After Becoming a Cannon Fodder Side Character, I Became the Group’s Favorite (GL) - Chapter 35

January passed, and soon it was the Lunar New Year.

Due to the elderly man’s intervention, the relationship between Wen Mubai and her father had somewhat thawed. At least, they could sit at the same table for a meal without scowling.

In the first lunar month, Xu Chacha followed her family to visit relatives. Xu’s mother was very enthusiastic about this process, and the topic before going out every night was always:

“Should I do your hair in a bun tomorrow? Pigtails are very cute too.”

“Do those little red cotton boots look better, or the purple ones?”

“Should we wear that little quilted jacket to visit your uncle’s house? Your mother specially custom-made matching outfits for you two sisters. Neat and adorable.”

Xu Yanshu, who was quietly eating, finally couldn’t help but speak. “Mom, I don’t need to be ‘neat and adorable’ at my age.”

“What’s wrong with being fourteen? Even when you two are twenty, you can still be ‘neat and adorable’ in your mother’s eyes.”

Xu Chacha shuddered, imagining herself as an adult still acting this sweet and clingy. She got goosebumps all over.

Hiss—that’s terrifying.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, it was finally time to visit the Wen family.

Xu Chacha woke up earlier than her mother that day. She obediently combed her hair, put on her favorite little red jacket, and waited for her mother to braid her hair.

This was Xu Chacha’s first time visiting Wen Mubai’s house, and she seemed much more reserved than usual.

But as soon as she saw Wen Mubai descending the stairs, she couldn’t hide her excitement. “Auntie!”

Wen Mubai turned around. The little girl had “reported” that she was coming the night before, but she hadn’t expected them to arrive so early.

Before Wen Mubai reached the last stair, Xu Chacha had already rushed over. Wen Mubai instinctively opened her arms, ready to catch her.

Xu Chacha’s jumping rope practice had significantly improved her springiness. She leaped right into Wen Mubai’s arms, hooking her legs around her waist and her arms tightly around her neck. “I missed you so much, Auntie.”

Wen Mubai held her body, pulling her up to take the strain off her arms.

“We just saw each other.”

“The teacher said ‘one day apart is like three autumns,’ and we’ve been apart for several autumns,” Xu Chacha corrected her word by word.

“Okay, Auntie missed you too,” Wen Mubai carried her down and stopped next to Xu’s mother.

Xu’s mother shook her head and tweaked her nose. “You! You’re always charming your auntie. Be careful, she might get tired of you.”

“Auntie won’t get tired of me,” Xu Chacha whispered in contradiction. “Right, Auntie?”

“Right,” Wen Mubai gave her a gentle smile, then turned to Xu’s mother. “I’m very fond of children. Please don’t scold her.”

Wen Shiyu, who witnessed the entire interaction from start to finish, rolled her eyes to the ceiling. You’re fond of children?

Then why don’t you ever give me a good look?

When the adults met, they inevitably had serious matters to discuss. After exchanging greetings, the adults went to the small living room on the second floor, while the children ate and played on the first floor.

Xu Yanshu was peeling an orange for Xu Chacha but turned to see her feeding walnuts to Wen Mubai.

Her eyes widened. Xu Chacha always found nuts troublesome to eat and wouldn’t touch them unless someone else peeled them. Now, she was actively peeling them for Wen Mubai?

“Chacha, eat an orange,” Xu Yanshu handed one to her. “If you can’t peel the walnut, don’t bother. Your Auntie Mubai has hands of her own.”

“I can peel them,” Xu Chacha cracked the walnuts on the table with a kacha kacha sound. “I’m very good at peeling walnuts.”

Xu Yanshu: My sister has changed.

Wen Mubai’s gaze shifted from the television, resting on the two sisters, silently observing. She understood that she had inadvertently provoked Xu Yanshu, the sister-complex older sister, again.

“Don’t peel any more, Chacha. Auntie doesn’t like them that much,” Wen Mubai took the half-peeled walnuts from Xu Chacha’s hand, peeled them herself, and placed them back in her palm. “You eat more. It’s good for your brain.”

“Oh. Auntie doesn’t like walnuts, then do you like oranges?” Xu Chacha broke off half an orange for her. “They’re very sweet.”

Xu Yanshu, peeling oranges: ???

Wen Mubai endured Xu Yanshu’s death glare and smiled, pushing the orange back. “Auntie doesn’t eat them.”

“Alright then.” Xu Chacha took her hand back, then turned and offered it to Xu Yanshu’s mouth, smiling brightly. “Sister, eat the orange. It’s delicious.”

Xu Yanshu opened her mouth and took a bite, instantly appeased despite her lack of backbone.

“Sweet. Thank you, Chacha.”

Wen Mubai glanced at her expression and said faintly, “They cause internal heat. Eat less.”

…

Xu Chacha played for a while but found it boring. She swayed her legs and stood up. “I’m going to check on Mom and Dad and bring them something to eat.”

She grabbed a plate, randomly put some nuts and fruit on it, and carried it up to the second floor. Just past the corner, she overheard Wen’s father seemingly discussing Wen Mubai.

“There’s no time to get along. Just two days ago, she told me she was considering going abroad. She’s so stubborn. She said she doesn’t need a single cent of my support and wants to cut all ties with me in everything.”

“Don’t say that. It’s normal for young people to be a little headstrong. Maybe after a few years of experience alone abroad, she’ll come back more diplomatic and sensible,” Xu’s mother consoled him.

Wen’s father sighed and shook his head. “Your two daughters are much easier to deal with. The older one is sensible, and the younger one is well-behaved. My older one doesn’t treat me like family, and as long as the younger one doesn’t cause trouble, I’m satisfied. I don’t have the fortune of good descendants.”

Xu Chacha didn’t listen any further and didn’t dare to take the fruit plate inside. She walked back absentmindedly, her mind blank.

Go abroad?

Wen Mubai is going abroad?

Then the time they won’t see each other will be much longer than now, right? Maybe she’ll only come back once a year, or not at all.

Then what… what will I do?

Because she knew about this, Xu Chacha’s spirits remained low afterward. Xu’s mother thought she wasn’t feeling well and took her home after dinner.

Wen Mubai later asked about her on the phone, but Xu Chacha brushed her off with excuses.

She didn’t mention this to anyone. Life seemed to be slowly returning to normal, but Wen Mubai didn’t feel that way.

She noticed the little girl wasn’t looking for her as often. She used to receive at least ten message bombardments a day, but now there were only the routine “good morning” and “good night” check-ins.

When she had time to call, Xu Chacha would answer and seemed cheerful, but the conversations were always brief, ending after a few minutes.

Just like today. Even though they had only been on the phone for five minutes, Xu Chacha let out a yawn and said with sleepy eyes, “Auntie, I’m sleepy. Good night.”

Wen Mubai was a woman of few words. Their dynamic had always been Xu Chacha talking and her quietly listening. Now that Xu Chacha wasn’t talking much, she realized how bad she was at conversing.

“Chacha, are you hiding something from Auntie?” Wen Mubai didn’t say good night right away. She had a hunch that Xu Chacha’s recent strangeness wasn’t a coincidence.

Xu Chacha shook her head, her expression natural. “No, Auntie, you’re overthinking it. I’m really sleepy. I have a lot of homework recently, and I feel tired and want to sleep after I finish it.”

Wen Mubai stared at the person on the screen for a long time, then sighed, as if conceding. “Alright. Get some rest. Don’t leave your homework until so late in the future.”

“Mhm. Good night, Auntie. Muah!”

“Good night.”

Xu Chacha hung up the video call. The exaggerated smile on her face instantly vanished. She threw her phone away. Her arms dropped limply from the bedside, swinging the slippers on the floor.

She also felt very strange. Although she deeply missed Wen Mubai, she couldn’t control herself from behaving oddly.

It was as if by practicing not contacting Wen Mubai for a long time in advance, when she actually went abroad, it wouldn’t be so hard to adjust.

“What should I do…” She bit her lower lip, her eyes red. “I’m going to cry.”

…

On Monday, when school started, Xu Chacha refused Chen Xixi’s invitation to go to the bakery and walked to the school gate alone, carrying her backpack gloomily.

“Where are you going?” Someone pulled her backpack from behind.

Xu Chacha stopped, wanting to turn around but not daring to. “Auntie?”

“Mhm.” Wen Mubai walked around to face Xu Chacha, took off her own scarf, and wrapped it around her neck. “Walking with your head down. Aren’t you afraid of falling?”

“It’s cold. Auntie should wear it herself,” Xu Chacha made a move to pull the scarf off, but Wen Mubai held it down, then picked her up in one motion.

“You won’t be cold in the car.”

Xu Chacha was placed in the back seat. Wen Mubai sat in more slowly, and after the door closed, she instructed the driver to start.

“Why isn’t Butler Zhang picking me up today?” Xu Chacha asked softly, clutching her backpack with both hands.

“Because Auntie wanted to pick you up. I told him.”

“Oh,” Xu Chacha lowered her head.

“Look up.” Wen Mubai tapped her finger on her chin, lifting her head. “Tell me the reason for your strange behavior lately.”

“Strange? Am I? I’m fine,” she said.

“Do you think anyone would believe your lie with that troubled look on your face right now?” Wen Mubai ruthlessly exposed her lie.

“…” Xu Chacha pursed her lips, her voice almost inaudible. “I just wanted to try and see if I would miss you if I didn’t see you for a long time.”

“I see,” Wen Mubai nodded, finally understanding the reason for Xu Chacha’s odd behavior these past few days. “You know about me going abroad?”

“It’s not finalized. It’s just that after the solo exhibition, some schools contacted me through Uncle Lang, extending an invitation to ask about my interest in studying abroad. I haven’t decided yet; I just told him to be prepared.”

“Him” referred to Wen’s father.

“I know.”

Wen Mubai asked gently, “Are you still unhappy?”

“I’m unhappy,” Xu Chacha finally admitted honestly. “But I know this is a rare opportunity, and I really support Auntie going. It’s just that…”

“You’re just giving yourself a hard time?” Wen Mubai placed her palm on her forehead, lifting her head to look her straight in the eye. “And you say you’re closest to Auntie, but in the end, you keep everything bottled up and don’t say anything.”

Xu Chacha wrinkled her nose. “I just feel like I’m a little bit bad. I should be happy for Auntie when I hear this, but I just can’t be happy.”

“Silly child,” Wen Mubai rubbed her head and pulled her into her arms. “Why can’t you tell me anything? You keep everything inside.”

Xu Chacha didn’t know what was wrong with her, but as soon as Wen Mubai hugged her, tears began to fall pat-a-pat.

“If Auntie goes away for so long, will you forget about me?”

“No.”

“Really?” Xu Chacha asked, sobbing.

“Really,” Wen Mubai rested her chin on the crown of her head and said solemnly, “Auntie will keep every promise I make to you.”

“A weekly call, a meeting once every half a month—it’s just a plane ticket. Why are you crying?”

“Auntie, you can’t lie to me.” Xu Chacha’s voice was shaky, and she looked very pitiful.

Seeing her like this, Wen Mubai’s heart melted. “When has Auntie ever lied to you?”

…

On Tuesday, Xu Chacha went to school with a pair of swollen, bulbous eyes from crying.

Xue Miaomiao happened to run into her at the entrance and patted her shoulder to greet her, but when Xu Chacha turned around, she jumped in fright.

“What happened to you?”

Xu Chacha stammered, “I was bitten by mosquitoes.”

Xue Miaomiao looked her up and down. “Wow, they bite so accurately. They didn’t bite anywhere else, just the eyes, symmetrically.”

“Yeah, those nasty mosquitoes,” Xu Chacha took her hand. “Don’t worry about me. Let’s hurry, we’ll be late.”

If both the class monitor and vice class monitor were late, Wang Fang would lose face when punishing them.

Xue Miaomiao listened to her and quickened her pace, finally reaching the classroom before the bell rang.

“Why isn’t Xixi here?” Xu Chacha turned to ask Gao Lele, who had returned from the hospital.

Gao Lele’s mouth was still stuffed with xiaolongbao, and her words were muffled. “I just saw her with the school bully at the entrance.”

“School bully?” Xu Chacha tried to recall.

It seemed there was a school bully at Elementary School A, a fifth-grader who was tall and big for his age and often walked around in groups with several other tall boys.

“Was he bullying her?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t look closely… hic~” Gao Lele rubbed her stomach.

An entire class went by, and Xu Chacha still hadn’t seen Chen Xixi. She grew increasingly worried. She decided that if she still didn’t show up, she would talk to Wang Fang after class. But just as the bell rang, a distraught Chen Xixi returned.

The little girl’s face was covered in tears, and her hair was messy. Xu Chacha quickly stood up and went over. “Xixi, did someone bully you?”

Chen Xixi nodded miserably. “Waaah, there were so many of them, and they were so mean.”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.” Xu Chacha affectionately smoothed her hair and wiped away her tears. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I’ll protect you.”

“Yes, and you,” Chen Xixi sniffled, pulling at Xu Chacha’s clothes and saying fearfully, “He also threatened me and told me to bring you to meet him in the small woods after school. Waaah, waaaah.”

“If he wants to meet, we’ll go. I’m not afraid of him,” Xu Chacha scoffed, stroking Chen Xixi’s face. “Are you hurt? Did they steal anything?”

Chen Xixi shook her head. “N-no. They didn’t hit me.”

“That’s good.” If those people dared to lay a hand on Chen Xixi, Xu Chacha wouldn’t let them off easily.

“There were so many of them, Chacha. Don’t go. Let’s tell the teacher.”

“Of course we’ll tell the teacher, but they also need to be taught a lesson,” Xu Chacha, in a fit of anger, was already fantasizing about transforming into a superhero and beating the hooligans into pig faces.

She secretly clenched her small fists. Dare to bully the children of Class One? They should ask her, the class monitor, if she agrees!

…

As soon as the school bell rang, Xu Chacha aggressively grabbed Chen Xixi and headed for the small woods with her backpack.

“Slow down,” Xue Miaomiao followed behind. “You’re going to get beaten up, not to beat someone up. Why are you in such a hurry?”

Xu Chacha: “I am going to beat someone up.”

The so-called “small woods” was near the English corner. It had a few small gravel paths, two or three pavilions in the middle, and large, lush trees surrounding it.

Xu Chacha’s sharp eyes spotted a circle of boys sitting in one of the pavilions, wearing their winter school uniforms. The one in the middle, with a buzz cut, was the largest and looked the most menacing.

She nervously swallowed her saliva, her heart starting to pound. The legs that had been rushing forward slowed down.

“Shi Cheng, look, isn’t that Xu Chacha?” One of the boys spotted the three small children approaching.

Shi Cheng, the so-called school bully, looked up, narrowed his eyes, and held up his phone for comparison. “Yes, that’s her.”

Xu Chacha was a little nervous but forced herself to stand in front of the group, hands on her hips, chin raised. “Was it you who bullied our Xixi?”

Xu Chacha had her phone in her chest pocket recording the whole conversation. Before starting trouble, she had planned it all out. After all, these were just elementary school students. Their intimidation tactics were limited. Plus, this was school grounds, with surveillance cameras everywhere, so they wouldn’t dare to do anything too extreme.

And if these people truly dared to do anything to them, she had a backup plan. The consequences for them would be much worse than just expulsion.

Shi Cheng heard her words and exchanged glances with his friends. “Who bullied her? I just asked her to pass a message.”

“If you didn’t bully her, would she have come back crying with messy hair?” Xu Chacha asked again, gathering her courage and raising her voice.

“How would I know? I just called her over and asked if she knew you, and she started crying,” Shi Cheng scratched his buzz cut. “Then I just said to bring you to the meeting place after school, and she screamed and ran away.”

Her hair probably got messed up then.

“That’s not true! You were clearly very mean to me!” Chen Xixi tugged at Xu Chacha’s clothes.

“How was I mean to you?” Shi Cheng stood up and walked toward them, looking down at them. “Come on, tell me.”

Xu Chacha exclaimed “Whoa!” and craned her neck upward. Elementary school kids are too developed now. He’s only in fifth grade, but he’s this tall and strong?

One slap, and she probably wouldn’t be able to stand steady.

“You… what do you want to do!” Xu Chacha gripped her backpack straps and took a fearful step back. “I warn you! You are not allowed to bully us, or else, or else…”

Shi Cheng laughed aloud, finding her very amusing. So he imitated her tone. “Or else, or else what?”

Xu Chacha looked at him, then at the group of brothers behind him, who looked like they were ready to pounce. “Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because there are more of you! This is a school! You are students, and students should do what students should do! Otherwise, when you grow up… you’ll-you’ll regret it.”

She mumbled and trailed off, her dewy, fawn eyes blinking. “So, don’t bully me or my friends.”

“You’re quite cute,” Shi Cheng extended a finger, intending to pinch her cheek.

Xu Chacha had no idea what he wanted to do, thinking he was finally going to strike her. She immediately yelled for help in panic. After all, she had a backup plan!

“Teacher Fangfang! Help! He’s hitting us, he’s hitting us!”

Two minutes later.

It was still the small woods, and still the same group of people.

Wang Fang stood on the steps holding a roll book, writing expressionlessly. In front of her were the boys, standing in a neat line, heads bowed obediently.

“Age, class, name. Report them one by one,” Wang Fang adjusted her glasses, her voice devoid of emotion.

“Auntie… this is all a misunderstanding. You’re not actually going to write down my name, are you? Don’t! If you deduct five more points, my parents will be called in,” Shi Cheng pleaded softly.

Auntie? Xu Chacha’s eyes were wider than lightbulbs.

She knew it! She had asked Wang Fang repeatedly when complaining whether Chen Xixi had been bullied by someone named Shi Cheng. It was because they were relatives!

Wang Fang lifted her eyes and glared at him. “There is no ‘Auntie’ here, only Teacher Wang.”

Shi Cheng was annoyed and furrowed his brow. “It really is a misunderstanding, Teacher Wang. I didn’t even touch them. How is that hitting them?”

“Chen Xixi said you intimidated her this morning, telling her to bring Xu Chacha to meet you in the small woods after school. Is that true?” Wang Fang calmly interrogated.

“Yes, but—”

“No ‘buts’,” Wang Fang didn’t listen to his explanation. “Were you all surrounding them just now, looking like you were coercing and intimidating them?”

“They were just coming down with me after basketball. We were just going to ask a question and leave. What coercion and intimidation?”

“Ask what question? Asking someone to meet you in the small woods after school? Isn’t the fifteen-minute break enough for your question?”

“Just… just some private words.”

“Not talking?” Wang Fang made a motion to write. “Extortion and intimidation involving school violence. Now you don’t have to worry about your parents being called in. Pack your bags and prepare to be expelled.”

Shi Cheng knew Wang Fang was mostly bluffing, but he was still scared. He quickly stopped her. “No, no, no! It’s not true! I wasn’t trying to bully her. I like her too much to do that!”

“Like?” Wang Fang pointed a finger at the little girl shrinking behind her. “Her?”

There was no doubt. Her expression clearly read, “Are you a pervert?”

“Not her.”

“Then who?”

Someone beside Shi Cheng answered for him. “He likes Xu Yanshu, who is in the seventh grade. He knew Xu Chacha was her sister, which is why he called her out to see if she could help set them up. Teacher, please let us go. We are truly innocent.”

Xu Chacha: ?

“Is that so?” Wang Fang changed the direction of her pen, crossed out the original entry, and wrote a new one. “Puppy love. Deduct five points for violating school rules. Have your parents come in for a talk on Monday.”