Mulan had rehearsed over and over in her mind what she would say to her father. She would show him the sword and the emperor's crest and beg for his forgiveness. When her father dropped the sword and hugged her, she was overwhelmed with all the feeling of belonging. He hugged her, not because she had saved all of China, but because she was his daughter. She had not shamed him after all—that's all she really wanted.
And even more surprising, Captain Li Shang had come personally to return her father's helmet. He didn't act the same, though, as he was on the battlefield. He seemed a bit more unsure—a little more off guard. The truth was, he didn't know what to expect with her. At first she was the awkward, clumsy Ping, and she ended up being hero of China. She was unlike any other girl he had ever met.
Mulan invited him to stay for dinner, and he accepted; dinner was to be in a few hours. Granny Fa, Fa Li, and Fa Zhou had gone inside to prepare dinner for their daughter and their guest, and Li Shang and Mulan were left alone. For the first few minutes they could do nothing but briefly smile at one another before looking away in shyness. She was never good at keeping up with conversations, and he had no idea how to begin talking to her. What finally broke the silence was the playful little dog. Little Brother, with the trail of chickens following closely behind, ran towards its owner and her companion, pouncing onto the latter.
"Little brother! get off of him!" Mulan said while trying to pull the drooling dog away from her former commanding officer. "I'm really sorry about all this."
The chickens that followed the dog squawked loudly, and feathers were everywhere. Mulan frantically ran to the shed to get the chicken feed, and successfully diverted the chickens away from Captain Li.
"It's alright," Shang said, trying to mask the uneasiness in his voice. He picked up Little Brother and handed him to Mulan. Mulan cradled the dog lovingly.
"Awww… I missed you soo much, Little Brother. I missed my good doggy. Yes, I did, yes I did!" Mulan then stopped once she realized Shang was still next to her. She let the dog go and turned to Shang. "I'm sorry about all that. He just gets excited sometimes."
Their attentions returned to the frolicsome dog. It ran around with the chickens, and blindly ran into the tree. Both winced at the sight of the impact, and they were silent once again.
Mulan walked over the bridge and looked at her reflection on the water beneath. She stared at her reflection intently. Interrupting the silence, Shang said, "I just wanted to say I am very sorry for having left you…."
"Please," Mulan replied. "It's already forgotten. Anyway, I understand that you did what you had to do."
"But it was inexcusable," Shang answered, his eyes looking at his shifting feet.
Mulan shifted herself closer to Shang and looked up at his face to make eye contact. "I forgive you. Friends?"
Shang looked back at her and smiled. "Friends."
They smiled appreciatively at each other. Shang asked, "By the way, how's your side? Is it getting better?"
"The doctor gave me some ointment that he said would ease the pain and make the scar less visible," Mulan replied. "When I look at it now, I can't even tell that I was ever struck there. It hurts still, but I'm okay." Mulan glanced over at the house to see if dinner was prepared. "We should go inside now. I think supper is ready," said Mulan.
She led Li Shang through the threshold, into the dining area where Granny Fa was setting up the plates. Fa Zhou and Fa Li had already sat at the table. Mulan took her place next to Fa Li, and Shang was to take his place next to Fa Zhou until Granny Fa quickly sat there."Take your place next to Mulan," she said.
Both Mulan and Shang could not hide the blushes on their face. Shang sat down and looked at the food set out before him. Compared to what he would eat at his house, the meal being served was menial, but he acted just as gracious as he would to the Emperor.
"Tell me, Li Shang, just what type of mischief was my daughter up to?" Fa Zhou said in a laughing tone while looking at Mulan.
Shang became more comfortable, and therefore the words came out more easily from his mouth. "Well, she caused quite a stir on the first day," Shang said, recalling his first encounter with Fa Ping. He then looked over at Mulan who was shying away, anticipating the words that would come out of his mouth. He then took sympathy and continued, "but she soon proved to be an exemplary soldier, and a model among her peers."
"I never would have imagined this of Mulan," Fa Li stated, smiling at her daughter. "then again, she is not like most girls. I remember when she was four-"
"Mother! Li Shang doesn't want to listen to this!" Mulan pouted.
"It's okay, I don't mind," Shang said in a relaxed tone.
"Mulan, stop pouting," Fa Zhou admonished. "This is a nice story."
Fa Li began, "When Mulan was four, I made for her a doll from some leftover scraps of cloth. She absolutely loved this doll. She treated it as her best friend. Now, Mulan started riding horses at a very early age. Khan was only a young colt then. Whenever we saw Mulan riding Khan, we would see Little Brother trailing, with that little doll strapped to its back!"
The rest of the evening was spent in the same manner: it seemed to Mulan that her parents could not tell Shang enough embarrassing stories about her. Still, she enjoyed being with her family again. Shang had also enjoyed the night. It was the first time in a while that he had been able to relax and be himself. He spent the night in the Fa house, occupying Mulan's room while Mulan stayed with her grandmother. As he lay in the cot that night, Shang wondered why his father had never been openly affectionate towards him.
After Shang left the following morning, the normalcy of Mulan's life set in all too quickly. She was happy to be with her family again, and she was happy that she felt like she belonged. But still, there was something in her that wanted more than that, and she hated to even acknowledge that part of her. Just a few days ago she was offered a position on the Emperor's consul, and now she's trying to regain favor with the Matchmaker. Her mother had begged her to apologize, but her true motive was to rub in the fact that the Matchmaker was wrong and that Mulan did bring her family honor.
"What are you doing here?" the Mathmaker asked haughtily.
"I wanted to beg your forgiveness," Mulan humbly stated, "from our last encounter."
"You should have come sooner then." the Matchmaker superciliously declared. "It is not honorable to just apologize whenever the whim strikes you."
"I'm sorry," Mulan replied. "It's just that I was unable to."
"You were 'unable to'?" the Matchmaker scoffed. "What possible thing could have prevented you from seeing me?" She looked Mulan up and down. "You are a filthy despicable, and disrespectful creature, Fa Mulan."
"I know, Matchmaker, and I am sorry for having disturbed you with my presence."
"Matchmaker! Matchmaker!" Her young apprentice Mei came running up to the old woman. "I have news!" She stopped when she recognized Mulan. "Oh, Honorable Fa Mulan, I am so sorry to intrude."
"There's no need to bow for this miscreant," the Matchmaker said disdainfully.
"But Matchmaker—" the apprentice leaned forward and whispered in the Matchmaker's ear. Slowly a look of surprise and shock came upon her face.
"Fa Mulan," the Matchmaker addressed her with a sudden sweetness. "I was just having fun with you."
Mulan eyed the Matchmaker suspiciously. "You were?"
The Matchmaker made her way closer to Mulan, putting her arm around Mulan's shoulder. "Why of course! You didn't think I was so superficial as to not accept your apology?"
Mulan admitted, "Well, I didn't think that you'd—"
"Nonsense!" The Matchmaker laughed. "If anything, I should be apologizing to you for those nasty things I said. I can be a temperamental person at times. You know, I told Mei this a lot. I've always told Mei, 'Mei, you know that Fa Mulan is like the daughter I always wanted?'"
Mulan looked at Mei, who in turn gave an expression of surprise. "I am?"
"Don't be ridiculous," the Matchmaker said. "A person would be born under a lucky star to have such an honorable daughter as you. Why don't you come inside and have tea with me. We can chat, like mothers and daughters do."
"Oh, I have to get back to my grandma. I'm supposed to be helping her choose fruits."
"Well, then. I hope we can pick up this conversation another time," the Matchmaker said, taking Mulan's hand into her own and patting it lovingly.
"Of course," Mulan said, slowly pulling her hand away. "Good bye." Mulan quickly rushed out to the fruit vendors, sickened of the Matchmaker's sycophantic display. She looked through crate of lychees, trying to distinguish good from bad. At first she thought to ask the merchant, but he was busy with another customer. She tried sniffing them, and then she tried to open the peel to take a taste until the merchant caught her, and she grinned and hastily put the fruit back. She then decided to ask her Grandmother.
"Granny!" Mulan shouted. "Is this lychee ripe enough?"
"Lemme see," Granny Fa said. She grabbed the lychee fruit from Mulan and looked at it. "No! this is red. How many times do I have to tell you that brown means good and red means bad? Here, I'll do the rest of the shopping. You just go look around for your father."
"Yes, granny," Mulan sighed. All at once she felt embarrassed that she could not distinguish between ripe and spoiled fruit, she being the daughter of a farmer.
She was distracted from her thoughts as there was a tap on her shoulder. She smelled the strong parfume and could immediately tell who it was without having to turn around.
"Well, well. If it isn't our famous woman warrior," Ma Liu seethingly noted.
Mulan turned to see Ma Liu in a brilliant blue gown. Mulan had all at once felt envy for Ma Liu's beauty.
"Well, well. If it isn't the easiest girl in China," Mulan said under her breath.
"What?" Liu said, glowering.
"Hello, Liu" Mulan said.
" I see you're hair hasn't grown back yet," smiling proudly over her perfectly executed statement she had rehearsed so diligently for just such an occasion.
"Wow, you're perceptive," Mulan said sarcastically.
"Umm… yeah," Ma Liu said, avoiding the remark. She continued with an air of condescending. "You know, you really did a job on yourself. It'll never be the same again. That was a stupid thing to do. How are you going to find a husband now? A man doesn't want a wife with short hair. And, no self-respecting man would marry a woman that spent all that time with a bunch of men. Oh, especially killing that Hun! Men hate intimidating women."
Mulan tried to come back with some biting remark that would send Ma Liu crying to her father, but she couldn't. Ma Liu's comments on men were profoundly correct. Mulan was about to leave when she saw her father walking towards the two of them. Obviously, he had overheard their conversation and was to defend his daugther's actions.
"I'll have you know that the emperor and many highly ranked officials of China respect her! She was a great help in defeating the Huns. She-"
"Is a disrespectful daughter who did a very dishonorable deed!" Ma Liu's father interrupted. "Do you not have any faith in our own army that we wouldn't need the aid of a mischievous young girl? Anyway, Your daughter deliberately disobeyed you, then deceived us all. And you! What kind of a father are you to let your daughter go around like that?!"
Fa Zhou said in his most dignified tone, "Mulan, your grandmother is finished. We will go home now. Your mother is waiting, and if we don't hurry, the meat will spoil."
Mulan, her father, and her grandmother quickly left the marketplace and headed for home. The first part of their trip was totally silent, excepting the sound of Khan's hooves on the dirt. Mulan had felt so awkward since their run-in with Ma Liu and her father, and she didn't understand why they couldn't pursue the argument any further.
"So, how fresh were the fruits at the market?" Fa Zhou asked, breaking the silence.
"They weren't that fresh." Grandmother Fa replied. "Except for Gin's cart. He always carries fresh fruit."
"How can you act like this?!" Mulan snapped. "They made a great insult to us! How can you act as if nothing happened?!"
"Mulan, you must learn how to keep your tongue." Her father said, without showing any sign of emotion.
"Ma Liu didn't. Neither did her father. How could you let them say-"
"They are not the only people who feel that way about your actions. Many disapprove. We are going to have to face people like that and show a dignified demeanor. Now, enough on this subject."
"If you ask me," Granny Fa whispered to Mulan, "Liu was overdressed and had way too much make up on just to go to the market."
For the rest of the way, Mulan conversed with Grandma on the styles in the Imperial City, but she was still deeply troubled for her father's words. If that was the way society would be, she thought, I frankly wouldn't care to be an outcast, but for my family's sake, I will do whatever I can to be accepted by society as a Chinese girl.
