Chapter 51

Gu Lanchun suddenly let out a scream.
Her parents, who had been keeping a close watch on her, rushed over. "Lanchun, what’s wrong?"
They looked at her cautiously.
It was only then that Gu Lanchun suddenly realized how, during this period, she had been unable to accept the loss of all her knowledge. She had refused to speak and had made many mistakes, causing her parents immense worry, yet they still comforted her.
She threw herself into her parents’ arms.

Gu Tongqiu was on the sports field at the moment Tao Shushu’s victory was announced. Suddenly, she felt as if a layer of fog had lifted from above her eyes.
When she looked at the stage again, she suddenly found Su Momo’s face distorted and uncoordinated.
She couldn’t understand why she had ever thought Su Momo was good-looking before.
Thinking back, she now saw Su Momo as nothing but a joke. Despite having embarrassed herself countless times before, she still dared to provoke Tao Shushu.
And she had even viciously cursed Tao Shushu on the forum.
Everyone was watching when they suddenly realized something was off about this international class. Why did Zhang Hai tolerate someone like Su Momo without correcting her? Moreover, the foreign teacher in the international class taught several classes, including Gu Tongqiu’s.
They had previously thought the teacher was very friendly with the students, but now it struck them, the foreign teacher had been touching students’ hands, and the more they thought about it, the more uncomfortable they felt.
They couldn’t understand why they hadn’t noticed it before.
Gu Tongqiu frowned. Had she been manipulated before? How had she failed to notice the foreign teacher’s inappropriate behavior?
Gu Tongqiu had never liked Su Momo to begin with, so her awakening was relatively mild.
On the sports field, a student hugged their phone in distress. "Is this really me? Did I really confess my love to Su Momo every day on the forum before?"
"I called her a goddess? Impossible, my account must have been hacked."
"It was you. I even have a video of you passionately declaring your love."
"I once helped Su Momo criticize Tao Shushu, but now it’s clear Tao Shushu did nothing wrong. Why did I think Tao Shushu had wronged Su Momo? Was I possessed?"
"Why did I insist so strongly on having Su Momo perform at the school festival? Her piano skills aren’t even that great." This was the shared thought among the members of the Arts Department. "We should have realized it the day we took over Class One’s space for Su Momo. Why didn’t we?"
"Right, speaking of that incident, we were definitely in the wrong. Why was I so stubborn about it before?"
All the students simultaneously became aware of the various oddities from before. Even in the open and liberal environment of Huiwen School, where students were allowed to organize competitions freely, Su Momo’s lack of genuine talent and the constant attention she attracted felt completely unnatural. It was as if everyone had suddenly woken from a dream and could no longer ignore these strange occurrences.
Su Momo slumped, covering her face. On stage, she broke down, crying and shouting, "No, you can’t leave me! I’m the female lead! I have the protagonist’s halo, everyone should love me!"
"Don’t go! I was chosen! I need my cheat ability!"
Qin Rui frowned, stepped onto the stage, and covered Su Momo’s mouth. He said to the stunned security guards, "She’s sick. Call an ambulance."
The security guards had also been discussing earlier. "It’s strange. This girl always used to walk with the school bully. Whenever she was late, she’d just smile, and I’d let her in. Isn’t that against the rules?"
"Now I remember, she came to the surveillance room to edit the footage. That’s not right, but at the time, I didn’t even question it."
"It’s just too abnormal."
The security team leader only dialed the number after being prompted but remained alert, adopting a defensive stance, ready to deal with Su Momo at any moment. The more they thought about it, the more eerie it felt.
The teachers also came to maintain order. "Alright, alright, the competition is over. Everyone, head back to class now."
"Su Momo, failure is always hard to avoid. Please calm down."
Su Momo cried uncontrollably, her throat emitting hoarse, gasping sounds.
The classmates rarely saw her so distraught, but instead of sympathy, everyone was wondering what was wrong with her, why couldn’t she handle losing?
The teacher patiently tried to reason with her, catching only occasional words like "school belle" and "female lead" from Su Momo’s mouth. The teacher looked utterly baffled and quickly called Zhang Hai.
Meanwhile, Tao Shushu had already been escorted back to the crowd by Class One students, who surrounded her, happily chatting and congratulating her.
Fang Le was busy uploading Tao Shushu’s beautiful photos on the forum.
"Shushu, you’re amazing!"
"Shushu, your spoken English is so good!"
"Shushu is the prettiest!"
"Shushu is the strongest."
"Sister Shu’s logic is on point."
"Sister Shu annihilates with words."
"Sister Shu’s skills are top-tier."
Tao Shushu stood at the center of the crowd, smiling as she celebrated with her classmates.
Suddenly, she felt a gaze.
Looking back toward the flag-raising platform, Su Momo was still hysterical, rolling on the ground and refusing to get up despite attempts to calm her. Qin Rui, however, seemed lost in thought.
The pallor on Qin Rui’s face had vanished.
Soon, the crowd around him gradually quieted down.
"Classmates, hurry back to class. Stay safe and avoid any stampedes," he said.
His words carried more weight than the teacher’s. The students who had been lingering to watch the drama quickly dispersed.
He stared intently at Tao Shushu, as if issuing a silent warning.
Tao Shushu met his gaze fearlessly.
No one had the right to take away skills earned through hard work. The Academic Genius System didn’t deserve to be a cheat tool.
Su Momo, Qin Rui, or anyone else, none of them had the right to compete against her using others’ achievements. If they tried, she would do everything in her power to defeat them.
Some students remained unaffected by Qin Rui’s influence.
The Class One students continued to buzz excitedly around Tao Shushu, even pulling their homeroom teacher, Shi Yu, into the circle. The class’s enthusiasm for learning soared.
Behind them, a group of students regretted listening to Su Momo’s earlier instigations, blindly attacking Tao Shushu, other students, and even teachers. They vowed never to act so impulsively again.
Some were deeply impressed by Tao Shushu’s composure and immediately set her as their academic role model.
The students from the Arts Department reflected on why they had allowed Su Momo to dominate their activities, ruining performances and even taking over Class One’s space.
Gu Tongqiu, reading messages on her phone, felt genuinely happy for her cousin, who had finally recovered. Though unsure of the reason, she approached Tao Shushu to convey her cousin’s gratitude.
Some Class One teachers pondered why they hadn’t taken action earlier, given Su Momo’s long-standing association with school bullies. More importantly, how could such bullies exist at Huiwen? Reforms were needed.
They were all so vibrant, living according to their own wills, unaffected by external forces.
Class One’s next period happened to be their homeroom teacher Shi Yu’s class.
Back in the classroom, the excitement lingered.
Shi Yu smiled and said, "Tao Shushu’s English ranking wasn’t high before, but her progress is evident to all. Let’s give her a round of applause."
Warm applause echoed for a long time before fading.
"So, I believe that in the upcoming monthly exam, if everyone puts in the effort and studies hard, you will all achieve excellent results."
"Great!" the students from Class One shouted.

The aftermath of the debate competition was significant.
Su Momo was quickly picked up by her parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Su seemed to have aged ten years overnight, arriving in a hurried and flustered manner, completely devoid of the dignified composure typical of wealthy elites.
It was rumored that Mr. Su had lost a major business deal earlier that morning, and his expression was fierce.
Su Momo was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with delusional disorder, requiring long-term hospitalization and treatment.
"A little insider info, the Su family has already started the process of adopting a daughter from within their clan. They’re really going all out for a marriage alliance, no matter what. What era is this, anyway?"
Tao Shushu listened and gave a noncommittal response.
Soon after, it was discovered on the forum that Su Momo had more secret accounts than the ones previously exposed. Each of her alternate accounts was filled with venomous remarks.
It also came to light that she had bought votes during the school beauty pageant.
The forum was flooded with disbelief and ridicule, no one could understand her actions.
In the hospital, Su Momo had completely broken down. No matter how desperately she called out, no system responded to her anymore. She had been utterly abandoned.
Her phone had been confiscated, but she managed to sneak a glance at someone else’s phone in the hallway while pretending to use the restroom. The person was scrolling through Weibo.
They clicked on a trending hashtag: #HowImpressiveAreTopStudentsAtEnglish#
The page displayed a video of Tao Shushu speaking, her pronunciation flawless. Every word and sentence struck Su Momo like a hammer to the heart. She could only understand simple words like "I" and "do not", she no longer had the vocabulary to comprehend what Tao Shushu was saying.
The girl watching the video replayed it again and again, each repetition feeling like a stab to Su Momo’s heart. Su Momo noticed that a language expert had even provided translations in the comments, analyzing the grammar and highlighting advanced vocabulary. The post had already garnered over ten thousand shares and comments, with countless users thanking the "academic goddess" and saying they needed to memorize more advanced vocabulary with just two months left until the CET-4 and CET-6 exams.
"Her pronunciation is so beautiful, when will I ever learn to speak like that? Wuwuwu..." the girl murmured, clicking to watch the video once more.
Su Momo couldn’t take it anymore. "Stop watching! What’s so great about her? She’s just a supporting character, she should’ve died a long time ago..."
The girl stood up warily. "Are you crazy? Which room did you escape from?"
Su Momo continued muttering to herself, detached from reality, until she was quickly restrained and pushed away by her disgusted parents.
Tao Shushu knew nothing about these events.
She was walking briskly from the cafeteria back to the classroom. She really shouldn’t have eaten at the cafeteria, now, everywhere she went, classmates greeted her.
Some even apologized, feeling guilty for having wrongly sided with Su Momo and saying negative things about her before.
Back in the classroom, Tao Shushu asked, [System, do I really not need to use a Primary Clarity Card right now?]
[The energy obtained from defeating the original female lead has been converted into Primary Clarity Cards. Excess energy is being reclaimed.]
Tao Shushu thought for a moment. [I won’t become the new female lead, will I?]
[No, this system isn’t that kind of system.]
[That’s good. You said there’s excess energy, I want you to do one thing. Restore all the ordinary people whose knowledge was stolen by Su Momo and make them forget these painful memories.]
After a long period of calculation, the system replied, [Alright, but we won’t be able to stockpile as many Primary Clarity Cards, and some deeply ingrained memories cannot be erased.]
[Understood. Go ahead and do it.]
At the Gu residence, after freshening up and carefully bandaging the wound on her wrist, Gu Lanchun suddenly paused. She decided to invite Tao Shushu over for a meal at home because she had helped her recover her knowledge. But how exactly had Tao Shushu managed to do such an incredible thing? She suddenly couldn’t remember.
However, the feeling of gratitude toward her was unmistakable. Gu Lanchun cheerfully continued trying on clothes.
In the classroom, Tao Shushu unexpectedly ran into Gu Tongqiu.