Liu Yunlan worried her mother might invite them to stay for dinner. Seeing that Juhua clearly had no intention of eating here, she hurried to speak before her mother could. Smiling at Mrs. Wang, she said, "Grandma Wang, I know you have guests at home, so I won’t keep you. I made some dumplings, and they smell quite nice pan-fried. Would you like to take some for you and Juhua to try?"

Mrs. Wang heard this and looked at Juhua.

Juhua looked at Liu Yunlan’s blushing face and smiled. "Dumplings made by Yunlan must be delicious. Since you’re being so kind, I’ll be bold enough to accept some to take home and try."

Liu Yunlan was delighted. She hurried into the back kitchen and returned with a coarse porcelain bowl filled to the brim with pan-fried dumplings. She handed it to Mrs. Wang, blushing as she said, "Grandma Wang, I only used a little oil when I fried these, so they might be a bit dry. You should steam them a little before you eat them. If you just reheat them in a dry pan, they’ll be too hard."

Mrs. Wang took the bowl and said quickly, "That’s no trouble at all. Yunlan, you’ve already gone to the trouble of making and frying them, so what’s a little steaming? But you’ve packed so many. Will your family have enough?"

’Dumplings are a real treat,’ she thought, feeling a little embarrassed accepting them. ’But for some reason, the moment Liu Yunlan made the offer, Juhua had immediately agreed.’

Liu Fugui’s wife said cheerfully, "Don’t worry, Mrs. Wang, please take them. My Yunlan made plenty."

’No wonder my daughter made so many dumplings—she meant to give them away! And here I was, just a moment ago, feeling so bad about her wasting all that white flour.’

Liu Yunlan smiled and said to Juhua, "Juhua, if you weren’t leaving today, I’d ask you to come visit again tomorrow."

Juhua nodded. Just as she was about to speak, a shout came from the courtyard. "Sis, Sis! I’m telling you, that bastard who broke my eggs is here again! He even brought an ox cart! Hmph! He’s clearly not poor, but he still won’t pay me back for my eggs."

Seeing Juhua’s stunned expression, Liu Yunlan was so mortified her face turned bright red, and she glared angrily toward the door.

Her younger brother, Liu Yungen, burst in. He was about to say more to her when he suddenly noticed two new faces in the house. He stopped in his tracks and sized Juhua up with surprise—he already knew Mrs. Wang, so there was no need to stare at her. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He had some manners, at least. He greeted Mrs. Wang respectfully, "Grandma Wang," then turned uncertainly to Juhua, not knowing what to call her.

Juhua saw that while the boy had fine features, he was just as reckless as her brother described. ’My brother’s future brother-in-law is going to be a real headache,’ she thought.

’This won’t do. If our families are joined by marriage, I’ll be the younger sister-in-law and he’ll be the younger brother-in-law. Since I don’t look any older than him, I might as well act my age and put this boy in his place right now. It’ll save me the trouble of him acting wild later, thinking he can get away with it as the brother-in-law. In fact, it’d be best if he was scared just seeing me.’

So, she said to Liu Yungen, who was still looking her up and down, "I’m the sister of that ’bastard’ who broke your eggs. You want my brother to pay you for them?"

Her words left not only Liu Yungen stunned, but also Mrs. Wang and both Liu Yunlan and her mother.

After a moment of shock, however, Liu Yunlan saw Juhua’s deadpan serious expression and couldn’t help but smile. Her worries melted away. She held back her mother, who was about to step forward and scold her brother, and also prevented Mrs. Wang from interjecting. She simply watched Juhua and her brother with a beaming smile on her face.

Her heart was filled with happiness.

’From what she could see, Juhua wasn’t some clueless little girl at all. She’d been so quiet and polite, but the moment she met my brother, she started bickering with him. What does that show?’

’It means she already accepts me as her future sister-in-law!’

Liu Yungen hadn’t expected this veiled little girl to be Zheng Qingmu’s sister. ’Doesn’t that make her that shameless girl everyone talks about?’ he thought.

He’d only heard the villagers talking about it after he figured out that Qingmu was Mrs. Wang’s maternal grandson.

He saw Juhua openly admit to being Qingmu’s sister, her tone suggesting she was ready to argue the point with him.

’Fine by me,’ he thought. ’As if I’d be scared of some ugly girl.’

So, he lifted his chin and said, "It was your brother who knocked over my eggs in the first place. So what if I wasn’t paying attention? If he’d just gotten out of the way, they wouldn’t have been dropped, right? Even if I was partially at fault, he should have paid for half. But he didn’t pay for a single one! How is that fair?"

He finished and looked at the girl smugly. ’I hear you’re too scared to even leave your house. Let’s see you talk your way out of this one.’

’Still, she’s here with Grandma Wang, and it would be a hassle if I made her cry. I’ll just let her off the hook once she gets too flustered to reply. That way, no one can say I’m a boy bullying a girl, and Grandma Wang won’t get mad.’

But to his surprise, Juhua just looked at him like he was an idiot. "You’re a boy," she said, feigning astonishment. "How can you say that without blushing? You were clearly the one at fault, yet you have the nerve to talk about him ’paying for half.’ Following your logic, does that mean you can just go around bumping into people whenever you feel like it, and everyone you hit is automatically half responsible?"