Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Even so, she chose to read through the novel patiently. She had been able to power through the doujinshi, “White Clover.” The language of that novel had been ridiculously obscure. She knew each word written in the story. But those words never coalesced to create meaning in a traditional sense. She simply could not understand the meaning they were attempting to convey.

Zhao Youyue finished reading “Dog Days” in almost a single breath. After reading the latest chapter, she was still full of questions, and she had nearly blurted out —- —- Why weren’t there any more new chapters?

Initially, Zhao Youyue thought that this was a relatively wretched novel. After all, the male protagonist had ended up as the pet dog of a female director. This would indeed trigger several red lights in a rational mind. News had progressively traveled along the lines of absurdity, as of late. There was even one clipping about how a lady and her dog had a long distance relationship. However, they realized that they could not be separated after all. Thus, she had to be rushed to the hospital...

The pet dog raised by the female director was an extremely cute white Pomeranian.

Bo Mei was a small-sized, active toy dog. It had a soft, dense undercoat and rough fur.

Its tail was also wrapped with thick fur, and somehow came out at a higher position than usual, and practically sat on its back. It had a vigilant personality, intelligent-looking expressions, light steps and curious nature. Small and cute, it was suitable as a companion dog. These dogs were mostly white and brown.

Shu Qing was not a wretched man. He was just an ordinary guy. If he had not body-swapped with a dog, he would probably have spent his entire life unadventurously. He had no aspirations and ambitions. He was not even keen on finding someone to marry. He was apparently only in his twenties, but he lived like an old man. He was laid back and took his time; he took everything unusually slowly.

He was a cat lover, but of course, this was only his self-imposed presuppositions, as he did not actually own a cat. However, he often played with his best friend’s cat. This friend of his was the owner of a pet shop...

The friend often asked, why not get a cat to care for, since he loved them so much. Shu Qing would reply, he was afraid of causing its death.

The friend knew that this guy who claimed he was a cat lover probably did not genuinely love cats. If he truly loved cats, he would, of course, take care of it properly. How could it possibly die?

Shu Qing had always been alone, but he was particularly fond of socializing in big events. He always showed the enthusiasm to participate in a variety of gatherings. However, in the midst of events, he would feel a cavernous form of loneliness that seeped through his bones.

He lived somewhat numbly in this world. Although he was not passive in any way, he was already old and weary at heart.

Zhao Youyue felt that “Dog Days” was a peculiar web novel. The style of the entire novel exuded decadence and loneliness. The name of the web novel sounded predictably cliche, but after reading, it was nothing like that. Instead, it was rather unique.

This turned out to be a refreshing web novel.

After the male protagonist Shu Qing became a dog, he did not like it at first, and was in constant denial. However, he was adequately and unconditionally taken care of by the female director Xia Qingqing. Xia Qingqing really loved her Pomeranian.

When Shu Qing was a dog, he discovered the beauties of being a dog. Sometimes, he even ate better food than humans!

However, what that actually fascinated him most was the fact that Xia Qingqing’s life was just like his, she was alone and lonely. It was as if she had lost her direction in life and was just drifting along...

The novel depicted many of Xia Qingqing’s interactions with her pet Pomeranian, or, more accurately, with the Pomeranian that was occupied by Shu Qing’s soul. Most of them were very warm and therapeutic. Of course, there was some fan service, but most of them were written blithely, to the point where it was almost unnoticeable...

Well, it could not be helped. This creator’s writing style was as such. The writing was not elaborate. It articulated of a very laid back, slice-of-life narrative in subtle, pensive tones. It seemed to be able to go on and on...

Overall, it had an artistic notion.

It was such a warm and straightforward story. Even if the updates were slow and it lacked official recommendations by Qidian, it had still attracted a large number of loyal fans. Some were people who were especially fond of pets, while others were attracted by the warm and refreshing style of the novel. Of course, there were also haters who said the writing style was too plain, so plain, that even the fanservice parts could not be portrayed vividly...

These haters would never admit that they were expecting the male protagonist to have sexual intercourse with the female director as a dog. Although this sounded a little intense, wasn’t it exciting as well?

All in all, the work, “Dog Days” turned out to be a laid-back, relaxed, slice of life web novel.

Zhao Youyue had to admit that after she finished reading the novel, her perception of “Stop Gambling” changed quite a bit. She even felt that this web novel had the potential to become highly popular. It was yet another niche, hidden gem. It could be seen as a “transfiguration” novel, but the transfiguration, in this case, involved turning into an animal.

If this novel could become highly popular, then she would be able to get a highly popular character card from it. This should be relatively easy, but the key point now was that the creator really had a problem with updating his novel. He was too stubborn for his own good!

Zhao Youyue began to look for this book’s reader group, but found that there was no such thing at all...

In the comments section, Zhao Youyue also found such comments —- —-

“I’m here because I’m angry that there are no new chapters. Can anyone give me the link to the reader group? I beg all of you. As I have not been able to read “Dog Days,” I’m really dying here!”

“This book has the potential to become a work of a god. Why won’t you update it properly? There isn’t even a reader group, how are we supposed to urge you to haul ass?”

“If this book is left incomplete, I will hunt the author down and make him incomplete!”

“Update update update update, please! I’m completely addicted to it. If it’s not going to updated soon, I’m going to be sick!”

...

As the readers of “Dog Days” were wildly urging for new updates, an uncle dressed in a bathrobe was busy smoking a cigarette. When he walked back into the mahjong room of a bathing center, there were only three people left.[1]

He had a beard, but an otherwise unremarkable appearance, the beginnings of a beer belly, and fish eyes. He looked like the life had been drained out of him.

However, the moment he sat in front of the mahjong table, the energy in him sprung to life!

This man’s name was Sun Xian. He had a lot of free time. Of course, his favorite thing to do during that free time was to play mahjong. He had other hobbies such as writing, but he would only resort to it when he felt like he was having bad luck, or when he had ran out of money to play mahjong anymore. Writing was his way to “not gamble.” He did not write for profit; he only did it to curb his gambling addiction.

He was a landlord. Every month, he received about five or six thousand from rent. That was enough to cover the expenses of one person. The extra money he had was used to play mahjong. He definitely lived a good life.

Everyone should just live their whole lives leisurely like this. Why did they have to think about so many other things?

“Old Sun, why are you looking at your phone and smiling. Eyes on the board. We’re playing mahjong,” a mahjong friend drawled.

“Oh... I wrote some stuff on the internet. Now a bunch of grandchildren are urging me to post more of it. I find it funny watching them get this anxious. Well, fortunately, I’m a good person. Even though I’m busy with mahjong right now, since they want updates that much, I’ll just write anything I can think about. Something totally messy and random would be sufficient to fool this bunch of grandchildren,” Sun Xian said in a relaxed manner, while sitting with his legs crossed and smoking away.

Sun Xian was basically a super evil creator. He fulfilled that role in all manner!

Translation note :

[1] Four people are needed to start a game of mahjong properly, but there were only three people left in the mahjong room.