“Congratulations,” Grandmother Yu replied perfunctorily, leaving Tina very dissatisfied.

Was it so hard to give her a genuine compliment?

Who was the granddaughter here?

The old lady’s real granddaughter was only Xia Xiaolan!

Tina stormed off angrily.

Watching her leave, Grandmother Yu closed the door and immediately called Xu Zhongyi: “Your daughter says she got promoted, but why are my eyelids twitching so badly? That golf club – tell Chang Le to hurry up and get a membership.”

The old lady certainly understood Tina’s intentions.

Like a fierce-looking Shih Tzu that only yaps sweetly, thinking itself fierce but having no real bite.

Though it didn’t sound nice, the old lady was indeed using methods for training an ill-tempered Shih Tzu to deal with Tina, and it had proven effective.

At this point, if she showed Tina a kind face and softened her attitude, Tina would surely be overwhelmed with joy.

No, it wasn’t enough.

If this fool didn’t learn her lesson thoroughly, she would eventually revert to her old ways.

“Did you learn something?”

“I don’t know anything specific, I just know that American old lady is trying hard to push your daughter towards Harold. Even after bankruptcy, she’s still struggling, yet just stays in the hotel doing nothing else, as if certain there’s a way to turn things around… They’re pinning their hopes on Tina – what can a young girl do for them? We’re prepared for that already. The problem is Harold’s side seems blind to the old lady’s calculations, actually promoting Tina. Do you believe this pampered girl who’s never worked or suffered is a one-in-a-million talent, able to outshine those elite university graduates, standing out in less than a month of internship?”

The old lady’s series of rhetorical questions left Xu Zhongyi speechless.

Of course, he didn’t believe it.

Tina was completely different from Chang Le. Chang Le had heavy thoughts, had been pretending for many years, and matured early.

Tina was a hothouse flower, always carefully protected.

It wasn’t that Tina couldn’t change – even the smartest person’s abilities develop step by step.

Tina was advancing too quickly!

“The Wilsons are up to something, Harold knows it and is going along with it. Both sides think they’re clever, but they’re catching Tina in the middle – one side pushing her into a pit, the other side playing along with the scheme, heh—”

She was just a young girl – maybe a bit spoiled, a bit confused, but she hadn’t done anything wrong. Why should she be treated this way?

Xu Zhongyi felt anger burning in his chest.

Though Tina wasn’t close to him, he still loved this daughter dearly. It was precisely because of this love that he was careful, not wanting to go against her wishes, hoping she would truly open her heart and accept the Xu family.

But this daughter he loved so much was just a pawn in others’ power games – how could Xu Zhongyi not be angry?

While the Wilsons were certainly detestable to Xu Zhongyi, Harold wasn’t any better.

“I understand. No need for Chang Le to go to the club, I’ll go myself.”

“Zhongyi, you need to watch carefully. If there’s danger, protect yourselves first. People are most important – as long as you’re alive, anything is possible!”

Children could be taught gradually.

At worst, it would take more effort. The old lady felt she could live a few more years without problem – that should be enough time to straighten Tina out.

Look at the Du family in Hong Kong, fighting over inheritance until they were at each other’s throats.

The Wilson family fortune, compared to the Du family’s, was likely even more substantial… In fighting for such wealth, involving several lives wasn’t surprising.

Only Tina herself and the Wilsons were truly happy about her “promotion.”

…

In Beijing, Ji Jiangyuan was also very surprised when he received this news.

Yes, Tina had done well, but such a quick promotion was too unusual.

Ji Jiangyuan wasn’t jealous – he considered Tina a friend and naturally hoped she would do better and better.

Ji Jiangyuan wanted to talk with Bill.

He called Bill.

But Bill reassured him, “We’re just letting her use her ‘special talents.’ She’ll return to Columbia to continue her studies sooner or later. Precisely because she’s your friend, we should give her a good internship experience. Ji, she can’t surpass you. If you could work full-time, I definitely wouldn’t need Tina. You can only help on weekends, and I need an assistant who can quickly get up to speed. I should thank you for recommending this girl.”

“Bill, that’s not what I meant—”

“Oh, I have to hang up now. I need to handle things with HK. You know the Boss wants low-key luxury. He doesn’t like HK newspapers constantly reporting about the club as if they want to dig up everything about it. This will make some members uncomfortable. I must get those reports removed or find them some other news to cover!”

Bill muttered.

The club aimed for understated luxury, providing members with a sports and leisure venue, and a private high-end social platform. Now there were even reporters from HK camping outside the club. If HK media continued like this, who would come to play golf?

At least the high-level VIP members wouldn’t come – they didn’t want media attention.

This was indeed an urgent matter for Bill to handle, but another reason was that he didn’t want to deceive Ji Jiangyuan, yet couldn’t tell the truth, so he could only brush off Ji’s doubts.

Sigh, he considered Ji a friend.

But more important than friendship was the Boss’s instructions!

“Hello?”

Ji Jiangyuan called twice but only heard a dial tone.

After some thought, Ji Jiangyuan decided to find Xia Xiaolan.

He wasn’t familiar with Tina’s family, but he could have Xia Xiaolan relay his concerns to the Xu family.

However, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t in her dorm or the library. She didn’t have class now either – where could she be?

With help from kind people, Ji Jiangyuan finally found Xia Xiaolan in the Architecture Department office. The department head was there, Ning Yanfan was there too, and there was a foreigner Ji Jiangyuan didn’t know, speaking with a British accent:

“After discussions at AIA headquarters, the AIA Association has acknowledged Miss Xia’s appeal and protest. The AIA considers Xia’s proposal bold and innovative. It’s wonderful for AIA to witness the rise of a superstar architect. To ensure fairness, AIA has invited ‘Domus’ and ‘A+U’ magazines to track and report on this process… Of course, I’m just the AIA liaison. When this project officially begins, other AIA representatives and the photography teams from both magazines will arrive simultaneously.”

Frank explained with a smile.

Securing an expenses-paid trip was always pleasing.

Xia Xiaolan and the department head looked at each other in bewilderment.

When AIA had been high and mighty, they were both angry. Now that AIA had compromised as they’d expected, they felt somewhat lost – making such a big scene, was AIA planning something?!