Zhang Ziqiang said, “First of all, I’ve to commend Master Su Li for your exceptional drawing skill, that even the side characters drawn by you are gorgeous and flawless. Besides, you specially presented “Xu Jing” with a ponytail hairstyle. Perhaps you have considered this hairstyle to be quite common and unattractive, but out of your expectation, it had made her stand out from all the other characters. She seemed to be the only girl with a ponytail since the manga release.”

Upon hearing this compliment from her assistant, she humbled herself, “Honestly, I feel my drawing skill is still unrefined. It’s just that drawing this kind of female characters has always been my specialty and style. Well, I was about to draw merely a side character, without knowing it, I had drawn another pretty girl.”

Ah, there is one thing that has to be mentioned. The manga characters are facing severe homogeneity in term of their appearances. At times, they are only distinguishable by their hairstyles and hair colors. These situations happen among male protagonists of Harem mangas especially, since all of them have always looked like the same person, or you might say the other guy with “Kirito’s face” [1]. As the name implies, it is not surprising that many male characters look like Kirito!

Su Li then continued, “I’ve to agree with your viewpoint on the matter of hairstyle. I personally prefer “black, long and silky hair”, “double ponytails”, “side ponytail”, “bobbed hair” and so on… Even if it’s the iconic ponytail, the length must be the same as the hips. This character’s hairstyle, is the most common one you can find in reality. In any way, I don’t think it’s attractive at all, so I’ve simply opted for it. This is unbelievable, it actually rendered her outstanding!”

“There must be some other factors which have intrigued you. What are they?” Su Li inquired.

Zhang Ziqiang had pulled no punches. As Su Li’s assistant, he reckoned that not only should he support her on the artworks, but he shall contribute on the creative ideas as well.

“Oh… Of course… it’s the personality and behaviour of this character.” Zhang Ziqiang spoke in a leisure manner.

Su Li then showed an expression of the “Are you kidding me?”. Zhang Ziqiang was indeed a slow speaker, while Su Li herself was a pepperbox. Just before Ziqiang managed to finish his sentence, she could not resist countering, “What kind of personality does she have? Not to mention her behaviour… I’ve never spent any meticulous effort in depicting her, have I? She barely have a few lines in the story, and is nothing more than a background character!”

Zhang Ziqiang was not in a hurry to retort her, and again, he spoke firmly, “For the personality of this character… perhaps you didn’t keep your own character setting in mind, but I did notice it… This girl might not show a great aptitude, but… she is quite diligent, aspirant and so passionate in her studies… Am I wrong?”

Su Li nodded her head without qualms, “That’s right, she’s just a side character, and shall not possess any aptitude, or else it must be my mistake! You know, within the main character’s harem, there’s such princess character with an IQ as high as 250, blonde hair, flat chest, and a Tsundere[2] personality. It’s impossible that I would create another character with such superior IQ, that will just be repetitive.”

“Aptitude is not a big thing. What’s most admirable about her is her diligence and passion for studies!”

“Ahh, I don’t understand what you are saying. A regular character setting like this, yet being placed upon an unappealing side character, how interesting could that be? I think you’re delusional! Xu Jing was given this character setting solely to serve as the icing on a cake for Yang Xixi, the most important “little-sister character” in my manga. As an old saying goes, “One who touches rouge will be stained with red, one who touches ink will be stained with black” [3]. I’ve thus presented Yang Xixi with this bestie, who is mundane but full of positive energy, and this will be a plus for Yang Xixi!”

Su Li had set forth her intentions behind the character setting of “Xu Jing”, but little did she know, that it had already been altered. She was positive that all of this stemmed from her sole ideas.

From that, one could easily discern the brilliance of Zhao Youyue who had secretly sabotaged things. If she was to act like it is the first time she entered the Two Dimensional Gate, granting an invincible superpower to the character she played, still, her changes to the manga would take effect in the reality. However, once the author felt peculiar about it, they would think that either they were drunk or a head cramp came bumping in. If not, how could they possibly cook up those plots which are obviously not in sync with the previous story! Soon after that, they shall fix the story altogether!

But now, Su Li had faith that the entire thing was her initial setting!

Su Li had put up a lot of effort and attention in depicting the “little-sister character”, Yang Xixi. Besides having two cute little sisters of her own in real life, she is essentially a fan of little girls. What is more, this little sister is incredibly popular as for now, especially among the male readers. Of course, she would be partial to the little sister, whereas for the other harem characters, she did not even bother to mention whether they have any bestie.

In a sense, Su Li was right. A side character such as “Xu Jing”, relies heavily on the little sister for her existence. Well, if it was not for the high popularity of the little sister, there would not be anything much of her.

At this moment, Zhang Ziqiang heaved a sigh. He was not going to debate any further with Su Li. Sure enough, she was a lady who knows her own thoughts, not to mention, her previous achievements had built up the pride within her bone. For the sake of “Xu Jing” however, he could not help but to retort, “Maybe this is not a plus, but a minus instead.”

“What?!” Su Li was running out of patience. She had even concluded that, Zhang Ziqiang is destined to not getting anywhere in the manga field, as he failed to even acknowledge the key points. To think that he would be fascinated by just a side character… hmm…

Instead of speaking leisurely like always, Zhang Ziqiang reeled off, “Indeed, this “Xu Jing” had always been a background character in the manga, but she was always studying! When Yang Xixi was getting in heat while fantasizing her beloved boy, Xu Jing was studying. Remember the times when Yang Xixi was involved in a catfight with the other harem girls, in front the male protagonist, and eventually caught in a deathmatch? Xu Jing was still studying, quietly at one corner! Even though she was only a background character, I had always believed, that such a setting by Master Su Li must have its underlying meaning, but it seems that I had over-thought myself way too much. How disappointing!”

“This….” Su Li was puzzled at the rapid speech of Zhang Ziqiang, but he was not finished yet.

“This is a school Harem manga, in which most of the characters are students. They are either the male protagonists, or the bunch of girls surrounding him, which of course includes “Yang Xixi”, the little sister whose character design has satisfied you the most. As students, however, these people had never been well-behaved, they knew nothing more than bickering, hopping around, and scratching each other. In contrast, “Xu Jing” is constantly studying in silence at the corner, yet she carries an innocent and genuine character. Xu Jing, is definitely different from those bitches within the main character’s harem! That’s how this character captivated my interest… It’s still okay if the readers haven’t noticed her, and if they do, for sure they will diminish all the plain Jane-s of no distinctive traits. Moreover, they are so enthused in looking out for guys, well, that’s pretty cheap by the way!”

After listening all of this, Su Li was deeply shocked, and her mind went into a turmoil…

Translation Note:

[1] Kirito is a fictional character in “Sword Art Online”, a Japanese light novel series. In Chinese language, “Kirito’s face” – “桐人脸” is pronounced exactly like the phrase “同人脸”, which means “face of the same person”. It is used here as a language humor to satirize Kirito’s kind of face which is too common among the male characters in mangas.

[2] “Tsundere” (ツンデレ, pronounced [tsɯndeɾe]) is a Japanese term describing a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing a warmer side over time.

[3] One who touches rouge will be stained with red, one who touches ink will be stained with black – “近朱者赤,近墨者黑”, is an ancient Chinese proverb, which means that that one is easily influenced by his/her close associates.