Madam Zhou’s eyelids were twitching uncontrollably, and although she wanted to visit her maternal home in the village several times, Hongyu always stopped her.
"Madam, the young lady wants you to stay at home."
Madam Zhou replied anxiously, "I fear that the child will act recklessly once she loses her temper. Xiao Yu, a woman’s reputation is very important, I..."
"Madam, I believe the young lady knows her limits," Hongyu said with a frown.
Madam Zhou opened her mouth, sighed inwardly, and wondered how she could possibly understand Wufu’s temper; that child was capable of anything.
She wasn’t afraid of anything except for the situation escalating. If word got out, it would be detrimental to Wufu’s reputation.
Their mother and daughter’s reputation was already unsavory; if they added disobedience and arrogance, they could forget about associating with reputable families ever again!
No, this wouldn’t do; she could not let her daughter ruin herself .
Determined to leave, Madam Zhou had just taken two steps when Hongyu shouted, "The young lady is back!"
Indeed, Wufu was crossing the threshold.
Madam Zhou hurried over and asked, "Wufu, are you alright? Is there anything wrong?"
"Mother, what could possibly be wrong with me? Look!" Wufu took out the hairpin from her bosom and gently inserted it into her mother’s hair, saying, "From now on, you must always wear this and never let anyone ’borrow’ it again."
"You, you didn’t do..." Madam Zhou’s heart pounded with fear. Her sister-in-law was not someone who easily returned things she took. What exactly had Wufu done?
"I really didn’t do much. Elder Maternal Aunt was quite aware of herself and returned it to me obediently!" Wufu said with a smile. In her mind, she really hadn’t done anything of importance. As for breaking Aunt’s fingers? They could heal, so it was no big deal!
In her eyes, nothing short of life or death mattered, so her dear Aunt truly wasn’t in trouble; she hadn’t done anything!
"Have you prepared dinner yet? I’m starving. Let’s eat!" Wufu, arm in arm with Madam Zhou, headed towards the main house, casually instructing Hongyu to serve the meal.
Although Madam Zhou had countless questions, seeing Wufu steer the conversation away told her that her daughter had no intention of discussing it, and she gave up.
Meanwhile, at the Zhou family’s home, there were bursts of ghastly wailing—it was none other than Madam Lu, whose fingers Wufu had broken, and they were being excruciatingly set back into place.
The cries were so piglike that the neighbors, upon hearing them, grew extremely curious.
The Zhou family members, seeing Madam Lu pale as a ghost, went white with fear themselves, as if they were experiencing the pain.
With a twist from Doctor Ma, Madam Lu couldn’t bear the agony, rolled her eyes, and fainted from the pain.
Fortunately, the bone was set correctly. The doctor appeared very calm and said, "Just apply medicine and bandage it. The bone isn’t broken."
"Doctor Ma, how many days will it take for this to heal?" Old Lady Zhou asked with a frown.
The doctor looked up and glanced at her, saying, "The fingers are connected to the heart. You’ll need to apply the medicine for at least ten days. I better go prepare the iron-setting medicine now."
"Doctor Ma, please come this way!" Zhou Xueli quickly ushered him out of the room.
Zhou Xuennian sat on a chair, watching his wife lying there like a dead person, her forehead hair all wet, and her clothes too, with not a trace of color in her face. She had never looked this haggard and distressful, even during childbirth.
Enraged, he stood up fiercely, "Malicious, too malicious. This disrespectful and unfilial wretch, to dare lay hands on her own aunt—how venomous."
"What do you think you’re doing? Sit down!" Old Lady Zhou looked unspeakably upset and scolded, "Had your wife not been greedy and shallow, could she have attracted such disaster? She brought this upon herself."