Chapter 29: The Online Love Rival Becomes a Charmer (29)

Chapter 29: The Online Romance Supporting Female Lead Cultivates into a Heartthrob (29)

The first round of recording for the *One vs. One* show took place at B University. Tang Qing had every reason to suspect that Jiang Yiyi had personally chosen this location—defeating her in front of all their classmates, especially in front of Si Yuechen, would surely fuel Jiang Yiyi’s ego for ages.

The audience for the show consisted mostly of B University students, including Li Chengyou. When the recruitment channels for audience members were first announced, Li Chengyou quickly wrote a small script to hack his way in and even helped Kuang Zhun and Si Yuechen from the lab sign up as well.

The three of them sat in the front-row seats—the best viewing spot. Passersby who spotted Si Yuechen widened their eyes in astonishment:

“Am I seeing things? Is that Yue Shen? Holy shit—Yue Shen actually came to watch this competition?”

“No way, Yue Shen is seemingly unreachable—why would he care about an entertainment show like this?”

That’s right—an *entertainment* show! To B University students, Si Yuechen was an unapproachable figure, someone whose name was usually heard in international competitions. A knowledge-based quiz show like *One vs. One* was far beneath his level.

“Is Yue Shen here to see Jiang Yiyi? I’ve noticed Jiang Yiyi visiting his lab pretty often lately.”

“Maybe not—could it be Tang Qing? Didn’t they say Tang Qing joined Yue Shen’s research group?”

A crowd of people audibly whispered about Si Yuechen, their gazes practically tangible, making Kuang Zhun squirm uncomfortably.

“*This* is the great spot you picked?” Sitting dead center in the audience, Kuang Zhun gritted his teeth under the weight of countless stares. “I’d rather be coding.”

“What’s wrong with this spot? It’s perfect for seeing her head-on.” Never one to care about Kuang Zhun’s opinions, Li Chengyou waved the small megaphone he’d bought, grinning ear to ear. “I’m gonna sit right here and watch my goddess crush that schemer Jiang Yiyi!”

Li Chengyou, the fool, had an innate bias toward Tang Qing. No one knew where his confidence came from, but he was absolutely convinced she could defeat Jiang Yiyi.

Kuang Zhun, ever the rational one, analyzed the objective conditions—Tang Qing had no advantage.

“Heheh, boss, if she wins later, should we celebrate with her?”

“After all, she’s part of our lab now. Winning would bring glory to our team.” Leaning toward Si Yuechen, Li Chengyou was already fantasizing about where they’d eat after the first round, his face twisting into a strange smile.

Si Yuechen maintained his inscrutable demeanor, offering no response.

The competition officially began.

The first round of *One vs. One* followed a “defender format,” with Jiang Yiyi as the initial champion. Tang Qing was placed last among the six challengers.

Today, Jiang Yiyi had clearly hired a professional makeup team. Styled with the senior student aesthetic, she wore a high ponytail and a preppy uniform, looking gentle and sweet. Her makeup was meticulously done—her foundation was airbrushed, covering up her naturally sallow and uneven skin tone. A faux beauty mark had even been added to the bridge of her nose, subtly reshaping her facial symmetry to make her appear more harmonious on screen.

As soon as Jiang Yiyi stepped on stage, B University students erupted into the loudest applause for their homegrown contestant:

“Jiang Yiyi looks so gorgeous today! Is that vest Chanel?”

“Wow, as expected of our school’s campus belle—she’s repping B University!”

“Of course! Our school has both the genius Si Yuechen and the campus goddess Jiang Yiyi. What a golden couple—lucky us!”

…

Listening to the enthusiastic cheers, Jiang Yiyi’s confidence soared. She introduced herself with poise, “Hello everyone, I’m Jiang Yiyi,” even waving at the audience below. Many familiar faces from school even stood up to cheer for her.

“Jiang Yiyi, you got this!”

“Jiang Yiyi, we’ll always love you!”

“Yiyi is the best!”

Jiang Yiyi naturally accepted the encouragement, smiling brightly as she said, “Thank you all for your support! I’ll do my best!” The beautiful campus belle and her simps shared an oddly wholesome scene on screen…

Watching the scene before her, the system sneered disdainfully in Tang Qing's mind, "Hmph! Acting all high and mighty in front of everyone, with all the answers in her hands—it's a sure win, isn't it?"

"Tang Qing, look at Jiang Yiyi smiling like a blooming flower. She’s absolutely loving this."

The system's tone turned sour, thinking about how Jiang Yiyi was already waiting at the finish line with the answers while Tang Qing had been slaving away for days memorizing materials. Its voice grew even more bitter, "It's all Zhong Yu's fault, fawning over that scheming little flower!"

"Why can't we just tell Zhong Yu that Jiang Yiyi tricked him back then? Let's expose her!"

The system kept muttering. Tang Qing remained silent, her fingers flying over her phone as she answered questions in a practice app.

The app's interface was simple, but its question bank was meticulously categorized and provided detailed explanations for wrong answers. Tang Qing had been killing time practicing on it these past few days and, without realizing it, she'd done over ten thousand questions.

The app was made by Si Yuechen. That day, Tang Qing's WeChat suddenly pinged—it was a message from Si Yuechen.

His message was brief, just four words: "Good luck in the competition."

Attached below was the link to this practice app. At first, Tang Qing thought it was just a random link Si Yuechen had found, but after searching online, she realized the app didn’t exist anywhere else—it must have been something he created himself.

A genius was just that—a genius. While she was still struggling through printed materials, Si Yuechen had effortlessly coded an app—and it turned out to be surprisingly useful?

"Tang Qing, look! Jiang Yiyi just breezed past the first challenger!" Still in the preparation room, the system kept tabs on the competition, reporting updates in real time.

With the answers in hand, Jiang Yiyi was brimming with confidence, answering questions swiftly and with astonishing accuracy, earning wave after wave of applause.

"Ugh, what a fraud. Now she's pretending to comfort her opponent."

"She got in through the back door, yet she has the nerve to say she just has 'a little bit of talent'—what an act!" The system kept ranting while Jiang Yiyi continued her performance on stage. Unsurprisingly, she breezed past the first few challengers with ease.

The camera zoomed in on Jiang Yiyi's picture-perfect smile.

Surrounded by applause and congratulations, Jiang Yiyi soaked up the attention, especially the admiration in her classmates' eyes—it made her feel like she was riding high.

Yes! This was how it should be. She, Jiang Yiyi, deserved to stand at the center of the stage, soaking up all the praise...

"Jiang Yiyi is amazing! She knows so much—she must’ve grown up in a family of scholars."

"I'm shocked. Some of those physics questions even tripped me up, and I'm a physics major. How does Jiang Yiyi know them?"

"Wow, Jiang Yiyi truly is the goddess of B University—totally deserved!"