During her trip to America, Xia Xiaolan co-received the “AIA Rising Star Architect” award. Since it was shared between two people, she jokingly called it half an award!

But thinking about it, considering Mond had lost his life acting as Heidi’s ghost designer, paying such a heavy price – shouldn’t they at least be allowed half an award?

Perhaps this would be the only influential award young Heidi would ever receive in her lifetime. Thinking of it this way, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t feel angry anymore.

Tang Youru had also undergone her first surgery, which the doctors declared successful, putting Xia Xiaolan’s mind at ease.

Meeting with Han Jin, Xia Xiaolan heard some “gossip” about Xiang Li and Li Yong.

If Han Jin hadn’t mentioned them, Xia Xiaolan would have almost forgotten these two.

Han Jin said Xiang Li’s reputation had been ruined in the international student circle. Wanting to stay in America, Xiang Li kept dating American men. Meanwhile, Li Yong, whose future was destroyed after being cheated on by Xiang Li and then facing charges, had gotten out of jail after several months but wouldn’t leave Xiang Li alone, sabotaging several of her relationships – unable to bear his vengeful harassment anymore, Xiang Li had returned to China a month ago!

Xiang Li returned to China?

This woman had been determined to stay in America, yet chose to return – what was she planning?

While Xia Xiaolan didn’t care about Xiang Li personally, she worried about her pursuing Xu Jing. Xu Jing was now focused on research and development, with Wenquexing electronic dictionary facing competitors. Xia Xiaolan didn’t want Wenquexing to be affected – Xu Jing had better remain firm in his stance. If this affected Wenquexing’s business, Xia Xiaolan would be truly disappointed in him.

As an investor, she hadn’t wronged either Xu or Ma. Now that Wenquexing had grown so large, she naturally hoped both sides could continue their mutually beneficial relationship.

If Xu Jing proved to be an incompetent Liu Shan, stumbling over the same woman multiple times, what could Xia Xiaolan say?

She wouldn’t sell her Wenquexing shares in anger.

She would simply replace Xu Jing!

By late July, since Tang Youru had successfully undergone her first surgery and Yu Li had enrolled in the language school Zhou Yi had previously attended, Xia Xiaolan prepared to return to China.

Before leaving, she asked Zhou Yi to look after Yu Li.

Zhou the Fool might not be as clever as little Yu, but being several years older, looking after Yu could help build Zhou Yi’s confidence – after her initial surprise, Zhou Yi patted her chest and promised Xia Xiaolan:

“Xiaolan, don’t worry, she’s your cousin, which makes her my sister too. I’ll take good care of her!”

“Sister Zhou Yi, then I’ll entrust Little Yu to you.”

Xia Xiaolan’s solemn request excited Zhou Yi tremendously!

Ever since she’d been blinded by love and chosen Yuan Han, everyone around her had looked down on her intelligence. Even her cousins from Aunt Zhou’s family, Gu Siyan and Cheng Min, couldn’t understand her actions – naturally, Zhou Yi wasn’t considered trustworthy.

Everyone had been taking care of her.

Her parents.

Xia Xiaolan, who was younger than her.

Including Qi Wei at the language institute.

This was the first time she’d been entrusted to care for someone else… making Zhou Yi feel trusted and useful, not useless!

But Zhou the Fool didn’t know that Xia Xiaolan had given Yu Li different private instructions. While Yu Li could seek Zhou Yi’s help with daily life issues, she should make her own decisions about important matters.

Having been Xia Xiaolan’s secretary for so long, how could Yu Li not know what kind of person Zhou Yi was?

She felt she didn’t need Zhou Yi’s care and could instead help Sister Xiaolan watch over Zhou Yi. This Zhou family’s eldest daughter had better stay diligent and well-behaved as she was now. If she caused any more trouble for Sister Xiaolan, Yu Li would definitely “deal with” her properly!

While thinking this, Yu Li sweetly called Zhou Yi “sister” and looked at her with admiration, quickly making Zhou Yi overflow with responsibility, running around happily helping with Yu Li’s school enrollment matters-

Xia Xiaolan could hardly bear to watch.

A fool was still a fool – with that level of intelligence, it couldn’t suddenly improve.

But better to be sweet-talked by Yu Li than deceived by men, right?

With this thought, Xia Xiaolan left America.

This time, she returned to China with Grandmother Yu and Tina.

The museum the Xu family built in Shangdu was completed.

As returning “foreign investors,” the museum’s completion required an opening ceremony.

The Xu family would attend, and Xia Xiaolan, as the museum’s designer, couldn’t avoid it either. Beyond her private connection with the Xu family, the museum had won an international architectural award, so naturally, Shangdu had invited its designer!

Xia Xiaolan didn’t resist appearing on such occasions.

While one should be low-key about wealth, being high-profile about architectural achievements was perfectly fine!

“Leader, the museum’s opening ceremony-“

The secretary carefully reminded.

Shao Limin put down his work, “Time’s almost up? Let’s go then.”

On the way, Shao Limin was still thinking.

He would soon transfer from Shangdu.

After working in Shangdu for several years, he would start over in a new place… Though it was a lateral move, going from Yunan to Guangdong Province, Shao Limin couldn’t judge if it was good or bad.

Going to attend the museum’s opening ceremony made him think of Xia Xiaolan.

From Xia Xiaolan, his thoughts turned to his nephew Shao Guangrong.

Regarding his sister-in-law’s actions, Shao Limin couldn’t blame her – nobody had expected the girl his nephew liked would be Tang Hongen’s long-lost niece.

He hadn’t even met the girl to judge if she was outstanding.

But she certainly wasn’t as exceptional as Xia Xiaolan, who could overcome the “matching status” barrier without external help.

If she hadn’t been Tang Hongen’s niece, Shao Limin wouldn’t have approved of his nephew choosing such a partner either.

Not only would she bring no advantages, but she would drain his nephew’s energy – not a good match at all.

Of course, while he disapproved, he wouldn’t have used that approach.

Directly confronting the girl was the worst strategy – breaking them up would make Guangrong resent his family forever.

If they had approached Guangrong instead back then, the situation wouldn’t be so awkward now. As a result, not only did Guangrong blame his family, but they also offended Tang Hongen – what kind of handling was that?

And Guangrong had withdrawn all his business shares.

Shao Limin didn’t actually care about the money – his nephew’s investment in those businesses had connected them with the Zhou family, Kang family, and Tang Hongen. Now without the partnership, these connections would gradually fade.

For his sister-in-law, Shao Limin’s assessment was “womanly short-sightedness”!

For his nephew, he thought him too emotional and impulsive!

Thinking about having to move to Guangdong Province to be Tang Hongen’s neighbor, Shao Limin naturally felt unhappy.

Could anything be salvaged?

As he pondered this, the driver stopped the car:

“Leader, we’ve arrived.”

Several people gathered around as Shao Limin got out and greeted everyone. Seeing Xia Xiaolan, he showed a genuine smile:

“Little Xia, your museum design winning an international award has truly brought glory to our country!”