After the exam, I received razor blades, funeral wreaths, and even animal carcasses in the mail. Online comments mocked me relentlessly:
“Yun Qing was always top-ranked? Looks like this is her real skill level.”
“Even if we give her full marks for the essay, her total would barely reach 300. Pathetic!”
“From 700 to 280? Should’ve scored 250 instead—it’d be funnier!”
Xu Yiran, meanwhile, accepted her offer from Minghua University. Her “original” essay earned widespread praise, cementing her as a media darling. She and Lin Chen became inseparable on TV shows, hailed as the “Golden Couple” of academia. Their viral story about Lin Chen “tutoring Xu Yiran into Minghua” dominated campus forums nationwide.
They even claimed I’d stolen Xu Yiran’s “first love” status, branding me a “homewrecking plagiarist.”
Trapped between my father’s disappointed sighs and my mother’s endless tears, I ended my life.
Now, reborn, I vowed to destroy them both.
During the math exam, Xu Yiran strutted past my desk, her smirk dripping with triumph. She rattled her chair and tapped her pen loudly, trying to bait me into glancing her way.
I obliged—twice.
Not to cheat, but to confirm she’d used my gift: the disappearing-ink pen I’d planted in her case.
She hadn’t noticed the switch.
As she scribbled her pre-memorized essay, I bit my lip to stifle laughter. Little did she know—while the topic matched Lin Chen’s prediction, my revised version outclassed hers in structure and depth.
Come results day, their faces would pale faster than drying ink.
The remaining exams—math, English, science—passed without incident. Xu Yiran smugly shook her leg throughout, confident in her victory.
When the final bell rang, we exited together. Lin Chen waited outside, his smile butter-smooth.
“How did it go, Yun Qing?” He reached for my pencil case. “Did the essay topic match my prediction?”
Before I could react, he tossed my pen into a trash bin—the same pen whose ink would vanish within hours.
I smiled sweetly. “Perfectly. Thank you, Lin Chen.”
Let’s see who’s smiling when those blank answer sheets surface.
Chapter 03
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