The Phoenix General

Extra

Did you guys miss Jin WangShu and his hubby during the past few months? Fear not, here they are (kinda)! (It's an extra though, because I'm still in the middle of my writer's block. However, I do feel really bad about not updating for so long without explanation. More notes at the end.) Please enjoy.

NOTE: This extra is not necessarily compliant with the main / actual / canon storyline, just to let you know ;)

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A cup of oolong tea, long cooled by the bitter cold of winter, was placed at the centre of the table. It was left untouched and long forgotten so that even a thin layer of dust seemed to blanket the surface of the liquid. As little flakes of snow descended to the frosty ground, an old man with hair as white as the clouds sat as still as stone on a lonely cotton pillow.

He refused to eat any of the delicacies servants had prepared, and rejected a freshly poured cup of tea offered to him. Within the eyes that were once bright with love, was a tiredness that no one could quite explain. Golden brown irises that once displayed extreme fondness were dulled to an ugly greyish colour; not quite brown and not quite silver.

The people who lived in towns and cities nearby knew him as a bitter and jaded old man whose only comfort lay in a thread-bare embroidered handkerchief he never seemed to let go. His son who had now become a father himself, had long abandoned the man he once called 'dad'. The old man's grandchildren never visited, because the former's home was too dark and frightening.

This man, so wealthy yet impoverished, wished nothing more than to die. But the ever lingering spark of hope within him, that one day his love would return kept him from doing anything drastic. Though slowly, the spark flickered and slowly dimmed away.

On this winter night, the old man retreated to his room, locked the door and denied all his servants entrance. He ordered them to refrain from disturbing his rest, as he felt especially drained that night.

As the sun finally dipped beneath the horizon, the man closed his eyes. A final dream about a laughing young man, his golden fan, and a fading visage.

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Happy new year???

I hope you all got the reference to who it was.

I'm so sorry for not updating all this time. Truth is, I had decided to change the fate of a very important character (not Jin WangShu nor Li FeiHong dw lol). Eventually, I forgot about the story and got very lazy. Sorry for not updating since September. I'm very grateful for all the comments and votes I've been receiving during my absence. Thank you to all who have supported my journey in writing this story. I cannot state when the next update will come as I still have not figured out the new fate of said character. I have a general direction of where I'm going so far.

I'm curious to know, what kind of ending are you all expecting for The Phoenix General? Please comment and let me know, I want to know what my readers are thinking.