Insufficient balance

  The hearse stopped near the crematorium, not near a small shrine. Everyone understood the situation, and according to convention, there were only two possibilities: either it was an unclaimed body or the family had abandoned it. In such cases, the civil affairs bureau usually pays for the cremation. The other possibility was that the body was taken from the hospital in a hurry. Since the time for cremation is limited, many people cannot accept it. However, national policies and regulations must be followed. Sometimes, after the family has confirmed the death, they would secretly take the body away from the morgue when no one was paying attention. The hospital and crematorium would then push the responsibility to each other, and as long as the ashes were returned, there wouldn't be any problems. Both methods require proof from the hospital or public security bureau. The crematorium wouldn't dare burn a living person. In either case, it's not bad for the crematorium, as they will receive subsidies from the civil affairs bureau based on the number of cremations. The only difference is that if it's the latter situation, they need to handle it quickly; otherwise, someone might come knocking on their door.

  It has been several months since they started working at the crematorium, and Bao Yulin and his colleagues have become very tacit in their cooperation. As soon as the hearse stops, a few people push out the cart and directly lift the body onto it.

  "Bao Yulin, someone is looking for you!" a voice called out from afar in the office.

  Bao Yulin didn't say anything to anyone else, he just made a gesture and walked out of the cremation chamber. Due to labor protection reasons, when working in the cremation chamber, everyone wears very large industrial masks, even if they want to talk, they can't hear each other, let alone with the huge electric furnace humming loudly.

  Bao Yulin walked while thinking, who could this be looking for him?

  Just as Bao Yulin walked into the office, he suddenly stopped. In front of the office building, Bao Yu Feng was standing there with a white flower on his head and a black armband, along with the village chief. Bao Yulin suddenly felt dizzy, unable to speak or walk.

  Bao Yufeng saw Bao Yulin walking towards her from a distance, wearing his work uniform, and suddenly burst into loud sobs. If it weren't for the village chief supporting her from behind, Bao Yufeng might have fallen to the ground.

  Bao Yulin almost crawled to Bao Yu Feng's side, his voice hoarse and trembling as he asked: "Sister, what happened at home?"

  "What happened?" Bao Yufeng suddenly stood up straight, gave Bao Yulin a loud slap: "You still have the face to ask what happened?" Bao Yufeng pointed at Bao Yulin's nose: "You bastard! Why didn't you die in Vietnam? If you had died, our whole family would have mourned for you! That way, you would be a hero and we could hold our heads high! But you, you're afraid of death, you traitor, you sellout! You still have the face to come back! Do you know? Because of you, Father didn't dare go fetch water during the day, so he had to sneak out at night, and ended up falling off a cliff. He was sent to the hospital today and didn't make it. Mother is still lying in bed now! How could our family have someone like you, a total failure!" Bao Yufeng became more agitated as she spoke, and gave Bao Yulin several more slaps.

  After listening to Bao Yu Feng's words, Bao Yu Lin was like a walking corpse at this moment. He didn't know the pain because his heart hurt even more. He also didn't know what to think, he had lost all thoughts. His eyes were dull and lifeless as he stood there, allowing Bao Yu Feng to scold him.

  Seeing the fresh blood flowing from Bao Yulin's mouth, the village chief couldn't help but hurry to pull Bao Yu Feng: "Yu Feng, stop fighting, go take a look at your dad and deal with his funeral first!"

  Bao Yufeng sobbed and stopped her movements, as if she couldn't stand anymore, her body soft and about to fall to the ground. The village chief hurriedly supported her, shouting loudly: "Bao Yulin, are you stupid? Quickly support your sister!"

  Bao Yulin suddenly realized, hastily stretched out his hand to support Bao Yu Feng, but unexpectedly she dodged to the side like seeing a ghost: "Don't touch me! I don't have such a brother as you! I'm telling you, from now on, you're not allowed to return to Xiangshui Village, our family doesn't have such a traitor!" Saying that, Bao Yu Feng said to the village chief: "Village Chief, let's go!"

  Bao Yu Feng's few words were like a thunderclap on a clear day, shocking Bao Yu Lin into not knowing what to do or where to go, but his heart told him that he had to see his father for the last time.

  Bao Yulin suddenly knelt down in front of his sister: "Sister, where is Dad now? I want to see him!"

  "Get out of my sight, our family doesn't need someone like you! No matter how hard it gets, as long as I'm here, mom won't suffer. You don't need to worry about dad's affairs, I'll bring him back and bury him in the ancestral tomb of the old Bao family!"

  。。。。。。

  The sister and brother were making a big noise in front of the office building, which had already startled the leaders of the crematorium. They had thought about coming down to persuade them, but when they heard something like "traitor" being said, the secretary furrowed his brow. Thinking back to how Bao Yulin was introduced by Director Lü from the county armed forces department, he felt it necessary to get to the bottom of things. Just as he picked up the phone, a worker from the cremation room rushed over in a hurry.

  "Secretary, secretary." The newcomer held a hospital tag in his hand. This tag was hung on the foot of the corpse.

  "What's wrong? Don't be flustered." The secretary's eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

  "Look, it's possible that the one we just brought from the hospital is Bao Yulin's father!" The worker said as he handed the nameplate to the secretary.

  "What?" The secretary hastily took over the placard, took a closer look, and indeed, the address column read "Xiangshui Village", and the column for the name of the relative was prominently written: Bao Yulin.

  "Has it been burned?!" The secretary was anxious and no matter what, had to let Bao Yulin take a look.

  "It's already been burned, and this was only discovered after it went into the furnace." The worker didn't know what to say; no matter what, Bao Yulin was still his colleague. Chinese people place great importance on ethics, and when something like this happens, they don't even know how to face each other afterwards.

  "Has it been burned?" The secretary was in a headache. He certainly understood that after the electric furnace preheating was completed, as long as the oven door was closed, it could not be opened until the time was up. This is a safety measure, even if the power is off, it cannot be lifted. The key now is to quickly inform Bao Yulin of this situation. But with such an incident, how can we face Bao Yulin in the future?

  "Old Huang, you go down and tell Bao Yulin about the situation. I'll make a few phone calls." It's better to let his subordinates handle such things, besides, he also wanted to get a clearer picture of Bao Yulin's situation.

  Lao Huang reluctantly went downstairs. He heard everything in front of the office building.

  。。。。。。

  "Xiao Bao, we all heard what happened at your house upstairs. You should be prepared for the worst." Old Huang walked down with a placard in hand, wanting to organize his thoughts and figure out how to tell Bao Yulin about these things.

  Bao Yulin didn't say a word, with blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, and his two eyes looked pitifully at Bao Yu Feng. He hoped that Bao Yu Feng could take a look at him, give him an opportunity to explain.

  Just as Bao Yufeng and the village chief were about to leave, Old Huang became anxious. Although only two people had come, and they had come unknowingly, no one could predict what would happen next, especially since Bao Yulin was still here; this matter should be clarified in front of him.

  "Baoyu Lin's sister, wait a minute, take a look, is this card filled out by you?" Old Huang handed the nameplate to Baoyu Feng.

  Seeing the placard, Bao Yufeng snatched it over: "This was written by me, how can it be here with you?" Bao Yufeng's expression was extremely tense.

  Bao Yulin was like being struck by five thunders upon hearing this. Having worked at the crematorium for several months, he of course knew what Old Huang had in his hand. Today, only one corpse came in all day, and it was one that he himself had received. The tag in his sister's hand was usually taken from the deceased's foot, which means that he had unknowingly pushed his own father into the electric furnace.

  "My goodness!" Bao Yulin also couldn't stand still, he didn't understand what he did wrong and why heaven would punish him like this.

  。。。。。。

  Bao Yu Feng took Bao Guo Hua's ashes and left, all the way until she was gone, she didn't say another word to Bao Yu Lin.

  The village chief later felt a little unbearable, and said to Bao Yulin: "From now on, you don't have to come back to our Xiangshui Village. Don't worry, Bao Guohua can send his son to join the army, and we people in Xiangshui Village will support Bao Yufeng and her mother for a lifetime. You never have to come back again!"

  The secretary looked at Bao Yulin kneeling in front of the office building and shook his head. Although the crematorium was not a good unit, for someone who "might" betray their country, no matter how they behaved now, it was unforgivable.

  In the afternoon, he talked to Minister Lü about Bao Yulin's case. Minister Lü spoke very frankly that Bao Yulin's situation is not clear at present, but the country's policy is there, and the resettlement work must be completed, so please ask the crematorium for help.

  Minister Lv didn't speak very clearly, but his meaning was quite clear. At least Secretary understood it that way. No matter what the situation with Bao Yulin is, there's one thing - his problem isn't clear. This is a major issue of right and wrong, and no one dares to take risks for this.

  That night, the leaders of the crematorium stayed late, they needed to discuss one thing: whether Bao Yulin should be left behind.

  The result of the vote was that most people thought Bao Yulin was not suitable for cremation, but he went down anyway. For such a person: it's better to wrongly kill one thousand than to let one go!

  Everyone was relieved, fortunately Bao Yulin's transfer report had not been submitted yet.

  。。。。。。