Interviews and livestreams made me an overnight internet sensation, and for a while I basked in the spotlight. Then my cousin accused me on social media of stealing his ideas and work. His evidence was airtight, and with my mother backing him up, the backlash erupted like an earthquake.
Everyone called me a shameless community-college dropout, a repulsive toad who didn’t know her place. The judging panel revoked my award and expelled me, and every member of my team was punished.
Yet he always managed to produce work identical to my designs one step ahead of me, then took my place at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Even as I starved to death, I couldn’t understand why this had happened. Where had it all gone wrong?
When I opened my eyes again, I was back a few days before the team competition.
