"The patient happens to be my son." he answered sternly, "I am the former General, Li Chen. The man you are holding is Li Shang. If you need any proof, ask me or my daughter. We mean no harm to Li Shang."

"As a part of the medical business, we are to defend our patients. I cannot allow you to see him, unless he wishes to." The man answered back angrily.

While they were arguing Mulan kept scanning the house. It was small and old. Mostly everything that they used in the house came from the surrounding forest. These villagers were very resourceful. She also noticed the weapons in the far back, just in case they wanted to attack them.

"Listen sir," he pleaded, "I just want to see my son. I haven't seen him in two weeks. We've been searching far and wide for him."

"You are lying to me," the man responded.

"In what way?" Shang's father asked in exasperation.

He pointed to Mulan, "That is not your daughter! That is Fa Mulan."

"She is married to my son," he told the old man, "I consider her like my own daughter. I have known her since she was just a child."

Mulan sighed and took off her hood. She muttered low enough for only Shang's father to hear, "They won't know me eh? Every person here knows me."

She continued to scan the house and her eyes came upon a lady. She was bent over a bed and holding a wet cloth and would dip the cloth in the nearby bucket. When she left Mulan saw who was on the bed, "Shang!" she yelled and tried to make her way inside, but the man held out his arm to stop her.

Shang seemed disturbed and kept looking around for her voice. The lady noticed this and glared at Mulan. She made her way to the door to confront the two visitors. "What is your business here? You are disturbing my patient! He has been out of it for two weeks now! He finally woke up and now that you've come here, he's anxious and paranoid! He just mumbles! 'Mulan! Where are you? Come save me!' I mean who is this Mulan?" she took a look at Mulan, who had a smirk on her face, "I believe that would be you?"

Mulan nodded. "Please let me see my husband!" She tried to go through, but the couple would not give her way. She looked to Chen for support, but he wouldn't budge. She then gestured that she wanted to burst through, regardless, but he shook his head no. Mulan, however, would not take no for an answer. She walked away, while Shang's father looked at her in shock. Mulan then turned around and made a run for the door. The old couple ducked and in one swift movement, Mulan jumped over their heads and into the house.

She immediately ran for the bed where Shang was. Mulan grabbed his hand and looked him over. He was badly bruised on his arms, but his face still looked fine. Shang had a big bandage covering his head. Mulan guessed, he had a bad head injury. She looked sadly on him. Shang was badly injured, yet he probably looked a lot worse when the villagers first found him.

"Shang," Mulan thought as she held his hand, "It's me. I'm here. Don't be disturbed." Instead of smiling Shang became more disturbed. He kept tossing and turning around. Mulan sighed. She obviously got into his head, but it was not working.

The old woman screamed when she saw Mulan near Shang. The old man immediately ran for the weapons in the back. They were wooden spears with a sharp rock top. Sure the spears were well crafted, but they looked as if they were only for decoration. These weapons would not last very long in the battlefield. Just as he was about to attack Mulan, she stood up and kicked the spear out of her direction and to her left. The old man watched in awe as she beat him. Shang muttered low enough to where the old man could hear, but no one else, "Are you sure you want to mess with China's heroine?" The old man nodded and walked away. If he continued to attack her with stronger weapons, she would have to resort to a better defense: making the man unconscious.

Mulan immediately went back down to tend Shang. The woman walked over and angrily said to Mulan, "Look at the discomfort you are causing this poor boy. I should have never let you in here."

"First of all," Mulan stood up and faced the woman, "He is not a boy. He is a man. And his name is Li Shang. Second, that man lying down there happens to be my husband. If your husband was injured and I wouldn't let you in, how would you feel? Third, I don't care if he's disturbed or angry or disenchanted. I need to be near him! Fourth, you didn't allow me in here! I had to make my own entrance."

Just before the woman was about to reply, Shang interrupted her, "Mulan," he said weakly. She then got down on her knees and knelt beside Shang and held his hand. "Mulan," he turned to her and smiled, "Do you always have to be so strong and feisty?"

Mulan smiled. "Yes I do, but only whenever you're involved."

Shang smiled in a way that always made Mulan weak to the knees, "I'm fine. These people have taken care of me. I was going to go home soon."

"Not for another two weeks you won't," the lady replied. "You're still very badly injured."

"What if we took him home?" Shang's father asked as he walked nearer to Shang. The old man finally allowed him in. As he neared his son, he winced at the bad state he was in. He sighed and whispered, "Shang what have you done to yourself?" Chen shook his head in disbelief at his son's state.

"That is unlikely for him," the woman answered, "He is unable to travel, let alone walk."

Mulan looked at the old man who just sat down at his table playing some game. She turned to Shang, "Does the old man ever talk?"

Shang smiled, "No, he never does. He just sits there and lets the woman do everything. Whenever she needs him, she just yells and he goes and gets it."

Mulan made a wu-chee sound and Shang laughed. "Talk about whipped," she smiled and kissed him gently on the lips. "How did this happen?" She looked him over. The only parts that were not broken or injured were his arms and legs, but his ankles were sprained.

"I don't remember much," he said trying to remember, "All I remember is racing home for the meeting, and trying to remember if I had everything, and remembering to go get you, and the reaction on your face when you saw me again," he smiled for a moment, and then continued, "And then everything went blank. Like I was losing control and falling slowly."

"Okay," the old lady came in and interrupted their conversation, "It's time for you to get your sleep darling. You just finished eating and I just prepped your bed. Go to bed Shang." Shang nodded and Mulan looked at him questionably.

"What?" Shang asked unaware.

She laughed and whispered. "You've been whipped too," she got up and kissed up on the forehead, "Sweet dreams General."

Mulan pulled up the covers to tuck him in and Shang went right to bed. He felt better knowing that Mulan would be there in the morning. In the meanwhile, Mulan went into the dining room to join in the conversation.

They were talking about Shang's health. According what she heard, they got a tip from a woman saying that there was an injured man, which Mulan figured was Xiaohua. She wondered what she was doing up in those mountains, but she waved it off wanting to know more about Shang's situation. The woman said that she found Shang badly injured in the mountains. His head was lying on a rock and she guessed that he fell off his horse, but his loyal horse was next to him while his master was injured, trying to wake him up. After that, the older couple took him in, with the help of their kids and Shang has been here ever since.

"When can we take him home?" Mulan asked.

"It will be very difficult to take him home without hurting him," the old man answered, "But if he can walk, then it won't be hard and you will be able to reach home in a day. You may rest here for the night and then in the morning, if Shang can walk, you may take him. But as for now, my wife will show you your rooms." The old woman got up from the table and quickly grabbed blankets from a cabinet.

"Thank you so much sir," Chen answered him and bowed before he left.

…

Mulan's room was very close to where Shang was staying. Throughout the night, she couldn't sleep for some reason. Mulan kept tossing and turning in her bed. It was not because the bed was uncomfortable. She was just distressed.

Mulan then got up and made her way to Shang's room. She knelt down beside him and rested her head in his lap. Shang noticed and immediately woke up.

"Mulan," Shang whispered, "I'm tired and injured. You can't sleep here tonight."

Mulan giggled, "Shang I know. There's not enough room for us on this bed anyway. You take up all the room, especially with you being injured and everything. I just can't sleep but I want to be near you."

Shang gave her his hand and she held onto it. "Good night then soldier," he kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too," Mulan whispered, but Shang was already asleep.