“Domus magazine, founded in 1928 by Italian architectural master Gio Ponti, isn’t limited to architectural design but covers architecture, design, and art. It’s a publication spanning these three major fields,” Ning Yanfan began, then continued after a pause: “As for A+U, it belongs to Japan’s New Architecture Publishing Company, founded in 1973. It focuses on introducing cutting-edge architectural design concepts and examples worldwide, with significant influence. Having work published in either of these architectural journals would be a tremendous boost for Xiaolan’s future. With her talent, following normal development, it would take at least five years before these publications would notice her.”

And that would just be notice.

Whether they’d do a casual one or two-page introduction or feature Xia Xiaolan’s work and her as the main focus wasn’t certain.

So AIA was making a substantial investment.

Giving Xia Xiaolan an opportunity she’d normally wait five years for!

No, this was a double-edged sword.

It would only be an opportunity if Xia Xiaolan handled it well.

Ning Yanfan turned to look at Xia Xiaolan, “Do you have the courage to accept this challenge?”

“Professor Ning, do I have a choice? Whether I want it or not, I’ve been pushed to this point. If I don’t want to be knocked down, I have to use all my strength to jump up and knock others down instead.”

Domus and A+U hadn’t yet published Chinese editions, but this didn’t affect their recognition.

At least when Frank mentioned the publications’ names, none of the three people in the office – old, middle-aged, or young – asked what they were.

Frank maintained his official smile. For his expenses-paid vacation, he was representing the AIA Association.

“Please relax. This shows the AIA headquarters’ sincerity. If there was a mistake before, AIA is very willing to make amends. If these two magazines approve, Xia will undoubtedly be this year’s rising star architect.”

But what if they didn’t approve?

What if she failed to get approval and lost the lawsuit too?

Then it would be the scandal of the year, and Xia Xiaolan would be publicly crucified!

AIA had set the stage, with irresistible, tempting bait on the hook. Could Xia Xiaolan, the fish, resist biting?

As she said to herself, she had no choice!

The department head also came to his senses:

“That’s wonderful. Student Xia, the department can approve your leave starting today. You’re on break from today!”

With AIA coming, they should send people quickly – the department head was worried AIA might change their mind.

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “Thank you. I was planning to request leave anyway. I need to go to America for a few days.”

“For the lawsuit?”

“Yes, for the lawsuit.”

Frank couldn’t help interjecting, “Oh, speaking of the lawsuit, AIA headquarters mentioned that Domus’s reporter would like to start documenting the lawsuit. Would that be alright?”

Was there any difference between getting 100 lashes and 99 lashes while hanging?

No!

Xia Xiaolan agreed decisively.

“It seems when I return from America, I’ll be coming back with Domus’s reporter and the other AIA representatives. I hope we can start the museum project then. Frank, you’ve seen that the Architecture Department is willing to give me leave for this. I want to complete this quickly!”

“No problem, I can relay that to AIA headquarters.”

Just as Frank finished speaking, the department head suddenly interrupted: “Since we already have Domus and A+U, we might as well add another journal. AIA wouldn’t object, right?”

“You mean—”

“I mean, let’s include Qinghua’s journal. What’s wrong with that? They won’t participate in the evaluation, just document from the sidelines.”

The department head was referring to World Architecture, founded in 1980, published by Qinghua University, and co-organized by the Capital Architectural Design Research Institute. It was a national first-class magazine and a core journal in China’s architectural field… The department head was casually giving Xia Xiaolan another big gift.

Put simply, if her work was published in World Architecture, Qinghua would let her graduate early.

The five-year program was typically unwavering.

School rules couldn’t be casually broken.

Qinghua was full of academic stars, and ordinary top students got this treatment – no exceptions for anyone!

But super-students, called academic gods, didn’t need such strict limitations… Forcing an academic god to spend five years on undergraduate studies would be wasteful, wouldn’t it?

Others needed five years because it took that long to meet educational requirements.

An academic god was already having their work featured in world-class architectural journals – forcing her to study for five years would be meaningless. See, China’s top universities could be flexible when appropriate. If it wasn’t flexible for you, it wasn’t because it was rigid, but because you weren’t excellent enough!

After leaving the office, Xia Xiaolan gradually came to her senses.

She immediately returned to the department head’s office, “You mean I can graduate early?”

“I assume you wouldn’t want to participate in the school’s standard internship program. Do you want a state-assigned job?”

If not for this AIA matter, the department wouldn’t have understood Xia Xiaolan so deeply. They knew she was Mao Kangshan’s last disciple, consistently received scholarships, excelled in all subjects, and was praised as an exchange student at Cornell. As Mao’s student, she naturally had more practical opportunities than ordinary students, but the school wasn’t clear about exactly what she had done.

The AIA incident had exposed Xia Xiaolan.

All her design works surfaced, including her company in Pengcheng, which couldn’t be hidden anymore.

Giving her leave, including letting her graduate early, had been discussed in department meetings.

Special talent deserves special treatment.

Wasn’t one of AIA’s reasons for judging that Xia Xiaolan hadn’t designed the Broadway theater renovation their contemptuous fixed impression of the term “current student”?

A current student.

Not even considered a real architect!

The department decided to help Xia Xiaolan remove this belittling label.

Since her level had already exceeded Qinghua’s Architecture Department undergraduate graduation requirements, why couldn’t she graduate early?

Moreover, Xia Xiaolan had already opened her architectural firm in Pengcheng and didn’t need state-assigned work, so there was no need to arrange standard internships for her.

What could an internship teach her?

She already had plenty of practical experience!

Seeing Xia Xiaolan’s surprised face, the department head emphasized:

“You still need to pass the exams and thesis defense!”

Xia Xiaolan left the office in a daze, not expecting such a pleasant surprise.

Her first thought was that the school was more open-minded than she’d imagined.

Her second thought: Once the museum project was complete and she graduated early from Qinghua, couldn’t she and Zhou Cheng get their marriage certificate?

With early graduation, school rules would no longer obstruct their marriage. Zhou Cheng would surely be happy about this news.

Her third thought: The people who wouldn’t be happy about her second thought would probably be Old Tang, her uncle, and her cousin…