Madam Lu was sitting close together with Zhou Xiuer, admiring the jade hairpin snatched from Madam Zhou.
"Mother, let me have a look, let me wear it too, I’ve never seen such a pretty hairpin! Look at this luster, it’s a hundred times better than the one you’ve kept at the bottom of the chest!" Zhou Xiuer hurriedly tried to grab it.
"Hey, hey, be careful, this is obviously top quality jadeite. That one of mine is mixed with so many impurities, it’s hardly different from a rock, how can it compare?" Madam Lu winced in pain as her daughter snatched the hairpin away.
Zhou Xiuer didn’t care, she approached the small bronze mirror and carefully placed the hairpin on her small bun.
The green jade hairpin nestled in her black hair made Zhou Xiuer beam with joy. She admired herself in the mirror from different angles and clicked her tongue in appreciation, "It’s so beautiful, really too beautiful. Mother, look, doesn’t it suit me very well?"
Indeed, with youth on her side, wearing it certainly made an impression. That’s why women need proper, valuable jewelry to adorn themselves; without it, their beauty seems diminished.
Madam Lu felt a sour pang in her heart and said, "It looks good, but you are not even of marriageable age yet, without your hair done up, what use do you have for a hairpin?" With that, she reached out to pull it off.
Zhou Xiuer dodged, her body lithe as she evaded her mother’s grasp, and said defiantly, "Mother, just give the hairpin to me. It looks much better on me than on you!"
Madam Lu was reluctant to part with it and coaxed, "Wait till you are older, and I will give it to you. Let mother wear it for a couple of days, your second aunt is about to enter the family, and if I don’t have good jewelry on, she will definitely outshine me!"
It was indeed a genuine worry in her heart—her sister-in-law was of higher status, the daughter of a scholar, while she was merely a commoner.
Her mother-in-law had always favored the second wife, how could she not stand out, else how would she face others in the future?
But Zhou Xiuer was not so easily persuaded by her mother. Pouting, she said, "Mother, you are just trying to pacify me. Once it’s in your hands, will you really give it to me?"
Madam Lu felt her face burn with her daughter’s words, and scolded, "You impudent girl, when have I ever deprived you of anything? Isn’t what’s mine also yours? Have I ever refused you anything? When you get married, would I let you go bare without a single piece of jewelry?"
"That’s just it, Mother, you also have two sons. My elder brother will definitely get married before me." Zhou Xiuer kept her intentions hidden, but said, "Once a daughter is married, she’s like water spilled out, your treasures will definitely be preserved for my elder brother and little brother, there’s no chance for me!"
It had to be said that Zhou Xiuer hit the nail on the head. This was indeed what Madam Lu thought. No matter how much she loved her daughter, she would be part of another family in the future. The good items, naturally, had to be kept for her own descendents, not given away to others.
"You ungrateful girl, how can you speak like that? Are you trying to slice your mother’s heart out? When have I ever treated you unfairly? It’s just for these few days that mother will wear it first. You should know, with your second aunt entering the family, if I’m looked down upon, will that make you happy?"
Zhou Xiuer saw an opportunity to recede gracefully. She obediently fixed the hairpin back on Madam Lu’s head, and with a face full of appeasement, said, "It’s agreed then, in the future you have to give it to me. Mm, I think you should just give it to me when I reach the age of marriage!"
Madam Lu breathed a sigh of relief, pinched her daughter’s small nose, and said in a feigned angry tone, "Fine, fine, it will be as you say, alright!"
Zhou Xiuer hugged her mother’s arm with a giggly smile, casting one last longing glance at the hairpin and asked, "Mother, my aunt must have been hiding her treasures really well, to have such good items and even that maid, Xiao Yu. I don’t believe for a second that she doesn’t have a good grip on things; otherwise, where did this hairpin and maid come from?"
Madam Lu’s eyes narrowed.