Chapter eleven

Ying Zetian wanted to put on her Rose mask as she prepared to go out of her room to start her daily routine of spot checking her businesses in the capital. But Ying Zetian heard Tang Ying calling her to come down, so she put her Rose mask back into her sleeve and walk towards the direction where she heard Tang Ying's voice is coming from.

Ying Zetian scratches her head in puzzlement when she saw what appears to be a royal force waiting in the hall of the brothel. From the uniforms of the royal force, it is the night royal forces that is solely responsible for the security of the Tang emperor. And the eunuch in front of the night royal forces is Eunuch Wang and he is the emperor's eunuch and the top eunuch in the palace.

It was the first time in two years since Ying Zetian found something that is out of her control. Ying Zetian walks towards Tang Ying's room and saw Tang Wudi and Tang Ying hugging together while crying.

"Mama Tang, what happened? Why both of you are crying and why are the emperor's personal forces and eunuch waiting outside." Ying Zetian asked.

Tang Ying gestured for her two adopted children to sit down and started to tell both of them the background of her and Tang Wudi. Tang Wudi actual mother is the previous empress and cousin of Tang Zhong, Tang Liu Xing. And Tang Liu Xing is actually the elder sister of Tang Ying. The Tang family was a mess despite being the so-called royal family.

The Yang family up to now is still the second most powerful gentry family in Tai Ping. And fifteen-year-old Tang Ying was a famous beauty at that time so the then Yang family head wanted to let her be his wife. This Yang family head have plenty of concubines and is twenty years older than Tang Ying. As usual the royal family could not do anything against what the four gentry families wanted. So, sixteen-year-old Tang Liu Xing give all her savings to Tang Ying.

Tang Liu Xing love to do charity for the poor and it was by chance that a woman who was helped by her come in at this moment. This woman was the previous owner of the Qing brothel and she offered to adopt Tang Ying as her daughter. This woman was also a skilled make-up artist and a maker of human skins that could really passed for a real human skin. So, it was like this, Tang Ying become the daughter of a brothel owner and escape this disgusting arranged marriage.

It was when Tang Ying was twenty-four years old when she gotten the news of Tang Liu Xing again. Tang Liu Xing nanny had secretly bought the baby prince out of the palace and placed it in the care of Tang Ying before killing herself. It was only then Tang Ying had gotten news from the nanny that she suspected that Tang Liu Xing was killed by the Yang family. Tang Liu Xing worried for her baby as she could sense that she was near to her death already.

So, Tang Liu Xing had made secret arrangements for her baby to be bought out of the palace by her nanny and be replaced by a dead baby. Tang Zhong was the new emperor due to a secret edict by the previous emperor and this was something that was never expected. So, the Yang family had secretly arranged for the slow poisoning of Tang Liu Xing in order to let their daughter to be the new empress of Tai Ping.

Tang Ying was taught the art of make-up and human skin making by her adopted mother, but she never expected that it was her that betrayed Tang Wudi's location. As Tang Ying get older, she taught that nobody will realized that she is the Tang Ying of the Tang royal family, so she started to get lazier when she went out.

Another reason is also that Tang Ying had news that all the older Tang family maids who knew her was either retired and not in the capital or already dead. And the Tang masters will never appear in the red-light district of Changan.

It was one of these trips that Tang Ying never used make up when one of the older maids recognize her and released this information to the Tang family. and of course, if the Tang family knew of her existence, it means Tang Zhong will also know of the news. And this had led to Tang Zhong finding his way to the Qing brothel today.