Chapter 36
For the first time, Yuan Luoyi felt drawn to Director Zhang, even his little mustache seemed kind and approachable.
Ah! The savior is here!
At last, she could leave the "war zone" of her two brothers' endless bickering, and enter the peaceful world of ordinary people!
Director Zhang walked up to Yuan Luoyi, carrying a huge stack of books.
"Thud!"
The books were dropped heavily onto the table, causing the plates to jump.
Director Zhang wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at Yuan Si, "Ah, President Yuan, you're here too!"
Yuan Si politely extended his hand, "Hello."
Director Zhang grabbed it with both hands, shaking it enthusiastically. "Hello! Hello! Hello! Thank you so much for your hard work this time!"
Previously, Director Zhang had invited Yuan Si to be a guest on his variety show, but the entire crew thought he was delusional because Yuan Si was too famous, while they were just an ordinary production team. Yet Yuan Si still came, which made Director Zhang extremely grateful.
Next, Director Zhang turned to Yuan Rui, "Professor Yuan! Thank you so much for coming to our show too. Without an expert like you, we wouldn't know what we're doing wrong!"
Director Zhang tried to shake Yuan Rui's hand, but Yuan Rui gave him a cold glance and shrank back into his chair, unmoved.
After an awkward laugh, Director Zhang withdrew his hand.
Professor Yuan was a highly intelligent genius, famously disliking social interaction. Just getting him out of the lab was a challenge for Director Zhang, so he didn't dare hope to shake hands and chat like friends.
Finally, Director Zhang looked at Yuan Luoyi, unconsciously smiling. Yuan Luoyi had a magical charm that easily drew affection from others.
"Yuan Luoyi, you were so hard to find! Earlier, I brought the books to Class D, but you weren't there. Your classmates said you were probably in the cafeteria, so I came to check and here you are."
Yuan Luoyi stared at the mountain of books. "These books are for me?"
Director Zhang said, "Of course! There's a knowledge competition tomorrow, and these are the topics it will cover."
This unfortunate news was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. It took Yuan Luoyi a couple of seconds to regain her composure.
No way! She had transferred to Class D to happily slack off every day, but now she had to study?
Scanning the titles - World History, The Hundred Schools of Thought, Olympiad Math from Introduction to Giving Up, Anthology of Chinese and Foreign Poetry, History of World Philosophy, Psychology of Love and Marriage, Fundamentals of Physics and Chemistry A, Chinese-English Dictionary.
Um... is this really knowledge an 11-year-old student should master?
And with the competition tomorrow, she couldn't finish reading everything overnight. This would be too hard to win.
Yuan Luoyi remembered that Su Xun was great at knowledge competitions, having studied these subjects from a young age and participated in many international contests. With Su Xun's vast knowledge, it would be easy for her to win.
According to her past life memories, in the early stages of the variety show, Su Xun's popularity ranking was second. But due to her exceptionally outstanding performance in the knowledge competition, her well-read, talented lady persona caught fire, allowing her to overcome all obstacles and claim the trophy unchallenged.
If Yuan Luoyi lost to Su Xun this time, her influence would struggle to reach Level 100, making it impossible to make a wish.
Director Zhang clenched his fists in encouragement for Yuan Luoyi, "I'm rooting for you! The principal has even allowed fan clubs to enter and watch the competition tomorrow. You have so many fans now; you're the pillar of our variety show. Everyone is really looking forward to your performance!"
Yuan Luoyi felt even more anxious.
Fans were coming?
She had never even spoken to her fans before. Today was just one misfortune after another.
"Ding ling ling!"
Director Zhang's phone rang. He answered, "Hello? Oh, that's simple, just do as I say. First, do this, then do that... Right, right, and I'll remind you, don't do that... Got it, bye."
After hanging up, Director Zhang said to Yuan Si, "President Yuan, the crew says a lot of reporters have arrived and are waiting for you."
Yuan Si stood up and extended his hand to Yuan Luoyi, "The reporters are here, let's go."
Yuan Rui coldly said, "She won't go with you."
Yuan Si replied, "I didn't ask you."
He looked at Yuan Luoyi, waiting for her response. Eventually, Yuan Luoyi shook her head, rejecting his invitation.
Yuan Si pulled his hand back with regret. After all, his sister hadn't seen him for a year and couldn't fully trust him yet. Trust had to be built slowly, not rushed.
"You can take your time to consider this. I'm very patient and willing to wait. You're welcome to contact me anytime."
Yuan Luoyi said, "Okay, goodbye Fourth Brother."
Yuan Si reluctantly patted Yuan Luoyi's head, "Goodbye."
He straightened his slightly disheveled clothes and left with Director Zhang.
Yuan Rui laughed, having won this round decisively. He said to Yuan Luoyi, "Well done, you made the right choice. Don't give that guy a chance to control you."
Yuan Luoyi curiously asked, "By the way, Fifth Brother, why did you come to the school?"
Yuan Rui said, "I'm the question setter for the knowledge competition."
Yuan Luoyi's eyes lit up, "Will the questions be difficult?"
Yuan Rui replied, "Some will be difficult, others simple."
Yuan Luoyi inwardly groaned. Not good.
Yuan Rui's intelligence was so high that what he considered simple might not be simple for ordinary people, but what he deemed difficult would definitely be very hard.
In summary, this knowledge competition would be hell mode.
Yuan Luoyi patted the book stack with a sigh, "If only I had a photographic memory."
Yuan Rui said, "A photographic memory isn't a good thing. If a person keeps stuffing their brain without being able to get rid of the garbage, can you guess what will happen eventually?"
Yuan Luoyi said, "It'll break?"
Yuan Rui laughed lightly, "Correct, it'll break completely, like an over-inflated balloon bursting. In a sense, forgetting is a protection for humans."
Yuan Luoyi fell silent. Whenever she viewed too many memory fragments, her head would hurt. Was this her body giving her a warning?
"Alas, little one, don't input any more information. Your brain is about to explode."
Thinking carefully, the memories of 99 lives were extremely vast. A person couldn't even remember everything from one lifetime, let alone cramming 99 lifetimes' worth of memories into their head. It was truly dangerous.
Yuan Luoyi suddenly realized - is this why the system wanted her to slack off?
Because without slacking off and remembering too much at once, her body couldn't handle it. Forgetting was a protection, and slacking off was a protection too.
Yuan Luoyi deflated, slumping back in her chair.
At first, she still had a glimmer of hope that she could rely on the memory fragments of her 99 past lives to get through the knowledge competition easily. After all, she had previously used those fragments to learn English and master shooting skills, accomplishing many things she couldn't before.
But now it seemed she couldn't over-rely on the memory fragments of her past lives.
It was a double-edged sword - it could slay enemies, but also harm its wielder.