Those who frequently take the blame eventually get used to it.

Besides, Xia Xiao Lan didn’t even know she was being blamed.

Sheng Xuan hadn’t misjudged her character – she’d overestimated her kindness. How could Xia Xiao Lan pressure Sheng Xuan and Zhu Sui Zhou through the Song family to withdraw from Qiong Island? Such life-saving information, Xia Xiao Lan would only share with those truly close to her.

Xia Xiao Lan’s main focus now was perfecting the design for Jiangcheng Tianhe International Airport. This project had been approved in 1985, with four years of preliminary work already completed. Qihang’s late entry meant they barely had a chance – if not for the deadlock between several design institutes, Qihang wouldn’t have had any opportunity at all.

Xia Xiao Lan personally led Frank and Hou Qi to Jiangcheng, expending considerable effort just to meet with the Tianhe International Airport’s management.

The Project Director initially rejected Qihang’s bid to compete.

“Things are getting increasingly complicated. The design institutes have already done extensive preparatory work, and your Qihang…”

It wasn’t just about timing – they also lacked experience. Though Qihang had developed well over these two years with several successful cases, they hadn’t handled a single major infrastructure project!

Xia Xiao Lan had to personally guarantee to the Director:

“Just give us one chance. Choose whoever presents the best proposal. Our firm will invest the time and effort – even if our proposal isn’t selected, participating in this process will be a valuable experience for us. We’ll submit our work before the bidding deadline.”

Xia Xiao Lan dared to pursue this opportunity because while Tianhe International Airport was indeed a major project with high status and scale, it remained a civilian airport. If it had been a military airport, she wouldn’t have come regardless of Frank’s persuasion!

As a civilian project, Qihang still had a chance, with minimal security concerns. Any confidentiality issues could be resolved with proper agreements.

After several meetings with the Project Director, perhaps due to the difficulty in choosing between the existing design institutes’ proposals, they finally granted Qihang an opportunity… though not exactly a bidding opportunity, but rather a chance to present their design.

“We’ll finalize the design next May and break ground in June. If Qihang can present your proposal before the May bidding, I can give you a chance!”

This meant Qihang had to develop their airport design first, and only after gaining approval would they be allowed to participate in the bidding.

Xia Xiao Lan’s first instinct was to seize this opportunity, accepting without hesitation.

The Director smiled, “Young people are truly full of energy.”

Without any guarantees, they might pour their efforts into the project proposal only to be deemed unqualified to bid, wasting all their work.

The timeline was incredibly tight.

With May bidding, Qihang needed to complete their proposal before then – this wasn’t a residential complex or an office building, but a major airport!

Xia Xiao Lan couldn’t complain about the Director’s harsh requirements; she had to be grateful for the opportunity.

After parting ways, Frank was excited, and even Hou Qi didn’t discourage Qihang, though she worried about the timeline:

“Director Xia, there’s so much detailed work to be done. Will we have enough time?”

“If we’re short on time, we’ll add more staff. Frank is right – we need to pause other projects and dedicate more manpower to this. It’s already December, but we still have five months until next April!”

Five months to give it their all!

Xia Xiao Lan would not only summon her firm’s staff but also establish herself in Jiangcheng. Let Qiong Island’s property values continue rising – she planned to withdraw from Qiong Island by the end of 1990 anyway!

While Xia Xiao Lan worked on the project in Jiangcheng, Zhou Cheng eagerly awaited his wife’s visits. She managed to spend two or three days each month at his workplace while handling Qihang matters. As Jiangcheng’s winter faded, March arrived with cherry blossoms gradually blooming across the city – though they had no time for flower viewing, and due to historical reasons, Zhou Cheng didn’t particularly appreciate Jiangcheng’s cherry blossoms.

By the time the cherry blossoms had fallen, Qihang’s proposal was nearly complete.

Xia Xiao Lan felt somewhat dazed as she submitted their proposal to the Director.

After such intense focus, she’d lost track of time – suddenly it was April 1990, and the energetic 80s had passed!

In April 1990, Xia Xiao Lan was approaching 25.

In April 1990, Zhou Cheng turned 27.

Married for over two years, their relationship remained stable and sweet, without even minor arguments. Xia Xiao Lan wondered how they would handle disagreements in marriage, but they simply hadn’t encountered any conflicts – and she couldn’t manufacture disputes just to test their relationship!

On Zhou Cheng’s birthday, Xia Xiao Lan shared an idea she’d been considering:

“Should we think about having a child?”

Married for over two years, they’d been using contraception, with no pressure from anyone about children, and they hadn’t prioritized it themselves.

Now that Xia Xiao Lan brought it up, Zhou Cheng didn’t show overwhelming joy.

He wasn’t in a rush and carefully considered whether this was the best timing.

His work wouldn’t require leaving Qiong Island in the coming years, but what about her business?

If they couldn’t be together regularly, what could he do as a father after the child was born?

They couldn’t just leave everything to her, or dump the child on Mother Xia or Mother Guan Hui E – that would be highly irresponsible…

“What made you suddenly think about this? Did someone say something to you?”

Seeing Zhou Cheng’s concerns, Xia Xiao Lan gave him a look, “Nobody pressured me. I always thought we should wait until conditions were perfect, but now I realize conditions will never be completely perfect. No couple can achieve that – there’s always more work to do. At least we have a solid financial foundation… don’t look at me like that, I just realized I’m already 25, and I’m worried about having enough energy later.”

At 20, she had boundless energy, able to work through several nights drawing plans without issue.

At 25, after pushing herself through major projects for four or five months, Xia Xiao Lan felt genuinely tired.

No matter how strong one’s will, natural laws prevail – with age, her physical strength and energy would decline. Better to have children earlier while she still had the energy to provide them with a good education.

This reasoning convinced Zhou Cheng.

The couple agreed to stop contraception and try naturally for a baby.

Of course, they’d keep this from their parents – Zhou Cheng felt the elders would start monitoring when Xia Xiao Lan would conceive, creating pressure!

It was better to wait until she was pregnant – the elders would only be happy then… even his awkward father-in-law, who might dislike his son-in-law, surely wouldn’t reject his grandchild.