Transmigrated as Jane’s Ghostly Godmother - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: School Survival Guide—The First Separation After Transmigration, and…

The first night at Whirlwood was restless. When Jane opened her eyes, her roommates were still in the land of dreams.

Once she realized where she was, her first instinct was to look for Lin Zhao. Scanning the room, her gaze landed on a silhouette by the window. Fearing she might wake Eleanor, Jane whispered, “Lin?”

Lin Zhao turned around. Her hair was a mess, and deep dark circles hung beneath her eyes. She managed a slow, tired smile.

“Morning.”

“…”

Jane gripped her quilt in silence. Whether it was her imagination or not, she felt that Lin Zhao looked a bit more like a “ghost” than she had last night.

The sleep-deprived Ms. Lin, her head feeling like lead, didn’t notice Jane’s expression. She drifted toward the bed on unsteady feet, clutching a piece of paper.

“Jane… after a night of frantic writing, I have established a grand goal for our future! If you follow this schedule, you will definitely achieve much more than you were originally meant to…”

Jane flinched at the sound of her name. She only caught the word “schedule” from the long sentence before the speaker suddenly collapsed face-first onto her bed.

Startled by the movement, Jane looked over at the next bed. Eleanor merely rolled over, completely unaware. When Jane looked back, she saw that Lin Zhao’s eyelids had finally surrendered to those dark circles. She was fast asleep.

She stayed up all night organizing a schedule?

Jane cautiously freed herself from the covers and picked up the paper that had fallen nearby. She squinted at it—it was packed with dense writing, but she could only recognize the numbers. It was written in Lin Zhao’s own language; Jane couldn’t understand a word of it.

“Don’t sleep! The teacher is coming!”

An anxious voice hissed in her ear. Lin Zhao snapped her eyes open and sat bolt upright.

On the podium, the teacher had granted a brief moment for free discussion before the next segment. He was now strolling down the steps to patrol the classroom. Lin Zhao’s head felt heavy; she couldn’t remember a single thing about the lesson before she lost consciousness. She hurriedly whispered a question to her deskmate.

The deskmate gave her a strange look.

“This is Classical Reading. Didn’t you insist on taking this class, saying you wanted to share your favorite book? What, did you get amnesia right before it’s your turn to present?”

Hiss. Right, something like that had happened. Lin Zhao’s head was still spinning, but purely by instinct, she pulled her prepared notes from the desk.

The page was covered in notes, and at the very top sat the title: “When We Talk About Jane Eyre and Jane Eyre.”

Jane Eyre?

Her gaze glued to the name, and the dizziness intensified. How strange… why am I seeing the image of a little girl in front of me? Have I read this book so many times that I’ve reached a new level of enlightenment?

“Stop daydreaming, it’s almost your turn,” her deskmate nudged her.

Just then, the teacher reached their desk and smiled at Lin Zhao. “Student Lin Zhao, is your presentation ready?”

School Survival Guide No. 5: When opportunity knocks, never let your preparation go to waste.

Lin Zhao stood on the podium. She covered her notes, and the content flowed out like a stream.

“When we talk about Jane Eyre, we often speak of her extraordinary self-awareness—her courage to speak up to a man of higher social standing and proclaim that love is equality.”

“But before we talk about all that, let us look back. Look back at Jane when she was not yet an adult, but merely a little girl. Let us hypothesize: If Jane had not been treated with such prejudice, if she had received a better education and had more opportunities, would her life have shone even more brilliantly? If she were not limited to the position of a governess, would she have voiced a more thunderous resistance to more people…”

Practicing this long passage in English had taken Lin Zhao a lot of time, but now it seemed well worth it. Standing on the stage, her gaze swept past her classmates and once again found the little girl at the back of the room.

The girl looked at her, and her expression flickered, overlapping with a memory. Her lips moved, and her voice traveled through space into Lin Zhao’s mind.

“Please, let me be happy.”

Lin Zhao snapped her eyes open again.

Bright daylight filled the room. She wasn’t in a classroom; she was sprawled across a soft bed, a quilt tangled around her.

Heavens. She must have fallen asleep while waiting to explain the schedule to Jane. Lin Zhao scrambled up and looked around. The dormitory was empty; the children must have gone to class.

Since transmigrating, this was the first time she had been separated from Jane without knowing the circumstances. This was not good. Jane had looked so dejected and guarded last night; Lin Zhao couldn’t bear to let her face classes alone.

Moreover, Miss Victor had mentioned wanting to talk to Jane today. Lin Zhao didn’t know if Mrs. Reed had whispered any lies to Miss Victor, the way she had to Mr. Brocklehurst in the book.

Unable to stay still, she prepared to find Jane. Just as she reached the door, the handle turned.

“Today’s meal was truly terrible,” Eleanor grumbled as she entered, heading straight for her bed and flopping down.

Beatrice followed. She didn’t respond but stood by her desk, picking up a mirror to check herself. After smoothing her hair, she glanced sideways at Eleanor.

“Perhaps it’s an omen. Something bad has crept into the school, and everything is going downhill.” She then glanced over at Jane’s bed. Noticing the messy quilts, she let out an undisguised tsk and looked back into the mirror. “Like the new poor girl. Her manners are out of place everywhere in this school.”

Lin Zhao, who was about to leave, stopped in her tracks. She had noticed Beatrice’s odd attitude last night. She had hoped it was just her imagination, but it seemed her intuition was right—the girl really didn’t like Jane.

She couldn’t do much about a wealthy girl’s snobbery for now, but she wouldn’t allow Jane’s character to be slandered. Lin Zhao stepped back and quickly folded the quilts on the bed. Jane probably hadn’t tidied up because she was worried about her—that was the only explanation for why Lin Zhao had woken up wrapped like a cocoon.

She is a perfectly good child!

“What was that sound?” Eleanor sat up and looked at the next bed, but she saw nothing except neatly folded quilts.

“You must have misheard, it’s just the two of us. Didn’t the poor girl get called to the Headmistress’s office by Miss Victor?” Beatrice said without looking up.

Eleanor finally processed what Beatrice had been saying and retorted unhappily, “Wait, are you talking about Jane? Heavens, how can you say that? If Mrs. Miller hears you, she’ll dock your conduct points.”

Jane was called by Miss Victor.

Having received the vital news, Lin Zhao wanted to bolt for the main building, but since they were talking about Jane, she stayed a moment longer.

Accused by Eleanor, Beatrice curled her lip. “I’m not lying. I know Georgiana Reed. She’s Jane Eyre’s cousin. You have no idea how much that cousin tormented her…”

Lin Zhao hadn’t expected to hear Georgiana’s name here. Amidst her shock, Eleanor cut off the conversation.

“The Reeds! I know about that brat John Reed. I don’t believe a word that family says! Come on, Betty, let’s not talk about this. Let’s talk about the upcoming match instead…”

The topic shifted away from Jane. Lin Zhao had no reason to stay. Before leaving, she mentally gave Eleanor a point: Clever girl, I support you being friends with Jane.

Yes, friends. In her written schedule, this was a crucial item. By not going to Lowood, Jane was avoiding a stifling environment, but she was also missing out on Helen Burns and Miss Temple. Lin Zhao knew how important good mentors and friends were, so she had been scouting everyone she met to see who could fill that role and who might be a threat.

As for now, Beatrice was proof that Jane would face plenty of subtle discrimination. Lin Zhao had intended to go to class with her to identify which students had similar attitudes, but she had slept through it.

Being a woman of action, Lin Zhao quickly crossed the lawn and corridors to reach the Headmistress’s office. Peeking through a crack in the door, she heard a voice.

“…So, that is all I have to say. I hope you find your studies here rewarding, Jane.”

She was a step too late; the conversation was ending. Lin Zhao gave up on entering and leaned against the wall to wait.

“Thank you, Miss Victor,” Jane’s voice was muffled.

The door opened, and Lin Zhao stepped forward. But Jane faltered. Detecting someone’s approach, she lowered her head even further and tried to brush past without a word. Lin Zhao realized she had been mistaken for someone else.

Checking that the hallway was empty, Lin Zhao followed her for a few steps and then crouched down to look into the face that was hiding from her. Her tone was full of concern: “It’s me, Jane.”

Jane blinked. Seeing it was her, her dim eyes brightened slightly, though her voice remained low. “You’re awake…?”

Something definitely happened while I was asleep.

Lin Zhao made a mental judgment but smiled. “Sorry I didn’t join you this morning. How were your classmates?”

“Some are very like John, but I ignored them.” The girl’s eyes sparked with anger before her voice dropped again. “…But most people just ignore me.”

A predictable, yet painful situation. Lin Zhao sighed inwardly but kept a smile as she changed the subject. “It seems there are many impolite children. So, what did Miss Victor say to you?”

Jane’s expression grew even more gloomy. She stammered, “She… she just explained some rules…”

“Is there a part that worries you?” Lin Zhao pressed patiently.

“…Miss Victor said the school has very high academic standards. Children who can’t keep up will be sent home.” After a two-second hesitation, Jane added, “I don’t want to go back to Gateshead. But from this morning’s classes, I am already so far behind.”

Seeing Jane’s furrowed brow, Lin Zhao felt her smile falter. This was unexpected news, but she already had a solution.

“Jane, remember I told you this morning I made a schedule for you?”

Jane nodded hesitantly.

“Besides the goals we need to reach, I actually wrote some advice—about how to ‘survive’ in school.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper she had found while folding the quilts.

“‘Survive’?” Jane repeated. She had only seen that word in books about wild animals. She instinctively felt uneasy and shrugged her shoulders.

“Yes. Listen carefully. School Survival Guide No. 2: Find suitable campus partners to deal with personal difficulties.” Lin Zhao showed the paper to Jane. “And you have almost completed this one.”

Jane still couldn’t understand anything on the paper. She whispered back, “Is that what you think…?”

Lin Zhao turned the paper back to herself. Thinking Jane was referring to the guide, she pointed to “School Survival Guide (No. 2)” and nodded.

“Yes. It looks like No. 2 and No. 3 can be done together. You just need to talk to Eleanor.”

“I think she would be a very good friend.”

But this time, there was no reply. Lin Zhao looked up in confusion from her schedule, only to find a look of intense fury brewing in Jane’s eyes.