She is the Side Character! — Watch Her Change her fate!

After school, Ah Chen saw Jiao Yu at the school gate.

As soon as she saw her, Jiao Yu lunged forward, but was stopped by the bodyguard. Even though it wasn’t necessary, she had still asked Lira to find a female bodyguard.

Jiao Yu wasn’t here to attack Ah Chen. Seeing herself blocked by the bodyguard, she cried out to Ah Chen pitifully, ”Qiao Chen, can you help me?”

Ah Chen lifted her eyes and saw Jiao Yu’s face full of hope.

She said nothing, just walked toward the car, ready to get in. Everything that needed to be said had already been made clear last time. Since Jiao Yu made that choice, she should bear the consequences herself, and yet she dared to hope that the person she had harmed would help her?

It wasn’t naivety, it was a gamble on whether she would soften.

With the bodyguard blocking her, Jiao Yu couldn’t get close at all. The hope on her face gradually turned into despair, and she stopped struggling.

”You’ve got the nerve to come begging Xiao Qiao, you really think she’s that easy to bully?” Shen Muyang walked past Jiao Yu and snapped, vicious-looking, ”Don’t you dare come bother her again, or I won’t be polite.”

Jiao Yu’s blank expression slowly came back to life, a flicker of hatred flashing in her eyes.

”You were someone who could have asked Qiao Chen for help.” Xuan Wenwen stood in front of Jiao Yu and spoke softly, ”You’re the one who missed that chance.”

”What right do you have to hate Qiao Chen?”

”It’s not like you didn’t know that telling Qiao Chen the truth could solve your own predicament; you were greedy for the benefits the Dai Family gave you. If you want to blame someone, you should blame your parents and the Dai Family, and yourself. It’s you all together who created your suffering. You dared to harm a good friend, but you don’t dare resist them?”

Xuan Wenwen shook her head and said nothing more. She waved to Ah Chen, then walked off toward where her brother was picking her up.

Shen Muyang quickly got into his own car as well, with no intention whatsoever of getting into Ah Chen’s.

At the school gate, only Jiao Yu was left, swallowed up by the crowd.

It was just a minor episode, not stirring up any waves in anyone else’s study or life.

Until a few days later, Ah Chen heard news about Jiao Yu again. It was a Saturday, she was at home, and Xuan Wenwen suddenly sent her a message, about Jiao Yu.

[Xuan Wenwen: Jiao Yu seems to have been driven insane. She hacked her parents into the hospital.]

[Xuan Wenwen: The old man Jiao Yu’s parents found for her has already cut ties completely clean. Now that this has spread, I’m afraid nobody will dare set their sights on Jiao Yu anymore—no one wants to risk getting killed. After this, her parents from the Jiao Family may not dare casually arrange things for her again. It’s just...]

It’s just that Jiao Yu’s future had become uncertain as well.

Xuan Wenwen did feel some pity, but she didn’t consider doing anything. After all, who would dare get involved with someone who harms her friend whenever she’s in trouble? Everyone’s afraid of being bitten at a critical moment.

[Qiao Chen: Since they weren’t going to leave her a way to live anyway, going crazy is normal.]

[Xuan Wenwen: True.]

From these calm, bland words, Xuan Wenwen could tell that Qiao Chen didn’t seem to hold much hatred toward Jiao Yu, which struck her as odd.

Maybe it was that Jiao Yu’s background really was pitiful, and her future had become uncertain, or maybe it was that Jiao Yu no longer mattered to Qiao Chen now, so she no longer paid attention or cared.

On Sunday, Ah Chen invited the Shen Family over for a meal.

She’d told the Shen Family in advance the day before and had the kitchen prepare all kinds of ingredients.

Early in the morning, Shen Muyang and Shen Muzhi got ready to come over to check on things, planning to keep Qiao Chen company and chat.

In fact, Shen Muyang hadn’t wanted to come this early. Ever since hearing Qiao Chen’s inner voice mention the matching issue, he’d instinctively rejected the idea of being alone with her. Being targeted like that felt anything but comfortable.

Luckily his big brother was coming with him today, which let him relax a little.

On the short walk over, Shen Muyang suddenly tugged at Shen Muzhi’s sleeve and muttered, ”Bro, if the outcome’s going to be the same anyway, how about I just don’t...”

He didn’t finish, but Shen Muzhi understood.

He gave Shen Muyang, who was glancing around nervously, a faint look and spoke very softly, ”If you suddenly bolted, what if something unexpected happened? You’ve understood your reason for existing from the beginning, haven’t you?”

Shen Muyang fell silent. Of course he knew: only by staying at Qiao Chen’s side could he more precisely keep track of her movements.

He scratched his head, looking a little dejected.

In the end he deflated and said, ”Let’s just hope we can get it over with soon. You know I already have someone I like. I’ve been trailing Qiao Chen these days so much that she probably thinks I like her, she’s a lot colder to me than before.”

”You’ll have plenty of chances later on.” Shen Muzhi paused, then added, ”From what I know of the Ning Family, if you don’t have much ability, being with Ning Xueren will be hard. Ning Xueren is someone the Ning Family has cultivated with great care; they won’t be willing to marry a daughter they’ve invested so much in to some good-for-nothing second-generation.”

At that, Shen Muyang slumped even more. His gaze gradually firmed. ”Bro, I get it.”

He let out a breath, solemn for a moment, then quickly slipped back into his usual careless air.

Ah Chen stood by the window, watching the Shen Brothers walking closer to the villa gate in the distance.

They were a ways off, and their voices were low; in fact, three meters away it would have been almost impossible to make out what they were saying.

But the conversation they’d just had came through to her ears word for word. Hearing it, she wasn’t surprised at all.

She knew Ning Xueren; they were at the same high school, same grade, different class.

Ning Xueren was in Class One, and also ranked first in the whole grade, the school’s acknowledged beauty and top student, wanted by who knows how many admirers.

In the Commissioner’s memories, much later on, Shen Muyang did end up with Ning Xueren. When she was in the psychiatric hospital, she even saw Shen Muyang and Ning Xueren’s ”wedding of the century.”

However, Ning Xueren probably had little to do with the Commissioner’s situation.

The name just skimmed through her mind, and Ah Chen didn’t dwell on it.

Seeing the Shen Brothers draw closer, she waved toward them.

The two brothers seemed to notice. Shen Muzhi looked up and smiled, while Shen Muyang raised a hand and even blew a kiss, looking utterly unserious. Anyone watching would think they were very close.

Ah Chen made a cup of coffee for Shen Muzhi and handed Shen Muyang a bottle of soda.

The three of them sat in the lounge chatting. Shen Muzhi said, ”Mom and Dad have things to do out, but they’ll make it back by mealtime, they won’t miss lunch.”

”Too bad it’s only the weekend and Second Sis has her own stuff; otherwise she’d be back and we’d all be together.” Shen Muyang said, then shifted the topic, ”Luckily there’s only a month left till break; we’ll see Second Sis then.”

Since coming here, Ah Chen still hadn’t met Shen Mulan.

Because she was at university out of town, she really didn’t interact much with the Commissioner.

As someone from the Shen Family, she probably knew a lot of things too.