Xu Zhongyi glanced at Xu Changle; both father and son felt they could manage the 10 million yuan budget.

“No problem, you can proceed with this budget.”

Xia Xiaolan was immediately delighted:

“Then I’ll plan and design according to this budget, and show you the first draft within half a month.”

“Fine, we’ll need to sign a contract with your firm. I’ll have Changle handle it.”

To date, Xia Xiaolan’s firm has only handled one major project, “Luohu Tiancheng.” The remaining small jobs were brought in by the firm’s two architects, Kong Yongquan and Hou Qi, through their connections.

These barely covered part of the firm’s daily expenses, and the firm still relied on Xia Xiaolan’s subsidies, not yet reaching profitability.

The “Luohu Tiancheng” project, being an internal business with low fees, was essentially moving money from one pocket to another—hardly worthwhile.

Of course, Xia Xiaolan had anticipated this situation and didn’t mind financially supporting Qihang Firm for a few years.

The issue wasn’t money, but the lack of major projects. Both Kong Yongquan and Hou Qi were senior architects in China. Kong Yongquan considered Xia Xiaolan’s senior schoolmate, came to Pengcheng as soon as Mao Kangshan called, taking medical retirement from his original position.

Hou Qi, whom Xia Xiaolan met at the Jiangcheng Architecture Symposium, had also quit his original job to come.

Yes, even with a few projects, their salaries were much higher than in their previous positions.

But constantly using their expertise for minor tasks was wasting their professional skills and valuable time!

They didn’t lack money; they lacked projects.

This was Qihang Architectural Firm’s current situation.

To compete with design institutes, Qihang needed its reputation.

How to build a reputation?

By designing more prestigious projects!

This was why Xia Xiaolan was excited—truthfully, Xu Zhongyi entrusting the museum project to the firm made her happier than when he’d given her 1.5 million dollars directly.

Xu Zhongyi’s mention of a contract showed he wanted to handle things professionally.

Personal relationships aside, the work needed to be done well.

If Xu Zhongyi wasn’t satisfied with the museum design, he would still demand revisions.

Xia Xiaolan preferred handling things professionally—if she deceived Xu Zhongyi, could she fool others?

That would only damage Qihang’s reputation.

Operating a firm in China was already challenging; every step needed to be correct, minimizing mistakes because the market wouldn’t allow Qihang to err!

At 7 AM, Xia Xiaolan and Ji Jiangyuan were reluctant to leave for the airport.

Tina had eaten breakfast unwillingly. With everyone’s attention on Xia Xiaolan, discussing land, commissions, and money even during breakfast, she couldn’t help muttering, “Acting as they’ve never seen money before—”

Grandmother Yu whipped her head around to look at her, making Tina instantly nervous.

This old lady would surely scold her!

It was too late—why couldn’t she have held her tongue?

Tina was tense, already imagining Grandmother Yu’s rebuke—probably about her lack of manners or not understanding the difficulty of earning money, inevitably praising Xia Xiaolan and drawing comparisons between them.

But why should she rush to make money?

Xia Xiaolan was born in China to a poor family—that wasn’t her fault.

Xia Xiaolan smiled at her.

Young girls are forgetful, she thought, and still need to learn their lessons.

Ignoring Tina, she got in the car with Ji Jiangyuan, hearing Grandmother Yu ask Tina:

“When are you returning to school?”

In the rearview mirror, Xia Xiaolan saw Tina’s expression turn bewildered, as if surprised that Grandmother Yu hadn’t scolded her but instead asked a seemingly unrelated question.

Xia Xiaolan looked away.

Zheng Feng had already started driving steadily.

Ji Jiangyuan smiled:

“You’re not angry at all?”

“Would you get angry with someone who has the mental age of a nine-year-old? Getting angry with her wouldn’t create even a penny’s worth of value—it would just waste my time!”

Xia Xiaolan spoke righteously, but if not for her cunning expression, Ji Jiangyuan might have believed her.

Xia Xiaolan’s words were half-true.

Getting angry with Tina was indeed a waste of time—whether Tina liked her or not wouldn’t affect her relationship with the Xu family or her career development.

Besides, Grandmother Yu was struggling to discipline Tina, and Tina’s loose tongue wouldn’t lead to anything good.

…

After Xia Xiaolan and Ji Jiangyuan left.

Tina was indeed enduring Grandmother Yu’s bombardment.

Under the old lady’s gaze, Tina responded listlessly:

“I’ve applied for a leave of absence, I’ll return to classes when I’ve adjusted my state of mind.”

“Grandmother, Tina has promised me she’ll return to school for the summer semester.”

Xu Changle explained to Tina.

Most American universities used short semester systems, and it was already March, with the summer semester approaching… Xu Changle initially disapproved, but then thought that having Tina spend her break in China would help her grow closer to family, so he agreed.

Grandmother Yu sneered:

“Smart people are working hard, while she’s willing to waste her best years for memory on vacation and play—afraid the gap between her and smart people isn’t wide enough?”

“You’re saying Xia Xiaolan is smart and I’m stupid?”

Tina’s face reddened with anger.

Grandmother Yu nodded matter-of-factly: “Aren’t you?”

Tina turned and stormed off angrily.

Grandmother Yu forbade Xu Changle from consoling her, each word she spoke was like merciless cannon fire:

“Changle, remember this: anyone who encourages indulgence, regardless of their reasons, is malicious! Especially don’t listen to life advice from failures. Success and failure aren’t defined by money, but by how they’ve raised their children… Someone whose own children are idle good-for-nothings knows nothing!”

Malicious!

Knows nothing!

Tina felt the old lady was indirectly criticizing Mrs. Wilson.

The old lady had criticized her last night too, but not this harshly.

Tina wanted to argue with Grandmother Yu, but the thoughts of George made her uncomfortable.

What could she say in response?

George indeed wasn’t successful.

Success wasn’t just about money; it had to be viewed in the context of one’s starting point. George’s starting point was quite high—the third generation of the Wilson family, with resources and opportunities hundreds of times better than ordinary people. While others built from nothing, George could easily gather a million dollars for startup capital… Yet in middle age, he hadn’t achieved anything significant in his career.

George was undoubtedly a good person.

Unconcerned with money.

Even kind to Ji Ya after their divorce.

But being a good person didn’t mask George’s professional inadequacies.

Tina’s head was about to explode as she hurried back to her room.

Her room was opposite the Wilsons’.

When she returned, the Wilsons were just getting up. Mrs. Wilson smiled kindly: “Where did you go so early? Why not rest more? It might not matter at your age, but when you’re older, lack of sleep affects your skin—that’s aging that no amount of skincare can fix.”

Tina didn’t know what to say.

After everything that happened last night and this morning, she couldn’t care less about skincare!