After Becoming a Cannon-Fodder Lackey, I Swore to Protect the Young Lady to the Death - Chapter 14

“Why are you helping us? Why go through all this for Momo and me?” A surge of pain radiated from Shen Nanshu’s legs, causing beads of cold sweat to break out across his forehead.

“Mostly because Gu Yan is a total scumbag and I don’t like his face,” Li Gangjiao replied, throwing her hands up in a casual shrug.

“By the way, are you an art student? Those sketches I saw back in the ward were incredible…” Li Gangjiao asked, her curiosity piqued as she remembered the drawings she’d glimpsed earlier.

“It’s just a hobby. I just draw for fun,” Shen Nanshu replied. Her sudden change of subject caught him off guard, and his mind drifted back to the pages of his sketchbook.

“Were you drawing a celebrity? She looked beyond beautiful—like, a literal goddess!” Li Gangjiao pressed on, her eyes shimmering with envy.

When it came to art, Li Gangjiao’s skills were tragically laughable. Even a stray dog marking its territory would leave behind lines with more aesthetic appeal than her jagged, crooked scribbles.

“That was Momo,” Shen Nanshu answered honestly, looking slightly flustered by the high praise.

“Wait… Su Momo… looks like that?” Li Gangjiao tried to reconcile the stunning woman in the sketches with her memory of the female lead. Looking back, she supposed the eyes were quite similar.

Wait, no! Su Momo was definitely a pretty girl, but she wasn’t “sketchbook-supermodel” gorgeous.

“It’s called ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,'” Lu Jiaoyue interjected. She looked at her “one-track-minded” girlfriend with an affectionate headache and gently pinched her cheek.

How did this girl survive as long as she did? Her brain really only processes one thought at a time, doesn’t it?

“Oh… I see.” Li Gangjiao blinked, finally catching on.

So, it was a “love filter.” For a second there, she’d genuinely thought he was drawing a professional model.

“Momo has always been adorable. And she’s so full of life,” Shen Nanshu added, a soft, wistful smile playing on his lips.

“…”

Li Gangjiao and Lu Jiaoyue both fell silent.

“Adorable” was fair, but “full of life” was a stretch. As they combed through every memory they had of Su Momo, they couldn’t find a single moment where she appeared truly vibrant.

In their experience, Su Momo was a shadow, silently trailing behind Gu Yan. Even when she smiled, it never reached her eyes; it always felt like she was suppressing a scream.

The atmosphere in the cabin sank into an awkward, heavy silence.

Fortunately, a flight attendant broke the tension as she arrived with the snack cart.

“Want something?” Lu Jiaoyue asked, picking out a few rolls and three drinks.

“I’m good. I still have the snacks I bought at the terminal,” Li Gangjiao said, holding up a bag.

“Nothing for me, thank you,” Shen Nanshu said, shaking his head.

City C and City A weren’t exactly worlds apart in distance, but in the logic of this novel, the gap between them represented a massive divide in status and power.

Once they finally got Shen Nanshu off the plane, Lu Jiaoyue and Li Gangjiao scanned the crowd for a familiar face.

“Assistant Li has made all the arrangements. Miss, you can leave the gentleman to me,” a young man in a sharp suit said, presenting his ID badge to confirm his identity.

“Good.” Lu Jiaoyue called Uncle Li to verify the details. Once confirmed, she motioned for Li Gangjiao to let go of the wheelchair.

“I have a car waiting for you as well, Miss. The driver is ready. Shall I show you the way?” the young man offered with an enthusiastic smile.

“No need, we’ll find our own way back,” Lu Jiaoyue declined. She took Li Gangjiao’s hand and led her toward the exit.

“Ugh. So we’re really going back to school tomorrow?” Li Gangjiao checked her WeChat and felt like crying.

Li Xi’s Dad: Remember to go to school tomorrow. The Eldest Miss has a multi-billion dollar estate to inherit; you don’t. The most you’ll inherit is my job as an assistant.

“If you aren’t at school, what else would you be doing?” Lu Jiaoyue asked, laughing at her girlfriend’s misery.

“I don’t know, anything but math and English. They’re so hard!” Li Gangjiao thought of the math problems waiting for her and felt a sudden urge to pass away. If life were a video game, Mathematics was definitely the Final Boss.

“If you get stuck, just ask me,” Lu Jiaoyue said softly, squeezing her sulking face.

“Is this a question of ‘asking’? Is it a question of ‘listening’? No! It’s a question of my brain simply refusing to comprehend the data!” Li Gangjiao opened TikTok and started playing a compilation of “Academic Disaster Movies”—the classic Back to School edits.

Lu Jiaoyue watched her with a frown. After a moment, a thought seemed to occur to her, and her frown transformed into a mischievous smile.

You don’t like math? Well, I think I can make you fall in love with it by tomorrow.

******

Back at school, everyone seemed thrilled to see the Eldest Miss and her lackey return. Mostly because Lu Jiaoyue had brought back an abundance of gifts for the class.

Li Gangjiao: Unbelievable. Everyone gets a gift but me…

However, she soon realized that Lu Jiaoyue had prepared a grand prize for her. There was just one catch: she had to master 134 specific high school math concepts before she could claim it.

Looking at Lu Jiaoyue’s sweet, encouraging smile, Li Gangjiao thought: I want that prize… but I don’t know if my brain can handle the processing power required to earn it.

Gu Yan didn’t come looking for trouble, likely because he was too busy driving the plot forward with Su Momo.

“Aaaargh!” During the break, Li Gangjiao felt the urge to literally take a bite out of her math textbook.

“What’s wrong with you lately?” Chen Wan asked as she walked by, looking bewildered by Li Gangjiao’s state of mental collapse.

“This thing is driving me insane,” Li Gangjiao said, pointing a trembling finger at the trigonometric functions on the page.

“You don’t know how to do something this simple? Tsk, tsk.” Chen Wan looked at her with a mix of pity and mockery. For once, she was actually acting like a proper “villainous sidekick.”

“Oh? Is a Rank 20 ‘King’ player really acting this cocky? Tsk, tsk.” Shen Nana walked up to Chen Wan, perfectly mimicking her tone and expression.

It took exactly one sentence to break the villainess’s composure.

“I told you, the matchmaking system this season is broken! My teammates were playing like they were blindfolded… there was no way to win!!” Chen Wan snapped, her face flushing with irritation. She had been on a massive losing streak, and the “god-tier” teammates she kept getting matched with were driving her to the brink of madness.

“Relax, relax,” Shen Nana said, patting Chen Wan’s back. The two were actually on good terms; she’d only poked fun because Chen Wan had been acting a bit too arrogant.

Chen Wan was actually quite brilliant and a pro at gaming; in the novel, her main role was to be the “offline troll,” specializing in biting sarcasm and witty insults.

“Hey, if you help me finish my math homework, I’ll buy you a skin!” Li Gangjiao suggested. Fearing Lu Jiaoyue’s upcoming homework check, she had resorted to desperate measures.

“Please. I have plenty of skins,” Chen Wan bragged, pulling out her phone to show off her prized “trophies.”

“Sigh.” Seeing that her plan had failed, Li Gangjiao turned back to the battle at hand.

It’s either me or the math problems today. Only one of us is walking away from this desk alive!!!

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