Chapter 793 - 0447 The Erosion of Time (Two-in-One)

"Is it too long? I’ll get a shorter one for the Daoist." Hua Shang’s voice came through.

"..." Li Zhibai.

Listening to the woman’s slightly amused voice beyond the screen, Li Zhibai was momentarily speechless. By now, she had a general idea of what kind of personality Tong Jun’s daughter had.

Referring to her as Daoist, but... is this how one treats a person of the faith?

Fortunately, Li Zhibai knew she wasn’t a true Kun Dao, just a lazy woman who liked wearing a Daoist robe.

She wasn’t even fond of wearing it, merely accustomed to it. As the saying goes, new clothes might not be as good as the old ones, but for a woman filled with lethargy like Li Zhibai, old clothes were the best.

So, she wasn’t against short skirts; she just preferred to take things step by step.

Even though she intended to change slightly in front of the drastically transformed Tong Jun, it was certainly not like this...

Li Zhibai could probably imagine if she really wore such clothes to see Tong Jun... how startled that girl would be.

"Daoist?"

At this moment, Li Zhibai’s extended silence made the Hua Shang woman outside cough gently before asking, "Do you think... these clothes aren’t nice?"

"Clothes..."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai carefully examined the dark red trimless skirt in her hands. It was evidently crafted with fine handiwork by a woman, pieced together with plain silk, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, forming a trapezoid. The waistband was also encircled with plain silk, with ends extended to be tied at the lower back to accentuate a woman’s figure.

The entire skirt had no decorations, but its above-knee length... surpassed any embellishment.

It was actually quite pretty.

Li Zhibai genuinely felt this way, and as she gradually rediscovered her girlish heart, she acknowledged this. If she were truly back in her girlhood days, she might not mind wearing something a bit cooler at an all-women’s tea gathering.

But that was before.

Now...

Li Zhibai gently massaged her temples.

If others knew about Li Zhibai’s current predicament, they would surely be astonished.

After all, she was a woman of immensely high status, even the Sect Leader of the flourishing Profound Sword Bureau would respectfully call her ’Auntie’...

Yet now she was being ’humiliated’ in a brothel.

But there was no choice. For a traditionally minded woman, wearing such clothes on a painted boat in a brothel didn’t infuriate her... only Tong Jun’s daughter could achieve that.

"How... is it not nice?" Hua Shang’s voice carried a hint of nervousness.

"It’s beautiful, the stitching is dense, extremely tidy, and the embroidery is exquisite." Li Zhibai didn’t hide her praise, but her tone was gentle with a hint of helplessness: "However... it’s not suitable for me."

"It’s not as good as Daoist sister says." Hua Shang said with a chuckle, clearly pleased.

Daoist sister...

What kind of title was that?

Li Zhibai placed the short skirt aside.

She now realized that this skirt was handmade by the girl outside.

"I... also occasionally go to Piluo Residence to help out. Since you think it’s beautiful, let’s see which other girl can say my craft is poor." The Hua Shang girl spoke, walking close to the screen, observing the tall silhouette behind it, her ears turning a shade of red as she thought of Li Zhibai’s gentle, yet slightly helpless voice.

"This sister... is quite a gentle person." she gently said.

This time, she didn’t even use the word Daoist.

In the eyes of the Hua Shang woman, Li Zhibai never truly got angry, seemingly always willing to accommodate her... It was a strange feeling, but the Hua Shang woman believed no girl in the Flower Moon Building could resist such warmth from Li Zhibai.

Li Zhibai glanced at the lightning outside that resembled daylight.

Gentle... was that referring to her?

She had spent a long time in the Sword Hall, and even the initial impression she left on Xu Chang’an was that of a severe and old-fashioned character, rarely described this way.

"I apologize." The Hua Shang woman said apologetically: "I must have troubled you, sister, but... there aren’t many skirts here, do you... have anything particular you’d like to wear?"

At this point, Li Zhibai was quite eager to meet Zhu Pingniang and Wen Li to understand what was going on, yet she didn’t want to dismiss Tong Jun’s daughter, so she thought for a bit and said.

"Do you have a six-panel gauze overlay skirt? A light-colored one will do." Li Zhibai chose a long skirt she remembered.

"Gauze overlay... skirt?" Hua Shang appeared a bit puzzled: "What... what is that?"

"Don’t know?" Li Zhibai was slightly taken aback, giving a simple description of the skirt’s characteristics.

"Oh." Hua Shang suddenly understood: "Sister means the twill skirt? I actually have a suitable light green gauze twill skirt here... just... you indeed insist on a long skirt, but that’s easy enough, it comes with a built-in petticoat..."

Hua Shang imagined Li Zhibai’s tall figure under the Daoist robe, feeling a bit regretful.

With such beautiful legs, wasted under such a long skirt, it was truly a pity.

No wonder the universe was angry and thunder was striking outside.

"Sister, please wait a moment, I’ll go fetch it for you." Hua Shang said, turning gracefully to leave.

"..."

With her departure, Li Zhibai came out from behind the screen.

"So now the gauze overlay skirt is called the twill skirt... Clearly, this was the most common clothing in the past, but now it doesn’t even have a name."