Yan's Reform Process (Part One)

What kind of mind-bending potion had that Bibi Dong woman fed that fool Hu Liena?

Back then, he had taught every student without regard for closeness or distance, holding nothing back.

Yet after that fool became the Pope's disciple, she came looking for trouble with him every day.

But considering how, in the original story, she was the sort of person who valued feelings over reason, betrayed Spirit Hall because of her love-struck brain, and handed over the Pope's intelligence to Spirit Hall's greatest enemy, Tang San, that ridiculous characterization...

It was not strange at all that she would stab him in the back without any logic whatsoever.

Knowing Bibi Dong's usual behavior, she had probably put one person down while praising another, glorifying her beloved little Gang-gege and claiming that You Chen's research had been plagiarized from Yu Xiaogang or something.

Then Hu Liena had believed Bibi Dong's words without a second thought, without verifying them with anyone.

That was exactly the sort of thing Bibi Dong would do.

And You Chen had not guessed wrong...

What Bibi Dong told Hu Liena was that You Chen had twisted right and wrong. He had clearly plagiarized Yu Xiaogang's research achievements, yet claimed to be the first author, winning over a great many people in Spirit Hall in the process. Though his talent was nothing special, he coveted power he had no right to covet, secretly plotting something harmful to Spirit Hall, even a conspiracy to overthrow Spirit Hall.

That was rather turning heaven and earth upside down.

Pure hostility alone would not have made You Chen so disdainful.

After all, their positions truly differed. It was only natural for them to be hostile toward one another, and there was nothing to say about that.

But fabricating groundless yet high-sounding reasons, then convincing oneself to stand on the moral high ground to criticize, accuse, and condemn others—that was utterly disgusting.

What the fuck was that even supposed to mean?!

Hu Liena probably mindlessly took sides. She only cared about the beautiful, poised female Soul Master role model in her eyes, only knew how to pity her gege, and treated whatever Bibi Dong said as truth.

Actually, by all rights, You Chen had done a favor for the Soul Masters of Spirit Hall's new generation.

After all, You Chen had directly contributed "Another Use for Whale Jelly." Before that, Spirit Hall had already begun buying up whale jelly in large quantities on the market.

Most of Spirit Hall's current generation of Soul Masters had benefited from it.

Especially the Golden Generation trio. Based on the talent they had displayed, they had received the highest-grade whale jelly even before the Pope began focusing on their training.

Compared to the original story, all of them had obtained thousand-year spirit rings as their second rings.

One step ahead meant every step ahead. Their fourth rings being ten-thousand-year spirit rings was practically set in stone.

Even if Bibi Dong deliberately downplayed and concealed You Chen's achievements, this had happened only within the last decade or two, and Bibi Dong had truly risen to power only six years ago.

The future was uncertain, but it was impossible to conceal the truth over these past few decades.

That was why quite a few members of Spirit Hall's younger generation still remembered the favor You Chen had done them.

For now, You Chen's achievements were still written in the textbooks.

Although after Bibi Dong came to power, she had classified that portion of the textbooks as elective material, You Chen remembered using that very textbook when he taught classes back then.

No matter how brain-dead Hu Liena was, she could not have forgotten who the greatest benefactor behind her second thousand-year spirit ring was, right?

Hmm... could she have? Seriously?

At the very least, You Chen felt that Xie Yue, such a good student, could not possibly be unaware of it.

You Chen's gaze silently swept over Xie Yue, whose expression had become somewhat awkward after his sister showed him absolutely no regard.

He could sense Xie Yue's distance from him.

And that was indeed the case. Xie Yue doted on his sister and revered the Pope. Though a little thought made it clear that what Hu Liena had told him after returning from the Pope was suspicious, he still chose to distance himself from You Chen.

Only Yan, Hu Liena's simp in the original story, continued to believe in You Chen, his benefactor and teacher, and stood on You Chen's side.

At first, You Chen and Yan had merely had an ordinary teacher-student relationship.

But after that big, dumb fool sought his advice after their first class, You Chen had thought the boy had finally realized the importance of theoretical knowledge. Who would have thought... the fool had actually come to ask him, "How can I make Hu Liena like me?"

You Chen had been left utterly speechless.

Fuck, that big, dumb fool had only been eight years old then! Eight fucking years old!?

You Chen immediately began correcting his improper way of thinking!

If Yan had been a stranger, then whatever. But since he was You Chen's student and had come seeking advice, how could You Chen just watch him become a simp!?

After that, You Chen expended tremendous effort before finally completing Yan's ideological reform and gradually helping him break free of his simp-like behavior.

He still remembered the conversation that truly woke Yan up.

You Chen deeply understood the principle of teaching according to one's aptitude. Even teaching someone about romance was no different.

He did not directly reject Yan's idea of "deepening his relationship with Hu Liena."

He tried every way he could to persuade Yan not to focus only on Hu Liena.

"No! My loyalty to Nana can be witnessed by the sun and moon. I have no second thoughts! Asking me to build relationships with other girls would be a betrayal of Nana!"

"No, you and Hu Liena are just two kids who haven't even grown all your hair yet. What loyalty are you talking about!? I'm only telling you to make more friends! It has absolutely nothing to do with men and women! Just don't think about whether they're boys or girls, isn't that enough!?"

"No! No matter what I think, the fact that they are girls will not change! I will not betray Nana! Urgh, Teacher, just kill me!"

That time, You Chen once again came to understand the sheer absurdity of simps in this other world.

Though he was exhausted beyond measure, You Chen was stubborn too. He used every debating technique he had and forcibly talked Yan into agreeing.

He only asked Yan to use the same methods You Chen had taught him to build good relationships with other girls as well.

That gave him something to compare.

Hu Liena was clearly Yan's friend, yet her attitude was worse than that of ordinary classmates Yan had only recently met.

Hu Liena had even once again complained that Yan was too annoying.

But naturally, that alone was not enough to wake Yan up.

So did You Chen offer any new advice afterward?

No.

He simply continued, as always, to tell Yan to make more friends of the opposite sex.

In truth, simps generally became simps for two reasons.

One was having too few members of the opposite sex in one's social circle. If that person also longed for romance or was at such a stage in life, it was easy for them to pour all their romantic feelings into a single individual.

The other was excessive emotional projection and sunk costs. People often developed emotional attachments to those they invested too much attention in, eventually coming to like them. Even when the two sides had not actually interacted much, the process of paying attention to and learning about the other person could create the illusion that they had already opened their hearts to one another and reached the next stage, making it difficult to pull away.

At that point, a massive difference in emotional intensity would emerge between the two sides. The other person would begin to question, resent, or even fear your excessive enthusiasm.

The more the other person disliked you, the more actively you would start simping in order to make up for the difference in emotional intensity, and thus heavy sunk costs would arise.

And You Chen's strategy happened to address both of those root causes directly.