Author's Note: I know I wrote this pretty quick, but I'm still on vacation and I thought it'd be best to update now, since soon I'll be buried in school work. (LAME! xD)
I hope you all will enjoy it. P.S. Sorry about the spacing!

Disclaimer: I do not own Mulan or any other character from Mulan. I only own Li Xieng, Chin- Hwa, Chun Ushi, and Lee Mei-Ying.

Chapter 2: Mystery Revealed

It was already late afternoon, and the long meeting among the many generals had come to an end. Usually, the generals tend to stick around to chat about politics, their wives, and even gamble among each other, but Li Shang knew he had to go straight home. One, because he promised Mulan earlier in the day, and second, because he knew Mulan wasn't really thrilled with him.

"Hey Shang! Won't you join us today for a bit of gambling?" called out one general.
Shang turned around and shook his head.

"Not today. Maybe next time." the young general called back out.

A couple of the generals groaned to see that Li Shang was leaving so early, after all, everyone loved having him around, despite him being very young compared to the rest. Shang put his helmet and let out a long sigh as he mounted his horse. He reached in his pocket to reassure the fan the young girl had left behind. He was determined to find out who this girl was and why she was startled by him. Clearing his thoughts, he took off with horse in great speed so he wouldn't be late home.

Meanwhile, back at the Li house, Xieng was teaching her sister-in-law how to cook lo-mein.
"And for the finishing touch, add a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce." said Xieng as she handed Mulan the bottle of soy sauce.

Mulan eagerly took the bottle and distributed it on the bowl of the stir fried noodles.

"Mulan! I said a couple of teaspoons, not the whole bottle." Xieng said as she took away the bottle from Mulan. Mulan laughed as and instead began to serve the rice on the bowls.

"Seriously Mulan, you need to watch the amount you put on food. Thank Goodness, Ushi is coming back tomorrow" Xieng cried out as she mixed the lo-mein with the soy sauce.

"Who's Ushi?" Mulan asked curiously.

"Ushi or Chun Ushi is an old servant of ours. She took a holiday to visit her family and she's coming back tomorrow. I'm sure she'll look forward to helping you cook. "

"What makes you think that?" Mulan questioned once more.

"Because she has more patience than I do" Xieng said as she tried not to laugh.
Mulan laughed along and served the rest the food. Suddenly, both ladies heard the cry of a horse; Shang was home. Mulan let out a long sigh. "Shang owes me an explanation for what had happened at the market and there was no way he was getting out of this one." Mulan said to herself. The young general walked in with two bouquets of flowers, smiling nervously.

"Hello GeGe" Xieng greeted her brother as she hugged him.

"Hello Meimei" Shang greeted back. "These are for you" he said as he handed her a small bouquet.

Xieng smelled the flowers and thanked her brother. Mulan had her arms crossed and was smirking, as Shang was walking towards her.

"And these are for my beautiful laopo" Shang said smiling as he handed over the other bouquet of flowers. Mulan rolled her eyes at him as she took the flowers.

"Gee, thanks." she said dully. "But you still owe me an explanation Li Shang."

Xieng looked at both of them and excused herself since she knew this was a couple matter.

"Mulan, don't tell me you're still upset about that." Shang said annoyed.

Mulan glared at him and tapped her foot.

"Well, maybe you are." he said as he laughed nervously.

"Why were you even flirting with that girl?" Mulan said as she paced around Shang.

Shang groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Baby, I was just helping her! What? I can't help people now?" he exclaimed as he threw his arms up in the air.

Mulan stopped pacing around Shang and looked at him.

"Charming a girl with your smile ISN'T helping someone." she yelled out.

Shang covered his face with his hands and shook his head.

"Baby, please, I just smiled that's all. You don't have to get all jealous!" he said.

"I'm not jealous" Mulan shot back.

Shang put his arms around Mulan and kissed her.

"Remember, I chose you to spend the rest of my life with." he said softly.

Mulan smiled and simply let go of her grudge. Soon after, the couple along with Xieng ate together, and chatted way the night.

The next morning, Shang left to Imperial Palace early in the morning. But before going off to meet with the Emperor, Shang decided to stop by the market to see if the young girl would happen to be there. Shang wandered aimlessly around the market, but no sign of her. However though, a small boy, who was about 3 years old wandered among the crowd, with a very frighten look on his face. He saw the tall young general and tugged his cape. Shang turned around and looked at him.

"Excuse me mister, have you seen my mommy?" the little boy asked.

Shang bent down to face the boy and looked at him.

"I don't think so." Shang replied "Where did you last see her?"

The little boy looked around and scoped the market. He scratched his head and sighed.

"I don't remember." said the boy as he frowned.

Shang soon had to go, but he knew couldn't leave the boy alone.

"What's your name?" he questioned the boy.

"My name's Lee Chin-Hwa, but you can call me Chin." said the boy proudly. "What's your name mister?" Shang chuckled as he heard the vivid boy speak.

"I'm General Li Shang." he replied. "But you can just call me Shang."

Chin-Hwa's eyes widen to hear that he was general. He questioned Shang about the Imperial Army and told him that he dreamed of being a soldier one day.

"Hey Shang", Chin-Hwa began, "Did you know that -"

"Chin-Hwa!" cried a feminine voice. "Where are you?"

The boy smiled big and looked around. He found his mother standing just a few inches away from him and ran towards crying out "Mommy!" Shang got up and observed Chin-Hwa being picked up and hugged tightly by his mother. Shang couldn't help but smile to see such a beautiful bond between a mother and a son. He closed his eyes and began to remember the memories he had with his mother. Shang loved his mother and cared very deeply for her, something that his father never showed towards her. In fact, the marriage between his parents wasn't so great. His mother used to suffer greatly from his father's emotional mistreatment. Shang's father was barely home, and if he was, there was always a fight between his parents. This led to Shang not wanting to even deal with an arranged marriage for himself. Long story, short, his mother passed away before the first war with Shan-Yu and the Huns.
Shang quickly opened his eyes, and surprisingly the woman who was the mother of Chin-Hwa was the young girl from yesterday. He quickly approached the young woman before she left his sight. He cleared his throat and removed his helmet.

"Excuse me, miss?" he said politely.
The young girl turned around and was surprised to see the general again.

"Oh! Hello General Li" she said nervously. Shang greeted her back politely.

"You dropped this the other day, ma'am" he said as he handed over the fan.

"Thank you General!" the young girl replied as she smiled to have recovered her fan.

"Mommy, Shang is a nice a guy! He's in the army!" Chin-Hwa exclaimed proudly.

The young girl disregarded what her son and thanked Li Shang for accompanying her son.

"Hey Shang, do you wanna come to my house to eat? Mommy knows how to cook some good Moo Shoo Pork!"

"Only if your mother doesn't mind." Shang said as she chuckled.

The young girl laughed nervously and nodded.

"You're welcome to come over anytime General." the girl said politely

"Call me Shang" he added as he smiled.

The young girl smiled back and extended her hand

"My name's Lee Mei-Ying, but call me Mei." she said

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mei." he said as he shook her hand.

"You can stop by our house at noon, if you would like, my parents won't be around, so it'll be more flexible." she added.

Shang nodded as Mei gave Shang instructions on how to get to her house. Soon Mei and Chin bid Shang good bye and scurried off into the crowd. Shang quickly noticed that it was getting late and soon left the market on his horse. On his way to the Imperial Palace, Shang couldn't help but think about the encounter he had experienced. He was impressed by Mei and Chin, but mostly with Chin. The small boy had reminded him of someone, but he simply couldn't but his finger on whom it was.

AN: So what do you guys think of the chapter? Did you like it? Please leave some feedback/reviews! I'm open to suggestions and critisim.
Btw: Correct me if I'm wrong but, Gege = brother; Meimei = sister, & laopo = wife.