Chapter 1: Transmigrating with the Class Group Chat
“Damn it, I thought transmigrating would take me to the peak of life! I didn’t expect to be exiled right from the start, and then I fell into a pit while trying to escape!”
In a pit over ten feet deep, Jiang Lili touched her empty stomach and cursed weakly.
She had been on a bus back to her high school to visit her teacher when the bus suddenly exploded. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a deep pit.
After receiving the memories of this body, Jiang Lili couldn’t help but sigh. The original owner was truly an unlucky person.
This was during a time of a dynasty that never existed in history—Great Sheng Dynasty. The original owner had been the daughter of the Minister of Personnel, and she had married Xin Che, the heir to the Marquis of Zhaoping’s Residence. Less than a month later, the entire household was sentenced to exile on a desolate island three thousand miles away in the south.
The original owner couldn’t bear the hardship and hunger of the exile journey and escaped halfway, only to fall into a hunter’s trap. Now, she was starving half to death, too weak to climb out of the pit.
Remembering that the original owner had carried a basket when she fled, Jiang Lili quickly took the basket off her back.
The basket was very light. Jiang Lili reached inside to feel, but it was empty.
“It can’t be empty, I must have missed something!”
With a glimmer of hope, Jiang Lili raised the basket and turned it upside down.
“Heaven, please, just once, let a pie fall from the sky!”
As soon as she finished speaking, an object suddenly fell from the basket, hitting her head lightly before rolling to the ground.
Jiang Lili turned to look under the moonlight, and her brain nearly shriveled up!
What had hit her was a Pepsi can!
“F*ck! This is outrageous!”
What is going on here? Even Pepsi advertisements have made it to ancient times?
As Jiang Lili stood there, confused in the wind, another object fell out of the basket she was holding—a banana peel, which “slapped” right onto her forehead!
“Heaven, are you messing with me?”
She prayed for a miracle, but all she got was a pile of trash?
“Awoo—”
Just as Jiang Lili was cursing loudly, a few eerie wolf howls echoed from above her head!
Instantly, her entire body was covered in goosebumps.
There were wolves nearby!
And judging by the sound, more than one!
The pit she was in looked like a hunting trap. If a wolf happened to fall in, wouldn’t that mean certain death for her?
“Is anyone there? Help!!!”
Jiang Lili remembered that the original owner had dared to escape because someone was supposed to be waiting to help.
Last night, the original owner had found a small note in the flatbreads given by the guards. The note had been written by the second daughter of the Minister of Personnel’s household, Jiang Wanyue, the original owner’s sister.
Jiang Wanyue had instructed the original owner to sneak out to the northwest woods late at night.
Someone arranged by the Minister of Personnel would take the original owner to the southwestern country of Nanzhao, where she could live a life of luxury.
Jiang Lili thought that since Jiang Wanyue had planned everything carefully, she should be nearby now.
Summoning all her strength, Jiang Lili yelled, “Wanyue, are you there?”
“Wanyue—”
Not long after she shouted, a coquettish, pleased voice came from above, and it was none other than Jiang Wanyue!
“Sister, stop shouting, save your energy. Your husband will come to rescue you soon.”
Hearing Jiang Wanyue’s tone, Jiang Lili’s heart sank. Why did this sister sound so untrustworthy?
But according to the memories she had received, although Jiang Wanyue had been born to a stepmother, the two sisters had always been close, and the stepmother had been very kind to the original owner, always indulging her.
Even when the original owner was determined to marry Xin Che, the popular heir to the Marquis of Zhaoping Residence, both the stepmother and Jiang Wanyue had strongly supported the marriage.
When the father and son of the Marquis of Zhaoping returned to the capital, Emperor Qingning sent a decree and rewards, granting the title of King of Zhao to the Marquis. Marrying Xin Che would make the original owner the Princess Consort!
It was easy to imagine how fiercely this marriage was contested! That’s why the original owner trusted Jiang Wanyue and her mother even more.
“Wanyue, hurry, pull me up, there are wolves!”
Jiang Lili grew frantic. “If Xin Che finds out I escaped, he’ll definitely bring me back. Didn’t Father arrange for someone to send me to Nanzhao?”
“What are you still dreaming about?”
Jiang Wanyue sneered. “You’re nothing more than a stepping stone for Father’s promotion.”
She shifted her gaze to a large bag of wolf-attracting powder near her feet, her tone turning vicious. “Everyone in the Marquis of Zhaoping’s household will die because of you tonight.”
“What do you mean?” Jiang Lili’s heart sank as she heard the white lotus sister tear off her disguise.
“Idiot, you don’t even know the basic principle of a powerful person shaking their ruler.”
“The founding hero, Marquis of Zhaoping, is skilled in both civil and military affairs. His son, Xin Che, is an exceptional hero. At sixteen, he quelled a rebellion and guarded the border for five years without incident. He’s revered as the ‘War God’ of Great Sheng.”
Jiang Wanyue’s tone turned regretful. “Do you think I would let someone as talented and beautiful as Xin Che be married to you?”
“With his military strength and the people’s loyalty, someone like him makes the Emperor uneasy!”
Jiang Lili held her breath. Could it be that the entire family of Xin Che was exiled as part of a grand conspiracy?
The current Emperor, Emperor Qingning, was over forty and had ruled for twenty years. A month ago, the usually healthy Emperor suddenly fell ill with a serious illness, and despite all efforts from the imperial doctors, there was no improvement.
At this point, the Astrologer Bureau reported that there was a malevolent star near Zi Wei, and unless this star was dealt with, the Emperor’s health wouldn’t improve.
Upon hearing the news, Emperor Qingning, lying on his sickbed, immediately issued a decree for a thorough investigation. To everyone’s shock, it was discovered that something had gone wrong at the Marquis of Zhaoping Residence.
The Imperial Guards searched the Marquis’s residence and found items related to witchcraft and a counterfeit imperial seal.
Enraged, Emperor Qingning issued a decree, but as per the previous emperor’s orders, no one who had contributed to the empire’s success could be executed. Instead, the entire family of the Marquis of Zhaoping was sentenced to exile in Haizhou.
Jiang Lili felt a cold sweat run down her back as she processed everything. Then, recalling Jiang Wanyue’s words about being a stepping stone for her father’s promotion, she realized that her escape would drag the entire Marquis of Zhaoping’s household into this mess. They would all be implicated and punished, and Xin Che would undoubtedly come looking for her. When he did, she would fall straight into the trap set by Jiang Wanyue and her treacherous father.
“With someone like Xin Che alive, the Emperor’s heart will never be at peace,” Jiang Wanyue’s voice echoed with a dark and cold tone. “Tonight, my father and I will remove this worry for His Majesty.”
She looked down at Jiang Lili, who was struggling in the pit, feeling immense satisfaction. “Mother and I have put up with you for so many years, and now, we’ve finally reached this moment.”
A twisted grin spread across Jiang Wanyue’s face. Her sister’s beauty and the status of her maternal family had suppressed her for ten years, but now, she would finally be rid of her. “Hahahahaha—”
Just as she laughed, “Smack—”
A banana peel flew out of the pit, hitting Jiang Wanyue squarely on the face with a precise and sharp hit. The dirt stuck to her face, covering her in mud.
“You, vile little thing, stop laughing!”
Jiang Lili, who had thrown the banana peel, heard Jiang Wanyue’s laughter cease and felt a surge of satisfaction. She dusted off her hands, feeling a bit of relief.
What a vile, ungrateful wolf! It was hard to believe how kind the original owner had been to Jiang Wanyue and her mother.
The banana peel might not have done much harm, but the humiliation was unbearable. Jiang Wanyue, furious and embarrassed, grabbed the wolf-attracting powder and began pouring it into the pit.
“Cough, cough, cough—”
The powder rained down on Jiang Lili, covering her entirely.
“Sister, my final gift to you is this—this is wolf-attracting powder. Soon, wolves will come to keep you company.”
After emptying the powder, Jiang Wanyue tossed down a thick hemp rope.
She knew that Jiang Lili would definitely crawl out in order to survive.
The surrounding paths were blocked by her own people, so Jiang Lili could only run in the direction of the exile team, and lead the wolves over.
At that time… Jiang Wanyue’s lips curled into a cruel smile. Once the wolves arrived, all the deaths would be Jiang Lili’s fault.
After ensuring everything was set in motion, Jiang Wanyue turned and walked away.
Soon, the distant howls of wolves rang out again, this time much closer!
The pack’s cries made Jiang Lili’s heart race, and she felt every muscle in her body tense.
She was doomed.
‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die!’
Her head was covered in cold sweat as she frantically ran, when suddenly, she heard an annoying “Dididi” sound coming from beside her ears.
“Ugh, so noisy!”
Jiang Lili cursed loudly, and suddenly, an interface for a QQ group chat popped up in her mind, floating before her like an illusion.
What the hell, this is outrageous!
If it weren’t for the fact that the group chat was named “High 447 Family”—the exact name of her high school class group—Jiang Lili would have thought she was hallucinating from hunger and would soon see her great-grandmother.
The messages popping up in the chat were all from her high school classmate, Zhang Xiaopang.
Jiang Lili vividly remembered Zhang Xiaopang, as he was notorious in their class for always being late.
Two years after graduation, on the eve of Chinese New Year, the class monitor organized a trip back to visit the teacher, and 28 out of their 45 classmates signed up, including Zhang Xiaopang.
But once again, when they gathered to take the bus back to school, Zhang Xiaopang was late!
It was said that the sudden announcement of nuclear wastewater discharge by a neighboring country had severely impacted Zhang Xiaopang’s family seafood business, forcing him to stay behind to help and making it impossible for him to leave on time. As a result, Jiang Lili and her group had no choice but to depart without him.
Now, in the group chat interface, Zhang Xiaopang was frantically spamming messages apologizing:
[Zhang Xiaopang: I was late, I’m sorry! (kowtow)]
[Zhang Xiaopang: Where are you guys? I really had something urgent at home, it’s my fault!!!]
Jiang Lili stared at the scrolling chat messages in shock. She had traveled to this world with her high school class group chat?!
As she tried to process the absurdity of this situation, Jiang Lili quickly typed a message to Zhang Xiaopang:
[Where are you right now?]
If Zhang Xiaopang hadn’t gotten on that doomed bus, he might still be in the modern world!
