Healing the Black Lotus Female Supporting Character (Transmigration into a Book - ABO) - Chapter 12

After finally freeing herself from that embrace, Hua You was just about to say something when a mocking voice interrupted her:

“Quit pretending to be a top student. Who knows if you cheated? No one just jumps from the bottom of the blacklist to the top of the honor roll like that.”

There was no need to guess who it was—of course, it was Qin Jing.

Most of the classmates stayed silent. Though deep down, many of them enjoyed the drama of close friends falling out, they weren’t about to fan the flames in public. Still, a few couldn’t help but smirk inwardly: Fight! Fight!

Hua You didn’t care what the others thought—she only looked at Bian Chengyi.

Bian Chengyi maintained her usual calm and composed expression, as though nothing could shake her, even though a storm had already swept through her heart.

She looked at Hua You quietly for a while, and just when Hua You thought she wouldn’t respond, Bian Chengyi smiled. And that smile—like the last snow of winter melting to reveal the green beneath—was something else entirely.

“After working so hard for so long, it’s good to finally see results.”

After saying that, she reined in her smile a bit and walked back to her seat.

That one sentence alone was enough to ease some of the suspicions about Hua You cheating. After all, if even Bian Chengyi—who had previously clashed with her—acknowledged her hard work, it must be true.

She’d never really put in effort before, but the moment she did, she ranked first. Whether others liked it or not, they had to accept it.

The classmates below each had their own thoughts. Bian Chengyi ignored the gazes that followed her and returned to her seat, starting to pack up her books.

Qin Jing’s expression soured as she stared at Hua You walking toward her. Hua You stopped in front of her desk and smiled.

“Not convinced, are you?” Hua You said, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Well, I suppose that’s natural.”

“I plan to keep this up,” she added, tilting her head as she met Qin Jing’s eyes without hesitation. “Just to prove you really need to rethink your opinion of me.”

Qin Jing was a prideful girl. She hadn’t expected Hua You to publicly fire back like that, and her face flushed red with embarrassment.

In the end, she gritted her teeth and said, “You’re really smart—how could I not be jealous? It’s just a shame most of us aren’t as gifted as you are. We study like our lives depend on it and still can’t make it onto the red list—not even the top twenty in our grade.”

Her gaze shifted past Hua You as she let out a sigh and deliberately looked toward the silent Pei Fei.

“Fei Fei, you’re her roommate. Why doesn’t she ever help you? Teach you a thing or two?”

Pei Fei had been buried in her test papers from the moment Hua You entered the classroom, seemingly untouched by the chaos around her. When she was suddenly mentioned, her pen paused mid-stroke. She looked up, gave Hua You a reassuring smile, and said with a shake of her head:

“Everyone walks their own path. I’ve always been a bit slow to catch on, so I have to work even harder. Hua You’s just different from me. Don’t let it bother you.”

Hua You had endured plenty of snide remarks and provocations like Qin Jing’s in the real world.

Because she was “exceptionally gifted” and had a “troubled background,” praise from others was often only half sincere. They would first marvel at her intelligence, then lower their voices to gossip about her past, finishing with a whisper:
“Ah well, it’s no wonder she’s a bit odd. You can tell she doesn’t really fit in with the rest of us.”

Hua You would be right there, quietly playing a game of chess against herself.

She didn’t play to win—more like a form of self-punishment, a way to cope.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t connect with others.

Showing tolerance was easy—it was just a matter of whether she was willing to invest the effort.

But she had also watched helplessly as some of the friends she truly cared about drifted away from her. In those moments, she felt a kind of irreversible helplessness that she thought would never apply to her.

She was used to being at the front of the pack.

First in exams, determined to win every competition.

This kind of whispered judgment had once nearly destroyed her, shaping her into someone strangely accommodating.

She could sense what kind of person others liked—and become that person.

Just like with Bian Chengyi.

If she were truly being herself, Hua You would never have interacted with Qin Jing again.

But in front of Bian Chengyi…

She had to smile.

She gave Pei Fei a smile of gratitude and relief, like a ray of sunlight breaking through the ice.

“Fei Fei has her own way of learning and her own pace. Don’t you know? When people with mismatched rhythms try to move forward together, it often does more harm than good.” Hua You returned to her seat and dropped her schoolbag with a heavy thud. “Qin Jing, your thinking is narrow—just like how you approach math problems.”

Qin Jing looked like she still wanted to argue, but before she could get a word out, two more prominent figures walked into the classroom, forcing her to swallow her retort.

Fang Jinyu and Fang Huai.

Fang Huai carried Fang Jinyu’s schoolbag and placed it gently on her desk. Meanwhile, Fang Jinyu almost jogged over to Bian Chengyi’s side, her eyes carefully studying her expression.

“Chengyi, are you okay?”

“If you’re talking about the rankings,” Bian Chengyi said, flipping a page in her book and meeting Fang Jinyu’s concerned gaze, “being fourth instead of third is fine.”
She thought to herself, In my past life, through all of high school, whether people were genuine or not, the only one who ever truly looked after my feelings was Fang Jinyu.

“You don’t have to worry—I’m not the one upset. From beginning to end, the only one who’s furious is my mother.”

In fact, she found a strange joy in the idea that Hua You might have angered her mother.

“I haven’t even seen the results yet,” Bian Chengyi added. “So, who came in second—was it you or your cousin?”

Sitting behind Fang Jinyu, Fang Huai overheard their conversation and chuckled.
“When it comes to science weeks, Jinyu usually can’t beat me.”
That earned him a light punch on the shoulder from Fang Jinyu. He exaggerated a wince and furrowed his brows.
“Alright, alright! You beat me in everything else—just stop hitting me, Cousin!”

Fang Jinyu huffed and pulled back her hand, then turned back to Bian Chengyi and asked in a quieter voice,
“Was Hua You hiding her ability this whole time? Did she just not study on purpose? Or did something just click all of a sudden?”

“In the past…” Bian Chengyi recalled a few memories and shook her head.
“I think she really wasn’t studying. But she’s incredibly smart.”

That kind of brilliance just couldn’t be hidden.

Back when Bian Chengyi disliked her, she would unconsciously filter Hua You’s presence out of her world. But ever since that temporary marking incident, Bian Chengyi had started to observe her. Just looking at that math homework from Thursday—though it only included the long-form problems and the calculations weren’t even complete—the logic behind her solutions was entirely sound.

Or maybe it was through their interactions.

Bian Chengyi couldn’t explain why, but she felt that Hua You was, like her, someone who was trapped.

In her past life, Bian Chengyi had chosen destruction—dramatic, brilliant destruction—as a way to release herself. But Hua You… perhaps her way was to deliberately slack off in academics. Maybe it was rebellion. Maybe it was a way to conceal her true abilities. Whatever it was, it seemed to be her form of expression.

And most of all… there was that smile of hers.

She always thought her smile looked innocent and radiant, but only Bian Chengyi could see what was hidden beneath it.

So much. So many things weighed down underneath.

That desire to glimpse something private made Bian Chengyi want to erase all their past grievances in one stroke—to change their dynamic from indifferent strangers to walking side by side.

Maybe this top score of hers… was a form of revenge.

…Was it?

Had she truly worked for it? Had something just clicked? Or… was she like Bian Chengyi—reborn? Only, without losing most of her memories?

The more she thought about it, the more restless Bian Chengyi became. She rubbed at her answer sheet so hard that the eraser couldn’t even clean up the marks anymore.

Evening study hall started shortly after. Teacher Xu came in to review the weekly test.

“Oh, right. This time, let’s have Hua You—who scored 149—explain the final questions to us,” Teacher Xu said after going over a few problems. Though she wouldn’t admit it outright, she did have her doubts. Still, even if there was the slightest chance it was real, she would never recklessly criticize or publicly question a student. That was part of her teaching ethic.

“Hua You did exceptionally well this time. I believe she just hadn’t studied seriously before. Now that she’s finally focused, of course the results are impressive. I hope everyone in class can learn from her. Hua You, would you be willing to share your approach?”

As if she had already anticipated this, Hua You nodded gracefully and walked up to the blackboard with ease and confidence.

After explaining the final fill-in-the-blank questions, the classroom was quiet save for the sound of students taking notes. Hua You continued:

“Of course, what I just said may have sounded a bit rigid. Solving multiple-choice questions on your own time only works when you’ve got too much time on your hands—so much you’re practically bored. But we have other strategies. The easiest is the special value substitution method. It’s pretty obvious—once you plug in a few values, you can eliminate some options. A quick check and boom—you’ve got your answer.”

She flashed a victory sign and smiled brightly.
“With this method, it shouldn’t take more than two minutes—just like this hand gesture. And there are special formulas and shortcuts not listed in the textbook. If anyone needs them, I’ll share them in our class group chat… Once you memorize them, you’ll recognize the patterns right away.”

“Math may be a science subject, but in the context of standardized testing, shortcuts work. Build equations if you can, switch to coordinates if needed, draw diagrams when possible. Most importantly—memorize. Memorize problem-solving patterns and techniques, and just plug them in when the time comes. Of course, let me warn you: the amount you’ll need to memorize might even be more than for liberal arts subjects.”

After finishing what she considered a fairly “approachable” talk, she nodded to Teacher Xu, wiped the blackboard clean, and hopped lightly down the steps back to her seat.

Teacher Xu, who had initially felt some concern, now looked completely reassured—eyes filled with admiration and surprise.

“Hua You explained everything very well, and she’s even willing to share her resources with everyone. Don’t you think that deserves a round of applause?”

The class—many of whom had been listening in a daze—snapped to attention and began to clap enthusiastically.

After evening study ended, Hua You was still packing her bag. Lin Lingwan and Lu Qianzi walked over to her desk. Lin gave her a thumbs-up and said, “Huahua, you were amazing today.”
Lu Qianzi, more reserved, asked shyly, “Huahua, will you really share those formulas with the class group?”

After Hua You confirmed she would, both girls left happily, already planning a late-night snack party in the dorm to celebrate her first-place ranking.

At the front of the classroom, Bian Chengyi was still wiping the blackboard. Her backpack hadn’t even been touched. With everyone in their final year of high school, time was precious—so the classroom had emptied out quickly. Now, only two male students doing cleanup and the two of them remained.

Hua You walked over to Bian Chengyi and watched her clean the board.

“You’re not leaving?” Bian Chengyi asked, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. Her tone was calm, even light, but she kept her focus on the board.

Hua You replied softly, “I only taught them about fifty percent today. Even counting the materials, I shared.”

She took a breath, then added in one go, her voice steady:

“I’m only willing to share that much—with them. But with you, I can give one hundred percent.”

“I didn’t have the right to ask before, but now I want to—would you be willing to study with me from now on, Sister Bian?”