Chapter Twenty-Eight: Jiang Xian Plays Li Jiale for a Fool

"No need, I don't see them as a threat."

Nuonuo glanced at the group, and seeing no objections, continued, "If the grouping is settled, let’s decide what each group will be responsible for purchasing."

"We have food, daily necessities, and school supplies. Given the differences in group sizes, we’ve decided on the allocations for you."

"Rong Fan and Jiang Ke will handle school supplies; Jiang Xian, Lai Bingfu, and Li Jiale will take care of daily necessities; Zheng Jin and Sheng Ya will manage the food. Does anyone have any issues with this?"

"No."

"We have split the purchasing funds into three parts. Who should we send the money to for each group?"

"Send mine to me. I’m good at math, so I can keep track of the spending clearly. Most importantly, I’m not short on money, so this will definitely be used exactly where it should be." It was hard not to infer from Li Jiale’s words that she believed Jiang Xian, who was currently broke, would likely embezzle the funds.

As she spoke, Li Jiale’s gaze fell on Jiang Xian, her implication obvious.

[Is Li Jiale suggesting that Jiang Xian will steal the money?]
[I’ve always said Li Jiale was smart from a young age. Yes, she should be the one in charge, lest Jiang Xian pockets it while still trying to act wealthy.]
[It’s ridiculous that someone who hardly contributes any money of her own is accusing the person who contributes the most of being greedy for the sponsorship funds.]

"Do the two of you agree to hand the money over to Li Jiale?" Nuonuo asked Jiang Xian and Lai Bingfu.

"I agree," Lai Bingfu was the first to respond.

"Send it to me," Li Jiale said, demanding the transfer from Nuonuo without even asking for Jiang Xian’s opinion. It was clear she did not consider Jiang Xian a true member of her team.

"Hold on, I haven't given my opinion yet!"

Nuonuo, who had been about to initiate the transfer, stopped. She had assumed Jiang Xian would agree, and if she hadn't, she surely would have been cyberbullied by Jiang Xian’s massive fan base.

"Exactly. We're in the same group, and Jiang Xian hasn't spoken yet. What, is Miss Li trying to isolate someone? That’s not very nice behavior. Children watching at home, don't learn from this!"

Zheng Jin called out Li Jiale’s motives directly, taking the opportunity to lecture the audience.

The comments in the livestream that had been defending Li Jiale vanished in an instant. After all, nobody likes to be ostracized. If the person being isolated has done nothing wrong and is simply being targeted because the group leader doesn't like them, how is that any different from bullying?

"Zheng Jin, stop trying to confuse the issue. Majority rule has been the standard since ancient times. Since the two of us agree to give the money to Jiale, it should naturally be kept by her."

"Exactly. The two of us agree it should be given to me; does her opinion even matter?"

"Let’s listen to what Jiang Xian has to say! After all, you are in the same group," Nuonuo interjected, trying to make up for her previous oversight.

Li Jiale was furious at Nuonuo for even asking. She was convinced that Jiang Xian wanted to keep the money for herself and embezzle it, and she glared at her.

Jiang Xian didn't care about Li Jiale’s hateful glare at all. She calmly uttered three words: "I agree."

"Jiang Xian, I knew you wanted to embezzle the money, you—" Li Jiale had been ready to pounce on Jiang Xian for refusing, but she stopped abruptly. Wait, did she just hear "I agree"?

No, how could Jiang Xian agree? Did she mishear?

It wasn't just Li Jiale who felt she had misheard; everyone else was equally stunned.

Meeting Li Jiale’s confused and uncomprehending gaze, Jiang Xian gave a cold snort. The amount wasn't even that large, and since it was for charity, every cent had to be accounted for. Who would want to do such a thankless job?

Since Li Jiale wanted to do it, let her. But she wasn't going to let Li Jiale make decisions without consulting her; she had to at least make things a little difficult for them.

"Jiang Xian, did you just say you agree?" Zheng Jin asked, unsure.

"Yes."

"How could you agree?" Zheng Jin was baffled.

"Someone has already blatantly accused me of being a thief. If I took this money and made even the slightest calculation error, wouldn't I be confirming that slander?"

Once Jiang Xian explained it this way, Zheng Jin immediately understood and nodded. "That's true."

Everyone now understood that Jiang Xian had agreed to let Li Jiale manage the funds.

"You just agree? You were the one asking to be consulted a second ago, are you just playing with us?" Li Jiale’s anger flared up. If there were a rage meter, she would have maxed it out. She felt like she’d just been toyed with.

[I feel like Jiang Xian did that on purpose just to annoy Li Jiale.]
[You’re not wrong, Jiang Xian has a bit of a mischievous side.]
[How petty, doing that on purpose!]
[??? Who’s being petty? Such vulgar language.]

Jiang Xian ignored Li Jiale’s rage and shrugged. "If that’s what you want to think, there’s nothing I can do about it."

"You—" Li Jiale started to retort, but Jiang Ke, sitting beside her, tugged at her arm. "Jiale, Xianxian was probably just joking with you. Don't be angry."

"Does that look like she was joking?"

"Xianxian, don't make jokes like that in the future. Look, Jiale is upset."

The comment felt strange, as if both she and Jiang Xian had done something wrong. Li Jiale didn't want to say anything more and opened her payment QR code for Nuonuo. "Transfer it."

"Okay." Nuonuo didn't hesitate and quickly transferred the money.

After receiving the funds, Li Jiale shot a dark look at Jiang Xian. She wouldn't let this go so easily. Just wait!

"Sheng Ya, why don't you handle the money? I think you’d definitely be better at it than me," Zheng Jin said, immediately laying on the flattery.

Zheng Jin came across as a bit of a playboy who didn't know how to plan finances. Sheng Ya agreed and opened her code for Nuonuo to scan.

Seeing that Sheng Ya had received the transfer, Zheng Jin couldn't help but grin like a fool.

They felt more like a married couple now—the wife managing the money and the husband listening to her. Hehehe.

Unaware of what Zheng Jin was thinking, Sheng Ya only noticed that after she received the money, he started making a sound like a goose.

"Rong Fan, should you manage it, or should I?"

The other groups had the women managing the money. Even if Rong Fan wanted to, he felt too embarrassed to say so, and simply uttered one word: "You."

"Okay." Although it was only a cold, single word, Jiang Ke felt that Rong Fan respected her deeply. Letting her manage the money was a sign of his trust, and she felt a sweet warmth as she opened her QR code to receive the transfer.

With the transfers complete, Nuonuo breathed a sigh of relief. This job was truly difficult; the guests were celebrities, and she was always afraid of offending their fans.

And when the guests were wealthy, they were even harder to deal with—so incredibly willful.