SLAP—
The sharp pain on her cheek instantly snapped the dazed Jiang Qin back to her senses.
Her furious mother, Jiang Yulian. Jiang Ruming, with blood trickling down her forehead. Her younger brother, Jiang Ruhai, glaring at her with hatred. And all the other looks of disgust.
"Jiang Qin, if anything happens to Ruming, even if you are my own child, I will personally throw you in prison!"
Then, everyone rushed to take Jiang Ruming to the hospital. Not a single person paused for her.
No one was willing to listen to a word of her explanation.
Because they all believed that she, coming from a Barren Star, was rotten to the core.
That she was, down to her very bones, a vicious little female.
"Heh..." Jiang Qin slowly raised a hand, gently touching her slightly swollen cheek.
A smile played on her lips, but it was filled with bitterness.
She closed her eyes in agony.
'I'm alive again...'
This was already her third life!
In her first life, she was an orphan. She shot to internet fame in an instant thanks to her beautiful face, which was featured in a live reality show about life in an orphanage.
She was only ten years old that year.
Her newfound fame brought all sorts of offers. Some companies wanted to sign her, but even more people wanted to adopt her.
Even at her young age, she understood that those kind-looking potential adopters were only interested in her popularity.
But all their plans came to nothing, because the orphanage's director was even greedier than they were.
Because she had been pretty since she was little, she was often bullied by the other children at the orphanage.
Whenever potential adopters came, she would always be locked in a room and forbidden from coming out.
This situation only improved when she was seven, after a ten-year-old girl arrived at the orphanage.
An Xin was a gentle yet tough older sister figure. She couldn't stand the bullying in the orphanage, and whenever she saw it, she would always see it through to the end.
Though she looked soft and weak, she fought as if her life depended on it.
Jiang Qin had been protected by her many times.
Starting from the year she turned eight, the children who wanted to bully her no longer dared to do it openly, resorting to ostracizing her in secret.
However, this wonderful girl was diagnosed with leukemia.
This was also why she was willing to refuse adoption and promise the director she would obediently earn money for him.
The condition was that An Xin would receive treatment.
To make a quick buck, the director booked her for many variety shows and commercials, and also arranged numerous lessons for singing, dancing, musical instruments, and the like.
As her fame grew, the director's earnings increased, and she became busier and busier...
So busy that she had no time for school, no time to rest.
But every time she saw the pale, weak An Xin in the hospital room, her head already shaved, she felt it was all worth it.
No one understood how much she longed for a family to protect her when she was bullied, which was why An Xin was special to her.
Many children were protected by An Xin, but the only person who protected Jiang Qin was An Xin.
***
In her first life, her life ended at thirteen, when a climbing rope snapped during a variety show.
When she woke up again, she found herself in a dark space, her body exceptionally weak.
During occasional moments of lucidity, she gradually became able to hear sounds from the outside world.
It was only then that she realized she had been reborn in her mother's womb.
The woman always spoke to her with love and anticipation, and she was even more thrilled when she found out she was having a girl.
There were also several male voices. One was her biological father, and a few others were her mother's other partners, who all called themselves her father.
From these voices, she also came to understand that after her death, she had transmigrated to an Interstellar era.
The male-to-female ratio was 1000:1, so girls were exceptionally sought-after.
So in this life, she was born bearing the hopes and love of many people. She was no longer an abandoned baby.
However, disaster always strikes when you least expect it.
The spaceship Jiang Yulian was on was hijacked by Star Thieves, and in her terror, she gave birth to her prematurely.
Then, in the chaos, she was snatched away by the Star Thieves.
After that, she ended up on a Barren Star. The Star Thief who had stolen her died from his severe injuries before he could sell her.
After being passed through several hands by those who found her, she stumbled through childhood until she managed to escape at the age of seven. From then on, she lived near a garbage dump, surviving by scavenging and killing rat-like Alien Beasts.
Because she had transmigrated with her memories intact, Jiang Qin always remembered that her parents in this life loved her very much.
Especially the loving and tender look in Jiang Yulian's eyes on the day she was born—that memory supported her through countless days and nights, giving her the strength to survive and find her way home.
In her previous life, she had also returned to the Jiang Family at the age of eighteen.
However, reality was different from her memories.
Her very loving mother now had a daughter by her side—the orphan left behind by Jiang Yulian's own brother, named Jiang Ruming.
Her father had died on the road searching for her; he had been gone for ten years.
Those partners of her mother's, who had once vied to be her father, now only doted on Jiang Ruming.
And her three younger half-brothers were wary of her, afraid that this barbarian from a Barren Star would bully the delicate Jiang Ruming.
Jiang Qin's feelings toward Jiang Ruming were complicated.
In her past life, the attitude of this cousin—her sister in name only—was always changing.
Sometimes she would play tricks to frame her and compete for affection; other times, perhaps out of insecurity, she would be exceptionally caring.
Her behavior always made Jiang Qin think that if she just tried to get along with her, they could truly become sisters.
And then their family wouldn't be put in a difficult position, wouldn't have to choose sides between them.
In truth, the main reason was Jiang Ruming's face, which looked quite a bit like An Xin's.
Especially when she pretended to be gentle...
That was why she wanted to get along with her.
...
At this thought, the grief-stricken Jiang Qin opened her eyes, her gaze now much calmer.
'It just goes to show, some things can't be forced.'
'I was born an abandoned child. How could I dare to hope for so-called family affection?'
'In this world, nothing belongs to me, and no one will ever choose me without hesitation.'
'Since heaven has taken pity and let me start over, I won't chase after a family that isn't mine this time.'
'I want to live well for once.'
'Live for myself, just this once.'
***
At that moment, in the hospital, everyone from the Jiang Family was anxiously watching Jiang Ruming lie inside a Healing Pod.
Jiang Ruhai, the eldest son of Jiang Yulian and her third partner, was speaking with a face full of indignation.
"Mother, you really can't keep coddling Jiang Qin. If this goes on, she'll torment Sister to death!"
That's right. In his heart, only Jiang Ruming was his real sister. Jiang Qin was just an outsider who had suddenly appeared.
So what if she was a precious female? All he knew was that from a young age, his parents had taught him that he must love and protect his sister.
His sister was a delicate little female. As a male, he had to protect her, even at the cost of his own life!