A meat bun hitting a dog; it never comes back, Madam Zhou’s face burned with shame, and she looked at Hongyu with a hint of displeasure.
Hongyu pursed her lips and finally mustered the courage to say, "Madam, I didn’t mean to offend Aunt, but that hairpin, the Plum Girl Hairpin, was personally carved by Young Miss for you, which shows the respect and care she has for you."
Madam Zhou’s heart warmed at this.
"You also cherish that hairpin, don’t you? After all, it’s Young Miss’s sincere gesture of filial piety. But Aunt snatched it away, claiming it was just a loan, but will she really return it? I doubt it. What do you think, how distressed would Young Miss be if she knew?" Hongyu watched her expression, adding, "That was the first gift Young Miss gave you."
Madam Zhou grew anxious and said, "But it’s already taken, what can we do?"
"Naturally, we have to take it back," Hongyu replied without hesitation.
Madam Zhou was very hesitant, "Is my sister-in-law so easy to talk to? If that were true, all these years, our mother and daughter wouldn’t have..."
She didn’t finish her sentence, but Hongyu, being clever beyond her years, could guess the implication, especially after witnessing the Zhou family’s shamelessness. She increasingly believed that her Young Miss’s words were the truth, that guarding against the Zhou family was right.
"Young Miss said to try diplomacy first, but if that fails, to confront her directly, since she’s already lost face," Hongyu boldly stated.
Madam Zhou frowned, "Xiao Yu, why do you sound just like Wufu?"
Hongyu stuck out her tongue.
Since arriving in this household, aside from helping Madam Zhou with household chores, her favorite activity was to follow Wufu, listening to her talk and watching her actions, and Wufu had intentionally or unintentionally taught her a few things, including reading and writing.
That’s why Hongyu knew to say diplomacy before force, a principle taught to her by Wufu.
"Let’s keep it a secret today, and I’ll get it back tomorrow!" Madam Zhou declared.
Hongyu was just about to respond when Wufu’s voice came from the doorway.
Hongyu’s eyes brightened as she stood up; the Young Miss had returned.
Madam Zhou’s face, however, was full of panic. Why did the child come back so early today?
As Wufu entered, Madam Zhou didn’t know where to put her hands and, on instinct, reached up to touch her head but realized that was too obvious, so she let her hands fall and turned her face slightly away, not letting Wufu see the emptiness in her hairdo.
"Why are you back so early today?" Madam Zhou tried to cover the panic on her face, asking with a smile.
"Well, it’s about time, and was the trip to deliver the gift to my younger uncle’s family smooth?" Wufu put down her small cloth bag.
Madam Zhou gave Hongyu a meaningful glance and answered, "Smooth, why wouldn’t it be? By the way, you should go and have a drink on the day your younger uncle gets married. Send word to Shopkeeper Lin."
"Sure," Wufu replied, then called to Hongyu, "Get me a bowl of cold water, I’m burning up."
Hongyu hesitated to leave, a look of unsaid words on her face.
Madam Zhou then said, "I’ll go cook, I picked a bamboo shoot on the mountain, I’ll make you some refreshing bamboo shoot strips."
Wufu smiled and agreed, and Madam Zhou breathed a sigh of relief as she quickly walked out.
"Mother, wait!" Wufu, quick-eyed, noticed something wrong with her hairstyle.
Madam Zhou stiffened, turned around, and asked, "What, what is it?"
Wufu squinted her eyes and walked over, examining the top of her head, "Mother, where is your hairpin?"
She wore it every day; how come it had disappeared today, leaving only a bamboo hairpin to hold her hair up? Where had the hairpin gone?
Madam Zhou looked at her daughter, and under her increasingly stern gaze, she lowered her head like a child who had done something wrong.