The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Anning received a call from Mr. Qin on the way to school.

”Ningning, what’s going on with that video online?”

Anning pulled the car over to the side of the road before explaining in detail to Mr. Qin: ”It’s nothing serious. I just ran into Zhao Dahai and Yu Mei at the supermarket. Yu Mei deliberately came over to show off in front of me and tried to watch me make a fool of myself. I got mad and snapped back at her a few times.”

As soon as Anning finished speaking, she heard Mrs. Qin’s voice: ”You scolded her well, you really did. I felt satisfied just watching it. There really are all kinds of people in this world. That Yu Mei is a real piece of work. She did something so guilty and doesn’t even feel ashamed, and she still dares come to you talking nonsense. It’s only because I wasn’t there. If I had been, I’d have slapped her right across the face.”

Anning laughed: ”Isn’t it because I saw she was pregnant? If I really slapped her, she might have tried to extort me.”

That was true, too.

Mrs. Qin huffed angrily: ”She’s just using that belly to bully people. That Zhao Dahai isn’t any good either. Back when he was chasing you, I thought he seemed decent. I never imagined he’d be this unreliable.”

Mrs. Qin seemed to think of something and reminded Anning again: ”Right, you need to keep an eye on that Xiao Yuan. Even someone who looks like Zhao Dahai has women chasing after him like crazy. With Xiao Yuan’s looks, who knows how many women would love to throw themselves at him.”

”Got it.”

Anning replied with a smile: ”Mom, I’m still on the road, so I’ll hang up first. I’ll come see you another day and we can have a proper chat.”

”Alright, then be careful on the road.”

Mrs. Qin wanted to say more, but was worried about distracting Anning while she was driving, so she quickly hung up.

After hanging up, she said to Mr. Qin: ”It’s all your fault. If you hadn’t said back then that Zhao Dahai was good and kept pushing Ningning to marry him, our daughter wouldn’t have been hurt by that scumbag.”

Mr. Qin rubbed his nose and gave a wry smile: ”How is this my fault? If I hadn’t seen our girl really fall for Zhao Dahai back then, would I have done that? It’s not like I can’t afford to support a daughter.”

”Anyway, it’s your fault.”

Mrs. Qin started being unreasonable.

Mr. Qin smiled good-naturedly: ”Fine, it’s my fault, my fault.”

Then he took out a passbook: ”Back when An Ping got married and bought a place, we paid the down payment for him, and his wedding banquet and all that were handled by us too. The rest of the money should go to Anning. She and Xiao Yuan got married, but there are four kids, and those two old run-down apartments on both sides can’t fit them all. Give the money to Anning so she can use it as a down payment on a bigger place. Later they can sell those two apartments to pay back the loan. That way her life will be a bit easier.”

Mrs. Qin took the passbook and glanced at it: ”Did you go out and take on work again?”

There was quite a bit of money in the passbook. Back when An Ping got married, Mr. and Mrs. Qin had pretty much emptied out the family savings. She hadn’t expected that in just a few years, Mr. Qin would have saved up another sum.

”I’d just be idle at home anyway. I’m in good health. If I work a bit more, the kids can have it a little easier.”

Mr. Qin gave a simple, honest smile: ”Call Ningning tomorrow and tell her to come back to get the money.”

”Okay.”

Mrs. Qin put the passbook away, and as she turned back she wiped at her tears: ”From now on, don’t go out and take jobs anymore. We gave money for An Ping back then, and now we’re giving some for Anning too. We’ve done right by both of them. We both have pensions, enough for us to live on. We’re this old already; we should enjoy some peace and stop wearing ourselves out.”

”We’ll do as you say.”

Mr. Qin poured himself a cup of tea and drank: ”I won’t take any more jobs from now on.”

Mrs. Qin choked up and let out an ”mm.”

Mr. Qin was an architect. When he was young, he was busy building houses all the time. He was honest, very experienced, and he loved to learn. Even in old age he never stopped studying. You could say that when it came to construction, he was good at everything.

Whether it was measuring levels and terrain, drawing designs, or solving any problems that came up during construction, he could handle it. So even after he retired, there were still plenty of people asking him to help measure and design blueprints, or to take a look when some construction site ran into a tricky issue. This brought in quite a bit of money. It was with this skill that Mr. Qin bought a house for An Ping and then saved up this extra sum.

Anning rode her little electric scooter to the school.

She went early, and classes hadn’t started yet when she arrived.

Anning entered the office. As soon as she walked in, several teachers gathered around: ”Teacher Qin, you’re trending.”

Anning sat down with a smile: ”I know, my daughter told me last night.”

”I really didn’t expect that Zhao Dahai would be such trash.”

A teacher who was close to Anning started cursing Zhao Dahai: ”Cheating is one thing, but he even brought his mistress to block you. That’s completely heartless.”

”Exactly, Teacher Qin, you really roasted them perfectly. You don’t know how satisfying it was for us to watch. That’s exactly how you should talk to a homewrecker. And she dares talk about ’true love’? Please. Doesn’t she feel ashamed? Just hearing it makes me sick.”

”By the way, Teacher Qin, when did you get married? I saw in the video that your teacher looks really handsome. When are you going to bring him over so we can all meet him?”

Anning answered each of them with a smile: ”Honestly, I’m not even that angry anymore. I figured it out a long time ago. With someone like Zhao Dahai, the earlier you leave, the better. It’s called cutting your losses in time.”

”My teacher’s surname is Xiao. He lives in the same community as me. When I was going through the divorce, he was always there, caring for me and helping out... He’s a good man. I’ll see when he’s free, and when he is, we’ll treat everyone to a meal.”

When the bell rang, the teachers all left for their classes, and only then did things quiet down for Anning.

Anning didn’t have much free time during class, but Xiao Yuan had plenty. After breakfast, he leisurely went downstairs and borrowed a car to make a big grocery run at the supermarket.

Xiao Yuan bought a lot of things and moved them all to the new home. He spent the entire day there cleaning and arranging everything, and only went back home in the evening to cook.

On the way back, Xiao Yuan received a video call from Xiao Yilin. She was calling from her room. From what could be seen in the video, the Zhang Family seemed to value her quite a lot. The room they had prepared for her was very nice, and the bedding and everything looked quite tasteful. Xiao Yilin said with a smile, ”Dad, don’t worry about me. I’m doing really well right now.”

”Good.”

Xiao Yuan smiled, pulled over somewhere to stop the car, and said, ”Oh right, I have something to tell you. We’re moving. Once we’ve moved in, I’ll send you our new address.”

”Really?”

Xiao Yilin was pleasantly surprised: ”You and Mom bought a place? Where is it?”

”Yeah. We’ve been wanting to buy for a while, but there’s just been too much going on lately and we haven’t had the time. We only just got the house sorted in the last few days. I was at the new place today setting things up. Once everything’s ready, we’ll move in.”

Xiao Yuan told Xiao Yilin very carefully and seriously about the new place, how the new home was arranged, and what each room was like: ”I also left a room for you and decorated it exactly the way you like. There are lots of stuffed toys in there. No matter when you come back, you’ll always have your own place to stay.”

Just that one sentence almost made Xiao Yilin cry again.

Her eyes turned red, but there was still a smile at the corners of her mouth: ”I’ll come back in a while. I have to see our new home, and to see if my room is any good. If it’s not, I’ll have to redo it.”

”Alright, we’ll be waiting for you.”

Xiao Yilin heard Mrs. Zhang calling her to eat, so she said, ”Dad, I’ll hang up first. Drive safe. Oh, and Sister Lulu might be heading back tomorrow.”

”Then go have dinner. We’ll chat another day.”

Only after Xiao Yilin hung up did Xiao Yuan start driving again.

On the way back, Xiao Yuan was still thinking about where he could scrape together another sum of money to buy a car.

He had originally thought that the earliest Zhang Lu would come to Baisha County would be tomorrow, but when he got home, he saw Zhang Lu sitting somewhat stiffly in the living room.

Anning was just bringing a plate of fruit to the coffee table.

When she saw Xiao Yuan come back, Zhang Lu quickly stood up: ”Dad.”

Xiao Yuan waved his hand with a smile: ”You’re here, sit, sit.”

Anning also sat down along with them: ”She just got here not long ago. I was just asking what she likes to eat.”

Xiao Yuan said, ”Whatever you like to eat, just tell your mom and she’ll make it for you.”

Zhang Lu let out two dry laughs: ”I can eat anything. I’m not picky.”

Anning didn’t press further.

While Anning cooked, Xiao Yuan went into the kitchen to discuss things with her: ”Why don’t we just move tonight? That way the kids won’t have to be crammed together anymore. Besides, Lulu has never had to share a room before.”

Anning thought it over: ”That works. We’ll stay over there tonight, and tomorrow you can find someone to help move the important stuff over.”

While the two of them were talking it through, Zhang Lu sat on the sofa peeling a tangerine.

She kept looking around at the place she’d be living in from now on.

It really was just like the Zhang Family had said—the Xiao Family was very poor. The place looked old and shabby, and it was particularly small. The entire apartment probably wasn’t even as big as her bedroom.

But Zhang Lu had mentally prepared herself before coming. She didn’t feel that she couldn’t accept it or that she was above it.

What good does it do to live somewhere nice if nobody cares about you or loves you, and in the end you end up miserable? It’s better to live somewhere a bit run-down but at least be with your own family. That actually feels more comforting.

Zhang Lu also figured that tonight she’d probably have to share a room with her biological little sister, and she wondered whether that sister would be easy to get along with.

While she was lost in these thoughts, Xiao Yuan and Anning had already cooked several dishes.

Anning glanced at the time: ”Lulu, come help bring the dishes out. Your little brother and sister will be back soon.”