After Becoming a Cannon Fodder Side Character, I Became the Group’s Favorite (GL) - Chapter 40.1

Xu Chacha was panicking. She had never been this panicked, not even when a teacher called on her in class to answer a question she didn’t know after being caught whispering.

“Save me, save me.” She grabbed Jiang Shu, who was sitting next to her, looking like she was about to cry. “What should I do?”

Jiang Shu was confused. “What’s wrong? Don’t panic.”

“I sent that picture to her.” Xu Chacha’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed.

“Who?” Zhu Zhu was still out of the loop and poked her head over to look at them.

“My Auntie!”

“Oh my god…” The three of them exclaimed in unison, frozen in place as if they had been struck dumb.

“Four beauties in the back row.” The teacher at the podium finally couldn’t help but call out the students who were being a bit too loud with their chatter. “What’s so interesting? Tell me about it after class, but can you please be quiet during class?”

This teacher had a good temper. If it were Old Liu, their professional course teacher, he would surely throw a textbook at them and make them stand at the back as punishment.

“Sorry, Teacher, we know we were wrong.” As the saying goes, one shouldn’t hit a smiling person, and Zhu Zhu was always very good at admitting fault.

The classmates turned their heads to look at them. Both boys and girls took this opportunity to steal a few extra glances at Xu Chacha.

It was too abrupt to suddenly turn around and stare at someone when walking on the road, so they could only use this chance to look openly.

The neighboring Art Academy had produced many internet celebrities, some of whom could act high and mighty with only ten or twenty thousand followers. However, Xu Chacha, who had genuinely collaborated with top designers, seemed remarkably low-key.

She wasn’t pretentious and was even quite willing to help others, somewhat like the kind of overly nice person who would get bullied in middle school, but with an added layer of polite distance and class distinction.

No matter how approachable Xu Chacha was, not everyone could overlook the many labels and halos behind her and brazenly strike up a conversation.

So, it was enough to just look at her from afar and marvel at her beauty.

“She’s so beautiful. If I looked like her, would I still be single since birth?”

“Much more than that,” the girl next to her whispered. “I heard that the campus heartthrob from our junior class has been looking for news about her everywhere and secretly asking for her contact information. Think about it, really think about it.”

“Oh~”

Xu Chacha’s mind was completely focused on how to reply to Wen Mubai and didn’t realize others were talking about her.

“How about you reply with… ‘It wasn’t me’?” This stumped even Zhu Zhu.

Jiang Shu slapped her. “Are you stupid? That’s obviously a lie.”

“Huh?” Xu Chacha slowly raised her head, her beautiful eyes wide and round. “What should I do? I already sent it out.”

The three of them fell silent.

“Turn off your phone and pretend you’re not here.”

…

Classes finished after three periods in the morning. Not in a hurry to jostle with the crowds at the cafeteria, the four of them walked slowly.

Zhu Zhu always looked down at her phone and not the road, just stepping forward while holding someone’s arm. She quickly scrolled to an exciting piece of news in the group chat. “Hey, they say there’s a friendly basketball game at the court this afternoon, and the campus heartthrob is going. Should we go watch?”

“There’ll definitely be a lot of people, right?” Xu Chacha wasn’t keen on going. She hated all places that smelled of sweat.

“I’ll go early and save seats for you guys.” Zhu Zhu started shaking her arm. “Mmm~ Good Chacha-bao, let’s go together, let’s go together. It’s against heaven’s will not to look at handsome guys.”

Xu Chacha thought, I am the one against heaven’s will, but still turned to ask the others, “How about you guys? Do you want to see a handsome guy too?”

Jiang Shu: “I don’t care. Someone will definitely take videos and post them on the forum and social media anyway. I can be in the front row without leaving the dorm.”

Su Qing chuckled. “I want to go. My boyfriend is playing.”

“Boyfriend!?”

“I meant to tell you guys before. I met him through the Student Union. We made it official last night.” Su Qing’s face was a little red.

Su Qing had joined the less popular Sports Department. Xu Chacha recalled that the head of the Sports Department was indeed a sunny-looking upperclassman, which was Su Qing’s type.

“You’re unbelievable! You dumped me to become single no more without a word! I’m going to strangle you!” Zhu Zhu fiercely attacked Su Qing’s neck.

Jiang Shu pulled Xu Chacha and fled the scene. “Run, she’s gone crazy again.”

Xu Chacha laughed out loud. “She only got one person off the market. If everyone in the dorm gets into a relationship and she’s the only one left, is she going to cry into the West Lake?”

Wait, why did she have such confidence that she would get into a relationship before Zhu Zhu?

They only had one class in the afternoon, so they left the teaching building very early, but Zhu Zhu was worried about not getting seats and insisted on going to the gym an hour in advance to save them.

“I’ll go with you,” Su Qing said. “My boyfriend asked me to bring him water.”

“Ew—” The others simultaneously drew out the sound, their expressions exaggeratedly disgusted.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” Su Qing playfully hit Xu Chacha, who was closest to her, extremely shy. “If you guys want to find someone too, I can ask him to help organize a mixer. There are plenty of single third-year students.”

“Are they handsome?” Zhu Zhu only cared about this question.

“Actually… some of them are quite good-looking,” Su Qing recalled.

Xu Chacha wasn’t interested in the topic. “I’ll go back to the dorm to drop off my books first. Just call me when it’s about to start.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jiang Shu said.

“Then take our books too.”

“Give them here.” Xu Chacha took their books and walked side-by-side with Jiang Shu toward the dorm.

…

The Gymnasium

Zhu Zhu and the others arrived very early. There were hardly any people in the stands, and a few guys in jerseys were sitting there changing their shoes.

Everyone was aware of Su Qing and Zhou Yang’s budding relationship, so when they saw the two pretty girls enter, they all started cheering and teasing.

Su Qing was holding a bottle of water she had bought for Zhou Yang. Hearing their noises, she shyly lowered her head.

Zhou Yang called her name, dropped the basketball in his hand, and ran over. “You’re here.”

“Why did you specifically ask someone else to buy you water?” A guy with short black hair followed Zhou Yang. “Was the Nongfu Spring prepared by the department not sweet enough?”

Zhu Zhu and Su Qing exchanged a glance, recognizing the guy with short black hair as the legendary Fang Jianren, the campus heartthrob of the Faculty of Arts for three consecutive years, and were secretly delighted.

“Stop with the smart-aleck remarks. Girls are easily embarrassed.” Zhou Yang nudged his ribs with his elbow and quietly added, “Will you die if you don’t talk?”

“Seriously, so spoiled.” Fang Jianren scoffed but was polite enough to change the subject. “Are the two beauties here to watch the game? We’re still practicing now. It starts in a little over an hour.”

“Oh, it’s fine. We came over since we had nothing else to do.” Zhu Zhu met his eyes. “We’ll watch from here. We won’t disturb your practice, right?”

“No disturbance.” Fang Jianren smiled, looking carefree, but his eyes subconsciously scanned the doorway. “You have two other roommates, don’t you?”

“They went back to drop off their stuff. They’ll be here soon,” Su Qing replied.

“Okay.” Fang Jianren nodded, pointing to the seats in the first row with his long finger. “There, your boyfriend saved you a seat early.”

Su Qing and Zhou Yang exchanged a look, then smiled with pursed lips and pulled Zhu Zhu over.

Zhu Zhu’s excitement was lower than before. She crossed her legs and propped her chin up with her palm. “Tsk, boring.”

“What’s wrong? Weren’t you just clamoring to come see the campus heartthrob?”

“I didn’t just want to see him, I wanted to hit on him.” Zhu Zhu spoke grandly. “But did you see the look in his eyes just now? He’s definitely interested in either Chacha-bao or Shu Shu. Where does that leave me with a chance?”

“Aww, it’s okay.” Su Qing patted her sympathetically. “Men with two legs are everywhere.”

Easy to say, but this sister’s standards were unusually high. The guys who chased her were too ordinary, and the ones she was interested in were either already taken or gay. Although she had been single all along, her history of crushes could fill a fifty-page PowerPoint presentation if carefully examined.

The one good thing was that Zhu Zhu got into things quickly and moved on quickly. If this target wasn’t going to work, she would swiftly move on to the next. She was forever running on the path toward longed-for love.

After all, if she wasn’t so carefree, her script would have been that of a cannon fodder female side character.

They watched the game for half an hour. Su Qing sent a message to the group chat.

Su Qing: Almost time, come over. You’ll arrive in a few minutes.

Xu Chacha: Okay, getting up now.

Zhu Zhu: How long has it been? You went back to bed? Did you take off your makeup? Try to look like a beauty.

Xu Chacha: I won’t listen.jpg

It wasn’t as exaggerated as Zhu Zhu said. At least she hadn’t removed her makeup yet because she still had to see Wen Mubai in the afternoon.

She and Jiang Shu slowly got up and ready, put on their shoes, and unhurriedly went to the supermarket to buy some snacks.

This bad habit was all Chen Xixi’s doing; Xu Chacha would habitually gravitate towards food whenever school ended.

“Don’t you need to manage your weight?” Jiang Shu had always wanted to ask. “I never see you eat less of this stuff.”

Xu Chacha’s speed in picking snacks didn’t slow down at all. Weight management was a bit of a mystery. Although it was very annoying to admit, she really didn’t gain weight easily. Although she loved snacks, she ate little main food. When she had work, she could practice hard for a week at the last minute and bring her figure back.

The main thing was that she didn’t take much work. Unless they called her in to save the day, she wasn’t interested in general jobs.

She had earned money desperately through fashion shows in her past life, which left her with some psychological trauma.

“It’s fine. I just buy a lot, but I only eat a few bites.”

Jiang Shu frowned in recollection and realized that it was true. All those snacks ended up being finished by the others in their dorm. She wondered why she had gained so much weight after starting school compared to at home.

“Seriously?” If she didn’t know Xu Chacha’s personality, Jiang Shu would genuinely suspect she was deliberately fattening them up.

Xu Chacha was very slow at things. She nearly lost track of time while shopping at the supermarket. By the time they arrived, the gymnasium door was already closed. Zhu Zhu, who was sitting in the front row, frantically motioned for her to go through the back door.

Xu Chacha nodded, but before she could turn around, she saw a tall person jog over and open the door for them.

“You must be Su Qing’s roommates. Come in quickly.”

Only when she got closer did Xu Chacha recognize who it was: the campus heartthrob who was almost idolized. He had black hair and was wearing a red headband, with fine sweat trickling down his forehead.

“Thank you,” Xu Chacha whispered her gratitude.

Half of the girls in the stands had come for Fang Jianren, so their eyes naturally followed him. Thus, Xu Chacha naturally received the full attention of the crowd, and Jiang Shu next to her also suffered the same fate.

Xu Chacha awkwardly hid the snack bag behind her. Others who came to watch the game brought banners and cheering sticks, but her bag of snacks made her look too casual.

“I’m going in first. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be late.” Xu Chacha pulled Jiang Shu along, quickly running to Zhu Zhu and the others in a crouch. The embarrassment of being collectively stared at lessened a little the moment she sat down.

In any case, they were in the first row, so the people behind her would only see her back. She would just pretend not to notice.

“What’s the point of having such long legs when you took half an hour to walk a fifteen-minute distance?”

“We went to the supermarket, didn’t we?” Xu Chacha smiled cheekily, opened the bag, and tossed over a packet of her favorite liuliumei plums. “I specially got them for you.”

“Tsk, you woman, you’re so damn lovable.” Zhu Zhu tore open the wrapper and quickly popped one into her mouth.

Xu Chacha rubbed her arms. “Have mercy on me, Boss Zhu.”

They chatted for a while, and after Xu Chacha had distributed the snacks, the game was about to start.

Xu Chacha didn’t understand the game. When the people next to her applauded, she followed suit. When they shouted “Go,” she made a small gesture, trying her best not to look too out of place.

After all, she was occupying a VIP front-row seat.

The players started running. Their sneakers created a harsh, screeching sound on the wooden floor. Strong collisions were inevitable, and everyone’s eyes were fixed on the rolling ball.

Xu Chacha secretly opened a packet of matcha-flavored Pocky, sighing: Youth is truly wonderful.

She had only eaten five sticks of the biscuit during the halftime break, three of which she had shared with others.

Fang Jianren and Zhou Yang walked toward them. The girls in the back row gasped quietly, followed by a flurry of whispers.

“Zhou Yang is quite handsome too, you know. He looks so sexy when he’s sweating!”

“Although Zhou Yang is nice, I’m still blindly choosing the campus heartthrob.”

“You can choose, but it’s not certain if he even likes you.”