Chapter 3

The night of the festival

Mulan and Shang were headed to the village. Mulan was thrilled to go to the festival because she had never gone to one in her entire life. She was also feeling a little anxious about going since she doesn't feel comfortable in public. However, since she was starting to feel safer around Shang, she wasn't feeling too anxious. Shang was feeling pleased to go with her. 'If Mulan said that she wanted to go with me, that would probably mean that she feels safe around me' he thought and smiled at the thought of her feeling safe with him.

When they got to the festival, Mulan was amazed. They were bright colors everywhere, and beautiful lanterns. There were fireworks but not many, however, the people who were firing the fireworks were planning on releasing them at midnight. They saw many entertainers of several types of entertainment. Such as acrobatics, dancers, lion dances, and dragon dance.

Then there were many food stands. Some food stands had savory appetizers like steamed pork buns, egg rolls, wontons, and Chinese pork dumplings. While other food stands had sweet pastries. For example, almond cookies, egg tarts, moon cakes, ice cream mochi, and much more. Other stands had games where if you won, you would receive a reward.

In the center of the town, there was a hub where many villagers danced to music. Mulan wanted to participate in the dancing, but she guessed that Shang wouldn't want to dance with her, since he probably wouldn't want to be seen dancing with her. 'Perhaps men from the army don't dance,' she assumed.

After chatting and walking around the festival for a while, Shang decided to ask Mulan what she wanted to do. 'Since it's her first time at a festival, maybe I'll let her choose what we should do,' he thought. Then he noticed that she would often glance at the people who were dancing at the hub. It seemed like she wanted to join, but maybe she was too nervous to ask. But why would she be scared to ask, right? She is a dancer, if she danced in front of the Emperor, captain, and the men from the imperial army, then why would she be scared to ask?

"So um Mulan, is there anything that you would like to do here?" he asked her.

"Well, I- I was wondering if we could um…" her voice trailed off because she felt embarrassed for asking. Shang knew that she wanted to ask if they could dance, but she couldn't find the right words. He decided to finish her sentence for her, "You want to dance where the villagers are dancing?" he asked. Mulan nodded shyly with her hands in front of her, and of course, with her perfect smile. He couldn't help but smile back, then he grabbed her delicate hand and said, "Then let's go" leading her to the area where everyone was dancing. Mulan was stunned that Shang took her to the middle to dance.

'Does he know how to dance?' she said to herself. She giggled at the thought of a captain, a captain from the imperial army, dancing. It would be her first time seeing a high-ranked person dancing. Well, kind of, she thought back to when her father would dance with her mother, but he hasn't danced ever since her mother's passing.

When they got to the middle, they both waited until the song finished, which only took a few seconds. Once the music was finished, they got in position to dance. A man announced the next song. It was a shuffling ballad, so basically they would have to shuffle the whole time while the song was playing. But Mulan nor Shang minded, they both stood next to each other waiting for the music to start. Mulan glanced to her left which was where Shang was standing, 'I wonder if he knows how to shuffle, not only that, but I wonder if he knows how to dance' she thought. Then the music started playing. The song that they danced to was called "Two steps more to go". Mulan would occasionally take a glimpse to her left, and she was amazed to find out that Shang was a good dancer.

After 5-minutes of shuffling, the song eventually finished. Everyone took a 1-minute break, but Mulan didn't need the break. Meanwhile, Shang was catching his breath. He looked over to Mulan and saw that she wasn't exhausted, and it surprised him. But then he remembered that she danced for a living. After one minute was up, the new song started.

The song that was playing was called "Perfect", and it was a dance where you would need a partner, so Mulan began to walk away from the "dance floor" until somebody grabbed her wrist. It was Shang, and he was smiling at her.

"Don't you want to dance?" he asked her, still having that sweet gaze on his face.

"W- well, I do but, I don't have a partner to dance with," she said softly, looking down at the ground. Shang noticed, so he decided to change that. "Well then," he started, offering his hand to her, and she took it. Her smile appeared on her face again, "Would you like to dance with me?" he asked with a soothing manner that made Mulan smile even more. "I would love to dance with you, " she said softly. And they both started to dance to the wonderful song.

————————————— After many dances later —————————————

After having an enjoyable time dancing to several songs, they agreed that they danced enough. Mulan and Shang left the hub laughing and smiling because Shang would occasionally stumble while they danced together. Shang was pleased to find Mulan giggling. When both of them were walking towards the food stands, Shang decided to treat her by buying some food that the food stands were selling.

When Mulan and Shang got closer to the food stands, Shang asked if she wanted anything from there, "Would you like anything from here?" he asked her. She turned around to face him, then she turned around to see what kind of goods the vendors were selling. Then she said, "Can we go to that stand where they are selling the steamed pork buns?" she asked shyly. "Sure, but after we get them would you like to grab something to drink with it?" Shang asked Mulan while both of them began to walk to the steamed pork bun stand. "Yeah, that would be nice," she answered back.

Once Mulan and Shang got to the stand, Shang ordered one pork bun for each of them. He handed her the box that contained the two steamed pork buns, and they headed to another stand that had drinks. They both walked to a stand where they sold boba tea. When they finally got the food, they kept walking around the village laughing while eating their steamed pork buns and drinking their boba tea.

Even though Mulan and Shang have only known each other for a few hours, both of them have been having a great time together, and neither of them wanted the night to end.

—————————————— Back at the palace ——————————————

While the men from the imperial army kept liquoring up and fooling around, having a good time, Ting-ting was sitting on a sofa, and she was being the foolish girl she was. Ever since Shang took Mulan, she's been irritated. Lin had noticed, so she decided to ask her friend what was troubling her. She walked towards Ting-ting and sat by her. Lin turned to Ting-ting, 'she must be jealous of Mulan' Lin thought.

Lin put her hand on Ting-ting's right shoulder, "Hey, is anything wrong?" she asked. Ting-ting turned to face her, then she slapped Lin's hand from her shoulder and delivered her a death stare. She started, "Are you blind or what? Didn't you see that the captain didn't take me, but took that little slut Mulan with him?" she said with hatred in her tone. She had to take a breath before she went on, "Why would the captain take her instead of me? She's worthless, hideous, and she's a slut. Why would he prefer her over me?" she cried out. Lin stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.

As you can see, Ting-ting is a foolish woman. She would call Mulan a whore, and there were much worse things that she called her. Ting-ting knew that Mulan was still a virgin, but she still named her many awful things. She loved making Mulan feel that she was a worthless, stupid, and hideous person. Which made Mulan very insecure about herself, and made Ting-ting feel more powerful. But tonight that changed.

Ting-ting stayed thoughtful for a minute, thinking how she could get Captain Li Shang's attention. She was desperate to get his attention. Why does she want his attention? Well, it's because she is selfish, and she wants the worst for Mulan. I know right, pretty dumb, but what can you say.

"I'm going to teach her a lesson to not mess with Captain Li Shang or else it won't end well with her." Ting-ting snickered. Lin just faked a laugh, but she felt guilty of what Ting-ting was going to do to Mulan. Lin remembers many times when Ting-ting would hit her whenever something went well for Mulan. There have been times when Ting-ting would beat her so badly that Mulan would scream and beg for mercy because she was too weak to fight back. This time, since she was angrier than ever, it for sure won't end well for her. 'This isn't going to end well for Mulan' Lin thought.

————————————— Back with Mulan and Shang ———————————

Mulan and Shang have been at the festival for almost four hours now. Shang and Mulan kept walking around, trying the foods from a few of the food stands. While they walked past a few stands, Mulan spotted a cute stuffed animal of a panda. The cute stuffed animal panda was hanging on a wooden post with a bunch of other stuffed animals. Shang caught Mulan glancing at the little stuffed animal, so he was determined to win that for her.

He grabbed a few coins from his pocket and gave them to the man who was supervising the game. The man handed over a bow and three arrows to Shang. He told Shang that he had to shoot an arrow at the target and hit the middle to win. He only had three attempts, but Shang only needed one. On the first try, he hit the middle of the target.

After he hit the middle for the first time, the man handed the little stuffed animal to Shang, and then he handed it to Mulan. She put her hands on her mouth, so she wouldn't express how flattered she was that Shang won that for her. But of course, she failed to hide that from him.

"Here, this is for you," Shang said while handing the little stuffed panda with his attractive smile. Mulan grabbed the little stuffed panda from him and giggled. "Aw, Thank you so much," she said, still smiling at him. Then Shang remembered that it was nearly midnight, he wanted her to watch the fireworks, so asked if he could take her someplace to see them without mentioning the fireworks.

He tapped her on her shoulder, and she turned around, "Can I take you somewhere?" he asked her. "Sure," she said softly. Shang grabbed her hand that wasn't carrying the stuffed panda gently and led her to a beautiful bridge near the outside of the village. Once they were on the bridge, Mulan was in awe. The scenery was so stunning, that she gasped. "It's so beautiful here, you can see the whole village and mountains from here," she said without taking her eyes off the lovely scenery.

She walked over to the edge of the bridge and saw the river moving swiftly. A few seconds later, she saw the reflection of the handsome man who saved her life just a few hours ago. Li Shang.

Who knew that a Captain from the Imperial army could be so sweet on her, right? When she first saw him, he looked serious. She was surprised when she heard him laugh too, 'Who knew that a serious captain can laugh' she thought. At first, she wondered if he was just like his soldiers, desperate for lovemaking, or should she even call it that. It's not like the men wanted to have sex because they loved her, they only wanted sex because they haven't been with a woman in six months. They needed a woman to fulfill their sexual needs, and they specifically expected her to satisfy them. But not Shang, rather than trying to force himself on her, he saved her from a sexual assault that was nearly about to take place on her.

'I wonder if he is just sweet on me, or is that just how he is?' she imagined. Either way, it didn't matter to her, as long as he respected her, she was thankful. 'It's still nice to imagine that perhaps he likes me, though.' she thought. Mulan may have known Shang for a few hours, but she had already fallen head over heels for Shang. By the way, he looks at her, adores her, and those lovely comments that made her blush every time and his dashing good looks. He already won her heart in one night.

While Mulan was staring at their reflection, Shang turned to look at Mulan. 'Wow, she's gorgeous when the moonlight shines on her beautiful face,' he thought. Mulan noticed from the reflection that Shang was staring at her, so she turned to him with a sweet smile on her face. "You look lovely you know" he complimented her with a soft gaze. Her cheeks turned to the color of cherry blossoms right away. He chuckled.

"Oh heh, I- I thank you" she barely managed to say to him, and he grinned at her. "You know the fireworks are going to appear soon," he announced.

"Really, where?" she asked.

"So, you see where the Imperial palace is?" he asked while pointing at the palace. She nodded. "That's where they are going to release the fireworks," he said.

"Oh, then it looks like we got the best seats to see the fireworks," she said while giggling, "I guess we do" Shang responded and started to laugh.

While both of them were laughing, that's when they heard the fireworks. Mulan was startled for a moment, she didn't expect the fireworks to fire at that moment. She turned in the direction of the fireworks right away. Then she was amazed to see them.

"Wow, the fireworks look wonderful from over here," she said, staring at the fireworks in amazement. Shang turned to watch the fireworks with her, "Yes they do look wonderful" he answered back. He thought that the fireworks looked nice, but he wasn't amazed. He's seen them before, but Mulan has never watched fireworks before. They stood watching them together. While Mulan and Shang were watching the fireworks, Shang felt Mulan lean her head on his shoulder. He turned and smiled to himself.

————————— After half an hour of watching fireworks ——————————

After watching the fireworks for a while, they agreed to head back to the palace. When they finally got to the palace, Shang brought her to the dorm that she was staying in. Not the dorm where Ting-ting, Lin, and the men were staying in. Once, Shang and Mulan were right outside her room. He asked,

"Mulan, did you have a nice time?" he asked.

"Oh yes, I did. I haven't had such a great time in a while," she replied sweetly.

"I'm glad to know that you had an enjoyable time tonight. We should do this again soon if you'd like," he said. Without hesitation, she said.

"Yes, I would love to do this again" she replied with a sweet smile across her face.

"Alright then," he said, smiling back at her. Then he continued, "Good night, Mulan, I'll see you tomorrow." He grabbed Mulan's soft hand and gently kissed it. She started to blush when he pressed a soft kiss on her hand. Then she said,

"Good night Shang, I hope to see you tomorrow too," she smiled, and he smiled back.

When he walked to his room, Mulan walked to her bed and plopped on her bed, smiling. She was so happy that she had a fun time with him. She thought it was going to be awkward because she thought that he was going to be serious the whole time. But she was wrong, 'Maybe he is a serious man only when he's with everyone else' she thought. 'Oh, but he's so sweet, I wonder if he feels the same about me?' she said to herself. After a while of thinking about everything they did, she put on her nightgown and went to sleep.

When Shang arrived in his room, he did the same thing, he laid on his bed and began thinking about her. 'Wow, she's so sweet and beautiful, she's even perfect' he said to himself, another thing that he loved about her was that with every compliment that he would give her, she would blush. He loved how she was unique from the other women, she wasn't ungrateful like the other girls he met. She also wasn't irritating like the other women. He was deeply attracted to her. 'I wonder if she feels the same about me?' he thought. After thinking about her for some time, he decided to take a shower, put his trousers on, clearly without a skirt, and went to sleep.

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What do y'all think? This chapter was pretty cheesy I know, anyways please leave a like, share, and review. Also please tell me what I can do to make this better, It would mean a lot.

Songs

-(Two steps more go - Tommy Phen)

-(Perfect - Ed Sheeran)