After Becoming a Cannon Fodder Side Character, I Became the Group’s Favorite (GL) - Chapter 60

Xu Chacha suddenly slumped, her shoulders drooping like a deflated puppy.

“Why are you so fierce?”

“You call this fierce?” Wen Mubai took back the empty cup and, seeing the glucose nearly finished, pressed the call button for the nurse. “I haven’t even started talking, and you’re already playing the pity card. You know exactly that I can’t handle this act, don’t you?”

Xu Chacha pouted, her doe eyes moist. “So are you going to scold me?”

She knew exactly where Wen Mubai’s weakness lay. If she admitted defeat first, Wen Mubai would surely calm down and she could avoid a lecture.

“Did I not tell you to eat properly and get enough rest?” Wen Mubai pinched her chin, inspecting her face with great dissatisfaction. “You’re so thin you look gaunt.”

She had contacted Xu Chacha less frequently because Xu Chacha said she had exams recently. Yet, as soon as no one was watching, she tormented herself into the hospital.

“Do you know how hard it is to put that little bit of weight on you?”

“I have been eating…” Xu Chacha mumbled in protest.

She hadn’t intentionally lost weight recently; she just often forgot to eat when busy, and then was too lazy to buy or cook food, so she simply went hungry.

Wen Mubai knew her little tricks. “The matter is settled. I’m coming over this weekend. Pack your things in advance.”

“…” Wuwu.

Xu Chacha had been scolded by Wen Mubai quite a bit these past few days, but knowing she was in the wrong, she didn’t dare talk back.

Not only that, but Wen Mubai had teamed up with her roommates to supervise her. If she missed a meal or ate late, a voice message would immediately be sent over.

The exams ended on Thursday. Xu Chacha didn’t go back to the dorm but packed her things into boxes at the apartment. Wen Mubai drove over to pick her up on Friday afternoon.

“Is that all you have?” Jiang Panpan, who had been roped in as free labor, leaned against the kitchen counter drinking water. “I knew your little girl was so low-maintenance, why did you call me? You could have carried all of this down yourself.”

Xu Chacha had only packed one suitcase and one storage box. Both had wheels, so she just had to push them into the elevator.

“There’s one more, Sister Panpan.” Xu Chacha stood on the item and kicked it with her foot. A bulging sack rolled down. “And the quilt.”

“Go ahead,” Wen Mubai politely gestured to her.

“Pfft—” Jiang Panpan spat out a mouthful of water, pointing at herself. “Can’t you have a little sympathy for your colleague?”

“Getting paid for the job is your famous motto, isn’t it, Teacher Jiang,” Wen Mubai said without changing her tone.

“Thank you, Sister Panpan!”

Meeting Xu Chacha’s smiling eyes, all of Jiang Panpan’s anger vanished. She reached out and pinched her cheek. “For you, my sweet little thing, Sister Panpan will be a laborer this one time.”

“Sister Panpan is the best.” Xu Chacha clenched her fist for her. “Go, go, go!”

“Charge!” Feeling empowered, Jiang Panpan picked up the sack and ran outside.

Xu Chacha pushed the suitcase behind her, with Wen Mubai strolling slowly behind.

Fortunately, this woman had some conscience and helped carry things up and down. Upon arriving at the destination, Jiang Panpan held out her hand. “Cash on delivery.”

Wen Mubai glanced at her and took out her wallet.

Xu Chacha watched from the side. “Are you really paying her?”

“Yes,” Wen Mubai pulled out something folded. It was a concert ticket. “Your Sister Panpan is obsessed with star-chasing. Don’t learn from her.”

Jiang Panpan had some connections in the industry, but her idol was so popular that she couldn’t get a ticket anywhere, so she had to ask Wen Mubai for help.

“Thank you, Boss Wen. Jiang is willing to work for Boss Wen like an ox and a horse for a hundred years!”

“No need. I won’t live that long.”

Jiang Panpan happily returned to the studio with her spoils, and her assistant immediately came over.

“You’re finally back! I was looking for you to sign something. Both you and the boss were gone.”

Jiang Panpan wiped her sweat, leaning against the edge of the table. “Don’t even mention it. Your Big Designer Wen dragged me along to help her little girl move. Pour me a glass of water, I’m dying of thirst.”

The people in the pantry rushed over as soon as they realized there was gossip. A quick-witted person immediately offered a cold glass of plain water.

“Wow, cohabiting already? I thought the boss was the type to only reluctantly commit after years of long-distance dating.”

“You’re wrong. Your boss is a beast whose heart you can’t read.”

Someone didn’t believe it. “No way.”

Jiang Panpan gave a fake smile. “I mean she slaves me like a beast. But she does spoil her little girl a lot.”

“Aww, I knew it!”

“Quickly, tell us who it is! Is it a model?”

“A model that the boss favors must be incredibly talented! We’re dying of curiosity!”

Jiang Panpan waved her hand. “No, I can’t say. If I do, I’ll be packing my bags and rolling out of here tomorrow.”

“Tsk~”

“What gossip? Why don’t you share it with me too?” A strange voice appeared behind Jiang Panpan.

She turned around, her smile mocking. “What wind blew you here, Big Singer Wen?”

It’s easy to enjoy the shade under a big tree. Although the Wen family had been in crisis a while ago, they managed to pull through smoothly. As the company’s pillar, Wen Shiyu’s career was naturally soaring. Her new digital single, for instance, immediately topped major music charts upon release.

There was some exaggeration, but the more the tabloids wrote about it, the more it became “true.”

Jiang Panpan had known Wen Mubai for a long time and was naturally familiar with her half-sister. She knew that Wen Shiyu probably wanted to strut around like a peacock these days to announce her surging popularity and high status to the world.

Wen Shiyu was wearing ridiculously high stilettos, her chin held high. She didn’t have to try to look haughty; that arrogant demeanor was already ingrained in her bones.

“My dad told me to come check on her, so I came. What, did I interrupt you?”

Jiang Panpan secretly rolled her eyes. “No, it’s just that our place is small, and we don’t have anything fancy to offer you. Would you like some plain boiled water?”

“No, thank you. I only drink triple-filtered, pristine mountain spring water. Yours…”

“The one that costs sixteen dollars a barrel is also mountain spring water.” Drink it or not, no one was actually pouring her any.

Jiang Panpan desperately wanted her to leave, as she was just getting in the way.

Wen Shiyu, of course, knew she wasn’t welcome. She was reluctant to come in the first place but couldn’t defy her father’s order.

She had only intended to show her face and leave, but now she didn’t want to go.

“You were just saying that Wen Mubai is involved with a young model?”

“You actually believe such petty gossip.” Jiang Panpan mocked her. “I thought you were so badly affected by it in the industry that you wouldn’t believe a word of it.”

“You two have such a good relationship, so of course I believe what you say.”

Eavesdropping and being so self-righteous, Jiang Panpan was furious but had to maintain appearances. “Then you’ve misunderstood. I didn’t say any of that. The kids were just guessing wildly, right?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“We just like to talk nonsense and chat randomly.”

“Yeah, hahahaha, I don’t even believe the stuff I made up myself.”

Wen Shiyu knew they were all conspiring not to tell her. “Hmph, do you think I won’t find out if you don’t tell me?”

She went back and told her mother about it, and then her mother informed her father during dinner.

This was a precise trigger for Mr. Wen. His biggest resentment was the countless times Wen Mubai’s birth mother had cheated on him. Consequently, he developed a strong dislike for the entire industry. Now, he had finally tacitly allowed Wen Mubai to continue in the field, only to be told that she was following in her mother’s footsteps.

“There are hardly any decent people in that circle!” His anger flared up, and he uttered a heavily prejudiced statement. “Call her back here. I want to question her properly!”

Mrs. Wen dared to whisper in his ear, but she wasn’t foolish enough to get involved in the conflict between father and daughter.

She agreed verbally but made no contact, waiting until Mr. Wen got impatient and took action himself.

Meanwhile, Jiang Panpan told Wen Mubai about Wen Shiyu’s visit to the studio. The latter was completely unfazed.

Jiang Panpan was anxious. “Aren’t you afraid she’ll go home and embellish the story to complain?”

“That’s all she’s capable of,” Wen Mubai said absently, continuing to organize magazines for Xu Chacha. “Besides, this matter was bound to reach the family sooner or later. Whether they know now or later, they’re going to know.”

Truthfully, she wasn’t afraid of her father, let alone Wen Shiyu.

She hung up the phone, and Xu Chacha conveniently came out of the bathroom after a shower.

She was sensitive to the cold and wore a complete set of fleece pajamas. Her fair feet stepped into soft, thick slippers, and her tender face was steamed peach-pink by the heat.

“Come here. Let me dry your hair.”

Xu Chacha walked over and saw Wen Mubai arranging books. She immediately spotted her first amateur novel, written when she was young and naive.

“Don’t look at this one. Just leave it. Don’t put it on the bookshelf.”

“One more book won’t hurt. Leave it,” Wen Mubai said.

“No need, no need.” Xu Chacha stood up, wanting to take the book out. She didn’t want to see it, and she didn’t want Wen Mubai to see it.

“Then take it,” Wen Mubai released her grip. “There’s another one on the bookshelf.”

“What?” Xu Chacha nearly jumped up. She rushed to the bookshelf to search. The white cover of her book was quite noticeable. She pulled it out and realized it had obviously been flipped through many times; the pages felt worn. “You read books like this too?”

She hadn’t told anyone in her family her pen name, precisely because she was worried about being exposed in front of Wen Mubai one day.

She wrote this book shortly after Wen Mubai had left. It was a time when she missed Wen Mubai the most and was most reluctant to let her go. Looking back at the writing now, it was full of unnecessary sentimentality and affectation.

“I do. It’s quite good,” Wen Mubai walked over, took the book, and looked at her with a gentle smile. “Do you know this author?”

Xu Chacha felt goosebumps rise. “No, I don’t!”

Wen Mubai nodded and soothed her. “I don’t know them either. Just casually reading.”

“Mhm, mhm, mhm.” Xu Chacha picked up the hairdryer, using its noise to cover the violent pounding in her chest, chanting silently, Don’t be exposed, don’t be exposed.

But the other person became even more engrossed. She opened the book, sat next to her, and began to read leisurely, turning each page carefully.

Out of the corner of her eye, Xu Chacha noticed many annotated sections on the pages. Her heart raced faster.

Even though she had obscured the locations and names when she wrote it, as the person involved, it was hard to say Wen Mubai wouldn’t find any loopholes. Especially since she was reading it so closely. It couldn’t withstand scrutiny.

Xu Chacha worriedly thought that given Wen Mubai’s nature, the probability was high that she had figured it out but hadn’t said anything.

“I never entertained such vile thoughts, wishing for her to become a small, powerless pet, perpetually confined to my side.”

The clear voice, read without emotion, was barely a whisper, yet Xu Chacha heard every word clearly.

After all, Wen Mubai was sitting right next to her.

She turned her head. Through her loose hair, the person’s smiling gaze met hers.

“Did you miss me that much?”