When Catherine invited Xia Xiaolan to study in England, Xia Xiaolan’s heart was set on finding Grandmother Yu’s relatives.

She ultimately chose to become an exchange student at Cornell University in America, declining Catherine’s kind offer.

Catherine returned to England, and Xia Xiaolan had lost contact with her.

Later, with so many things happening, she had forgotten about Catherine, never expecting they would reunite today at Teacher Lin’s wedding party!

“Teacher Catherine, this is such a wonderful surprise! I never expected you would come!”

Catherine embraced her, “After the English competition, I got to know Lin. When I returned to England, I had Lin relay to your department my hope that you would come study in England, but you were very firm in your decision and still declined my offer.”

The department head had indeed mentioned this during her exchange student period.

Xia Xiaolan felt embarrassed, “I’m sorry for letting down your kind intentions.”

“Oh, you needn’t apologize. Inviting you to study in England was just my idea – you’re the one whose life it affects, so of course your thoughts should be respected! I heard you later went to Cornell University – that’s also an excellent university with a great architecture program!”

From the day they met, Catherine had always shown goodwill.

Although Xia Xiaolan couldn’t go to England, she deeply appreciated Catherine’s kindness.

After they chatted briefly, Catherine remembered to introduce the person beside her:

“This is my friend Frank, an architect. He’s a true Englishman, though he works in America now.”

Frank shook hands with Xia Xiaolan, “Catherine often speaks of you. I was curious, and since I’m vacationing in China, it was a perfect opportunity to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Frank.”

She hadn’t expected Catherine to bring along a fellow architect.

Was it a coincidence?

Xia Xiaolan had her doubts.

Frank showed great interest in her, continuously asking questions about various topics.

Meeting for the first time, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t sure of this new friend’s intentions, yet couldn’t be impolite.

Learning that Frank was a foreign architect, Su Jing and the others became very interested and boldly joined the conversation.

Xia Xiaolan wanted to ask Catherine about Frank’s background, but Catherine had encountered other friends who kept her engaged in conversation.

When the party ended, Su Jing was still excited:

“Xiaolan, why was Mr. Frank’s description of an architect’s daily life so much more fascinating than yours?”

Xia Xiaolan had previously shared her internship experience at GMP in New York with the whole department… As an intern not involved in the bidding, she had just felt like a workhorse for those two months – how fascinating it was hadn’t been her primary concern.

“Are you envious?”

Su Jing rolled her eyes at her, “Obviously! You’ve experienced working abroad, but we haven’t. After graduation, we might be assigned to design institutes or elsewhere.”

Without that intense competitive bidding atmosphere.

That’s probably what Su Jing was dissatisfied with.

Xia Xiaolan stroked her chin, “If you want to experience working at a firm, you don’t need to go abroad. How about I introduce you to a summer internship? Of course, it might not be as prestigious as foreign firms, but I guarantee it operates like a proper architectural firm, not a design institute!”

Su Jing brightened:

“Really? You’re not joking?”

“I never lie.”

Xia Xiaolan nodded seriously. Right, she never lied – she just openly manipulated people.

Now not just Su Jing was interested; everyone else was listening intently.

When Xia Xiaolan had arranged an internship for Yang Yonghong, she hadn’t particularly hidden it from their Room 307 roommates. According to Yang Yonghong, not only could you earn a salary, but her personal growth was substantial.

Learning things outside school was different from classroom learning.

Textbook knowledge could be verified in practice.

Everyone was itching to try.

Since they had nothing else planned for summer vacation, why not enrich themselves?

In Room 307, only Zhou Limin knew the inside story – she had learned from her uncle Zhou Maotong that Xia Xiaolan had established an architectural firm in Peng City!

This must be the firm she was referring to.

Zhou Limin had initially felt somewhat uncomfortable about this, but now she had adjusted her mindset – a classmate’s success was their own, and she had to walk her own path.

Zhou Limin said straightforwardly: “Xiaolan if there’s a position available, save one for me. I want to go too. You don’t even need to pay me – I just want to learn.”

“Can I go too?”

“Count me in!”

“Would it be too much trouble…”

Though Room 307’s residents had different personalities, their eagerness to go was genuine.

Xia Xiaolan pondered whether her small firm could accommodate several interns at once.

All of them are from Huaqing’s Architecture Department.

By summer vacation, they would have completed their junior-year courses. Helping Hou Qi and Kong Yongquan shouldn’t be a problem, but the firm should ideally have other major projects by then.

“Alright, I’ll ask if it’s possible. I’ll keep you all in mind. Remember, it’s an internship, so there will be some compensation – we can’t have you paying out of pocket to work!”

She had come to university hoping to build connections.

Now she had successfully recruited several classmates from the same major and year.

Frank from the party was already forgotten by the Room 307 residents as they chatted excitedly while escorting Xia Xiaolan back, attracting the attention of the dorm supervisor:

“Have you all been drinking again? Room 307, have you all been drinking?”

“No, no, we only had tea!”

Only after checking each of them did she let them upstairs – the dorm supervisor kept strict watch over Room 307.

Xia Xiaolan bowed: “I’m the one who brought shame to our dorm! My fault!”

“Then should we extend your cleaning duties to three weeks?”

“…No!”

…

The party dispersed.

Catherine and Frank left together.

“Frank, why were you so determined to meet Xia?”

“Catherine, you told me about a party at Huaqing campus, I just came along to meet some new friends.”

Catherine frowned:

“No, you weren’t interested initially. Only when I mentioned her name did you suddenly want to come with me – Frank, you’re hiding something from me, and it makes me uneasy. This is China, and Xia is just a student. She only let her guard down with you because I introduced you as my friend. I remember you’ve been divorced for two years, could you…”

Was he attracted to her?

This speculation disturbed Catherine.

Frank was even more surprised than Catherine, “How could you think of such things? For God’s sake, I’m more than a decade older than her! Fine, I had heard her name before, but not because of her looks – I’m not here to pursue women! I just wanted to meet this student, though unfortunately, we couldn’t discuss anything more useful.”

Catherine hesitated, “What could you possibly discuss with a student?”

Frank held his head, “It seems you don’t know. You don’t understand this female student at all, do you? She declined your invitation to England, but she caused quite a stir at Cornell University in America.”