Descendent.

The story goes like this. 

More than 2000  years ago,
there was a Chinese emperor by the name of Zhu Yuanzhang.  Zhu was a peasant who rose to become a rebel leader against Yuan rulers.  He eventually overthrew the Yuan dynasty and helmed the throne as the first emperor of the Ming Empire.

Zhu Yuanzhang went by the name of the Hongwu Emperor which means "vastly martial", referring much to his mode of defence during the dynasty.  In one of the more systematic records of history, he had a book which recorded the Zhu lineage through the generations.

The Hongwu Emperor died after reigning for 30 years.  But all was not lost.  His very significant presence in Chinese history would definitely live on.  Hence, generations after generations, Zhu's direct descendents had their names inscribed into the book and faithfully handed down till this day, or so Ive heard.
How worn and fragile the book must be in this time and age... maybe the book that is being handed down now is but a mere replica, the original being preserved.

More than 2000 years later,
it is said that this book lies in the hands of a young man.  A young man like any other, though more suave, wealthy, successful and maybe wiser than some.
This young man has the surname Too, if I have not heard it wrong.  Too, if translated into Chinese does indeed sound a bit like Zhu.

This young man drives his own car with an air of arrogance surrounding him, from the way he acknowledged an enthusiastic acquaintance from more than 15 years ago with several mere nods of the head.

People say that he has changed.


This young man is my friend's neighbour.
He was described as the direct descendent of Zhu Yuanzhang.

So, migration holds true.  How Chinese immigrants have left China to settle in other parts of the world, and this young man is a tiny tributary of this lineage.

It leaves me in awe.  If a book, a secret book would indeed lie in his home, with his name inscribed.  How would he share his story with other people?  That my distant relative was an emperor?  People would laugh.  My friends said that he leads a starkly different life from us, Commoners.

My friend is very wealthy.  So is her neighbour - the young descendent of the emperor.  If you'd ask me whether Im envious, I would not deny that Im not.  If I had been bred in such a wealthy family, I wouldnt be what I am today.  I would have become an extravagant lazy happy-go-lucky girl with less troubles in life.  People say that money aint everything.  BUT. With money, you can buy many things in order to achieve happiness.  Money is very crucial in life.

On retrospect, I thought that my humble life is already perfect.  But stepping into another's world, my face furrows from the disparity between people's lives.  Why does my heart feel heavy?