Master Qian’s funeral was held very grandly. Feng Shui masters, wealthy business owners, celebrities and people from all walks of life came from all over the country to attend his funeral.
Because Master Qian had no children, the funeral was held by the Special Task Force and several of his apprentices. Some people pretended to be sad, but Master Qian’s apprentices were so sad they couldn’t help but show it on their faces.
These apprentices were well-known in the world of Feng Shui, and with their master’s fame, their life was prosperous. Now that the master who taught them had passed, they would be heartless if they weren’t sad.
The masters of the Feng Shui world all knew that Master Qian was indeed a very remarkable Feng Shui master, but his apprentices were mediocre. It was probably impossible for them to achieve the level of Master Qian in this life. Seeing how sad they were, the masters didn’t know what to say apart from a few words of consolation.
Young birds eventually leave the nest, and even if Master Qian was still alive, it was impossible for him to take care of them for a lifetime. Life, death, wealth and honor are decided by destiny. If they couldn’t understand this, they could be a second-level master as most.
Qi Yan and Cen Baihe arrived together. Cen Baihe represented the Cen family. Although Qi Yan was just a junior in the world of Feng Shui, it was heard that Master Qian saw him before his death, so their arrival attracted a lot of attention.
“Fifth Master Cen, Master Qi.” A young girl with red eyes handed a white flower to the two of them. She was Master Qian’s youngest apprentice, Xue Ping.
“My condolences, I believe he wouldn’t want to see you so sad.” Qi Yan put the white flower on his chest and handed the sealed white packet to her senior.
Xue Ping bowed to the two of them, her haggard face full of grief.
Qi Yan knew that there was nothing he could say to console her, so he csighed and entered the mourning hall.
Xue Ping stood up straight, glanced at the backs of Qi Yan and Cen Baihe, wiped the corners of her eyes that were red and swollen from crying, and bit her lips.
“Xue Ping, Fifth Master Cen and Master Qi sent some couplets and wreaths. Do you want to put them up together?” A middle-aged man walked up to Xue Ping and whispered, “Qi Yan is just a junior in the Feng Shui world while Fifth Master is a famous person, the wreaths they sent should not be put together.”
“No, just put them together,” Xue Ping said hoarsely, “Fifth Master Cen will definitely not be unhappy with this.”
“Okay then.” He nodded and listened to her. There were a total of eight disciples, and Xue Ping was the most talented. She was also the one who was best at fortune-telling. Even the master once complimented her for her talent. Since she said that the wreaths could be placed together, there must be no problem.
When she saw Qi Yan and Cen Baihe together, Xue Ping was a little confused, because she couldn’t tell their fortune. She could only tell that their life was good and no more. One of them would live long even though he was meant to live a short prosperous life. The other was lonely but blessed. This was the first time she saw such contradictions.
Thinking about it, it must be because she was not skilled enough. If her master saw it, he wouldn’t be as confused as her.
Thinking of her master, Xue Ping’s eyes reddened again.
“Offer the incense!”
Qi Yan and Cen Baihe took the incense from Master Qian’s eldest apprentice. After lighting it, Cen Baihe made a gesture to Qi Yan, indicating that he should offer the incense first. Qi Yan didn’t refuse, he stepped forward and respectfully offered the incense, and after bowing deeply three times, he walked to the side.
Everyone who saw felt a little emotional. There were rumors that Master Qian gave Qi Yan all his precious instruments. It must be true, otherwise Qi Yan would not act like that. Some people looked at Master Qian’s apprentices, and sure enough, a few of them looked unhappy.
The master did not give them to his apprentices, but to an outsider. For the apprentices, it was indeed a great insult. But a master like Master Qian must have his reasons for doing things. Even if they were displeased, they should not show their emotions on such occasions.
Cen Baihe glanced at these people, and after offering incense to Master Qian, he stood beside Qi Yan to show that he was on Qi Yan’s side, and if anyone dared to do anything to Qi Yan, they would be offending the Cen family.
Seeing Cen Baihe’s attitude, those who were hoping for some drama immediately retracted their thoughts. The masters couldn’t afford to offend Cen Baihe, because his life was too good, and offending such a person would bring bad luck. People in the business world dared not offend Cen Baihe, because the Cen family’s status was too high.
“Master Qi,” Master Zhao walked in front of Qi Yan, saw Cen Baihe beside him, greeted him and said to Qi Yan, “It seems that you are recovering well.”
“I am blessed by Baihe. Without their family taking care of me, I wouldn’t get better so quickly,” Qi Yan glanced at the picture of Master Qian in the mourning hall and whispered, “Last time, many of you lost a lot of spiritual energy to break the formation, how’s your body now?”
“We old people…” Master Zhao noticed someone walking towards them and said, “It’s nothing, I’m all recovered now.”
“That’s good,” Qi Yan glanced at the person who came, “I am not as worried now.”
“Master Zhao,” The visitor was wearing a black suit and shirt with branded accessories all over his body. It seemed as though he didn’t come to express his condolences, but to promote brands. “Hello.”
Master Zhao nodded slightly towards him, “Hello.”
“I’ve been wanting to visit you all this time, but unfortunately you weren’t at home, I was wondering…”
“Sir, we’ll talk later, this is not the place.”
“Yes, yes.” The visitor nodded politely. Although Master Zhao looked indifferent, he stepped back and glanced at Master Zhao. For some people, the more aloof Master Zhao was, the more respectful they were towards him, and the more they believed in his ability, as if it was an honor to have a few words with him.
Qi Yan felt that he still had a lot to learn from Master Zhao.
After the memorial service was over, it was time to bury Master Qian. Except for those who were close friends with him, all the other guests had already left. Cen Baihe wanted to stay with Qi Yan, but Qi Yan did not agree.
“It’s not appropriate for you to go to the funeral,” Qi Yan whispered to Cen Baihe, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
“Alright then,” Cen Baihe patted him on the shoulder, “Be careful.”
The people who stayed for the funeral were all the disciples and grandchildren of Master Qian and people from the Feng Shui world. As the representative of the Cen family, it was inappropriate for him to stay. Although he didn’t mind, he didn’t want to cause trouble for Qi Yan.
Master Qian’s grave was in a prosperous place with good Feng Shui.
Not knowing when it started to rain, Qi Yan held up a black cloth umbrella, looked at Master Qian’s picture on the tombstone and sighed softly. He put away the umbrella, placed the white flower in front of his tombstone, stepped back and took a bow.
Without the shelter of the umbrella, the rain fell on his face, bringing a slight chill.
“Master Qi,” Xue Ping stepped forward and took an umbrella to shield him from the rain, “Thank you for coming to Master’s funeral today.”
“Master Qian took care of me, the least I can do is to see him off.” Qi Yan looked at Xue Ping, who was a head shorter than him, and stepped aside, “My condolences. He shook the umbrella and opened it, keeping a safe distance from Xue Ping.
Among Master Qian’s apprentices and grandchildren, only Xue Ping had the most spiritual energy and purity. No wonder Master Qian mentioned her when he met him a few days ago.
Xue Ping said with a wry smile, “Since Master passed away, we will have to go our separate ways…”
“Master Qian once told me that among all his apprentices, only the youngest apprentice is the most talented,” Qi Yan looked at Xue Ping, who looked extremely haggard, “If you don’t take good care of yourself, how can you inherit his legacy?”
“Master really said that?” Xue Ping stared at Qi Yan in disbelief. Most masters only wanted to pass on their legacy to men and not women. Even if they accepted a female disciple, they would never regard her as the real heir, and it was the male disciples who were valued. So when Xue Ping heard Qi Yan’s words, she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Are you doubting your ability?”
“No, I just feel bittersweet,” Xue Ping covered her eyes and put her hands down after a long while, “Thank you, I will definitely not let him down.”
Seeing this, Qi Yan smiled and turned to look at Master Qian’s tombstone. With such an apprentice, he thought that Master Qian would feel comforted in heaven.
“Xue Ping, Master Qian, what are you talking about?” A middle-aged man came over. He was Master Qian’s third apprentice. Qi Yan was not impressed by him, and Master Qian never mentioned him.
“Brother.” Xue Ping nodded to her third elder brother of the same master.
He lowered his eyelids, and he sounded sarcastic, “You have always been the most valued by Master. Now that he has passed away, you started looking for a new person to rely on?”
Qi Yan frowned, it seems that the relationship between Master Qian’s disciples was not very harmonious.
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Xue Ping lowered her head and apologized to Qi Yan, “I’m sorry, Master Qi, he has not been in a good mood recently, and spoke inappropriately, please…”
“As your senior, I don’t need you to speak on my behalf,” He sneered and turned to look at Qi Yan, “Master Qi must be really outstanding to be favored by Master at a young age. He even left you his most precious instruments and not us.”
Qi Yan smiled when he heard the words, and wondered why he sounded so aggressive. It turned out to be because of the instruments.
Those instruments were priceless, it was not surprising that he was resentful.
“Yeah,” Qi Yan said with a smile, “Master Qian valued me very much. No matter how I refused, he insisted on giving them to me. It’s not nice to reject the elders, so I could only accept it.”
He almost spat blood out of anger upon hearing that. This person was so shameless!
