"Iris Ashford, if I said I’d marry you, then I will. But if you bully Vivian again, I won’t let it slide!"

"Hand over the bead around your neck. Vivian taking a liking to your stuff is your good fortune, so don’t act clueless!"

Iris had only just sorted through the original owner’s memories when those words crashed into her ears and lit her temper on the spot.

She looked up and saw a man who was decent-looking enough, dressed in a white shirt and green military trousers, standing over her and staring down with nothing but disgust in his eyes.

When she saw him reach out to snatch the bead from her neck, she didn’t even pause to think. She lifted her leg and kicked him hard.

The man wasn’t prepared at all. He was sent sprawling onto the ground.

Clutching his stomach, which hurt so badly his face had gone pale, he stared at Iris in utter disbelief.

"Iris Ashford, you—"

"Me what? You really think you’re somebody?"

"My parents wanted me married into your family because they traded resources and connections for it. They weren’t begging you to take me. This is called each side getting what it wants, got it? Idiot!"

"If you were really that into Vivian Ashford, why didn’t you say so sooner? Why didn’t you make a scene with your own family? What are you strutting around in front of me for? And now you want to steal my bead too? Keep dreaming!"

"You two are a perfect pair of filthy dogs. Neither of you is any good!"

After tearing into Nathan Holloway, Iris conveniently dragged Vivian into it too.

"Go back and make it clear to Vivian Ashford. Since she’s already acknowledged her birth parents and cut ties with my mom and dad, she’d better stay far away from me and stop stirring up trouble!"

"If I catch her pulling any more tricks, I’ll deal with her... and you too."

After saying that, Iris didn’t spare them another glance. She turned and walked off.

Only then did Nathan finally come back to himself. He scrambled up from the ground and shouted at her back,

"Iris Ashford, you shrew! Believe it or not, I can go home right now and break off the engagement!"

That shrew had only just returned to the Ashford family, and the Ashfords had already gone running to beg his grandfather, asking the old man to force him to marry her.

Otherwise, how could he possibly be willing to marry a woman so plain and so rustic?

Iris Ashford did not even spare them a glance. She only lifted a hand and waved behind her.

"Fine by me. If this engagement stays on, then I’m the dog."

"And one more thing. Everything you took, every last bit of it, you’d better return it to me. If you try to play tricks, I’ll make sure you learn what regret feels like."

Nathan Holloway was so angry his face turned dark and stiff. He shouted at her back, "Iris Ashford, don’t you regret this later! You really think you’re some kind of prize? Looking like that, who’d want you?"

Of course Iris Ashford would not regret it. She was no longer the same Iris Ashford who used to swallow every insult and keep quiet.

As for being ugly? Country-looking?

Iris Ashford lowered her head and looked at the baggy gray cloth clothes hanging off her body, then reached up and touched her messy hair. It really was not much to look at.

But she knew perfectly well that waking up in 1973 was already a done deal.

This body itself was not bad at all. The way she looked now was only a disguise she had put on herself.

The original girl had worked like an ox in her foster parents’ home for eighteen years. What she ate, what she wore, what she used, all of it had always been the worst. She had only just returned to her biological parents’ side two days ago.

Her father was a brigade commander, and her mother a professor at Jing University. By rights, after finally finding their daughter, they should have cherished her properly. But they had run straight into hard luck.

The original girl’s father had been set up, and it was clear he was about to be sent down.

They felt guilty, so they shamelessly went to an old friend for help, trying to arrange a marriage for the daughter they had just found. At least that way, she would have a decent place to land and would not have to suffer alongside them.

As for Vivian Ashford, the foster daughter they had raised for eighteen years, the moment she heard they were about to be sent down, she packed up a good pile of things and ran back to her biological parents’ home. She also cut ties with Father Qiao and Mother Qiao cleanly and completely.

It was only after Vivian Ashford returned to the Qiao family that Iris Ashford learned the truth about her own background.

Iris Ashford was slowly sorting through the original girl’s memories when suddenly, someone stepped in front of her and blocked her path.

Vivian Ashford stood there before her, chin lifted, one hand stretched out as if she had every right in the world.

"Hand over the bead bracelet."

Iris Ashford looked at her coldly, then let her gaze slide past her to the two brothers behind her, the same two who had loved bullying the original girl since childhood.

"What gives you the right?"

Vivian Ashford lifted a hand and pointed straight at the bead hanging at Iris Ashford's neck.

"Because that belongs to the Ashfords. You don't get to take it."

Her eyes locked onto that bead as if she wanted to bore a hole through it.

In her last life, that little thing had been the reason she got money, the reason her days turned smooth later on. She had relied on it for every bit of the good life she got.

So whether it was the last life or this one, that bead had to be hers. No one else.

Iris let out a cold little laugh and rolled her eyes so hard it was almost insulting on its own.

The bead wasn't big at all, just about the size of a marble.

It wasn't jade, wasn't any kind of precious stone either. The lines inside were a complete mess, and from the outside it just looked like a pale, cracked, shabby little bead.

But in Iris's memory, five years ago, the original owner had saved an injured monk, and this was what he gave her in thanks.

The first time she wore it, Travis Ashford and Curtis Ashford had even snatched it away to look at it. Later, once they saw it was nothing valuable, they tossed it back to her like trash.

That bead was hers. It had nothing to do with the Ashford family.

"This bead is mine. It has nothing to do with the Ashfords. And since you're always saying I don't deserve to take anything from the Ashfords, what about all the stuff you carried off from their house? When are you paying that back?"

"My parents already said it. The things you took were worth at least several thousand."

Truth be told, those old items Vivian Ashford took away would be worth a fortune in later years. Any one of them would easily go for millions, never mind the box of jewelry and the stack of cash she took with them.

The original owner had overheard all that last night while her parents were talking.

Back then, her parents had doted on Vivian Ashford like she was treasure. Even now, after Vivian refused to acknowledge them, they still couldn't quite let go of her, so they had no intention of pressing the matter.

But Iris had no such feelings for her.

Vivian Ashford's face changed in an instant. She raised her voice sharply and shouted,

"What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't take a thing!"

"So tell me this—what on you wasn’t bought with my parents’ money? That hat, those clothes, those shoes, even that watch on your wrist. You dare say none of it came from them?"

Iris Ashford fixed Vivian Ashford with a hard stare.

"That watch alone had to cost over a hundred, easy."

Vivian Ashford went mute on the spot.

From childhood till now, she really had never earned a cent. Everything she ate, wore, and used had come from Father and Mother Ashford.

Even the day she left, those two big trunks had been packed up for her by them—along with the things she’d quietly stuffed inside herself...

Iris Ashford turned her eyes to Travis Ashford and Curtis Ashford as they came over.

"You two probably don’t know this, do you? When she left, she took several thousand yuan with her..."

Vivian Ashford’s face went white in an instant. She looked at her two brothers in panic.

"Big Brother, Second Brother, I didn’t. I didn’t take it. I already gave all my money to you..."

Before she could finish, a heavy slap cracked across her face.

Travis Ashford grabbed her by the hair and roared, "You damned girl, where’s the money? Hand it over right now!"

Curtis Ashford also kicked her and forced her to say where she had hidden the cash.

That wretched woman had brought back only three hundred yuan when she came home, then complained the Ashfords had been stingy and treated her badly, saying the money was what she’d saved herself.

Turns out every word of it was a lie.

The more the two brothers thought about it, the madder they got, and the harsher they hit.

Vivian Ashford screamed without stopping under the beating.

Watching the scene, Iris Ashford felt hatred rise in her chest.

She knew it was the original owner’s emotions bleeding into her.

Back then, the original Iris had taken plenty of beatings from those two brothers, and even now there were still plenty of marks left on her body.

"I’ll settle this score for you."

Iris Ashford repeated it to herself, forcing the hatred back down, then stepped around the three of them and kept walking.

She had something more important to do.

"Iris Ashford, help me!"

Seeing her about to leave, Vivian Ashford panicked and shouted after her.

Iris swept a glance over the ring of people standing there watching the scene. She did not even turn her head. In a flat voice, she said,

"If you yell a little louder, maybe your Brother Nathan will hear you. Who knows? He might even come running to save you."