Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

The main character’s girlfriend?

That was impossible!

There were two kinds of creators in this world. The first would treat his own main characters like his sweethearts. They would do all sort of things to keep their sweethearts perpetually blessed with happiness. The other type would put their main characters through endless trials and tribulations; as if they actually detested their own creations. These creators saw their creations as nothing more than tools or chess pieces.

Where is your pride as a creator if you don’t play with your own ‘toys?’ What’s the use of all that power if you don’t flaunt it?

Of course, the third type of creator would lose himself in his own world, playing with the elements and adding quirks as he saw fit. The main character would only be a witness to the miracles of his God.

Chen Daxiu fell into the second category. He was a truck driver who had somehow found his way in the mainstream manga trend and even dreamt of someday becoming a filmmaker. His main character was not his own son, he was more like his neighbor’s son. Perhaps, to Chen Daxiu, the various models of modified cars and the exciting scenes of street racing was his true brainchild.

This was why he could conscientiously draw out a scene of the main character’s first love procuring a sugar daddy[1] of her own – a middle-aged guy in a luxury car. She would have to give him the warmth of her body on a weekly basis. The main character even caught them en route to one of these sessions. He had stalked them in his ‘Wulin Hong Guang,’ only to find them going into a luxury hotel with his own eyes. Dejected and broken, he had then lit up a cigarette and smoked outside the hotel alone…

Fortunately, Chen Daxiu was not a gifted illustrator. Otherwise, he would have to give his readers obligatory fan-servicing, instead of showing them leave after the event. That’s right. If he had the drawing and painting skills of Su Li, he would have left all readers holding the manga up with one hand!

Either way, the main character was not his child. It was his tool. His marionette. Yes, rob him of all human relationships, rob him of his soul, only then could he put all his focus into racing! This was his message to the readers, and the naive ones bought it without any consideration.

That was about as far as he could go with character development, a field that he had no skill in. Also, his still-life artwork was barely ahead of his character development. Let this act of cuckoldry pass, and we can be on our way.

Affairs and acts of fornication would always interest the readers. However, only excellent could make use of these cheap tactics to their fullest. As long as the majority of readers favored a female character, only to see her get stolen from the main character, they would be sufficiently riled up. Take a look at Xiaolongnü, a creation of Jin Yong. She was practical an immortal centerpiece of literature.

In the process of drawing the manga, Chen Daxiu himself did not realize that Zhao Xiaomei, initially a cameo character, somehow became the main character’s apprentice and support staff. She became his spokesperson. The main character was a man of very few words. Racing aside, he was as developed as a giant baby in other areas…

Chen Daxiu took this new source of inspiration with a lightness in his step. Finally, he did not have to follow an infinite loop routine. Now, we have an apprentice who was a jack of all trades. The main character could focus all the more on racing. This opened new avenues to his storyline.

Let’s have some random racer pick on Zhao Xiaomei. What better opportunity than to have the main character stand up for Zhao Xiaomei? No. wait. Zhao Xiaomei’s street racing skills were just average, but her physical abilities were excellent. She was dextrous and had strong intuitions!

Well, she was a female racer. Who cared about racing skills? She just had to squeeze her eyes shut and step on the accelerator. Zhao Xiaomei had often treated the brake as the accelerator. It was time to use her ‘max intuition’ and ‘safe forever’ buff. She somehow emerged unscathed from her blind, reckless driving. Even the main character, Zhang Tahai was struck dumb!

That is right. Zhao Youyue had given herself a ridiculous amount of luck with those settings. This female racer was rubbish at driving, but she knew no fear. She ‘would never crash the car.’ Even the experienced male character would never ride shotgun with her!

If the main character drifted with art and technique, Zhao Xiaomei’s drifting was playing chicken with death and winning. It was almost like how a clueless girl trashes her car in a driving lesson, completely unaware of how close she had been to turning turtle or blowing up the gas station she just passed. That aside, you can’t deny that her methods worked! She was blazingly quick! Simple, rough and unreasonable!

After all, Zhao Xiaomei was far from poor! She had the cash to build a beast of a machine, as opposed to the main character’s Wulin Hong Guang. It was a heavily modified supercar from the world-famous Chinese brand called ‘Zhui Dian.’ Its doors even opened up like wings…

Nobody would even think of using such a car in a gritty, pure mountain race. However, who could stop the heart of a fearless female racer?

Chen Daxiu could not deny that he was experiencing a new sort of high. Drawing Zhao Xiaomei, the kind of female racer who was ‘simple and rough,’ ‘unreasonable’ and ‘forever seeking death but would not die’ was just too addictive. He might even be thoroughly entertained by his own story. He had never laughed at his own work before, not until now.

He had a feeling that a poorly skilled character, but instead had ‘max intuition’ and ‘max luck’ could complement the main character who had max racing skills. The contrasting extremes made for a fun pairing. Therefore, this cameo quickly became an important supporting role…

His readers were surprised at the appearance of such a female character. Who cared if she was poorly drawn. According to some of the readers, it was their first time seeing a hideous-looking dark-haired, rich lady. It was such a pity. Chen Daxiu, the truck driver mangaka had already used all his might to illustrate a beautiful Zhao Xiaomei. It could not be helped. He really could not illustrate humans.

Fortunately, Zhao Xiaomei’s car was awesome. It was the ridiculously powerful ‘Zhui Dian one:1’ [3]. There were only 99 of these in the entire world, and prices started from 20,000,000. Obviously, Zhao Xiaomei had not kept it stock. It was bright red in color and had lightning racing lines on its side. It was lightning in motion.

Chen Daxiu was, however, good at drawing cars. As popular and successful as he was, he still did not have the money to buy the limited edition ‘Zhui Dian’ car. He did manage to get near one, and had taken god knows how many pictures of it. Then, with great enthusiasm, he had reproduced those magnificent vehicles in his manga. He had even added modifications to their exteriors. He did not draw it for Zhao Xiaomei to drive, Zhao Xiaomei had simply given him an excuse to draw the car. When the racing began, the drivers would no longer be relevant in the picture.

At first, the readers did not realize exactly how recklessly Zhao Xiaomei could throw cars about. They even believed that she was a delicate and virtuous lady. After all, Lady Zhao was beautiful, classy dancer. She had even helped the main character with all sorts of problem in his life. When they saw her caressing the steering wheel… That’s not a car for kindergarteners!

Please, Lady Zhao. Stop showing off. I can’t cringe any further!

Translation note:

[1] “Sugar baby” is a type of transactional relationship. A person in such a romantic relationship may receive cash, gifts or other benefits in exchange for being in the relationship.

[2] “Sugar daddy” is a man who offers support (typically financial and material) to a younger companion.

[3] Reference to the real-life Koenigsegg One:1.