Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Transmigrator Diary
After watching the snow for a while, Jiang Jiang snapped back to herself and looked forward again. In the empty air before her floated a panel—something only she could see.
Lines of text scrolled across it, showing the entry she had just recorded.
As a transmigrator, Jiang Jiang had received a personal, extremely questionable cheat perk on her first day here: the Transmigrator Diary System.
No manual, of course. After some trial and error, she finally figured out the rules. Each day, she could write at most one diary entry. No limit on length. No limit on content.
She didn’t even need brush and ink. As long as she thought about writing, the diary panel would appear.
Yes. She could keep a diary with nothing but imagination. A cloud diary, powered entirely by her thoughts.
It was the strangest cheat perk she’d ever seen.
Writing a diary?
Who wrote diaries these days, anyway?
At first, she refused.
Then she thought: I already have it. Might as well use it.
So on her first day here, she tried writing a single entry.
Ding.
Diary upload successful. Health +1.
Jiang Jiang nearly burst into tears on the spot.
From that moment on, nothing was stopping her from writing diaries.
Whether “Health +1” mattered was secondary. The main point was that she genuinely liked recording life. She liked writing diaries.
And she could feel the change. The more she wrote, the better she felt—subtle, but real. In weather like this, the original owner would’ve been bedridden. Jiang Jiang was still weak, but she wasn’t collapsing, either.
“Jiang Jiang!” a loud voice rang from outside the door.
“Brother, you’re back!” Jiang Jiang hurried over and pulled the door open.
A blast of cold wind rushed in, snowflakes swirling through the doorway like they owned the place.
“So cold!” She shrank her neck without thinking.
The man at the threshold strode in, tossed a bundle of cloth into her arms, then turned and shut the door in one swift motion.
“If you know it’s cold, why is the window open?” Jiang Chao Sheng frowned toward the room. “Do you not know your own body? What if you get sick again?”
“The wind blew it open. I was just about to close it,” Jiang Jiang said quickly, blinking up at him with her most innocent face.
He didn’t look convinced. He crossed the room and latched the wooden window tight, then went to warm his hands by the brazier.
“These are fabrics Mother picked out for you.” He nodded at the bundle. “Choose one you like. Have a new outfit made.”
“Didn’t we just make new clothes for the New Year?” Jiang Jiang looked down at the cloth in her arms.
Their father, Jiang Ping, had some reputation in the Outer City. His private school had plenty of students. But her brother studied in the Inner City, which cost money they didn’t have. And her weak body meant tonics all year long. Their family of four got by, but barely. Mother did everything herself—she wouldn’t even hire a servant.
“The results list will be posted soon.” Jiang Chao Sheng’s tone was painfully confident. “When I pass, we’ll throw a grand banquet on Willow Spring Lane. If you don’t have a decent outfit, how will you show your face?”
Pass?
Jiang Jiang clamped down hard on her smile. Hard.
She had looked through his study materials. Passing in this era was no joke—harder than anything from her old world.
If she’d transmigrated earlier, maybe she could’ve handed him a few famous poems from her past life. Now… forget it. Let fate do what it wanted.
Besides, she knew this world would eventually produce a high-born transmigrated girl. Jiang Jiang wasn’t about to be the idiot who “invented” something out of thin air and got crushed for it. People like them had no power. Even if they created something brilliant, it would become someone else’s prize.
This world didn’t forgive the weak.
She remembered it too clearly: on her third day after arriving, a murder happened on Willow Spring Lane. Three people died. The killer was never found. The case was wrapped up fast, like sweeping dust under a rug.
Lives were cheap here.
So she wanted exactly two things: survive, and quietly use her cheat perk to get healthier.
As for the imperial exams changing your fate…
She glanced at her brother.
Him?
“Are you trying to laugh?” Jiang Chao Sheng’s voice suddenly dropped right beside her ear.
Jiang Jiang looked up—and found him looming over her, staring down as if he could see the joke forming on her tongue.
“No,” she said solemnly. “Impossible. I’m professionally trained. I don’t break character.”
A scholar might be useless, sure.
But a scholar who could fight? That was another matter.
Jiang Chao Sheng stared at her for a beat, then looked away, jaw tightening. Even if she didn’t say it out loud, he wasn’t stupid. He knew she didn’t believe in him. He knew Mother didn’t, either. And as for Father… well. Father had taken exams for half his life and still wasn’t a provincial graduate.
“I’ll prove it to all of you.” Jiang Chao Sheng lifted his chin, pride blazing. “Just like Chancellor Gu back then—one move, and my name will shake the world.”
Then he turned and strode out.
Chancellor Gu. Gu Yan Qing.
Jiang Chao Sheng’s number-one idol. The peak he’d been chasing for years.
Watching her brother act like Gu Yan Qing’s most devoted follower, Jiang Jiang couldn’t help shaking her head.
She really wanted to tell him, “Brother, wake up.”
Your idol isn’t a good person.
He’s the novel’s final boss villain. Copy him and you’re walking straight into death.
Then Jiang Jiang paused.
Wait.
How could her brother ever compare to Gu Yan Qing?
So… he wouldn’t die.
He didn’t even qualify to die.
Well then. Nothing to worry about.