"What are you screaming about so early in the morning?" Grace Winslow emerged from her room, rubbing her eyes. She stared speechlessly at Byron Sinclair, who was shrieking in the yard.

Byron Sinclair was so excited he could barely speak. He just jumped up and down on the spot. After a moment, he pointed to a pile of stones stacked like a rockery in a corner of the yard. "What is this? Tell me, what is this?"

Grace Winslow glanced over, thought for a moment, and said, "The previous owner left them when I bought the house. I was going to throw them out, but my mom said they looked nice and would make a good addition to the garden, so we kept them."

"What’s wrong? Is there a problem with these stones?"

"They *are* pretty nice. They look great stacked here as a rockery."

Byron Sinclair stared at Grace Winslow as if he’d seen a ghost. "You don’t know what these are?"

"Raw gemstones! These are all raw gemstones!"

"And from the looks of this quality, they might be even better than the top-tier raw stones from the gemstone gambling convention. I bet they’re all amazing finds!"

"Didn’t the owner tell you when you bought the house?"

Grace Winslow shook her head. "No. The sale was pretty rushed. He took the money and was in a hurry to go abroad, and I was in a hurry to move in. So once we finished the paperwork, we transferred the deed, and the house and everything in it became ours."

"There wasn’t much inside. A lot of the furniture was broken, and there were some vases and things. My mom thought they were pretty, so she kept them as decorations."

Byron Sinclair pinched the spot under his nose, trying to calm himself. "How much did you pay for this house?"

"A little over three thousand, I think. It wasn’t expensive, anyway. I bought five more houses like this." Grace Winslow thought for a moment but couldn’t recall the exact amount. After all, she had bought quite a few properties.

Hayley had made a profit and given her a dividend. Whenever she got the money, she’d either buy a house or a storefront.

Sean York wasn’t in Coronet at the moment, but Andrew Aldridge was. Besides, his real estate agency was already well-established and had plenty of listings.

Grace Winslow had asked him to keep an eye out and to snatch up any suitable properties whenever she had the money.

And just like that, she’d already bought five houses.

For a moment, Byron Sinclair was at a loss for words. All he could think was that Grace Winslow was a bona fide rich girl.

Even if one house only cost three thousand, five of them would be fifteen thousand.

There weren’t many "ten-thousanders" in those days.

And Grace Winslow was just a college freshman. After the New Year, she would only be starting her sophomore year.

Even though he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had been running his own business for over a year, he still hadn’t managed to save up ten thousand.

"Grace, can you sell all these stones to me?" Byron Sinclair asked with a sly grin, his mind already scheming.

Grace Winslow shot him a look. ’This guy is up to no good.’

She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No. My big brother and second brother are getting into this line of business too. If these really are raw gemstones, I should save them for them."

"Just give me a few! Please, I’m begging you." Byron Sinclair nearly got on his knees in front of Grace Winslow.

He reached out to grab Grace Winslow’s arm, but she instinctively pulled away.

Archer Rhys walked out to this exact scene. He narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over them coldly.

A chill instantly ran down Byron Sinclair’s spine. He looked up and met Archer Rhys’s murderous stare.

He awkwardly retracted his hand and explained, "Archer, it’s a misunderstanding! All a misunderstanding! I wasn’t trying to do anything to your girlfriend. I just wanted to do business with her, that’s all. I swear! I wouldn’t dare hit on your woman even if I had all the nerve in the world."

Grace Winslow’s expression soured. "Watch what you say. What do you mean, ’his woman’? There’s nothing between us. We’re just friends."

"Right, right, just friends," Byron Sinclair quickly agreed.

Archer Rhys strode over and stood in front of Grace Winslow before asking what happened.

Grace Winslow explained everything from start to finish.

Archer Rhys sneered at Byron Sinclair. "What? Trying to take advantage of her ignorance and cheat her out of her money?"

He walked over to the pile of stones by the wall, picked one up to examine it, and then spoke. "This is all old-mine jadeite, and a few pieces even have windows cut. It’s all top-grade material. If you’re buying at market price, she can sell you some. But if you’re trying to score a deal and swindle her, forget it."

Byron Sinclair looked like he wanted to cry but couldn’t. He had been hoping to take advantage of Grace Winslow’s naivety and buy a few good pieces on the cheap.

Now that Archer Rhys had spoken up, there was no way he could trick Grace Winslow. He had no choice but to nod. "No problem. I’ll pay market price."

"Material like this isn’t cheap on the market. Just this small piece here would cost a thousand at least."

"My liquid funds are a bit limited right now. Can I buy three pieces? For five thousand."

Byron Sinclair held up five fingers, wincing at the cost.

Grace Winslow instinctively looked to Archer Rhys.

She really didn’t know anything about this stuff. She’d never had a chance to learn, and her entire impression of gemstone gambling came from TV shows, movies, and novels.

Archer Rhys casually selected three stones. "Five thousand is fine. For these three."

Byron Sinclair knew that with Archer Rhys around, he wouldn’t be able to get any sort of bargain from Grace Winslow.

Still, if he took these three pieces back, did a little processing, and resold them, he could easily make over ten thousand.

The profit margins in this business were insane.

He chuckled and went to pick up the three stones. "I’ll go to the bank in a little while, get the cash, and bring it over."

With that, he took off like his feet were greased, as if terrified Grace Winslow would change her mind.

Grace Winslow glanced in the direction he’d run off. "Why was he in such a hurry?"

"He’s afraid you’ll change your mind and ask for the stones back," Archer Rhys replied with a smile.

Grace Winslow shook her head. "I don’t understand this stuff anyway. I’ll just have my brothers come and haul them all away later."

"Mm," Archer Rhys agreed, his gaze fixed on Grace Winslow’s face, unwilling to look away.

Grace Winslow noticed his stare and felt a little embarrassed. "Um... are you busy later?"

"I’m on leave right now. I have to go on a mission soon, and it might be a long time before I get back." Archer Rhys nodded, then sighed after a long moment. "Grace, when I can’t see you, I miss you. I know you’re wary of relationships and marriage because of what happened with Caleb Forrest."

"I never intended to pressure you into making a decision right away."

"I won’t bother you again until you graduate. Three years from now, I’ll come back and ask for your answer."

Grace Winslow’s heart began to beat a little faster. Seeing how serious Archer Rhys was, she almost found her heart swayed.

But then she remembered that Caleb Forrest had once been just as earnest. ’Didn’t he change in the end?’

She firmly believed that a woman had to have her own personality, her own career, and her own skills. Only then would she not be reduced to a plaything for a man to casually discard.

Archer Rhys’s interest in her now, Dylan Lockwood’s advances—it was all because she was capable.

’If I were still the person I was in my past life, these exceptional men probably wouldn’t have given me a second glance.’

’Looks fade. A woman can’t spend her whole life relying on a pretty face to appeal to a man’s conscience.’