18. Sound Argument

Before any words could leave Liang Feng's mouth, a high-pitched female voice of a 13-year-old girl resonated through the room. "But Mother managed her finances in the Leon Empire when she was 13."Edina's words were clear and monotonous, as if she were simply stating a fact to a wall.The room fell silent instantly. It was a sound argument; after all, Elara had met Jinwei in the Leon Empire when she was 14 years old, already working with her mentors in the Ministry of Finance. It was well known that Jinwei had given her an insignia with the Blazing Dawn Sect's symbol to use when she came to the Eastern Continent to meet him. This love story was very popular in the Central Plains, especially among the current generation. If one could peek into people's minds, they would see the gears turning in the minds of Li Mei's supporters, frantically trying to come up with a way to counter this argument.Lu Mingfe was the first to speak. "It's true. Sister-in-law Elara, as the princess of Leon, was working in the Ministry of Finance and learning magic at Leon University at the age of 13. Why should our great sect not prepare the princess of Leon to the same standards as those of Leon?"Li Mei shot a glance at Lu Mingfe, but he just smiled as if shrugging off her glare. It was clear he wasn't going to support her today. Han Cha Mu, Li Mei's husband, spoke up next. "It's true, brother Lu Mingfe. We should hold our young to the same standard as Leon's imperial family, especially since we have a familial relationship with them and Edina is Leon's princess. However, giving Edina management rights now would damage Li Mei's reputation. People might think that Li Mei is unfit, which is why the sect decided to hand over the management of finances to a 13-year-old girl."Keith smiled and said, "It's true that it might hurt Mistress Li Mei's reputation, but if the sect allows a short trial period for all the young masters and mistresses, as the Sect Leader suggested, it won't damage Mistress Li Mei's reputation." He paused before continuing, "I also heard from a colleague downtown that Mistress Li Mei has recently taken an interest in investing. Considering she already juggles practicing martial arts, managing the Mu Mansion, overseeing its financial management, handling her children's education and allowances, and managing Her Highness Edina's allowance and the Jinwei Mansion finances, adding investing to her responsibilities is quite a burden. If all the young could manage their finances, her time would be freed up significantly."Keith's reasoning was quite spot on. Ever since Li Mei invested in Jade Grass Commerc, its store head, Chen Huan, has been leveraging this information to attract more investors. As a result, everyone in the business world knew within weeks that Mu Mansion was venturing into business investment. As a businessman, Keith naturally learned of this as well.Liang Feng finally spoke, "The Leon Empire has been quite concerned with Edina's education recently. They've even hired a teacher for her to learn Leonese. This is a great opportunity to improve our standards and show the Leon Empire that our sect also allows our youth to learn from experience."Li Mei gave Edina a passive-aggressive smile and finally spoke, "Do you really want to be like your mother, Edina?" Junior Edina hadn't memorized a reply for such a question, so she did what Senior Edina had instructed her to do: she nodded.Li Mei felt trapped, realizing she had no way out of this situation. Inside, she seethed with anger as she reluctantly said, "Well, if my sweet niece wants it so badly, then let it be, Father." With an unintentional smile, Liang Feng responded, "Very well then.""Li Mei, hand over the account books of Wei's allowance, Jin's (Lin's nickname) allowance, and Jinwei Mansion's to the administration staff by tomorrow morning. I will conduct a test for all the young ones over the next week. If they can report their spending and accounts properly for the week, they can manage their funds on their own," Liang Feng finished. It was a heavy blow for Li Mei. She started to panic inside; the next morning was way less time than she anticipated. She had already spent more than half of Jinwei Mansion's budget for the month. If she didn't want to get caught, she had to produce all that money and rewrite all the account books of the Jinwei Mansion by tomorrow morning! She knew her father had deliberately made the time so short to push her to the edge, to find any slip-ups he possibly could. With a small smile, she said, "Sure, Father."After about 15 minutes of being at the banquet, Li Mei hurriedly left with her husband. It was very uncharacteristic of her to leave a banquet so early. Once Li Mei departed, Junior Edina snapped out of her daze and was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions. What had she done? She had upset Aunt Li Mei, and she was sure to face punishment for it. Just the sight of Xiao Min staring at her from across the table filled her with deep dread. She wanted to run away. She felt like her insides were curling, and she had the urge to vomit. It felt as if her world was crumbling down around her.That's when Qin Cha Ling tapped her shoulder and asked, "Oh my, Edina, what's wrong? Why aren't you eating anything?" Junior Edina nodded slightly and in her meek voice replied, "I am eating, Aunt Qin." Aunt Qin had already sensed Edina's unease about returning to Jinwei Mansion, so she suggested, "Edina, it's been a while since you played at Shun's Mansion, right? How about we read romance novels together and have a sleepover at Shun Mansion today? Just you and Aunt Qin? Just like we used too?"Junior Edina glanced at Xiao Min from the corner of her eye, noticing the angry, deathly stare directed at her. Despite the fear gnawing at her, she managed a small smile towards Aunt Qin and said, "I would love that, Aunt Qin."Aunt Qin smiled warmly, sensing the relief in Edina's voice. "That's wonderful, Edina. We'll have a great time," she said, gently patting Edina's hand. "We'll read our favorite romance novels and talk all night. It'll be just like old times." Edina's heart felt a little lighter at the thought. She had always enjoyed her time at Shun's Mansion, away from the oppressive atmosphere of Jinwei Mansion. The idea of spending the night with Aunt Qin, who always made her feel safe and loved, gave her a glimmer of hope.As the banquet continued around them, Edina took a deep breath and tried to focus on the present. She knew she might have to face the consequences of her actions eventually, but for now, she allowed herself to feel a bit of joy and anticipation for the night ahead.

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