Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All

Magnolia and Iris choose a pink, knitted sock for their next mission. Before they can get started, Mrs. Wu tells Magnolia that her sister, Auntie Mei, and Magnolia’s cousin, Alan, are coming over to see them. Magnolia begs Iris to stay. She remembers how much fun Alan was when they were younger, but he has grown very serious and boring, and she gets tired of everyone constantly praising how smart and hard-working her cousin is. When Auntie Mei arrives and learns that Magnolia has been out exploring the city recently, she praises her niece and tells her that she is like her mother. Magnolia struggles to think of her practical, no-nonsense mother as ever having been a kid out exploring the city.

After a tense meal of listening to Alan show off by speaking Chinese—a language that Magnolia understands little of—Magnolia is delighted when Alan gets reprimanded for playing with his food. She and Iris slip out to try to find the pink sock’s owner. They first try a diner that Magnolia goes to often. The owner of Constellation Diner knits his own coasters, and Magnolia thinks that this is a good place to find someone who knits their own socks, but Levi, the owner, only has orange and black yarn.