Mulan nodded. “She must have been spying on the matchmaker to find out what the activities were in advance.” She couldn’t think of how else Ying would know what to bring from home. Though it didn’t explain the perfect rice on the first day.
Mei clenched her fists. “The class is in my house. I probably could have cheated that way if I wanted to. But I didn’t. It’s not fair.”
“We ought to tell the matchmaker,” Chen said.
“Right,” Na said. “The matchmaker shouldn’t let a cheater have the best match.”
Her friends’ words were making Mulan uncomfortable. It was true that Ying had been dishonest, but they hadn’t seen the look in her eyes—it was more than fear of being caught. It was shame. And Mulan hated the thought of bringing even more of that shame onto Ying by telling the matchmaker, especially when she had promised she wouldn’t. She decided to change the subject.
“I had an idea.” The other girls turned to face her. “This class…it feels a little weird, doesn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” Na asked.
“Well,” Mulan continued, “the matchmaker doesn’t seem to care if we actually learn anything.”
The other girls nodded. This gave Mulan courage to go on. “Why shouldn’t we be able to learn from each other, though?”
“The matchmaker says whoever has the best skills will get the best match,” Jin said. “She’s just trying to judge who’s really best.”
“Which is hard when someone is cheating,” Mei muttered.
“But our matches won’t happen for ages,” Mulan said, trying to keep the focus on her idea rather than Ying’s cheating.
“The matchmaker won’t let us help each other. She’s made that pretty clear,” Chen said.
“Maybe she doesn’t need to know,” Mulan said.
“Wait. What are you saying, Mulan?” Na asked.
“I’m saying we should do something about it,” Mulan said. “Outside of class, we could teach each other what we know.”
“The matchmaker will not like that,” Mei said.
“But if we improve, how could she be angry?” Mulan asked. “We’re supposed to be polite, and working together seems very polite to me. We’re asked to be clever, and since we’re not learning these things in class, I think it’s clever to teach each other. We’ll prove that we’re good matches by learning all we can! Even if it’s not quite in the way the matchmaker expects.”
Mulan held her breath as the other girls stared at her in silence. What if suggesting this plan was a mistake? she thought. What if they accuse me of trying to cheat and are angry with me just like they are with Ying?
“I do really want to know how to make that tea, Jin,” Na said. The tension broke, and the girls laughed. Mulan had convinced them.
The next morning, Mulan felt as excited as she had on the first day of the matchmaker’s classes. She and the other girls had agreed to ask their parents for an extra hour away from home each day to spend studying. And they would be studying! It just wouldn’t be with the matchmaker. And they would get to spend time with new friends, on top of it.
Mulan felt so energized that, while she waited for the hens to eat their breakfast, she practiced the leap-kick combination she’d seen the village boys learning days earlier. She practiced it again on the moon bridge. And again on her way into the kitchen while holding the morning eggs—catching each one as it fell from her hands and nearly hit the floor, then bowing at her mother’s and grandmother’s laughter and applause.
Over breakfast, Mulan’s mother and Grandmother Fa gave her permission to spend the extra hour studying. And on her walk to Mei’s house, the sight of the boys filing into school didn’t make Mulan feel as envious as it had before. After all, now she felt like she was becoming a part of what they belonged to—a team.
Mulan entered the classroom and greeted Jin, Na, Chen, and Mei. Mulan noted that Ying’s usual place was empty.
“My parents approved the extra study time,” Na told Mulan as she sat down.
“Ours did, too!” Jin, Mei, and Chen exclaimed.
“We can start this afternoon,” Mulan said. The girls buzzed and began talking over each other about their plans until Ying appeared in the doorway.
The girls quieted and turned to look at her. Ying’s face reddened immediately. She hung her head, avoiding the stares, and walked to her mat next to Jin.
“We know what you did,” Chen said to Ying.
Ying didn’t move. Mulan whipped her head around to look at Chen.
“It’s not fair to cheat,” Chen said. “If you do it again, we’re going to tell the matchmaker.”
“Yeah,” Mei, Jin, and Na chimed in. Ying still hadn’t looked up. Her eyes were focused on her shoes.
Mulan felt her own face turning red. When she’d told the other girls what Ying had done, she hadn’t expected that they would confront her like this. Even though Ying had cheated, Mulan didn’t want her to feel embarrassed. Luckily, Chen didn’t have the chance to say anything more, as the matchmaker entered the room to begin the day’s class.
Throughout the matchmaker’s lecture on the admonitions, an ancient scroll with lessons about manners, Ying remained as still as stone. She stumbled when it was her turn to repeat the lines from the scroll. She could barely remember three of the words, let alone a sentence or two. Mulan could tell the matchmaker was frustrated by the sudden change in her best student.
When the lesson was over, Ying hurried out of the room before Mulan could even stand up. Na whispered in Mulan’s ear, “Now it’s time for us to actually learn something.” Mulan nodded and tried to get back in that brilliant mood she’d begun the day with.
The girls went to a quiet, shady glen, right outside the bustle of the village. Just as in the matchmaker’s classroom, the girls had a few supplies, sat on the ground, and were eager to learn. But here, they got to have fun, too!
During their hour together, Jin taught the others about different herbs for tea using ingredients she’d brought from home. She not only taught the girls the recipe that had impressed the matchmaker, but she also showed them how to dry flowers and leaves, and demonstrated the exact right amount of time to steep each mixture in water. They didn’t have a fire to boil water and taste the tea, but that didn’t stop them from learning.
As the girls said goodbye at the end of the hour, however, Mulan’s mind drifted back to Ying. She felt sad that all the girls in the class were bonding and teaching each other while one was left out.
When she got home, Mulan practiced making a pot of real tea for her mother and grandmother using the recipe Jin had taught them earlier that afternoon.
“Smells delicious,” Grandmother Fa said as Mulan poured the steaming liquid into small cups.
“How was your day, Mulan?” her mother asked. “You look a little troubled. Did it feel too long with the extra hour of studying?”
Mulan sighed as she reached over to scratch Little Brother’s ears. She was never good at hiding her feelings from her family. Before she could help it, the whole story about Ying had come out.
“It sounds like Ying may be having the hardest time of everyone in class,” Grandmother Fa said.
“But that’s only because she was caught,” Mulan said. “Right? Why should I feel bad when she was the one who cheated?”
“But now Ying has gone from the top of the class to being alone at the bottom. Has anyone talked to her to ask if she’s all right?” Mulan’s mother asked.
Mulan shook her head. “Not really,” she said quietly. “We talked to each other. Not to Ying.”
“Often, it’s worth asking why someone felt they had to lie in the first place. How will you understand the answers if you don’t ask the questions?” Grandmother Fa swirled her tea in her cup, looking into its depths as though she could see the world inside. “And it’s always better to talk to someone than about someone.”
Hearing her grandmother’s words, Mulan felt ashamed for not checking on Ying the
first time she’d run out of the classroom, when Mulan had discovered the silk thread. Ying might have needed someone to talk to. Mulan wished she were as wise as her mother and grandmother. There was still so much she didn’t know. How could she make it better now?
The following morning, on her way to school, Mulan spotted Ying huddled near the door of a closed shop with her mother. They looked like they were having a heated discussion. Mulan crept closer, then darted around a corner where Ying and her mother would not see her.
“Your family is counting on you, Ying,” Mulan could hear Ying’s mother say. “If you aren’t the best in the class, making sure the matchmaker remembers you in the future, what will happen to us? What will happen to me, your father, your grandfather?”
“I’m trying, Mother.” Ying’s voice was small. There was no trace of the confident girl Mulan had seen weeks ago when the matchmaker’s lessons first began.
“How are you trying? When I saw the matchmaker yesterday, she told me you’d barely managed to memorize one word of the admonitions.”
“I’m sorry,” Ying said in a small voice. “I don’t know how to be the best all the time.”
“You will have to figure out a way,” Ying’s mother said. “Anything less will not be accepted.”
Mulan’s mind swirled with thoughts. She knew that the husband a matchmaker chose was important to everyone, including Mulan’s own family. But Mulan’s mother, father, and grandmother had never once made Mulan feel like the bride she would become was the only thing that counted.
Mulan’s family valued her cleverness, her sense of humor, her love. They had never made Mulan feel that her future match mattered more than her own happiness or sense of honor. And now it was clear to Mulan that Ying’s family was making her feel the opposite. No wonder she had tried to cheat, with that kind of pressure.
Before she could second-guess herself, Mulan rounded the corner. Ying and her mother both turned, startled by the interruption.
“Good morning, Ying!” Mulan said cheerily. Ying just looked at Mulan, pale with terror.
Ying’s mother stared at her daughter. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“M-mother,” Ying stammered, “this is Mulan.”
Mulan faced Ying’s mother. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I was hoping to get your permission for something.” Mulan swallowed, trying to ignore Ying’s eyes growing wider by the moment. “Ying is so talented in all the skills the matchmaker teaches us. Could she possibly take an extra hour each day after our lessons to help me study?”
Ying’s expression turned to one of confusion. Ying’s mother frowned. “Why should she help you? It’s better for Ying to excel. It’s better for her to stay the best.”
Mulan laughed, shaking her head. “I’m so far from ever catching up to Ying, you don’t have to worry about that. Teaching me would…”—Mulan searched for something to say. Lying didn’t exactly come naturally to her, but she wanted to help Ying—“would only help her prepare for running a household someday. With the excellent match she’s sure to have, there must be a large household staff in Ying’s future.”
Ying’s mother smiled. “This is true. But considering Ying’s poor performance with the admonitions yesterday, she’ll need to focus on her own improvements.”
Mulan thought quickly. “You know, I was doing so terribly with the admonitions myself, I think I confused Ying and made her slip up. Right, Ying?” Mulan nudged Ying, trying to send her a silent message: Go with it!
“That’s right,” Ying said slowly. “That must have been it.”
“Well,” Ying’s mother said, “we can’t have your lesser abilities dragging Ying down. If the extra hour of studying helps Ying stay on top, then you have my permission.” She smoothed her daughter’s hair and then walked away, leaving the girls alone.
“Why did you do that?” Ying asked Mulan once her mother was out of sight. Her eyes searched Mulan’s face as though it might hold the answer. “I thought you hated me.”
“I don’t hate you,” Mulan said. “I was angry that you cheated. But I understand what it’s like to want to bring honor to your family.”
“That’s what I want, but it’s really hard,” Ying said. “My mother is always talking about how I need to make a good match. I didn’t think I could deal with my family’s disappointment if I wasn’t the best in the class. But I was wrong to cheat. I’m sorry.”
Mulan reached a hand out and placed it on Ying’s shoulder. “I believe you. And I wasn’t really lying about the extra studying….” She explained what she and the other girls had planned.
“They probably won’t want me there,” Ying said. “They’re pretty mad at me.”
“They’ll come around,” Mulan said. She hoped that was true. “I do have a question, though. How did you spy on the matchmaker before the first day of class? None of us even knew who the matchmaker was before then!”
“Oh.” Ying shrugged. “I didn’t spy on the first day.”
Mulan’s mouth dropped open. “You really can make perfect rice? All by yourself?”
“I guess so!” Ying perked up.
“I think teaching us how to do that will go a long way toward earning everyone’s forgiveness.”
Ying grinned. “I can do that.”
And the two girls headed to the small classroom in Mei’s house, together.
After another day of reciting admonitions with the matchmaker, Mulan could feel the other girls watching as she left Mei’s house with Ying. The moment they were outside, Mulan spoke up.
“I invited Ying to join our group,” she said. Ying fidgeted nervously at her side. Mulan clasped her hand. “I want her there.”
The other girls all glared at Ying. “I’m sorry,” Ying blurted. “I’m so, so sorry. I never meant to make anyone else look bad. I know it was wrong.”
There was a silence that seemed to drag on forever, and Mulan began to get nervous. But then Jin stepped forward. “I forgive you,” she told Ying. “You’ve looked really sad these past couple days. I feel like maybe you’re even more upset with yourself than we are.”
“I don’t know,” Chen said. “I’m pretty upset.”
Na shifted her feet. “I didn’t like what you did, Ying. But I did feel bad about excluding you.”
“It felt awful,” Ying admitted. “Walking in yesterday, I knew I wasn’t wanted.”
“I supposed we could have been nicer,” Mei said. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Chen crossed her arms. “How do we know you aren’t just going to tell the matchmaker about our group so you look even better?”
Ying thought for a moment. “All I can say is that cheating made me feel incredibly lonely. And I don’t ever want to feel that way again. Being the best really isn’t worth it.”
Chen’s face softened, and she smiled. “That’s good enough for me. Let’s go not be the best together.”
For the next few weeks, leading up to the matchmaker’s end-of-school competition, the six girls met every day. The secret meetings made Mulan feel like she and her friends had some power. They could learn despite the matchmaker’s not-so-helpful “lessons,” even though there was no school for the girls like there was for the boys. They weren’t learning martial arts, but they were fighting in their own way.
They had to get creative with their materials, though. Na brought scraps of fabric from home so the girls could practice tidy rows of stitches. Mulan demonstrated how an abacus worked using small pebbles on the ground. They all practiced sums until Mulan was sure any one of them would make a brilliant merchant. Ying used Jin’s dried flowers and herbs to demonstrate the proper ratio for her delicious rice. The girls practiced Ying’s method every night at home with their own families until they too made perfect, fluffy rice. Chen taught the others the calligraphy strokes and characters she knew by writing in the dirt with a stick. As for the admonitions, which all the girls had trouble memorizing, Mei had a special trick to share f
or remembering them. It involved turning the admonitions into a very silly song, and while it certainly helped the girls with their memorization, every time they practiced, they dissolved into fits of giggles that usually didn’t stop for the rest of the afternoon.
The girls also learned more about each other. Na spoke about her many younger siblings and how nice it was to spend time away, with friends her own age. Ying spoke of the pressure she felt to do well in the matchmaker’s lessons. Many of the girls related to the way Ying felt. Mulan confessed how envious she had been of the boys’ education and how she had wished that she had been going to a school like theirs. She even showed the girls the leap-kick combination she’d been practicing. They weren’t much better at it than she was, but it was a lot of fun trying to master it together.
Truthfully, though, Mulan wasn’t sorry anymore that her school had turned out differently. If it hadn’t, she wouldn’t be sharing these afternoons with her new friends, studying as a team. Mulan felt proud that she had listened to the voice inside that questioned the matchmaker. That she had found another way to learn.
Three weeks after Mulan and the other girls began their afternoon meetings, it was time for the matchmaker’s competition. All the girls had invited their families, and everyone was now gathered in Mei’s courtyard, chatting politely. There was tension in the air. Mulan could only imagine how much worse it would have been if she and the other girls hadn’t been working on their secret plan. She was glad they were in this together so that they’d be able to face the competition with confidence.
Finally, the matchmaker invited the girls into the classroom while their families waited outside. Inside, there were six tables. Each table had items laid out from previous lessons. There was an abacus, cloth and thread for embroidery, scrolls to copy, herbs for tea, admonitions to recite, and a large bowl of rice both to cook and grind into makeup.
Disney Princess Beginnings Page 3