Jiang Nuan

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Jiang Nuan (姜暖)
Alias(es)	Nuan Nuan; Nuannuan 15 53
Gender	Female
Age	Ten at the beginning of her third life 1
Affiliation	Great Xia imperial family 1 3
Occupation/Role	Imperial princess; Guagua’s host; patron of technological, agricultural, and educational projects 1 22 149 230
Titles	Ninth Princess; Princess Auspicious Harmony; later Grand Princess 119 241
Parents	Emperor Jiang Yunsheng and Empress Xiao Xiao; initially believed to be Concubine Liu’s daughter 3
Residence	Initially Listening to Rain Pavilion; later Hibiscus Pavilion; a Princess’s Residence is subsequently built in Rui’an County 4 244
Fief	Auspicious Peace County is named as her fief during her confrontation with Lin Zhe; Rui’an County is identified as her fief in the finale 119 244
Status	Alive at the main-story finale. The Heavenly Screen side stories describe her eventual cremation and memorial 244 249
First Appearance	Chapter 1 1

Power Progression

Jiang Nuan’s documented progression concerns system access and granted abilities, rather than cultivation realms.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Gossip System host	1	Returns to her childhood with Guagua, which supplies private secrets and information about people’s futures.
Guagua reaches system level three	22	Jiang Nuan spends 160,000 taels on the upgrade so Guagua can manifest physically. No other new abilities are known to her at the time.
System storage access documented	26	Keeps emergency medicine in system storage and uses a fever-reducing pill to help An Yan.
Invisibility skill acquired	173	Receives the skill from the Check-In System. It provides two hours of daily use; Advanced Mode also grants intangibility but consumes the allowance twice as quickly.

Background / History

Birth and neglected childhood

Jiang Nuan is the biological daughter of Jiang Yunsheng and Xiao Xiao. Concubine Liu arranged a baby switch after inducing premature labor, but Liu’s own child was stillborn. Liu died before concealing all evidence, and Jiang Nuan was raised as her daughter while Xiao Xiao believed her own daughter had died 3 4.

The emperor barely recognized Jiang Nuan, while Xiao Xiao paid little attention to the child she associated with Liu’s betrayal. Palace servants exploited that neglect: Jiang Nuan lacked adequate food and warm clothing, wore patched garments, and lived in the dilapidated Listening to Rain Pavilion 1 2 3 4.

Three lives

In her first life, Jiang Nuan lived through Great Xia’s decline. Jiang Yehua quietly removed her from the palace and supported her in a private residence, giving her the happiest period of that life. After a new ruler discovered her and attempted to use her for a political marriage to the invading ruler, she jumped from the city wall 1 27.

She was then reborn in the modern world, received twenty years of education, and became a teacher. After dying while saving someone, she returned to Great Xia as her ten-year-old self, retaining memories of both previous lives 1 15 160.

Her modern-world friend Cen Xue had given her a box of books and seeds as a joke inspired by her enthusiasm for time-travel novels. The box accompanied her return and became a major resource for her projects 160.

Appearance

• Initially frail and malnourished: Her small figure and shabby, patched clothing make her mistreatment visible 3.
• Small stature: Early in the story, she is barely taller than the kitchen stove; Xue Jian later observes that she barely reaches his waist 35 68.
• New Year’s attire: Wears a festive red outfit and treasures an awkwardly embroidered sachet made by Xiao Xiao 70.
• False-deity disguise: At Great River Village, wears a flowing white dress, a gilded mask, and concealed height-boosting insoles, while altering her voice 190.

Personality

Jiang Nuan is irreverent in thought but often formally polite aloud. She initially calls Jiang Yunsheng her “scumbag dad” and assumes his intervention is about imperial authority rather than affection. Her enthusiasm for roast chicken, gold, and scandal repeatedly interrupts more solemn palace business 1 2 3 6.

Her experience of hunger makes other people’s deprivation personal to her. Seeing refugees directly prompts her to commit to changing Great Xia rather than merely escaping its downfall. She rewards agricultural workers, finances schools, and refuses money from a poor family whose children she rescued 15 149 205 230.

Her compassion does not prevent firm judgment. She recommends executing guilty officials while rejecting the proposed extermination of three degrees of kin. She also insists that servants’ lives deserve legal protection, even when their abuser is a prospective Crown Princess 3 4 133.

Despite her modern memories, she becomes increasingly childlike and recognizes this as a return to her own nature. She enjoys sibling teasing but dislikes being the center of a crowd’s attention, and her newfound family affection leaves her vulnerable to doubts about whether she is genuinely loved 28 53 238.

Jiang Nuan wants a carefree “salted fish” life, not sovereign power. She refuses the position of Crown Princess because of its workload and accepts the Grand Princess title only after learning that it carries no duties. Nevertheless, she agrees that she would help Jiang Chengze if he truly needed her 240 241.

Abilities & Skills

Gossip System: Guagua

Guagua is Jiang Nuan’s principal source of hidden information. Its revelations cover concealed relationships, crimes, identities, motives, and future tragedies 1 3 5 104.

• Exposes palace misconduct, including Attendant An’s affair and the deception surrounding Jiang Nuan’s birth 2 3.
• Provides specific intelligence about the Hu raid, including its timing and expected casualties 5.
• Identifies rebel connections, escape routes, and a suspected insider at the Court of Judicial Review 81.
• Helps investigate marriage candidates and fraudulent relationships 78 102 133.
• Can gather information into a written note and place it in the emperor’s book 5.
• Some tasks consume energy, which Jiang Nuan associates with monetary costs; she therefore copies the gunpowder formula herself 22.
• Investigations can be limited by the available information, as with the initial inquiry into Shao Wenrui 78.

Memories and Foreknowledge

Jiang Nuan remembers Great Xia’s original future, including the emperor’s death in six years and the dynasty’s fall in seven. Guagua supplies details she did not personally know 1 4 70.

• Recognizes future dangers to Jiang Chengze, Jiang Yehua, and other members of the imperial household 7 27 70.
• Uses remembered tragedies to identify people who need help, including Lin Mingxu and his mother 104 105.
• Understands that her interventions create a butterfly effect and may alter events unpredictably 26.
• Her knowledge is not equivalent to universal expertise: she cannot assess military tactics or training beyond admiring the soldiers 64.

Audible Inner Thoughts

Other people can hear Jiang Nuan’s private thoughts and her exchanges with Guagua. This is a phenomenon affecting her, not an ability she initially knows how to use 1 10.

• First documented listeners include Jiang Yunsheng and Wang Dehai; Xiao Xiao subsequently discovers that she can hear Jiang Nuan as well 1 3.
• At her first court attendance, everyone in the hall hears her thoughts and Guagua’s voice 10.
• A mysterious force prevents listeners from directly telling her about the phenomenon. Cen Xue experiences suffocation when attempting to warn her 4 160.
• Invisibility does not conceal her thoughts: Jiang Yunsheng, Jiang Chengze, and Chi Hengji detect her unseen presence through them 173.
• Jiang Nuan eventually tests the phenomenon through deliberately provocative thoughts. She and Guagua suspect that access is limited by group, but their proposed boundaries remain uncertain 238.

Invisibility and Intangibility

The Check-In System gives Jiang Nuan Invisibility partly because she treats Guagua well 173.

• Daily allowance: Two hours 173.
• Advanced Mode: Makes her intangible as well as invisible, consuming time twice as quickly 173.
• Demonstrated use: Avoids colliding with Chi Hengji by switching to Advanced Mode 173.
• Other applications: Enables covert investigation and theatrical appearances as a deity 198 190.
• Limit: Does not stop eligible listeners from hearing her thoughts 173.

Technical Knowledge and Project Organization

Jiang Nuan combines modern education with the Guidebook for Time Travelers. She usually provides designs, explanations, funding, or incentives while specialists carry out development 22 64 66 150.

• Redirects alchemists toward useful research and promises to petition for honorary titles and fiefs for major contributions 22.
• Recruits Black Earth School craftsmen through medical assistance, blueprints, financial rewards, and court recognition 65 66 68.
• Explains assembly-line production to Chi Hengji to accelerate manufacture of the Curved Shaft Plow 86.
• Gives Feng Qiuyan a basic explanation of inheritance and plant breeding, explicitly leaving further research to him 150.
• Recognizes material and production limits: scarce seasonings delay a hot-pot restaurant, limited seeds slow crop distribution, and Great Xia cannot manufacture every advanced weapon she can imagine 63 149 112.

Fortune-Telling and Persuasion

Jiang Nuan presents information from Guagua as fortune-telling, winning credibility through highly specific disclosures 205 235.

• Exposes wrongdoers and has them handed over to the authorities 205.
• Reveals Liu Daniu’s private information to overcome the magistrate’s messengers’ disbelief 205.
• Impresses Chen Mo, who acknowledges that her readings surpass his own 235.
• Uses knowledge of Zhang Liang’s childhood and ambitions to encourage him to abandon hostility toward Great Xia 218.
• Adopts a divine persona when villagers are more likely to heed an immortal than an ordinary warning 187 190.

Projects & Contributions

Field	Project	Documented contribution
Disaster relief	Anti-fraud measures	Suggests adding sand to relief rice to discourage theft and make stolen grain identifiable 16.
Metallurgy	Improved iron production	Supplies plans for a recirculating furnace. A kitchen knife made from the resulting metal splits an ordinary dagger without damage; she agrees to share the method with the army 63.
Cavalry equipment	Saddles and horseshoes	Notices their absence during a military review, finds instructions in her guidebook, and decides to entrust development to Jiang Chengze 64.
Agriculture	Curved Shaft Plow	Provides the design to the Black Earth School. Testing demonstrates that it needs one ox instead of two and reduces the operator’s exhaustion 74 85.
Agriculture	Potatoes and sweet potatoes	Establishes experimental plots using modern-world seeds, preserving the initial crops for seed multiplication before wider distribution 149.
Paper production	Affordable paper	Plans to make paper accessible to ordinary people; increased Black Earth School manpower allows development to begin 74.
Gunpowder	Alchemist research program	Copies a formula from her guidebook and directs the alchemists toward controllable, powerful gunpowder 22.
Entertainment	Fireworks, cards, and Mahjong	Adapts weaker gunpowder into fireworks and introduces new games to her family 74.
Armaments	New-Model Hand Cannons	Presents ten experimental large cannons. A demonstration shatters rocks and leaves a roughly two-meter crater 111.
Reconnaissance	Telescopes	Introduces approximately ten telescopes after glass production becomes available; their demonstration helps expose a Goryeo spy 112.
Glass	Commercial production	Initially sells expensive glass, then makes it an ordinary household commodity as supply increases and prices fall 243.
Commerce and welfare	Cheap ice and schools	Uses profits from inexpensive ice to support further school-building 230.
Fragrance business	Jin Yueyi’s shop	Recognizes her aunt’s fragrance-making talent and proposes a shop partnership; the shop is later operating successfully 75 128.
Medicine	Prescriptions and emergency supplies	Helps save Chi Hengji through a prescription, treats An Yan’s fever with stored medicine, and arranges expert care for Lin Mingxu’s mother 26 53 105.

Equipment / Items

• Gift box from Cen Xue — Contains books and seeds brought from the modern world; originally intended as a playful birthday gift 160.
• Guidebook for Time Travelers — Supplies practical instructions for gunpowder, saddles, horseshoes, and other projects 22 64.
• System storage — Holds emergency medicine and items used during her travels, including her false-deity costume 26 190.
• Imperial Token — Establishes her royal authority, although Lin Zhe and Cen Yansheng dismiss it as forged 119 164.
• Colored-gold doll — A rare, valuable jointed doll crafted by Chi Hengji in her likeness. Jiang Nuan initially appreciates its material without recognizing the likeness 53.
• Xiao Xiao’s embroidered sachet — Treasured despite its awkward stitching 70.
• Jade Buddha — Given to her by Jin Yueyi at Stillness Temple 75.
• Bagua jade pendant — Given by Chen Wei; can summon someone to guide her to Heaven and Earth Mountain 222.
• Guagua’s birthday necklace — Contains a special stone said to promote health and longevity 233.
• Magical candy — Obtained by Guagua to relieve her carriage-travel discomfort 216.

Relationships

• Guagua — System companion and chosen family. Jiang Nuan spends her savings to give it a physical form, and the pair commit to changing Great Xia together 15 22.
• Jiang Yunsheng — Father. Their relationship develops from neglect and distrust into affectionate teasing and cooperation, though his use of her thoughts becomes a source of conflict 1 9 239 241.
• Xiao Xiao — Biological mother. The birth-switch revelation turns regret into determined protection; ordinary acts such as cooking for Jiang Nuan mean deeply to her 3 4 16.
• Jiang Chengze — Crown Prince and elder brother. Supports her projects, promises fair compensation for her manufacturing method, and willingly supports her proposed appointment as imperial heir 63 240.
• Jiang Yehua — Fourth Brother and a trusted protector. Sheltered her in her first life and later helps reassure her that the family’s affection is genuine 27 239 240.
• Jiang Gaoyan — Younger brother. Jiang Nuan immediately warms to him and becomes furious upon learning that Jiang Ruihui arranged his death in the original future 70.
• Cen Xue — Best friend from the modern world and fellow world-traveler. Jiang Nuan protects her from her family’s marriage scheme, brings her on the inspection tour, and relies on her emotional support 160 161 164 172 240.
• An Yan — Rescued friend whom Jiang Nuan calls her big sister. Their bond includes shared meals, gifts, shopping, and business plans 26 28 42.
• Yun Shining — Close friend and supporter who helps develop Rui’an County alongside Cen Xue and An Yan 240 244.
• Chi Hengji — Chancellor, idol, collaborator, and later pen pal. He thanks her for saving his life; the Heavenly Screen identifies him as her future prince consort 53 86 230 247.
• Chunhua and Qiuyue — Martial-skilled attendants and protectors. Defend her against hostile officials and accompany her investigations and travels 105 119 190.
• Wang Dehai — Chief eunuch and one of the first listeners to her thoughts. Jiang Nuan admires his loyalty after learning of his original future defense of the fallen capital 1 2.
• Jin Yueyi — Imperial aunt and fragrance-business partner. Jiang Nuan supports her talent and independence while teasing Jiang Yan about his attempts at reconciliation 75 128.
• Jiang Zixuan — Cousin and gossip companion. Their initially distant relationship becomes friendly through shared outings and discussions of marriage prospects 75 78 81.
• Jiang Mengqing — Relative and prospective information-business partner. Jiang Nuan proposes secretly supplying reliable intelligence through mysterious letters 78 136.
• Lin Mingxu — Beneficiary who pledges himself to her service in exchange for help for his mother. Jiang Nuan provides money, secures Gu Qingfeng’s assistance, and encourages his studies 104 105.
• Jiao Ping and Jiao Chengwang — Black Earth School collaborators. Jiang Nuan obtains the medicinal catalyst needed to wake Chengwang and recruits their expertise for her designs 65 66 85.
• Feng Qiuyan — Agricultural researcher who recognizes the potential of her unfamiliar crops and receives her guidance on plant breeding 149 150.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Palace Recognition and Entry into Court

• Jiang Nuan’s thoughts alert Jiang Yunsheng to both the dynasty’s impending fall and her mistreatment. Guagua’s revelations then expose the birth switch, allowing Xiao Xiao to investigate and confirm her parentage 1 2 3 4.
• Her sudden favor attracts consorts competing to raise her. Their offers become involuntary occasions for revealing hidden personalities and past cruelty 5 6.
• Jiang Yunsheng brings her to court hoping to identify the causes of Great Xia’s collapse. Her thoughts instead confront the ministers with their future deaths and private scandals 9 10.

Preventing War and Redirecting Talent

• Secretly delivers intelligence about an imminent Hu raid. The resulting ambush captures 53,600 raiders and averts the original catastrophic retaliation 5 24.
• Recognizes that inventions require skilled collaborators and recruits the Black Earth School despite its historical hostility toward the dynasty 64 65 66 68.
• Helps protect promising people from futures shaped by fraud, neglect, or exclusion, including Lin Mingxu, Han Xin, and Lü Zhi 104 105 200 222.
• Her reputation for exposing wrongdoing indirectly discourages examination bribery, although she and Guagua initially do not understand why officials are behaving honestly 104.

Inspection Tour and Disaster Prevention

• Joins Jiang Yunsheng’s inspection tour and secures permission for Cen Xue to accompany her 172 174.
• Poses as an immortal to intervene against Jade Spring Village’s living-sacrifice practices 187 189 246.
• Uses Guagua’s information to map expected flood deaths and escape routes, then prepares engineering and public-health guidance 189.
• At Great River Village, publicly warns of a flood in three months and instructs residents to build a reservoir, strengthen embankments, widen river sections, and boil drinking water 190.
• Her intervention ultimately prevents the remembered floods and the subsequent plague 230.

Discovery of the Mind-Reading Phenomenon

• After noticing people avoiding her, Jiang Nuan investigates whether they can hear her thoughts 230 237 238.
• Deliberately imagines Jiang Chengze and Jiang Yehua as secret lovers; their startled responses confirm her suspicions 238.
• Withdraws for several days, fearing her family’s affection exists only because she is useful to them 238.
• Jiang Yehua and Cen Xue reassure her that the thoughts helped others understand her, but did not make their affection false 239 240.
• Rejects appointment as Crown Princess and instead accepts the duty-free title of Grand Princess 240 241.

Return to the Capital

• Helps identify Miao County rebels, undercover agents, and their plans, resolving the threat with Jiang Yunsheng and You Youyou 243.
• Returns after three years of travel to a substantially more prosperous capital 243.
• Visits Rui’an County and learns how Cen Xue, An Yan, and Yun Shining have developed it using the businesses and resources she left behind 244.

Legacy

The Heavenly Screen side stories present later generations’ accounts of Jiang Nuan. Those accounts recognize her achievements but sometimes misunderstand their causes or turn them into divine legends 245 246 247.

• Historical reputation: Credited with exposing corruption and improving opportunities for capable officials. Historians explain her insight as a “Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart,” overlooking Guagua’s role 246.
• Divine folklore: Remembered as a goddess who appeared in Jade Spring Village and ended the sacrifice of girls during disasters; residents continue believing she is divine despite her denials 246 247.
• Gunpowder reform: The screen credits her with redirecting fraudulent alchemists into respected gunpowder scientists whose work supported warfare and road construction 247.
• Misty Pavilion: Proposes a memorial honoring twenty-four meritorious officials, built in Rui’an County 247.
• Agricultural impact: Later comparisons attribute Rui’an’s transformation from poverty to prosperity to improved farming tools and crops, with benefits subsequently spreading throughout Great Xia 249.
• Marriage: The screen names Chi Hengji as her future prince consort; this is a future revelation rather than a marriage shown in the main-story finale 247.
• Memorial: Later accounts state that she and Chi Hengji were cremated according to her wishes. Rui’an nevertheless builds a commemorative castle displaying her achievements and youthful jade statues of the pair 249.

Notable Quotes

“Guagua, will you create a miracle with me? Shall we change the world together?” 15

“Can't I like both of you equally?” 53

“Imperial Father, you're exploiting child labor!” 240

Trivia

• Jiang Nuan jokes that creating miracles would make her “Miracle Nuan Nuan” 15.
• Her copied gunpowder formula is so poorly written that the alchemists mistake it for a drawing 22.
• Her plan to win money from her family at cards fails partly because her thoughts reveal her hand. They later deliberately let her win at Mahjong 74.
• Her supposed “reclusive master” is a cover story for her inventions; the ministers hear her thoughts and know she invented the explanation 111.
• She and Cen Xue speculate about spiritual roots while climbing Heaven and Earth Mountain, but Chen Mo has never heard of the cultivation concepts they discuss 235.
• Roast chicken becomes part of her later historical image: the Heavenly Screen recounts that she did not taste it until she was ten 245.