Why does my daughter always want to keep all this junk?
"It's a birthday present from Grandma," Cindy answered, her face lighting up as she ran her fingers over the necklace. Pearls shimmered along the chain, and right in the middle, a pink diamond caught the light. It was delicate and pretty, and Cindy looked absolutely smitten.
Octavia barely spared it a glance when she opened the box. "Since your grandma gave it to you, why don't you give it to Claire instead? Whatever jewelry you like, I'll buy it for you, honey."
She didn't believe anything from that old woman in the countryside could be worth much. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to get attached to this so- called grandmother. Anything from Pandora, she'd rather Cindy just leave behind.
Pandora noticed Cindy leaving the pearl necklace on the table, but she just stayed quiet. She understood exactly what Octavia was doing and didn't try to stop her.
In the end, all Cindy walked away with was a couple of books.
"Claire, be good for your grandma. If you ever want to come home, the James family will always welcome you," Octavia said, clutching Claire's hand like she didn't want
to let go.
Claire gently pulled free and smiled politely. "Thank you, Octavia.”
"Pearce, bring out the thank-you gifts we put together," Pandora called out.
“On it.” Pearce darted inside to grab the sacks of mountain goods they'd prepared.
Octavia's face turned cold. “That's really not necessary. There's nothing special out here in the countryside... I mean, you should just keep those for yourselves."
"We really don't need anything," Pandora replied calmly.
"Just leave them for Claire," Octavia said quickly, before turning to her family. "Lance, Cindy, it's late. We should get back to the city."
Before Pearce even made it outside with the sacks, Octavia and her family were already speed-walking toward the car, moving like they were being chased.
"Where did everyone go?" Pearce called, coming out with two giant bags stuffed full and awkwardly heavy.
Claire couldn't help herself. She raised her voice, teasing, “Octavia, wait up! Pearce brought out the mountain goods!"
"Don't leave just yet! These aren't expensive, but they're all fresh from the mountains. Totally natural! You have to try these chestnuts, they're amazing..."
The louder Claire got, the faster Octavia hustled away. Claire even caught sight of Octavia's high heel slipping, making her twist her ankle. She ended up bobbling away with Lance helping her along
Watching them rush off, Claire finally burst out laughing. “What a shame. They really have no clue what they're missing."
Instead of getting mad, Pandora just tapped Claire's forehead with a fond smile. "You little rascal."
She knew those city folks would never appreciate the mountain goods, but Claire insisted on offering anyway.
Claire winked. “Grandma, I tried to give them a gift. They were the ones who didn't want it."
"And this pillow, it's not so ordinary, is it?" Claire was still holding it close.
Pandora's expression shifted when
she saw the pillow. Cindy was the one she'd raised herself, but she didn't care about anything from home. It felt like raising a thankless stray.
"This pillow..." Pandora murmured, and then left the room. She came back with scissors, cut the pillow open and inside the soft cotton, there was a solid block of fragrant agarwood.
Claire stared at the perfectly carved wooden pillow and swallowed hard. "Grandma, this pillow must weigh at least two pounds, right?"
Pandora was honestly loaded.
"This is agarwood. It was part of my wedding dowry," Pandora said, like it was no big deal.
Claire mentally did the math. An agarwood pillow like this would be worth millions, easily.
Octavia tossed it aside without a second thought. She really had no idea what she was walking away from.
"Grandma, you used something this expensive just to make a pillow for Cindy?" Claire was genuinely impressed by how little Pandora cared about money.