It was “Electronic Plaza”!

On the projection screen, the design of “Electronic Plaza” was enlarged. “Sky Forest Garden” and “The Cliff Library” were removed.

“Electronic Plaza” wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as the forest garden. Nor did it have the ethereal aura of the cliff library. But when projected large, one could understand why it won instead of the forest garden or library.

Dick was right – it had a grounded sense of reality. It didn’t need to rely on background terrain; it could be built on any open space following the blueprints. Was it not beautiful? It resembled the pedestrian commercial plazas common in America, yet was more than that. In Dick’s words, the planning was mature.

His insistence on choosing “Electronic Plaza” as the champion came from this perspective. No matter how beautiful architectural drawings are, they must ultimately manifest as real buildings. Architecture shouldn’t win through gimmicks – while pursuing art and beauty, it must remain practical and realistic!

Why not “Electronic Plaza”? It had a maturity other works lacked. The championship was well-deserved!

“Congratulations,” Harold announced the result and, while others were still stunned, extended his hand to Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t too surprised. When Professor McCarthy said he voted for the work with the highest overall score, she was already 80% confident “Electronic Plaza” had won.

Where did Ning Xue fall short? Her parameters couldn’t have been wrong. Xia Xiaolan suspected Ning Xue had surveyed a cliff for her building’s background. She would have been certain about the geology and rock hardness.

Ning Xue lost on comprehensive scoring… She might have published papers and attended seminars in China, but she hadn’t led any large project designs. She lacked practical experience.

These judges’ eyes were too sharp – they could grasp key points just from the works themselves.

As Xia Xiaolan thought this, her hand met Harold’s. Perhaps for a few seconds, their hands naturally separated. Harold didn’t do anything excessive or take advantage. Very grateful.

After shaking hands with Xia Xiaolan, he also shook hands with Daisy, Richard, Lyle, and second-place winner Ning Xue. He even said many encouraging words to second-place Ning Xue – truly impeccable.

Poor Daisy was dazed, unsure whether to slap herself to prove she wasn’t dreaming. Harold was probably the most charismatic man she’d ever been close to. Zhou Cheng didn’t count – Daisy had never touched his hand.

“Champion!”

“Yes, we won the championship!”

Lyle was also crazy with excitement. While Harold was still presenting the trophy to Xia Xiaolan, Lyle pushed past him and rushed toward the judges’ panel.

“Professor! Professor McCarthy, please remember my name – I’m Lyle! We won the championship!”

Another young man is driven mad by Professor McCarthy’s torment. If the Dark Lord’s intimidating presence wasn’t so deeply ingrained, Lyle would have knocked over the table to give Professor McCarthy a big bear hug.

This guy wasn’t even thinking about how to spend his share of the $50,000 prize money, or whether Mr. Dick from Foster’s firm would buy the design rights to “Electronic Plaza” after the competition… He just wanted to introduce himself to Professor McCarthy – his obsession was obvious!

Professor McCarthy disgustedly stepped back. He felt tiny droplets of saliva hit his face. This had never happened before – no student had dared get so close to him. They would only let tears fall onto the podium floor, never spray spittle at him!

“You need to calm down! You know who the main designer of ‘Electronic Plaza’ is!”

Lyle nearly cried. He knew the main designer was Xia. Without her joining and leading them, he’d just be a member of the Loser squad. They wouldn’t even have made the finals, let alone won, even if they’d had the courage to compete!

But the professor was too harsh, speaking such truth in front of everyone. Though he wasn’t the main designer, he was still an assistant. Winning the C·W championship wasn’t enough to be remembered by Professor McCarthy? Would he graduate from Cornell without achieving this honor?

Professor Lipton disapprovingly looked at McCarthy. Making this chubby kid cry on the awards stage, sobbing messily with reporters watching below – wasn’t that embarrassing?

Professor McCarthy very reluctantly conceded: “The semester isn’t over yet. I only remember students who get A’s on finals.”

So could they now happily accept the championship trophy?

Professor McCarthy shooed him away like a fly. Daisy pulled Lyle back: “Silly, the professor means he’ll remember you when we get A’s on finals… I think he already remembers you, he just wants us to complete our bet with Heidi and Jonathan! God, we won the championship – how could we not get A’s!”

“…”

McCarthy didn’t think that was what he meant, at least not entirely.

However, Lyle had already been convinced by Daisy and was dragged away jubilantly.

Harold held the trophy, having guessed the beginning but not the ending of this story. He had painstakingly arranged this architectural design competition for the sake of “fate.”

Xia Xiaolan not only made it to the finals but won the championship. This followed Harold’s expectations. What a perfect script!

Damn it – even more unacceptable to Harold than Xia Xiaolan bringing her Chinese boyfriend to the awards ceremony was her choice of team members.

Where in Cornell had Xia Xiaolan dug up these three? Couldn’t they tone down their acting? They were meant to be cannon fodder, yet they were stealing scenes from the lead roles!

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help laughing. Lyle’s emotions were genuine, seemingly disrupting Mr. Harold’s dignified demeanor. What could she do? She really wanted to laugh too.

With chaos on stage, Harold had no choice but to push the trophy into Xia Xiaolan’s hands: “Just laugh if you want to. I can see you’re struggling to hold it in!”

Xia Xiaolan’s shoulders shook slightly: “I’m sorry, laughing now is a bit much. I’m very grateful you sponsored this competition. Winning the championship has helped my friends rebuild their confidence! Thank you, sincerely!”

Getting a sincere thank you from Xia Xiaolan wasn’t easy. For this, spending a little money and an unexpectedly chaotic awards ceremony became acceptable.

Oh, and Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend was watching from below. This thought made Harold even happier.

On the awards stage, Harold was floating with delight.

Below, Zhou Cheng wasn’t jealous. He was happy about Xia Xiaolan’s win and found Lyle, Daisy, and the others amusing. Harold’s “provocation” was too childish for Zhou Cheng to bother with.

Until Zhou Cheng turned his gaze and happened to see a familiar figure – wasn’t that Hector from the club last night?

Though foreigners all looked similar, Hector was someone he’d just met last night, and being ex-Marines, Zhou Cheng could remember him.

Why was Hector here?

Just as Zhou Cheng had this thought, he noticed something odd about Hector’s hand position. His right hand was reaching into his jacket as if to pull something out… What if it was a gun?

—Xiaolan was still on stage!