Meng Zhaojun moved her mouth slightly, and even though she was a bit slow, she had realized by then that her mother was angry.
She dared not speak any further and could only reluctantly bite her lip and lower her head. Her mother was the authority in their household; even her father, an official, often obediently listened to her mother.
Even though she, as a daughter, could defy her mother in many things, she was still a child after all.
But she knew the consequences of her actions—her mother's disappointment and possibly fewer resources in the future. In an age where males were valued over females, it was because of her cleverness and agility that her mother and family had emphasized her upbringing a bit more.
Meng Zhaojun would not think that imitating someone else's work for a tiny share of profit would make her look down on her mother's dowry or her maternal family's resources.
