Chapter 43: Those Who Are Favored By Gods

Chapter 43: Those Who Are Favored By Gods

The human skin mask that Miss Dong looked at was obviously much older than the other human skin masks. It had started to turn black in the glass cabinet and had cracks all over it. There was a very simple ancient tattoo on it that was monochromatic.

This mask has several thousand years worth of history. Everyone in the Zhang family has tattoos, but the locations vary. This family has been around for many generations, Miss Dong said. They established the Western Archives more than a thousand years ago to investigate strange events that took place in Tibet and established archives everywhere after that. The South Sea Archives was the last one established and has only been around for sixty years.

Why is the Zhang family in so many peoples business? Wouldnt Empress Dowager Cixi stop them? (1) Is there no farm work in the northeast villages or something? Zhang Haiyan asked.

No one knows why the Zhang family does these things. Some people say that they have something to do with grave robbing. Since they go tomb robbing all year round, they need to know about the legends and news surrounding the tombs. Thats why they set up the archives. In the beginning, the people in the archives were all from the main branch of the Zhang family. But ever since the last century, the number of the people in the Zhang family has decreased. They started to adopt orphans from the remote parts of Southeast Asia, Miss Dong said.

Zhang Haiyan was silent as Miss Dong kept walking. In fact, the people like us who work for them only know that there are tons of records sent to the northeast every year. In addition to helping the Zhang family collect information from various places, we also adopt orphans, train them, and then have them hunt down the traitors of the Zhang family. Zhang Ruipu was one such traitor. All of these traitors are difficult to deal with, which I believe you have experience with since youve dealt with him.

It sounds just like a gang, Zhang Haiyan thought to himself. The Zhang family in the northeast is just a northeastern gang. They sound like an organization of hereditary bandits with a long history. Its a bit like Elder Brothers Society (2). There may even be mysterious religious customs, so thats why the archives were set up everywhere. Theyre worshiping Huang-Lao(3)and catching ghosts while recruiting members at the same time.

Zhang Haiyan continued following her, and they soon reached a dark room. Zhang Haiyan glanced at the dcor and saw that it was all archive cabinets. They were the same ones that were used by the South Sea Archives.

This place was originally a part of the South Sea Archives expansion plan, but these are the only things left now, Miss Dong said. She pulled at a white cloth that was in the middle of the room, revealing Zhang Ruipus body lying on a table.

Miss Dong hung an incandescent lamp over the corpse and took the corpse's hand before showing it to Zhang Haiyan. He saw that the corpse had three fingers that were very long, and there was a hint of deformity.

One of the characteristics of the Zhang family is that they have some fingers that are long. Zhang Ruipu had three, so he was considered relatively mediocre among the Zhangs. The fingers are said to be used to break mechanisms when they rob tombs. Their fingers can reach smaller places that way. With that said, she grabbed a file that was sitting off to the side. This is Zhang Ruipus file. She flipped through a few pages until she reached a photo.

An official from the Qing dynasty and Zhang Ruipu were both in the photo. This was taken in the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang (4). Qiying was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Minister of Trade and Industry. The photo was taken in Macau during Qiyings negotiation with France (5). This person is Zhang Ruipu, and this person is Qiying.

Zhang Haiyan could tell that Zhang Ruipu was in his fifties in the picture, and he looked almost the same as he was now. Zhang Haiyan took the photo and compared it with the corpse. The picture was taken almost seventy years ago, so even if Zhang Ruipu was only twenty at that time, he should have been ninety by now. But Zhang Ruipus corpse still looked like he was in his fifties.

Why didnt he grow old? Zhang Haiyan asked.

People in the Zhang family almost never grow old. Miss Dong took off Zhang Ruipus clothes, grabbed a bottle of brandy from nearby, soaked the clothes in the alcohol, and then lit them on fire. She put them on the corpses shoulder and patted them more than a dozen times before the fire went out. Zhang Haiyan saw a Qilin tattoo appear on Zhang Ruipus body.

Miss Dong then turned a page in the file, revealing a sketch of a Qilin tattoo.

Miss Dong didnt answer.

The two of them continued walking, passing by numerous rooms that were all empty. By the time they reached the end of the passage and saw an iron door, they had gone deep.

Zhang Haiyan suddenly thought of a question and asked, You said that the both of us are the only people left in the South Sea Archives. Do you know where a person named Zhang Haiqi is?

When you were in Malacca, Mo Yungao led troops to raid the archives. No one besides me survived, Miss Dong said. She should be dead.

Zhang Haiyan shook his head again. Impossible. My godmother is the most formidable woman Ive ever seen. She wouldnt die so easily.

Isnt your good friend also dead? Miss Dong sneered as she looked back at him. Why would you think that the people you know are those favored by gods?

Zhang Haiyan felt very uncomfortable. He knew that he would still deny everything, no matter how convincing the things behind the iron door were. This was because he knew that if he believed Miss Dongs words, then he was really alone in this world.

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TN Notes:

(1) Empress Dowager Cixi was a Chinese empress dowager and regent who was the de facto supreme ruler of China in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908. Wiki link here. Basically, Zhang Haiyan thought that the authorities wouldve stopped the Zhang family if they were doing things on such a large scale.

(2) Gelaohui, usually translated as Elder Brothers Society, was a secret society and underground resistance movement against the Qing Dynasty. Every member allegedly carried a small hatchet inside their sleeve. Wiki link here.

(3) HuangLao was the most influential Chinese school of thought in the early 2nd-century BCE Han dynasty, having its origins in a broader political-philosophical drive looking for solutions to strengthen the feudal order as depicted in Zhou propaganda. It is generally interpreted as a school of syncretism, developing into a major religion the beginnings of religious Taoism. Wiki link here.

(4) The 24th year of Daoguang = 1844 AD.

(5) Keying, also known by his Chinese name Qiying, was a Manchu statesman during the Qing dynasty of China. He concluded the Treaty of Whampoa (1844) with France. Wiki link here.

(6) Portuguese India Afonso de Albuquerque conquered the city of Malacca in 1511. Wiki link here.