Xue Hongyun

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xue Hongyun (薛红芸)
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Lin Yuan and Gu Lianyin’s class
Occupation/Role	Class monitor; student
Status	Dropped out of school 19
First Appearance	Chapter 3

Background / History

Xue Hongyun was her class’s monitor, a high-performing student who had consistently ranked first in mock exams. Her father was a homeroom teacher in another class, and her grandfather had served in war. 3

During their first year of high school, Lin Yuan spoke back to her during an unspecified conflict. Rather than openly retaliating, Xue began publicly pursuing him: she bought him food and drinks, continued after he rejected her, and even posted on the school forum that she liked him. Her pursuit was a revenge scheme intended to make him fall in love with her before she abandoned him and ruined his reputation. 3 4

In their second year, Xue secretly poured an unknown substance into Wang Yan’s water bottle. Wang Yan was hospitalized, suffered permanent health complications, and later dropped out of school. 15 16

Appearance

Xue Hongyun is described as fairly pretty—considered a minor beauty by her classmates. 3

• Her face turns visibly livid when angered or humiliated by Lin Yuan. 3
• Her outwardly innocent expression contrasts with her hostile inner thoughts and schemes. 3 4

Personality

Xue is forceful, prideful, and intensely vindictive. Once she decides she wants something, she pursues it relentlessly; after Lin Yuan rejected her, this trait became a prolonged campaign of personal revenge. 3 4

She carefully maintains a public image of an affectionate pursuer while privately harboring hatred for Lin Yuan. When her plans are exposed, her confidence gives way to panic and pleas for mercy, particularly when faced with evidence of the poisoning of Wang Yan. 3 16

Methods

Reputation Manipulation

Xue uses romantic pretense and public gossip to damage targets socially.

• Publicly claimed to pursue Lin Yuan despite secretly hating him. 3 4
• Planned to make Lin Yuan emotionally dependent on her, abandon him, and turn him into the school’s laughingstock. 4
• Paid classmates to spread rumors that Lin Yuan and Gu Lianyin were dating and to mock Gu’s disguised appearance. 14 16
• Threatened the students she recruited with violence from outside-school thugs if they refused. 16

Concealed Criminal Conduct

Xue committed serious acts while avoiding suspicion.

• Secretly drugged Wang Yan’s water during their second year, resulting in Wang Yan’s hospitalization and permanent disability. 15 16
• Stole a wallet at a bar during the summer vacation of their second year. 15

Relationships

• Lin Yuan — Target of her long-running revenge scheme after he offended her in their first year. His public rejection of her milk tea lowered her favorability toward him from -60 to -90, and he later exposed her crimes. 3 4 15 16
• Gu Lianyin — Lin Yuan’s deskmate and an indirect target of Xue’s rumor campaign; Xue arranged for classmates to ridicule Gu’s appearance. 14 16
• Wang Yan — Former classmate whom Xue poisoned during their second year, leaving her permanently disabled. 15 16
• Recruited classmates — Paid and coerced several disruptive students to spread dating rumors and insult Gu Lianyin. 16

Story Role / Major Arcs

False Pursuit and Exposure

Xue offers Lin Yuan milk tea in front of the class as part of her public pursuit. He rejects her, calls her a “female simp,” and then openly praises Gu Lianyin’s milk tea instead. 3

Lin Yuan’s ability to hear women’s inner thoughts reveals Xue’s real motive: she intended to manipulate him into loving her, discard him, and destroy his reputation. 4

Rumor Campaign

After Lin Yuan places first in a mock exam and pushes Xue to third place, her hostility intensifies. 7

She organizes classmates to claim that Lin Yuan is dating Gu Lianyin, using the rumor to ridicule both of them and spread the story through the school. 14 16

Downfall

When Xue insults Lin Yuan and Gu Lianyin during the confrontation over the rumors, Lin Yuan slaps her twice. He then accuses her of poisoning Wang Yan. 15

Lin Yuan plays video evidence showing Xue poisoning Wang Yan and separately directing students to spread rumors about him and Gu Lianyin. The recruited students confess her involvement, and Xue falls to her knees begging him not to report her. 16

Lin Yuan sends the videos to the class group chat, after which the homeroom teacher summons Xue to the office. She is later reported to have dropped out, while Lin Yuan also uploads the evidence to school and local official public platforms and intends to contact Wang Yan’s family. 16 19 20

Trivia

• Xue’s favorability toward Lin Yuan is already -60 when the system first evaluates it; after his public rejection, it falls to -90, denoting extreme hatred. 3
• She loses her usual first-place mock-exam position to Lin Yuan and Gu Lianyin, ranking third behind them. 7