The lawyer’s words reassured Lisa.

No witness could compare to their client, Mrs. Wilson.

Having appeared on the interview program with Mrs. Wilson, Lisa knew exactly how much she despised Xia Xiaolan. It wasn’t until later that Lisa learned about Mrs. Wilson giving Mond hints during his theater visit with his daughter.

So this whole affair was a joint revenge plot between Mrs. Wilson and Mond.

A Pritzker Architecture Prize winner and a project client—the weight of their words would instantly crush any witness Xia Xiaolan could produce.

Lisa muttered:

“If you want to blame someone, you can’t blame me. It’s your irritating behavior that offended them.”

She was merely a front, pushed forward by Mond and Mrs. Wilson to fight this lawsuit. While Lisa had to bear the risks, she would also reap the benefits—at this point, she truly had no way back.

After Kissinger’s interview was published, it wasn’t just Lisa’s side that reacted.

The AIA headquarters was also quite speechless.

Although they had agreed to send people to China to watch Xia Xiaolan design the museum, they hadn’t announced it publicly yet.

They certainly hadn’t planned on completely falling out with Mond Dawson.

Mond was the jury’s vice chairman.

Despite doing some things that irritated AIA headquarters, he remained an AIA member and has been one of their prominent figures in recent years. Who knew Kissinger would recklessly expose everything to reporters?

“He dared to say it!”

“He still preserved some face for AIA by separating Mond and Lisa’s actions from AIA.”

“Should we be grateful to him?”

Well, grateful might be too much, but there wasn’t any reason to blame Kissinger either.

Kissinger’s aggressiveness came from bearing too much pressure.

Mond had indeed been too domineering, never considering Kissinger’s feelings.

Yes, Kissinger was just GMP’s New York partner, not GMP’s founder, and his architectural achievements were far below Mond’s. Comparing their professional accomplishments, Kissinger would lose!

As a GMP partner, Kissinger had transcended the role of a regular architect—he was also a businessman.

Businessmen prioritize profits. Lisa’s accusations in the TV interview had already damaged Kissinger’s interests. If Lisa won the lawsuit while having public opinion on her side, GMP might choose to remove Kissinger for the sake of their public image… Under such circumstances, Kissinger’s fierce resistance wasn’t surprising.

At this point, after complaining about Kissinger’s impulsiveness, AIA headquarters felt quite fortunate.

Thankfully, they had made their decision before the trial—regardless of the lawsuit’s outcome, they had actively worked to salvage their reputation. Did winning or losing the lawsuit matter? AIA would always be fair and influential. This lawsuit had actually provided great publicity for this year’s “Rising Star Architect” award.

As the PR firm said, transforming disadvantages into advantages—temporarily setting aside pride to “connect with the people” would gain more face and substance in the long run.

AIA was the biggest winner.

The big winner AIA remained unmoved, positioning themselves neutrally from this point forward, waiting impartially for the lawsuit’s outcome.

They didn’t decline reporter interviews but stuck to platitudes.

After all, AIA wasn’t wrong, and they were waiting for the court’s decision. If the court ruled the work was Xia Xiaolan’s, they would apologize to her.

“In any case, we should be more tolerant of young people and give them opportunities. Lisa was right about one thing—it’s not easy for female architects to succeed. The AIA hopes to see more outstanding female architects emerge. Not just female architects, but any talented new architects need recognition. That’s why AIA holds the ‘Rising Star Architect’ competition…”

Even during interviews, they didn’t forget to advertise—as expected of an AIA that had hired PR firms. Money spent had indeed improved their public relations skills!

Beyond these platitudes, don’t expect to hear any truth from AIA. Their views on Lisa, their faith in Xia Xiaolan, and their opinion of Mond—all remained perfectly neutral. This too was taught by the PR firm—before the court’s ruling, never publicly take sides. No one knew how the court would rule, and with bad luck, taking the losing side would make AIA lose face once the verdict came out!

Reporters who went to Cornell University did make discoveries, though not in the direction Kissinger had anticipated—

Xia Xiaolan’s personal information was exposed.

Previously, people only knew that a Chinese student had taken Lisa to court. There were rumors about this Chinese student having powerful connections, or using her beauty to curry favor with industry leaders to gain various privileges.

These were all speculations, rumors from unknown sources. Lisa certainly wouldn’t say such things publicly, yet somehow they spread everywhere.

What kind of background, what kind of beauty?

Reporters obtained Xia Xiaolan’s photos from Cornell University.

She had been active at school, and attended some parties—how could there not be some candid photos?

Yes, from the photos, this Chinese female student was indeed very beautiful.

Some say architecture is frozen art. While structural design and exterior design in architecture aren’t completely identical, they overlap. Structural design leans toward engineering, while exterior design seems more artistic—even institutions offering architectural design programs struggle with this distinction.

But putting Lisa and Xia Xiaolan side by side, Lisa appeared to be the dusty structural design type of female architect, while Xia Xiaolan seemed more suited for exterior design, becoming a star architect whose work was lighter and more likely to appear in magazines and newspapers, attracting clients—similar to how attractive salespeople are more popular, attractive lawyers gain more client trust, attractive chefs become celebrity chefs… Well, this world truly showed malice toward ordinary people.

With Xia Xiaolan’s photos in hand, those rumors suddenly seemed quite credible.

Professors liked her.

Students liked her.

Wealthy businessmen liked her, willing to sponsor an architectural design competition to please her.

Even during her firm internship, the partner favored her.

What a perfect chain of logic!

Although interviewed students could tell reporters about the “grudge” between Xia Xiaolan and the Dawson family, reporters found something more important and weren’t interested in hearing what the students had to say.

Media never reports facts objectively—what information audiences receive is always filtered by media professionals.

They believe they’re catering to their audience’s psychology, while directly stripping away the audience’s right to know.

“What we’re willing to show you, what we guide you to see, that’s what you want to see.”

Most ordinary people are so easily fooled and manipulated.

When Ning Xue saw Xia Xiaolan’s candid photos published in the newspaper, with various groundless, vague speculations written as the main content while truly crucial information was nowhere to be seen, her usually calm face was covered in frost:

“What exactly is Xia Xiaolan doing? Wasn’t she supposed to be in America? The court date was postponed, yet she’s letting these newspapers write whatever they want!”