Summary
I had a bad-girl reputation, and my copycat deskmate wanted every bit of it.
I chewed betel nuts; she chewed betel nuts. I rode a noisy scooter; she rode one too. I wore driving loafers; so did she.
Then one day, I overheard her talking to her system.
[Ding! Imitation progress: 90%. You will soon replace the target.]
I almost laughed. She’d fallen for the whole act.
What I chewed was walnuts. My nightly scooter rides took me to tutoring. The slip-on shoes saved me time tying laces—time I could spend learning vocabulary. Even cornering the top student in the bathroom was about getting help with math.
When the gaokao results came out, she’d scored less than three hundred. She still blocked my way, looking smug.
“The system says you’re the Gu family’s long-lost daughter. Once I reach a hundred percent, your life is mine.”
“You’re good at being born rich. I’m good at copying. We’ve both got bright futures. Actually, scratch that. Only I do.”
“You can stay here and rot!”
I took my admission letter out, nice and slow.
“Keep dreaming. Forgot to tell you—I got into Tsinghua.”