Chapter 2

Finally meeting her

The imperial army finally made it to the imperial city. When they entered the city, the parade started. There were fireworks, lanterns, and bright colors everywhere. In front of the troops, many groups were performing. There was a group of men who were performing acrobatics. Another group was ribbon dancing, then there was a dragon dance.

The soldiers were waving at the big crowd with confidence, some making flirty gestures to some women, while others showing off the new muscles that they have gotten during training. Meanwhile, Fa Zhou was smiling because he would finally be able to reunite with his daughter. Of course, he would have to wait until he got to the palace because that's where she was going to perform, but it didn't matter to him. What mattered to him was only seeing his beautiful blossom.

—————————————— At the banquet ———————————————

When everyone entered the room, all the soldiers were stunned by how it looked. Except for Shang and General Fa, since they have had dinner with the emperor before. Not only that; Shang lived at the palace because the emperor was Shang's grandfather. Anyway, when they all entered the room, It was half the size of a courtyard. The dining room was very decorated with beautiful designs, a dragon statue made of gold in one corner, and the walls were crimson colored. On one of the walls was a beautiful plum tree painting. On the other side of the room, there were 6 windows where you could see the whole garden. Then there was a long oval table.

Once everyone sat at the table, three maids came out of the kitchen and brought the dishes out. Some of the dishes that they brought out were, chow mein, baozi, dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, zhajiangmian, wonton soup for one for everyone, three hot pots for the middle, and on the opposite side of the table. But more dishes were coming.

Shang was feeling pleased to finally be able to have something besides rice and dried chicken. 'Finally something with taste' Shang said to himself. Since Shang hasn't had food this delicious in 6 months, he wanted to eat as if he was raising, but since he felt it would be better not to be disrespectful, he ate with manners. While Shang was about to take another bite from a baozi, someone tapped on his shoulder.

"How's the food, sir?" asked the middle-aged woman. He turned around and saw a maid who was in her late 50s. "Jin Lu, I missed you! How have you been?" He got up and hugged her, he knew her ever since he was 4-year-old. Jin Lu was like a second mother to him, she was always there for him whenever he needed something. Of course, his mother was there for him when he needed something, but when Shang's mother died when he was 14, Jin Lu was there to comfort him.

"You know, cleaning, making dresses, cooking the usual. But wow, you've grown into your father, but more handsome" she said teasing, but Shang turned red but laughed it off. Before Shang could say anything, the emperor stood up from his seat and grabbed his knife, and tapped his wine glass. Once he got everyone's attention, he cleared his throat and began, "

My children, heaven smiles down upon the middle kingdom, China will sleep safely tonight thanks to all you brave soldiers. Cheers to the bravest men of China!"

——————————————— 2 hours later ———————————————

After 2 hours of feasting, it was already 9:00pm, and the emperor stood up and made another announcement. "I'm sure all of you have been waiting for this moment, so I won't keep you men waiting any longer. May I introduce the 3 gypsies." Shang was already feeling tired since he just came from battle, but he didn't complain.

The first gypsy came out, she strolled in front of the dining room, yet she didn't enter the room. She was about 5" 6. She was wearing a purple skirt with one slit on one side, and her top was a darker shade of purple. Furthermore, she wore a magenta eyeshadow with crimson lipstick, and a very pigmented blush. Her hair was in a high ponytail. She wore a dominant smile across her face, and put her hands on her hips. That girl was named Ting-ting. The girl who loves to torment poor Mulan by making her feel ugly, useless, stupid, and annoying. Not only that, but she would tell Mulan that no one will ever love her because of the way she looks and because of what she went through. That's not even the worst thing, she made Mulan feel so bad once, to the point where Mulan has thought about killing herself.

When Ting-ting saw Shang, she made a flirty gesture and waved at him. Shang just nodded and smiled so it wouldn't be awkward. You could tell he wasn't interested in her, so he didn't pay much attention to her.

The second gypsy came out, walking the same way as Ting-ting. She wore a friendly yet also dominant smile. She was about 5" 5. Her skirt was light yellow colored with a slit on the side, and her top was a little darker than her skirt. She wore the same makeup color as Ting-ting. Lin wasn't ugly, but she wasn't gorgeous. You could say she was decent. Her name was Lin. She was close friends with Ting-ting, yet she didn't treat Mulan as badly as Ting-ting. She felt bad for Mulan, but she tried to show the least empathy towards Mulan.

Same thing happened to Lin, Shang smiled and nodded. After she stood in her dance position, came the last gypsy. When Shang glanced at the last dancer, his face changed from falling to sleep to his jaw-dropping from awe. His mouth and eyes opened wide, forgetting that everyone could see his reaction when he saw her.

When the last dancer walked out, she walked slowly to the middle. So she was standing in front of the two dancers. Ting-ting was on the right, Lin was standing on the left. She wore a long red skirt with two long slits on each side, and wore a red strapless bra. She also wore two golden bracelets on her left hand, and hoop earrings. (Just like on my profile pic with Mulan in it) she was the prettiest one out of all of the three. Her shiny jet black hair was up to her shoulders. She was petite, about 5" 4, and she was slim, but her petite body matched her small frame. Her skin was pale, but she didn't look sick. Her natural colored cheeks were the color of the beautiful cherry blossoms, and her eyes were shaped like almonds. She didn't wear makeup because she didn't need it. That girl was named Fa Mulan.

Even though what she was wearing made her look more dominant than the others, she wore a very sweet smile on her face. Shang felt like his heart skipped a beat, 'She's beautiful, I wonder if she is Fa M-' His thoughts were interrupted by Fa Zhou, who was sitting next to him.

"The one in the middle is my daughter Mulan," Fa Zhou sighed. He wanted to tease Shang a bit, "she's beautiful isn't she, Li Shang?" Fa Zhou asked. "Oh yes she's perfect" said Shang without taking his eyes from Mulan. Fa Zhou was pretty startled at first, but then he gave him a smirk. That's when Shang realized what he said, 'did I really just say that?' Shang thought. He immediately started to turn red and started to stumble over his words, "Th- that's not what I meant, she's not perfect. N- no I mean she is perfect, wait I- I mean-" Fa Zhou chuckled because Shang found himself unable to get out of this situation that he got himself into.

The dancers got into their dance positions, then the music started. The first dancer, Mulan, started to stroll in a circle, then the second, Ting-ting, and then the third, Lin. Afterward, Ting-ting and Lin grabbed the non-cut side of their skirt and slowly walked in a circle. Since Mulan was the leader of the dance performance, she stood in the middle of the circle and started to twirl around the circle. She looked like an angel when she danced around with her beautiful sweet smile that was on her delicate face. Shang didn't want the dance to end because she looked like a goddess to him.

Since Fa Zhou knew what was going to happen next, he excused himself and left the room. He preferred not to be there when they were going to take his precious daughter and give her to the men. He wished he could stop it, but he wanted to avoid disrespecting the Emperor.

After the dance was finished, the terrifying moment for Mulan finally came. Her body started to tremble, her palms all sweaty, and each breath she took started to become shorter and shorter. Since she was still a virgin, she felt uneasy about the thought of giving up her innocence to a complete stranger. 'I never wanted to give myself to someone this way. I just hope he isn't rough with me,' she thought. Mulan thought that she would have never lost her virginity but if she did, she wanted to give up her innocence to someone who truly loved her. 'Will someone ever love me?' She thought.

The emperor got up from his chair and walked over to the three gypsies, "if you men would like, you may take one of them for the night." announced the emperor. All the soldiers were thrilled to finally be with a woman after months of not being able to be with one. But since there were only three gypsies and twenty soldiers, they had an option that all the soldiers had to stay in a dorm with the gypsies, or the men could have a gypsy of their own for the night. But then the soldiers chose the first option.

After they decided on what they were going to do, Jin Lu took the dancers to the dorm, where they would meet the soldiers. After the gypsies left, the soldiers started whispering about what they wanted to do.

"I want the dancer with red for myself," said one soldier.

"Yes, imagine how much she'll entertain us. I can already imagine being inside her," said another.

"When I have sex with her, I'm going to make her tremble so hard that she's going to faint," one said.

"I heard that she's still a virgin, I can't wait to make her scream," snickered one.

"Since I haven't had sex in months, I'm going hard on her until she cries and begs me to stop," chuckled a soldier.

Shang turned to the soldiers who made those sexual comments and gave them a disapproving look, then they all dropped their heads in shame. Shang was disgusted by those troops. 'Are they that desperate to be with a woman? Are they capable of hurting a woman till she begs for her mercy?' He thought. He always thought highly about them, but now he thought of them as revolting men.

Shortly after the soldiers left, Shang left for his room. Once he got to his room, he plopped on his bed and stretched out his arms and legs. He didn't even bother to take off his armor. He wanted to fall asleep, but he couldn't, Mulan was on his mind the whole time. Not only that, but he couldn't get the image of those men hurting her. The image of her screaming, crying, trembling, and begging for them to stop indulging themselves in her made him have goosebumps and pity for her. Yeah, he only saw her once when she danced, but knowing what she went through made him feel that way. Shang got up from his bed and went to the dorm where the men and the dancers were staying.

——————————————— Back at the dorms —————————————

While everyone was having a great time drinking, laughing, and dancing, Mulan was sitting on the sofa alone. All of a sudden, a drunk soldier dropped on the sofa right next to Mulan. He sat up, put his arm over her shoulder, and started to mumble stuff that Mulan couldn't make out. Even though she couldn't make out what the man was mumbling, it frightened her a lot.

Finally, he said something that Mulan could understand, but she wished she never heard it, "I want you tonight. I'm going to make you cry, shake, and you will beg me to end all this, but I won't stop until I can't tolerate being inside you" he said. Mulan gasped and wore a terrified expression on her face, she wanted to cry because she didn't want to go through this, she wasn't prepared to give up her virginity. Not only that, but she hoped that she would have lost her virginity to someone who loved her, respected her, cared for her, like a husband. 'Oh, who am I kidding, who would ever love me. Not only that, but who would ever want me for a wife.' she thought.

All of a sudden, the man lowered his left hand and put it on her knee. Then he slowly started making his way up to her thigh, squeezing it, making her tremble from fear. Then his hand found her womanhood, she made a small whimper and attempted to shove his hand away. However, he got furious and grabbed her womanhood so rough that she jerked. Then he pushed her and pinned her on the sofa. She couldn't hold back her tears anymore, so tears began to fall from her eyes. "S-stop, please" she pleaded with tears still falling from her delicate face. She wished to die rather than get sexually harassed by this drunkard.

"P-Please sir s-s-stop, please I-I'm not ready for this," wept Mulan. The man began to snicker at her. She tried to squirm away from him, but he was 10 times stronger than her. He grabbed her by her thighs and pinned her on the couch again. Then he tried to get into a position to take her virginity away.

But before the man could do anything to Mulan, there was a knock on the door. Another soldier who was standing talking with another soldier opened the door. A tall, handsome man stepped into the room and stopped. He looked around and saw the man who was going to rape Mulan. He was already in a position to take her innocence away, then he saw Mulan. It broke his heart to see her in tears, her face revealed how frightened she was at that moment. He walked over to him and yanked the soldier up from his collar,

"Don't you dare hurt her, if she tells you to stop, then you stop. Can't you listen to her pleading for mercy? Look at her, you're scaring her." Shang paused and gave him a deadly look. "If your family had found out what you attempted to do to her, your family's name would be dishonored, now pack up your stuff and leave or else" warned Li Shang. The intoxicated man was afraid when Shang grabbed him. He nodded and grabbed his stuff and wobbled to the door. He tripped a few times before leaving the room.

All the men stayed silent, then Shang turned to the rest of the soldiers. "This doesn't only go for him, it goes for everyone in here. Do you men understand?" asked Shang to all the men in there. "Yes sir!" the remaining troops answered. Shang nodded and walked over to Mulan, who was still shaking and whimpering from what just happened. He knelt in front of Mulan while she still sat on the sofa,

"Are you alright, miss? Did he hurt you?" asked Shang in a concerned yet serious tone. She answered back, "N- no he didn't hurt me I'm fine, " she made a small pause trying to calm herself down before she continued, "Thank you for stepping in for me, it means so much to me. More than you will ever know." thanked Mulan. Her voice was soothing, which made his facial expression softened. Then she smiled at Shang, when she smiled back, Shang got lost in her almond-shaped eyes. Shang couldn't help but smile back, her delicate face was perfect.

"Do you wish to leave this room?" Shang asked. He wanted to take her out of there because he noticed that she felt uncomfortable. She wasn't used to this sort of exposure. Being around several people often made her anxious. Ever since she was little, her parents rarely took her outside because it was very dangerous. Not because the villagers were dangerous, but because China was under invasion by the Hun army. Even after the invasion, her father still didn't want her to go out for her safety.

"Y- yes I would," she answered shyly. Shang stood up and offered his hand out for Mulan, at first, she hesitated to grab his hand. However, when she looked into his dark brown gaze, she saw something in him that made her feel in her stomach. Therefore, she took his hand into hers. Then led her out of the room, and when they were finally out of the room.

They both started walking around inside the palace without any direction for 10 minutes, not knowing what to say to each other. The awkward silence was killing both of them. ' This silence is killing me. Should I thank him again? Perhaps I should ask him what his name is, yeah, that's a good idea. But wait, he might think I'm stupid because he's one of the most well-known people in China. Ugh, what should I do?' she thought.

While in Shang's head, he also had the same dilemma, 'what should I say or do, I don't even know what to say. Should I ask her what her name is? I already know her name is Mulan since her father told me about her, but she might think I'm weird for knowing her name already.' he believed. Since the silence between them was killing them, Shang decided to break the silence.

"So um… May I take you to the garden? I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable there since there isn't anyone there, and maybe we could talk," he explained to her.

"Oh yeah, that would be nice, I always wanted to visit the garden," she said with her signature sweet smile on her face. To which Shang smiled back. It was true, she had never seen the garden before, even though she stayed in the palace for almost a week. Mulan loved nature. In fact, she had a beautiful garden back at home, so when she heard that there was a garden at the palace, she wanted to visit it, but Ting-ting would always make Mulan practice her dance, or she would make her do stuff. Which made her not be able to tour the beautiful land. Finally, she would be able to visit the garden.

——————————————— At the garden ———————————————

When Mulan entered the garden, she was in amazement. The garden was larger than the one at her home. She was astonished to discover the beauty in their architecture, the plants were lovely, and the pond had KOI fish. But one thing captured her gaze, a cherry blossom tree. Right when she saw the tree, she walked towards it, forgetting that Shang was there. Since Shang wasn't sure what to do, he followed her.

When she finally arrived at the cherry blossom tree, she glanced to the side and saw that there was a bench under the tree. Right, when she was going to sit down, she remembered that Shang was with her. Immediately, she turned around to see if Shang was there. She felt embarrassed for leaving him like that,

"Oh, how rude of me, I'm sorry for leaving you behind. It's just that I love this kind of blossom, and I just had to see it. Please forgive me sir" she dropped her head in shame. She never meant to be rude to him, but she couldn't resist herself. Shang didn't mind it; he found it to be adorable,

"You don't need to apologize, you did nothing wrong." he grinned at her. His smile made Mulan's legs go weak. When he walked towards her, he gestured to her to take a seat on the bench. Which she gladly accepted. Once they both sat on the bench, there was another awkward silence between the two. 'Someone has to start a conversation' Shang thought.

"So um…" both said at the exact time. Which earned both of them a chuckle.

"You can go first," gestured Shang. Mulan started,

"Again, I'd like to thank you for standing up for me back there. I don't know what would have happened if he did it to me." thanked Mulan.

"You're welcome," he said. Then he continued, I had to do something, I could never allow anyone and mainly my troops to hurt a woman. You see, my father taught me to treat women with respect. Not only that, but your father told me that you weren't ready to do anything with a man." explained Shang. Mulan was confused at first, 'He knows my father?' she thought. Mulan gave him a bewildered look. Shang noticed, so he explained, "your father is Fa Zhou as in General Fa, right?" he asked, and she nodded. Then he continued, "I went to war with him, and since your father used to be very close to my father General Li, your father would talk a lot about you." Shang told Mulan. She was thoughtful for a moment, then she nodded again. Shang went on,

"So you must be…" Shang pretended to be thoughtful, so she could tell him what her name was even though he already knew her name, "My name is Fa Mulan, but you can call me Mulan" she told him and she smiled. Shang adored that smile of hers. Her smile was unique from the other young women, hers looked natural, not forced.

"Mulan, that's a beautiful name for a lovely young lady," he commended with his charming smile. "Oh, thank you," she said shyly. Mulan turned away, so he wouldn't see her blush at his compliment, but failed when he noticed and chuckled. He decided to introduce himself as well,

"Well, my name is Li Shang, but I don't mind if you just call me Shang," he told her.

"Ok, Shang" she smiled. Then she went on, "so you must be the captain of the imperial army, right? Because I mean you are wearing the uniform for a captain, "

she explained. She was right, he was the captain of the Imperial army, but he hadn't been a captain for too long. "Yes, I'm a captain. I was promoted a few months back." he smiled proudly, yet he tried to stay modest at the same time. It was impossible for him, though. Ever since he was in a military academy, he always dreamed of becoming a captain, perhaps a general too.

"Your father must be very proud to have a son as a captain," she said.

"Yes he was proud," he said sadly, lowering his head. She was confused,

' What happened to him?' she thought. She put her hand on his shoulder for comfort. He looked at her, then back at the ground. He sighed, and he began,

"My father promoted me to captain right before the war. Then just a couple of months ago we found him, he was killed by the Mongolian army," he explained. Shang didn't go into detail about what he saw because he wanted to avoid frightening Mulan. "Shang, I'm sorry for your loss," she said with compassion in her sweet tone. He looked at her and smiled. She continued, "if you ever need anything, I'm here," she told him. "Thank you, Mulan, it means a lot." he thanked her. He was grateful to know that she cares about him. When growing up, he never exactly had anyone to talk to, of course, Jin Lu was there for him, but there were moments when Jin Lu would be very busy that she couldn't be there to comfort him. And his father, General Li, well, he was rarely there for him, he was busy maintaining the country safe from enemies.

After knowing about each other for about 20 minutes, and getting her to feel comfortable with him, Shang decided to ask Mulan if she wanted to go to the village. Since there was a celebration for the Imperial army for defeating the Mongols, he wanted to take her out, so they could do something fun.

"So um, Mulan, I wanted to ask you a question if that's alright?" he asked timidly.

"Of course, you can ask me a question," she gently said.

"I'd like to take you to the festival in the village, I mean if you want to, cause I want to avoid making you do something that you don't want to do" he explained. He was nervous to ask because he was worried about being rejected. 'Am I moving too quickly?' he thought. Mulan was surprised at first, but soon she grinned,

"I'd love to go to the festival with you, I wanted to go to the festival before I found out that I had to, you know" her voice starting to trail off, Shang nodded in understanding.

Shang got up from the bench and offered his hand to Mulan, and she gently grabbed it. Then they walked out of the garden and headed towards the festival in the village.

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