He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

The next morning, the sky over Fengtian City was crisp and cool, typical of early spring.

On the synthetic track of the East University playground, Zhao Shuyao maintained a steady pace and calm breathing. The cool March breeze on his face took away some of his drowsiness.

After finishing the fifth lap, I slowed down at the end of the straightaway, switched from running to walking, adjusted my heart rate, and looked towards the steps of the stands at the edge of the track. There stood a familiar figure wearing a white windproof tracksuit and with a high ponytail.

Gu Nanxi.

Zhao Shuyao even had the illusion that this fellow townsman, who also came from Jiangnan province for the provincial civil service exam, seemed to finish his morning run at the same time and place every day during this period.

Of course, he was well aware that although he had caused quite a stir online, he was not so narcissistic as to think that the girl was waiting for him in the cold wind every day.

I walked along the edge of the track and sat down on the steps next to Gu Nanxi.

Gu Nanxi turned around and naturally handed over the unopened bottle of mineral water in her hand.

Zhao Shuyao reached out and took it. His fingertips touched the cool plastic bottle. He unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp. The sound of him swallowing was very clear in the quiet morning.

"I watched the video you posted on Toutiao last night." Gu Nanxi looked at Zhao Shuyao as he put down his water glass, her brows furrowing slightly. Her speech was a few beats faster than usual, revealing obvious worry.

"You're incredibly audacious. You directly made sarcastic remarks in the video, saying she's uneducated and didn't even finish junior high school. Aren't you afraid she'll use her connections in the entertainment industry to take action against you, or that her fans will gang up on you and cyberbully you?"

Zhao Shuyao placed the mineral water bottle on the step beside his feet, turned his head, and looked at Gu Nanxi's tense face.

He suddenly burst out laughing, and his shoulders twitched twice.

"Miss Gu, is this a case of being too concerned to think straight?" Zhao Shuyao placed her hands on the steps behind her, leaned back slightly, and adopted an extremely relaxed posture.

"Who cares about you? I'm just analyzing the real risks for you." Gu Nanxi glared at him, but her tone softened noticeably. "You know what kind of status that woman has in the entertainment industry; she has a terrible temper."

"Having a bad temper won't solve the problem of low cognitive level." Zhao Shuyao's smile faded, but his eyes remained relaxed. "I'm not worried, and there's nothing to worry about. If you carefully analyze her audience using big data thinking, you'll find that her so-called die-hard fans are mostly between thirty-five and fifty years old now."

Gu Nanxi was stunned for a moment, not understanding what this had to do with cyberbullying.

Zhao Shuyao held up a finger and shook it gently: "People in this age group wake up every day with car loans, mortgages, kids going to school, and elderly parents needing medical care. They might listen to her old songs on their way to and from get off work, but do you expect these middle-aged people with elderly parents and young children to be like the middle school fans of today's popular celebrities, creating groups, ranking, and organizing to storm my comment section?"

Zhao Shuyao spread his hands: "They don't even have enough time to help their kids with their homework after get off work, so where would they find the time to be cyber keyboard warriors and stand up for her? Therefore, although her fan base looks large, her fighting power in the war of public opinion is basically zero."

After listening to this extremely calm analysis of internet user profiles, Gu Nanxi's worries dissipated considerably. Upon careful consideration, she realized that it was indeed true.

"Even if your fans don't cyberbully you, what about her own reaction?" Gu Nanxi pressed. "Being embarrassed like that in public, she'll definitely hold a grudge against you."

"That's even more interesting." Zhao Shuyao's lips curled up, a sly glint in his eyes. "What part of what I said in the video wasn't true? It's a fact that she didn't graduate from junior high school, and it's also a fact that she can't understand historical materials. I was just using extremely polite statements to present these facts back to the public."

He dusted off his knees and continued to dismantle her logical defenses: "Haven't she always touted herself as 'straightforward' and 'genuine' on various variety shows over the years? Since she can bluntly criticize me for being attention-seeking, then I can naturally bluntly comment on her cultural literacy as well."

"When cultural people communicate, they value equality." Zhao Shuyao looked at the goal frame in the distance. "My goal is to break her defense. If she gets angry online because of this, it will prove that her 'true nature' is only directed at others, and she applies a completely different standard to herself."

"Then she's a complete hypocrite. Once this facade is exposed, no one will listen to her anymore if she tries to use her seniority to intimidate others."

Gu Nanxi clearly hadn't considered this aspect. She looked at the boy in front of her, whose thinking was frighteningly clear. Instead of panicking about being suppressed by celebrities, he used their persona and delivered a fatal blow with the weapon they were most proud of.

I took a deep breath, and my previously tense shoulders completely relaxed.

"How do you even think your brain works?" Gu Nanxi exclaimed sincerely. "Others think you're just being verbally aggressive, but you're actually playing psychological warfare and dismantling logic. Okay, I guess I misjudged you. Your mentality is indeed frighteningly stable."

But there was clearly more than one crisis. Gu Nanxi recalled the biggest online uproar last night, and her expression turned serious again.

"You've already covered up the diva thing." Gu Nanxi turned around to face Zhao Shuyao. "What about that GXS? He didn't become famous for singing. He comes from a privileged background and went to Tsinghua University."

"Moreover, for so many years, he has been doing talk shows on various platforms with the titles of 'intellectual' and 'public intellectual.' This kind of person, whether in terms of background or education, is definitely a tough nut to crack. You can't just say that he's uncultured this time, can you?"

Zhao Shuyao was taken aback when he saw the seriousness and worry on Gu Nanxi's face. This girl was really putting herself in his shoes and planning his way out. In this restless university campus, it was a rare thing to meet a smart fellow villager who was willing to analyze the situation and share the pressure.

He withdrew his hands from behind him, sat up straight, and looked into Gu Nanxi's eyes.

"Don't be so nervous." Zhao Shuyao's tone was gentle, with great reassuring power. "All those prefixes and labels you just gave him are filters that he and his capital team have carefully packaged over the years. As long as we break through these filters, he's just a bag of straw."

"He did get into Tsinghua University, that's true, but he dropped out before even getting his diploma. At best, he's just a dropout." Zhao Shuyao's eyes were full of disdain.

"What's so scary about someone who got into a prestigious university thanks to his family's wealth, yet lacks the perseverance to complete even the most basic studies, spending all day posing as a cultured master in front of a screen with a tattered folding fan?"

Gu Nanxi frowned: "But the views he expressed in that long article, such as 'history is a little girl who can be dressed up as one pleases' and 'the standards for evaluating wise rulers and famous generals are different,' have many followers online. They believe in this kind of seemingly grand but actually all-encompassing theory."

"That's precisely where his scoundrel lies," Zhao Shuyao sneered. "His core logic is to use an extremely vague 'big picture' perspective to dissolve specific historical crimes and standards, but this viewpoint is precisely a sieve full of loopholes."

To put Gu Nanxi at ease, Zhao Shuyao decided to give her a sneak peek at the core arguments he would be discussing at noon.

He pointed to a few students reading aloud across the playground, his tone steady and firm: "Nanxi, you should know very well that there are some things in this world that can be said to be 'different standards for everyone,' such as you liking sweet food and I liking spicy food, but on major historical judgments, there is absolutely an unshakable baseline."

Zhao Shuyao turned his gaze back and looked directly at Gu Nanxi.

"When we talk about wise rulers in ancient China, who's the first one that comes to mind? It's Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Ming." Zhao Shuyao said, emphasizing each word. "Why them? Because they drove out foreign enemies, they allowed the people to recuperate and thrive, and they established a system that allowed ordinary people to live with their heads held high. That's the absolute standard!"

He emphasized his words, his eyes revealing a sharp insight that seemed to see through the dust of history: "With this standard, we can judge whether Emperor Wu of Han was too aggressive in his military campaigns, or whether Emperor Renzong of Song was too weak. That's what it means to be controversial."

"But what is Teacher A doing now?" Zhao Shuyao tapped his knee with his finger. "He's trying to forcibly drag those ruling groups who signed humiliating treaties, enslaved the people, and used literary inquisitions to emasculate Chinese civilization onto the same table as Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Taizu of Ming, and then tell young people: 'Look, they also had their difficulties; everyone's standards are different.'"

Zhao Shuyao leaned forward slightly: "Is this supposed to be discussing history? This is using the guise of culture to do dirty work like digging up people's ancestral graves and destroying their foundations, bringing up people who don't even deserve to sit at the table. I'm going to completely overturn his table this noon!"

These words are logically sound and extremely powerful.

Gu Nanxi listened intently, looking at Zhao Shuyao. She saw an extremely rare cultural integrity in this boy. This integrity did not blindly follow authority, nor fear power, but only adhered to principles.

She let out a long sigh of relief, and a relaxed smile finally appeared on her face.

"Actually, you didn't need to argue with him about those vague and abstract things in his article at noon today." Gu Nanxi's mind was now completely clear, and she offered her advice.

"Just use the method you are best at, without falling into his logical traps, express your own views, present your irrefutable historical evidence, and put the most real and cruel truths in front of the public."

She stood up, dusted off her trousers, and looked at Zhao Shuyao: "Once the public sees the truth, his narratives will automatically become an extremely ridiculous joke, and that is the highest level of counterattack."

Zhao Shuyao's eyes lit up after hearing this. This girl's insight was indeed excellent, and she had directly hit the core of the strategy in the era of self-media.

"Great minds think alike." Zhao Shuyao also stood up, picked up the bottle of mineral water, and smiled with extreme confidence. "Don't worry, I will start the class on time at noon. At that time, I will let him know how big the difference is between telling stories with a folding fan and telling history with a county gazetteer."