Ch 37: Those who wronged me are now begging me for mercy

The Art of Buildup

In the following days, these top students finally experienced the terror of having their social media feeds dominated by a relentless micro-merchant.

To be fair, Rong Ziyin didn’t post excessively often, but his timing was impeccable for maximum disruption. You’d never hear a peep from him during regular meal times, but as soon as the late-night cravings kicked in, he’d start flooding the timeline with his midnight temptations.

In just one night, nearly every scholar who received messages from Rong Ziyin provided him with a collective 5,000 bewilderment points.

However, this paled in comparison to the emotional points generated by netizens watching the show’s latest broadcast. The segment where Rong Ziyin coolly answered his peers had left audiences stunned.

“Holy crap! I feel like I’m back in high school, getting crushed by the class genius.”

“Right? It’s like the universe conspired to remind me how insignificant I am whenever I see my failing grades.”

“Don’t even start. Same world, same pain.”

Meanwhile, the production team released a teaser featuring the three Agriculture University students. The half-hour segment left viewers in shock.

Contrary to the stereotypical image of a “rural university” filled with farmhands, the real Agriculture University boasted a long history and a roster of exceptionally talented students.

The beautiful landscaping architecture student, Yao Lele, was the youngest Chinese finalist in the World Landscaping Design Awards. Not only was she nominated for first prize, but one of the judges had even purchased her design at a high price.

Then there was the seemingly plain mechanical engineering genius, Xu Chuanzhi, who had won first prize in China’s National College Mechanical Modeling Competition three years in a row. He had even been a backup member of the national team in an international competition. His home was practically overflowing with trophies.

As for the last of the trio, Rong Ziyin, he was more mysterious. Due to the unique nature of veterinary science, Rong Ziyin didn’t have as many competitions under his belt as the others, but he was no less impressive.

Starting in his sophomore year, Rong Ziyin was fast-tracked into a research group by his professor. For the next two years, every paper his professor published listed Rong Ziyin as the third author, showing his significant role in the group.

And his professor? A well-respected mid-career researcher in his field. Rong Ziyin’s excellence was undeniable.

This revelation stunned those who had previously dismissed Rong Ziyin as either lucky or a vase by the show’s producers.

What followed was a wave of criticism directed at the production team for hiding such impressive credentials.

“Why on earth would you keep such a talented scholar under wraps? This is insane!”

But the truth was, this had been the production team’s plan all along—a classic strategy of building suspense before delivering a knockout punch, playing the game of expectations masterfully.

Sure enough, this teaser rocketed the show back into trending topics, and instead of resenting Rong Ziyin, the audience grew more eager to see what he would do next.

After all, Rong Ziyin was the first contestant to bring “kids”—his baby geese—into the show. The producers had pulled out all the stops to get him on board, even accommodating his goslings in the garden.

Rong Ziyin’s casual remark during his interview, “My geese would have all grown up,” quickly became the latest internet meme, with users even turning it into a viral sticker.

However, the system, monitoring the internet, was furious, thinking the production team had been too manipulative. If Rong Ziyin hadn’t had the skills to back it up, he would’ve been torn apart by the public.

But in reality, it wasn’t Rong Ziyin who had asked to join the show—the producers had begged him to participate.

The system couldn’t help but scoff in disdain.

Rong Ziyin, however, remained unbothered. “Isn’t this great? Look at the million gold points we’ve racked up in the past few days.”

“But you had to endure all that criticism!” The system, worried for Rong Ziyin, grew more indignant the more it thought about it.

Seeing this, Rong Ziyin made a suggestion, “Hey, don’t dwell on it. How about we do a little reward draw to cheer up?”

The system, even more exasperated, snapped, “Are you worried we won’t have enough salted duck eggs to sell?”

Rong Ziyin replied calmly, “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just for fun.”

And with that, Rong Ziyin casually initiated a ten-spin reward draw.

Sure enough, out popped a neat row of ninety salted duck eggs, plus a bonus goose egg.

The system silently watched as Rong Ziyin carefully arranged the salted duck eggs in his suitcase, refilling the stock he had sold to the boys from the special program, and promptly fell into a sulk.

Rong Ziyin, on the other hand, nonchalantly opened his phone, posted a new meme and ad, and launched the next round of sales.

When it comes to the art of micro-entrepreneurship, Rong Ziyin was clearly a professional.

Within just two days, Rong Ziyin’s salted duck eggs had infiltrated every corner of the production team. Even his assigned PD had become a loyal customer.

As for the other top students, one look at them discreetly pulling salted duck eggs out of their pockets to go with their porridge in the morning was enough to confirm that none of them had escaped Rong Ziyin’s persuasive tactics.

The marketing students even dubbed Rong Ziyin “The Sales Overlord of Beijing,” joking that companies that went bankrupt due to poor sales simply lacked a Rong Ziyin on their team.

“With Rong Ziyin, you could conquer the world,” they said, marveling at his sales prowess, which they considered even more impressive than Zhuge Liang’s strategies during the Three Kingdoms period.

Despite his successful micro-entrepreneurial ventures, Rong Ziyin was ultimately there to compete in the show.

On the third morning, the production team announced the lineup for the next competition, as well as the subject matter. As many had speculated, the next challenge was titled “Culture and Nature.”

In short, the competition would cover topics related to both cultural and natural environments.

When this was revealed, nearly everyone was stunned and instinctively glanced at Rong Ziyin and his teammates.

Everyone knew that after the mock exam, Rong Ziyin had made a strong impression by ranking first, beating the humanities and geography expert, and accepting his challenge. However, many people doubted Rong Ziyin’s chances.

The mock exam was just a test of the participants’ general knowledge, but real competition relied on depth in specific fields. Even if Rong Ziyin was a prodigy, his two teammates didn’t stand much of a chance.

Now that the full scope was revealed, it was clear that Rong Ziyin’s team was bound to lose.

“Senior, their remaining team member is an environmental protection major,” whispered the captain of the neighboring team, who couldn’t resist sharing this tidbit with Rong Ziyin.

He spoke softly, but the surrounding area was so quiet that everyone heard him.

The faces of Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi, Rong Ziyin’s teammates, turned grim as they instinctively looked to Rong Ziyin for guidance.

System: Damn, this production team is really out to get you! This topic is so blatantly biased towards the humanities and geography team!

Rong Ziyin: Yes, they’re doing it on purpose for the drama.

According to the show’s rules, even if they failed this challenge, they wouldn’t lose their chances outright. There would still be opportunities to make a comeback.

Clearly, this was a case of the show aiming for a “build up before the fall” effect. However, Rong Ziyin’s team couldn’t afford to bear the “fall.”

After all, they represented their school, Agriculture University, and the honor of tens of thousands of students. Their first competition needed to be a triumphant debut. Even if they could excuse a loss by saying it wasn’t their field of expertise, it would still tarnish the university’s reputation.

Just like any other top university, Agriculture University couldn’t tolerate being second-best.

It was clear that Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi had also realized the production team’s little tricks, and their emotions were nearly out of control.

After the meeting, the three of them sat in Rong Ziyin’s room, with Yao Lele being the first to explode.

“Screw this garbage production team! I quit!” Yao Lele, usually composed, was so frustrated that she couldn’t help but curse.

Xu Chuanzhi, though clumsy with words, tried to console her, but the more he spoke, the angrier Yao Lele became. In the end, he could only look to Rong Ziyin for help.

But instead of intervening, they found Rong Ziyin calmly writing something down on paper.

“Hey, hey, Brother Rong, say something!” Since they had grown closer over the past few days, and Xu Chuanzhi realized Rong Ziyin was a month older than him, he naturally started calling him “Brother Rong.”

Yao Lele noticed this detail too and peeked at what Rong Ziyin was writing. She was surprised to see that he was listing book titles.

“What are you doing?” Rong Ziyin interrupted their conversation, closed his eyes as if in deep thought, and then quickly jotted down another string of book titles.

“What’s going on?” Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi exchanged puzzled looks.

Only the system knew that Rong Ziyin was reviewing the topics from the mock exam, trying to identify the sources the production team might have used for the upcoming questions.

System: But how can you be sure these books contain the answers?

Rong Ziyin: The production budget is limited, and true experts wouldn’t agree to prepare quiz questions for every episode. They’re definitely pulling questions from some books. Haven’t you noticed that all the questions in this show are fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice with only one correct answer?

System: But are you sure these books are the right ones?

Rong Ziyin: I can only roughly guess. I worked at the Beijing Library before, and I’ve skimmed through most of the humanities and social sciences books there.

System: So even after two years, you still remember? My goodness, what kind of superhuman host have I bonded with?!

After about ten minutes, Rong Ziyin finished compiling the relevant books and placed the list in front of Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi.

“Is this for cramming?” Yao Lele was taken aback.

Rong Ziyin nodded. “Yes, at this point, we can only rely on luck.”

“But how can you be sure these books are the right ones?” Yao Lele, with her wide knowledge, quickly realized that Rong Ziyin was using the mock exam questions to guess the source material.

However, many humanities books share similar content, and if Rong Ziyin guessed wrong, they’d be in trouble.

Time was limited, and choosing the wrong material could spell disaster.

Xu Chuanzhi, more distraught than the other two, realized he hadn’t read a single one of the thirty-plus books on Rong Ziyin’s list. He was a pure science student, after all.

“Are we going to admit defeat?” Rong Ziyin asked, hitting the nail on the head.

Both of them fell silent.

“We have no choice but to challenge them this time.”

“Then why did you accept that person’s challenge? They’re all experts in their field, three of them! Have you lost your mind?” Yao Lele’s suppressed emotions started to spiral out of control again.

Rong Ziyin, however, countered her with another question, “If you’re destined to lose, would you rather lose to a strong opponent or be completely crushed into the dirt?”

Yao Lele fell silent, understanding that Rong Ziyin was right.

In this competition, with the production team’s behind-the-scenes manipulation, they were bound to lose. Rong Ziyin’s decision was actually the best one under the circumstances.

But even so, she couldn’t accept it. What happened to fairness? How could they be written off as losers before the game even began?

And even if they could accept it, would Agriculture University? To hell with the idea of being “built up before being knocked down.” If they really wanted to gain fame quickly, with her and Rong Ziyin’s looks, wouldn’t it be easier to enter a talent show and debut on looks alone? Why did they spend years cooped up in a lab instead?

Thinking about the expectations their classmates had placed on them in the forum over the past few days, Yao Lele’s eyes suddenly reddened.

Xu Chuanzhi felt even more powerless.

Rong Ziyin remained calm. Once they had cooled down a bit, he placed the book list in front of them again, “Want to give it a shot? We might have more of a chance than you think.”

“Can we do it?” Xu Chuanzhi asked, his shoulders slumped under the weight of the pressure.

Rong Ziyin responded, “Did you think you could finish your papers before you started them?”

“…No.”

“But you finished them on time, didn’t you?”

“We have one week, and that’s forty books.”

“How do you know it’s impossible if you don’t try?”

“Or would you rather give up now and apologize to Agriculture University on live television?”

“That’s definitely not happening!” Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi retorted almost instantly.

Rong Ziyin smiled, “Then let’s get started! If I’m right, all these books should be available in the dormitory library.”

“How do you know that?” Xu Chuanzhi asked, surprised.

“I checked the library on my first day here and borrowed two books to read.”

“Really? When did you do that?” Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi were both shocked. “Weren’t you busy with your microbusiness?”

“I was busy with that!” Rong Ziyin pointed to the two books on his desk—The Science of Success in Microbusiness and How to Better Develop Your Social Network

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