Love or Law

Just Pretty?!

The next morning Mulan was awakened by the sound of horses entering the courtyard at a fast clip and voices calling for assistance. Curious as to who could be arriving at such an early hour, she carefully levered herself into a sitting position and swung her legs around to rest on the floor. Before she could get any further though, her door slid open to reveal a harried looking Mei.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake!"

"What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"Most people would say no but when my cousin comes by, you never know what will go wrong." Mei answered as she bustled across the room and dove headlong into the wardrobe. Mulan gingerly stood up and was relieved to feel no twinge from her wound. With slow, careful steps she made her way over to where Mei now stood surrounded by the contents of the wardrobe.

"Is he really that overbearing?"

"Who?" Mei asked distractedly.

"Your cousin."

"What? Oh! I suppose I should explain myself properly. The cousin who's visiting now is the child of my mother's older brother. My uncle is a powerful member of the Emperor's Council and a very honorable man. This property actually belongs to him. When our father died he offered to allow our family to reside here.

The problem lies with his only daughter, Peijing. She's the youngest of the family and has been terribly spoiled by her father and brothers because her mother died when she was very young. She has the whole lot of them wrapped around her finger and has cultivated the mindset that the world owes her anything and everything her heart desires.

Anyway, she enjoys expressing her prestige over her poor country cousins by occasionally dropping by completely unannounced and then giving us a hard time over our ineptitude to host and entertain properly. And, of course, we can't exactly turn her away because, as she likes to constantly remind us, this is her father's property."

"That seems unnecessarily cruel." Mulan remarked, already irked by this unknown female.

"Yes, well, that's Peijing. Please accept my apologies for her behavior in advance." Mei remarked as she began holding up different articles of clothing against Mulan and then discarding them at a rapid fire pace.

"What do you mean?"

"Word travels fast in this small corner of our country. My guess is that she heard about a certain, single, military hero coming to visit and couldn't wait to sink her claws into him."

"Huh?" Mulan was thoroughly confused by this point.

"Li Shang, Mulan! He's single, has an incredible military lineage, is rumored to be good-looking, and is now a war hero to boot! He's exactly the kind of man her father wishes her to marry! On top of it all, Peijing loves a challenge. Luckily, you already have his full attention. However, it's never a bad thing to go the extra kilometer to ensure you keep it. Which is where I come in."

"His attention?"

"Trust me, Mulan. When that man sees you this luncheon, he won't be able to take his eyes off of you. Now sit! We've got some work to do."

An hour and a half later, Mei was standing back to examine her handiwork while Mulan sat meekly before her. If she had thought her morning before meeting the matchmaker was bad, this morning blew it out of the water. At least with the matchmaker's morning all decisions had already been made for her. All she had to do was sit and be their doll to dress and make up. Whereas this morning she had been bombarded all morning by Mei asking questions she barely understood.

"Does Shang prefer the natural look?"

"Have you ever rag-tied your hair? The curls might emphasize your bone structure more."