This chapter may be a bit longer than the previous ones, I don't know. Btw sorry that I haven't updated you guys for probably more than a month, I've been busy with school and other stuff. This chapter is somewhat more mature because there is abuse involved. So if you don't feel comfortable with this topic you can skip this chapter. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter. Ohh and please if you'd like, please leave a comment:)

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Chapter 4

Mulan's Punishment

It was already dawn and everyone was starting their day, well, almost everyone was starting the day. Mulan was still sleeping from last night. She hardly sleeps late, so she was still sleeping because of last night. Not only that, she just wasn't a morning person. She usually wakes up at around 8 am, but if she was lucky, then she would wake up at 9 or 10 am.

As always, Shang woke up around 7 am and started his day by going out of his balcony from his room. He walked out to his balcony and took in the fresh air. Then he began remembering the wonderful night he had with Mulan. He sighed at the thought of Mulan. 'She's perfect' he said to himself. Just thinking about her brought him to smile. After thinking about her and getting some fresh air, he decided to rinse off so he could fully awaken.

——————————————— Back with Mulan ——————————————

It was now 8:15 am, and Mulan was starting to wake up, yet she still stayed in bed. It was difficult for her to wake up, even though she would always wake up at the same time every day. She just wasn't a morning person. If she could, she would stay in bed all day long, but since she had a busy life, that wasn't going to be a choice for her. Mulan didn't wish to get up though, but then she thought of last night. The beautiful night with the kindest, attractive, and the most warm-hearted person she ever met, Li Shang.

Just the thought of him instantly got her out of bed. "I can't wait to see him again, "she said to herself. " I wonder if he is excited to see m-" but before she could even finish, a tall female figure barged into the bedroom. Which startled Mulan. Without knocking on the door, she stomped over to Mulan. When Mulan turned to the tall woman, she immediately recognized her. It was Ting-Ting. She carried a black satchel that looked full. Mulan immediately knew what was going to happen next.

Since Mulan was only wearing her underwear and her nightgown that went up to her hips, quickly grabbed the sheets and wrapped them around her small frame. "Ting-Ting! What are you doing here?" she asked, but of course, she knew why Ting-Ting was there.

She was there because Shang took Mulan out instead of her. Because Mulan spent the whole evening with him at the festival. Ting-Ting was jealous of her, even though she wouldn't admit to it. "Oh, I think you know why I'm here," she said with hatred in her voice.

You could see through her eyes that she came to get her revenge on Mulan. She grabbed Mulan's arm and struck her roughly on the floor. Right after, Ting-Ting took out a metal whip from her satchel and started to hit Mulan's side. Mulan cried out in pain. "Please stop! Stop, please!!" she pleaded with agony in her voice. Tears stained her flawless face. Soon, it was getting hard for her to breathe from all the beatings that Ting-Ting was doing.

After a while, Mulan was starting to lose consciousness, her nightgown stained in her blood, bruises on her sides where she'd been whipped. Her body became so weak to the point where she wasn't able to react anymore. Her body almost looked lifeless.

"I- I'll do anything" she only managed to say. Then Ting-Ting stopped for a moment. "You'll do anything?" Ting-Ting asked with interest. "Y- Yes" was the only thing Mulan could answer. "Alright" she moved away from Mulan, and Ting-Ting continued, "I'll stop beating you if you stay away from Captain Li Shang," she said. Mulan didn't want this, but she had to agree because she just couldn't take the pain anymore.

"Then we have a deal. You stay away from the Captain, and I'll leave you alone." Ting-Ting said while putting away her metal whip in her bag. She walked past Mulan, who was still on the floor, and opened the door. Before she left she turned to Mulan and told her, "By the way Mulan, you should stand up and get dressed. You don't want anyone thinking that you went rough last night with the Captain, wouldn't you?" she snickered. After she left the room, she accidentally left the door slightly open behind her. Leaving Mulan unconscious right on the floor by her bed.

———————————— Back in Shang's room —————————————

Shang had already finished taking his bath and getting dressed for the day. However, since being Captain had its responsibilities, he had to put on his uniform. He didn't mind wearing it, but he preferred wearing his normal clothes. After he was all dressed, he left his dorm for breakfast. But before he went to eat breakfast, he stopped right in front of his door, 'I wonder how Mulan is, should I ask her if she wants to get breakfast?' he asked himself. Eventually, he decided to go for it and ask her. Besides, Mulan's room was just a couple of rooms away from his.

Once he got to her dorm, he noticed that the door was slightly open. 'Why is the door open? Should I? No, I shouldn't open it, but why would it be open like this? Maybe she forgot to close it,' he said to himself. Before he could even close the door, he heard a slight whimper. He pushed the door open to see what that outcry was coming from. But he was shocked to see who it was…

He found Mulan laying on the ground, almost lifeless. As soon as he found her in the state she was in, he ran to her side. Shang grabbed Mulan and placed her on his lap, then he wrapped his arms around her small fragile body, and with his right hand, he began to caress her face. Right when he touched her face, Mulan forcefully opened her eyes. "Sh-Shang pleas-" she was only able to say since Shang interrupted her. "Shh save your breath Mulan, I'm going to look for Jin Lu, so she can attend to you" he explained. He lifted her up from the ground to put her on the bed, but when he lifted her up from the ground, she groaned from the pain.

He carried her gently and placed her on her bed, "I'll be right back", but right when he said that there was a knock on the door. Coincidentally, it was Jin Lu,

"May I come in?" she asked without opening the door all away, but when she saw Shang holding Mulan's weak body she immediately ran to them. She went to the other side of Mulan and began to check her body while Shang stood by the bed where Mulan rested. Shang was very worried about her, he wanted to do something but didn't know what to do, he just felt useless being there.

"What happened to her? Why is she covered in bruises?" she asked with worry, and her voice was trembling. 'Someone must have done something to her, but who would do such a thing to her?' Jin Lu thought. She knew that Shang had nothing to do with the state Mulan was in. She knew that Shang would never be capable of mistreating a woman, his father had taught Shang to treat women as something precious, not as an object. So, he had never hurt a woman in his life or ever will, especially Mulan since he was sweet on her.

"I- I don't know, I found her like this on the floor" Shang's voice trembling through every word he said.

"Alright, alright, stay here with her. I'm going to get a bowl with warm water, cloth, and some bandages.I'll be right back" with that, Jin Lu sprinted out the door.

Shang sat by Mulan on the bed, holding her delicate hand, watching her in the state she was in.

'Why could someone ever hurt her? She's so sweet and caring.' he thought. Then he continued with his thoughts, 'whoever it was, I'm going to-' his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a small whimper. When he turned to Mulan, he noticed that she wore her well-known delicate smile, yet tears were coming out of her sweet almond-shaped eyes. "S- Shang," she mumbled.

"Mulan, what happened? Who did this to you?" Shang began to ask.

"I- I can't tell you, b- but please, you have to leave," she told him, even though she wanted to tell him badly. She just didn't want to risk getting beaten by Ting-ting again.

Shang moved away from her, 'why is she being like this? Just the other night she was talking to me, and now she wants to avoid seeing me?' he said to himself.

"Why can't you tell me? Was it something I did or said?" He asked her.

"Shang, I can't tell you, please understand. If I could, then I would tell you, but I can't. Now please leave, I can't be seen with you. " she told him, tears slowly falling from her face. "Please," she whispered to him.

Shang was starting to lose his patience with her, but he wanted to avoid shouting at her, knowing that she would get frightened. So instead of shouting at her and making her scared, he took one last glance at her, stood up, and walked to the door. Right when he was going to open the door, Jin Lu walked in with the cloth, bandages and a small bowl of warm water. He watched her walk towards Mulan's bed, Jin Lu starting to attend Mulan, and he left the room without announcing.

"Oh Shang can you grab me a-" but when she turned to where Shang stood, he was nowhere to be found. "He's probably busy," She told Mulan. Mulan nodded, even though she believed that he left because she didn't want him there.

—————————— In the other room with Ting-ting ———————————

All the soldiers ended up leaving the room around 8 am to return to their normal schedule of being a soldier, leaving Ting-ting and Lin alone. Ting-ting and Lin relaxed on the couch that was inside the room. Both drinking red wine, and laughing.

"So Ting-ting, what did you do with Mulan?" Lin asked her.

"Oh yes about that" Ting-ting began, "I just taught her a lesson about not getting in between me and the Captain. We also made an agreement too." she laughed.

"What kind of agreement did you make with her?" she asked. 'She perhaps made an arrangement with Mulan staying away from Captain Li Shang' she assumed.

"I made a deal with her about if she stays away from the Captain, and gets the Captain to notice me, then I'll stop bothering her," Ting-ting explained.

"Oh… That's a good agreement you made with her" Lin said, unnaturally smiling.

Truth is, Lin didn't see anything fair with the agreement that Ting-ting made with Mulan. Lin thought that Mulan and Shang would make a cute couple. She could see that both of them were in love with each other, and she loved that. When she found out that Shang was taking Mulan out for the night, she felt happy for her. Mulan deserved to have someone like him, someone who cared about her, loved her, and made her feel safe whenever she was around him. So, when Ting-ting told her about the agreement, she felt terrible. 'Why can't Ting-ting just leave her alone?' she thought.

Lin's thoughts were interrupted by Ting-ting's foolishness, "You know what Lin?" said Ting-ting. "Yes?" answered Lin, and Ting-ting explained, "I'm going to look for Captain Li Shang and see if he prefers to spend time with me than to work," before Lin could even say anything, Ting-ting left the room.

—————————————— Back with Mulan ——————————————

Jin Lu had just finished attending to Mulan's wounds and was putting away the extra bandages. Mulan was still in bed trying to get some rest but couldn't stop thinking about Shang. Was she being selfish for not telling Shang? Was Shang mad at her for not telling him? Should she just try to talk to Shang and explain and hope for the best that he understands? She wasn't sure, but felt bad for the way she had treated him earlier. 'He saved my life. He could have just left me there and gone with his day, but he didn't, and this is the way I repay him?' she thought.

After Jin Lu cleaned everything up, she told Mulan that she would be checking on her. Eventually, she left the room to do the rest of her duties, leaving Mulan in the room alone. Mulan attempted to sit up but couldn't from all the pain in her body. She didn't want to be in bed, but moving caused her excruciating pain. After 3 attempts, she stopped trying to sit up, knowing that she was going to be in more pain if her body didn't rest. After almost an hour of thinking about Shang, she fell asleep.

——————————————— Back with Shang ——————————————

After Shang left the room, he skipped breakfast and headed to the library to do his paperwork. While he was walking to the library, he thought, 'why was she being like this? Did somebody threaten her to avoid me? And if someone did threaten her, who would have done it? She did mention one of the dancers was constantly threatening her, could it be her?' the more he started to think about it, the more it started to make sense.

He finally made it to the library and was about to walk in when someone called his name. It was Ting-ting, she wore the same dress from yesterday, with her fan covering her face. She was walking seductively towards him, which made him feel uncomfortable. Shang sighed, 'oh not this again' he mumbled. Once Ting-ting reached where Shang was, she gave him an innocent look, which made him suspicious of her. 'Was she involved with what happened to Mulan earlier?' he thought. Ting-ting started,

"Good morning, Captain Li Shang," she said sweetly. Since Shang didn't want to be rude, he answered,

"Good morning madame, how did you sleep last night?" he asked.

"Oh, how nice of you to ask, " she turned away, pretending to blush similar to how Mulan would usually do it even though she couldn't do it. Shang noticed and lifted an eyebrow. 'Is she trying to act like Mulan?' he thought.

"Well, I guess I did sleep nice," she said. But then she went on, "Actually I didn't sleep well, the men in there were rough. And I wanted them to stop, but they didn't listen to me" she lied. Then she put her hands on her face, pretending to cry to see if he did anything to comfort her, moving closer and closer to him. He just backed away each time she tried to get closer to him. Shang just watched her "cry" in front of him, he's no fool, he wasn't going to fall for it. He knew what she wanted, and he wasn't going to give her it.

"Ma'am, if you'd like, I'll report this to the emperor about this, so this doesn't happen again," he told her. She just glared at him, expecting him to soothe her more.

"No, it's alright sir, but thank you for your concern," Ting-ting answered. She continued, " oh I also would like to thank you for protecting our country, if it wasn't for you, then we wouldn't be here" she giggled.

"I'm just doing my duty as a Captain" he smiled back.

"Sir, may I ask you a question?" she asked, he nodded.

"Would you like to spend time with me? It can be anytime that you are free today" Ting-ting asked him, smiling at him. Shang didn't want to spend time with her, so he tried to explain that he was very busy.

"I'm truly sorry, but I'm busy, you know since I'm a Captain I have many responsibilities in the palace." he finished. Ting-ting pouted, but then she acted as if she understood. Clearly disappointed in the answer that Shang gave.

"I understand, maybe someday then," she told him.

"Yeah maybe someday, well, I better get going," he announced. But the truth is, Shang honestly wanted to get away from her. Hate is a strong word to describe how Shang felt towards her, but that's how he felt. The first reason is, Mulan mentioned to him that Ting-ting has always treated her badly, and she never knew why. The second reason is that she lies to get her way. And lastly, is because she just isn't his type.

"Well, I'll maybe see you later," she told him in a flirty manner, and with that, she left. 'Finally' he said to himself. With that, he went into the library. He closed the door and walked to the table, sat down, and began his paperwork.

After an hour of doing paperwork, he took a break to get something to snack on. When he left the room, he walked to the kitchen, which was on the first floor in the palace. While he was walking, Mulan came into his mind, 'Was it Ting-ting who hurt Mulan? I would make sense, Ting-ting is the only one who would do something like that to her,' he thought, then continued, 'maybe I should go and try to talk to her again, but maybe she doesn't want to see me.' he sighed. "What am I going to do? I can't lose her." Shang muttered to himself.