Chapter Forty-two: Last Wish

  On the eve of the Lunar New Year, almost all units had gone on holiday. Units like crematoriums had long since extinguished their furnaces. Hu Baoguo's phone call was a mix of pleading and intimidation, and through his connections with the provincial leaders, he finally managed to get the crematorium to agree to light one furnace again.

  When the cremation was over and returned to the Hu family, the New Year's bell had already sounded. Holding his master's ashes box, Qin Feng sat stupidly in the room arranged by Hu Baoguo for him. This morning was still a living person, now it has become a box of ashes. Qin Feng is facing this kind of life and death separation for the first time in the true sense.

  "Little Feng, take the old master away for now. In seven days, I will bury him in the most prominent place at the ancestral tomb of the Hu family. I won't let the old master suffer any injustice."

  Hú Bǎo Guó held a bowl of dumplings and lifted the door curtain. He had been busy all day, and not to mention Qin Fēng, who was only 15 or 16 years old, even he felt like he couldn't hold on any longer. However, everything had finally been taken care of, and Hú Bǎo Guó also let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

  "Brother Hu, I have another request for you!"

  Qin Feng's gaze shifted from the urn to Hu Baoguo, and he said: "Although Master rarely tells people about his identity, I know that he wants to be buried in Qingling. I want to fulfill Master's wish!"

  He and Zaiyuan had been together for more than three years, Qin Feng had heard him say that his contemporary emperor Guangxu Emperor, also known as Aixinjueluo Zaitian, had left a piece of land between the Qingxi Mausoleum and Puyi's Hualong Imperial Cemetery.

  In those years, Guangxu had issued an edict that this piece of land was left for the royal relatives with the character "Zai" in their names, such as the last king Xunqinwang Zaizhen and others, who were all buried there.

  Although he didn't say it out loud, Qin Feng could tell that his master still wanted Ye Lu to return to their ancestral tomb. However, since he had been away from the Aixinjueluo clan for so long, he knew this wish was difficult to fulfill, and only revealed a hint of his true feelings when no one else was around.

  "Buried in Qingling? Qin Feng, you and Old Hu are joking with me, right?"

  Upon hearing Qin Feng's words, Hu Baoguo almost smashed the bowl of dumplings in his hand to the ground. "What era is this now? The Qing Dynasty has long been overthrown, and except for that last emperor who was specially approved by Premier Zhou, who else can be buried there? Old Hu doesn't have that kind of skill!"

  After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, whether it was the Beiyang government, the Nationalist government or the current regime, they have all been working to reduce the influence of the imperial era on the country. Even the last emperor, who passed away recently, was not buried in an imperial mausoleum but rather in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.

  Because the mausoleum of the last emperor had already been built, it was only later, under the intervention of the Premier, that he was moved in. He is also the last emperor to be buried by the Qing dynasty, and since then no one has been heard to have been buried in an imperial mausoleum.

  Although the Hu family in Shicheng is considered a big household, over the past few decades, the highest-ranking official they have produced is only Hu Baoguo, the head of this small department. Under the current system, as a mid-level cadre, how much power can he really wield?

  "Hu brother, I didn't mean to bury Master in the Imperial Mausoleum, but rather a ancestral tomb of the Qing dynasty next to it..." Seeing Hu Baoguo misunderstand his intention, Qin Feng hurriedly explained that he wanted to help Master fulfill this wish of recognizing his ancestors and returning to his roots.

  Hu Baoguo shook his head repeatedly and said, "This... Xiao Feng, even if it's a mausoleum, not just anyone can be buried there casually. The old man has been separated from the Aixinjueluo clan for 70 or 80 years, I don't know if his name is still in the family tree. Empty words, who would believe?"

  As a member of the imperial family of the last dynasty, Aixinjueluo's royal family has always been given certain attention by the country. When someone passes away, a funeral committee is established to handle the affairs. Even if Zaixi were still alive, verifying his identity would require many formalities, let alone now that he has passed away and turned into ashes.

  "Uncle Hu, Master left a notebook that can prove his identity. I'll take care of this matter, but for now, I need to temporarily store Master's ashes at your place. Is that okay with you?"

  The tradition of the Outer Eight Banners is passed down through oral transmission, and even the old master dare not break this rule. However, in his last few years of life, he wrote many memoirs from those days, which include some unknown facts about the Aixinjueluo clan that outsiders do not know, and are still very useful for proving Zaixi's identity.

  "You little scamp, can't you let an old man rest in peace? Why must you stir up so much trouble?"

  Hu Baoguo glared at Qin Feng with a bad temper. He couldn't even do it himself, yet this young punk who was still serving his sentence dared to spout such arrogant words.

  "Hu big brother, Master has just this one last wish, I must help him complete it!"

  Qin Feng stared straight at Hu Baoguo, refusing to back down in the slightest. He knew that his master wanted to be buried in the Qing dynasty not because of his identity as a member of the Qing royal family, but purely out of an old man's desire to return to his ancestral roots. Since his master had a wish, Qin Feng felt he should take on this responsibility.

  "Alright, you are Old Master's direct disciple, this matter is up to you!"

  Looking at Qin Feng's firm gaze, Hu Baoguo sighed and agreed, putting down the bowl of dumplings, then carefully took over Cai Yi's ashes box, respectfully placing it on the table, saying: "You eat something, tomorrow follow me back, I'll think of a way to reduce your last two months' sentence."

  "Uncle Hu, don't worry about it, just two months' time, I can wait!"

  Qin Feng shook his head. With his current abilities, this small prison couldn't hold him back. He stayed here for two reasons: one was that his master was here, and the other was that Qin Feng wanted to temper his mind. As his master said, only those who could endure loneliness could achieve great things.

  Another point is that in the juvenile detention center, Qin Feng can learn a lot from others. Don't look at the juvenile offenders in the correctional facility, these guys are not easy to deal with. There's a 12-year-old pickpocket who stole from Northeast China to South China without getting caught once, and that kind of experience is exactly what Qin Feng lacks.

  Zai always said in front of Qin Feng that if he could be sent to an adult prison, he would learn even more things. That's where the real "gathering place for the elite" is, from high-ranking officials and scholars to merchants and prisoners, all kinds of people are there.

  Qin Feng has also come to a realization that whether it's thievery or magic, there is no distinction between good and evil, it all depends on where it is applied. Just like an ordinary kitchen knife, in the hands of a chef it's just a tool, but if held by a criminal, it becomes a deadly weapon. The key lies in one's personal choice.

  After seeing off Hu Baoguo, Qin Feng finished the bowl of dumplings that had gone cold. He looked at the urn on the table and couldn't fall asleep no matter what. The events of this day were just too much for him, his cerebral cortex was in a state of extreme excitement.

  "Huh? What's this?"

  Qin Feng withdrew his gaze, but suddenly discovered that in his mind, there seemed to be some things that didn't belong to his memories. When Qin Feng's attention involuntarily shifted from the ashes box to his mind, a vast and complex amount of information instantly impacted his thinking, leaving it in disarray.