It was a dream to think she could show off her skills by rolling up her sleeves.

This wasn’t close-up magic!

Hans Hoffman wouldn’t expect an intern to lead the team to victory either – even TV dramas wouldn’t dare to portray GMP relying on an intern for success!

When Xia Xiaolan entered this office, no one paid her much attention – she was just there to assist Grey with odd jobs.

Throughout the afternoon, Hoffman kept proposing and then rejecting detailed concepts. Though his team was under his leadership, they weren’t merely following his orders – some still challenged his ideas.

While quietly doing her work, Xia Xiaolan was frantically absorbing the creative ideas of these experienced architects in the industry.

Hotels weren’t all alike.

While guesthouses and small inns could open anywhere, the more upscale hotels wanted to be memorable and distinguish themselves from their competitors.

An architect at the firm couldn’t complete a major project alone.

Someone was responsible for structural design.

Someone handled equipment design.

Others were in charge of landscape design, and later construction, woodwork… all these people together formed Hoffman’s team, with Hoffman as the overall leader.

In this way, it wasn’t much different from her experience in China – there was lots of discussion, while the tedious calculations and drawings were completed by others.

Of course, this was America, this was the GMP office, and Xia Xiaolan’s current position didn’t even qualify her as “others.”

“Others” referred to those who could have their names credited on the work, like “structural design by so-and-so”!

Despite having many assistants, Hoffman, who held the project’s soul, didn’t seem relaxed at all. Some details proposed by the team, which seemed fine to Xia Xiaolan and comparable to the five-star hotels she’d stayed at in her previous life, were still rejected by Hoffman.

Were Wilson Hotel’s standards really that high?

What Harold wanted to build – surely it couldn’t exceed five-star hotel standards!

Strangely, Xia Xiaolan had never heard of Wilson Hotels in her previous life. Perhaps they only existed in New York and Washington. It seemed Harold never developed Wilson Hotels into a famous chain – maybe his investment plans changed from hotels to something else, or perhaps Harold had the misfortune of going bankrupt, or was even shot by a gunman.

Xia Xiaolan pulled back from her wild speculations.

She knew that Chen Xiliang’s fate trajectory was already a coincidence. Since she truly didn’t know about Harold, she shouldn’t imagine how unfortunate others might have been in her previous life.

He was a foreign tycoon, while she had only reached the position of multinational company executive in Pengcheng – their paths would never have crossed.

Called into Hoffman’s office by Grey, Xia Xiaolan handled miscellaneous tasks for these architects who were racking their brains to win the Wilson Hotel project. If she were truly an inexperienced intern, she would have made mistakes in all the chaos – though Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t call herself a hidden expert, she was at least a workplace veteran who had been trained by Mao Kangshan and had adapted to GMP’s rhythm. This work couldn’t stump her.

Grey had just grabbed any available helper – it happened to be Xia Xiaolan, but it could have been Matthew.

Grey hadn’t expected much.

Who would have thought Xia Xiaolan would perform so well?

This intern from Cornell University turned out to be quite capable. Xia Xiaolan seemed familiar with office equipment, responded quickly, understood professional terminology, and didn’t annoy people with constant questions.

Of course, that was the extent of Grey’s thoughts – it just meant Xia Xiaolan had made a good first impression on her first day.

As for others, they probably hadn’t even remembered Xia Xiaolan’s name.

That day, they worked until 9 PM. Only after Grey’s persuasion did Hoffman decide to go home and rest for the night. Once the boss left, others could leave too. On her first day, Xia Xiaolan had already encountered overtime at the firm.

It was exhausting indeed.

But particularly fulfilling.

Matthew probably envied her for being this tired.

Xia Xiaolan hummed while driving. She had already found housing, which wasn’t too troublesome. The apartment where Xu Jing and Ma Hai lived wasn’t too far from the GMP office. Knowing she would come to New York for a two-month internship, she had asked Xu Jing to check with the apartment manager about vacant units. After receiving confirmation, she asked Daisy if she wanted to share.

Daisy naturally wouldn’t refuse, preferring a longer commute to work just to live together.

“I hope Daisy has already tidied up the apartment.”

Traffic wasn’t bad at night, and Xia Xiaolan reached the apartment before 10 PM.

She collected the keys from the apartment manager and found her room number.

As soon as she opened the door, she was sprayed with streamers.

“This is a surprise for you! Xia, how was your day at GMP?”

Wiping the streamers from her face, she discovered not only Daisy but also Xu Jing and Ma Hai, those two homebodies who had left their rooms. Three silly… well, three silly faces appeared before her.

Besides the streamers, there was cake and cold food on the table.

“Oh, Daisy, senior schoolmates, you’re too thoughtful! It’s just an internship, come on, you’re being too dramatic! Daisy, aren’t you starting at Foster tomorrow? Should I throw you a celebration too?”

Ma Hai rubbed his hands:

“We thought you’d be home around 7, or 8 at the latest. We didn’t expect you to work so late on your first day of internship. This was all three of our ideas.”

Friendship doesn’t need many conditions – people with mutual acquaintances can always find common topics.

When Xia Xiaolan decided to move to this building, Xu Jing and Ma Hai couldn’t remain indifferent.

They helped Daisy clean the apartment and quickly became familiar with her. Throwing Xia Xiaolan at a welcome party was Ma Hai’s suggestion – he was more shrewd, knowing to be enthusiastic about the “investor’s daughter” – why could the three of them find common ground? All three had received help from Xia Xiaolan, so they naturally agreed!

Xia Xiaolan was touched.

Even though she had eaten a simple dinner during overtime at the company, she joined the three for another meal.

They reheated the food together, shared cake and drinks, and Xia Xiaolan talked about her experiences at GMP today, making Daisy laugh:

“So Matthew Carlton is that kind of person! You couldn’t tell at all. No wonder Jonathan was unhappy being his teammate. Carlton just wants to take advantage of others. Seeing you get recognized by Ms. Grey must have made him furious!”

He was upset, though Matthew hadn’t exploded yet – after all, it was only the first day.

Both Xu Jing and Ma Hai had been drinking. Xu Jing hiccupped:

“Junior Sister Xia, give us a little more time. We’re in the final debugging stage. One month, just one more month, I promise you’ll see the mature product!”

Ma Hai slurred, “No, no need for a month, just half a month. In half a month, we’ll show Junior Sister Xia the finished product. You’ll be shocked!”