Chapter 2

Jiang Muti didn’t feel any fear or hesitation about the inherent inertia of the plot or the vast gap in status between the main characters and cannon fodder.

She had always been arrogant and self-assured—this much was evident from how she never even considered that she might end up as someone other than a main character.

Now that she had become a minor, barely mentioned cannon-fodder character, her personality ensured she wouldn’t back down from anyone.

So what if the heroine had the blessing of plot armor and the support of powerful male leads? She wasn’t afraid of stirring up trouble.

When it came to going head-to-head with others, she had never been one to shy away.

As soon as she returned to the classroom, Jiang Muti was surrounded by a few girls.

“Fat Muti, are you okay? Those girls from Class 3 were so scary just now!”

“They call themselves Qiao Yuqi’s fan club and pick fights with any girl who gets too close to him. They’re way too arrogant.”

“Exactly! Everyone has the right to like someone or confess their feelings. Who do they think they are? You’ve already had it tough being rejected, Fat Muti.”

“But I’m so jealous of you. If it meant getting fed cookies by him, I wouldn’t even mind getting beaten up!”

Jiang Muti glanced at the girls and found them all strangely familiar.

It must have been the residual emotions of the original host, which surprised her. Based on how indifferent everyone looked when she got into trouble earlier, she had assumed the original host was invisible in the class.

Who would’ve thought the original host actually had her own little social circle?

But this small group was amusing in her eyes.

When she was suddenly dragged away earlier, not one of them had stepped up—perhaps they could claim it was because they hadn’t reacted in time.

But ten minutes had passed since then, and with the teachers’ office on the same floor, no one had thought to get help.

Even now, as they gathered around her pretending to show concern, not one of them asked if she had been hurt.

Their eyes were filled with the excitement of gossip and entertainment, completely devoid of any worry for a friend.

Jiang Muti had dealt with plenty of these superficial relationships in her past life. She could see through them clearly and wasn’t too bothered by it.

Then a series of memories flashed through her mind, all involving these same girls.

“Go for it! Liking someone means you have to say it out loud, doesn’t it?”

“Qiao Yuqi is so gentle, he’s definitely not the kind to judge people by their looks.”

“I don’t stand a chance. I’m not good at anything. But you? You’re great at cooking and baking!”

“Maybe if you give it a try, you’ll win him over through his stomach!”

Jiang Muti thought to herself, So memories can be triggered after all? That’s a good thing.

But encouraging an ordinary girl—one who wasn’t even particularly attractive—to confess to the campus prince?

Sure, the logic sounded fine. If you like someone, you should go after them. Besides, the original host wasn’t forced at knifepoint to confess to the male supporting character.

When you got down to it, no one could really say these girls were responsible for anything.

However, as memories of these people flooded her mind, Jiang Muti realized that the original host had always played the role of a gullible pushover in this little circle.

Without exception, each of them had borrowed money from her multiple times. Of course, “borrowing” in this context didn’t mean what it usually did—neither party ever brought up the matter of repayment.

Then there were the frequent not-so-subtle hints during birthdays and holidays, pressuring the original host into giving gifts. Anytime they needed help, the original host was always their first choice, and all she ever got in return was a casual, “Thanks!”

They’d dress it up as, Good friends don’t need to say much—it’s all understood in our hearts.

And apparently, their idea of cherishing the friendship was to egg her on to confess without self-awareness.

Jiang Muti’s eyes gleamed with a subtle depth. It seemed the original host wasn’t just insecure and timid—she also had a people-pleasing personality.

She had gone to great lengths to maintain her friendships.

Ha! Friends, huh?

True friendship was about give and take—that was the only way it could last.

These thoughts passed through her mind in an instant, while the girls around her were still chattering away, trying to dig up details about what had happened in the hallway earlier.

At this moment, a short-haired girl appeared at the back door of the classroom, glancing inside. Her eyes landed on Jiang Muti immediately.

The girl visibly relaxed, then walked over with a frustrated look. “Someone said they saw you being dragged out of the classroom by those girls from Class Three. What’s wrong with you? Why are you messing with Qiao Yuqi’s group? Didn’t I tell you they’re like a mini cult? If they ever really unleash their drama skills, they’d be unstoppable in the entertainment industry. Why would you even go looking for trouble?”

Hearing this, Jiang Muti instantly felt a sense of admiration for the girl.

Her insight is spot on!

After all, the male supporting character would end up in the entertainment industry, becoming a top-tier superstar in his twenties.

But that was all future plot. For now, he was just a young man strumming a guitar, pretending to be cool at school.

Yun Duo, the short-haired girl, had always found Jiang Muti’s soft and muddled personality hard to stomach. They didn’t usually hang out at school and barely even exchanged greetings.

Still, having grown up together, Yun Duo couldn’t help worrying when she heard Jiang Muti was in trouble. After giving her a scolding, she pulled her over and asked, “Did you get hurt? Come on, I’ll take you to a teacher.”

The girls nearby weren’t too pleased with her words.

“What do you mean by ‘looking for trouble’? You don’t even talk to her much usually, so why are you suddenly stepping in now? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s the one who really knows how to play the game, huh? Always so sharp and efficient.”

“Yeah, sure, those girls from Class 3 were trouble, but what’s Qiao Yuqi got to do with it? Let’s be fair—he didn’t do anything, did he? Isn’t it a bit much to drag him into this?”

Yun Duo had never liked these girls. She sneered and said, “Oh, you’re all full of opinions now? Where were your sharp tongues earlier when Jiang Muti was being harassed? Aren’t you supposed to be her friends?”

A few girls replied righteously, “We wanted to help too, but you know how those people gang up to bully others.”

“What could we do? We can’t exactly start a fight with them, can we?”

Yun Duo was momentarily at a loss for words, unable to understand how these people could talk so much about friendship when taking advantage of someone, yet immediately draw a clear line when trouble arose.

By then, the teacher was almost in the classroom, so Yun Duo didn’t bother arguing with them and decided to take Jiang Muti straight to the head teacher’s office.

Although Jiang Muti was fine, she didn’t want to stay idle in the classroom, so she agreed.

As she interacted with Yun Duo, memories about her surfaced as well. At first, Jiang Muti assumed Yun Duo was a childhood neighbor or something similar.

To her surprise, Yun Duo turned out to be the daughter of one of her family’s employees. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and her mother gave up custody, leaving her to be raised by her father, who worked for Jiang Muti’s family.

Apparently, during the divorce, Yun Duo’s mother took the house and most of the savings, forcing Yun Duo’s father and her siblings to live in the employee dorms at the Jiang household.

Oh, and Yun Duo also had an older brother, though Jiang Muti couldn’t recall his name or appearance just yet.

However, Yun Duo’s father wasn’t an ordinary employee—he was part of the management staff and served as the Jiang family’s personal housekeeper. The rooms in the employee dorms were far more spacious than typical residences outside.

From her memories, Jiang Muti saw that the children got along well when they were younger. However, after the original host gained weight, she became increasingly self-conscious.

Yun Duo and her brother seemed to be outstanding and sociable at school, while the original host felt out of place around them. Sensitive and fragile, she withdrew after being criticized a few times, eventually drifting apart from them.

But all that was secondary now. What truly captivated Jiang Muti as her memories unfolded was the original host’s wealthy family background.

Earlier, she had guessed the original host’s family must be well-off based on how the girls borrowed significant amounts of money without returning it. That was, at least, some consolation.

But a private housekeeper? Employee dorms exclusively for household staff?

In her past life, Jiang Muti had been quite wealthy herself. The real estate, shares, and trust fund her late parents left her had been enough to ensure a carefree life. Yet even so, her past life’s wealth couldn’t compare to this level of extravagance.

Especially since this was a first-tier city with sky-high property prices—being able to maintain such operations demonstrated the family’s true strength.

Trading good looks and a fit figure for such enormous wealth… Jiang Muti couldn’t quite decide whether it was a loss or a win.

Still, it was a stroke of luck.

Given such affluence, it was almost laughable how poorly the original host had navigated school life. Jiang Muti couldn’t help but marvel at how someone could play their hand so badly.

As expected, when the head teacher learned about the situation, they immediately connected it to the Jiang family’s sponsorship of the new teaching building, multifunctional classrooms, and the thousands of electronic teaching devices donated a few years ago.

The director promised to take the matter seriously. This school, ranked among the top three in the city, had a zero-tolerance policy for bullying.

After leaving the office, the two decided to head straight home.

As they passed the sports field, they noticed a class having PE.

It seemed to be free activity time—some were playing basketball, others were chatting in small groups under the trees, and a few were lounging lazily on the sloped lawn, basking in the sun with their girlfriends in their arms.

Jiang Muti couldn’t help but notice them at a glance—they stood out too much.

Actually, she’d only been in this world for less than two hours, but all the most memorable characters seemed to have gathered here.

There was Qiao Yuqi, sitting leisurely on the sloped lawn. His long legs stretched out, one arm resting casually on his bent knee. He looked like a living painting.

Just three to five meters away was the female lead, Li Xi, whom Jiang Muti had just run into earlier. But this time, she wasn’t alone.

A long, muscular arm rested on Li Xi’s shoulder. Its owner had bold, striking features and an undeniable air of dominance. His arrogance was almost palpable, as if even his hair screamed rebellion.

From his demeanor alone, even without the female lead by his side, it was obvious—this must be the male lead.

It seemed the man, Zhou Lu, sensed the gaze from above. Irritated by anyone looking down at him, he frowned and turned his head.

What he saw was a passing chubby girl—still a girl, but to him, utterly uninteresting.

As he was about to look away, jeering erupted around him.

“Hey! Isn’t that the girl who confessed to you last class? Gotta give her credit for the courage. How can you be so cold, Qiao Yuqi, not even acknowledging her?”

Qiao Yuqi was incredibly popular among girls, but the same couldn’t be said for the boys. While the male lead Zhou Lu was no less good-looking, his irritable and unapproachable personality kept most at a distance.

In contrast, Qiao Yuqi played the part of the gentle and charming type, making it easy for people to like him openly and fearlessly. For many guys trying to win a girl’s heart, there was a high probability that the girl secretly harbored feelings for Qiao Yuqi.

How could that not make people annoyed? So, whenever there weren’t too many girls around to defend him, some boys enjoyed taking a jab or two at Qiao Yuqi.

Qiao Yuqi looked up and also saw Jiang Muti.

His eyes were cold, and he no longer had the showy attitude he had before. Jiang Muti figured it was probably because the female lead was present.

But only Qiao Yuqi himself knew it wasn’t just because of that.

He had witnessed firsthand how this woman transformed from timid and foolish to sharp and arrogant.

Just as he concealed his coldness and selfishness beneath a facade of gentleness and romance, this woman masked herself even more flawlessly.

When she finally tore off her disguise with her own hands, even someone as similar to her as he was hadn’t seen it coming.

Neither of them paid any attention to the teasing onlookers, both uninterested in engaging with the other.

But someone else had other ideas. Zhou Lu had already pieced together the situation from the brief comments of those around him.

With a playful smirk, he turned to Qiao Yuqi and said, “Isn’t this perfect? Didn’t someone just say yesterday that they felt lost without a certain someone by their side? And now here they are, problem solved.”

To the others, this remark might have been puzzling, but Jiang Muti understood it perfectly.

The first major conflict in this book was the male lead discovering that the female lead and the male supporting character were not only childhood friends but that his feelings for her were blatantly obvious.

In other words, these two love rivals were already on a collision course in private.

Now, the male lead Zhou Lu couldn’t stand even a single hair on Qiao Yuqi’s head. He’d pick a fight over nothing, let alone pass up entertainment that served itself up on a platter.

Using the words Qiao Yuqi had said to Li Xi that night as ammunition, he taunted him. But he didn’t stop there—he looked up and called out to the passing Jiang Muti.

“Hey, fatty, come over here and sit down. Sit next to Qiao Yuqi. You all know how easygoing he is. Don’t be shy—use your broad chest to warm him up.”

The moment he finished, a wave of laughter erupted around them. Most were enjoying the show at Qiao Yuqi’s expense, but the casual malice aimed at Jiang Muti was unmistakably real.

Only Li Xi cast her a complicated glance, her expression slightly displeased, but she said nothing.

Jiang Muti was speechless. It seemed the original character’s role as a pitiful comic relief was deeply ingrained—people, whether they knew her or not, saw it as perfectly natural to use her as a tool for humiliation.

To be honest, in all her life, she’d never been insulted like this. Even though she understood rationally that it was the original character’s position that invited this treatment, the humiliation still left her fuming.

Zhou Lu was watching Qiao Yuqi’s expression with amusement when he suddenly heard the fat girl retort, “You’re really good at assigning tasks to others, huh!”

“If you’re so concerned about someone’s loneliness and emptiness, why don’t you have your girlfriend go warm him up instead?”

Her words struck right at his sore spot. Zhou Lu’s face immediately darkened, and his gaze turned dangerously sharp as he looked at her.

But what he saw was the fat girl crossing her arms, looking down at him from above with an arrogance that mirrored his own.

And the atmosphere around them? The moment Jiang Muti said those words, it had fallen into a deathly silence.