Xia Xiaolan’s last-minute preparation would have to suffice.

Liu Fen didn’t dare disturb her and went to bed early.

In the next room, Ning Xue hadn’t returned to her room yet. As Ning Yanfan’s granddaughter, no one would question her spending extra time in her grandfather’s room at night.

Xu Yuejin was also in the room.

While Xu Yuejin could privately criticize Xia Xiaolan all he wanted, in his mind, she simply couldn’t compare to Junior Sister Ning. However, when outsiders questioned Xia Xialan, weren’t they essentially questioning Ning Yanfan? Xu Yuejin was furious about his teacher being challenged:

“What face does someone like Nie Weiguo have to attack others? He’s already forty years old, yet he’s trying to make things difficult for a young girl who’s his junior from the same school!”

The architecture was a broad circle.

Within this large circle were many smaller ones.

Graduates from certain architecture departments naturally formed alliances through their shared alma mater and teachers. Seniors helping juniors—wasn’t this how everyone came up?

Circles were divided not just by schools and departments, but also by regions and design institutes. Though Nie Weiguo’s professional skills were lacking, he excelled at office politics. After graduating from Hua Qing in ’73, he worked at a design institute and has now risen to deputy director.

Xu Yuejin had even heard that Nie Weiguo frequently took credit for young architects’ work.

With jobs at design institutes being iron rice bowls, victims didn’t dare report him for fear of retaliation. But no wall is completely soundproof—after doing this many times, rumors about Nie Weiguo had leaked out.

The straightforward Xu Yuejin never gossiped about others, but he couldn’t help being angry about Nie Weiguo.

As Xu Yuejin raged, Ning Yanfan urged him to calm down:

“Xue’er, what do you think about this?”

Ning Xue hadn’t expressed an opinion yet. She previously hadn’t cared about such matters, since industry politics couldn’t shake Ning Yanfan’s position.

To Ning Xue, scheming and plotting was a waste of time. The ocean of knowledge was vast—one couldn’t learn everything in a lifetime, so why waste time on irrelevant people?

But her grandfather thought she shouldn’t think this way.

He hoped she would interact more with others, and had originally chosen Xia Xiaolan as her friend.

When that friendship didn’t work out, Ning Yanfan suggested she could learn from Xia Xiaolan’s social skills. Ning Xue had been observing, and now that her grandfather asked for her opinion, she had something to say:

“Grandfather, Nie Weiguo’s target doesn’t seem to be Xia Xiaolan, but you. He’s using her as a breakthrough point. When Xia Xiaolan mentioned she was from Class 2, ’84 intake of Hua Qing, Nie Weiguo didn’t seem surprised at all. I suspect he had already investigated her background and deliberately exposed it publicly.”

Ning Xue couldn’t determine if Xing Lixin was involved.

The group’s timely appearance and immediate attack on Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be coincidental.

But why would Nie Weiguo provoke Grandfather?

Ning Xue couldn’t figure this out.

While Xu Yuejin had heard of Nie Weiguo, Ning Xue, who remained aloof from such matters, hadn’t known him before. After all, given his poor professional skills, he wasn’t someone Ning Xue would be interested in learning from.

Ning Yanfan nodded:

“You’re right, he’s targeting me. Seven or eight years ago, I had business cooperation with his design institute and met him. He was already a minor leader then and was very eager to study under me. I tested his abilities and found errors in his answers and works, so I declined. He’s obsessed with official positions—his desire for further study was false, he just wanted the prestige to advance his career… I’ve met him several times since, and he’s always been passive-aggressive. I didn’t expect he’d hold a grudge until today.”

Xu Yuejin was dumbfounded. Being straightforward, he couldn’t think of any harsh words, finally managing only to say “petty man.”

Indeed, Nie Weiguo’s behavior was that of a petty person!

Ning Xue certainly knew there were both good and bad people in the world.

But she couldn’t understand how someone like Nie Weiguo, driven by inferiority, could harbor resentment toward Ning Yanfan for years. Ning Xue had always been exceptional—since childhood, she’d loved watching her grandfather work, learning to draw before she could write.

In school, she excelled academically.

In the 1984 college entrance exam, among millions of candidates, Ning Xue was the national top scorer in science.

Whether Nie Weiguo was academically poor was debatable, but his Worker-Peasant-Soldier student status was a fact. Ning Yanfan had rejected him for lacking genuine interest in professional knowledge, but Nie Weiguo probably thought Ning Yanfan looked down on his Worker-Peasant-Soldier background… He kept nursing this grudge, and when Ning Yanfan made an exception to recommend Xia Xiaolan, Nie Weiguo’s composure crumbled upon learning this.

Worldly-wise Ning Yanfan could guess most of Nie Weiguo’s thoughts.

Xia Xiaolan was an innocent victim.

While Ning Yanfan would protect her when possible, by accepting the invitation and entering this circle as an undergraduate, she would face questioning and provocations from others even if not from Nie Weiguo.

This wasn’t unique to architecture—every industry had such conflicts between old and new!

What could help break through?

A famous mentor’s protection could help for a while, but ultimately, one could only rely on their strength.

“She has talent but lacks solid fundamentals. However, she’s clever. Yuejin, when you were rushing the proposal, did she fully understand it?”

Xu Yuejin wasn’t sure:

“Although she asked many questions, with such limited time, she probably couldn’t fully grasp all the technical difficulties.”

Proposing a design concept was Xia Xiaolan’s ability.

However, converting that concept into a design proposal was done by Xu Yuejin and his studio assistants.

Xu Yuejin felt Xia Xiaolan had only a vague understanding of most technical issues. If Nie Weiguo questioned her about these tomorrow at the symposium, she might be exposed!

Neither Ning Yanfan nor Ning Xue spoke, while Xu Yuejin muttered:

“How can this girl be so composed? Even with such urgent matters, she’s still too proud to seek our help?”

Was Xia Xiaolan really like that?

Ning Xue wasn’t sure either.

Most times, Xia Xiaolan was quite smooth and slick, which Ning Xue didn’t quite approve of.

But sometimes, Xia Xiaolan had certain “principles” and immense self-respect, unable to tolerate any slight. Ning Xue knew that although Xia Xiaolan had sought her grandfather’s help with the Nanhai Hotel project, in Xia Xiaolan’s mind, paying the consulting fee made it a fair transaction—paying for help with the proposal meant she didn’t owe the Ning family anything. With her pride, having already declined to become her grandfather’s student, she wouldn’t now bow her head to seek his help.

Xia Xiaolan’s stubbornness… could be truly frustrating sometimes.

Ning Yanfan shook his head: “Yuejin, wake up early tomorrow and see what she doesn’t understand. Explain as much as you can.”

Ning Yanfan knew well that the Nanhai Hotel decoration design was Xia Xiaolan’s only defense against Nie Weiguo’s attacks.