The Real Daughter Needs Saving by This Vicious Female Cannon Fodder? - Chapter 57

With her internship preparations complete, Ning Anran still needed to attend her graduation ceremony at the university.

After a few days apart, Ning Anran’s complexion had improved significantly—the dull, sallow look she once had was completely gone.

Students at Imperial Capital University were stunned when they saw her, some even nearly dropping their breakfast wraps in shock.

Her long hair tied up, Ning Anran walked along the tree-lined path of Imperial Capital University—though “tree-lined” was more out of habit, as most of the branches were now bare, stripped of their leaves.

Only the skeletal trunks remained.

“Could Ning Anran really be someone’s sugar baby?”

“Shh! Keep your voice down—she’s right there! Besides, even if she is, that just means she’s got the skills.”

“Jobs are hard to come by these days. I keep getting rejected from offers, and interviewers chew me out like I stole their toilet plunger!”

“Yeah, same. I’ve been hitting walls too—either that or getting offered 800 bucks for an internship! That’s not even enough to feed a donkey!”

“Still, I envy Goddess Ning for having such a pretty face and great figure. Must be nice living off some rich guy…”

The guy had his hands behind his head, his envy practically dripping from his words—but before he could finish, a solid kick landed square on his backside.

Gu Xia cracked her knuckles, glaring at the two with a “menacing” expression.

“What were you saying?”

“Say it again, I dare you!”

She delivered a solid smack to each of them.

The bystander who had been watching also got a firm kick to the rear, sending him stumbling straight into a nearby tree.

In the chilly wind, the bare, trembling branches finally shed one last stubborn dead leaf.

Damn, where did this she-devil come from?!

Rubbing their sore backsides, the two turned around in terror—only to find not the hulking brute they expected, but a stunning beauty standing behind them, sunglasses perched on her head and a brown coat draped over her shoulders.

Her black high-top Doc Martens only made their aching buttocks throb harder.

“Uh… miss, you’re not from our department, are you?”

“How… how did you even get in here?”

One of them tried to sound tough, raising his voice a few notches, but he still cowered behind a pillar, circling it like a scared animal.

He really didn’t want another kick—his hemorrhoids might not survive it.

“None of your business how I got in.”

“Were you two just badmouthing Ning Anran?”

Gu Xia felt entirely “justified” in stalking Ning Anran—thanks to the system’s encouragement.

If the system hadn’t warned her that Ning Anran might get dragged back home by her heartless parents and forced to marry some greasy, pig-faced old man, she would never have resorted to something so shady!

“Host~ How cruel of you to blame poor little me~ You’re the one who wanted to come here~ This has nothing to do with me~”

“I—I was just worried about Ning Anran’s safety, okay?!”

Gu Xia had considered hiring bodyguards for her, but she worried that would draw too much attention and create nasty rumors at Imperial Capital University.

The Imperial Capital University had seen several cases before where female students, unable to bear the overwhelming rumors spread about them, eventually applied to drop out.

Some even contemplated ending their lives—like the one who got drunk and threw herself into the river, only to be rescued by a kind passerby.

As expected, her instincts were never wrong.

No sooner had she stepped into the Imperial Capital University than she ran into these two gossipmongers!

“Yeah, what about it?”

“It’s not like we’re making things up. How else would Ning Anran afford designer clothes and luxury cars if she wasn’t being kept by a sugar daddy?”

“Her past life is all over the forum. Want me to pull up the threads for you?”

The guy rubbed his sore backside and pulled out his phone, ready to dig up old discussions about Ning Anran’s supposed “humble beginnings.”

Gu Xia crossed her arms.

“So, you’re curious about who Ning Anran’s sugar daddy is?”

The moment they heard this, the two perked up like eager puppies, peeling themselves off the tree.

“You know?!”

With how stunning this girl looked, could she be another “kept bird” sent by Ning Anran’s sugar daddy?

Ohhh, this was getting spicy.

Who knew they’d stumble upon such a scandalous scoop?

“Of course I know.”

“Because—Ning Anran’s… employer is me.”

Sugar daddy? Kept woman? What vulgar terms! They were tarnishing the pure “lip-service friendship” between her and Ning Anran!

Besides, wasn’t it totally normal for girls in the city to kiss each other? Cough… That’s just how city folk were!

She wasn’t lying.

“Huh? What?! Huh?! WHAT?!”

Their “huhs” twisted like a mountain road as they gaped at Gu Xia, blinking rapidly.

Had they eaten too many “Yunnan mushrooms” last night? Was this a hallucination?

“B-beauty, you’re joking, right?”

“You… you’re Ning Anran’s sugar daddy?”

Ugh, how many times did she have to say it? Not a sugar daddy! Not a sugar daddy!—Just a very professional employer!

Were their ears just for decoration? Or did everything go in one ear and out the other? Pfft, pig brains were hopeless.

Better suited for munching on pig feed.

With a domineering snap of her fingers, Gu Xia summoned a sleek black car that rolled up behind her, its tinted window lowering.

“Say ‘sugar daddy’ one more time, and I’ll make sure you leave in an ambulance.”

The sight of the car’s occupants left the two frozen.

“B-beauty! W-we’re sorry! Please, have mercy on our butts!”

With their scrawny frames, they stood no chance against those hulking bodyguards.

“Now. Immediately. Delete every single post on that forum.”

“And report every vile comment while you’re at it.”

“You’re not leaving until it’s done.”

Revisiting the life of a villainess—minus the self-sabotage around the protagonists—felt oddly satisfying.

The two scrambled to comply, fingers flying over their phones, terrified that delaying even a second would earn them a face-full of pavement.

“Gu Xia.”

A familiar voice cut through the air, freezing the smug grin on her lips.

She’d heard that voice countless times in the darkness of her bedroom.

It felt like her shoes were glued to the ground, so she wouldn’t have to turn around and face Ning Anran!

“Help! Emergency! System! What if Ning Anran saw me being a bad girl? Answer quickly, this is urgent!”

“No playing dead, you hear me? No playing dead!”

“Don’t worry, Host~ The system shows no deduction in favorability points~”

“Oh, in fact, it increased by 1%!”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming out?”

Gu Xia: “!!!”

She turned around to see Ning Anran, who had somehow walked over from the other end of the street.

Ning Anran’s expression was perfectly controlled—Gu Xia couldn’t detect anything unusual at all!

But the fact that nothing seemed off was the most unusual thing of all!!!