Hidden Anger

"I still don't get it," Hesta said, looking at Ding Yuqing. "Why did your grandmother sell your sister's sago palm?"

Ding Yuqing immediately looked at Ding Xueyang, seemingly expecting her to speak, but Ding Xueyang only gave a bitter smile.

"Our old lady's just like that. You can never figure out what she's thinking. If she suddenly decides she doesn't like someone, she'll jab at them out of nowhere. And this wasn't even the first time. Back when my mom was in college, she secretly sold her books. Good lord, hundreds of them—all sold as scrap paper!"

Xu Ruyi's eyes widened. "Where did you hear about the books? Who told you—"

"Who else? Grandma herself." Ding Yuqing looked at her mother. "When you took me to visit her during the New Year two years ago, she specifically told me about it. I think she wanted to use it to scare me."

Ding Xueyang was stunned as well. "Mom? Is that true?"

"That was such a long time ago." Xu Ruyi lowered her gaze slightly. "One summer, my department organized a volunteer teaching trip down south. Your grandmother didn't want me to go, but I signed up and left anyway. When I came back, everything in my room had been sold off as junk. Such a shame... so many books, so many reading notes, my diary, all sorts of mistake collections..."

Xu Ruyi fell silent for a moment, her throat moving.

"The biggest shame..." Xu Ruyi said softly. "The biggest shame was that back in middle school, it was especially popular for classmates to give each other books. Everyone would write blessings on the title page, write why they were giving the book... It was all gone. Your grandmother, she really..."

Xu Ruyi's brow furrowed tighter as she spoke, until her