Li FeiHong sat on his throne, hand on his cheek and his head down. Dark circles appeared under his eyes and his skin seemed to be paler than what is used to be. His lover was slung over the armrests, most of his body rested on the emperor's.
"Li-gege, tell your Shu-er why you look so distressed."
Li FeiHong stroked Jin WangShu's head affectionately. "The Arabs refuse to negotiate, diplomacy has not won them over... I think, a war will approach soon."
"Is that really a surprise though? Li-gege, you have me and the other generals. China does not have to worry about its land. I will bring back to you another victory."
Concerns laced the emperor's features. "I do not wish to see you injured. I do not want you to leave for another few years."
The smile on Jin WangShu's face disappeared as quickly as it came. "You could always seek comfort in your harem while I'm gone, can't you?" His voice was smooth but extremely bitter.
Li FeiHong stiffened. "WangShu..." His tone had a sort of warning in it, as if warning the other man not to cross a certain line. "Let's not talk about it."
Jin WangShu smiled. "Of course, your majesty."
He got off the emperor's lap.
"I just remembered that I have several errands to run. Your majesty, please excuse this general."
Before Li FeiHong could intervene, Jin WangShu had already walked off.
The emperor felt as if he had been dunked in a bucket of regret. His heart felt heavy and his number of burdens grew.
~~~~
"You! Lift your feet up more, you're stumbling around like a chicken!" Jin WangShu yelled at one of his soldiers.
The soldier grumbled and muttered under his breath. "I have a name..."
"What did you say?" Jin WangShu descended from the raised platform, a fiery aura surrounded him.
Other soldiers all parted to make way, aware of their general's bad mood.
Jin WangShu walked up to the soldier who had talked back to him. His strides were smooth and unhurried, but the stern expression on his face effectively scared the soldier.
"I— I said... that I have a name."
Without a warning, the phoenix general smacked the outspoken man with the back of his hand.
"A war is approaching." His voice was deadly calm. "I'm teaching you how to survive, how to fight, and you're concerned about your name?" Then, Jin WangShu smiled as if nothing had happened. "I apologize, but I have forgotten your name along with many others, and I do not wish to ask for it. Now lift up your feet more, or you might as well die before the war. What an honourable death that would be!" Jin WangShu chuckled.
The other soldiers all stared at their general, not having ever witnessed such actions from the constantly smiling man.
The soldier who had been scolded was a proud man. He could not stand to be belittled in front of so many people. Not stopping to think about his actions, the soldier rushed up behind Jin WangShu and thrusted his training sword forward.
Other soldiers began to yell for their general to evade the attack, but it soon proved to be unneeded.
Jin WangShu whipped around and evaded the attack, then proceeded to strike the disobedient soldier's pressure points. The latter yelped in pain and fell to the ground, the sword he was holding fell to his side and was promptly kicked away by the general.
Before Jin WangShu could properly discipline the soldier, a eunuch called for him. The general quickly commanded other soldiers to restrain the offending man, then proceeded to walk toward the messenger.
"General Jin, my lady wishes to see you."
"Who is your lady?
"My lady is the well esteemed imperial concubine Guo WanLin."
Jin WangShu turned his back on the eunuch, still in a foul mood. "Inform that I am busy training the army, and that I currently have no time to entertain her."
The eunuch stood dumbfounded. No one had ever refused his lady before, and he was at loss of how to deliver the news to her grace. Before the poor eunuch could run over to protest further, Su Chen approached him.
"I'd advise you not to approach the general today," He said roughly. "he is in a terrible mood right now, and talking to him will only do more harm than good."
Having no other choice, the eunuch (whose name was Xiu) returned back to Chi Tang Residence where his lady resided.
~~~~
Guo WanLin was absolutely furious. How dare a lowly general refuse to meet with her, an imperial concubine? It was simply preposterous!
Meanwhile, Xiu was flat against the wall shaking in fear.
"Your grace, I tried to insist but the second in command would not allow me to. He told me that talking to general Jin would only further agitate him. I think... it would be best to approach him again another day when he is in a better mood. I'm sure general Jin will be over this sudden bad mood briefly, since he is such a happy—"
Before Xiu could finish his rambling, Guo WanLin shot him a threatening glare.
"How can you be so useless? You've been with me ever since I entered the palace many years ago and not once have you truly helped me achieve anything! Even my deceased mother has helped me more than you have within the past year." Imperial concubine Guo ranted. "Is it your wish to see me end up like that idiotic Mei SuJie? I warned her multiple times to be careful but apparently that never got through her thick scull. I suppose she's just like her uncle, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Jin WangShu is equally as stupid."
Through the woman's rant, eunuch Xiu could only nod his head and listen to his lady. He was rather used to this type of treatment. Even from the start, Guo WanLin had never treated him particularly well, but when compared to other eunuchs and their ladies, Xiu found himself to be quite fortunate.
He had seen his fellow eunuchs appear next to their ladies with bruises and cuts on their arms, barely hidden by sleeves. And when Xiu had questioned them, they had all looked toward their mistresses but would not dare to reveal the cause of their injuries.
Thinking about this, Xiu felt very frightened; so frightened in fact, that he almost relieved himself right then and there.
"Very well, if the general does not wish to see me and would rather oversee training. I shall complain to the emperor!"
Of course, this idea sounded extremely stupid to Xiu, who did not dare to tell Guo WanLin directly.
"My lady, are you absolutely sure that this is a wise idea? It is well known within court that his imperial majesty looks favourable upon general Jin. It is to say, well... it would be quite likely for him to take Jin WangShu's side. After all, his majesty does tend to prioritize military training over the harem..." Xiu said slowly.
"What does it matter?" Guo WanLin returned sharply. "I'll just bat my lashes and stick out my breasts, all men are the same! They're stupid, arrogant, and they will all succumb to lust as soon as they see an attractive woman!"
Hearing this, Xiu could not help but feel sorry for the emperor.
"If your grace insists..." Xiu agreed reluctantly. After all, although he no longer had a certain part of his body, he still liked to consider himself a man.
Xiu also could not help, but to rethink his choice of becoming a eunuch.
~~~~
Li FeiHong sat at his table looking over documents. His brow was furrowed and he was deeply concentrated. The last thing he would have wanted to happen was if he was interrupted, and of course that just had to happen.
"Your imperial majesty, the imperial concubine Guo has arrived to see you..." One of the guards trailed off as soon as a glare was shot his way. "We told her that you were extremely busy, but she insisted, and began crying."
The emperor sighed in exasperation, but decided to entertain her briefly. "Bring her in."
After a few moments, Guo WanLin appeared in elaborate robes. Her appearance, unlike Mei SuJie, was quite well put together. Instead of coming off as a whore, she had an aura of an elegant but seductive lady.
"Your majesty," Guo WanLin greeted the emperor with a slight smile on her lips. "This concubine heard how stressed your majesty has been the past few weeks, and have come to lighten the mood. I hope your majesty does not mind this interruption."
Li FeiHong of course minded, but chose to remain silent.
After a minute of absolute silence, FeiHong spoke.
"What are your real intentions of coming here? You are usually patient, and wait for me to approach first. What warrants this change in attitude?"
Guo WanLin batted her eyelashes. "I am shocked at what your majesty thinks of me... this concubine truly has no other motives."
Li FeiHong remained unconvinced, and instead raised an eyebrow at the concubine. "Is that so?"
"Well..." Guo WanLin forced out a giggle. "This morning, I wanted to pay my respects to general Jin, as I had heard of what an outstanding general he is. But instead, he turned me away and refused to even look at me! Your majesty, isn't this unjust and unfair?" The concubine began sobbing. "Your imperial majesty must do something about this, you must discipline this general—"
She was then interrupted by the emperor.
"Guo WanLin, you're being selfish. Generals have their own duties to attend to, Jin WangShu is very aware of the country's current relations and knows that the army must be strong in order to protect China." Li FeiHong said, a warning clear in his voice.
"But Jin WangShu is so undisciplined! He is disrespectful, and was just clearly avoiding me!"
"Enough!" The emperor stood up, impatience clear on his face. He had already endured a whole day of reading over documents and had no patience deal with one of his unruly concubines. "Guo WanLin, you have truly stepped over a line. An army general is an army general, a concubine is a concubine, neither have correlation to one or the other. I told you not to involve yourself in army business, you are truly extremely selfish! Such a selfish woman does not deserve the title of imperial concubine. From this day on, you shall only be a noble lady until you learn to hold yourself to a lower standard!"
After hearing this, Guo WanLin was so furious that she fainted out of fury and shock.
~~~~
Sorry this chapter was a little rushed, I will be going back later when I edit the final version and lengthen this chapter, as well as making the emperor less OOC. I had to make him OOC in order to speed up the chapter so that it comes out in time. I will not be updating next week as I will be away at a conference, but updates will resume the week after.