After Becoming a Cannon Fodder Side Character, I Became the Group’s Favorite (GL) - Chapter 62

Xu Chacha refused to sleep, wrapping her arms around her. “When did you know I wrote that book?”

“From the start,” Wen Mubai said.

But she didn’t elaborate on the reason.

The first time she saw the book was in a bookstore, where she casually flipped through a sample. She took a closer look because the author was a rare domestic writer, and as she read, the writing style felt strangely familiar.

It wasn’t narcissism on Wen Mubai’s part; the writing style in the book strongly resembled something she would write herself.

After buying it and reading it through, she realized that every detail of the two protagonists’ interactions aligned eerily with her own memories.

That was when Wen Mubai knew that the “child” chasing after her wasn’t stumbling heedlessly but was stepping very steadily and lightly, approaching without a sound as if afraid of startling her.

She had started looking at this “child” as an equal earlier than Xu Chacha realized.

Much, much earlier.

The next morning, Xu Chacha was awakened by a familiar clanging sound.

She rubbed her eyes, sat up, and sighed. “She’s blowing up the kitchen again.”

Wen Mubai must have been afraid she would catch a cold after waking up, so she had deliberately turned up the air conditioning before leaving. Xu Chacha’s cheeks were warm and flushed.

She held her pajamas under the quilt to warm them for a while before daring to put them on. Then, she slipped into her slippers and went out to check the kitchen’s status.

Wen Mubai, wearing a white apron, had her long hair lazily tied back. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and she was looking worriedly at the “thing” in the pan.

“What poison are you serving me today?” Xu Chacha leaned closer.

Wen Mubai looked up at her. “You’re up so early?”

“Body clock,” Xu Chacha lazily yawned, leaning on the marble countertop. She peered at the blackened mass in the pan. “Are you frying pork ribs for me this early in the morning?”

Wen Mubai lifted the pan and scraped the pile of stuff onto a plate. “It was scallion pancakes.”

And the dough had been made and left by the maid yesterday. Wen Mubai had been full of confidence when she started cooking this morning, but she hadn’t expected to fail even when cheating.

Xu Chacha’s mockery was unconcealed. “Hahahahaha! What are we going to do? If you keep feeding me and I keep getting thinner, my sister is going to kill you.”

Everything else was fine, but bringing up Xu Yanshu instantly triggered Wen Mubai’s competitive side. She said with a serious face, “Before summer break, I will have put five pounds of weight on you.”

“Wow,” Xu Chacha replied dramatically. “I’ll be waiting, Ms. Wen.”

“Come here,” Wen Mubai suddenly crooked a finger at her.

Xu Chacha approached without much caution, only to be grabbed by the back of the neck and pulled closer.

She saw Wen Mubai holding something between her teeth and reaching out to her. Before she could react, the tip of the other person’s tongue pushed it into her mouth.

A burnt, bitter taste spread from her tongue. Xu Chacha’s entire face contorted. “What is that!”

“Breakfast,” Wen Mubai’s smile was a little mischievous now. “Want more?”

Xu Chacha stuck out her tongue and spit out the item. “No!”

She scampered off to brush her teeth, using toothpaste twice to wash away the bitterness.

When she finished washing up and came out, Wen Mubai was already sitting at the dining table. Scattered on the table were fragments of scallion pancakes that couldn’t form a whole piece. The only positive was that they weren’t completely burnt.

Wen Mubai had taken off her apron and was in her usual posture, leaning back in the chair and reading a newspaper. The kitchen was a mess, but when the gaze fell upon this calm and elegant woman, it created a serene, picture-perfect moment.

Xu Chacha walked over, picked up a crumb, and chewed it with a wrinkled brow.

Perhaps the previous burnt sample had lowered her expectations, but this one was actually tolerable. It was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, with a subtle aftertaste of scallions.

“Is it okay?”

Xu Chacha gulped down some milk, shoved another bite into her mouth, her cheeks bulging. “It’s alright.”

Wen Mubai wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth and smiled. “Then I’ll make it for you again next time.”

“Maybe not,” Xu Chacha shook her head. “The maid is going to be exhausted from making the dough and cleaning the kitchen. You should just make egg sandwiches.”

“…I can learn to make those myself too.”

Xu Chacha clearly looked skeptical. “I’d be better off making it myself then.”

“How can that be?” Wen Mubai glanced over at her. “You paid me to cook for you. Of course, I have to serve you well.”

“Well, you haven’t served me well,” Xu Chacha retorted casually.

Wen Mubai finally fell silent. Just as Xu Chacha was about to secretly celebrate, she saw her fold the newspaper and lean in.

“What are you doing?” Xu Chacha leaned away.

Wen Mubai’s eyes dropped. She lowered her head, kissed Xu Chacha on the cheek, and then stood up and walked away. “I’m going to pack your clothes to serve you on your outing. Come out when you’re done eating. We’re going to try on clothes today.”

“Oh, right,” Xu Chacha quickly took a few more bites of the pancake, washed it down with milk, wiped her hands, and followed her. “Let’s make it quick. Teacher Yang Zhou was rushing me a few days ago.”

She and Yang Zhou had previously discussed handing the styling team over to BC. Wen Mubai personally coordinated the proposal and schedule with Yang Zhou, and the matter was easily settled.

Yang Zhou liked their deep blue starlight dress. There was a finished product, but it wasn’t Xu Chacha’s size. The previous time had been spent modifying the size. Jiang Panpan messaged yesterday that it was done, so they were going to try it on today.

The benefits of cohabitation were apparent here. They didn’t have to get up early and waste time commuting to meet each other.

The studio was quiet in the morning. Jiang Panpan and her junior assistants had pulled an all-nighter the night before and wouldn’t be in until the afternoon. Two people were scattered in the middle area, eating breakfast, and were startled when they saw Wen Mubai arrive.

“Eat your breakfast in the lounge. Not out here, it smells,” Wen Mubai pointed at them.

“Yes, Boss! Right away!”

Xu Chacha watched Wen Mubai’s stern face on the side and nodded in thought. That’s right, this cold demeanor is the one I know. The person at home, full of silliness and constantly saying suggestive things, must be a different personality, right?

Xu Chacha’s dress was placed separately in Wen Mubai’s office, covered with a black cloth.

She unzipped the dust cover and took out the dress. “Go change.”

The dress was very heavy, with multiple layers. The bodice and hem were inlaid with tiny scattered diamonds. The fabric felt incredibly slick. Xu Chacha was so afraid her nails weren’t trimmed properly and might snag a thread that she held it in several different postures, unsure how to safely carry the dress.

Wen Mubai couldn’t help but laugh at her carefulness. “Afraid you can’t afford to pay for damages?”

“It’s all your hard work. Of course, I have to be careful,” Xu Chacha said seriously, cupping the dress in both hands, holding it loosely like a bridal carry for fear of crushing it.

“Does your arm hurt?” Wen Mubai picked up the dress and hung it on the hook in the fitting room for her. “It won’t break.”

“Oh,” Xu Chacha walked in.

Wen Mubai held the door. “I’ll be right outside. If you can’t get it on, call me, and I’ll help you.”

“You’re the one who can’t get it on!” Xu Chacha slammed the door shut.

The dress came with a corset. Xu Chacha wrapped that on first, then lifted her legs to step into the dress.

The moment the dress was on, her shoulders slumped several degrees.

It was too heavy, like a small mountain was pressing on her. Especially the skirt—each step felt like dragging a brick forward.

She opened the door and said to Wen Mubai, “It seems alright.”

Wen Mubai raised her right hand and made a circle in the air. “Turn around so I can see.”

Xu Chacha obediently turned around. Just as she was waiting for the person behind her to say something, she heard footsteps approaching.

A pair of hands settled on her waist, circling her body. “You’ve lost weight again.”

“Does it need to be altered again?” Xu Chacha was a little worried about the timing.

“No, it’s close enough. I’ll test it with safety pins.” Wen Mubai opened a cabinet and pulled out a round cushion stuck with densely packed small pins.

Xu Chacha waited quietly for her to pin the dress. She could feel that Wen Mubai was very skilled. The dress was slowly tightened at the waist.

“Done,” Wen Mubai tapped her back. “Try bending over.”

Xu Chacha did as told and squatted down a few times. “It’s not tight.”

“Good. We’ll leave it like this. You can reply to Teacher Yang,” Wen Mubai put the pins back. “Tell her we can shoot right away.”

Yang Zhou’s team was very fast. The time from shooting to photo editing was less than three days. On the day the photos were ready, after confirming everything with Xu Chacha, they released a preview of the back view on the official blog for promotion.

Xu Chacha’s main account reposted the Weibo post and specifically tagged BC Studio.

[We know, we know. The dress is beautiful, but we still can’t afford it.]

[Teacher Xu is so beautiful. Lick, lick!]

[Hiss, hiss. So hot!]

In the photo, Xu Chacha was sprawled on a dark blue floor. The background light was dim, with scattered star-like sparkles. She wore a dark blue wig, and her smooth, waterfall-like long hair cascaded from her waist onto the floor. One hand was outstretched forward, her finger pointing precisely at a star. With her face slightly turned away, one could only see her shapely nose and slender eyelashes.

The shadow of her eyelashes cast on the background wall resembled a fluttering butterfly, similar to the red birthmark on her back.

[Is that a birthmark or painted on?]

[Birthmark, I think. Baby Cha responded to it on Weibo before.]

[Even pretty people have such unique birthmarks!]

Xu Chacha never imagined that she would become briefly popular because of a birthmark.

A week later, the magazine was officially released. The physical copies were snapped up and taken offline within five minutes of launching, and the sales of the digital edition far exceeded previous issues.

A hashtag, #XuChachaButterflyBirthmark#, even climbed to the top twenty on the trending searches.

Yang Zhou even sent her a special message to congratulate her. Xu Chacha initially thought this incident would, like others, flare up and then die down. But one afternoon, while coding in her study, she suddenly saw an email.

She initially thought it was spam. Upon a quick glance, she saw the suffix TY.

Well, I’ll be.