Slap—
The sudden pain on her cheek immediately woke Jiang Qin from her dazed state.
Her angry mother, Jiang Yulian, her older sister, Jiang Rumeng, who was bleeding from her forehead, her brother, Jiang Ruhai, glaring at her with hatred, and the various disgusted looks around her.
"Jiang Qin, if anything happens to Rumeng, even though you're my child, I will personally send you to jail!"
Next, everyone rushed to send Jiang Rumeng to the hospital, but no one stayed behind to help her.
No one was willing to listen to her explanation.
Because they all believed that she, coming from a barren planet, had deep-rooted flaws.
From the very core, she was a malicious little female.
"Heh..." Jiang Qin slowly raised her hand and gently touched her slightly swollen cheek.
Despite the smile on her lips, it was filled with bitterness.
She closed her eyes in pain.
She was alive again…
This was already her third life!
In her first life, she was an orphan. Due to a live-streamed variety show about life in an orphanage, her pretty face quickly made her a sensation online.
She was only ten years old that year.
With her rise in popularity came various invitations—some companies wanted to sign her, and many people wanted to adopt her.
Even though she was young, she understood that those kind-hearted looking adoptive parents were only after her fame.
But their plans failed because the orphanage director was even greedier than them.
Having grown up pretty, she had been bullied by many children in the orphanage.
Whenever an adoptive parent came, she would always be locked in a room and forbidden to come out.
This continued until she was seven, when a ten-year-old girl arrived at the orphanage, and things began to improve.
Anxin was a gentle yet strong big sister who couldn't stand the bullying in the orphanage and would always intervene whenever she saw it.
Though she looked delicate, when it came to fighting, she was fearless.
Jiang Qin had been protected by her many times.
From the time she was eight, the kids who used to bully her no longer dared to do so openly, resorting to only covert exclusion.
However, this kind-hearted girl was diagnosed with leukemia.
This was also the reason why she refused to be adopted and agreed to listen to the director, working hard to make money for him.
The condition was that Anxin would receive treatment.
To make quick money, the director arranged numerous variety shows, advertisements, and courses related to singing, dancing, and instruments for her.
As her fame grew, the director made more and more money, and she became busier and busier...
So busy that she had no time for school or rest.
But every time she saw Anxin in the hospital, pale and frail, her head shaved, she felt that it was all worth it.
No one understood how desperately she had longed for a family to protect her when she was being bullied, so Anxin was different to her.
Many children were protected by Anxin, but the one who protected Jiang Qin was only Anxin.
In her first life, her life ended at thirteen, when a rock climbing rope broke during a variety show.
When she woke up again, she found herself in a dark space, her body extremely weak.
With occasional moments of consciousness, she slowly began to hear voices from the outside world.
Then, she realized that she had been reborn in her mother's womb.
A woman spoke to her with love and anticipation, and when she found out she was a girl, she became even more excited.
There were also several male voices—one was her biological father, and the others were her mother's partners, all referring to themselves as her father.
From these voices, she also understood that after her death, she had crossed into the starry skies.
The male-to-female ratio in the starry world was 1000:1, making females highly cherished.
Thus, in this life, she was born with the love and expectations of many, no longer an abandoned child.
However, fate was always so unpredictable.
Jiang Yulian's spaceship was hijacked by space pirates, and in the panic, she gave birth to her prematurely.
In the ensuing chaos, she was taken by the pirates.
Afterward, she ended up on a barren planet, and the pirate who took her died from injuries before he could sell her.
She was passed around several times and, at seven years old, managed to escape. She lived near a garbage dump, surviving by scavenging and hunting mutant rodents.
Because she had her memories from her past life, Jiang Qin always remembered how much her parents loved her in this life.
Especially the loving look her mother, Jiang Yulian, gave her the day she was born, which sustained her through many long nights and kept her going, helping her find the way back home.
In her previous life, she also returned to the Jiang family when she was eighteen.
However, the reality was different from what she remembered.
Her loving mother now had a daughter, Jiang Rumeng, the orphan left behind by Jiang Yulian's older brother.
Her father had died on the way to find her, ten years ago.
The partners of her mother who had fought to become her father were all excessively doting on Jiang Rumeng.
And her three half-brothers, who shared the same mother but different fathers, were especially wary of her, fearing that this "wild child" who had returned from a barren planet would bully the delicate Jiang Rumeng.
Jiang Qin's feelings towards Jiang Rumeng were complicated.
In her previous life, this actual cousin, who was her nominal sister, always had a fluctuating attitude towards her.
Sometimes, she would use schemes to frame her and compete for affection, but other times, she would act concerned and kind due to her own insecurity.
Her attitude made Jiang Qin believe that as long as she got along with her, they could become sisters.
This way, the family wouldn't have to choose sides, and there would be no more conflict between them.
In fact, the main reason she wanted to get along with her was that Jiang Rumeng's face resembled Anxin's to some extent.
Especially when she pretended to be gentle…
That's why she wanted to have a good relationship with her.
...
With these thoughts, Jiang Qin opened her eyes, her heart full of pain, but her gaze had become much calmer.
The truth was that some things couldn't be forced.
She was born an abandoned child—how could she dare to hope for so-called familial love?
Nothing in this world truly belonged to her, and no one could ever truly choose her.
Since the heavens had shown mercy, allowing her to live again, she would not chase after family members who didn't belong to her this time.
She wanted to live well, just for herself.
To live once, for herself.
At the hospital, all the members of the Jiang family were anxiously watching Jiang Rumeng lying in the treatment chamber.
Jiang Ruhai, the eldest son of Jiang Yulian and her third partner, was fuming as he said:
"Mother, you really can't spoil Jiang Qin anymore! If this continues, sister will be tortured to death by her!"
Indeed, in his mind, only Jiang Rumeng was his true sister, and Jiang Qin was just an outsider who had suddenly appeared.
Even if she was a precious female, it didn't matter to him. He only knew that from a young age, his parents had always taught him to take care of his sister.
Sister was a fragile little female, and as a male, he had to protect her, even if it meant sacrificing his life!