The Prince Is Abolished

Chapter 18

Xi Jiang took his father's advice and sneaked out of the palace on the horseback and towards the outskirts of the Mi kingdom, carrying only a few coins of gold, and the packet that the emperor gave to him.

Lu family had done enough; It was time to leave them as Xi Mang would surely attack the Lu family more ferociously if he was taking shelter with them, he felt.

His eyes welled up as he recalled how kind the Lu family has been. How free he felt whenever he visited their mansion. In their eyes, he was just a valuable soul and everything else, his status or his power, were immaterial. He thought of Lu Ran, and felt a pang of pain he had never felt before. 

I will return soon, Xi Jiang silently vowed.

After a while, he heard neighing of horses, and then everything went silent. He tried to hear more, but not even a rat squeaked and he went on his way far away from the capital. 

A few days later, Zhing saw the Buddhist monk, disciple of the Himalayan master. He blessed her with health recovery and a very happy life. The two spoke at length over karma, the cause and effect, and how one can live a life with zero bad karma.

'What I learned from my master is, that once we stop thinking only about ourselves, we become merciful in our thoughts, and later in our actions. When these merciful thoughts are put into practice, then we truly become clean both in our hearts and in our hands. But sometimes we have to train ourselves to be merciful.'

'So, I must practice to be kind even if it is an act. And then, I will become one with the idea?'

'Yes.'

'But who to show mercy to? How to be merciful?'

'How about plants and trees?'

'But...they are not...'

'Living?'

'Yeah. I mean...like they are not living like us.'

'But they provide life to millions of birds, bees, and all types of creatures! We humans depend on them for housing to herbs and nearly everything. Even souls after leaving their bodies, often find solace and survive under, or on trees like peepal!'

'Oh. So, I can give water to them. Lu Ran does that too.'

'Yes. Lu Ran does many other things as well. When she was barely 5 years of age, she stopped massacre of wolves and foxes who were getting killed for fur. Did you know that? Her insistence on not killing them made his father travel to far off India, and get Jaisalmeri sheep that give high-yield in wool. This saved thousands of lives of the fur-bearing animals. The free sweaters people first wore, came from the Lu mansion and it completely destroyed fur-related trade in Mi. Now, everyone wears wool here. She also has saved thousands of parched and dying plants and trees thereby saving countless life forms. Humans, as you know, also benefit from this.'

'I didn't know about killing of the foxes and wolves. She was a terrific child,' Kang Zhing felt proud of her best friend!

'Yes.'

'May I tell you something, monk? I love Lu family but I don't like that they didn't try to go one step up and take the throne. Lu family in power would make Mi so powerful and a heaven on earth. We would have ruled this world so easily!'

The monk chuckled at this and asked:

'So only Mi deserves to be powerful and be a heaven on Earth? What about where I come from? Is it okay for my country to be poor and hellish? What about the country of my mentor who sent me to you? Why do you need Mi to rule the world and for what?'

'Errr...I didn't mean it in this way. I merely want Mi to be acknowledged and I want the same for your country and your mentor's country as well.'

'Hmmm. I see. You want best for yourself and your people. The rest of the world must fawn over you and on those who you consider your own. Do you think my assessment of your thinking is fair?'