After Becoming a Cannon Fodder Side Character, I Became the Group’s Favorite (GL) - Chapter 10

The dinner finally ended with Xu Chacha so full she could barely walk.

“Come, Mommy will take you to see your room.”

Xu Chacha wiped her mouth and hands clean, took two small steps with her short legs, and ran over to take Mrs. Xu’s hand.

Xu Chacha’s room had not been changed in the past four years. An auntie came to clean it every week, and Mr. and Mrs. Xu updated the furniture every year, all to keep it prepared and ready for its owner’s return at any moment.

“The room across the hall is your sister’s room,” Mrs. Xu told her. “Your sister’s name is Xu Yanshu. You can call her Sister Yanshu.”

“Mhm.” Then she pointed to herself. “Then is my surname Xu now, too? Am I called Xu Chacha?”

“Yes.” Mrs. Xu smiled reassuringly and patted her bangs. “Our darling is so smart.”

“Hehe.”

Opening the door, Xu Chacha got a full view of the Xu family’s extravagance.

She suddenly felt that what was written in Mary Sue novels was not fiction. Just the bathroom in this room was bigger than the living room at her aunt’s house, and the bed prepared for a seven-year-old could easily sleep seven or eight adults.

She swallowed hard, prepared herself mentally, and immersed herself in the role of “the richest man’s daughter.”

Ah, ah, ah, ah, this is too wonderful! Being rich is great! After sleeping in a woodshed for a week, this happiness felt even more real.

“It’s getting late. Mommy will give darling a nice wash, and then we’ll go to sleep, okay?”

“Chacha can wash herself.”

“No. Your Auntie Mubai specifically told us that you have many cuts and scrapes that can’t touch water, so we have to be careful.”

“Auntie Mubai…?” Xu Chacha was confused.

“That’s right. You kept calling her Sister.” Mrs. Xu picked her up and sat her on the edge of the bathtub, explaining, “Mubai’s father and your grandpa are of the same generation. You are one generation below her, so you should call her ‘Auntie.'”

The explanation sounded like a tongue twister. Xu Chacha struggled for a while before she understood that even if the Xu and Wen families weren’t blood relatives, this social circle placed great importance on seniority, which was why the eighteen-year-old Wen Mubai had to be given the title of “Auntie.”

“You can call her whatever you like in private, but in front of outsiders, remember to call her Auntie. It’s more polite,” Mrs. Xu pinched her nose. “Did you remember?”

“I remembered…”

Xu Chacha’s resistance was ineffective. She was ultimately defeated by Mrs. Xu’s “evil hands,” who proceeded to wash her from head to toe.

When she emerged, her pure eyes had lost their luster. Like a puppet, she was dressed in a pink pig nightgown that matched her slippers and carried to the bed.

Just how long must she endure these bath times? Wuwuwuwu.

The delicate little sweetheart lay on the bed, silently weeping inwardly.

“Good night, darling.” Mrs. Xu brushed Xu Chacha’s bangs aside and kissed her on her clean forehead.

Xu Chacha was buried under the blanket with only her fluttering fawn eyes visible, shining brightly as she looked at her. “Good night, Mommy.”

Mrs. Xu maintained her loving smile, straightened the corners of the blanket for Xu Chacha, turned off the light, and only after she had left the room and closed the door did she finally turn around and let her tears fall.

She sobbed all the way back to the master bedroom and lay down next to her emotionally dense husband.

“You don’t know how awful I feel. When I was bathing Chacha just now, I saw the injuries on her body—cigarette burns, marks from a wooden rod, and those three long claw marks on her arm,” Mrs. Xu whispered, keeping her voice low. “How could they do that to such a small child?”

Mr. Xu had his back to her, and his voice sounded heavy. “I’ve already sent the lawyer to handle it. I will absolutely not let those two off easily. No settlement.”

“It’s a good thing all the evidence and statements are complete now, so the case can be processed quickly,” Mrs. Xu collected herself. “Now I’m only thinking about how to compensate the child. She’s so small; I hope this won’t leave any psychological trauma.”

“…”

“We should invite a psychologist to come and examine her another day.”

“…”

“Oh, by the way, Mubai said the child likes Hello Kitty. I’ll find some time to redecorate her room.”

“…”

Noticing her husband hadn’t responded, Mrs. Xu finally stopped her rambling. Then, she keenly picked up a faint sniffle in the quiet air.

“No way.” Mrs. Xu sighed. “Are you crying?”

“A man’s tears are not easily shed.” The implication was that he wasn’t crying.

“Is that so?” Hearing his unmistakable, deep nasal congestion, Mrs. Xu pulled a tissue from the bedside and handed it over. “Then please wipe your snot. Don’t drip it onto the newly changed pillowcase.”

“I’m not crying.” Mr. Xu still wanted to maintain his CEO image.

“Do you want a beating?”

“Hnnngh—” Accompanied by the sound of his nasal cavity clearing, the middle-aged man, Mr. Xu, couldn’t help but speak. “My poor little angel Chacha, Daddy failed to protect you. Daddy is useless…”

—Mr. Xu had his daughter late in life, so he was especially fond of her.

If Xu Chacha knew this, she would probably ask in a friendly manner: Is this the Mr. Xu from the original text who insisted on kicking ‘me’ out of the house?

“What did you say our daughter liked just now?”

“Hello Kitty.”

“Good.”

Mr. Xu got out of bed, put on his glasses, took out his phone, opened a certain orange-colored e-commerce app, typed in the keyword, and filtered out “inferior goods” under five thousand yuan.

A pink little bed sheet printed with Hello Kitty, Buy!

Pink cat ear hair clips. My daughter would look super cute wearing them. Buy!

A crystal Hello Kitty necklace, Buy!

Pretty little dresses, Buy!

Buy a large plush toy to sleep with our daughter!

“Calm down. It’s a miracle if your taste isn’t disliked. Didn’t you see Chacha’s expression when she wore those slippers?”

“Was that so?” Mr. Xu thought for a moment and handed the phone to his wife. “Then help me choose.”

“Choose what? No way.” But the insincere Mrs. Xu quickly sat up, her fingers nimbly scrolling the screen. “Don’t buy sleeves with lace trim; they rub a child’s skin. And check the filling material of this pillow…”

So, in the middle of the night, the two people, whose ages nearly added up to a hundred, compared goods from different stores and selected items for almost three hours until the order count reached 99+ before they reluctantly stopped.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve spent money like this,” Mrs. Xu lay back down on the bed, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction.

Mr. Xu turned off his phone. “Yes, spending money for our daughter is—”

“So happy!” They said in unison.

…

At the same time, the good girl Xu Chacha, whom Mr. and Mrs. Xu thought was asleep, was not sleeping. She lay quietly on the bed until she felt they were probably asleep before she pushed the blanket aside and climbed out.

Xu Chacha stretched her toes on the carpet, searching for the slippers. She quickly recalled the “squeak-squeak” sound of the slippers and dismissed the idea of wearing them. So, she padded barefoot, tiptoed to the door, and slipped into the living room.

She had seen a landline phone there during dinner, which was perfect for making a call.

She pulled out the paper that had been warmed against her body, carefully unfolded and smoothed it out. Only then did she realize that this “note” was much bigger than she had thought—a full A4 size.

The paper featured a portrait—a sketch of her sleeping, which, judging by the pattern on the blanket, Wen Mubai must have drawn in the guesthouse last night.

Xu Chacha traced the drawing, from the strands of hair to the shading on the skin. Every stroke of Wen Mubai’s pencil was filled with tenderness and meticulousness. Her fingers finally rested on the line of text below.

“May light forever cover your being.”

The back of the paper had a phone number, which, judging by the prefix, was also from City A. Xu Chacha carefully pressed the numbers one by one and dialed.

The phone rang for a while before someone answered. Xu Chacha lowered her voice to a whisper and asked, “Excuse me, is this Auntie Wen Mubai?”

“What?” The person sounded a little confused by the unfamiliar address, but quickly recognized the little sweetheart’s voice. She chuckled. “Did your mother tell you?”

“Mhm. Mommy said I should call you Auntie. It’s more polite that way.”

“Calling me anything is fine.”

Wen Mubai had just gotten out of the shower, water still dripping from her hair ends. The droplets collected on her white T-shirt and slid down her smooth skin into the neckline, but she ignored them all.

The silence on the other end of the phone was apparently too long, and it was up to her, the quiet one, to find a topic.

“Staying up this late, you won’t grow tall.”

“I…” Xu Chacha on the other end said softly, “miss you.”

Wen Mubai paused in wiping her hair. She put down the towel, walked to the bedside, picked up the phone, turned off the speaker, and held it to her ear. “Are your mommy and daddy not treating you well?”

“No, no, Mommy and Daddy are very nice to me.” Xu Chacha pursed her lips. “Auntie, Chacha saw the drawing.”

“Mhm, I drew it for you.”

“Chacha understands what that sentence means.” Compared to the previous sentence, this one was completely out of the blue, but Wen Mubai knew what Xu Chacha wanted to say.

“Chacha is so good,” Wen Mubai said with a faint smile.

Xu Chacha felt the other person’s tone was one of coaxing a child, and she felt quite indignant.

“I really do understand. I’m not a child anymore!”

“Chacha is not a child.” There seemed to be the sound of a pencil writing on the other end. A few seconds later, Wen Mubai’s voice rang out again. “Auntie wrote it down in a notebook, so I won’t forget.”

“…” Xu Chacha was speechless.

And you say you’re not treating me like a child!

“But big kids shouldn’t stay up late either. It makes you dumb.”

Xu Chacha: It would be more intimidating if you said staying up late makes you bald.

“Okay, Sister, good night.” Xu Chacha’s voice was full of reluctance. “Mommy and Daddy said they’d invite Auntie to come visit this weekend. Will Auntie come?”

If Wen Mubai came, she would be able to see her again.

“I will go.” Her voice was already pleasing to the ear, and over the phone, it had an inexplicably captivating quality. “Good night, little one.”

“Good… good night.” Xu Chacha’s face was a little hot.

Wen Mubai held the phone, waiting for her to hang up first. After a few seconds of silence, just when she thought Xu Chacha had hung up and gone to sleep, a breathing sound suddenly came close to the receiver near her ear.

“Chacha loves Auntie the most! Auntie must be happy every day! Mwah!”

Wen Mubai listened to the “beep” of the dial tone after the call ended, a smile playing on her lips as she sighed softly. “When this little one grows up, I wonder how much she’ll be able to charm people.”