Xia Xiao Lan had truly tried her best.

Worked hard at refusing.

She thought Kissinger would be angry, but unexpectedly, though disappointed, the partner immediately brightened up:

“Never mind if he didn’t stay! You’re in charge of Mrs. Wilson’s commission. I’d like Nigel to work with you on this, what do you think? If you don’t like working with Nigel, there’s Gordon… oh, and we also have Lisa!”

Lisa was a female architect at GMP who had previously participated in designing Wilson’s new hotel.

In this industry, it was truly difficult for female architects to rise.

Watching Kissinger arrange collaborating architects for Xia Xiao Lan, he only remembered to include Lisa as an afterthought.

“Then let’s go with Lisa. We’ve worked together before, we should be a good match.”

Lisa wasn’t a senior architect and wasn’t considered outstanding in Hoffman’s team. For this very reason, she wouldn’t take away Xia Xiao Lan’s leadership authority.

Xia Xiao Lan needed someone to collaborate with, not a superior to boss her around.

After all, she had enough to worry about with the Wilsons’ possible ulterior motives. There was no reason for her to take the hit and then have the opera renovation project’s leadership stolen by an assertive collaborating architect – what would be the point?

“And there’s Matthew. I need Matthew Carlton as an assistant; we work well together.”

Oh, the other intern is called Matthew.

Such interns, Xia Xiao Lan wouldn’t mind having a dozen of them – they were just doing odd jobs at the firm anyway.

“Alright, tomorrow take your team to Broadway 53rd Street for on-site measurements. Once all the data is collected, prepare a concept design proposal for Mrs. Wilson to review. We’ll discuss the next steps after she confirms.”

Mrs. Wilson had provided the address and some photos, but the specific renovation plans and budget were closely tied to GMP’s proposal. Without precise measurement data and knowledge of the site conditions, everything was pointless.

Xia Xiao Lan understood this process clearly.

So that meant she had to go to Broadway tomorrow?

She’d just returned from there yesterday and wondered how Zhou Yi was doing.

…

Zhou Yi wasn’t doing as badly as Xia Xiao Lan imagined.

The language barrier made her very anxious.

At least she had money in her pocket – eating at the cafeteria, $1,000 would last quite a while.

Zhou Yi’s dormitory roommate was from the Middle East, already at level 107, with adequate English for daily communication, though she seemed somewhat ill-tempered.

She often slammed the door when coming and going; Zhou Yi couldn’t understand this awful habit.

Apart from her roommate’s bad temper the language barrier, and falling behind the language teacher’s pace on the first day of class, Zhou Yi was quite satisfied with everything else.

On her first night at language school, Zhou Yi remembered to report her safe arrival back home.

Zhou Wen Bang answered the phone, naturally encouraging her to study hard in America:

“Xiao Lan said you’ve been doing very well in America, very independent. At least you haven’t disappointed me. Hope you can keep it up!”

Zhou Yi was about to mention the language school, but Zhou Wen Bang’s interruption made her forget what she wanted to say.

Zhou Wen Bang rarely praised her; this already counted as praise.

Zhou Yi agreed with what her father said:

“Of course! I saw Xiao Lan was very busy with her internship at the firm, so I let her go back first. I can handle school matters myself.”

She had found the cafeteria and settled into the dormitory all by herself, without anyone’s help!

Zhou Yi deliberately ignored how complicated the process of finding the cafeteria had been.

She also forgot her initial intention to complain about her Middle Eastern roommate’s bad temper.

Zhou Wen Bang knew her bad habit of only accepting praise and not criticism, so he kept praising her intelligence.

“Since you want to return home anyway, get past the language barrier quickly. I believe it won’t take you too long.”

Zhou Yi patted her chest and promised to study diligently.

Zhou Wen Bang also reminded her to interact with schoolmates: “Don’t just socialize with Chinese people, or you’ll stay in your comfort zone. Without pressure, progress will be slow!”

Zhou Yi nodded at each of her father’s statements.

Before hanging up, she asked about her child.

Zhou Wen Bang was quite speechless, “She cried for a while last night, but your mother comforted her.”

Zhou Yi had wanted to call Yuan Han too.

Yuan Han was in such a remote place that taking calls was inconvenient. This time when Zhou Yi called, the voice on the other end had such a thick local accent that she couldn’t understand, and they seemed unable to understand Mandarin either. After a frustrating exchange of mutual incomprehension, Zhou Yi angrily hung up.

International calls were still very expensive.

After chatting more with her father, Zhou Yi, usually so free with money, felt concerned about phone charges for the first time.

Since she was still on the phone, Zhou Yi found the contact information Joan had given yesterday – the hotel where Joan would be staying in New York.

Joan had said to contact her once settled, so Zhou Yi decided to call.

Unexpectedly, Joan answered and said she was handling business nearby and could stop by to see Zhou Yi.

“Since you’ve successfully enrolled, let me treat you to a meal?”

Zhou Yi was delighted: “You helped me, I haven’t thanked you yet. I must treat you!”

Joan didn’t argue and readily agreed on a time with Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi waited less than 20 minutes at the school entrance before a taxi stopped, the window half-open revealing Joan’s meticulously made-up face.

The most beautiful person Zhou Yi had ever seen was Xia Xiao Lan.

But Xia Xiao Lan dressed very casually in daily life, absolutely not as refined as Joan.

“I’m here!”

Zhou Yi waved.

Ye Xiao Qiong removed the sunglasses from her nose bridge, “Get in, I’ll take you to a restaurant.”

Zhou Yi’s $1,000 was still mostly unspent, so she felt confident about any restaurant and followed Ye Xiao Qiong into the car.

Ye Xiao Qiong chose a mid-range restaurant, and when the bill came, Zhou Yi insisted on paying.

Seeing her carrying so much cash, Ye Xiao Qiong’s eyes flickered:

“It’s very unsafe to carry so much cash in America. You should deposit it in a bank and just use checks for daily expenses. Just carry some small bills.”

“Joan, thanks for reminding me. I haven’t had time to do that today.”

Zhou Yi knew she should put the money in the bank; she had read the safety manual Xia Xiao Lan gave her.

But with the language barrier, she was shy about handling such business.

No time was just an excuse – she was putting it off as long as she could.

Zhou Yi didn’t find using cash inconvenient.

She also didn’t trust her Middle Eastern roommate, so she carried all her belongings with her.

Ye Xiao Qiong smiled slightly but said nothing.

Apart from her family background being stronger than hers, Zhou Yi was truly worthless. How unfair fate was, that such a worthless person could casually change others’ destinies…

“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”

Ye Xiao Qiong walked out of the restaurant.

This restaurant wasn’t far from Zhou Yi’s school and was also close to Chinatown.

As night fell, evil was also breeding.

Seeing Ye Xiao Qiong alone, two men slowly approached her. Ye Xiao Qiong pulled out a small handgun:

“Do you want to rob me? You might have a chance to overpower me, or you might get shot… so why take the risk? I have a better idea here.”