Chapter 41

Tao Shushu watched the undercurrents swirling before her and thought, "Oh wow." She had no idea why Wang Tianba, the "backup white knight," had suddenly turned traitor. She even felt like pulling out her phone to summon Li Anyu, who loved gossip, to come and witness the drama.
Wang Tianba glanced at Su Momo, then resolutely averted his gaze from her face and guiltily glanced at Tao Shushu.
Ever since Wang Tianba couldn't wait to distance himself, Su Momo had been observing him closely. When she noticed him glancing at Tao Shushu, alarm bells went off in her heart.
She bit her lip in embarrassment, wondering where things had gone wrong. Why had Wang Tianba, the one she cared about the least, changed his attitude so abruptly?
How could he do this?
Her gaze swept over Wang Tianba’s group of followers, the sharp-eyed Su Momo in front of her, and the stern-faced student council president. Su Momo had no choice but to suppress her urge to confront him.
She couldn’t afford to lose face in front of so many people.
She let out a bitter laugh. “Yes, don’t call me ‘sister-in-law.’ Tianba and I don’t have a relationship beyond friendship. Please don’t misunderstand. Tianba is… just a good friend of mine.”
Her voice trembled with emotion at first but then grew firm. In fact, it was just as well, she didn’t want the president to think she wasn’t single.
She should be happy that she had achieved her goal so easily.
“Sis… I mean, Miss Su, are you feeling unwell?” one of the straightforward followers asked. “Did you hit your head?”
“I’m fine. It has nothing to do with Tao Shushu. There’s no need to worry about me,” Su Momo replied, her eyes reddening as she feebly held her forehead.
“Brother Ba…” The follower didn’t know what to say and looked to Wang Tianba for guidance.
Wang Tianba hesitated for a moment. Even if he no longer liked Su Momo, he couldn’t just stand by and watch her get bullied right in front of him, especially with all his followers watching.
He cleared his throat. “Su Momo, did Tao Shushu hit you?”
As he asked, Wang Tianba suddenly recalled the first time Tao Shushu had chased him down and beaten him up. She hadn’t held back at all, and the pain had lingered long after.
He glanced at Tao Shushu again.
Su Momo shook her head. “No.”
“Then did she make you run into a pillar?” Qin Rui asked.
Wang Tianba looked up and saw Qin Rui standing very close to Tao Shushu. The sight irritated him. “Shushu wouldn’t do something like that.”
Su Momo clenched her fists, the fear of losing his favor growing stronger inside her.
She stared at Tao Shushu’s calm face, her heart twisting with resentment.
“Momo, why are you holding your head? Let me take a look. If… if Tao Shushu really did bully you, I’ll make sure she pays for it,” Wang Tianba said.
Su Momo’s heart stirred. She wanted to frame Tao Shushu, but with Qin Rui present, she knew he would expose her. That plan wouldn’t work. However, she could stall for time, as long as the president grew impatient and acted first…
Tao Shushu rolled her eyes. "Alright, class is about to start. I can't be bothered to argue with you all. Let's get a teacher to sort this out."
Like a whirlwind, Tao Shushu dashed toward the office at the end of the hallway.
Seeing that Tao Shushu was actually knocking on the office door, Su Momo immediately wanted to retreat. But behind her, Wang Tianba's gang blocked the way, while in front, Qin Rui stood smiling like a sly fox, barring her path.
She was trapped for just a moment.
In that half-minute, Su Momo heard a familiar roar. "Su Momo, what are you doing here again?"
The familiar discipline teacher strode over.
His shout even drew out some students who had returned to the classroom out of fear of Wang Tianba, disregarding the imminent class bell.
Tao Shushu followed behind the discipline teacher. "Sir, I didn’t bump into Su Momo. In fact, I even caught her when she almost hit the wall. I don’t want to be falsely accused by Wang Tianba."
"I can vouch for that," Qin Rui said, pointing toward the stairwell. "I was walking over from there and saw everything clearly."
The discipline teacher recognized Qin Rui. Seeing Su Momo and Qin Rui on one side and Wang Tianba, who had a history of early romance and was accompanied by his gang, on the other, he was already inclined to believe the former. But Su Momo’s pale expression gave him pause.
The discipline teacher frowned. "Su Momo, why are you covering your head? If you’re injured, go to the infirmary. If not, stop pretending to be hurt."
"I’m really fine, sir," Su Momo insisted, unwilling to reveal the pimple on her forehead in public.
"Su Momo says she’s fine, but she keeps covering her forehead and looks so unwell. It makes people think she’s only saying she’s fine because she’s afraid of something."
Wang Tianba thought for a moment. "Momo, just let me take a look. Is there a wound or not?"
Perhaps because Su Momo’s face was too pale, or maybe because Wang Tianba wanted to show that he wasn’t just a school bully but also had a tender side, he asked with unusual patience.
"Momo?" Wang Tianba asked softly.
Su Momo was caught in a dilemma. Seeing the discipline teacher searching for her parents’ contact number, she panicked. She couldn’t bear another scolding from her parents.
She lowered her hand from her forehead. "I’m really fine."
Wang Tianba burst out laughing. "You were covering a pimple? I’ve never seen one that big before. Impressive!"
Hearing the muffled laughter behind her, Su Momo’s face turned even paler. She quickly covered her forehead again.
But in her haste, her finger accidentally brushed against the pimple, sending a sharp pain that brought tears to her eyes.
Su Momo wished she could disappear.
The discipline teacher was also exasperated. "Su Momo, remember to give a self-criticism in front of the whole school after the flag-raising ceremony next week. Wang Tianba, you too."
"Sir, why do I have to go?" Wang Tianba asked, confused.
The discipline teacher turned to Tao Shushu with a gentle expression. "Tao Shushu, hurry back to class. Huiwen Highschool does not tolerate students ganging up to threaten others."
"Thank you, sir. Thank you, President Qin, for vouching for me." Tao Shushu left the crowd of onlookers and headed to the classroom.
She truly couldn’t understand why Su Momo had been so secretive, all over a pimple.
This just goes to show how harmful appearance anxiety can be.
Still, she was a little curious. Su Momo’s face had been clear last night. How had such a large pimple appeared so suddenly?
Back in the classroom, the teacher hadn’t arrived yet.
Li Anyu pulled Tao Shushu aside. "Shushu, I saw the forum updates. What happened? Did Su Momo cause trouble for you? And she brought Wang Tianba along?"
Tao Shushu shook her head. "I’m fine. Let’s talk after class."
After thinking for a moment, Tao Shushu took out her phone, opened the school forum, found the alternate account Su Momo had used to message her, and sent over several acne cream recommendations, a list of renowned dermatologists in Yan City, and a few inspirational articles about resisting appearance anxiety and the male gaze.
Tao Shushu focused on attending one class, and as soon as it ended, she started on her homework.
Li Anyu leaned in close. "Shushu, tell me what happened. I don’t get what’s going on in the forum. Why did Su Momo and Wang Tianba get punished together again? This time, they have to write self-criticizations. What’s going on?"
Tao Shushu summarized it briefly. "She stopped me in the hallway. I pulled her aside to keep her from bumping into a pillar, but Wang Tianba thought I was bullying her. I went to the teacher to clear things up."
"Taking kindness for ill intent. Serves them right for having to write self-criticizations," Li Anyu said. "Good thing you’re smart, Shushu, and knew to go to the teacher."
Li Anyu glanced back at the forum. "Shushu, your votes are about to overtake hers."
Tao Shushu shook her head, not particularly concerned about the school belle competition.
Suddenly, Li Anyu exclaimed angrily, "What’s going on? How did Su Momo’s votes suddenly skyrocket? Dozens of votes in just a minute, it would take an entire class voting at once to jump that fast."
Under Li Anyu and Tao Shushu’s watchful eyes, Su Momo’s vote count surged dramatically, breaking through the 3,000 mark in one go.
"Our entire student body doesn’t even add up to 3,000 people," Li Anyu grumbled.
Even if you included graduated alumni, there was no way the votes would suddenly spike like that.
"Maybe she’s campaigning for votes," Tao Shushu said with a laugh. "Alright, let’s get ready for class. Next is English, did you finish your homework?"
Li Anyu groaned. "No, let me copy yours."
"Shushu, I never thought your English would improve this much. I can’t believe I’m actually copying your English homework now. Unthinkable," Li Anyu muttered as she copied.
Tao Shushu snatched the homework back. "Watch your tone, or I’ll revoke your copying privileges."
"Good Shushu, I was complimenting you. Let me copy it, please," Li Anyu begged.
"Next time, I’ll make sure you do it yourself," Tao Shushu said with a smile.
She hadn’t expected her English to improve so much either. She was gradually scoring full marks on reading comprehension and cloze tests, and even her listening exercises rarely had more than two mistakes.
After a quick estimate, Tao Shushu felt she was getting closer and closer to her goal of ranking first in the monthly exam.
She focused intently on her exercises.
In the international class, Su Momo was clutching her phone, refreshing the forum’s voting page every few dozen seconds.
Just moments ago, Su Momo had noticed Wang Tianba staring at Tao Shushu’s back. She thought to herself, Fine then. Wang Tianba is just another shallow person who only cares about looks.
Since Wang Tianba didn’t treat her as a person, she saw no reason to abandon her entire pond for one rotten fish.
Su Momo immediately took out her phone, contacted Luo Liming, and directly asked him to help her gather votes.
It was all Tao Shushu’s fault. If it weren’t for her humiliating Su Momo in the auditorium last night, Su Momo wouldn’t have been so angry that she couldn’t sleep until midnight, wouldn’t have grown a huge pimple from the stress, and wouldn’t have ended up in such an awkward and embarrassing situation just now.
Su Momo knew there would be speculative comments on the forum, but she couldn’t resist sneaking glances at the remarks and refreshing the vote count.
Even after reaching out to Luo Liming and demanding that he mobilize Huiwen’s graduated students to vote for her, Su Momo still felt it wasn’t enough.
The votes were increasing too slowly.
She had to surpass Tao Shushu quickly and make her taste the bitterness of being trampled underfoot.
As Su Momo mulled it over, the idea of vote-buying crossed her mind.
She wasted half a class period before finally finding a reputable vendor. Gritting her teeth, she paid a hefty sum and repeatedly emphasized that the votes had to look authentic.
The money was well spent.
Right after the payment, Su Momo saw the vote count rising.
The forum had finally become a beautiful place.
Su Momo was on the verge of tears of joy. Rubbing her eyes, she could finally stop worrying about being overtaken by Tao Shushu.
She spent the entire class staring at her phone. When the class ended, Su Momo finally felt a sense of vindication. She waited with delight, anticipating her classmates noticing her surge in votes, envying her, and congratulating her.
Imagining Tao Shushu’s stunned expression after losing the campus belle competition and Wang Tianba’s belated regret, Su Momo’s face broke into a smile.
Just then, she overheard a comment: "The votes are increasing way too fast, it’s even surpassed the number of current students, haha."
Su Momo, already hyper-focused on the campus belle voting, quickly checked and realized it was true. Her vote count jumped by 500 with every refresh, far exceeding the total number of Huiwen students.
Panicking, Su Momo felt her phone vibrate with a WeChat message.
Luo Liming demanded, "Idiot! Did you buy votes for yourself?"