I looove Ch. 10 of LN16 so much for how illuminating it is of Maamei's character.
"The mother is poisoning her own daughter?" Maamei asked as if she couldn't quite believe it. In a flash of realization Maomao saw that, whatever else may have happened in her life, Maamei had been raised with love.
She just couldn't grasp a mother being so terrible to her daughter. It reminded me she was a mother of her own children (both her own and Baryou/Chue's), who we got to see interact with her pretty warmly back in LN13. Also shows that Taomei and Gaoshun treated her + Basen + Baryou well, which is no surprise. And that's even with the established facts of Taomei being the strict type who will spank you if you do wrong (something Maamei obviously learned from given her treatment of Basen in LN16).
The way Maomao and Chue disarm Maamei (Maamei saying "Wh-what do you mean?" with a stutter + the later dialogue tag of "Maamei said self-reproachfully") and the narration points out how Maomao found Maamei's blind spot + Chue making a good foil to Maamei with how she grew up in a less privileged environment. Loved how this was, IIRC, the first case of Maamei showing a chink in her armor, really, and proving she's still open to learning and growth. I was certainly expecting her to be like that, but given that none of the men (Basen, Baryou, or Jinshi) are able to challenge her, it makes sense that it was only ever going to be someone like Maomao or Chue to do it.
I have so many thoughts about how blessed the Ma clan are as a family in this universe but that's a story for another day. Looove them dearly.
