Transmigrating as the Female Supporting Character: Dumb with Deep Pockets - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Supporting Actress Carries Her Own Bad Luck

September.

The autumn air was crisp and clear—it was the peak of the back-to-school season. Most of the world’s encounters and departures begin at this very moment.

Chen Jia exerted every ounce of strength she had to drag a snakeskin bag containing all her earthly possessions up to the third floor. She was the first to arrive at the dormitory.

It had to be said that the living conditions at Q University were actually quite good. The dorm was spacious and bright, a four-person suite with the “bed-over-desk” configuration. It was several grades higher than the university dorm in her original world.

That’s right—Chen Jia didn’t originally belong to this world. She had transmigrated into this book a month ago.

To put it bluntly, her luck was abysmal. Right as she was about to graduate from university in her previous life, she was diagnosed with lung cancer—late stage, no less. Before she could even reach out to embrace a beautiful future, she had to say goodbye.

When others transmigrate, if they aren’t the protagonist, they are at least a meaningful “cannon fodder” character. But in this old-school Mary Sue romance novel titled The School Grass is the National Husband, she was merely a named background character. She didn’t even have a single proper line of dialogue.

When she first read the book, she wouldn’t have even noticed the character if the background extra hadn’t shared her name.

Now that she had transmigrated, not only were her four years of college wasted, but her family background had plummeted several levels. In her past life, she wasn’t wealthy, but she lived a comfortable middle-class life. Now? She was a “country bumpkin” from the middle of nowhere. On her feet were cloth shoes hand-sewn by her original mother; on her body was a floral dress made of thirty-yuan fabric bought at a wet market, hand-stitched by her mom.

If it weren’t for her face, which was actually quite decent, she would have looked like a total peasant.

Hungry after a long day of travel, her stomach began to growl. She unzipped the snakeskin bag, pulled out a tub of Braised Beef instant noodles, filled it with hot water using her newly issued water card, and began making her bed.

Suddenly, the dorm door was kicked open with great force. Five or six bodyguards dressed in black marched in arrogantly, each dragging suitcases of various colors. The once spacious room was instantly cramped.

An exquisite young girl dressed in designer brands followed behind. She scanned her future living quarters with a look of pure disgust, complaining bitterly, “What a dump.”

Her gaze shifted and landed on Chen Jia, who was sitting on her bed. Her eyes, adorned with heavy makeup, flicked up and down Chen Jia’s frame. She reached out a foot and gave Chen Jia’s snakeskin bag—stuffed with various trinkets—a sharp kick.

“This stuff is yours?”

Since Chen Jia had chosen the snakeskin bag, she wasn’t afraid of being mocked. She said calmly, “It’s mine.”

“Oh.”

From the moment Su Su stepped into the room, Chen Jia was certain she was the “Second Female Lead”—the stepping stone for the protagonists’ relationship. That wealthy arrogance perfectly matched the hundreds of words the author had spent describing her.

Chen Jia expected a mocking lecture and braced herself for a fight, but surprisingly, Su Su only gave a faint response. She sat on a stool and lowered her head to play on her phone, waiting for the hired maids to finish making her bed.

This unexpectedly quiet behavior made Chen Jia wonder if she had mistaken her for someone else.

Once Chen Jia finished tidying her bed, she remembered her noodles. Since the room was filled with flying dust from the cleaning, she didn’t hesitate to take her noodles out to the balcony.

Just as she lifted the lid, Su Su—who apparently had nothing better to do—stood beside her, looking at her with disdain.

“You’re eating that?”

“I’m poor. Can’t afford anything else.”

Su Su scoffed. “Then why didn’t you buy the bagged version? The bags are two yuan cheaper.”

Chen Jia looked genuinely enlightened. “Right. I’ll buy the bags next time.” In reality, she had considered it, but since it was the first day of school, she wanted to spend those extra two yuan to “celebrate.”

Suddenly, a beautifully packaged gift bag was thrust in front of her.

“I’ve been dieting lately and can’t eat it. Here, try some.”

Chen Jia looked up, meeting her testing gaze, and grinned. “Are you feeding a dog?”

Insulted by kindness! Su Su’s face instantly changed, and she retracted her hand as if she’d been burned. “Eat it or don’t. I wouldn’t even give it to a dog now.”

Chen Jia immediately bit off the noodles she hadn’t swallowed and snatched the bag back. “Feeding a dog is such a waste. Better feed me instead.”

Su Su let go with a look of annoyance, clearly still angry about the comment.

Chen Jia didn’t bother explaining. In novels, the male and female leads have “Cheat Codes” and “Protagonist Halos,” while the supporting characters are like the chosen children of the Jinx God—not only are they unlucky, but anyone who gets too close to them ends up miserable.

She had arrived in this world under bizarre circumstances and didn’t want to get dragged down further. However, free food was free food. If this spendthrift girl was going to throw it to a dog, it might as well go into Chen Jia’s stomach.

Once Su Su’s crew finished cleaning, they swarmed out. Only Chen Jia and Su Su remained.

Because of the earlier spat, Su Su clearly didn’t want to talk. She ducked behind her bed curtains and went silent.

Chen Jia was happy for the peace. Over the next four years, she would likely have to survive on part-time jobs. She was someone who liked to get things done quickly, so that very afternoon, without resting, she headed out to the campus vicinity to look for work.

Fortune favored her; she found a part-time gig at a fruit stand in the night market behind the school.

By the time she returned, it was night. Chen Jia ate a bowl of Intestine Rice Noodles at the canteen before heading back to the dorm. The room was dark. She flipped the switch, and light flooded the space. Su Su’s curtains were still drawn. Thinking she had gone out to play, Chen Jia didn’t think much of it. She washed up and climbed into bed.

In the middle of the night, while half-asleep, she heard a faint whimpering and groaning. At first, she thought it was a hallucination, but the sound was coming from the bed across from hers.

She stepped down quietly, turned on the light, and pulled back the curtains of the opposite bed. She saw Su Su drenched in sweat, her face deathly pale. She seemed semi-conscious. Seeing someone there, Su Su grabbed Chen Jia’s hand and whimpered, “My stomach hurts…”

It was the middle of the night, and no one else was in the dorm. No matter how much Chen Jia wanted to stay away from this “Cannon Fodder Second Female Lead,” she couldn’t be that cold-hearted.

She patted Su Su’s cheek. “If it hurts, get up. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Su Su had no strength. She struggled for a long time, wriggling on the mattress without moving an inch. Chen Jia had no choice but to climb onto the bed, sit on the edge, grab Su Su’s arms, and hoist her onto her back.

It was a dangerous maneuver; one slip and they both would have cracked their skulls open on the floor. Chen Jia exhausted herself just getting Su Su down.

The July heat in Jian City was like a furnace. After all that exertion, Chen Jia’s t-shirt was soaked with sweat. Without time to change, she carried Su Su straight out of the dorm.

Being new to the area, there was no one to ask for directions at this hour. She carried Su Su to the roadside and hailed a taxi.

“Nearest hospital, please.”

The driver gave them a strange look but said nothing. He drove them around a single corner and arrived at the destination.

“One hundred and fifty yuan.”

Holy crap! The straight-line distance wasn’t even a hundred meters. Normally, Chen Jia would have cursed the driver’s ancestors, but since it was pitch black and she was alone with a sickly Su Su, she treated it as “paying to ward off calamity.”

She pulled 150 yuan from her worn-out wallet, tossed it to the driver, and hurried toward the hospital entrance with Su Su on her back.

As she walked, she grumbled, “Do you have any idea? Because of you, I just spent seven or eight days’ worth of grocery money. I don’t even know if I have enough for the medical bills. You little supporting character… are you actually born under a curse?”