After the minor character transforms into a beauty, she steals the heart of a tycoon's son.

"Ruan Tang." Yan Ling'er suddenly called her name.

Ruan Tang raised her eyes.

"I heard you got into a fight with the resistance group in the classroom yesterday?" Yan Ling'er looked at her, her smile still gentle. "Were you hurt?"

Everyone in the conference room looked over.

"No," she said.

"That's good." Yan Ling'er nodded. "You're the secretary of the deacon team, so you won't have to handle these kinds of things yourself in the future."

"The people from the Discipline Inspection Department are available whenever we call."

He Qian chimed in from the side, "Yes, just let me know next time."

Yan Ling'er's gaze lingered on Ruan Tang's face for a moment before shifting away.

In that instant, there was neither the hostility Ruan Tang had imagined nor the intimacy in his eyes, only a faint indifference.

Ruan Tang lowered her eyes.

She was all too familiar with that look.

From the first day of school, Si Lin looked at her with this kind of gaze.

When Wen Yan looked at her, it was the same; that condescending air that came from his very bones. No matter how smart or beautiful you are, in their eyes you will always be a commoner.

It's usable, but not worth taking seriously.

-

When Ruan Tang returned to the flower shop, it was already dark.

She sat down on the chair without turning on the light; the streetlights from outside shone through the window, flickering on and off.

Ruan Tang had the system retrieve the original text, which she then read through again.

The story is simple.

Lin Xiaokui is an ordinary person, like a weed, but she is tenacious and a little sun.

She was Lin Xiaokui's good friend, a sickly and quiet little white flower.

In the end, she married Wen Yan, who turned over a new leaf, while Lin Xiao Kui married Si Lin, who was deeply devoted and faithful.

The tale of a prodigal son returning home, and the myth of marrying into a wealthy family.

But beyond the original work, the story continues.

She used to think that Lin Xiao Kui had forgotten her roots, which was why she neglected Ruan Tang after their marriage.

But is there another possibility that she is too busy taking care of herself?

In the original novel, the male protagonist, Si Lin, takes an abrupt turn and falls in love abruptly.

The various antics of the supporting characters that follow are all just misunderstandings, meant to torment the female lead.

Si Lin remained aloof and dismissive, casually offering a word of reconciliation, and Lin Xiao Kui forgave him.

The male lead didn't suffer any hardship; instead, he tormented the female lead in various ways.

And so, in the end, it's still a happy fairy tale?

What details did she overlook?

Ruan Tang stared blankly at the streetlights outside the window, the system's cute voice echoing in her mind.

"Tangtang, what are you thinking about?"

Ruan Tang didn't answer it. She heard the sound of a television coming from downstairs; it was the proprietress of the shop next door watching the news.

The announcer's voice pierced through the floorboards and could be faintly heard.

Three years ago, a president who was a commoner stepped down, giving ordinary people a voice. But in just nine years, his political career came to an end.

Ordinary officials are also finding it increasingly difficult to move forward.

Ruan Tang opened her phone and searched for this news.

The screen displayed an old report from three years ago.

The president, who came from humble beginnings, announced his resignation in his ninth year in office, citing health reasons.

The new president was elected by the four major conglomerates.

The comments below the report were all positive, praising the steady economic growth, rising employment rate, and peaceful atmosphere under the new president's administration.

Capitalists have regained control of the discourse, but unlike the arrogance of the four noble families in the past, the four financial magnates have retreated behind the scenes and are quietly in power.

Ruan Tang put down her phone.

"System," she said softly.

"I'm here."

When did Shenglan start recruiting special students?

The system was also looking through the world's data. "Saint Lan was founded in the aristocratic era and was originally an all-noble school."

"Twelve years ago, a president of commoner origin raised the banner of rebellion and successfully came to power. The aristocracy was caught off guard and forced to agree to reforms. The aristocratic era came to an end and a peaceful era began."

"Shenglan started recruiting special students around that time."

"What about blacklists and whitelists?"

"The blacklist and whitelist system started three years ago, shortly after the abdication of the president who was a commoner."

Ruan Tang's fingers paused. The commoner president stepped down, and the blacklist and whitelist system began. Was it as she guessed?

"What's the current situation of the specially admitted students who graduated from Sheng Lan over the years?"

The system flipped through the data for a while longer and found that "most of them work in the companies of the four major conglomerates or other chaebols."

"Elite white-collar workers have very high salaries, and a small number of them who start their own businesses have also received investment from conglomerates."

Ruan Tang sat in a chair, looking out at the dim streetlights.

Why would nobles recruit students through special admissions programs? Essentially, it's about taming and winning them over.

Moreover, these specially admitted students are the best of the next generation among ordinary people.

If the commoners and nobles initially held opposing political stances, then if the nobles won over the next generation of the commoner class and had them work for the nobles, the power of the next generation of the commoner class would be greatly weakened.

Conversely, the aristocratic class will flourish.

Most importantly, both sides were willing to make the exchange, and the rulers of the common people had no way to stop it.

Ruan Tang then investigated what kind of life ordinary people lived before they stepped onto the political stage twelve years later.

Working 18-hour shifts for a salary of 5,000 yuan, workers are enslaved and oppressed to the limit by aristocratic capitalism, which is when they rebel.

However, in the last decade, with the reform of conglomerates, some ordinary people have received a monthly salary of 50,000 yuan. In addition, the latest stock option incentives introduced by capital have enabled them to successfully leap from poverty to the middle class.

Therefore, ordinary people with even a little ability began to work desperately for conglomerates and sided with the chaebol capital.

The remaining ordinary people began to emulate the middle-level managers, desperately trying to gain a place in the conglomerate.

Even if everyone knows this is a tactic of capital, so what?

They were willing and were the most loyal supporters.

Over the past nine years, the commoner-ruled system has declined year by year, while the four major financial groups, formerly the four major noble families, have become increasingly powerful.

Until three years ago, the balance shifted, finally ending the era of civilian presidents.

The nobles' puppets have once again ascended to the highest political stage.

As the era of commoners taking power came to an end, Shenglan began a bullying campaign that appeared to be a game but was actually a revenge operation.

The deacon gave hope to the common people, yet condoned and tacitly allowed Sheng Lan to bully them to the point of expulsion from school.

Those who dropped out of school almost all became despondent and never recovered.

But some are trained to be useful tools, such as the pragmatic Cheng Jin, and the special admissions students in the student council who are silent but do their jobs well.

After entering society, these people, like students in previous years, will become members of conglomerates, earning salaries far exceeding those of their peers, and remaining loyal to the company.

Over time, the chaebols became increasingly powerful, and the common people who followed them gradually became wealthy, becoming the middle class of society.

The original resistance class will become increasingly weak and ineffective.

Even most ordinary people feel that they don't need to exist.

Because the chaebol class gave them more money and resources.

Ruan Tang looked out at the dark night.

Only three years have passed, where have those commoner ruling classes who stepped down gone?

After discovering the bullying in Shenglan, and even more hidden bullying in society, what will they do?

They will disregard everything, incite the public, and stage protests in resistance.

Saint Hua is the largest country in the world, with a population of over 100 million.

However, the upper class, including chaebols, only accounts for one ten-thousandth.

Once ordinary people are united, history will repeat itself.

If she were Si Lin, she wouldn't choose a head-on confrontation to resolve this conflict.

Not worth the candle.

To maintain control of capital and power, the most important thing is to undermine the people's will to resist.

So later, major platforms began reporting on Sheng Lan's beautiful fairytale love story.

The aloof and powerful heir of a tycoon bows down and admits his mistakes for a commoner Cinderella, while the harm suffered by a special student is treated as a minor incident.

The desire to marry into a wealthy family and gain favor with the powerful has swept through the public.

If ordinary people adopt a fawning and obsequious attitude towards tycoons, then rulers of the common people will be unable to gain more support.

They silently dwindled in the darkness, until they were utterly defeated.

There are many more terrifying things than school bullying, hidden in the shadows, covered up by the power of capital.