Close Encounter (Mulan, Mulan/Shang, Theme #5)
Title: Close Encounter
Author: lightbird
Theme and Number: #5, Haunting or Occult Freak
Fandom: Mulan
Pairing: Mulan/Shang
Rating: T
Summary: Alternate universe that puts Mulan in modern times and a completely different life
Warnings: Not beta’d, needs revision
Disclaimer: Disney owns the characters from the animated movie and the legend belongs to the Chinese people. I just have them to manipulate and play with for these 10 challenges.
Note: Any of the specifics of the legal profession, law firms and cases in these AU vignettes are based on the American system, as I know nothing about the Chinese legal system or law firms.
(link here for first parts of fic)
oooOooo
“Let her be, Zhi-lan. She’s a smart girl and she’ll figure out her own way.”
Mulan sat perfectly still, listening through the thin walls to her aunt and uncle who were wide awake, discussing her. Despite the fact that they attempted to keep their voices down she could still hear every word of their quiet argument.
“She’s very depressed, Zhang…”
“I know. And in my opinion her priorities are in the wrong place. It’s time for her to get married. But I’m old-fashioned. Things aren’t done the way they were when we were young. Now young people want to have their careers set first and get married later. And we can’t force her to do anything. Yes, men make it very difficult for women who want to be professionals in law and medicine. I suspect that’s already going on in that firm she’s working at. But it’s her choice if she wants to tackle that…”
“They just work her too hard.”
“Maybe.”
“The firm had a party tonight and she came home in a very bad mood. She tried not to show it but I could tell. And it’s more than work. There’s something else wrong. She’s got it bad for someone and it’s not going her way. It may even be a married man. Probably that partner she’s always working for.”
Goosebumps formed up and down her spine and she felt the hair on the back of her neck bristle as her suspicions were confirmed. Aunt Zhi-lan, as always, had inexplicably guessed somehow what was really going on and Mulan found herself wondering once more if her aunt was a witch. Or psychic.
They must have somehow sensed that she was listening. A moment later she heard hushing noises and their voices suddenly completely dropped off. Several minutes later her aunt called out to her.
She lay back down as quietly and quickly as she could and pretended to be asleep, not answering, her heart pounding in her chest. Her aunt didn’t call out a second time; but the discussion next door had ceased. Or it continued at a volume that she could no longer hear.
On Sunday they went shopping for new clothes as planned, after she had her hair cut and styled at Mei-ling’s shop.
“Your hair looks nice with a little wave in it,” Aunt Zhi-lan remarked as they sifted through the coats that were hanging on the sale rack.
“I hope it stays in,” Mulan answered with a frown. “She originally meant to curl it, not just put a wave in.”
“She curled it tightly so that when it straightened out again the wave would stay in. No one ever expected curls to hold in your hair.”
Aunt Zhi-lan pulled a dark blue overcoat off of its hanger.
“This looks very much like the coat you had.” She peered at the tag inside. “And it’s your size.”
Mulan shook her head. “I’m not particularly attached to that old coat. It would be nice to have something really new and completely different.”
Her eye fell on a row of pretty red winter coats in a plain style that hung on another rack along the wall. Red was the color of joy. She moved off toward the wall and combed through the stack of coats until she found her size.
“Those aren’t on sale.”
“I earn enough money. If it’s something I like I’ll buy it.”
“A red coat?”
“For the new year.”
She pulled the coat on and admired herself in the mirror. “The color is bright, but the style is very plain. It doesn’t look too tacky, does it?”
“No, it looks nice on you. But are you sure you won’t get sick of it?”
“Nah. Besides, it will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune,” Mulan quipped, winking at her.
“You’re making fun of your aunt now?”
“Not at all. Everyone knows that.”
She called in sick on Monday, unable to face going into the office with a forced smile on her face after the events of the party. No matter how she tried to grin and appear nonchalant, she was certain that she would never be able to hide how vulnerable and ashamed she really felt now that her relationship with Liu Chen was out in the open. The firm was closed on Wednesday and for the rest of the week, so she planned to call in the following day as well instead of going in for just one day. Her bosses would probably assume that she wasn’t really sick and just wanted the extra long holiday.
“Don’t feel guilty about it,” Aunt Zhi-lan answered firmly when Mulan remarked to her about it. “You earned the days off, sick or not. And your bosses aren’t going to fire you. They get blood and sweat from you everyday of your life. I’m sure no other employee gives them so much.”
Getting fired might not be such a bad thing anyway, Mulan mused now.
It would give her the time she badly needed to study for her entrance exam and to gather applications for school. Work was not going to slow down; if anything, it would get busier once the holiday was over. Unless a settlement was reached beforehand, one of her cases was scheduled to go to trial in four months, in Singapore of all places. Not only would she have to travel to work with the attorneys, she would be the one organizing the whole thing and getting everyone to Singapore. That would leave little or no time to prepare for law school.
And the time off was thoroughly enjoyable. Mulan wasn’t sure if she would be able to bring herself to return to work, especially since she now dreaded walking through the corridors of the office. She imagined that snickers and whispering would follow her everywhere.
Uncle Zhang was home from work on Monday too, and the two of them spent the afternoon decorating the apartment with red banners and peach blossoms for luck while her aunt prepared several dozen dumplings and new year cake for the visitors that they were expecting the next evening.
“The apartment looks great. All we need is the perfect plum tree,” her uncle declared as they stood back and admired their work. “After supper we’ll take a walk to the market. It’s been a long time since we went on one of our outings together, Mulan.”
Mulan suppressed a sigh. She knew that this was backwash from her aunt and uncle’s conversation about her the other night. He was taking her out to have a talk with her. They were concerned for her, she knew, but she didn’t want that. She needed to find strength within herself. A part of her felt afraid that her resolve would somehow be undermined by their ‘coddling’.
Still, Aunt Zhi-lan and Uncle Zhang were the only family she had left. They never had children of their own as far as she knew, but they had loved her as if she was their own daughter.
Many of her fondest childhood memories were the little trips she took with Uncle Zhang. They never went anywhere truly exotic of course, but he always managed to make the most mundane of errands an adventure. They would comb the open-air markets, browsing at stalls stocked with clothing, exotic-looking rugs, pottery and knick-knacks. He would tell her stories about the faraway countries where many of the wares came from. Later, when they got home, he would take out an atlas and they would find each of those places on the map. They would trace routes from their city to those faraway lands and plan pretend trips in their heads. From this point to that one they could travel by train. Here were mountains that they would have to cross, there a stream. Often during the winters he would take out her little red sled; there was one particular day that she remembered sitting on it, laughing with glee as he pulled her along through the snow-covered streets. She couldn’t have been more than eight years old. They were merely on an errand to buy fruit for Aunt Zhi-lan that day. But he made it fun, an outing that she would never forget.
He didn’t earn a great deal of money, just enough to support the three of them plus a little bit of extra spending cash. But she was never empty-handed when they returned home on those days. A doll, a small toy or a piece of candy always found its way into her hands.
“Okay,” she acquiesced, flashing him an affectionate smile. “I just hope they haven’t run out of perfect plum trees.”
oooOooo
“The plum tree is a sturdy one that blooms in colder weather. Like the mulan tree,” Uncle Zhang used to remark to her affectionately when she was a little girl and they shopped for their annual plum tree for the holiday. “It is a symbol of resilience and perseverance because it thrives in the most adverse of conditions.”
Even before she understood what it really meant, she knew somehow that he was complimenting her and it always made her smile.
A harsh chill nipped at them as they walked toward the open-air market, typical of the February winters of Shanghai. She drew her shoulders in and locked her arms against the sides of her body, trying to keep warm as she walked with her uncle. The market was still crowded when they got there.
“It looks like we’re not the only ones shopping at the last minute,” her uncle declared as they weaved through the narrow aisles between stalls, making their way to the floral products area.
They stopped before a vendor who had a lovely display and Uncle Zhang examined the plum trees that were for sale, gently lifting the blossoms with an expert hand and examining them closely.
“That’s a beautiful tree. We’ll take that one.”
Mulan froze at the sound of Li Shang’s voice behind her. She would know it anywhere. Cautiously glancing back, she felt her heart sink as she saw that he was standing with a pretty young woman at another stall.
Well, what did she expect? He was a handsome and wealthy young man, on his way to great success. Of course he would already be attached, and to someone equally beautiful and wealthy. Though she’d never heard anyone speak of him having a wife.
The couple was engrossed in selecting their plum tree and he hadn’t seen her. She quickly moved around to the other side of her uncle before he did. As far as he knew she was sick; he was still one of her bosses and it wouldn’t be good if he found out that she’d lied to get a day off.
Besides, she didn’t want to be introduced to the woman who was his wife; or his wife-to-be.
Pulling her scarf up, she covered her face and tugged her hat down over her eyes.
“What is it?” Uncle Zhang asked, giving her a quizzical look.
She merely shook her head and made sure to keep him in between her and Shang’s line of vision. He glanced back to see what she was looking at.
“Don’t look. He’ll see you,” she spoke up quickly.
“There’s another stall over there with some beautiful looking trees. Let’s look there,” he suggested casually, taking her arm and escorting her away.
oooOooo
“That wasn’t the partner you work for, was it?”
“No, just one of the associates,” she answered sheepishly. She felt like a fool. “But he’s still my boss, and if he saw me out tonight, calling in sick tomorrow wouldn’t be very convincing. If I’m out looking for a plum tree I must be recovered. Or that’s what he would think.”
“Yes, I see.”
Her uncle’s features were set in an expression of concern as he turned to gaze at her. She wondered if he’d seen the dismay in her face when she looked at Shang with the pretty young woman.
“How has work been, then?” he asked.
“Okay.”
“Has it made you more interested in becoming an attorney?”
She nodded. “I’m going to start studying for my entrance exam after the holiday.”
“Ah.”
Silence stretched between them for a few minutes as they walked along the quieter streets away from the market and Mulan debated whether she should say anything further. Her aunt and uncle had been carrying on a private conversation about her the other night; eavesdropping was not at all proper behavior.
“I know it won’t be easy.” She faltered at first, the timbre of her voice slowly becoming more assured as she spoke. “Law school is difficult. They make it hard on purpose to weed out the ones who don’t have what it takes. But I have the smarts. And the drive. I know I can do this.”
“You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever known in my life, Mulan. I have no doubt that you can do it…”
“But…” She hesitated before continuing. “You’re worried…”
“Men take advantage of women and abuse them in many ways, especially in a profession that has always been made up of men.”
She impulsively averted her eyes, glad for the stinging cold that had already reddened her cheeks.
“Not all of them,” he quickly clarified. “There are decent men out there who have confidence in themselves and aren’t threatened by a smart woman. Unfortunately those aren’t the men who are in the top positions usually. It takes a certain type to rise up above everyone else.”
“I’ll be alright,” she muttered.
“I know that. We just can’t help but worry about you, you know. Life would be much easier if you spent your time at home, being taken care of by a husband. But you would probably be bored.”
“Then you understand…”
“We won’t say anything more to you about marriage. You’ll have enough of that at all the New Year parties we go to this week. No doubt you’ll receive numerous red packets from all the married couples.”
Mulan couldn’t help but laugh as she thought of it. Yes, every married couple would take pity on the poor single girl and hand her packets of money, wishes for the good luck that she would need to find a proper match soon.
“Well, we’ve been wandering around the streets for a long time. I’m sure your boss must be gone by now. Shall we go back and find our perfect plum tree?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s safe.”
On the way back to the market, Uncle Zhang bought a small sack of ginger candy from a vendor and handed it to her.
“Here you go.”
She beamed at him. “I’m not a kid anymore. It’s okay if we have an outing and I don’t get a treat,” she teased.
“To start you off on a sweet new year.”
(link here to continue)