The Prince Is Abolished

Chapter 17

'Sir.'

'Yes Prince.'

'Why didn't you become the emperor?'

'We will discuss this some other day. For now, you must check on the emperor. His favourite son has nearly brought total annihilation of the royal family; he must be fighting his inner demons about what went wrong in his upbringing.'

'Even you knew that he favoured him! Guess it was obvious to everyone except me.'

'You don't need to blame yourself. Only a goldsmith can find true gold among fakes. I am afraid our beloved emperor is best at treasuring coal.'

Xi Jiang sighed.

'Sir I often wonder why women like Lu Ran and Kang Zhing suffered so much? In Lu Ran's case, her kindness towards every living being is so evident. I wonder why God didn't stop the abuse from ever happening.'

'That's a very deep question. I often wonder if Ran ponders on this as well.'

Prince added: 'I think it is a valid question. Isn't? Why did all this happen to her?'

'When I was young, prince, I often thought on this. Why did it happen? Why Supreme Soul didn't stop this injustice done to me when I am so good. And then I figured that we suffer due to our own calculations, or what we do, and when. In short, our consequences, are designed totally by us. Lu Ran trusted the wrong man and although her intentions were pure, yet she reaped what she enabled by her own free will. Kang Zhing is the one who is suffering totally because of abusive intentions of Xi Mang and Song Wu. But I also know, and I say with experience, that if karma is right, the intention behind this said karma is right, then the Supreme Soul will always try to pull the person out of it. But for this to happen, this person must also work hard to save himself; just like Kang Zhing did now, and Lu Ran did earlier.'

'You don't think that it was unfair to them and the Supreme Soul should have stopped it?'

'It is unfair to them and that is why both of them fought and won too. But even if they had lost, then too they had tried their best to keep dharma alive and this kept their karma clean. Hopefully, more women would follow into their footsteps and this will help women of Mi live a more secured life. Now tell me, for their brave and good karma, don't you think that Supreme Soul will reward Ran and Zhing with more strength and a much better protection? So should we keep pondering over the 'unfair' and forget the 'reward' part completely?'

'But, sir. Why did they have to suffer at all? Why didn't their good karma stop the bad, happen to them?'

'See prince, we cannot stop everything; we live with free will. This world is of infinite possibilities and even Song Wu and Xi Mang could have turned a new leaf had they learnt to respect those with little power. Important thing is that we do not focus only on the bad, but on attaining justice.'

'Sir, I often wonder if I can let go of thinking on such matters. I feel...like my mind is in a vicious circle.' 

Lu Xang saw doubts again in Xi Jiang's eyes and said: 'I will tell you what I do. See if this works for you as well; In my case, what I do is I redirect my thoughts. I don't focus on what Supreme Soul or anyone else could do, or could have done. I focus on what I can do, and could have done, as per dharma. And this keeps me motivated enough to break any lethargy I may feel or would have felt. My success, Lu Ran's empathy, and Kang Zhing's indomitable spirit will be remembered through ages. So tell me, should we focus on the abuse, or on our many achievements?'

Prince absorbed it all and nodded.

'Redirect thoughts...  Focus on what I can do and could do. Basically, keep myself aligned with dharma and live guiltfree.'