Glancing at the time, there were only ten minutes left before the event began.
"You should head back first. After this is done, there's still a small banquet at noon."
"Mm." Uncle Chen had already explained the visitation schedule to him on the way, so Huo Tingzhou nodded. "Go ahead, I'll head back soon."
Jiang Si couldn't help but ask again, "Don’t you have anything to ask me about what happened earlier?"
After all, they had been separated by a street, and the area was noisy.
She wasn’t sure how much Huo Tingzhou had seen or heard.
But Huo Tingzhou shook his head. "No."
He knew she wouldn’t stoop to such things.
As for whether others had been swayed, that was beyond his control—and none of his business.
All that mattered was knowing his wife’s eyes were on him, and that he was the one by her side.
And right now, the smile on her face was proof enough.
"Go on," Huo Tingzhou murmured tenderly. "Later, I’ll bring Suisui and Zhaozhao to pick you up."
Jiang Si nodded. "Alright."
Their exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Chris.
For some reason, she suddenly spoke up. "Chi, who is that man? They seem… unusually close."
Chi Heng withdrew his gaze and replied flatly, "Her husband."
"She’s married?" Chris looked genuinely surprised.
After a pause, she glanced back at Jiang Si.
She looked so young—it was hard to believe she was already married.
Then again, people from Huaguo tended to marry early.
Chi Heng clearly had no interest in continuing the conversation. "Let’s go. We should head in soon."
His strides were long, quickly putting distance between them.
To match Chi Heng’s dark suit, Chris had deliberately worn a white dress and a pair of eight-centimeter pointed heels.
But she hadn’t expected the construction site to be in such rough condition.
The path was littered with uneven gravel.
In her hurry to catch up with Chi Heng, she picked up her pace—only for her heel to sink into the mud after a few steps.
"Ah!" Chris lost her balance and landed hard on her backside.
Her scraped knee was one thing, but her arms and dress were now smeared with mud.
The thought of attending a formal banquet later in such a state made her eyes well up with frustration.
"Chi, what should I do now?"
Chi Heng frowned slightly. He wasn’t familiar with the area either. "Let me ask—"
"No need, I’ll ask the interpreter." For some reason, Chris didn’t want to see Chi Heng approach another woman.
Even a married one!
Just then, someone from the interpretation team arrived.
They mentioned a state-run store nearby with a restroom where she could clean up.
Left with no choice, Chi Heng first informed the visiting group before escorting Chris there.
The store’s restroom was cramped, but there was a long washbasin outside with several public faucets.
As Chris scowled while wiping mud from her dress, a group of men emerged from the men’s restroom.
"Old Lin, can you hurry up? Always picking the worst time for this."
They laughed while washing their hands, urging the last man to come out.
"Quit rushing me! What’s the big deal about waiting?"
Realizing he wouldn’t be done anytime soon, the others resumed their earlier conversation.
Chris hadn’t paid attention at first—until she vaguely caught the name "Jiang Si."
She wasn’t sure if it was the same woman from before, but the pronunciation sounded right.
And since these men all wore design institute badges, she guessed they were likely talking about her.
Their discussion continued.
One voice in particular dripped with envy. "Let’s be real—she only got this project because of her family connections."
"Just look at her design. Does it seem like something a rookie could come up with? I bet she had someone ghostwrite it and slapped her name on it."
"Exactly. She’s never worked in architecture before. Someone’s obviously pushing her to take credit for this."
"Not necessarily," another countered. "I’ve seen her mural work. Her artistic skill and design sense are top-tier, no question."
"I might’ve believed that before. But now, I only trust two sayings."
"Which two?"
"‘Different trades are worlds apart’—and ‘Money makes the mare go.’"
The man spoke with conviction. "She comes from a wealthy family and married into an even more powerful one. If she wants fame, all she has to do is snap her fingers."
His words struck a chord.
Even the last man to exit sighed. "She already has everything. Why take opportunities from ordinary people like us? Sigh… such a high-profile chance."
As they chatted, the group shook water droplets from their hands.
No one noticed Chris in the corner, quietly cleaning her dress.
She couldn’t understand the few Chinese proverbs they had quoted, but she grasped most of the rest.
To be honest, when she first saw Jiang Si,
she had the same suspicion.
Isn’t there a saying in China that pretty girls are just like vases?
Though she didn’t quite get why such a saying existed,
she thought Jiang Si fit the description perfectly.
Because of this little incident, Chris’s impression of Jiang Si soured significantly.
What she didn’t expect, however, was that just minutes later, she and Jiang Si would clash again.
At the moment, the construction department staff were organizing the visiting group for entry.
For safety reasons, everyone had to wear a hard hat before entering the construction zone.
Hard hats had been introduced to China as essential protective gear during the First Five-Year Plan.
Made mainly of aluminum or bakelite, their design standards were entirely modeled after those of Su Country.
But bakelite helmets were stiff, heavy, stifling in summer, and freezing in winter.
Aluminum ones, on the other hand, posed a serious risk of conducting electricity, so they were only used in major projects.
In most cases, workers simply wore straw hats or draped a towel around their necks.
With temperatures in Capital City soaring above 30 degrees Celsius, the group grimaced at the thought of wearing hard hats.
Chris outright refused. “I’m not wearing that!”
She had styled her hair perfectly to match her little dress that morning—she wasn’t about to ruin it with an ugly helmet.
But Jiang Si was unusually firm on this matter.
She made it clear: no hard hat, no entry.
It was a non-negotiable rule.
Just as Chris was about to argue, Chi Heng interjected calmly, “Put it on.”
Then he added, “It’s safer this way.”
Only then did Chris’s scowl soften.
But the moment the hard hats were handed out, someone familiar with the gear immediately noticed something off.
