There were three gifts in the office.

Flowers from Tang Yuanyue, drafting tools from Du Zhaohui, and surprisingly, one from Matthew.

Matthew had noticed two gifts arriving for Xia Xiaolan on the same day, flowers and a gift box, and after checking her information, found her birth date.

To curry favor with his immediate superior, Matthew quickly bought a gift too.

He gave Xia Xiaolan a professional architecture book costing $89, which wasn’t cheap at all.

While practical gifts were normal for Matthew, they were quite unusual for Du Zhaohui.

Xia Xiaolan called Matthew in:

“Let me pay you for the book—”

“Are you looking down on me?”

Matthew’s expression turned sour.

“No, how could that be? It’s just that we’re both students, and this book isn’t cheap.”

Xia Xiaolan truly thought it was expensive.

American students often bought used textbooks, and Matthew probably didn’t even use new textbooks himself, yet he bought her such an expensive book – it was too much.

Matthew suddenly grinned: “On the 24th when you were absent, the firm gave us last month’s bonus, and Miss Tina and I went to see an opera. We got along well, and she agreed to let me design her residence.”

So this gift wasn’t just flattering Xia Xiaolan, but also showing gratitude.

Xia Xiaolan indeed found a check in her drawer.

GMP had given her a $2,000 bonus.

It was more than her and Matthew’s internship salary last month, which was only about $1,200 after taxes. That’s how it was at the prestigious GMP firm – famous architects earned a lot while struggling new graduates barely made enough for food and rent.

“I thought there wouldn’t be a bonus. Matthew, thank you for the gift, I like it!”

She didn’t know how much bonus Matthew got, but it should be the same as hers since they were both interns. Last month, Xia Xiaolan hadn’t been responsible for Mrs. Wilson’s commission yet, so GMP had to maintain fairness openly.

This month would be different.

Kissinger had said the theater renovation commission would pay her design fees at senior designer rates.

That would be far more than $2,000.

After all, Mrs. Wilson’s theater renovation had a GMP budget of $2 million.

Matthew, thinking about Tina’s renovation commission being almost confirmed, was also full of expectations for next month’s income.

“I don’t even want to leave GMP anymore.”

Matthew was filled with work enthusiasm. With commissions to work on and salary to earn, his internship at GMP made him never want to leave. Xia Xiaolan encouraged him: “After finishing the theater renovation, and if Tina’s commission is confirmed, it won’t be hard for you to join GMP in the future.”

Yes, now it just depended on whether Tina would choose Matthew.

“Miss Tina likes you more…”

This was what Matthew understood least.

Xia Xiaolan’s relationship with Mrs. Wilson didn’t seem that close.

Yet the $2 million commission specifically requested Xia Xiaolan to be in charge.

Tina was even more absurd – after meeting Xia Xiaolan for the first time, she suddenly wanted her help with residential renovation designs… Xia Xiaolan had said the Upper East Side’s doors were hard to open, but she was lying – before she could even reach out, people inside were already pulling her in!

Thinking of this, Matthew’s expression turned strange:

“Honestly, I’ve been holding back, wanting to ask – do you have an extraordinary background in Huaguo? Though Huaguo’s economy isn’t developed, maybe your family are government officials—”

Xia Xiaolan wanted to laugh.

If she told Matthew that three generations of the Xia family were poor farmers, he probably wouldn’t believe it.

But as for government officials, Comrade Tang was still far from being a high-ranking official.

Xia Xiaolan cleared her throat. As Matthew looked on expectantly, she instead knocked on the table:

“Why are you still standing here? Go check with Lisa and others on how the drawings are coming along.”

The team leader taking one day off doesn’t mean the whole team gets a holiday – work still needs to be done!

Matthew mentally gave Xia Xiaolan the middle finger but still ran out swiftly.

For the sake of that bonus check.

For the sake of Tina’s commission.

He decided not to hold it against Xia Xiaolan!

This time, Lisa obediently followed Xia Xiaolan’s instructions and helped a lot with refining the concept drawings.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yi had called Xia Xiaolan once, saying she found a part-time job in a Chinatown restaurant kitchen near the language school, introduced by another Huaguo student from Class 108 who worked there.

They could walk back to school together after work, greatly reducing the chance of robbery when not alone.

The pay wasn’t high though.

The current minimum wage in America is $4, but the Chinese restaurant owner only paid them $1.50 per hour.

“How many hours do you work per day?”

“About 5-6 hours, 2 hours at noon, longer in the evening, and they provide two meals.”

Zhou Yi remained optimistic – working 6 hours for only $9 was very low pay in America, and no Americans would take such jobs. The national minimum wage was $4, and the restaurant owner was exploiting them too much.

But this money wasn’t taxed, and it saved two meals’ worth of expenses. For most students, it was pure income – if Zhou Yi didn’t take it, others would.

Including two meals wasn’t a loss for the restaurant owner either. Being a restaurant, there were plenty of leftovers barely touched by customers. As long as Zhou Yi didn’t mind, she could eat freely… Zhou Yi wasn’t in a position to be picky anyway.

Seeing her optimistic attitude, Xia Xiaolan let her be, leaving Zhou Yi to figure things out herself.

On her end, she stayed busy until month’s end. Two days before their GMP internship ended, she finally completed the theater renovation drawings and handed them to Lisa, saying “Matthew and I won’t be coming to the firm tomorrow.”

Lisa didn’t react at first:

“Why?”

“Because our internship period is over.”

Lisa: “…!”

She had completed a commission with an intern!

She had been led by another intern to complete a commission!

Xia Xiaolan extended her hand, “Thank you for your hard work during this time. It was a pleasure working with you.”

There had been some unpleasantness at first.

But gradually they got into sync, and Lisa wasn’t a stubborn person.

Their handshake had a hint of letting bygones be bygones.

Kissinger said he arranged a farewell party for Xia Xiaolan and Matthew in the evening, and office staff who wanted to attend could stay after work.

“Mr. Kissinger, you’re too—”

Matthew was choked with emotion.

Kissinger looked at Matthew as if watching an idiot. Young people’s tear ducts were always very active, but what was this little intern getting excited about? He had only added Matthew’s name out of courtesy.

Everyone with eyes could see this party was for Xia Xiaolan!

Well, better not burst the young man’s bubble. Kissinger showed a kind, gentle smile:

“This is only right – you both performed excellently during your internship! I hope GMP will be your first choice for work after graduation!”

—Hah, who was it that didn’t even want interns before?