NOVPUBChapter 985 -988: Competing in Gift-Giving (5)
Chapter 985 -988: Competing in Gift-Giving (5)
“Ben, what’s…?” Emily Taylor could hardly believe what she was seeing.
A sapphire the size of a baby’s fist, and its color so transparent and clear—it was rare to find a single stone like this in the whole world.
But now, before her eyes, lay a necklace, a ring, earrings, a brooch, and a bracelet—five sapphires in total.
Though they were a tad smaller than the one mounted on the necklace, when displayed together, their color, brilliance, and quality of fire remarkably maintained a high degree of consistency.
Such a set of sapphire jewelry being revealed before everyone had already aroused admiring envy from the other people present.
“Grandmother, this set of jewelry suits you perfectly, it’s as graceful and elegant as you are. The sapphires in this set all come from the same rough stone. That stone, once extracted, broke the world record.”
“Afterwards, the rough stone was bought by the European royalty at a high price. Royal jewelers then cut the purest five parts of the rough stone to craft the jewelry set you see now.”
“Originally belonging to the European royal family, this set of jewelry was given as an honorary reward over eighty years ago to a Duchess to celebrate her husband’s ennoblement. Such precious jewelry, upon first sight, reminded Ben of you, Grandmother. Do you like this gift?”
“Like it, like it… of course, I like it!” Emily Taylor was overjoyed.
Her dear grandson, her Ben, was so thoughtful, so articulate!
Now she realized that it wasn’t that Ben couldn’t speak in the past, but that the child simply chose not to.
Look at him now—once Ben opens his mouth, not to mention other children, even Paul Davidson is outshone by him.
“The gift from little nephew Ben is really beautiful; it makes aunt look so lovely!”
Charles Taylor suddenly murmured innocently, “But these gifts look really expensive! Auntie, could all these gemstones buy several sets of the jade bracelets that Paul sent?”
The grandmother saw Charles Taylor blinking at her, as if his young heart was wounded.
This left a bitter taste in the old lady’s mouth, “Not at all, the thought behind a gift counts more than its value. Giving gifts is about conveying heartfelt sentiments, not a competition.”
That’s what she said, but after soothing her grandson, the grandmother turned to Emily Taylor.
“Emily, not to criticize, but such a set of jewelry belonged to the European royalty. Ben is still quite young—doesn’t spending money this way seem a little extravagant?”
Lily just laughed when she heard this.
When Charles Taylor was giving gifts earlier, the grandmother was praising his filial piety and thoughtfulness despite the gifts’ opulence.
Yet, when her own Ben produced a gift, she suddenly implied that spending money on it was too lavish!
Lily was about to defend Ben when she heard Ben’s resonant voice begin to speak.
“Not at all, Grandma… I didn’t spend any money on these gifts; I was only responsible for choosing them.”
These gifts were all prepared by mother.
Mother gave him an album, from which he was to select a gift suitable for Emily Taylor.
He specifically chose this set of jewelry because it seemed dignified and regal but wasn’t the most expensive among the collection in the album. It suited Grandmother and wouldn’t make his mother distressed.
“Ben was responsible for selecting?” Emily Taylor immediately understood and said with a smile,
“Silly Kid, your father’s money is still money, you can’t be too wasteful. Grandma is very pleased with your sentiment, Ben, but you mustn’t be so reckless with money in the future.”
Emily Taylor thought she was right, yet Ben shook his head, “It’s not Dad; Aunt Lily prepared these gifts.”
“Lily? You mean… Lily Redington?”
“Yep, Aunt Lily let me choose, and we’re giving it to Grandma together. How about it, Grandmother, do you like it?”
[Author’s Note] The power went out at 8 o’clock this morning and still hasn’t come back, so I had to write this in a coffee shop, which was very noisy and made my work much slower, meaning I could only guarantee four updates today. Now I’m heading home, and tomorrow I’ll try to write more (as long as there’s no power outage!)
