Chapter 1642 — Let's Go Take a Look First

"Uncle Tang was right. And so, when the Hidden Tang family suddenly sent out that invitation this time, I can't help feeling there may be something behind it..." As he spoke, Wei Zhao laid out his suspicions before Tang's mother.

"Ah! Then what are we to do? It looks as though we really shouldn't go after all!" Tang's mother was badly startled by his words. She would have counted herself lucky not to bathe in the Hidden Tang family's glory; the last thing she wanted was for them to have designs on her household!

"Go? Of course we must go!" Wei Zhao said. "If they have no designs on us, then all well and good. But if they do, we must be on our guard—so a visit there does us no harm either way!"

"So that's how it is..." Tang's mother was rather nervous now. Her earlier dream of returning home in glory had long since drained away; what filled her mind instead was how to keep disaster from being drawn down upon her own family...

The guest courtyard of the Hidden Tang family.

It was the most lavish of the Hidden Tang family's guest courtyards, kept for receiving honored visitors, and now Bingtang, Xiaoqing, and Feng Xiaoxiao were lodged there.

"Aunt Qing, I want to go and see my parents first... just a secret glance, to see how they are getting on..." Now that Bingtang had certain news of her birth parents, she could scarcely contain herself. To wait until Old Master Tang's birthday feast—she simply could not bear it!

Besides, would meeting at such an occasion not be terribly awkward? She did not know whether her parents would acknowledge her, nor whether that sister of hers—elder or younger—would bear her any hostility, thinking she had come to steal her mother's love.

So Bingtang's heart was all in a tangle. For the master of the vast Ice Palace, such fretting was rather laughable—but when all was said and done, she was nothing more than a girl not yet twenty.

"Of course. If you want to go, Palace Master, then Xiaoqing will take you," Xiaoqing said with a smile. "What's so difficult about that? At worst we just sneak a quick peek first!"

"Mmm... then, shall we bring Aunt along too?" Bingtang had been wavering, but at Xiaoqing's words she made up her mind at once.

"That works too, but I wonder whether Xiaoming would be willing?" Xiaoqing and Xiaoming were of the same generation, so she called her plainly by name.

"I'll go find Aunt right now!" Bingtang rose to her feet and made for the door.

"Senior Sister..." At that moment Feng Xiaoxiao called her back.

"Hm? What is it, Xiaoxiao?" Bingtang treasured Feng Xiaoxiao and spoiled her terribly, so when the girl called to her, Bingtang stopped at once and turned back to ask.

"Then... could you take me along when you go out, so I can drop in and see my hubby Wei Zhao on the way?" Feng Xiaoxiao ran over, caught Bingtang by the arm, and swung it coaxingly.

"This... all right, then we'll go together!" Bingtang shook her head in some helplessness. She had no idea where her birth parents were, or whether it would lie on Feng Xiaoxiao's road. She knew only that her father was called Tang Jucheng—Uncle Da had said so that day. As for that sister of hers, elder or younger, and the name of the mother she had never laid eyes on, she had not bothered to ask.

For there was no need to ask such things. What good were names? What Bingtang wanted to see was the person, not a name.

As for Feng Xiaoxiao, she naturally had no notion who Tang Jucheng was, nor that he was Tang Yun's father. Only Wei Zhao knew that name—but Wei Zhao would never presume to call Tang Yun's father so familiarly, nor would he bring up such matters with Feng Xiaoxiao for no reason, so of course Feng Xiaoxiao did not know that Tang Jucheng was Tang Yun's father.

Otherwise she would not be pleading with Bingtang now.

In the Hidden Tang family, Bingtang came and went as she pleased. While she was in residence, the eldest branch's young madam could only go on living in the cold palace, and for that, Tang the Head had made a special trip to soothe her for a good long while!

As for Xiaoming, she was Bingtang's aunt after all, so she would certainly have some standing in the Hidden Tang family from now on—though it would never be as high as had once been promised.

But Xiaoming had never been one to scramble for fame and gain. These days, apart from chatting with Bingtang each day, she spent most of her time sitting in her room, quietly picturing her daughter's face...

"Aunt!" Bingtang stepped into Xiaoming's room.

"Bingtang, you've come!" Xiaoming had grown familiar with her over these days. The awe she had once felt for the Ice Palace's master was gone; she simply treated her as a younger member of the family, and the two had grown all the closer.

"Mmm, Aunt, I want to go and see my parents first. Will you come with me?" Having been Palace Master for years, Bingtang was brisk and decisive; whatever came into her mind she carried out at once, without dithering.

"Ah?" Xiaoming was taken aback. She had not expected Bingtang to propose such a thing, and her heart was at once filled with joy and with fear—joy that she might see her sister and her daughter sooner, fear that if her sister knew she had come to take her child away, would she be glad of it?

In truth, Xiaoming meant to follow her daughter's wishes: if her daughter chose to stay at her sister's side, she would never stand in the way. So long as her daughter acknowledged her as her mother, she would be happy!

"Aunt, set your mind at ease. To be honest, my own heart is uneasy too. So once we get there, let us take a secret look first, and when we are more familiar, then we'll go and make ourselves known?" Bingtang said.

"That will do. Then it's settled!" Hearing Bingtang's plan, Xiaoming breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement.

"Then I'll go ask Old Man Tang for the address and the names!" Seeing that Xiaoming had agreed, Bingtang drifted off to Old Master Tang to ask for her birth parents' names and address.

How would Old Master Tang dare breathe a word of refusal? He hurriedly had Uncle Da dig out the information and hand it to Bingtang, and then Bingtang fetched Xiaoming and together they came to the guest courtyard.

"Xiaoxiao, where is Wei Zhao? Is it far from the city where my parents are?" Bingtang asked Feng Xiaoxiao, papers in hand. "My parents live in Songshan City..."

"Huh?" Feng Xiaoxiao's eyes went wide at her words. "No way? Songshan City too? What a coincidence—my hubby Wei Zhao is in Songshan City!"

"Really?" Bingtang was astonished as well. She had never asked where Feng Xiaoxiao's home was, since such things did not matter to her, and it had never come up when they chatted. Later, Feng Xiaoxiao had been busy with her training and had said even less about the city she grew up in—and now it turned out there was such a coincidence!

"That's wonderful!" Feng Xiaoxiao said. "Now this really is on the way—practically the very same road!"

"Indeed, I never would have guessed." Bingtang nodded. "Then tomorrow we'll pack up and make ready to set out." (Chapter 4 will be a little late.)

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