“It’s not confidence, but rather my belief in the fairness and justice of the law!”

Kissinger’s hand twitched.

God, he wanted to give them the middle finger!

But with so much media present, if such a provocative photo was captured, GMP’s founder would surely want to kill him.

“Mr. Kissinger, what’s your view on ‘sexual bribery’? Have you accepted sexual bribes? Have you ever used this tactic in firm bidding—”

“Lisa, after you win this case, will you take Partner Kissinger to court?”

“Mr. Kissinger, regarding today’s hearing…”

Fuck you!

Who said Lisa would win today?

Surrounded by reporters, Kissinger couldn’t help looking around anxiously. The hearing was about to start, yet where was Xia Xiaolan? It was nerve-wracking. If Xia Xiaolan deserted the battlefield, Kissinger swore he would— well, he definitely wouldn’t let her off easily.

Some reporters noticed Kissinger’s distraction.

“Are you looking for the plaintiff?”

“The hearing time is approaching, why hasn’t the plaintiff appeared!”

“Perhaps she got scared…”

The reporters whispered among themselves.

Lisa’s supporters overheard these words, and cheers erupted from the crowd.

Kissinger grew increasingly uneasy. Could Xia Xiaolan not show up?

A black sedan sat quietly in the distance.

Inside were Monde Dawson and his daughter Heidi.

Monde hadn’t appeared before the crowd. If today’s hearing went unfavorably for Lisa, he would testify too. This wasn’t part of Monde’s plan at all. Originally a minor matter, for a Pritzker Prize winner like him to lower himself to contend with a Chinese student – even winning would feel like losing.

But this Chinese student had indeed exceeded his expectations.

She refused to accept the loss, and she had many supporters. The situation was more serious than he’d anticipated.

Especially that madman Kissinger, who strongly defended Xia Xiaolan and spoke recklessly to reporters.

When reporters went to Ithaca to interview, he’d expended great effort to divert their attention.

Heidi glanced at the noisy courthouse entrance, then at her father Monde, seemingly hesitating to speak.

“What do you want to say?”

Monde spoke.

Before Heidi could answer, he muttered to himself: “If you were more capable, I wouldn’t need to do such complicated things. You know about AIA’s Rising Star Architect competition this year. I originally planned to have you design something this year for next year’s competition, but now there’s a problem. With this year’s lawsuit making such big news, many eyes will be watching next year.”

Parents who graduated from Ivy League schools send their children to Ivy League schools.

Parents who are bankers have children who work on Wall Street.

Parents who are great lawyers have children who attend law school.

Aren’t accumulated resources meant for the next generation to use? Only fools would ignore natural advantages to compete bare-handed with others.

A Pritzker Architecture Prize winner’s daughter not continuing in architecture would waste all of Monde’s years of accumulation—how best to utilize resources? Monde’s reputation, his connections in the circle, and even sharing a little with Heidi would be enough for her to outpace her peers by ten years!

Win a few newcomer awards, and she’d be a famous young architect.

This was the path Monde had arranged for his daughter Heidi.

His reason for suppressing Xia Xiaolan wasn’t just about a minor grudge. Xia Xiaolan and Heidi had been classmates, they were of similar age and gender, and in the architectural circle—neither big nor small—Monde knew better than anyone how difficult it was for female architects to succeed.

If Heidi’s talent matched Xia Xiaolan’s, Monde would let Heidi compete… but he was equally clear about Heidi’s capabilities.

With Xia Xiaolan around, or even that girl called Ning Xue, it would be even harder for Heidi to emerge.

The night sky can have many stars, but only one moon.

Heidi was only at the level of a star, and not even a particularly bright one. To forcefully package her as the moon would require the true moon to disappear.

These words, Monde could never tell Heidi.

But Heidi could guess some of it!

She… she didn’t know what to say. Her inadequacy had already disappointed her father, what could she do to stop him?

Heidi’s gaze wandered, falling on the courthouse entrance.

Suddenly, small black dots appeared in her vision.

“What… what is that…”

What was it?

There was no loud shouting.

They weren’t like Lisa’s supporters with their banners and matching clothes.

A group of people emerged from the street corner, walking unhurriedly, no one laughing or talking. Their silence was a soundless force that commanded attention.

“It’s them—”

Heidi had already recognized some of them.

“They’re Cornell University students!”

Many faces from the School of Architecture looked familiar.

There were also many unfamiliar faces, both men and women, young and old, all with Asian features.

Chinese international students.

And Chinese people from Chinatown.

Why couldn’t a Chinese student sue an American female architect?

The court hadn’t made its judgment yet, how could these supporters and media people presume to replace the judge?

Zhou Yi walked among the crowd, continuously whispering to persuade her restaurant owner boss where she worked under the table:

“They’re just bullying Chinese people, thinking we’re all stupid, thinking we’re not united abroad.”

“Xia Xiaolan is absolutely the smartest person I’ve ever met. If she says she designed that Broadway theater, she designed it!”

“She’s not short of money, why would she come to America to sue someone if she hadn’t designed it?”

Zhou Yi’s perspective in supporting Xia Xiaolan was unique.

Xia Xiaolan had money but no time and didn’t care about winning compensation—lawsuits waste time—she would only spend time on a lawsuit if her work was stolen and she was angry—therefore Xia Xiaolan must be right. Perfect logic.

In the crowd, Qi Wei secretly rolled her eyes.

With logic like that, Zhou Yi still wanted to attend law school.

Lawyers and judges deal with evidence, was Zhou Yi planning to appeal to judges with emotions?

Song Minglan was also in the crowd.

Though Xia Xiaolan didn’t want her help, after some thought, Song Minglan still came as an international student.

This time, practically all Chinese students in New York State had come, whether they knew Xia Xiaolan or not. Even Han Jin, who disliked Xia Xiaolan, came with Chen Qing. Everyone understood that if international students didn’t unite in such situations, today it might be Xia Xiaolan suffering, and tomorrow it could be any of them… if they didn’t stand up for Xia Xiaolan now, no one would stand up for them when misfortune struck.

This group slowly approached the courthouse entrance, standing in opposition to Lisa’s supporters.

The atmosphere was so serious and heavy that a reporter couldn’t help asking:

“Why did you come?”

Jonathan stepped forward, “We are students from Cornell’s School of Architecture. We believe in our classmate, in her character and talent. We are here for justice under the law!”

“We are Chinese international students, and we want to ask: why can’t Chinese students design good works?”

“We’re from Chinatown, hoping the court will judge fairly, not be prejudiced and discriminate against Chinese people’s abilities!”

Once the silent crowd spoke up, they couldn’t be suppressed.

The reporters trembled—this was big news.

So many people supporting Xia Xiaolan.

But where was Xia Xiaolan?

Lisa’s supporters mocked, “The person you believe in doesn’t even believe in herself. The hearing’s about to start, where is she?”

“She must be scared!”

“Knows she’ll lose the case, doesn’t dare to show up!”

“What a shame, there are still fools defending her…”

The courthouse entrance was in an uproar.

Suddenly, the sound of helicopter rotors came from above. Everyone couldn’t help looking up as a large box suspended beneath the helicopter suddenly opened, releasing a shower of papers and photos that danced through the air.

“What is this?”

Someone caught a sheet—it was a blueprint.

Architectural blueprints?

They were all architectural blueprints and design proposals!

“Hello? Hello, can everyone hear me? I’m sorry I’m a little late. Because of all the New York media’s attention these past few days, I felt very happy, so I wanted to prepare a little gift for everyone. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself—I am the plaintiff in this case, Xia Xiaolan from China. Very pleased to meet everyone!”

The voice seemed to come from all directions.

Because of the crowd gathered at the courthouse entrance, naturally, there were police maintaining order.

But even the police didn’t know where Xia Xiaolan was.

Lisa grabbed a paper falling from the sky—printed on it was her work… her graduation design from many years ago?!