"Uhh…" Mulan said, staring at Tiao undressing in front of her. She turned her head away, not wanting Tiao to see her cheeks red with embarrassment. "I-I-I… I'm really s-s-s-s-sleepy," Mulan stammered.
Tiao walked around to the other side of the bed to face Mulan. He was in her view again, shirtless with light beige pants on. Her eyes focused on his chest, but then she quickly turned around in discomposure. "You should probably go to sleep then." She moved, trying to get her body as far from Tiao's as possible, and she lied down with her back to him.
Tiao lay down on the bed, moving himself closer to Mulan. He lay on his side, facing Mulan's back, and wrapped his arm around her. Mulan lay still, shocked and terrified. Tiao quickly fell asleep, but Mulan stayed awake the entire night.

The next morning after Tiao left the bedroom, Mulan ran to her room, often running into the walls because she was sleepy. After getting lost three times, one of the maids showed her the way back to her room. Mulan, still in her robes from the banquet, went straight to bed.
A maid entered the room to clean when she found Mulan asleep on the bed. It was already far past dawn. "Fa Mulan," the maid said. "It's way past time to get up. Get out of bed." She started nudging Mulan when she noticed what Mulan was wearing. "You're still wearing your robes from last night! You have to take them off, right now."
"Just a few more minutes," Mulan mumbled. "I'm very tired. Please show me mercy."
"Insolent girl!" the maid exclaimed. "Everyone else is already awake."
"Everyone else slept through the night," Mulan irritably replied. The maid did not argue any further, and Mulan slept soundly for only a little while before she woke up again. The maid was still there, cleaning up, but this time she was carrying some robes under her arm. Mulan recognized it to be her robes, and she realized that she was naked while the maid was still cleaning.
"You took my clothes!" Mulan said, trying to cover herself with her bed sheets.
"You were getting it wrinkled," the maid said while rearranging Mulan's dresser.
Mulan got up from her bed with the bed sheets still around her and walked to her dresser, pulling out the first robe she could find. She quickly wrapped it around her and tied a sash around her waist.
"Will you please leave? I need to do more cleaning," the maid said and shoved Mulan out of the room. She walked down the halls to the dining hall, where all the consorts were being served breakfast. Mulan sat with the rest of the consorts at the table, watching as they ate. She did not have too much of an appetite, so she just played with her food as she listened to the other consorts carry on with their conversations.

"I think the food tastes very good," Chan Lin commented.
Chan Hua looked at her disgustedly. "I think they served us leftovers. It's cold and it tastes horrible. I'm going to demand that they take it back. Back in my house," she explained to the other consorts at the table, "we had everything fresh."
"Well then maybe you should just go back home and eat breakfast there," Mulan said, irritated.
"Oh, I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Chan Hua snapped. "So you can take all of him for yourself."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh please! We all know that you and that prostitute have been monopolizing the emperor's time. The rest of us hardly get a chance to smile at the Emperor! I don't know what he sees in either of you anyway!!" She got up from her chair and made her way to the door. "I'm going to my room!" She gave a contemptuous look to one of the guards at the door before leaving the room.
Chan Lin watched Hua and waited until she was gone to address Mulan. "Don't worry about her," she said. "She's just upset that the emperor takes a liking to you. She had been wanting for the Emperor to chose her as his first wife, but it is now evident whom his choice is."
"You mean… me?!"
"Well, it's doubtful he'll choose Xiaoming because she's… different. It is obvious that he'll pick you." Chan Lin looked at Mulan's melancholy expression. "You are not happy?"
"I'm overjoyed," Mulan replied unenthusiastically. "I think I've tired myself out from thinking about how happy I'll be. I'm going to go rest for a little while."
"All right."

Mulan went walking around, thinking over what Chan Lin said. He was nice, and extremely handsome, and he was the Emperor. Why, she asked herself, did she feel like it was all going wrong?
Xiaoming ran into Mulan in the halls. "Are you alright, Mulan? You look sick."
"I'm fine," Mulan replied. " How are you? Are you feeling better?"
"Oh, yeah, well… I was just too tired last night."
"Oh," Mulan responded. "It's too bad that you missed it. It was very nice. There were dancers and lots of food. Maybe you'll get a chance to dine with the Emperor next time."
"I've already dined with him," Xiaoming said. "I ate with him and General Li the night before you arrived."
"General Li??" Mulan repeated. "Li Shang?!"
"Yes, him." Xiaoming said. "Oh, do you know him from when you were in the army?"
"Yes," Mulan said, trying to conceal her excitement from hearing his name. "He was my… captain."
Xiaoming studied Mulan's countenance. "Mulan, you have feelings for him?"
"What?!" Mulan said. "I… no, of course not! I… Tiao…"
"It's alright," Xiaoming interrupted, smiling. "Your secret's safe with me."
"No," Mulan said. "You've got it all wrong."
"This is my area of expertise," Xiaoming said. "You like him."
"Isn't there something I can do," Mulan said despairingly.
"You can't help who you fall in love with, and all you can do is hope that he loves you back," Xiaoming said. She then looked at Mulan a moment before continuing. "I'll tell you something that may completely repulse you from him, but I don't know if you want to hear this about your captain."
Mulan thought for a moment. What could Xiaoming know about Shang? Was he one of her clients? She grew sick thinking of what Xiaoming would tell her, and she did not want to hear what she had to say. Then again, maybe she'd get her mind cleared of him then. "What is it?"
"Well," Xiaoming began, "last night, I heard some racket outside of my door. Lots of laughing and whispering and stuff, so I open the door to tell these people to be quiet, and it's none other than Shang and Hua. It was obvious that he was drunk, and she was all over him, and…"
"Okay, stop, I don't need to hear anymore," Mulan said, distressed with what she heard.
Xiaoming then took pity over Mulan, and tried to lessen the severity of her words. "Well, I mean, I didn't see them kissing or anything, and she probably got him drunk, because he would probably not have sought her company had he been sober and…"
"Xiaoming, you don't have to make excuses for him," Mulan said.
"Oh," Xiaoming mouthed. "So… are you okay then?"
"Yeah," Mulan sighed. "I just… I'm going to take a walk and think all of this over."
"Do you want me to come?" Xiaoming asked.
"No, it's okay," Mulan replied. "I'd rather be alone."

Shang woke up the next morning with a huge headache. "Bo," he shouted. "It's too bright in here! Where's my tea?"
Bo entered the room and looked back at him. "You got drunk again, didn't you? You've been getting drunk lately. You never did before. Is there something bothering you?"
"Get me tea," Shang reiterated, rubbing his temples.
"What's that?" Bo asked, pointing at a piece of paper on the ground. "Is it trash?"
"I don't know," Shang answered. He picked it up and tried to read it, but his vision was still too blurred to make out the characters. He then handed it to Bo.
Bo looked it over. "You know that I can't read well."
"Well, I'm sure you can make out some of the characters," Shang mumbled.
Bo read it. "Someone wants to meet you at the Palace Gardens today. An admirer, I think. Who is it?"
"I don't know," Shang repeated. "Get my tea."
"Are you going to see this girl?" Bo inquired.
"Are you going to get my tea?" Shang asked, irritated.
"I don't like you when you're drunk," Bo said before she exited the room. Shang looked back at the note. He didn't remember receiving the note; but then again he couldn't remember anything else from last night.

Bo returned with a cup and a teakettle. "You are going, right?" She set the kettle and cup on the table and poured its steaming contents into the cup. She handed him the cup.
"No," Shang answered. He quickly downed all of the tea and just as quickly reacted to the scalding tea in his mouth.
Bo looked up to him. "Why not?!"
"I don't even remember her," Shang said. "How would I recognize her? I'm not going."
"Oh yes you are!" Bo replied. She went to the dresser and chose some clothes for him to wear. "You are not going to leave this poor girl waiting all day. You will go over there and apologize for being late."
"Okay then, I'll go," Shang said reluctantly
Bo gave him the clothes for him to put on. "I think that is such a romantic spot for young lovers to meet, especially at this time of the year."
Shang, still angry with Bo, fussed as he put his clothes on. "Yes, we'll meet and fall in love and get married," Shang muttered in a sarcastic tone.
"I hope you get married to a nice girl," Bo said as Shang continued arranging himself. "Not one of those pretentious ones."
Shang walked over to the mirror to fix his appearance. He fixed his hair and tied it back. He started thinking of who could have given him the note. Sir Te's daughter… perhaps one of the consorts… he shuddered at the thought of Chi Fu's daughter being an admirer.

After preparing himself, he walked to the palace and searched the gardens. The cherry blossom trees were all in full bloom, and the petals blanketed the ground like new fallen snow. Shang walked around the trees until he saw a figure at a distance, leaning against one of the trees. She was leaning against a tree, her back towards him.
"Excuse me," Shang said, trying to get her attention. He stepped closer to her. "Excuse me!"
The girl, startled at Shang's yell, lost her support on the tree and fell. She had been leaning against the tree to sleep on.
"I'm sorry to disturb you," Shang said, helping her up. Her hair was slightly disheveled, so Shang reached out his hand to brush the hair out of her face. Upon seeing her face, his animosity from the morning had vanished. It was Mulan, and the thought of her giving him that note made him the happiest he'd been in a while.
Mulan cursed herself when she realized who had woken her up. She had been planning out in her head about how she would meet Shang again and how she would act very at ease, but she hadn't planned for something like this. "Why… hello, Shang!" Mulan said, somewhat disoriented. "How are you?"
"I'm… I'm really happy to see you," Shang said, smiling.
At that moment all her troubles went away, and Mulan found herself looking into Shang's eyes. However, they were taken out of their reverie too soon.
"General Li! General Li!" a girl came out and ran to Shang and Mulan. "I'm so glad you came! I'm glad you responded to my note! At one point, I was afraid you wouldn't make it, but here you are!"
Mulan looked over at the girl and realized that Shang had come to meet someone else. All the hurt returned to her, and she wanted immediately to escape. "I'll just get out of the way," Mulan said, embarrassed. "I don't want to intrude any further."

Shang watched as Mulan walked away, confused as to why should just excuse herself like that. He ran towards Mulan, leaving the other girl. The Emperor approached Mulan just before Shang was able to reach her. Tiao took Mulan's hand into his own. Shang's eyes widened, and he grew jealous.
"Mulan, you look tired. Didn't you rest well?" Tiao asked.
"No, I hardly got any sleep last night," Mulan confessed.
"That's strange. My bed is supposed to be the most comfortable one in China," Tiao proclaimed. Mulan, red with embarrassment, looked over at Shang, whose eyes further widened with Tiao's statement. "That's what the maker said, anyway. Perhaps you should go back to your room and rest." Mulan succumbed to his instructions and took one last glance at Shang before leaving for her room.
Shang approached Tiao, trying to hold his anger down while searching for a reasonable explanation for her presence. "Tiao, what is she doing here?"
Tiao looked at him peculiarly. "Didn't you see her introduced at the party last night?"
"Introduced?" Shang asked.
"Yes," Tiao said. "as my consort. You were there, weren't you?"
"I was there…" Shang said. How could he have missed her? He tried to think back to last night, but it was no use. It made no sense to him, that she was Tiao's consort.
Tiao began to confide to his friend his feelings. "You know," he said in a thoughtful tone, "she would be the ideal wife for me. After all, she comes from a well-respected family. She is known throughout China, and she's very pretty. I think we're very compatible as well. I'm going to propose to her."
"You… you've just known her for a day!" Shang exclaimed, trying to think of reasons for Tiao not to marry Mulan. "You barely know the other consorts. And… Xiaoming! What about her?"
"You know that I need a wife. Father had much respect for her, so I already know that he'd approve of her. I don't need to know the other consorts to know that mine and Mulan's union would be the best one. As for Xiaoming, she's a Hun, and a prostitute! I would lose the respect of my people if I were to marry her."
"Then why did you make her a consort?!" Shang exclaimed irately.
"I think you're still drunk, Shang," Tiao said. "You're acting strangely."
Shang's rage took control of him, or rather, his fist. He curled his fingers, and he hit Tiao in the jaw. Only immediately afterward did he know the gravity of his actions. He hit the emperor, an act that was punishable by death. Still, he took a defense stance, wanting to hit him more but waiting for Tiao to make his move.
Tiao looked back at Shang in complete shock. He rubbed his sleeve on his mouth, and he saw the blood stain left on the silk. Shock quickly turned to anger, and he hit Shang back. They fought—their moves similar to their spar a few days ago, but they attacked each other with belligerence and ferocity.

The Gang of Three were in the Palace Gardens as well. They were walking together, comparing their stories of what fun they had the night before. As they were walking, they saw from afar two figures fighting.
"A fight! A fight!" Yao happily declared. He ran closer to get a better view, and his two companions followed.
"I wonder who's fighting," Chien Po said, turning his head to Ling while running closer to the scene.
Ling squinted his eyes, and held out his arms to stop Chien Po and Yao once he recognized the combatants. "It's the Captain, and the Emperor!"
They looked at each other. Yao's happiness now changed to shock. "We've gotta get him outta here, before he kills the emperor!" The trio resumed running to the scene. Ling and Yao stood between the two, and Chien Po pulled Shang away from the site and out of the Palace grounds.

Shang pushed Chein Po away and stormed through the streets. Ling, Yao, and Chien Po ran after him, trying to keep up. "Uh, Shang," Ling said.
"What?!" Shang replied, enraged. He stopped, and turned to Ling. "What do you want?"
"Why did you hit the Emperor?" Ling asked, his voice quivering.
"Why?!" Shang repeated. "He wants to marry Mulan, that's why!"
"I knew it!" Yao yelled, grinning. "I knew pretty boy liked her."
"You call me 'pretty boy' one more time, and I will pull your liver out through your mouth and feed it to the dogs," Shang said vehemently. He then turned to Chien Po, "And don't you tell me what to chant or pray or I will…" Shang realized who he was talking to and stopped his statement short.
"Why don't you tell the Emperor how you feel, then?" Chien Po asked, unaffected to Shang's threat.
Shang let out a sigh of exasperation and looked at his hands. "I just did." Shang looked up at the three, then hung his head low.
"Why don't you tell her?" Yao asked.
"She's his consort, that's why," Shang answered. "Why is she his consort?"
"Well," Ling began, "the matchmaker kinda… chose her."
"She had to go through all sorts of challenges," Chien Po said. "No one expected her to pass the tests."
"Yeah," Yao added. "I didn't even think she could do it."
"I wish she hadn't," Shang said. He began pacing. "She belongs to him now! Didn't she know what she was getting into?"
"No," Chien Po replied. "She was too caught up in trying to prove everyone else that she can be a lady."
"I've gotta get out of here," Shang said. He left the three of them standing there while he walked back to his house.
Ling and Chien Po looked at Shang's retreating figure in a sort sad understanding. Then they just stood there for a while, trying to make sense of it all. If only Shang had told her his feelings sooner-- the thought played through their heads at the same moment, and they all looked to each other with the same countenance of sympathy.
"So…" Yao said, trying to break the awkward silence, "Mulan's going to be the Empress of China?"