where to put her hands, saying fearfully: “Greet… greetings to the Princess.”

“Rise.” After signaling Ruyi to step aside, Yunyi said to the woman: “Raise your head.”

The woman anxiously raised her head. Although the rouge and powder couldn’t hide the wrinkles that had formed from years of drinking and entertaining clients in her youth, her features were still delicate. In her younger days, she should have been a striking beauty.

Yunyi said gently: “What is your name?”

The woman said in a low voice: “I… I’m called Xing Niang.”

“Xing Niang…” Yunyi repeated in a murmur, then said: “Is Apricot Flower Tower your establishment?”

Xing Niang nodded: “Yes, I’ve spent half my life in the pleasure quarters. In my old age, not knowing where else to go, I used my saved silver to take over a brothel that was changing hands and renamed it Apricot Flower Tower.”

Yunyi nodded slightly: “Do you remember the names Yin Mingyan and Zhang Huanxiu?”

Xing Niang’s face turned pale, and she quickly lowered her head, saying in panic: “I… I have never heard these two names. I don’t know who they are.”

“Don’t know?” Yunyi said coolly: “But the girls in your establishment don’t say the same. They say that ten years ago, you bought two beautiful little girls, one surnamed Yin and one surnamed Zhang. You treated them extremely well, hired special masters to teach them music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and gave them the names Mingyan and Huanxiu.”

Xing Niang’s complexion grew even worse as she stammered: “I… I really don’t know about this. It must be… it must be that the Princess heard wrong.”

Jixiang said coldly: “One or two words might be misheard, but such a long passage – how could it be misheard? I advise you to confess honestly and spare yourself physical suffering!”

Hearing this, Xing Niang was immediately terrified and quickly knelt down: “No, Princess, please don’t! I don’t know anything.”

Yunyi said sternly: “Xing Niang, as long as you truthfully tell me about those two, Yin and Zhang, I will not make things difficult for you. Otherwise… not only will you suffer physically, but Apricot Flower Tower – the life’s work you’ve toiled over for half your lifetime – will also be destroyed in an instant.”

Xing Niang pleaded bitterly: “No! I’m just trying to make a living. Please spare me, Princess.”

“Whether I spare you depends not on me, but on yourself.” Before Xing Niang could speak, she continued: “I’ll give you the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to think it through carefully.” With that, Yunyi had Jixiang brew a cup of mint tea and drank it slowly, letting Xing Niang kneel there in fearful anxiety.

After finishing the cup of mint tea, Yunyi raised her eyelids and said coolly: “Well, have you decided?”

Xing Niang glanced at her quickly, then lowered her head and said through gritted teeth: “I… really don’t know anything.”

“Good.” Yunyi slowly uttered this word, then said to Ruyi: “Go tell His Highness to immediately order the sealing of Apricot Flower Tower. Arrest everyone inside without exception and interrogate them slowly. I don’t believe we can’t get anything out of them.”

Ruyi was startled, then immediately understood this was to frighten Xing Niang, and promptly said: “Yes, this servant will go report to His Highness immediately.” Then she said to Xing Niang kneeling on the ground: “You better think carefully. Once it’s sealed, regardless of the outcome, Apricot Flower Tower will never be able to reopen.”

Xing Niang desperately grabbed Ruyi’s sleeve while continuously begging Yunyi for mercy, but no matter how she pleaded, the latter remained unmoved, then called for Jixiang to go deliver the message.

With no other choice, Xing Niang finally said: “I… I’ll talk!”

Yunyi signaled for Jixiang to stop and said coldly: “Then speak properly. Don’t let there be half a lie or omission. What I said earlier still stands.”

Xing Niang nodded timidly: “Ten years ago, a trafficker brought a group of girls for me to choose from. Although they were all dirty, I immediately took a liking to those two and paid to buy them. Then I kept them well-fed and housed in private chambers, even hiring masters from various families to teach them carefully. It’s no exaggeration to say they were no different from young ladies of noble families. They were also promising – from small things like tea tasting and wine brewing to major accomplishments like chess, music, calligraphy, and painting, there was nothing they weren’t skilled at, nothing they didn’t know. I originally planned to have them debut together when they turned sixteen to receive clients, but unexpectedly…”

Yunyi took the mint tea that Jixiang had refilled and said slowly: “Unexpectedly what? Continue.”

Xing Niang glanced at her and said in a low voice: “Unexpectedly, last year, a young nobleman suddenly arrived. Somehow he knew about Mingyan and Huanxiu and immediately asked to see them both. I didn’t dare offend him, so I arranged the meeting. After seeing them, that young nobleman immediately said he wanted to redeem them both. I naturally refused, but then he said he was willing to pay three thousand strings of cash per person.”

“Three thousand strings?” Ruyi exclaimed: “So for those two people, that would be six thousand strings?”

“That’s right, six thousand strings. I thought that even if they started receiving clients, what they’d earn in the future would be about this amount. Plus, that young nobleman seemed to have extraordinary origins – if I refused, I didn’t know what trouble might come, so I agreed to hand Mingyan and the other over to him.”

Seeing her stop talking, Jixiang pressed: “What happened next?”

“After that, I never saw Mingyan and the other again. When people asked, I just said someone had redeemed them and they’d gone to enjoy wealth and honor.”

Yunyi glanced at Ruyi, who understood and took out two pieces of paper from her sleeve – the portraits of Lady Yin and Lady Zhang. She handed them to Xing Niang: “Look carefully. Are these the two?”

After just one glance, Xing Niang said: “That’s right, it’s them.”

Yunyi looked at her sideways and said coolly: “Are you certain you haven’t mistaken them?”

Xing Niang said very certainly: “I raised them for a full ten years. Never mind their current appearance – I’d recognize them even if they turned to ash.”