Xia Xiaolan felt dazed after hanging up the phone.

However, as Tang Hongen had judged, there were too many things waiting for her to handle in America, leaving her little time to dwell on relationships. If things became distant with Zhou Cheng, she could put that matter aside and resolve it when they both had time.

She was indeed very busy today.

After the Wen family returned and had breakfast, Wen Manni was preparing to return to New York, but Professor Wen disagreed:

“You should help Xiaolan familiarize herself with Ithaca. Can’t you take one day off from work? The law firm can function without anyone for a day.”

Wen Manni looked over, and Xia Xiaolan quickly waved her hands: “No need, I have feet and a mouth, I can handle these things myself. I’m an adult!”

It was just her first time abroad in this life.

With a mouth to ask for directions and no language barrier, Xia Xiaolan felt she didn’t need to waste others’ time.

She had experience living independently – she wasn’t a helpless infant!

Wen Manni seemed relieved as well.

She still valued her work greatly.

Before leaving, Wen Manni gave Xia Xiaolan a business card:

“If you encounter any difficult situations, you can call me. Consultations are free.”

Lawyers were very useful in America, and reliable ones who didn’t overcharge were even rarer. Adding free consultations to that, Wen Manni was true as Xia Xiaolan had judged – cold outside but warm inside.

In Wen Manni’s eyes, Xia Xiaolan was just a young girl, not even graduating from university, so how mature could she be?

Xia Xiaolan accepted her kindness, “Connie, I might need your help. After I sort out things at school, could we have a long talk?”

Meeting a lawyer right after arriving in America – Xia Xiaolan thought this was a good start.

She would definitely need to go to San Francisco personally, but before that, she could get a lawyer’s help.

When it came to finding people, lawyers could sometimes be more effective than police.

She wouldn’t let Wen Manni waste her time for nothing – this matter would require payment.

Wen Manni thought it was about getting a driver’s license or buying a car, so she casually nodded before driving back to New York.

Hu Ying came out of the house, “You’re going to report to school today, right?”

“Yes, Aunt Hu, I want to report to school and then look around town. I’ll be living here for a year, so I need to familiarize myself with Ithaca.”

She couldn’t just shamelessly live at the Wen house and depend on them!

She needed to know where to shop. Although she wasn’t paying rent, she could share other daily expenses. After having two meals at the Wen house, Xia Xiaolan noticed their immigrant family had very Americanized dinners and breakfasts, so she had a general idea of what ingredients they needed.

Professor Wen was still recovering and didn’t need to work.

Hu Ying needed to take care of him and couldn’t drive Xia Xiaolan to school.

Fortunately, the Wen family had two spare bicycles, so Xia Xiaolan could ride to school. Cornell University was the largest building complex in all of Ithaca, so she couldn’t possibly get lost.

This year, Cornell’s spring semester started on January 15th American time. Xia Xiaolan was technically late in reporting today, but as an exchange student, she was allowed to report before February 18th – the Education Department had to accommodate most students’ schedules when arranging overseas travel, and most American universities started their spring semesters in February, so this timing was just right.

Professor Wen was supposed to take her to school, but when Mao Kangshan had arranged it, he didn’t know Professor Wen had recently been seriously ill.

Xia Xiaolan rode out, observing the town’s environment. The infrastructure here was excellent – it would probably take China 20 years to catch up.

But America had passed this growth period, and its growth rate would slow down afterward. China later caught the world’s attention precisely because of its impressive economic growth rate.

She rode to the university, which was frighteningly large, and had to ask for directions constantly.

It took all morning to complete the procedures.

She received a course schedule that clearly showed which classes she needed to take.

Textbooks had to be bought separately.

This expense wasn’t included in what the Education Department covered. The clerk kindly told Xia Xiaolan she could buy used books:

“It can save you a lot of money!”

Chinese students?

They all seemed not very wealthy.

The person was genuinely trying to help because university textbooks in America were really expensive!

Textbooks were extremely non-standardized – whatever each professor wanted to teach, their designated textbooks were monopolized by certain publishers who set their prices. Thinking of not buying or finding similar substitute textbooks? Dream on! No one dared risk their grades, as professors assigned homework from their designated textbooks!

Moreover, substitute textbooks might not be cheaper either, as they might be designated by professors at other universities.

A second-hand book market naturally emerged, where students who had completed courses sold their textbooks. If you wanted to save money, you could buy from them.

But publishers weren’t stupid. To protect their interests, they kept printing new editions.

In each new edition, diagrams changed, page numbers were shuffled, and homework problems were updated, making it very troublesome to cross-reference old and new textbooks.

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered with this hassle and directly bought new books.

The school had a bookstore where she could find most books on her course list. Each course required three or four books, adding up to quite a lot. The professional books were thick and expensive, costing Xia Xiaolan over 700 dollars… While she could afford this easily, for regular scholarship students who relied on scholarships and part-time work while the country paid their tuition, 700 dollars would be heart-wrenching.

This wasn’t a small amount at all. Hu Ying, worried that Xia Xiaolan might not understand American prices as a newcomer, had specifically told her about some costs.

For instance, Hu Ying and Professor Wen’s weekly living expenses were between 70-80 dollars, which covered food for both of them.

The books Xia Xiaolan bought for one semester could cover the Wen couple’s food expenses for 10 weeks!

To make it even clearer, converted to Chinese currency at the official exchange rate of 3.45, it was almost 3,000 yuan, just for a few textbooks.

That was incredibly expensive even by domestic standards – Xia Xiaolan had once spent over 10,000 yuan to donate many books to Anqing First High School’s library!

“Public-funded students are still okay, but self-funded students who can’t get scholarships – I don’t know how they manage to live in America…”

Xia Xiaolan muttered. The high value of knowledge was particularly evident in America – the money spent on textbooks could almost buy a used car.

She had been riding along normally when she suddenly squeezed the brakes.

Running into an old acquaintance on the first day!

Ning Xue was carrying books and chatting with several white students along the way. She had reported according to the regular spring semester start date and had already been studying architecture at Cornell for a month.

While Xia Xiaolan was still like a headless fly, Ning Xue had adapted to life at Cornell.

She looked up and saw Xia Xiaolan too.

She smiled at Xia Xiaolan but didn’t especially come over to exchange pleasantries, instead turning back to continue talking with her white classmates.

– Oh, so Student Ning Xue had already made herself at home?