Conversation 2: Mother-in-law

It has been a good six years since Mulan came home with Shan Yu's sword and the Emperor's crest, and three and a half since she and Li Shang were married. Her parents and grandmother had urged her to marry Shang immediately, but she had hesitated, in part because she worried about what her mother-in-law would think of her, an unladylike soldier with scars and little delicacy and in part because if she left, there would be no one to take care of her family.

She never doubted Shang's feelings for her, but self-worth is always something that she has struggled with. She knew that her family, her comrades and Shang were proud of her, and tales of her exploits had been spread from one end of China to the other. The good ones tell of how the Emperor had honoured her, how she had overcome great odds, and prevented an assassination and an invasion through ingenuity and strength.

The bad ones describe her as a glory-hogging camp follower witch. She tries to not let them get to her- she and the important people knew the truth of the story, and her friends never let such talk stand.

(The only time she could recall Chien Po getting genuinely angry had been when the two of them had happened to be walking past a campfire of drunken soldiers and had happened to overhear a particularly nasty version of the rumours. He had told her not to listen to such fools, and then he, Ling and Yao had 'mysteriously' developed bruised knuckles the next time they went out. She had told them off, but Yao had just grinned at her and told her that she was welcome.)

But even so, even if there was someone who could ensure that her parents and grandmother would be taken care of in her absence, what could a country girl more comfortable fighting with swords than serving tea possibly have to recommend her to a noble lady like the widow of a General as a daughter-in-law? It was far from unheard of for dissatisfied mother-in-laws to dissolve marriages, and Mulan could hardly imagine the woman who would be pleased that her son would be binding himself to a woman who spent a significant amount of her time being a man named Ping, no matter than he served as Shang's second in command, where he was best placed to protect his back.

The two and a half years that she hesitated might have taken longer had it not been for the fact that Shang's mother had decided to take things into her own hands.

"So you're the one who has been stringing my son along."

Ping, who had spent a long, hard day training a fresh batch of recruits, entered his room in the barracks to find a grand-looking matriarch kneeling stiffly erect beside a steaming cup of tea on the low table that Mulan typically used to write letters to her family, and Ping used to write reports for Shang.

"Excuse me?" Ping stared in surprise at the woman. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?"

"Sit down, child." The woman took a slow sip of tea. "We have things to discuss."

Deciding it would be best for now to humour the woman, Ping slowly knelt on the other side of the table.

The woman poured tea, for herself, and for Ping, serving it with a grace that Mulan watched with no little envy.

"I'm not sure what I expected when I realised that my son had finally found someone he wanted to marry, but I certainly wasn't expecting you," the woman said mildly, as she placed the teapot gently, soundlessly on the table.

Ah. "You-you're Shang's mother?" Ping squeaked.

"They do say that you're very intelligent. Nice to see that that part of the rumours is correct. I am Li Chun. Please refrain from calling me Mistress Li, because that remains the name of my mother-in-law, long may the old bat continue to live."

Ping blinked again. "Uhhhh…" he coughed a little, and then started again. "Not that I'm not pleased to meet you, but…"

"It's been more than two years since my son came home with stars in his eyes talking about the woman who saved China. It took me a little longer to get out of him the story of how you saved his life. Foolish boy." Chun shook her head clicking her tongue. "Typical male, thinking that his honour is more important than his life. But I hear you know all about that, don't you. Joined to save your father from going out and getting himself killed, wasn't it?"

Mulan nodded mutely.

"Good girl."

Mulan's eyes widened. That was not the reaction she had expected.

"When my Yong died, I was devastated," Chun continued. "My parents of course made the choice to marry me into the Li family more than I did, but I never regretted it, even with Liling as a mother-in-law, until…"

Until the general, Shang's father, and Chun's husband, died fighting the Hun, Ping silently completed the statement in his head.

Chun inhaled deeply. "If my parents had chosen a family of merchants rather than warriors, perhaps I would not be a widow." She shook her head. "And now my son has followed in his father's footsteps, and become a leader of men, in no small part due you your actions," she said, pinning Ping with a sharp glance.

Ping gulped. "I'm, I'm s-sorry?" he stammered.

Chun chuckled, but she sounded sad rather than amused. "No, don't be sorry child. I'm grateful. Both because you saved my son's life, and because even though you are hardly the picture of a daughter-in-law that I imagined, you are so better than what I had hoped for." Chun smiled, and Mulan could see light crow's feet at the corner of her eyes. "You make my son try to be good enough to deserve you. That's a precious thing, and if your family would consent to put him out of his misery by letting him marry you, I feel as though I would not have to worry about his happiness."

Mulan could barely believe her ears. Shang's mother wanted Mulan as a daughter-in-law?

Chun recognised her expression, and sighed. "There is something I will tell you now, and it will damage the image you may be building of me being unusually… liberal. Shang is not my eldest son."

Mulan blinked. That was not the direction she had expected the conversation to go.

"Shang never mentioned that he had an elder brother?" she half-stated, half-asked.

Chun closed her eyes. "That is because Dequan is my son from my first marriage, and Shang calls him cousin. I have been bereft twice, you see- my first husband was Yong's elder brother Hung, who fell from his horse soon after we married."

Ah. Mulan nodded in comprehension, murmuring her condolences. It was not all that unusual for widows to be married to the brothers of their husbands, although…

Chun smiled a little bitterly. "We did not realise at the time that I was pregnant, and Dequan was born six months after we married. It was only shortly before this that Yong was promoted, and well, with the rise in our fortunes…" Chun shook her head. "Even though Dequan was born… as he is, the shame of casting me off would have been too great. We learned to love each other, but it took some time." Chun's smile grew a little warmer. "Shang's birth certainly helped."

Mulan wondered what Chun meant when she spoke about Dequan.

Chun nodded knowingly at Mulan's expression, her eyes sharp. "Dequan could never be a soldier," she explained. "He was born blind."

Well, that explained a lot.

"So, let me see if I understand you," Mulan said slowly. "You would be willing to accept me as a daughter-in-law, as between myself and my father, the Fa name is high enough in standing that few would question Shang joining my family. That would leave Dequan with a larger inheritance, Shang would be secure because of our rewards for serving the Emperor."

Chun took a small sip of her tea. "The fact that my son has made no secret that he loves you is no small part of my consideration either." She looked Ping dead in the eyes, "And you have already proven that you are more than capable of watching his back."

Ping raised his own teacup, and took a slow draught.

"You know," he said thoughtfully, "if we were married, I would be able to keep a closer eye on him. After all, the proverb says that if you save a man's life, you have responsibility for him…"

Chun huffed a little, but her eyes were creased in a smile at Ping over her cup. "As if you need that excuse. Before I came in here, I watched as the two of you trained, and watched you watch each other. I know what I saw in your eyes. My only confusion is why you have yet to ask my son to introduce me to your parents."

Mulan blushed.

Chun's smile widened. She did not need to hear the words out loud. She knew that this woman (this strange, but brave woman) would stop delaying and marry her son.

"Good. Well now that that's settled, would you like to hear some stories about my foolish boy when he was a child?"

Ping grinned.

He had feared for no reason. He and his mother-in-law were going to get on splendidly.

….

A/N: Ancient Chinese marriage customs are complicated, but here's some facts I found out as I came to understand them when researching for this story. If I got any of it wrong, I blame my sources, but feel free to let me know!

1.Pretty much all marriages were arranged by the parents of the couple, rather than by the couple themselves.

2.Traditionally, the daughter-in-law moved in with her husband's family, and was expected to start revering her parents-in-law, and to honour them over her own parents, but sometimes this was reversed, with the man taking the name and parents of his wife as his own (especially in cases of poor men marrying up).

3.Reasons that were allowable for divorce were mostly about break-down of the family unit- as in, husband, wife and in-laws together. So if a daughter-in-law really didn't get on with her mother-in-law then that could be grounds for a divorce, which could be petitioned for by the parents-in-law.

4.If a woman became a widow, and the family was poor, they might have her marry her brother-in-law, instead of supporting her and another wife on the family income.

5.The husband wasn't allowed to divorce his wife if she married him when he was poor, but then he became rich.

There's a lot more to it than that, but those are the basics that are pertinent for this story. Look it up! J