In the silence of Mogaung's night, Zhu Su was sitting quietly. Resting on the highest hill, he was much closer to the sea of stars above, to the perfect midnight velvet. But to the contrary, he even felt that he went farther from the sky. Because, he had just been "awakened", that the knowledge he knew so far was nothing compared to the lessons he received from Gao Qing earlier.
Gao Qing was very different from all teachers who had taught him for this time, even including his brother Gao Qi. Zhu Su understood, they could not be blamed because it had indeed become the protocol in the palace. Maybe it was the protocol that made Gao Qi get frustrated working for the royalty. Gao Qing led them away from the books, no book he held while teaching, instead, he took them from one place to another, asked them about anything, the dead or the living, and even the abstract, like mindset, concept, perception and the problems arose because of it.
"Can you communicate with them?" That afternoon, Gao Qing took them to a big city. The big city was far from the village where they lived, since they had to go early in the morning to reach that place and could just returned back to their home in the dusk. It was very crowded there. Mogaung people were all busy speaking in the Shan language while doing their activities, buying and selling and so on. Shan State consisted of many tribes and languages, but the majority of the population spoke Shan.
Zhu Su, Zhu Youdun, and Hu Nayin quickly shook their heads.
"Maybe if we have stayed here for a bit longer, we will be able to master the language," Zhu Su answered.
"How can you master their language while you can't even communicate with them?"
Zhu Youdun answered, "What I notice from the foreign diplomats who come to the palace, they have been trained to speak Chinese before. So learning a language is a must for intercultural communication."
"And that's precisely what makes communication more complicated."
The three of them furrowed their eyebrows as a sign of confusion.
Suddenly there was a shout in Shan language. It sounded very urgent and shouted in a commanding manner, but they had no idea about the meaning. They saw the crowd hurried away to the side of the road, also bowed in a very respectful way. Since they had no idea of what to do and worried that they would provoke problems in another country if not following the crowd, they then did the same thing.
What was passing through later was the same as their expectations. A large horse-drawn carriage accompanied by a magnificent entourage of warriors, servants, and bearers passed through. Not only large, the horse-drawn carriage was also decorated by many luxurious carvings. Yet they could not see who might be on the train because it was too high for their vision range.
After the carriage went away and they were able to move normally again, Gao Qing asked, "According to you, what did happen just now?"
"A group of nobles just passed by," Zhu Su answered.
"And they are not ordinary nobles. They must be royal families, such as prince or princess, or even king or queen," Zhu Youdun continued.
"How can you conclude so clearly? Moreover you, Boy, can explain the social status of the nobles? You don't understand their language, do you?"
"It must be! You can see by yourself, that the people respected them so much, and the carriage was so big and fancy!..." Zhu Youdun soon understood what actually Gao Qing meant. Gao Qing grinned.
"Do you want to say, that there is a Universal Energy owned by all nations in the world, which allows us to communicate with each other?" Zhu Su expressed his opinion.
Gao Qing nodded in satisfaction. "If you see other people smile to you, you will smile back to them. Whereas if you see someone else furrows or even growls to you, your mind is already filled with negative prejudice about him. It doesn't need language skills. But, Aura. The Aura that radiates from other people conveys to us, and vice versa. For that reason then I say, if we only depend on the language in communicating, then the communication will become more complicated. But if we can, and keen to, read Aura, then the communication can become smoother - maybe we can even change disunity into harmony and peace."
Zhu Su also smiled. "Ah, it would be very wonderful if we could realize that."
"What did you feel when you saw the group of nobles?"
"What did I feel?" Zhu Su thought for a while. "Nothing special... just watching a carriage passing by..."
"Really?" Gao Qing asked again. "Just be frank. There must be something you feel, right, as a former prince?..."
It was Zhu Youdun who opened his mouth. "Uhm... to be honest, it's so strange for me to pay respect to them. In the past, the people respected us when our carriage passed, then now I must pay respect on the roadside to those I don't even know in a foreign country, it feels... eeerrr... so..."
"So humiliating," Gao Qing continued.
Zhu Youdun made no reply.
"Do you feel sad by losing your noble title, Boy?"
"Well, of course, I am sad. I even almost went crazy in the beginning. We always live in honor, but then being dragged into exile like a despicable prisoner... even below the commoner... and now we have to live as a fugitive..." Zhu Youdun was unable to continue his bitter words.
"How about you?"
Being silent like a pensive person, Zhu Su seemed to be surprised as Gao Qing asked him.
"I... also feel the same with Youdun... no. My mind is empty. I have now turned off my feelings towards the past and all the memories that can only weaken my heart. I am not a royal... at least now I must accept willingly that I'm not a royal..."
Gao Qing looked Zhu Su deeply to his eyes.
"Actually, what does the title of nobility mean?"
Zhu Su and Zhu Youdun stared back at Gao Qing.
"Yes, what actually does nobility mean? Why should there be a king, and why should there be a beggar? Why should there be nobles, and why should there be commoners? Why should the nobility be respected by the people, why should the people submit to the nobility? What is the difference between the two of them? They are both humans, but why should they be distinguished? And, doesn't everything change? Nobles may fall down, and the commoner can have their status rise? So, in this uncertain world, why does discrimination still exist? And it then fills human's heart with earthly attachment, which results in jealousy, envy, greed, revenge, and lust to seize, conquer, and dominate?"