If they had so little faith in her, why send her abroad at all?

Zhou Yi wanted to argue but opened and closed her mouth without speaking.

She had been raised in wealth since childhood. Though she never lacked food or clothes, and without any career ambitions, she only threw her weight around within Beijing’s boundaries. She wasn’t truly bad – even when bullying others, she only went halfway. She never actually needed to fight just hung around aimlessly with Li Li’s group.

Fooling around until her twenties, her boldest action was secretly seeking out Yuan Han.

That was the farthest she’d ever ventured from Beijing.

Now that Zhou Wengang wanted her to go abroad alone, Zhou Yi truly lacked confidence in handling it.

How much could she improve her English in such a short time?

Without knowing anyone abroad, she really… didn’t dare to go.

Understanding this point made Zhou Yi certain to keep quiet. After all, she wasn’t the one asking Xiao Lan for help this time – it was her father’s idea, she was just following orders!

It’s just making a phone call, right?

She’d do it!

What could Xiao Lan do to her anyway?

Zhou Yi felt quite helpless.

She had thought Jiang Yan would take over while Xiao Lan was abroad for a year, but it only caused small ripples before returning to silence. Zhou Cheng remained as loyal as a wolf-dog remotely kept by Xiao Lan, her parents were still firmly under Xiao Lan’s influence, and even for sending her abroad, they had to choose America where Xiao Lan was!

The Zhou family seemed influenced by Xiao Lan from top to bottom. With her inferior position, Zhou Yi could only fall silent and obediently follow Zhou Wengang’s arrangements.

Zhou Yi had to admit, that when it came to academics, Xiao Lan completely outshone all the younger Zhou family members.

This was truly a depressing fact!

Thinking about Xiao Lan’s glorious path from China to abroad made Zhou Yi dejected.

…

Zhou Yi was wrong – Xiao Lan wasn’t having a glorious time lately.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for Hoffman to meet Harold again.

Though Xiao Lan hadn’t participated in the design, Hoffman insisted on bringing her to the Wilson Hotel.

“Can you explain it to the client?”

Hoffman meant, that since she had “participated” throughout the office, she should be of some use.

Xiao Lan felt dejected inside but maintained a sincere smile: “Yes, Mr. Hoffman, no problem!”

Having observed everything, she knew the team’s overall design approach and could certainly explain it. What frustrated Xiao Lan was Hoffman using her as a mascot.

Taking her along was simply to show Harold that GMP truly valued his proposal by adding Xiao Lan to the team – Xiao Lan got the reputation for nothing, as this design had absolutely nothing to do with her!

Worse than being a mascot was running into P&W’s group at the Wilson Hotel.

Mr. Holmes, who had been a judge at the C·W design competition, led the team, with several people behind him, including Ning Xue.

Ning Xue had climbed up so quickly, already involved in project design?!

Well, Holmes had invited both her and Ning Xue to P&W after graduation, indirectly acknowledging their abilities.

Xiao Lan had declined P&W’s invitation because she needed to return to China.

Ning Xue wasn’t in a hurry to return home, so interning at P&W was a perfect match, naturally earning Mr. Holmes’s appreciation.

Xiao Lan felt quite envious.

Unaware of the situation, Ning Xue saw Xiao Lan with GMP’s people and similarly assumed Xiao Lan was involved in project design. GMP was Ning Xue’s top choice, and seeing Xiao Lan fitting in so well, she felt a slight envy too.

Instead of the expected tension, when Holmes and Hoffman met, they chatted for a while.

Though they worked at different architectural firms, New York wasn’t that big – they surely knew each other. In public, would they act like immature kids ignoring each other? Some business flattery was necessary, plus they could spy on the competition.

Holmes shook Hoffman’s hand and glanced at Xiao Lan, “Oh, how is Xia adapting at GMP? She showed mature architectural design abilities in the C·W competition. I invited her to intern at P&W, but I didn’t expect she’d choose GMP!”

Holmes still felt slightly regretful.

Finding someone talented, he naturally wanted to cultivate them for his firm.

But Ning Xue was equally excellent, the gap between second and first place was negligible, just due to the judges’ different preferences. With Xiao Lan not joining P&W, having Ning Xue wasn’t bad. During Ning Xue’s internship days at P&W, Holmes increasingly confirmed his judgment was correct.

Holmes spoke sincerely, and Hoffman nodded vigorously:

“Indeed! Xia is performing very well at GMP!”

But internally he was criticizing – was Holmes truly unaware of the truth? Bah, he was a judge at that C·W competition, without the judges’ cooperation, how could Harold Wilson have made Xiao Lan the competition winner?

Hoffman thought Holmes was being sarcastic.

Sarcastic about GMP knowingly bringing along someone with connections to meet clients, engaging in unfair competition.

Hoffman didn’t want this either.

As just a senior architect, Neil had to follow the partners’ wishes. Kissinger didn’t care about architects’ pride – from a partner’s perspective, GMP had to win the Wilson Hotel project.

After years in the industry, Hoffman had to accept this reality – sometimes winning projects depended on more than just design, with many factors influencing bid results.

But at heart, from an architect’s standpoint, Hoffman particularly hated these “factors” beyond design.

He had to bring Xiao Lan along.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to like her, because her very existence violated the fair rules of architectural design!

After exchanging pleasantries, Holmes left with his group.

Passing by Xiao Lan, Ning Xue nodded and gave her an extra glance.

Strange, able to come with GMP’s architects, yet Xiao Lan didn’t seem very happy?

Xiao Lan would be crazy to be happy.

Hoffman had almost directly told her to “know her place” and remember her mascot role.

No, this couldn’t continue!

Just before entering the conference room, Xiao Lan stopped, “Sir, are you sure you want me to explain later?”

If not explaining, why bring you along?

Hoffman frowned: “If you’re unwilling, just sit quietly beside me.”

Xiao Lan shook her head, “No, I’m willing to explain, I just want to express my own views, can I elaborate a bit?”

Of course not!

This intern had gone mad!

She had already crossed Hoffman’s bottom line!

Wasn’t being a quiet mascot the tacit understanding between both parties?

He had already provided Xiao Lan with an independent desk, let her work regular hours, and let her sit at the long table observing the team’s creative design process… now, Xiao Lan was demanding more.

Hoffman’s expression turned very ugly:

“Xia, perhaps you should return to the office now, or even go home to rest, you’re not feeling well today-“

The conference room door opened.

“Mr. Harold invites everyone in.”

Xiao Lan blinked, and Hoffman wanted to hit someone. Even after entering the conference room, he was still warning her with his eyes: This is important business for the firm, don’t mess around!