Chapter 1626 — A Bitter Memory

Never mind a hidden family—even for an ancient sect or an ancient clan, a Heaven-tier expert could not simply be put to death at will unless he had committed an unforgivable crime! Never mind merely losing an infant, and losing it unintentionally at that; even had it been done on purpose, he still could not have been executed outright!

Unless the family had Heaven-tier experts beyond counting—but the Hidden Tang family plainly was not like that!

"I want to hear the truth," Bing Tang said mildly. "Does Old Master Tang take Bing Tang for a child who can be easily fooled?"

The moment the words left her mouth, the aura of her peak late Heaven-tier strength poured out without the slightest reservation. Old Master Tang, standing there, could not help but shudder from head to foot, nearly collapsing onto the floor; Tang Yu was so frightened he dared not lift his head. Only Xiao Ming, an ordinary woman, gazed at Bing Tang with deep affection, her eyes brimming with love...

"This... how would Tang dare?" Old Master Tang smiled bitterly. It was true that Bing Tang might be his granddaughter, but she was also now the Palace Master of the Ice Palace—and what sort of existence was that? Even the patriarch of the Tomorrow-After-Tomorrow sect had to show her a measure of respect. As an early Heaven-tier expert himself, in her eyes he really was nothing worth mentioning!

"Since you will not speak, then please go back, all of you. What happened back then is past and done; I no longer wish to hear it." Having said this mildly, Bing Tang turned to leave.

"Tangtang... don't go!" Seeing that Bing Tang was about to leave, Xiao Ming rushed forward on instinct, about to seize her—but then she remembered the other's identity as a Heaven-tier expert, and the hand that had caught at Bing Tang's arm was reflexively withdrawn, timid and cautious: "I'm sorry... Palace Master of the Ice Palace..."

Looking at the woman before her, who was very likely her mother, Bing Tang sighed softly. Never mind what that old fox Old Master Tang might be thinking; this Xiao Ming surely did care for her!

At that thought, Bing Tang halted. "Back then—what exactly happened?"

"This... ah! It was all fate!" Old Master Tang sighed, dispirited. "So be it! Misfortune has befallen our house, and this old man will bear the blame. Xiao Ming, you tell it."

In the matter back then, Old Master Tang had also given his nod. Without his consent, how could a servant of the household have dared to throw away a granddaughter of the Tang family?

"I... Father..." Xiao Ming did not know what to say, nor did she dare speak freely. When they came, Old Master Tang had admonished her again and again not to speak carelessly, so now she did not know what to say.

"Just tell the truth. If we lie, a personage as formidable as the Palace Master of the Ice Palace will see through it at a glance!" Old Master Tang slipped in a bit of flattery without the slightest trace.

Yet Bing Tang's expression remained utterly calm. "We will speak in another room," she said.

With that, she turned and walked toward the door. Behind her, Boss Li, quick-witted, promptly prepared a room for Bing Tang. Xiao Ming hesitated a moment, then followed.

Old Master Tang and Tang Yu did not follow. The Palace Master had made it plain she did not want the two of them involved, and they would not go courting annoyance.

As for eavesdropping—though Old Master Tang's powers as a Heaven-tier expert would let him hear, he did not dare! Bing Tang and Xiao Qing were both Heaven-tier experts, and far stronger than he. Were he to eavesdrop, he would certainly be discovered, and if it provoked Bing Tang's wrath, the loss would far outweigh the gain.

Boss Li did not enter the room. After Bing Tang, Xiao Qing, and Xiao Ming had gone in, he shut the door and stood guard before it like a door god.

Alone in Bing Tang's presence, Xiao Ming felt both nervous and excited. The person before her was, in all likelihood, her own daughter; yet Xiao Ming did not dare claim the bond rashly, nor did she dare say much. She only stood there stiffly, at a loss.

"Auntie, please sit," Bing Tang said, her tone far gentler than before. A moment ago she had been the lofty Palace Master of the Ice Palace; now she was simply a young girl with no airs about her at all.

"Ah... all right..." Xiao Ming nodded hurriedly and sat down primly and properly.

"Auntie, there's no need to be so ill at ease. One can see how much you fret over your daughter, isn't that so?" Bing Tang looked at Xiao Ming and could not help but sigh.

"I... I... These nineteen years, not a single day has passed that I did not think of my daughter..." At Bing Tang's question, tears instantly fell from Xiao Ming's eyes, bitter and sorrowful: "She was my child, my own flesh and blood, yet only days after she was born she was taken from me... Day and night I thought of her, longing for her to come back to my arms and call me mother..."

Xiao Ming's floodgates opened all at once, and she poured out every bit of the longing for her daughter she had held these many years... In the end, though, it was all yearning and missing, with no real point to it. Yet Bing Tang did not interrupt her; she simply listened quietly, listening to this mother's longing for her daughter!

To be honest, Bing Tang did not much care about Old Master Tang. So what if he was her grandfather? He had abandoned her back then, and that was as good as severing all ties of kinship. But toward Xiao Ming, she could not be indifferent!

From the way Xiao Ming had just cautiously inquired after Old Master Tang's circumstances, it was clear that her standing in the Tang family was absolutely not high—certainly not that of a young madam. Whatever that letter had said about her mother's status was pure nonsense; by the look of it, she had been at most a concubine!

"Then... how did you come to be separated from her?" Only after Xiao Ming had finished pouring out her heart did Bing Tang sigh and ask. To tell the truth, in that instant just now, Bing Tang had wanted to rush forward and call Xiao Ming mother, but she had held herself back and not done it!

For one thing, the matter was not yet confirmed; for another, she had not yet decided how to handle her relationship with the Hidden Tang family.

"Back then..." Xiao Ming's floodgates opened: "My elder sister married a man from a collateral branch of the Hidden Tang family. He was of Tang blood too, but not a direct descendant of Old Master Tang—a side branch, counted merely as one of the clan, except that when taking a wife and bearing children they had to go to the Hidden Tang family to register the names. It was then, when I accompanied my sister and brother-in-law to the Tang house to register, that the Tang family's eldest young master—that is... Tangtang's father—took a fancy to me. Borrowing the courage of drink, he... and I... I wanted to resist but could not..."

Here Xiao Ming sighed faintly. She had no background at all, merely a girl from an ordinary family. Faced with such a thing, how could she ever have been a match for a man of power like Tang Lintou?

For the fastest updates, please read pop-up free at.