The Phoenix General

Chapter 10

 Early next morning when Jin WangShu was supervising his troops during training, the general was unable to avoid the gossip around the palace. Almost all of the gossip he had overheard were from various different concubines, many seemed quite displeased with whatever they were discussing.

"Have you heard, sister Hua? About the emperor's new lover?"

The other woman, Hua BaiYun made an ugly expression that marred her otherwise pretty face. "Hmph. What lover? His majesty was only weak and his supposed lover took advantage of the emperor's physical state."

The first woman, Guo WanLin smiled. "Sister Hua is right, that general must be shameless. I'm sure he will be punished soon." Having said this, the noble consort placed a hand on Hua BaiYun's arm, as if to comfort her fellow sister. "The general is talentless, he only passed the examination through luck I'm sure."

Jin WangShu was positive that the noble consort knew that he had overheard. She spoke much louder than her 'sister Hua' and had shot the general a quick, but sharp glance.

After hearing this, Jin WangShu was unable to figure out how he should react. Me? Take advantage of the emperor? If anything, Li-gege was the one who wanted to bed me first! He thought, lips turning down into a frown. But god... that was the best sex I've ever had. I still can't believe I fell asleep after one round though...

By the time Jin WangShu had come back to his senses, the two concubines had already left the training field and were far away. Unfortunately for WangShu, he heard similar things from all sorts of people that day. By sunset, he felt as if his ears would fall off and as if he would throw up blood if he heard the same piece of gossip one more time. Is this the price I have to pay for sleeping with the emperor?

Out of the many times he heard the same information, the general quickly learned what all the gossipers had in common: They were all extremely unhappy with him and had believed he had forced himself onto his imperial majesty.

At one point during the day, he had jumped into one of the conversations between two other concubines. Said concubines were particularly vicious with their words, going as far as calling Jin WangShu a predator and prostitute. This had angered the general greatly, but he refused to show it. Instead, he had walked up to the two women and flashed a big smile at them, secretly laughing at their disgust.

"Good morning to these two xiao jie. You both seem troubled, is there anything Jin WangShu may do to help relieve any stress? Perhaps the guards are irritating you?" They sure are irritating me, they have stopped me from seeing my lovely and attractive Li-gege many times by now. (In reality, it had only been once or twice)

The first young lady bravely spoke up. "We are not having trouble with the guards. On the contrary, we have a problem with you."

The second young lady, who seemed younger in age looked away as if ashamed of herself and her older sister.

"General Jin." She greeted, then turned to her fellow sister. "Sister, let us depart." Despite her solid words, her eyes shifted unsteadily between the woman beside her and the general. Those glances conveyed a silent sort of begging to the other concubine.

"Nonsense! This man here needs to know that he will be rightfully punished eventually, whether it be by me or by his majesty—"

The concubine had not even finished her sentence when she was interrupted.

"Punish who?" A deep voice spoke.

Many attendants and guards trailed behind the newcomer, the man being none other than the emperor himself.