Sorry it took me about 3 months to update… y'all know how summer vacations go.
This next chapter does not have Shang in it. Sorry! But, he'll be coming soon,
I promise! After all, Mulan has to have some fun, right?
The sedan carrying Mulan to the Palace seemed to be the only one on the road that day. The road passed through plains and a mountain range, and getting there would be a daylong journey. Mulan was accompanied by two guards, three white stallions, Khan, and Chi Fu. Unfortunately for her, she was confined to the sedan, sitting opposite from Chi Fu..
The one thing Mulan could never have envisioned for herself was a daylong sedan ride with Chi Fu. She did her best at ignoring him, as he did with her. She looked out the window, played with her fingers, and tried to recite to herself all the emperors of the Chin Dynasty. Chi fu decided to take a nap. He wasn't sleepy in the least, and the constant clicking of the horseshoes on the ground did not soothe him any better than the thought of Mulan's fame. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. He thought of all the ways to expose Mulan for what she truly was—a misfit and the uneducated daughter of a farmer. As the thought came to him, he smiled and drifted into dreams of a China wherein he was emperor and everyone bowed before him.
He woke up when the sedan came to an immediate stop. There was shouting outside, and Chi fu's countenance grew pale in an instant. "Vicious Huns are after us!" He exclaimed while trying to hide under his pillow.
The door flung open to reveal a man with carelessly arranged hair and clothes coming towards them. Bandits, both thought to themselves. Chi Fu said in a squeaky tone, "Take it all. Take the girl. Just please don't hurt me!"
The man pulled both Mulan and Chi Fu out of the sedan. They were in the middle of a field, and the two officers were both tied up and the horses were blindfolded and tied to a nearby tree. Khan, also tied to a sturdy tree branch, was flailing about and trying to pull free.
"Ang, Gao, go inside to see what they're hiding," barked the bandit at his two accomplices. Two other men who were similarly dressed as the first went inside the sedan to search for anything of value. Mulan, trying to show as little fear as possible, addressed the intruder: "We don't have anything."
"We'll see," he replied.
A few moments later the two men came out with some of Chi Fu's belongings, but nothing of Mulan's. Chi Fu made a few squeals about how attached he was to those items but then held his lip as the first man put a knife against his throat.
"We couldn't find anything else, Leung," the bandit Gao said, talking to the man who first pulled Chi Fu and Mulan out of the sedan.
Disappointment and anger was shown in Leung's grimace. "I see a very fine sedan out in the middle of a field, with two men guarding it, so there must be something inside there worth protecting." Leung said in a shady tone. "Where is it?!" He dug the knife closer against Chi Fu's neck. Chi Fu, overcome with fear, fainted when he saw blood drip onto his expensive new blue coat. The three men laughed at him and Gao kicked his delicate frame aside. Chi Fu came to, relieved that the pressure was no longer put on him, and he watched as the man interrogated Mulan.
"We have nothing else!" Mulan shouted, trying to get her point across to the thieves.
Leung shook his head and smiled. "You're wrong, little girl. For everyone's sake, you better be. You see," Leung said, holding up the his men's takings, "this is not nearly enough to let all four of you go alive."
Mulan took off her beaded jade necklace and threw it at him. "There, take that and leave us! It's all I have."
"Not enough," Leung said in a hostile manner. "You better come up with more, or the old man gets it."
"Go ahead," Mulan bluffed. "I never liked him anyway."
Chi Fu began to whimper about how undignified the whole situation was. "I'm too important to die! Take her!"
Mulan turned her head to see one of the men giving her dirty looks. He then walked over to Ang and whispered something in his ear. He let out a wicked grin in Mulan's direction. He signaled the other man to move away, and he began addressing Mulan: "Change of plans. Everyone gets to live, and you will all get to your destination safely, as soon as we're finished with you."
Gao came at her from behind to hold her down, an action that she knew the exact counterattack for. She thrust her elbow into his side and used her other fist to cut his jaw. Ang went after her to aid his bleeding friend while Leung watched, amused and annoyed at the same time. Ang lunged at her to knock her down, but she quickly moved out of the way. Gao again grabbed her from behind, and Mulan, using all her weight, stomped on his foot and took his moment of vulnerability to throw him to the ground. Both men got up and went after her at the same time, which was too much for Mulan to fight off, and they pinned her to the ground. Khan, who could hear his master in distress, was neighing even harder and trying his best to break free. Gao held her hands, Ang held her knees apart, and Leung walked towards her with a smirk. He bent down, casting his shadow over her. "You're a tough one," he chuckled.
She spat back at him, but he only wiped it off and undid his pants. He took the place of the one holding her knees, positioning himself over her. "Will this be your first, little girl?" He whispered into her ear. He then licked her cheek. He had an odorous stench to him, which Mulan almost gagged at. "Virgins always did taste better," he laughed. Mulan could feel her stomach turn. She kept moving and twisting around, but she could not loosen the hold of the man's grip on her wrists.
While the three men were focusing on Mulan, Chi Fu hurriedly untied the soldiers from the tree, and these two soldiers in turn went to the aid of Mulan. Gao was the first to notice that the soldiers were untied, but by then they were already attacking Ang. Gao distracted Leung from Mulan by yelling at him to look behind. Leung turned around to see Ang being taken on by the two soldiers, and Gao let go of her wrists to help Ang. Mulan took the opportunity of the distraction to pull her legs to her chest and kick Leung off her. She was finally freed, and she got up. Leung was coming at her, but she blocked and landed a series of punches on him. He, however, gave her a punch of such force to knock her to the ground.
The two soldiers were taking on Gao and Ang, and Leung hovered over Mulan. He pulled out a dagger out of his boot, ready to use it on Mulan. In a situation like this, Chi Fu's first instinct would be to find a rock to hide behind. However, he had such an adrenaline rush from untying the soldiers that he wanted to do something more. He grabbed a sack of loot, heavy with goods from other travelers. Leung had his back to Chi Fu, and Chi Fu swung the heavy sack at Leung, surprisingly hitting him on the head and knocking him unconscious. Chi Fu stood there in a state of shock over Keung's unconscious body. He was shocked not only that he knocked out Leung, but that he was not at the moment cowering behind some rock. Mulan was in the same state of shock. Gao and Ang were soon taken down, and all three were tied up together. The soldiers then released the horses, and Mulan went to Khan to comfort him.
The rest of the way, Chi Fu marveled over his superior and manly strength, and he repeated over and over how lucky Mulan was that he was there to protect her from such savage bandits. Mulan gritted her teeth in chagrin and reluctantly thanked him.
"You should feel eternally indebted to me now," said Chi Fu arrogantly. "I just saved your life."
Mulan then felt a rush of hotness to her head, and she could feel nothing but inward anger and frustration. A single tear escaped her, but she stifled the rest of her sobs. She felt his condescending gaze on her, and she would not allow him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She spent the rest of the way intently looking out the window, while Chi Fu thought of various ways to bring up his tale of brave heroics into conversations with others.