The Manipulative Cannon Fodder’s Unexpected Transmigration

“Your girlfriend is truly thoughtless. You’re so good, yet she doesn’t cherish you.”

This scene unfolded at a modern film studio.

Jian Ye, deeply engrossed, fully embodied the character he was portraying.

He meticulously controlled the character’s expressions, feigning remorse as he delivered his lines: “It’s my fault. How about I explain things to her?”

“No need. She’s too willful; she’s wronged you enough,” the male lead, acting opposite Jian Ye, said with pursed lips.

Jian Ye immediately responded, “It’s fine, don’t worry about me. Go quickly and appease her, or she’ll be angry with you again. You truly don’t need to mind me…”

With that, the male lead cast a complex, pitying gaze at Jian Ye before offering a soft “Sorry” and sprinting into the distance.

“Cut!”

The director bellowed into a megaphone.

Jian Ye instantly snapped out of character, bowing first to the assembled actors and crew. “Everyone, you’ve all worked so hard!”

The director descended from his chair, smiling at the young man before him. “Little Jian, you’ve wrapped all your scenes today. Excellent work.”

“Thank you for your guidance, Director,” Jian Ye replied politely.

A staff member approached him with a bouquet of flowers. “Congratulations on wrapping up!”

“Thank you, everyone!”

Accepting the flowers, Jian Ye wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. His face was alight with a bright, sincere, and kind smile, a stark contrast to his demeanor just moments ago in the scene.

Jian Ye’s amiable personality made him very popular on set.

This was the first decent role he’d landed in his university career. Though he was merely an obscure actor, far beyond the thirty-eighth tier, his high aptitude and natural talent for acting made playing a minor supporting role relatively easy for him.

It wasn’t until he was in the car on his way home that a difficult-to-describe sense of accomplishment finally washed over Jian Ye.

“Awesome!”

“So good!”

Upon arriving home, Jian Ye carefully placed the first wrap bouquet of his life into a vase.

Then, humming a little tune, he stepped into the bathroom.

As a drama school student, having a role to play was the greatest joy.

Especially after filming wrapped and the director even praised him. Hehehe…

Jian Ye sank into the bathtub, letting out a comfortable sigh. He relaxed in the water, playing on his phone.

He casually tapped open a certain green reading app, and a pinned push notification on the homepage caught his eye:

[The CEO’s Darling White Moonlight]

Genre: Modern Danmei

Hot Review Index: Five Stars

Jian Ye instinctively clicked into the comment section, only to find that nine out of ten comments were scolding ‘him’?

[Jian Ye, you disgusting green tea! When are you getting your comeuppance?!]

[A petition in blood, I beg the author to kill off Jian Ye!]

[He should have been out of the picture in the chapter where he committed suicide. Why save him only to bring him back?]

[Since Jian Ye doesn’t like the Gong, why does he keep interfering with the Gong finding his White Moonlight? And he’s subtly mocking the White Moonlight—his green tea vibes are off the charts, making me sick!]

[Update! Update! Update! I want to see Jian Ye get his comeuppance!]

[If there were a green tea b*tch like Jian Ye in real life, I’d flip him over and bury him in the dirt, making him understand what true justice is!]

Jian Ye: “…”

Holy crap!

For a moment, Jian Ye thought these readers had stolen the director’s script.

In the very drama he’d just wrapped today, he had played a green-tea character!

Watching netizens curse the ‘cannon fodder Jian Ye’ in the novel, Jian Ye himself felt an intense sense of identification.

It was as if… he was meant to be a green tea?

If he hadn’t clicked on the comments, Jian Ye would never have known his namesake was so miserable in the novel.

His curiosity about the book’s content grew, and he quickly opened it and began to read.

The book had only just reached 300,000 words and was currently being serialized. Jian Ye only read the parts with his character’s storyline, skipping and skimming through the updated chapters.

Although he skipped many chapters, he generally understood the plot’s common tropes.

The cannon fodder Jian Ye in the novel was not only infatuated with a scumbag, becoming suicidal after being abandoned by him, but after being forced into a political marriage with the protagonist Gong, he became utterly destructive.

He not only hindered the protagonist Gong from finding his beloved White Moonlight but also used his tea art skills to scheme against the protagonist Shou.

In short, the cannon fodder Jian Ye in the book was merely a stepping stone for the love between the protagonist Gong and his White Moonlight, making significant contributions to the development of the novel’s plot.

Even Jian Ye himself couldn’t help but curse!

‘You deserved all that scolding, you really did…’

‘To survive 300,000 words, even as cannon fodder, under the glow of the protagonists’ halo, is truly no easy feat!’

Jian Ye put down his phone and submerged his entire body in the water. The bathwater had grown cold from how long he’d been reading.

The thought of that much-maligned green tea cannon fodder bearing his own name filled Jian Ye with a wave of depression.

Before he knew it, Jian Ye began to feel drowsy in the water, his consciousness slowly… drifting further and further away…

Consciousness returned to him, abruptly pulled back by an overwhelming sense of suffocation.

Jian Ye felt as though he was drowning.

He struggled violently upwards, splash—

His head broke the surface, water splashing everywhere. Arc-shaped ripples spread outwards from the center, hitting the tub’s edge and bouncing back.

Staring at the circular bathtub, large enough to hold several people, Jian Ye gasped for air, his thoughts slowly coming back into focus.

‘Where am I?’

Just by the shape of the tub, Jian Ye knew he was definitely not in his small bathroom at home.

The interior decor he now saw exuded a luxurious grandeur he had never experienced before.

‘Damn it!’

‘This bathroom is bigger than my master bedroom!’

Jian Ye, still reeling from shock, pondered: ‘Could my bathtub have been a portal to another world?’

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his head, and a flood of memories surged into Jian Ye’s mind, almost causing him to faint.

About five minutes later, Jian Ye slowly felt his soul settle back into place.

The memories revealed the mindless actions of that familiar green tea cannon fodder, uncovering a truth:

He had transmigrated.

And he had transmigrated into the wealthy CEO danmei novel he had only casually glanced at tonight.

And he, by unfortunate coincidence, was the very ‘cannon fodder Jian Ye’.

A thorough and utter background character, a melodramatic and calculating green tea who interfered with the main love story of the protagonists.

The memories connected, and Jian Ye instantly recalled the plot unfolding in this very bathtub.

‘Isn’t this the scene where cannon fodder Jian Ye, after being abandoned by the scumbag and forced into a political marriage with the Yi family’s Third Young Master, becomes utterly despondent and attempts to drown himself in the bathtub?!’

When he first read this part in the novel, Jian Ye had thought it utterly idiotic!

But now that he had actually transmigrated into the cannon fodder Jian Ye, the suffocating sensation of nearly drowning made Jian Ye realize that the author hadn’t just made up the plot randomly!

Such a large bathtub could indeed accidentally drown someone…

The original owner had apparently taken some sleeping pills before getting into the tub; no wonder his head felt so dizzy.

‘Was he afraid of instinctively saving himself in the water? It seems the original owner was determined to commit suicide!’

Unfortunately, according to the novel’s description of this section, the original owner ultimately didn’t get his wish to leave the mortal world.

Instead, he was rescued by the butler of this very villa.

Following this plot development, the butler should be knocking on the door shortly. In the original book, if the butler didn’t hear any movement from the bathroom, he would force his way in.

The thought of an outsider seeing him in his naked state made Jian Ye feel a surge of discomfort, so he quickly grabbed the nearby bath towel and wrapped it around himself.

As he stood up, the dizziness in his head returned.

Fearing he might fall back into the bathtub, Jian Ye endured the discomfort, steadying his body.

He silently cursed the original owner’s foolish act of taking sleeping pills a hundred times over.

‘Why did I have to transmigrate into this cannon fodder character? What a torment!’

As he was about to step out of the bathroom to change into his pajamas, just as expected, a knock sounded at the door.

“Young Master, you’ve been in there for over an hour. Are you finished washing?” Butler Zhang asked from outside the door.

Jian Ye stretched his neck and responded, “Finished, finished! Don’t rush me!”

“Young Master, dinner is ready. I know you’re upset, but please try to eat a little.”

Butler Zhang mistakenly thought Jian Ye was frustrated and sad about the arranged marriage, which led to his impatient tone. So, he softened his voice.

Little did he know, Jian Ye’s bath towel had just fallen to the floor when Butler Zhang spoke, and in his urgency, his speech quickened, instinctively carrying a hint of panic.

He was genuinely afraid that the butler outside would follow the original plot and, illogically, break down the door.

Fortunately, at his words of deterrence, the other party merely offered a piece of advice and made no further moves.

Jian Ye hesitated for a moment, then, mimicking the original owner’s affected voice, called out, “Uncle Zhang, I know you’re the best to me. Even if I have grievances, I wouldn’t direct them at you. You go on ahead; I’ll change and then come down to eat.”

Hearing Jian Ye say he would eat, Butler Zhang was momentarily stunned, then nervously said, “Is… is that so? Alright, please take your time changing!”

He had expected this good-for-nothing young master to go on a hunger strike and ignore his advice. He had only casually persuaded him, never expecting Jian Ye to actually come down for dinner!

He hadn’t even asked the kitchen to prepare anything! He’d even sent the kitchen auntie home!

‘You’ve only been on a hunger strike for less than half a day. Can’t your resolve be a little firmer?!’

Completely unaware of Butler Zhang’s inwardly seething thoughts, Jian Ye was facing an extremely shocking situation of his own.

Just after he replied to Butler Zhang, a ‘ding’ sounded in his mind.

Immediately followed by a series of mechanical noises pouring in.

[Detecting green tea elements—]

[Interface character bug repaired—]

[Ding—Green Tea Development System loading!]

[Ding—Successfully matched with Host!]

The sound made goosebumps erupt on Jian Ye’s skin. From his extensive experience reading novels, the voice in his head didn’t feel too unfamiliar.

‘No one told me this book was a system novel?!’

[Hello, Host, I am System 748.]

‘Huh? You’re System Go-to-Hell (748 sounds similar to ‘去死吧’ – go to hell in Chinese)? That code is too unlucky! With a code like that, how can your system life be happy?’

System 748: …

Jian Ye didn’t realize his thoughts had been heard by the system. While he was secretly recalling what the system had just said, the system started chattering in his mind again.

[System 748: Host, you have replaced the original body. In the days to come, your every word and action must conform to the original body’s setting.]

‘Original body’s setting? The original body was a green tea, which means…’

[System 748: That’s right! Exactly! This system specializes in cultivating excellent green tea characters, dedicated to turning every host who accepts this system’s service into a master of advanced ‘tea art’!]

Jian Ye: “…”

‘This system can even read my mind!’

Suddenly realizing that his every thought couldn’t escape the system’s notice, Jian Ye decided to openly communicate with it.

[Jian Ye: I just want to ask, can I go back to my original world?]

[System 748: Oh, no, you can’t~]

[Jian Ye: Why?]

[System 748: Because you must stay and repair the bugs in this world!]

After a lengthy back-and-forth conversation with the system, Jian Ye roughly summarized the situation as follows:

Each novel was like an alternate dimension, but the ‘cannon fodder supporting character Jian Ye’ in this world plane had escaped, and someone had to fill the character vacancy.

System 748 had been dispatched by the main system to repair character plot bugs in this world. As a Green Tea Development System, it was naturally the most suitable choice among all systems to prevent this world’s Jian Ye from going OOC (out of character).

And he, Jian Ye, was the unfortunate soul dragged in to fill the role…

One of the conditions for his survival in this world was to maintain the character’s persona. Since the original owner was a green tea, he had to fully commit to that persona. If he didn’t act according to the requirements, he would receive default penalties from the system.

Conversely, if he performed well and accumulated a certain level of ‘green tea value,’ he would also achieve upgrades in accomplishments and reputation, receiving rewards attached to his body by the system. These rewards would further deepen his understanding of the ‘tea arts.’

Jian Ye didn’t quite understand that last sentence yet, but he wasn’t in the mood to think too much about it right now.

Since it was confirmed he couldn’t return to his original world, he had no choice but to follow the system’s instructions.

He had no close relatives in his original world, and having been alone for so long, he didn’t feel particularly tragic about living in a different world.

Currently, he needed to quickly adapt to this body and maintain the original owner’s persona. Fortunately, he had just played a green tea character before transmigrating, so portraying this role wouldn’t be too difficult for him.

Perhaps everything was fate’s arrangement.

The same name, the same surname, and he just happened to stumble upon this novel.

If he didn’t transmigrate, who would?

He only hoped this world would be kinder to him.

Jian Ye remembered the scathing curses aimed at this green tea cannon fodder in the comment section. It seemed this character had committed some truly heinous acts.

‘Why is this book still being serialized?’

If it were a completed novel, Jian Ye would really want to see what his final ending was.

The author hadn’t dwelled too much on ‘cannon fodder Jian Ye’ in the early stages; otherwise, he wouldn’t have finished reading the relevant parts during a single bath.

‘I won’t get my comeuppance midway through, will I?’

After all, readers’ calls for ‘cannon fodder Jian Ye’ to get his comeuppance were so strong; they practically wanted a petition in blood for ‘Jian Ye’ to die.

Other transmigrators understood all the novel’s characters and plot, but he, having transmigrated, knew nothing beyond the fact that the original owner was a melodramatic green tea cannon fodder. He was completely in the dark.

He could only take things one step at a time. Jian Ye had no idea how the future would unfold.