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

Abandoned gymnasium.

Su Nian squatted down in front of Lin Xiao Kui and tenderly wiped her stepped fingers with a wet tissue.

Fang Zhaoyang said angrily, "We can't just sit here and wait to die. We have to think of a way, or we'll be bullied to death."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The first to speak was Yi Ze, one of the core members of the resistance group, who was skilled at intelligence gathering.

He was the first to hear about the student council's activities, including the recent danger Lin Xiaokui was in, and he led people to rescue her.

Yi Ze looked at Lin Xiao Kui and said, "You were the first place winner in the preliminary selection for Sheng Lan Star, and you were supposed to be interviewed by external media."

"But because of the library incident, we were labeled, and the matter was dropped."

Lin Xiaokui raised her eyes.

"Could you ask your friend about it?" Yi Ze said.

"Is there any hope for this? Did the student council deliberately block the media?"

Lin Xiaokui remained silent. "You mean Ruan Tang?"

Yi Ze added, "It's her. She's currently a secretary on the board of deacons, so she definitely has access to this information."

"She's already a member of the deacon council," Lin Xiaokui said. "She's high and mighty, why would she help me?"

Fang Zhaoyang's tone grew urgent, and he quickly interjected, "So what are you planning to do? Just wait here for them to come again?"

"No matter how much you girls compare and envy each other, at this critical juncture, she is your resource and connection, and you should know how to make use of her."

Lin Xiaokui stared at him.

Fang Zhaoyang squatted down and looked her straight in the eye. "I hate her too, but haven't you said more than once that she's always followed you around since she was little and always obeyed you?"

"She was choked by Si Lin before, so maybe she was threatened by Si Lin to join the deacon team."

"Think about it, is it possible to turn her around?"

Lin Xiaokui pulled her hand back from Su Nian's hand and looked at her finger, which was being bandaged by the thoughtful girl.

"I'll give it a try."

Fang Zhaoyang breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and patted her on the shoulder.

"But the kind of person who's opportunistic," Lin Xiaokui looked up at Fang Zhaoyang, "you'd better not have too high hopes."

Fang Zhaoyang paused for a moment, then nodded, "Okay, you go and try it first."

-

After school, Ruan Tang returned to the flower shop.

She changed into a light apricot-colored cotton dress, tied on an apron, and sat on a small stool, fiddling with a bunch of newly arrived lilies of the valley.

The setting sun slanted in through the glass door, falling on her profile.

Her slender, white fingers gently touched the white flower buds, her movements unhurried and deliberate.

The glass door was pushed open, and the wind chimes tinkled.

Lin Xiaokui stood at the door, having changed into a clean school uniform and retied her hair.

She saw Ruan Tang sitting there, holding a lily of the valley in her hand, backlit, quiet and beautiful.

She has more poise than those aristocratic ladies.

"What do you want?" Ruan Tang didn't look up, continuing to fiddle with the flowers in her hands.

Lin Xiaokui stood at the door without moving. She had originally come to ask for a favor, but seeing Ruan Tang's appearance, her words, which were on the tip of her tongue, turned sour and sarcastic.

"Are you living a pretty good life now?" she asked.

"She's become more beautiful, she's married into a better family, and even the flower shop is brighter than before."

Ruan Tang inserted a lily of the valley diagonally into the glass bottle.

"I remember you weren't like this before," Lin Xiaokui said as she walked in.

"You used to listen to whatever I said; we were best friends."

"And now? You're sitting in the classroom, watching them chase and beat me up, and you don't even say a word in my defense."

Ruan Tang looked up at her. "You came all this way just to talk about this?"

"No." Lin Xiaokui pursed her lips and pulled up a chair to sit down.

"I have something to ask you."

"Speak."

"Did you know that after the Saint Lan Star primary selection, some off-campus media wanted to interview me?"

"Know."

"That's all." Lin Xiaokui stared at her. "Did the student council stop them?"

Ruan Tang put down the scissors in her hand and looked at her. "Yes, the student council ordered it to be canceled."

Lin Xiaokui suddenly stood up, causing her chair to slide backward.

"I knew it! They're scared, scared that I'll give interviews, scared that I'll expose Sheng Lan's affair—"

"Afraid of you?" Ruan Tang interrupted her.

Lin Xiaokui was stunned for a moment.

Ruan Tang stood up and placed the flowers in her hand on the table.

She was a little shorter than Lin Xiaokui, so she had to look up at her, but there was no fear in her tone. "Don't be naive. Even if you were allowed to do an interview, what could you say? That Shenglan has a blacklist and whitelist? That aristocratic students bully special admissions students?"

Lin Xiaokui was filled with righteous indignation. "Of course I'm going to say it! I want everyone to know."

Ruan Tang smiled faintly. "Which media outlet would dare publish it? Which reporter would dare write about it?"

"You think journalists are righteous? Then let me ask you, who pays their salaries? Who controls the platforms they work for?"

Lin Xiaokui opened her mouth.

Ruan Tang looked at her and said, "Even if it makes the news, you will only further escalate the conflict."

"It would add another charge against him for smearing the school."

Lin Xiaokui retorted, "How is this slander?"

"Why doesn't it count? The blacklist and whitelist only list names. How other students interpret it is their business. How can it be considered bullying by the heirs of the four major conglomerates?"

"Those people had already planned how to extricate themselves from the situation from the very beginning."

"Have you ever seen them personally physically assault someone?"

"Oh, except for the time you angered Si Lin."

Lin Xiaokui was so angry that she couldn't speak.

Ruan Tang's voice was still soft, but her words were not. "Use your brain. In their eyes, your resistance group is just a bunch of clowns, someone they watch occasionally for a bit of fun."

Lin Xiaokui's face turned red with anger. "Ruan Tang, you're really speaking so rudely now! We've been friends since we were little!"

"I haven't finished speaking yet." Ruan Tang took a step forward.

"There are so many specially admitted students behind you, Su Nian, and other outstanding students. They all have bright futures."

"With excellent grades, you can get a high scholarship at the end of the semester, and after graduation you can get into one of the Big Four financial groups and earn a salary in one year that others cannot earn in ten years."

"Don't ruin their future because of your momentary impulse."

Lin Xiaokui gritted her teeth, "Are you lecturing me?"

"I didn't lecture you," Ruan Tang said.

"I'm reminding you, you think you're helping them, but have you asked them what they need most?"

"Su Nian and the others need to graduate smoothly and need to receive scholarships."

"And those minor forms of discrimination and malice will pass quickly if you just ignore them and tolerate them."

Lin Xiaokui didn't listen at all; she just felt offended by Ruan Tang. "Fine."

"Now that you've climbed up to the deacon group, you speak with such arrogance, and you even lecture me with such confidence."

Ruan Tang frowned at her, not expecting that she hadn't listened to a word she said.

Lin Xiaokui stared at her. "You think you've won?"

"Do you think that by trying to please them, you can truly integrate into that circle?"

"Ruan Tang, in their eyes, you'll always be a special admission student. The day you're no longer useful, they'll throw you away faster than they throw away trash."

She turned and left after she finished speaking.

He stopped at the door, saying, "We'll see. I won't give up."

The glass door was pushed open, the wind chimes tinkled a few times, and then fell silent again.

Lin Xiaokui's figure disappeared into the twilight of the old street.

Ruan Tang sat back on the small stool, picked up the lily of the valley from earlier, and gently twirled the white petals between her fingers.

Lin Xiaokui said she would not admit defeat, but her enemy was never Ruan Tang.

The battlefield, however, is not in Shenglan, not on the playground, and not in any chase or fight.

In the larger world, there were twelve years of political maneuvering, nine years of popular rule, and three years of blacklists and whitelists.

Lin Xiaokui, a local, caused quite a stir at the school, yet she didn't even understand the underlying logic.

Ruan Tang sighed again.