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THE PRINCE OF HERBS

1389 AD, Ming Dynasty, China "Guardsmen! Take him to his exile in Yunnan, right now!" "Fu Huang!..." "Shut up! Oh... how can my own son stab me from behind... Not only other people I can't trust, and now I can't even trust my own son either!... It's far more painful..." *** "Tomorrow morning," Xie Wang said slowly. "Tomorrow morning... you will see dozens of dead bodies lying all over the streets in Yunnan." Xie Wang looked straight to Zhu Su, his eyes as sharp as a knife, "This is a war. The battle between me, Yuan Prince, and you Ming Prince. A battle to determine who is the most suitable to be the next ruler of Yunnan!" *** "Your Highness... Bad news, Your Highness!" Wu Qi was breathless as he answered, "All streets in Yunnan... are full of dead bodies..." Zhu Su stunned. It can't be, Witchcrafts of Xie Wang is the hell real?!? He just walked not any longer, yet he had found a dead body was lying face down on the street. The farther he walked, the more corpses he found. And finally, he arrived at the town square, where people had been crowded together. *** "I am Zhu Su, the fifth son of Hongwu Emperor, I promise to smash the Witchcrafts of Xie Wang, and get you all free from the outbreak!" Zhu Su sharpened his voice. "The promise from a leader is not a children's game. Bear it in mind!" A man in early forties, who seemed to be the leader of rebels, held his spear up, shouted, "Fine! We appreciate your determination, Ming Prince, so keep your promise! If you fail to keep it up, then I'll make sure that Ming honor, as well as yours, will be ruined!" *** A biographical novel of Prince Zhu Su, the fifth prince of the Hongwu Emperor who was the founder of Ming Dynasty, who devoted himself for medical science and humanity. But before he could fulfil his devotion, he was forced to go through royal disputes, conflicts, power struggles, punishments, rebellions, and even death threats. Could he overcome those problems and reached his noble dream? Find out in this novel. This is a work of biographical novel about a real historical figure. Some characters, plot premise, and certain sections of the story are based on historical events and figures, but there are some parts which are pure fiction. Some of names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner; any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This novel is an original work of myself, not a translated work. Last but not least; I hope you enjoy this story. And thank you very much for your appreciation and support! Have a nice day!

amelia_siauw · History
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TAOIST TEMPLE 3

Ignoring Zhu Su, Hu Nayin had been standing in front of the temple. She knocked on the door.

The sky was getting darker. The first drop of snow began to fall as the door creaked open. A middle-aged male Taoist Priest appeared from behind.

Hu Nayin greeted, followed by Zhu Su and Zhu Youdun. "Good afternoon, dear Priest. We... um..." Hu Nayin swallowed hard, tried to disguise their real identities but had no idea of the fake identity she should be disguised as, so she continued, "We are trapped in this mountain, and it starts to snow now. Would you mind if we stay temporarily here?"

The Taoist Priest blinked. He stared deeply at Zhu Su and Zhou Youdun. "Are you all... the former Zhou Wang, the former Zhou Shi Zi, and the Esper Hu Nayin?"

The three of them immediately gasped in surprise. Zhu Su felt his heart pumped faster than usual. It was him who continued in a hoarse voice. "Yes, Sir Priest. We are taking a relaxing walk and then it snows... and, please excuse us, it is so chilled... so, may you permit us... to stay temporarily here?..."

The Priest smiled broadly. "Of course you can. Please come in."

Hu Nayin brightened. She bowed deeply. "Thank you very much for your generosity, Sir Priest!"

Meanwhile, Zhu Su followed the kind middle-aged priest with an uneasy feeling.

If we just looked at its outward appearance, we would assume that this temple was small-sized, yet this Taoist Temple turned out to be spacious inside. It could accommodate twelve priests and priestesses to dwell, and even more, it still had three guest rooms. About the front yard, it was extensive and beautiful, as well as full of various kinds of plants. The back yard was even wider, it was even not enclosed as it was directly connected to the nature outside, with high mountains standing tall and astonishingly and the vast blue sky with its white, soft clouds stretching boundlessly as the background. The vestibule was a large hall, there a large-sized statue of Laozi was standing tall in the center, surrounded by the statues of other gods and goddesses. The fragrant aroma of the burned incense greeted them as they entered the vestibule, they also saw several priests and priestesses were chanting spells while sitting cross-legged. Shortly after, they passed several aisles before getting to their rooms, and they soon found that the interior of the whole temple was minimalist, only a few items existed here, thereby this temple was dominated by empty space. But putting off their assuming, there was a kind of mystical elegance surrounding it with this minimalist arrangement.

"This temple is very beautiful. And besides, it is so clean and neat," The three of them praised.

The priest laughed. "This is the hard work from us, the male."

"Huh?!?"

Looking at the surprise of his guest, the priest asked, "Why are you so surprised?"

"Ah... sorry but... doesn't the matter of cleaning become women's responsibilities?..."

"Here we do whatever we like, as long as it does not deviant from the law of nature. And furthermore, it is us the priests who do cooking and cleaning, while the priestesses do the management and financial matters of this temple."

"Do women have higher status than the men in this temple?" Zhu Youdun frowned.

"Why can you ask such question?"

"Well, because the male do lowly work while the female do more important work?"

"If you do cooking and cleaning, then you become the lowly person? And the person in charge of management and finance then becomes higher in status?"

"Doesn't it become the common norm in society?"

"Have you learned about Dao, Young Lord?"

Zhu Youdun answered firmly. "Of course I have."

"So you must have known that low and high is all but relative perception? That, it is no more than the result of subjectivity from our point of view?"

This time Zhu Youdun was unable to answer, since the priest's answer made him shocked. But apparently, not only Zhu Youdun who was stunned, Zhu Su was the same with his son. Both of them were watching the priest very seriously.

"Managing, controlling, creating works, politics, government, military... these are all Yang jobs - since it exposes us to the public and make us look prestigious in the eyes of the world. Meanwhile, cleaning, cooking, tidying up, it's all Yin work - since it is done inside and not producing any work which will make the world dazzle with us. Those who are attached to stereotypes immediately assume that the Yang jobs will be highly rewarded and classify it as the high-status job, while Yin jobs will produce nothing and it is then degraded as lowly work. But let us think deeply about it. If we don't do Yin jobs well, can Yang jobs be done? If our house is in a mess, no one cooks, takes care of the household, and raises children, can anyone conquer and rule this world? Can they do that?"

Together, Zhu Su dan Zhu Youdun shook their heads.

"They can't. Thus, Yin jobs are the same important as Yang jobs. It is only by chance that the men here prefer to do Yin jobs, and the women are more skilled in Yang jobs. Whatever you want to do, it must be based on joyful and awareness, and then the commitment will follow. If you are not passionate with it, then whatever you do won't last long. In the end, although it is the women who manage this temple and it is the men who take care of the household, because no one is chasing after wealth and fame, then every kind of work appears the same to us because it leads to the equal benefits."

Zhu Su's eyes went round. He bowed deeply. "Such a great blessing for us to come to this marvelous temple. Not only we get shelter to dwell in, more than that, we also gain the knowledge valuable for our life. Thank you very much, Sir Priest!"

The priest nid-nodded. "You are welcome. It is also my great pleasure to talk with three of you. Your talent in medicine, as well as your virtues to dedicate yourselves to helping the society, are truly heartwarming. It is we who should learn from you. Your coming is a real good thing for us, we can have the opportunity to discuss more knowledge and wisdom with you."

These Taoist Priest's words, of a sudden, made Zhu Su's heart frozen. Instead of being proud, he felt insinuated. Because his main purpose was basically to gather the sympathy of people to destroy Zhu Yunwen.