Xia Xiaolan was too outstanding – just her presence put pressure on Zhou Yi, let alone when she did something. Zhou Yi became even more worried… In the past, Jiang Hong had repeatedly belittled Xia Xiaolan, but now they were close. How could Zhou Yi not be afraid? It was as if even her parents were being stolen away by Xia Xiaolan!

Xia Xiaolan had vaguely sensed this.

She thought Zhou Yi was overthinking it.

Zhou Yi was the daughter Jiang Hong had carried for ten months, the only daughter of Zhou Wengang and Jiang Hong. Zhou Yi didn’t need to be overly filial – as long as she didn’t completely disappoint Zhou Wengang and Jiang Hong, parents would always be lenient with their children and look out for Zhou Yi!

When making demands of parents, one should first consider what they’ve done for their parents. Unless the child was completely worthless, how could parents ignore their child to favor someone else?

Not even one in ten thousand birth parents would turn out like Xia Dajun.

Xia Xiaolan knew clearly that Old Tang loved her dearly, but that was love by association, stemming from their relationship and Ji Jiangyuan’s indifference toward Old Tang.

If Ji Jiangyuan had ever accepted Old Tang’s care and gotten closer to him, Old Tang’s affection for her would have been cut in half at least!

If such a day ever came, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t feel lost. Everyone needed to understand their place – it was only natural for Old Tang to love Ji Jiangyuan.

Old Tang had tried his best to cultivate a father-son relationship with Ji Jiangyuan, but for every step Old Tang took forward, Ji Jiangyuan took one back, leading to today’s awkward situation between father and son.

Zhou Yi was different from Ji Jiangyuan.

Ji Jiangyuan and Old Tang were emotionally distant, but before Zhou Yi lost her senses, she had been very close to her parents.

That’s why Zhou Wengang and Jiang Hong would get angry and disappointed, but would never truly give up on Zhou Yi – perhaps they had given up for a while, but when Zhou Yi faced danger during childbirth at the hospital, faced with life and death, Zhou Wengang and Jiang Hong forgot their past grievances.

Leaving the restaurant, Zhou Yi was tipsy. Xia Xiaolan, who hadn’t drunk because she had to drive, stood with Qi Wei on either side as they helped Zhou Yi into the car.

Watching Zhou Yi sleep soundly, Qi Wei suddenly spoke:

“Sometimes I envy Zhou Yi. If I were as lucky as her, I would cherish what I have and work hard to live a more wonderful life!”

Others had to beg to study and help with studying.

So many people envied Zhou Yi’s chance to study abroad…

“You don’t need to envy her. She has a good family background, but it’s uncertain whether she can stand on her own. If you don’t work hard yourself, when you look back on your life decades later, living in confusion is far less exciting than building something from nothing through your efforts.”

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t just comforting Qi Wei – she truly believed this.

Different starting points didn’t guarantee different endpoints!

Zhou Yi and Qi Wei were about the same age, both just beginning their lives. By the time they reached the end, Zhou Yi might not live as well as Qi Wei.

These things were hard to predict. Zhou Wengang and Jiang Hong couldn’t look after Zhou Yi forever, neither could Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng. In the end, everyone could only rely on themselves.

“I believe in you. Zhou Yi was born lucky, but you work hard for success. You’re my role model. I’m sorry, I asked Zhou Yi about some of your background before. I hope you don’t mind.”

Qi Wei was very honest.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t discourage such positivity.

Was being reborn really that impressive?

Xia Xiaolan didn’t think so.

Among those who hadn’t been reborn, some became high officials, some became wealthy, some became academic leaders… While the starting line was important, effort and opportunity mattered more. Qi Wei was now an ordinary international student, but her position in 10 or 20 years wasn’t set in stone.

“Keep going, this is a good era.”

Xia Xiaolan waved to Qi Wei.

Supporting the drunk Zhou Yi, Qi Wei watched Xia Xiaolan’s car disappear.

Drunk people were really heavy, like carrying a corpse.

Qi Wei glared fiercely at the drunk Zhou Yi, “Such poor drinking etiquette! If you don’t pass the 106-level test, you’ll be sorry!”

After her outburst, she found herself amusing.

She sounded just like an old mother.

Damn it, she was only in her twenties, but Zhou Yi had forced her to develop a mother’s mentality!

…

Zhou Yi’s treat hadn’t been wasted.

The test results came out the next day – Zhou Yi had successfully passed the 106-level test. Not only was Qi Wei excited, but Xia Xiaolan was also quite pleased.

“Sister Zhou Yi, keep up the good work!”

By then, Xia Xiaolan had returned to Ithaca.

She naturally stayed at Professor Wen’s house again. After her absence of so many days, Professor Wen and Hu Ying had felt something missing.

With Xia Xiaolan’s return, the Wen household regained some of its homely atmosphere.

On Xia Xiaolan’s first day back at school, Daisy grabbed her arm, “Xia, if you hadn’t come back, our group would have been completely wiped out. Recently, Professor McCarthy’s emotions have been fluctuating terribly, his class is several times stricter than before… In the last class, even Ning received criticism. While you were away, Ning was the professor’s favorite student!”

Nonsense, even when she was at school, she couldn’t compare to Ning Xue’s position in Professor McCarthy’s heart.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t jealous.

Her decision not to continue her studies at Cornell had made the Dark Lord quite unhappy.

Moreover, Ning Xue’s pursuit of architecture was purer than hers.

Dragged into the classroom by Daisy, Xia Xiaolan pointed to her backpack:

“Let’s have lunch together, call Richard and Lyle too. I brought you all the gifts.”

Gifts?

Daisy thought it might be Chinese silk scarves or other specialties like before, but Xia Xiaolan looked mysterious: “No, better gifts than that. I think you’ll like them.”

This made Daisy incredibly excited, and she kept trying to guess with Lyle what Xia Xiaolan’s gifts might be.

Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t let them guess. She deliberately kept the three in suspense until lunchtime, when she finally brought out the “gifts” – they were photographs she had taken in Shenzhen.

At first, Daisy was smiling as she flipped through them, but after two photos, her movements slowed, incredulous:

“Xia, is this… this is insane, please tell me this is real!”

“Let me see.”

“Give me one, oh, are these photographs of buildings?”

Yes, photographs of buildings. The main structure in the photos was complete, with scaffolding not yet removed, but the basic outline was clear.

“You’re not seeing things, I swear this is real.”

Xia Xiaolan’s words hit the three like a hammer to the heart.

Having been involved in the design from start to finish, how could the three not recognize that the building in the photos was their “Electronics Plaza” design – although Xia Xiaolan had mentioned before that the Electronics Plaza was being built in China, seeing is believing. When they saw the construction site photos of the Electronics Plaza, the three couldn’t contain their emotions!

This was their first design to be built.

Even if the three had the chance to become top architects winning the Pritzker Architecture Prize in the future, their first built work would still hold extraordinary meaning.

Especially having a design built while still in their sophomore year – this was undoubtedly the best encouragement for the three.

Were they suited for studying architecture?

Of course!

Their work was already being built – there was no doubt about that.

Daisy held the photos, “Xia, this is the best gift I’ve ever received!”