Scold Lewis for Being Stingy

Located in the heart of the city, the Felton Family Estate shone brightly like a luxurious mountain resort, with its lights casting a vibrant and enchanting glow. Well-trained bodyguards in black suits patrol back and forth. Leonard rushed, stepping onto the expensive black rosewood staircase to climb to the second floor. The carving on the handrails of the staircase was as exquisite as a work of art, revealing low-key luxury without overt design. William preferred traditional houses rather than extravagant styles. He adored this low-key, stable yet imposing building. Walking through the elongated corridor, Leonard knocked on the study door. After receiving permission, he walked in. "Mr. William, Mr. Lewis." The uncle and nephew were seated on the sofa, discussing work. Several folders were placed on the heavy wooden table. Lewis, who was pouring tea for William, saw that Leonard had an unusually... excited expression. That should be an apt description. He could not help being curious. "What's up?" Leonard replied, "Our men... were found by that girl." The uncle and nephew looked at each other simultaneously. Lewis asked, "She found out?" That was impossible. "Just a while ago, when the girl went out, she managed to expose our men." Leonard found it unbelievable. This was personally instructed by William, so naturally, he dared not be careless. The people he selected were all the most skillful, and their counter-surveillance abilities were top-notch, but they were surprisingly discovered by an ordinary female student. Lewis asked, "Did they scare her?" Leonard's expression became even more interesting. After carefully choosing his words, he said, "I think the ones who got scared should be our people." Lewis was taken aback. After looking at Leonard's expression, he almost laughed, but he had to hold back because of William's presence. To cover up his embarrassment, he then told William, "She really is a very clever girl." When Lewis heard this, he was no doubt shocked. But after thinking about Valentina's cleverness and boldness, he didn't find it too surprising that their people would be discovered by Valentina. Leonard said, "Yes, so our people disclosed their identities and motives to her to avoid causing her any inconvenience." William asked, "Then what? What did she say?" Leonard was looking at Lewis, a look of dilemma on his face as if he was hesitating to speak. Seeing this, Lewis hurriedly asked, "Did she mention me?" His heart couldn't help but raise some expectations. He had never met such an interesting girl before, so he was curious about what Valentina would say about him. "Yes." After thinking for a moment, Leonard relayed Valentina's words exactly as she said them. "She said - so all the Felton Family's money is spent on hiring bodyguards." Lewis didn't understand. "What does that mean?" Lewis didn't understand at all, but then he heard William ask, "Exactly how much money did you give her?" Upon Williams's reminder, Lewis seemed to understand something. "One million dollars." Sure enough... William said, "No wonder she said we used all the money to hire bodyguards." That was a roundabout way of saying that Lewis was stingy. Lewis was stunned. "I just didn't want to scare her off, besides, for a teenager like her, one million dollars is not a small sum." William didn't reply but asked the assistant, "Has she asked for money?" Leonard shook his head. "No, she didn't mention anything else." If Valentina asked for more money right now, the Felton Family would have no reason to refuse. But she didn't, which made both Lewis and William think highly of her. Seeing that they stopped talking, Leonard asked on behalf of his subordinates, "Do we need to continue protecting her covertly?" Since their actions have been fully uncovered by Valentina, this covert protection… Leonard felt embarrassed for his men. Lewis said, "We certainly should. She is smart but doesn't know how to fight. We need to ensure her safety." Realizing that he was too anxious and lost his composure in front of William, Lewis immediately looked at Williams's expression. Seeing no difference in Williams's complexion, he then allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. William gave a slight nod to Leonard, signaling his consent. Leonard agreed, but deep inside he could not shake off the feeling that Valentina didn't need their protection, but he kept this bizarre thought to himself. Lewis started to regret not insisting on going to Mapleville himself to meet Valentina in the morning. Realizing that William's gaze was upon him, Lewis, who had been lost in thought, immediately pulled himself together and said deceptively, "She really is a special girl." William didn't respond. Indeed she was unique and not as simple as she seemed. Her decisive, swift style with a hint of individualism somehow reminded him of the genius assassin who met her death at the sea. However, they were as different as heaven and earth, with no room for comparison. ... Augus opened Valentina's door, holding the copied Maths question. "Val, can you solve this?" Valentina took it and looked over the question. Her eyebrows arched slightly. "Where did you get this question from?" The question was unusually difficult, but quite interesting. “It was jointly set by the president of Biddeford University and several professors last year. It seems they couldn't solve it themselves either, so they posted the question online to see if someone can solve it.” “The president of Biddeford University personally promised that if a student could solve this problem, they would be guaranteed admission to Biddeford University, with the freedom to choose any major. Adults could be employed by the University, with the option to choose any position. Many mathematics enthusiasts have tried, but none has given a correct answer. They all got stuck halfway and didn't know how to proceed. Even Paul Cromwell, who is hailed as a mathematical genius, has been pondering over it for half a year without any results." Because of a lame leg, Augus had to study harder than anyone else. He had no friends and no hobbies, so he poured all his passion and time into the subject that interested him the most: mathematics. He was self-studying freshman-year math and had learned a bit of relevant knowledge for a particular problem, but every time he tried to solve it, he was at a loss for where to start. He had been waiting for Paul to publish the answer. Yet, half a year had passed with no news. Last month, Paul had publicly shared the first half of the solving process, but it was still miles away from the final answer. Augus thought that even if Paul couldn’t solve it, probably nobody in the world could. But now, he felt the answer he had been waiting for was about to be revealed. Valentina didn't let Augus down. Holding the notebook with the problem written in it, she said, "Give me half an hour." "Half an hour?" Augus stared wide-eyed, convinced she meant half a month or half a year. Augus realized how big his eyes were during his wait. Before he could question if she meant half a month or half a year, Valentina closed the door and began to work on the problem. Augus, seeing this, transitioned from initial skepticism to expectation, and then to excitement. His heart beat faster and faster. He decided to stay put and wait right by the door, glancing down at his watch intermittently, ticking the seconds and minutes away. The room was quiet except for the occasional sound of flipping papers, making time seem unbearably long. Finally, when Augus looked down at his watch for the nth time, the door suddenly swung open. Valentina was there, holding his notebook. Before Valentina could ask why he was waiting at the door, Augus asked in a hurry, "Did you solve it?" Valentina handed over the notebook to him.