After more than half a year, Jiang Ruo’s follower count continued to grow, establishing her as a top influencer on the platform. Because of the momentum, many businesses were now seeking collaboration with her, thus Jiang Zhou no longer needed to please others to seek partners. Although livestreaming was quite tiring, it proved lucrative for Jiang Ruo. While her current earnings might be lower than the payment she got for acting in the drama, she made enough to spend freely.
Jiang Ruo understood the key to her success was her fans’ desire to see her serious study habits, so she steadfastly refused offers from cosmetics brands. While the high profits were tempting, she understood the need to prioritize her current image.
With her earnings, Jiang Ruo divided the money into three parts: saving, personal spending, and buying gifts for her family — because she wanted to maintain her image as the sensible and caring Ruoruo to her parents. Sure enough, her parents’ attitude softened, but only her brother knew how hard she worked. Jiang Zhou would assist Jiang Ruo with her studies, summarizing key points for her to review and regularly checking her homework to ensure her streaming didn’t affect with her schoolwork.
Jiang Ruo was content to see her life gradually return to a positive direction — until Shen Mian’s unexpected appearance. The malicious comments from her former best friend reminded Jiang Ruo of past events, making her realize how others still saw her as a thief who stole Jiang Li’s life.
Watching the increasingly heated comments, Jiang Ruo fell silent for several minutes. She watched as people posted comments explaining the scandal about her and Jiang Li’s true identities; they then talked about Jiang Li’s achievements in IMO and started comparing her with Jiang Li.
Noticing Jiang Zhou’s worried gaze from behind the camera, Jiang Ruo’s mood gradually calmed down. If the truth of her parentage made her destined to live in Jiang Li’s shadow forever, then she was determined to find a less dark place within that shadow and carve out a world of her own.
Clearing her throat, Jiang Ruo began to answer the fans’ questions.
“Jiang Li, who won the gold medal in the International Mathematics Olympiad, is indeed the biological daughter of my parents. Because we were switched at birth, I grew up with my parents, while Jiang Li ended up in an orphanage. For this, I truly owe her an apology.”
“Last year, I also participated in the preliminary competition but only won a provincial first-class prize, missing the chance to join the provincial team. Jiang Li is much more talented than me. She made it to the provincial team, then the national team, and now has brought honor to our country by winning an international gold medal. I should wish her well.” As she spoke, Jiang Ruo picked up the provincial first-class medal and showed it to the audience.
After Jiang Ruo’s clarification, the comment section became even more lively. Some people began to mock her, accusing her of crafting a perfect image as a scholarly girl on livestreams to profit from book and stationery sales. As a result, she hadn’t even made it to the provincial team! How could someone like that be a role model for students? What if her study methods misled their children?
That comment sparked a wave of agreement, with many saying Jiang Ruo was a fraud and vowing never to buy the books she recommended again.
However, those commenters were quickly slapped in the face, as others in the comment section began to explain the difficulty of the math olympiad and how rare it was to win even a provincial first-class prize. Someone even posted a list of last year’s winners and their schools.
Seeing the list of winners and their schools, those who had mocked Jiang Ruo instantly fell silent. The reason was simple: none of those winners came from their own children’s schools. Claiming the competition was easy would be slapping their own faces!
That Jiang Ruo won a provincial first-class prize in her first year of high school proved her ability. Additionally, the commenter pointed out that winning the prize could earn her extra points on the college entrance examination, a highly sought-after advantage.
With Jiang Ruo’s response, the atmosphere in the channel gradually returned to its previous harmony, and many fans even sent her virtual gifts in apology, easing her worries. “I will learn from Jiang Li,” Jiang Ruo started, “and participate in the math competition again this year. Even if I still can’t make it to the provincial team, I will continue to strive to surpass myself.” Jiang Ruo said with a warm smile, her tone soft. She didn’t dare to make big promises; she had experienced the difficulty of the competition firsthand and knew how hard it was to make it to the provincial team.
“Thank you for your support, everyone. I am grateful for the aunts, uncles, brothers, and sisters who have come to watch my stream, but I have to finish early today. I want to watch Jiang Li’s live interview, as it will motivate me even more.”
After this statement, Jiang Ruo ended the livestream. Her fans quickly changed channel to watch the interview with the IMO gold medalists. Unlike Jiang Ruo’s, the atmosphere in this channel was incredibly harmonious, as any discordant comments were quickly countered and beaten down.
Some commenters praised Jiang Li for being more beautiful than many female celebrities. If she entered the entertainment industry, she could easily attract fans based on her looks alone!
Several people echoed this sentiment, declaring Jiang Li their idol from that day forward.
But immediately, someone countered: “Why rely on looks when you can excel with your brain? Our Jiang Li is an IMO gold medalist, a genius who brought glory to our country. How many idols do you think can claim that?”
Others seemed to prefer a different subject: “Guo Dongyi’s look at Jiang Li was filled with such warmth and love. Could there be something between these two geniuses?”
Immediately, someone retorted: “What nonsense you are talking about? Guo Dongyi and Jiang Li are from the same high school. What’s wrong with him taking care of a junior? If I had such a cute junior, I’d give her the best of everything, even if it meant I’d be left with nothing but plain rice and water.”
Many people echoed the sentiment, further stating that Jiang Li was only sixteen. Anyone who brought up the topic of puppy love about her should just scram!
After several times, no one dared to post discordant comments anymore.
…
After ending her stream, Jiang Ruo indeed switched to Jiang Li’s live interview. Seeing how the crowd defended Jiang Li in the comments, she felt a complex emotion that was hard to articulate. In her own livestream, many fans would defend her, but that was something she earned by chatting with them every weekend and posting videos daily. Jiang Li, on the other hand, did nothing, yet people would speak of her in an almost worshipful tone, not allowing any inappropriate comments, even if they were clearly made in light-hearted jest.
Mom cared about Jiang Li even more than those people, despite Jiang Li’s unwillingness to acknowledge her or make contact. Yet, Mom still followed any news about Jiang Li, even visiting the school forum just to stare at photos of Jiang Li.
Noticing Jiang Ruo’s dimmed expression, Jiang Zhou went over to hold her hand, “You are Ruoruo, not Jiang Li. You don’t need to compare yourself with her.”
Jiang Ruo nodded. Leaning on Jiang Zhou’s shoulder, she softly whispered, “I know, brother. I just feel sad occasionally, but it will fade with time.”
She indeed did not need to compare herself with Jiang Li, as she couldn’t match up. Even though Jiang Li had grown up in an orphanage, they were totally incomparable.
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I honestly feel bad for her rn, like she’s trying to move on with her life and people keep comparing, idk if she’s gonna darken or something for the sake of plot, but I quite like her just trying to live her life instead of constantly clashing with Jiang Li, Though Jiang Zhou gives off very red flag vibes with some of his interactions with Jiang Rou
I agree, I hope she won’t blacken because of the plot.