Questionable Identity
Ch. 4
Summary: Mulan isn't who she thinks she is. The Emperor is missing a daughter. Fa Li's family comes for her. Shang can't decide his future.
Disclaimer: I only own what you do not recognize.
A/N: EnjoyJ
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~Last chapter~
"We will be leaving for her house so that we can arrive for tea."
"Very well son. Should we bring anything?"
"Are we supposed to?"
"No."
***
"But…"
"Mulan, you meeting your future husband today. You must look proper. That includes a dress and make-up."
"Yes mother. You are right," said Mulan as she gave into her mother. She slowly lowered herself into a chair and applied the make-up to her face.
Grandma Fa walked into Mulan's room, and walked over to the closet. "What dress will you be wearing today Mulan?"
Mulan stayed quiet for a few minutes while she finished her make-up. Instead of her eyes being painted light blue like last light, they were deep forest green. "I guess the green and gold dress that the Emperor sent me after I arrived home," sighed Mulan as she place down the brush.
Grandma tapped her chin thoughtfully. She looked over to Mulan who was now fixing her hair, to the dress that she had mentioned. "I believe that you are right." Grandma took the dress down and lay it out on the bed. "Hurry and get dressed. The General will be here soon for lunch and tea (A/N: different people, lets say, call it different things)."
"I know." Mulan finished with her hair, which had been swept half up half down. The hair that was up was in a bun.
Grandma and Fa Li walked out of the room and closed the door. They waited there for Mulan since they wanted her to cook some of the food.
Mulan slowly slipped into the dress. It fit her perfectly, which confused Mulan because it had been a gift from the Emperor. 'Oh well.'
~
"We will be leaving soon. Nuo Niu, please alert the drummer that we will be making our way into the village in an hour," said the Emperor.
"Yes your highness." Nuo Niu bowed and walked off.
~
"Someone is here. Zhou, would you please open the gate?" asked Fa Li as she stirred the rice.
"Of course." Fa Zhou walked towards the front gate and opened it.
In front of him stood a middle aged woman with a little girl in her arms. "Hello," she said. "Is this the Fa family residence?"
Fa Zhou nodded. "Hello, I am Fa Zhou." He held out his hand.
The woman shock it and smiled. "I am Li Jia and this is my daughter Li Mu. It is a pleasure to meet you. Umm…" she paused for a moment. "My son will be here soon."
"You must be the General's mother then."
"Yes I am." She smiled. "May we come in?"
"Of course. Will your son be here soon?" he asked as he led Li Jia and Li Mu into the house and to the kitchen.
"Yes."
When the entered the kitchen Fa Li and Grandma Fa stopped what they were doing. Li gulped when she saw Li Jia.
After introductions had been made, Li Jia asked Fa Li if she knew her from somewhere.
Again Fa Li gulped. "No, I don't think so."
"Oh," said Li Jia looking a little sad. "It's just that you sort of remind me of an old friend."
There was another knock at the gate.
"Mulan!" called her mother.
"Yes mama?" Mulan called from her room.
"Would you please go see who is here?"
"Sure." Mulan left her room and walked towards the gate. She opened it to find Shang staring at her. "Hi Shang," said Mulan as she gestured him in.
Shang stepped in and looked around. "Hello."
Mulan flung herself at him, startling him. "Please take me somewhere away from here!" she begged him.
Shang looked down at the woman in his arms in confusion. "Why?" he asked.
"Because I have to meet my future husband today. What if he hurts me? Or what if he decides he doesn't want to marry me when he sees me?"
Shang laughed. "Your future husband will always want to marry you, I he won't beat you."
"How do you know?" asked Mulan with her face buried in his shoulder.
"Because I want to marry you and I would never beat you."
"But…" Then realization dawned on Mulan and she smiled. "Are you sure you want to marry me?" she asked turning away.
"Of course," said Shang as he reached for her. "You are beautiful, intelligent, perfect, strong, cunning, witty, brave, courageous…"
By now Mulan was beat red. She looked at Shang and said, "I don't want to wreck this moment, but we should get inside."
Shang nodded and took her hand. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek before leading him into the house.
"Mulan is that you?" called her mother from the kitchen.
"Yes mama."
"Is the General with you?"
"No Shang is mama."
Shang stopped Mulan before they went any farther. "Mulan," he whispered.
"Yea?"
"I umm… am a General."
Mulan laughed and answered again. "General Li is with me mama."
They heard a 'about time!' muttered from the kitchen and they both blushed.
Mulan and Shang walked into the kitchen to see three women chatting while they cooked a huge meal that could probably feed twenty instead of seven. A man was sitting with a little girl on his knee telling her stories about wars that he knew. Fa Zhou looked up from the little girl when he heard them enter.
He whispered something n the little girl's ear and she nodded and giggled.
She slowly got off his knee and walked over to Mulan and her brother. She bowed. "Hello, Fa Mulan. I am Li Mu."
Mulan smiled and sat down on the floor so that she could talk to the little girl. Shang sat beside her.
"How old are you?" Mulan asked her.
"Six," the girl said proudly. She stood up from her place on the floor, walked over to Shang and sat on his lap causing Mulan to laugh.
Li Jia looked over to the door to see her son and daughter sitting with a young woman who she presumed was Mulan.
Shang sensed his mother's eyes on him and looked up into her eyes. He cleared his throat. "Fa Mulan this is my mother Li Jia. Mama this is Fa Mulan."
Mulan stood up and bowed to Li Jia who grinned. She was going to like this girl.
"Mulan can we see you fight against Shang?" asked Mu who was watching everyone with excitement.
Mulan looked at the adults and saw them nod. They, too, wanted to see the two fight hand-to-hand. "Just let me change."
"But you fought the men in the palace in a dress," said Mu.
"But this is a gift from the Emperor. I shouldn't ruin it."
As soon as Fa Li heard those words, she remembered something form her childhood.
Flashback
"Be careful Li Lan. Please be careful," begged the Emperor to his daughter who was up in the orchid tree in the royal family's garden.
Li Lan (black orchid) looked down at her father. "I will Baba."
Li Lan was a beautiful girl of fifteen. She had long raven black hair, mahogany skin, and velvet black eyes. Her silky hair was tied up in an eloquent bun on the top of her head. Her face had been painted, giving her the appearance of a china doll. Her blue skin dress had dirt on it and was torn at the hem.
"Li Lan, you are wrecking your dress!" cried her mother as she hurried down the steps.
The Emperor laughed while his First Wife scolded his favourite child. He didn't have any sons and since Li Lan was his first child, she would inherit China when he died.
Li Lan pouted her ruby lips. "But I have a million other dresses just as nice."
"But Prince Akhil left it for you. What would he say if he saw you in this state?"
"Jia Ju, let her have fun," said the Emperor with a smile.
Jia Ju (beautiful chrysanthemum) sighed. Her own daughter never listened to her if her father was around. She looked up to see her daughter smile and felt her smile herself.
"I need to get back inside." Jia Ju gave her husband a kiss, waved to her first daughter and walked into the Palace.
The Emperor called up to his daughter, "When do you think you will come down?"
"When Prince Akhil leaves."
"But why?" asked the Emperor.
"Because I don't want to be used as a treaty!"
"Daughter please come down."
"NO!"
The Emperor started to head back it. "I love you my orchid," he said to her.
"I love you Baba!" she shouted to him from her tree.
The Emperor entered the Palace.
End of Flashback
Fa Li sighed. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. She looked around and saw that everyone had gone outside. She walked out to the garden to see Mulan and Shang ready to fight. She walked over and sat beside her husband on the grass.
Mu was very happy. Her big brother was going to marry Fa Mulan, she met Fa Mulan, and she got to see Fa Mulan fight. 'I wonder what the other kids will think.'
Mulan waited for Shang to make the first move. Out of the blue, Shang lunched a punch for Mulan's stomach. She dodged the blow and kicked. The kick landed on Shang's stomach causing him to stumble. He quickly got this balance and punched.
Mulan's arm shot up and blocked the punch. She punched. Block, punch, block. This carried on for a good fifteen minutes.
Shang looked to see his mother holding her hand to her mouth. Mulan, taking advantage that Shang was distracted, placed a high kick to his shoulder and a punch to his stomach.
Shang groaned, doubled over, and fell to the ground.
Mulan laughed and sat on top of him. "Are you ok?" she asked in a whisper.
"I think I have a bruised rib and shoulder. Besides that, then… Yes I'm ok. I mean I have a beautiful girl on top of me." Shang grinned, while Mulan blushed.
Mulan quickly rolled off of him. She held out her hand to help him up which he took. "I will be back. I just want to change," said Mulan as she ran into the house.
~
As Mulan walked back to the gardens, she heard the royal drums being 'played'. Mulan's first thought was 'Is there another war?'
She walked to the gates where she was joined a moment later by everyone else.
A middle aged woman walked towards Mulan. "Excuse me miss, but is this the Fa residence?" she asked.
Mulan silently nodded her head. The woman smiled and waved her hand behind her.
Nuo Niu looked at the people that were in front of her. There was General Li and his mother and sister. In front of him was the Fa family. The grandma, Fa Zhou, the ex-general, Fa Mulan, the heroine, and…
Nuo Niu gasped. It was her. She ran forward and hugged Fa Li around her waist. "Oh Princess!" she wailed. "It is so good to see you." She looked behind her and shouted, "Your Majesties! It's her! It's Li Lan."
Mulan looked at the carriage that had now pulled up. She was confused. By the looks of it, everyone except the woman, her mother, her grandmother, and the people stepping of the carriage were confused.
An elegant looking woman in her fifties gracefully stepped out of the carriage and walked towards Fa Li. The woman started to cry. "Emperor!" she called. "It's her. It's our Li Lan."
Mulan looked at the carriage again and saw the Emperor and another lady emerge. The Emperor walked over to her mother and started to scowled her.
"How could you Li? Do you know what kinds of troubles this caused? I am ashamed if you!"
Mulan ran in front of the Emperor trying to block her mother from him. "Please Your Highness!" she begged as she bowed to him. "My mother did nothing wrong."
The second woman snorted. She looked to be about thirty. "Nothing wrong the daughter says."
"Qing Lan!" said the Emperor turning around. "I am ashamed of you." He turned back to Li. "Why didn't you came back after you married? Or after you had your daughter? Or even after she came back from war?"
Fa Li broke into tears and hugged the Emperor. "I am so sorry baba, but I thought that you wouldn't want me. I thought that no matter what I would do, it wouldn't be good enough."
"Orchid," he said as he stroked her hair. "You could never do anything wrong. You should have never believed Chao Chang."
Qing Lan looked around and noticed that people were staring at them. "Everyone inside. Have the gate be closed." Everyone headed into the garden.
~
"So, let me get this straight. I am Princess Mulan, next to inherit the throne after grandpapa dies?" asked Mulan.
"Yes that is correct," said Jia Ju, or grandmamma. "I would like it if the Fa family moved into the palace. Mulan when you marry your husband and his family will move into the palace."
***
Thank you Traum, Lynn, and Angel452.
Everyone, I have some sad news. I am going on a holiday and wouldn't be back until the 22nd of March so the story is on hold 'til then.
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