Chapter 1: 001 Tang Dreams and Tang Shadows

In the Red Chamber, the largest brothel in the Imperial City, the daily morning lesson had begun once again.

The person who came to teach this morning was a masked man with a somewhat slender build. He lightly swayed a folding fan in his hand; he was none other than Boss Tang, the master behind the scenes of the Red Chamber.

"Do you know what a man's heart is made of?"

"Iron! A heart of iron!"

"Stone! Stubborn and unyielding!"

"Flowers! Too flowery!"

...

A row of women, dressed in colorful and flamboyant attire, spoke one after another, offering various opinions.

The man lazily raised the folding fan in his hand, and with that, the vast pavilion fell silent once more.

"An onion!" The man rose from the soft couch, paced a few steps, and explained, "A man's heart is like an onion. It is hidden too deep. If you want to obtain a man's heart, you must be patient and peel it away, layer by layer."

The women nodded repeatedly, and applause broke out. As expected of the Boss, his words made perfect sense.

"However!" The masked man cleared his throat and continued, "However! During the process of peeling, you will constantly shed tears. You peel and peel, only to realize at the very end that, as it turns out, an onion has no heart!"

As soon as these words fell, all the women were stunned. It took a good while before the applause began to ring out again.

"Someone, bring her up!" The masked man suddenly barked sharply.

Several tall and burly guards dragged a woman up. Upon closer inspection, one could see very deep ligature marks on the woman's neck.

"Ziyi!" One woman couldn't help but scream. Ziyi had fallen in love with a scholar who had gone to the capital for the imperial examinations, only to be swindled out of all her savings. This incident was known to the entire Red Chamber. Ziyi had attempted suicide last night but was fortunately saved.

"Does a man have a heart?" The masked man crouched down and asked in a low voice.

"No," Ziyi answered timidly.

"Will you still cry?" The masked man continued to ask.

"I won't cry anymore," Ziyi blurted out without a second thought.

"Will you still attempt suicide?" The masked man asked with a hint of disdain.

"I won't. Never again." Ziyi was instantly struck with terror. It turned out that being so close to death was so terrifying; if the Boss hadn't saved her in time, she would have long since descended to hell.

The masked man stood up, leisurely smoothed out the wrinkles in his long robe, swept a glance over the entire row of women in front of him, and asked, "That is all for today. Dismissed."

With that, he turned and left, leaving a group of women to begin gossiping. The Boss's lessons were always so vivid; he could always find living examples within the Red Chamber.

Men were like onions; they would make you cry, and furthermore, they had no heart.

What about women?

No one noticed that, in fact, their masked Boss had not left, but was sitting on the roof.

"Tang Ying, come out!" The masked man said as he removed his mask, revealing an incredibly delicate face that possessed seven parts softness and three parts hardness.

As soon as the words fell, a man in white fluttered down to a corner of the roof. His spotless white robes billowed in the wind, and his long black hair drifted, looking like a banished immortal, solitary and detached from the world. He was the Tang Ying mentioned by the masked man.

"Tang Meng, men have no heart, but what about women?" Tang Ying walked over, his voice low and pleasant. His handsome face possessed three parts softness and seven parts hardness.

"I'm not a woman, how would I know?" Tang Meng gave a perfunctory smile.

"Oh?" Tang Ying glanced at her and reached out to take the jade hairpin from Tang Meng's hair bun. Her long hair instantly cascaded down; it turned out she was a woman disguised as a man.

Tang Ying looked at her for a long time, smiled, and then re-styled her hair into a bun.

Tang Meng did not flinch. No matter what this man did, she never dodged; he was too safe.

"Tang Ying, why are you so handsome?" Tang Meng looked at Tang Ying infatuatedly.

Tang Ying smiled faintly and said, "Are you praising yourself?"

"I suppose so, haha." Tang Meng laughed merrily. Tang Ying looked exactly like her, as if they were fraternal twins; if she dressed as a man, no one would be able to recognize her.

Yet, this man had no blood relation to her whatsoever. In truth, she was a transmigrator, and she shared no blood relation with the owner of this beautiful body, the seventh young lady of the Nanling Tang family. She only possessed some of the original owner's memories and martial arts.

The Su family of Dongling, the Tang family of Nanling, the Lin family of the West City, and the Mu family of the Northern Border—if these four great generals had a daughter, she would belong to the Imperial Family.

She, Tang Meng, should have long ago become an Imperial Princess to fulfill the mission of a political marriage. Fortunately, since childhood, Madam Tang and General Tang had lied about her gender. Fortunately, there was also Tang Ying—a Tang Ying who was like her twin.

Where Tang Ying came from or to whom he belonged, she would never ask.

He only took orders from Madam Tang, and his mission was to help her escape during emergencies and to clean up the mess when situations turned dire.

"Why did you come? You even come to this place of willow and smoke?" Tang Meng had an ambiguous expression.

"Men have no heart, but what about women?" Tang Ying did not forget the question.

"What do you think?" Tang Meng smiled.

"I am asking you!" Tang Ying said helplessly.

Tang Meng thought for a long time before speaking, "I suppose they don't either."

At least, she didn't.

***

Note to readers

The Cold Palace series will still begin early next year. Regarding the situation of this new story, it has been explained in the Cat's Space. You understand, o(∩_∩)o