Transmigrated as Jane’s Ghostly Godmother - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Little Master—Being a Child Again, Laughing Only for a Prank…

Talking to a ghost.

Lin Zhao instinctively completed the thought in her mind, looking down at Jane. Jane’s face was deathly pale, her eyes swirling with intense emotion—she clearly had a strong reaction to Mrs. Reed’s arrival.

Normally, faced with such a stern interrogation, Jane would have bowed her head, curled into a ball, and used silence to endure the suffocating pressure. But this time, perhaps emboldened by Lin Zhao’s presence and the news of leaving Gateshead, she simply met Mrs. Reed’s eyes and stared back without saying a word.

Mrs. Reed was used to this look from Jane, but just as her instinctive disgust began to rise, she sensed a familiar, icy chill in the room. Outside the door, she had distinctly heard Jane speaking. The mere thought that he was here—checking to see if she had followed through on the promise of school—made her blood run cold.

If it wasn’t that, then Jane Eyre must be losing her mind! But looking at the girl’s demeanor, the former seemed far more likely.

Is the spirit of my dead husband still watching? Why must he favor this wretched Jane Eyre so? Why stay by her side instead of looking after his own flesh and blood?

The anger on Mrs. Reed’s face faded, replaced by an unmistakable paleness. She forced herself to look away from Jane’s overly bright eyes, swallowing the scolding she had prepared. She cleared her throat and spoke in a tone so flat it was almost rigid:

“Never mind. I only came to tell you that before long, I will arrange for you to be sent to a boarding school.”

With that, she turned to leave, as if staying in the room for one more second were a torture.

“What school is it?” A clear voice rang out behind her.

Mrs. Reed’s footsteps faltered. She turned back to see Jane still sitting on the bed. The small face was expressionless, but those eyes were locked onto her, repeating the question.

Lin Zhao stood right beside Jane; it was she who had whispered the prompt into Jane’s ear. She wanted Mrs. Reed to voice the commitment out loud.

Under that gaze, Mrs. Reed couldn’t help but remember the day her husband died years ago. When she had left the Red Room, Jane had been waiting in the parlor, looking at her just like this. The girl was always so silent, hovering nearby like a leech, never saying a kind word. Jane might hate her, but Mrs. Reed didn’t care; she had hated the girl much longer. Though the cost of the school was higher than expected, she was finally going to be rid of her.

“…A very good school. They will teach you discipline and knowledge,” Mrs. Reed hissed through gritted teeth. She turned away, refusing to look at Jane again. “This is the last time I will spend so much effort on you. Whatever happens at school afterward, I will not concern myself with you.”

The door slammed shut, cutting off the suffocating chill and those all-seeing eyes.

The room fell silent. Jane immediately turned her head, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at Lin Zhao.

“You… what did you do? Did you scare her like you scared John?” Her voice was light, trembling with a repressed excitement. “She looked… she finally stopped being so overbearing.”

Seeing the vivid mix of shock and delight on the girl’s face, Lin Zhao felt a wave of warmth. “I promised you I would do it, and I did,” she smiled. “Do you feel a bit better now?”

Jane nodded vigorously, then shook her head slightly. She tugged at the corner of her quilt. “I’m happy to leave… I just didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. I feel like… I’m dreaming.”

Dreaming. Lin Zhao was reminded of her own thoughts upon arriving here. Honestly, she still hadn’t fully accepted that she had transmigrated into a book. She was prioritizing Jane’s welfare just to keep the crushing reality at the back of her mind.

“It’s not a dream,” she said, her eyes drifting to the copy of Jane Eyre on the nightstand. Things were already diverging from the original plot, but she couldn’t relax. She had to worry about the “plot correcting itself” in some other way.

She added, partly to reassure herself: “And there will be many, many different things happening from now on. You’ll go to a new place, learn new things, and meet new people.”

I will do my best to keep you away from the terrible things in the original book, Jane.

Jane didn’t know the resolve behind those words, but she nodded shyly. “Thank you, Lin.”

Everything just needs a start. After Jane began using Lin’s name, she became much more relaxed. As they waited for the departure date, Jane’s health improved, and her favorite activity became “chatting with Lin.”

The atmosphere in the house remained strange. Mrs. Reed rarely appeared before Jane. Even when they crossed paths in the hallway, she would only offer a cold glance before hurrying away as if avoiding a plague. This gave Jane unprecedented freedom. She began taking Lin Zhao around the house to talk.

“Lin, this is the drawing room. Aunt doesn’t let us in, fearing we’ll dirty the carpets,” Jane whispered.

“Want to go in and look?” Lin Zhao suggested. She remembered that Jane would eventually become a talented artist.

Jane hesitated and shook her head. “No, the paintings inside aren’t very pretty anyway—just dark landscapes.”

You’ll be very good at painting those later, Lin Zhao thought with a smile.

They passed the Red Room. This time, Jane only gave it a distant glance before quickening her pace. They soon reached the downstairs parlor. Eliza and Georgiana were on the sofa, ignoring each other. John Reed, the stout, energetic boy, was lounging on the sofa, rolling a piece of cake into a ball and dropping it onto the carpet.

He immediately spotted Jane peeking from the doorway.

“Hey! You unwanted beggar!” John shouted with his usual malicious grin. “I heard you’re being shipped off to some godforsaken school? Wonderful! I’ve been sick of the sight of you!”

Mrs. Reed sat nearby in an armchair with an account book, clearly distracted. She heard the mockery but, as usual, did not intervene.

That’s odd, Lin Zhao thought. In the book, Mrs. Reed told the kids to leave Jane alone once the school was decided. I guess this “good school” cost her so much that she’s letting her kids take it out on Jane.

Lin Zhao looked at Jane and saw her face go pale. Jane clenched her fists, seemingly about to speak, but then took a step back, intending to leave.

Lin Zhao felt something was wrong. Why was Jane enduring this? Was it because they had skipped the big fight in the dining room? She didn’t want Jane to become timid because of her presence.

She pressed a hand onto Jane’s shoulder. “Don’t be afraid. Watch this.”

Lin Zhao stepped forward and snatched the plate just as John was about to throw another piece of cake. He grabbed thin air, his heavy body losing balance. He tumbled forward and hit the table with a dull thud.

“Help! Get me up!” he wailed, flailing on the floor like an overturned turtle. Lin Zhao hadn’t expected him to fall so pathetically. She let go of the plate, letting it land right where John’s head was about to rest.

“Splat!”

“Hahahahaha—”

Eliza and Georgiana, who had been watching the scene, burst into laughter at John’s misfortune. John, enraged and embarrassed, swung a leg out and caught Eliza’s skirt.

Eliza shrieked as she stumbled, dropping her box of candies. Colorful sweets clattered across the floor. “My candies! Jack, you pig!” she screamed.

John scrambled up, his face red with fury. He felt the sticky cake on the back of his head, roared, and flung a handful of it toward Eliza. She ducked, and the cake hit Georgiana squarely on her dress.

Georgiana’s dress had just arrived from Paris. She screamed as she tried to scrape the cream off. “My dress! John Reed!!”

The parlor descended into chaos. John was roaring, Eliza was crying over her candy, and Georgiana was shrieking about her ruined dress. The three children were a mess of accusations and noise. Mrs. Reed looked up from her book, overwhelmed, and started calling for the maids.

Lin Zhao watched the spectacle, marveling at how these children would never survive without their mother’s pampering.

At the doorway, Jane watched with her mouth open. She knew the start of it was Lin Zhao pulling the plate, but the rest was entirely their own doing. Looking at her cousins’ pathetic state, she tried to suppress her laughter, her shoulders shaking. Finally, she couldn’t help it—a bright, loud laugh escaped her.

The laughter was so clear that everyone stopped to look at her. Jane was startled by the angry glares and her laughter died. Realizing she might be in trouble, she turned and ran.

She ran out the front door, through the garden, and didn’t stop until she reached the old oak tree. She leaned against the rough bark, panting. Lin Zhao followed, invisible to the world, and waved at her.

“You run fast—”

“I… I was afraid they’d catch me,” Jane said, laughing through her breath. “You… you really are…”

She wanted to say “you are so wicked,” but she felt Lin Zhao hadn’t actually done anything bad. It ended in a sincere exclamation: “You’re amazing, Lin!”

Lin Zhao walked over. Jane’s cheeks were flushed with color, looking like a girl her age should. Compared to their first meeting, the change was so great it made Lin Zhao’s eyes sting. A ten-year-old shouldn’t spend every day being abused.

“It’s nothing, Jane,” Lin Zhao smiled. “Believe me, one day you will be so amazing that you’ll never have to deal with such terrible things again.”

Jane didn’t quite grasp the depth of the words, but she believed her “ghostly” lady more and more each day. She nodded seriously.

At the end of that day, it was time to depart.

Jane woke up early. Bessie helped pack her meager belongings and brushed her hair with uncharacteristic gentleness. A servant came up to announce the carriage had arrived.

“Whirlwood is said to be a good school. You must be well-behaved there, and don’t make a kind-hearted person like the Mistress sad again,” Bessie cautioned one last time.

Jane didn’t argue. She kept her head down, looking obedient, but her heart was already flying far away with the name of the school.

Whirlwood… what kind of place will it be?