Mrs. Wilson insisted on telling it this way.

She had deep feelings for this theater, and Xia Xiaolan didn’t interrupt her reminiscing about its past glory.

Xia Xiaolan herself wasn’t interested in musicals, but listening to Mrs. Wilson talk gave her some inspiration.

“Let’s start with measurements and records today, then you can share your thoughts. Before finalizing the plan and during actual construction, we’ll need frequent communication – this is GMP’s commitment to serving you.”

The theater under Mrs. Wilson’s ownership wasn’t the largest, but it wasn’t small either, with 1,306 seats total – making it a giant compared to smaller theaters.

The decoration style was one thing, but the theater’s last renovation was in 1971. In these 15 years, stage audio and visual technology have advanced tremendously. Though Xia Xiaolan lacked experience in this area, she had the entire GMP firm as a backup for technical support.

Having such backing eliminated anxiety. The resources of a large firm were beyond what Xia Xiaolan could match individually, but she wasn’t competing with GMP – she was utilizing this platform.

With this platform, Mrs. Wilson wasn’t worried either.

She wasn’t concerned about Xia Xiaolan making uninformed designs – if any errors occurred, GMP would reject Xia Xiaolan’s proposals internally before Mrs. Wilson needed to question them!

Why else would Kissinger send Lisa to supervise?

To monitor Xia Xiaolan’s progress and clean up after her, of course.

After chatting for over two hours, as noon approached, Mrs. Wilson wanted to invite Xia Xiaolan for lunch. Xia Xiaolan checked her watch: “I’d love to have lunch with you, but I have another appointment. If you don’t mind, how about dinner instead? I thought we could watch a musical at Broadway’s hottest theater tonight?”

Mrs. Wilson readily agreed.

Before getting in her car, she gave Xia Xiaolan a cheek-kiss embrace, “See you at dinner then. My driver will pick you up at GMP at 5, and after dinner, we’ll be just in time for the evening show.”

Xia Xiaolan wanted to examine the popular theater’s interior design, while Mrs. Wilson accomplished two goals at once.

The theater was indeed losing money, making renovation urgent.

Following Old Ivan’s instructions while needing to get closer to Xia Xiaolan, Mrs. Wilson found Xia Xiaolan’s suggestion perfect.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t have an appointment; she wanted to check on Zhou Yi at the language school, which wasn’t far.

Having heard about Zhou Yi’s miserable state from Jim, Xia Xiaolan was mentally prepared. After parting ways with Matthew, Lisa, and others, she headed straight for the language school.

It was lunchtime.

Not finding Zhou Yi in the cafeteria, Xia Xiaolan went to the dormitory.

The dorm door was closed tight. After Xia Xiaolan knocked repeatedly, a female student opened it:

“So noisy!”

“Sorry, I’m looking for my friend-“

“You’re both annoying.”

Zhou Yi’s roommate had quite a temper, but Xia Xiaolan ignored her and squeezed inside. She’d shown proper courtesy, but wouldn’t be purely submissive.

Whether Zhou Yi could adapt wasn’t clear, but Xia Xiaolan couldn’t handle all her interpersonal relationships – that would truly make her the babysitter Jim mocked.

“Sister Zhou Yi? Zhou Yi!”

On Zhou Yi’s bed, someone was curled up in a ball.

Xia Xiaolan pulled back her blanket; Zhou Yi was completely groggy from sleep.

“Xiaolan?”

Zhou Yi tried to burrow deeper into her blanket.

Pretending not to know about last night, Xia Xiaolan asked, “Sister Zhou Yi, why are you in this state? Your face is so red – are you sick?”

Before returning to school today, Zhou Yi had applied ice to her face and eyes for hours.

The swelling had mostly subsided, but her split lip wouldn’t heal so quickly.

Zhou Yi was terrified of Xia Xiaolan discovering the truth.

She’d planned to wait until her injuries healed before telling Xia Xiaolan that thieves had stolen her money, but Joan had lent her 100 dollars today when dropping her off, enough for Zhou Yi to manage for a week.

Who knew Xia Xiaolan would have such a keen nose… no, such unlucky timing.

Zhou Yi stammered, “I accidentally fell last night, that’s all.”

“How did you fall? Was the dorm light broken? I should ask your roommate, or tell the teachers!”

Under Xia Xiaolan’s questioning, Zhou Yi felt immense pressure. One lie required many more to cover it. “No, not in the dorm, I fell outside. Remember Joan, whom I met on the plane? I had dinner with her and fell on the way back to school.”

“Oh-“

Xia Xiaolan dragged out the syllable, making Zhou Yi’s heart pound.

“Making friends isn’t bad, but you should also socialize with schoolmates, not just Chinese people – it’s better to make friends from other countries.”

Xia Xiaolan’s suggestion wasn’t about worshiping foreigners.

The language school had many Chinese students besides Zhou Yi, just at different levels based on their proficiency.

Chinese students naturally became friends faster, including those from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Faster friendship meant using their mother tongue… which wouldn’t help improve their English, instead trapping themselves in a small circle – not suitable for Zhou Yi’s situation.

“By the way, should we get you checked at the hospital? Just lying here isn’t good – what if you broke something?”

The mention of the hospital panicked Zhou Yi.

Going to the hospital would reveal to Xia Xiaolan why she was injured.

Not to mention her scraped arms and the purple bruises on her wrists from that man’s grip.

A hospital visit would expose everything!

“Why waste money on the hospital? I’d rather save it. I’m really fine, Xiaolan, thanks for visiting!”

Not having notified Xia Xiaolan immediately last night made it even harder to tell her now.

Zhou Yi feared ridicule.

Perhaps Ye Xiaoqiong had said something.

Strangely though, even as Xia Xiaolan prepared to leave, Zhou Yi didn’t ask for money.

That was odd – given the amount Jim had recovered, Zhou Yi’s cash must have been completely stolen.

Without money, how would she eat?

One thousand dollars should reasonably last two or three months, at least for most Chinese students’ living expenses.

Xia Xiaolan wondered how the proud Zhou Yi would manage this period.

Since she wouldn’t tell about last night’s incident, she clearly wouldn’t inform her family back home either.

Could it be… that Ye Xiaoqiong had lent Zhou Yi money?

How ironic – Zhou Yi has to borrow from Yuan Han’s ex-wife. When Zhou Yi learned the truth, that borrowed money would feel like slaps across her face.

Having confirmed Zhou Yi wasn’t seriously hurt, Xia Xiaolan didn’t want to meddle further. She had dinner with Mrs. Wilson tonight, followed by a musical.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know that while Mrs. Wilson was warm and witty with her, she transformed into a terrible mother-in-law when facing Ji Ya.

Poor Ji Ya had never imagined that after escaping an evil mother-in-law in her first marriage, marrying an American man would mean having to please Mrs. Wilson.

Ji Ya and George had been in New York for two days.

This was her limit of endurance – she just wanted to pack up and return to China immediately!