However, one thing still left them perplexed about Mulan's story, and that was the frightening magical phenomena she had experienced.
They didn't believe magic existed, despite Mulan's sincere and detailed explanation.
They glanced at each other with apprehension and worry in their eyes, afraid that Mulan had suddenly become mentally insane, causing her to exaggerate the details in her story, similar to those retired war veterans with mental problems.
They also subtly glanced at Aladdin, who had remained silent all this time, only nodding in agreement with Mulan's words.
If their daughter was insane, then perhaps she had never become an Imperial Council member, or perhaps the man beside her wasn't even an Emperor. She might have picked him up from somewhere.
That made even more sense than all of her sudden achievements.
A sudden pang of pain pierced their hearts.
Once Mulan was done, she held her peace, allowing her parents to slowly digest her words.
Fa Li covered her mouth as she wept bitterly to suppress her voice.
Fa Zhou lowered his head and clenched his fist.
"You have gone through a lot, my dear." Fa Li gently grabbed Mulan's hand on the other side of the table and covered it with her trembling hands.
"I have no words. Perhaps this is fate." Fa Zhou reached out his hand and placed it over theirs.
They knew that if they were in Mulan's place, they would not only have died several times, but even the Empire of China might have fallen to the Huns.
Their hands wrapped even more tightly around Mulan's hand.
"Is everything you have said really true? This magic that you speak about, is that also true?" Fa Zhou asked after a bit of hesitation.
"Yes. It's real. Emperor Chen will release the information sometime in the future. He can't do so now because of the current delicate situation and the witch still in hiding. I'm telling you now because you are my parents, and I don't see any reason to hide such information from you." Mulan nodded with a solemn expression.
"However, you must promise me that you will keep this a secret from others for now."
"Sniff~" Fa Li collapsed upon Fa Zhou's shoulder and wept uncontrollably.
Fa Zhou wrapped his arm around her and gently rubbed her back to comfort her. He looked at his daughter with sadness.
However, Mulan was stunned by her mother's sudden emotional outburst. She hadn't said anything bad, had she?
Even if the Huns transforming into Metal Men had been scary, she had emerged victorious, hadn't she?
"Mother, you don't need to cry? I'm right here, aren't I? Not even the Metal Men could defeat us," Mulan quickly said, forming a smile on her face.
Aladdin also raised a brow in confusion at the sudden shift in emotion. One minute they were sympathising with Mulan, and the next, they were gazing at her in pity.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me, Mulan. If only I wasn't a cripple, none of this would have happened." Fa Zhou shook his head with a tired sigh escaping his lips.
Fa Li cried even more loudly.
"What are you saying, Father? Mother, can you please stop crying?! Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Mulan asked, confusion filling her heart as she reached over the table to grab her parents' hands.
"My daughter!" Fa Zhou and Fa Li both gently cupped Mulan's face, causing her to descend further into confusion.
Mulan was further stunned into a stupor, unable to utter another word. She glanced at Aladdin, her gaze seemingly pleading for his help.
But instead of a response, unlike what she had expected, a peal of laughter broke free from Aladdin's lips.
"Hahahaha!" After pondering for a bit, he could guess why Mulan's parents were suddenly behaving so strangely.
He wiped the tears away from his eyes.
Mulan frowned, her expression slowly twisting into worry, as she thought that something had also happened to Aladdin.
Was this the doing of that witch? Had she followed them back home?
Had everyone been charmed except for her?
A lingering chill shot through Mulan's spine as fear gripped her.
No! She couldn't believe it. She quickly shook the thought out of her mind. Having seen Aladdin's magical capabilities, Mulan believed that he was way more powerful than he had shown.
Even if the Witch had followed them back home, she doubted that she had the power to charm Aladdin that easily. After all, if she was that powerful, why would she flee soon after cursing the Huns?
It was obvious that she was afraid of Aladdin and didn't want to enter into direct conflict with him. Mulan quickly rationalised the matter.
However, Fa Zhou and Fa Li glanced at Aladdin with furrowed brows and a frown at his sudden interruption.
At the moment, they felt like pulling their daughter away from this lunatic who had decided to play along with their already mentally ill daughter and finding a way to report the matter to the Imperial Army to handle the situation and learn the full truth of what had transpired during Mulan's time in the army.
But upon seeing how close Mulan and Aladdin were, they quickly withheld the idea for now.
Pulling the two of them apart at the moment might further cause Mulan to act irrationally.
But Fa Zhou grew even more resolved in his heart to act quickly. He knew that his daughter was extremely beautiful, but it was just that her character didn't fit that of a beautiful maiden, so her appeal to various men was lesser than those who were not even as pretty as her.
However, this world didn't lack shameful men who would do anything to get with any woman they had their eyes on, regardless of how they looked or acted. And he was certain that Aladdin was one of those men.
He guessed that Aladdin must have deceived his daughter with smooth lies after noticing her vulnerability.
To think that he had immediately believed that a foreign Emperor had returned with Mulan from the war and had welcomed him into his home.
Fa Zhou felt deeply ashamed.
'You have signed your death contract. I will deal with you today,' Fa Zhou stared at Aladdin with concealed animosity.
He could only hope that their relationship hadn't advanced too quickly.
"Aladdin, are you okay?" Unaware of her parents' thoughts, Mulan quickly let go of their hands, grabbed Aladdin's shoulder, shaking them with worry in her eyes.
"I'm okay... I'm sorry. I just couldn't help myself. I never expected that I would ever encounter such a scene," Aladdin said, lightly coughing to mask the awkward situation.
Yes, he had already guessed what was going on in their minds.
He gently tapped Mulan's hand, signalling for her to let go.
Mulan swiftly withdrew her hand and blushed fiercely upon realising what she had just done in the midst of the confusion.
Witnessing this scene, Fa Zhou and Fa Li's frowns deepened. They glanced at each other and nodded, realising that they needed to act quickly, or else they might lose their daughter forever.
"Mr Aladdin..." Fa Zhou quickly said.
"Enough! Let me speak!" Aladdin commanded in a sharp voice, his voice slicing through Fa Zhou's words and interrupting him. He removed his cloak, revealing the garment he wore underneath it.
He wore a deep purple tunic with intricately carved bronze bracers, and a long, rich crimson sash was draped over his shoulders and fastened with an ornate brass clasp, fitted with a pair of jet-black trousers tucked into a pair of black leather boots.
A wide leather belt appeared around his waist, decorated with several small pouches, with a rich, flowing purple cloak lined with red silk over his shoulders.
His demeanour remained peaceful and cordial, but the aura around him had shifted. It was an inexplicable feeling. Like he was a detached being seated upon lofty clouds, in the high heavens residing within their humble home.
Coupled with his beautiful, rich garment, it was almost impossible for anyone not to take a second or a third look at Aladdin and not regard him as an exotic foreign noble.
Having served in the Imperial Army, Fa Zhou remembered encountering this feeling the last time he met with the Emperor. He never expected to experience such a feeling again, especially from the fake emperor before him.
Suddenly, Fa Zhou froze, his mind racing.
Could it be that he was wrong?
No, it couldn't be! Perhaps the young man before him was only a rich noble from a faraway land, but he was definitely not an Emperor!
Seeing Fa Zhou's shifting emotions yet resolute gaze, Aladdin sighed, realising that he wouldn't be able to make them believe his identity easily.
He stared at them as he continued, "Everything that Mulan has said is true. And magic really does exist. I can prove it to you."
Fa Zhou's frown deepened. But he didn't respond, seeing as Aladdin wasn't done speaking. He comforted his wife, who was also staring at Aladdin intently.
Fa Li stared at Aladdin with concealed fury. But just like her husband, she also remained silent as he continued to speak.
Aladdin's smile widened as he tilted his head to the side and clapped.
Darkness swallowed their vision as though a thick curtain had suddenly been draped over every layer of light in the house, submerging it in an eerie darkness. But before any of them could understand what was going on, the light sprang back into their eyes like substance given form.
"Aaaaaa!!" The couple exclaimed in fright as they stared at the garden around them and realised that they were now outside the house.
Even the cushion and the table alongside the food on top of it had teleported outside with them.
Mulan's reaction was a bit more tamed since she had also experienced Aladdin's teleportation a few times during their training. However, no matter how many times she had experienced it, she still let out a sudden 'Yelp.'
"That's teleportation. It's a bit of an intermediate-to-high-level spell, depending on the distance you are travelling. Any competent sorcerer with decent magical power and talent can learn it," Aladdin explained.
Even if they couldn't understand anything that he was saying, it was important for him to clear their doubts that magic was as true as breathing.
Fa Zhou and Fa Li stared at Aladdin, unblinking, as though they had just seen a ghost.
A figure suddenly ran out from the side, from the corner of the garden.
It was none other than Grandma Fa. The moment she spotted the scene, her eyes widened in disbelief, her hand covering her mouth, as if she was unable to understand what was going on and was too stunned to speak.
Aladdin glanced at her and winked. Then, he clapped again.
Grandma Fa blinked, noticing Aladdin glancing in her direction, but before she could open her eyes, they had already vanished. She fell back on her butt and looked around the garden.
"Ghost!" She stuttered before quickly shaking her head. "No, that can't be right! Fa Zhou! Fa Li! Mulan?!" She quickly barged into the house.
To her surprise, Fa Zhou, Fa Li, Mulan, and even Aladdin were seated in the centre of the sitting room, the same way she had spotted them outside. Immediately, she closed the door shut and leaned against the wall with her hand on her chest.
"Maybe I'm just seeing things. Take it easy, baby girl. Your granddaughter just brought home an Emperor and became an Imperial Council member. You need to carry your grandchildren first before you kick the bucket," Grandma Fa muttered to herself.
After gathering herself, she got off the wall and staggered to her room to have some rest.
Somewhere in the garden, there was a little green cricket who had just witnessed all of this happen before shaking his head, with a light chuckle escaping his lips.
Mushu had promised him that he would help prepare a place for him to stay and find a good wife for him from the cricket merchant. However, he hadn't emerged from the temple since he returned. Knowing the kind of dragon he was dealing with, and with no other choice, he left towards the temple.
Meanwhile, inside the house, Fa Zhou and Fa Li stared at Aladdin, their faces painted with a mixture of realisation, fear, and excitement.
"Do you believe us now?" Aladdin asked.
"...Yes," Fa Zhou gulped and nodded. "...I... I believe you."
Fa Li nodded like a chicken pecking seeds.