CHAPTER 200: DAY ONE OF LONG SHUANG’S STAY IN THE TEMPLE.

Royal Temple [ D city].

Princess Long Shuang had never suffered such humiliation--she was sure that if the world came to know what she had suffered, people would line up in the streets and march on her behalf, demanding that she be freed from this prison of mental torture.

How much chanting did the monks and nuns need to do?

What was thee end goal?

Long Shuang was certain that they were doing it to punish her.

On the first night of her arrival at this prison, she had been forced to kneel before a Buddha statue and say a prayer.

Prayers!!!!

Long Shuang had never prayed a day in her life. She was a royal princess, her father the emperor was the dragon of the East. He was equal to a god and that made her, Long Shuang, a mini goddess.

She had said this much to the nuns and they had not liked it. Long Shuang was sure that it was why she had been given rice, plain vegetable soup and cabbage for dinner before being sent off to bed.

She was not even allowed to watch cartoons, update her social media pages or make a phone call. Nobody in the temple had a smart phone.

It was outrageous!

It was a crime against development!

An offense to the royal eyes of the royal princess and she had ordered for the monks and nuns to be fired or flogged. Unfortunately, her orders that were screams had fallen on deaf ears.

Long Shuang did not even want to think about the bed she had been forced to sleep on. Was comfort a foreign word to the people in this temple? Didn’t they know that her royal body could only tolerate the best soft luxury mattress from Bed set company? It was a high tech bed, attuned to changes in the weather, could sense discomfort and release vibrations that mimicked a massage and relieved pressure.

It was only three million yuan. How hard was it to buy a three million yuan mattress?

As for the sheets and duvet!! Long Shuang could have set them on fire if she could. What did the monks and nuns have against cashmere and silk? The thickness of the duvet was one hundred times less that the ones she used in the royal castle.

And it had smelled like dead moth!

The bedroom itself was smaller than her dressing mirror. Who slept in such small rooms? They were not meant for humans.

She had stayed up all night, hopeful that her mother would come and rescue her for temple hell. But, she had not been rescued. So, she cried and waited for maids to soothe her and sing her lullabies or tell her stories. None had come.

There had been no reassurances. Instead, there were mosquitoes and dead moth smell and a tiny cockroach that had walked on her cheek. All of this combined, had made her sob pitifully.

Just when she started to doze off, gongs went off and a nun came into the room, forcing her to get out of bed and join others in meditation for a hour.

It was 5:00 a.m. Who woke up a child at 5:00 a.m!!!

When she saw other children in the meditation room, she tried to talk to them, inciting a rebellion against their oppressors. But, they had ignored her and remained still like statues.

After meditation came more prayers and chanting. The thing which she hated the most so far. This was followed by breakfast which was buns and plain white tea.

Now, it was time for chores and after such a terrible breakfast, Long Shuang was not in the mood to do any chores. She had never done a chore in her life.

She was looking at the broom which master Faxian had put into her hands. "What is this?"

"A broom." He answered.

Long Shuang handled the broom lightly as if it was too heavy for her hands. "I know what a broom is, I don’t know why you are giving it to me."

"To sweep." Master Faxian told her. He directed her eyes to other children and three adult monks that were sweeping the front compound.

"I refuse." Long Shuang pushed the broom towards Master Faxian.

He pushed it back and put it in her hands firmly. "Physical labor teaches discipline." He said in a gentle, wise voice.

Long Shuang scowled. "Discipline is for commoners and so is physical labor. Summon my maids they will sweep for me."

A young girl that was around Long Shuang’s age snickered as she continuously swept in the same spot next to them, obviously eavesdropping.

"You have no maids here princess, you will sweep or you will remain hungry." A nun came out of the temple and told her.

Long Shuang stood still for ten minutes, weighing her options. The food at the temple was already unsatisfactory. Starvation was inconvenient bu sweeping was unthinkable.

"You don’t want to be hungry, trust me." The other little girl suddenly approached Long Shuang and cautioned her. "We have more chores to do after this and then a small meal. Then we go to class which lasts many hours and it sucks when you are hungry.

After class we have the main meal and either rest or study according to the schedule you are given. If you are not doing one of the two, you must go for personal reflection, or scriptural study.

There are afternoon prayers, chores again, meditation and more studying and more meditation...more prayers....more meditation....."

As the girl mentioned the many meditation and prayer sessions, Long Shuang wondered how she could grow wings and fly away. Anywhere was better than here. In the end, starvation won, she grasped the broom and clumsily started to sweep the ground.

From her eyes, drops of aggrieved tears tears fell out and fell to the ground.

Watching all this from a laptop, in the lovely comfort of the swing in the garden of Mei Mei’s home, Chi Lian could not help sighing. A part of her felt sorry for Long Shuang. Every normal parent or human would of course feel terrible to see a child crying.

But, like the emperor had said, this lesson had to be forged in hardship.