In order to better understand the late Ming history of low-ranking literati-officials, this article takes as its point of departure the unofficial history Shimu liangchao biannianshi written by Zhi Dalun. The focus will be on how Zhi Dalun’s political and academic experience influenced his unofficial history of the Jiajing and Longqing reigns. For low-ranking literati-officials in the late Ming, the writing of histories was one strategic response to their personal experience. By writing and commenting on modern events and figures, such writings reveal their private emotions, political expectations, concrete demands, and personal network. If we analyze these histories from the perspective of “living history,” not only can we supercede the flat narrative of the current historiographic landscape, but further glimpse the middle-to-low ranking literati-official’s survival strategies and the interaction between real-time factors and their history writing.