Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Theoretically speaking, works like “Beautiful April” that are not repeatedly bumped up via continuous online updates would find trouble kicking off. After all, it had only been published in a magazine

Unless it is adapted into a manga or animation, how would it ever compete with popular webnovels with words alone?

Currently, the most famous novel on the net would be “The strongest king” (It might not be the most famous in Qidian novel website, but it had considerable influence on the net. It could easily pop up in the hot topic search bar of Weibo, and all kinds of MAD [1] versions of the novel would flood a certain website).The death of Yu Shengfan was the line that should not be crossed, yet it was, to great effect, anyone who was unsatisfied with the death of little fish had to admit

Since then, Rosemary’s work had been improving, at a rate matched only by the growing depth and maturity his writing! Many new, distinctive characters would make their entries one after another, eventually mingling together to churn out wholesome, proper drama that stems from their various complex interactions, along with their quirks and imperfections

Many readers were so absorbed in the book and felt that they had traveled into the story world. They were like some fans in the story who had started to pick their own favorite (In-story) teams to support. Among them was the “Glory squad” led by Lin Feng, who had the most number of fans. He was the leading protagonist in the whole story, his position only bolstered by the fact that THE one and only Little Fish would forever live on in his glory.

Besides Tang Yongkai, he was also able to recruit other players with potential into his “Glorious squad.” He would be able to reach the summit if everything goes according to his plan.

Sadly, no matter how deeply absorbed the readers were, they could never really travel into the story world. Hence, they could only use money to satisfy themselves in the real world. Rumors had it; there was a female godly tycoon planning to book the space of a very costly advertisement block to celebrate Lin Feng’s birthday!

This might sound ridiculous, but this was the truth. “The strongest king” had that kind of intense influence where the characters inside had become virtual idols. It will not be surprising if one of the characters becomes the spokesperson of a certain brand in real life.

Zhao Youyue, as the Sect Master who had the highest fan base for “The strongest king,” actually knew most of the female readers, including that female godly tycoon. She was just a university student, but she was filthy rich. She was the daughter of a coal tycoon, and she was loved by her parents very much, and had even more allowance than Zhao Youyue

We could never imagine the world that godly tycoons lived in. Apparently, this female godly tycoon also watched live web streams, and had tipped one of the male streamers one million, on the condition that he does not fall in love for the next five years. Much spoilt, filthy richness.

Actually, if Zhao Youyue introduces this tycoon to her own live web stream and spreads the right words among the godly tycoon readers, she might have their attention and get a sponsorship to continue promoting Little Fish. However, she did not do so, and nobody knew that Zhao Youyue was Yu Shengfan.

Just when “The Strongest King” was about to dominate all the other works and top the search list, a story called “Beautiful April” came out of nowhere and triggered a storm of youthful noise. It has only been published for six weeks, such success was nothing short of a miracle!

This was all thanks to people like Jiang Qing who could not contain their excitement after reading the story, mostly due to the character – “Chu Luoxun.”

Most students were creatures of poverty, but they all had hearts filled with burning passion. They all had the strong desire to express their feelings. In this era where everyone has a handphone, they could choose to express their emotions on the internet!

“The story “Beautiful April” was simply charming, I was being fed dog food non-stop! Oh, and that the new character Chu Luoxun was really something, such a goddess!”

“I had a strong premonition that Chu Luoxun would become very popular in the future! She had been fleshed out so nicely, and I could always feel her brimming with life, whenever I read about her. Moreover, her music is so magical that you could hear it through the words on the paper!”

“It’s definitely a first for me. I’d have never thought that my ears could enjoy a novel. It was like being soaked and dunked in the world of good music.”

“The new, mysterious author Leng Zi wanted to climb the peak with this novel, the evidence could not be any clearer!”

“The famous Qidian reader Youyue, also strongly recommended this novel. This was the book that the leader recommended. It is the embodiment of what all teen magazines should be!”

“Originally, I only read web novels. After being Amway’ed into reading the whole story, it moved me in many ways. Chu Luoxun was like a scorching sun; her presence brought warmth to everyone! However, you might burn yourself if you are too close to the sun”

“I was suspicious of Leng Zi being an actual web novelist. It’s not that I look down upon book authors, but they do not usually care how readers feel; they’re in it for the money. Leng Zi was different; her work actually allowed the readers to enjoy the story to the fullest! She’s also one heck of a writer in her own right!”

The sea of praises soon flooded into Weibo. Many VIP writers spoke highly of the story. All in all, the book was warmly welcomed by many!

In the comments section of “Beautiful April,” a lot of arguments regarding the plot had started rising up. Some were not happy with scene where Chu Luoxun had unknowingly played music together with the male protagonist. They felt she had overtaken the place of the female protagonist, lingering around to cause a wedge between the two protagonists!

It was all a feint when Chu Luoxun professed that she had been smitten by Chen Hao. Just like the female protagonist Ling Meiyue had thought – how could a person admit their crush so readily? It appeared that Chu Luoxun’s real target was the male protagonist. She was a terrifying third wheel, and so she must be cautious of her!

This topic would never find peace. Everyone was in a heated argument, as several readers were rooting for Chu Luoxun. They would not allow anyone to sully Chu Luoxun’s innocence, just like that!

They even stated that if not for Chu Luoxun, there would be no real relationships between the protagonists. As for the relationship between her and the male protagonist, they were merely friends. How could this be a lie?

At the same time, some readers loved the male protagonist, and asked everyone to have a little more faith in him. This male protagonist was not like those dim-witted, clueless male characters. He already had a clear choice of love, and that person was his first love, Ling Meiyue. He would never change his heart!

Seriously, the popularity of the character had not been anticipated by the author Leng Zi or Zhao Youyue. How did it become such a hot topic?

Zhao Youyue was even more surprised, because the Two Dimensional Gate suddenly reminded her that she could leave the story anytime she wanted to, at this point. There would not be any adverse effects, since Chu Luoxun was now a famous character.

However, Zhao Youyue would never do that, as she was aiming to create an iconic character this time!

She was able to become a famous character just by popping up for the first time in the book. This was the perfect opening!

A million thanks to the author Leng Zi, and also to all the readers!

Translation note:

[1] MAD can be understood as a “secondary creation image,” which is a “movie” made by using existing material, modifying, editing and other “secondary creation” and music. The difference is that the focus of the MAD film is on the film, paying tribute to the animation or video game. The focus of the relative MV is on the music.