When Li Xiang went back to the garage looking for Xu Jing and Ma Hai, they had already emptied it completely.

The garage was completely vacant and cleaned thoroughly. Having lost two tenants, the landlady asked Li Xiang if she liked the garage: “You’re also a student, do you know any students looking to rent?”

Li Xiang endured Mrs. Maltz’s body odor, “Introducing tenants isn’t a problem, but could you tell me where they moved to?”

Mrs. Maltz grumbled: “Did you forget something else at Xu’s place? You’re such a strange person, always leaving things at your ex-boyfriend’s home!”

Mrs. Maltz’s suspicious gaze made Li Xiang’s stomach churn.

“So you don’t know where they went?”

Mrs. Maltz’s face broke into a smile: “Nothing’s free in America, we believe in fair exchange. You find me, tenants, I’ll tell you Xu’s new address!”

Li Xiang suspected Mrs. Maltz was playing with her.

She gave some perfunctory responses and decided to ask other international students instead.

But after asking around, surprisingly no one knew where Xu Jing and Ma Hai had moved to.

Unable to track them down, Li Xiang focused her attention on Xia Xiaolan, but did Xia Xiaolan have time for her? After ten phone calls, ten times no one was home, regardless of morning, noon, or night, Li Xiang could never find Xia Xiaolan!

“Is Cornell University really that busy?”

Li Xiang was skeptical.

The gathering she’d mentioned was a made-up lie, completely baseless, but since Xia Xiaolan had agreed to come, Li Xiang certainly had to organize it.

It didn’t need to be as large as last time, but still required a venue, drinks, and food – how could you have a party without these things? Unlike when Li Xiang was back in China where buying things was inconvenient, goods weren’t restricted in America… but it still cost money!

Li Xiang found the venue and notified everyone, but just couldn’t reach Xia Xiaolan.

She had a nagging suspicion that Xia Xiaolan was playing her but didn’t want to admit it.

She was several years older than Xia Xiaolan.

In terms of social experience, she had come abroad earlier than Xia Xiaolan.

Other international students weren’t as difficult to deal with as Xia Xiaolan!

Li Yong sighed, “It’s over, she’s already on guard against us. You won’t be able to invite her. See if we can approach from another angle, in a less obvious way.”

…

Xia Xiaolan was deliberately playing with Li Xiang.

But when Li Xiang kept calling the Wen residence looking for her, it wasn’t that Xia Xiaolan was avoiding her – after returning to Ithaca, she had become busy.

Professor McCarthy’s second assignment!

Somehow, Xia Xiaolan’s bet with Jonathan and others had spread beyond the classroom. Not only did the architecture majors know about it, but when Xia Xiaolan met Daniel on campus, he also asked: “Jonathan is impressive, of course, you’re great too, Xia, daring to challenge top students as soon as you arrived at Cornell.”

Daniel always spoke so pleasantly.

Xia Xiaolan felt slightly comforted: “What are others saying?”

Daniel held back his laughter: “People are betting on who will win between you and Jonathan. I heard even Professor McCarthy knows about it.”

“…!”

Xia Xiaolan felt uneasy: “Do you know how Professor McCarthy commented on it?”

Daniel finally couldn’t hold back his laughter: “Oh, how do you hope he’d comment? He can’t even get your names right… On this point, I don’t understand – Xia, how could anyone forget your name!”

Only a blind person could forget Xia Xiaolan!

Even gay people would look at Xia Xiaolan a few extra times out of competitiveness.

“Danny, stop winking at me. I’ve heard others say you want to date me, but we both know that’s impossible!”

Daniel expressed his distress: “That’s because when I first invited you, you rejected me saying you had a boyfriend. Xia, Nancy saw an Asian man following you last time, just slightly taller than you – was that your boyfriend?”

Nancy’s actual words were that a skinny Chinese man was sticking to Xia Xiaolan like cheese.

Du Zhaohui?

Xia Xiaolan shook her head, “No, that’s not him. He’s just a friend from China. If there’s a chance, I’d like to introduce my boyfriend to you all. He’s very handsome and charismatic!”

“There will be chances. I want to have a drink with him. He picked the most beautiful rose in the garden – it makes one envious.”

Daniel seemed to be joking but with a hint of seriousness.

His playful expression of interest didn’t put pressure on Xia Xiaolan. After all, she would never accept Daniel’s dinner invitations. In America, lunch between a man and woman meant friendship, but if they arranged dinner alone, that suggested the possibility of further development.

Wen Manni had told Xia Xiaolan about this social rule early on.

If you don’t plan to accept a man’s goodwill, don’t agree to dinner invitations – it’s a signal allowing them to launch their offensive!

Xia Xiaolan recalled that she had made this mistake in Hong Kong.

When Tang Yuanyue invited her to dinner alone, although she had a clear conscience, if she had refused, it wouldn’t have caused so much trouble.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t make this mistake again.

Even Professor McCarthy knew about her bet with Jonathan and the others, and Xia Xiaolan felt quite pressured.

“Let me ask one more thing – of the people betting on my match with Jonathan, are there many betting on me to win?”

Daniel put on a serious face, “Xia, don’t worry about others. At least I bet on you to win!”

“…Thanks.”

Damn, he shouldn’t have said anything – did that mean everyone else bet on her to lose?

“Danny, you’re right. Since you’ve already bet on me to win, why not increase your stakes? Truth is often in the hands of the minority – you definitely won’t regret it!”

The ones who should regret it are those who bet against her!

You don’t have any vision at all – serves you right to lose everything!

Watching Xia Xiaolan run off like a gust of wind to find her team members, Daniel wanted to laugh. He wasn’t joking – he wanted to date Xia Xiaolan. Besides her stunning beauty, that vibrant energy about her was truly captivating.

Being with Xia Xiaolan would never be boring.

Daniel felt his earlier description wasn’t quite right – she wasn’t the most beautiful rose in the garden, she was more like a wildflower growing freely in the wilderness, without any constraints.

Xia Xiaolan gathered all her team members:

“Have you heard? People at school are betting on our competition with Jonathan’s group, and even Professor McCarthy knows about it.”

“Xia, I heard about it long ago but didn’t dare tell you…”

Xia Xiaolan waved her hand:

“No, no, no, this is pressure, but it’s also good. If we win – no, I said it wrong, there’s no ‘if’ – we will win! When we win, it will tell everyone we’re not losers, and it will tell Professor McCarthy that we deserve to be remembered, to have our names called correctly!”

Daisy stammered: “Will… will we?”

Xia Xiaolan looked at their half-completed assignment:

“Let’s play for high stakes. Let’s start over from scratch. Now, don’t think of ourselves as students. Imagine we’re from the same firm and a client has commissioned us to design a commercial plaza…”