"Che."
The cold expression in her eyes settled for a while as she lay there after the past memories of the former host — who had the same name with her — was transferred into her memory.
Jiang Meiying. First legitimate daughter of Jiang Tao, a business mogul. He had remarried Jiang Chu when her mother, Jiang Mei died; two years after she was born. Jiang Chu did not hesitate to bear a child some months later, which after a few years did Jiang Meiying discovered that her irresponsible brute of a father had cheated on her mother when she was alive.
Had she probably died from heartbreak when she heard the news?
Jiang Ming was born, and at the sight of her beautiful, blemish free skin, huge wistful blue eyes and long black hair, Jiang Tao favored his most beautiful daughter and treated her like a princess, spoiling her rotten with the help of his wife, Jiang Chu.
Of course, they had long forgotten about Jiang Meiying who had a huge scar on her forehead when Jiang Chu had 'mistakenly' dropped her when she was a child. The scar had disfigured her face and her father's affection — which she had never gained — only turned to one of irritation when he saw her.
Furthermore, the previous Jiang Meiying, devasted about her mother's death and the favor her little sister obtained in the house, took to binge eating. She was seen eating morning, afternoon, night and midnight. Worse, she failed her classes and Jiang Ming had to meet her in the final year classes in high school because she was much smarter and brought back good grades to her father while Jiang Tao hit Jiang Meiying at every slightest bad grade she brought home.
"You spend all my money and your time eating like a pig, and you can't even be useful and get good grades like your sister!!! I thought ugly people were smart but you've proven to be useless in both aspects!" He had yelled at her, shattering her heart into smaller pieces.
All she had ever yearned for was her father to even look at her in the same way he looked at Jiang Ming, but all she saw was irritation and livid hatred.
It was not long before she had gained so much weight that the sight of her disgusted her father so much.
"I knew you were a curse the moment I set my eyes on you. You're the reason your mother's dead and my business isn't doing so well. You've grown so fat that all your clothes don't even fit anymore. Have a look at Nancy. At such a young age, she's already a model in the number one Modelling agency in the country, and you're asking me for some money to buy clothes? I kept your mother's old clothes in the basement downstairs. You can wear some of them since your clothes don't fit, and don't bother me about money again."
The former Jiang Meiying beared everything; her father's disdain and his hurtful words, the hits and mistreatments from the maids in the house along with her step-family, the bullies at school, the depression and physical insecurity.
However, the worst thing that could have ever happened to her actually happened.
When she was two years, just before her mother died, she was betrothed to Zhang Wang's first son, Hollywood actor, Zhang Wei.
He had travelled abroad to study, intending to come back and get married to her.
On returning many years later as a world wide sensational actor who melted the hearts of several women and caused many men to envy him, he gave Jiang Meiying the same look of disgust as her father and said,
"When I saw you years back, I thought you'd still be as beautiful as you were. You've become so fat and ugly Jiang Meiying. The sight of your gigantic face and three chins are unpleasant to look at. It will be a bad reputation to get married to someone like you. Your sister on the other hand is quite beautiful and very popular. She's not 18 yet but I'm willing to wait until she's ready. I would like to marry her."
The news about the first Master of the Zhang family rejecting the first daughter of the Jiang family spread like wild fire in the city, and her bullying and taunting got even worse. To add salt to her open wounds, Jiang Ming said to her while she was bent over a huge bucket of ice-cream, eating away her sorrows,
"Don't feel too bad that I'll soon get engaged to Zhang Wei, Jiang Meiying. I hear the Zhang family are offering to let you marry their other son, Zhang Hien. He's just as handsome as Zhang Wei, but he's just got a little disability, that's all. It also turns out that before he lost the use of his legs, he had gone bankrupt and is fending off MY Fiancee's money. So you see Jiang Meiying, you both make a good couple. You're just as useless as he is."
Jiang Meiying was forced to marry Zhang Hien, and since the black sheep of the family had no home, he shamefully resided in his in-laws' house along with his wife, helplessly watching her get bullied, while bearing the hurtful words she threw at him when she found no one else to let out her frustration on.
Her father was away on a business journey, and while Jiang Chu and Jiang Ming were hitting her over a simple vase she had clumsily broken, she was pushed down the stairs and had died instantly.
They didn't know of course, and had left her down there to get up herself and clean up after the mess they had made.
This is when the current Jiang Meiying comes in. She was a spy from her past world; the manna world. She trained for years to complete missions and fight for justice all the while, she also had a part time, online subscription work as a herbalist where she learnt different types of herbs and how to use them.
She also had a blog where she listened to people's medical problems, disorders and disabilities and recommended herbs for them to use. Her life was going so well except for the fact that she had cancer and died later on.
Feeling ecstatic that after her death, she got a second chance to live again, free of cancer and numerous medicines she had to take everyday, she was going to make sure she gives this former host the justice she deserves and avenge her for everything they had done to her.
Her small eyes rolled in their sockets, taking in the scene around her. She was still at the bottom of the grand stairs where they had pushed her down from.
"Huh? Why can't I move?"
{Host scan}
"Eh? What's this?" She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the green gothic font writing that appeared before her.
She shut her eyes tight when it scanned her face and only opened them to see ...
{Host identified}
"I really wish I understood what was going on." She simply said, pursing her lips.
"Hello."
She badly wanted to turn to the voice but she froze when the voice resounded in her head.
"Please don't fret. I'm your Life system."
"Life... system?"
"You've been a heroine in your past life, and because of your overwhelming compassionatism, you've been given a chance to occupy the dead body of this host in another world."
"I transmigrated?" Well, she previously lived in a world of magic, this wasn't more shocking than that other things she's heard before, so it was better to go with the flow. "Okay but... what exactly is this life system about and these writings?"
"The life system enables you to earn points from completing several quests and earning a longer life span."
"Is that necessary?"
"Since there was manna in your world... It so happens that you acquired a system that let's you use some. There's no manna in this world, so your life span detoriates the longer you stay here."
"Let me see my profile, system."
"Okay!"
The same green writings appeared before her and she read.
{Host profile}
{EXP:0}
{life span: 4 days}
{Shop: locked}
"4 days?! How do I increase my life span?"
"By Increasing your EXP."
"But I don't see any quests?"
"It's not necessary to complete a quest yet. You can earn EXP by earning money from someone."
Jiang Meiying sighed in irritation and defeat.
Just where was she going to earn any money? She didn't have a job, noone would accept her to work for them at first sight, she was still schooling, and her father wouldn't even let her have a job.
"What's shop? And why is it locked?"
"That's where you can buy so many abilities using EXP, but it unlocks when you've gained a thousand EXP. One dollar equals one EXP."
Feeling a bit satisfied that all's been explained, she finally complained.
"Why can't I move my body?"
"There's no need to worry. Your body system is just recovering from the shock wave of processing and storing the former host's memories."
Just when she was twitching her fingers, slowly moving her body, a shiny black shoe appeared inches from her twitching hand, and she looked up to see the menacing face of her father glaring coldly at her while her step-family stood behind him, giving her smug looks.
"I've just come back from a trip, and I walk in on my 'daughter' sleeping on the floor after stuffing her face once again. Tell me, were you so fat that you couldn't climb the stairs anymore? Jiang Ming, get me my staff, quickly!"