Chapter One: Rebirth Once More

Smack—

The sharp sting on her cheek jolted Jiang Qin back to clarity from her dazed confusion.

Her mother, Jiang Yulian, stood before her, eyes blazing with fury. Blood trickled down Jiang Rumeng’s forehead, her gaze filled with accusation. Her brother, Jiang Ruhai, glared at her with undisguised hatred, while all around her, eyes burned with contempt.

“Jiang Qin, if anything happens to Rumeng—no matter that you’re my own flesh and blood—I will personally see you behind bars!”

After that, everyone rushed to take Jiang Rumeng to the hospital. Not a single person paused for her, not one cared to hear her explanation.

They all believed the same thing: that she, born on that barren planet, was rotten to the core.

They saw her as a vicious little female, her wickedness ingrained in her very bones.

A bitter smile touched Jiang Qin’s lips as she slowly raised her hand to her swollen cheek.

Though her lips curled up as if in laughter, the taste was nothing but bitter.

She shut her eyes in anguish.

Alive again…

This was her third life.

In her first life, she had been an orphan. A reality show about life in the orphanage had catapulted her to fame overnight, thanks to her striking looks.

She had been only ten years old.

With her newfound fame came countless invitations—some companies wanted to sign her, but most people wanted to adopt her.

Even at her young age, she understood that those kindly-faced would-be parents were only drawn by her popularity.

But their schemes all failed, because the director of the orphanage was even more greedy than they were.

Because she had been pretty since childhood, she was often bullied by the other children. Whenever prospective adoptive parents came, the others would lock her in her room so she couldn’t be seen.

This went on until she was seven, when a ten-year-old girl arrived at the orphanage.

Anxin was gentle and resilient, an older sister who could not bear the bullying in the orphanage and always intervened when she saw it.

Though she looked delicate, she fought with a ferocity that bordered on reckless.

Jiang Qin had been protected by her many times.

From the age of eight, the children who wanted to bully her stopped doing so openly, resorting only to secret exclusion.

But even such a wonderful girl as Anxin was diagnosed with leukemia.

That was why Jiang Qin had agreed not to be adopted, to obey the director and make money for him—on the condition that Anxin would receive treatment.

To earn quick money, the director got her into numerous variety shows and commercials, and arranged for her to take lessons in singing, dancing, and musical instruments.

As her fame grew, so did the director’s profits, and she became busier and busier.

So busy that she had no time for school, no time to rest.

But every time she saw Anxin in the hospital—pale, weak, her head shaven—she felt it was all worth it.

No one understood how desperately she had longed for someone to protect her when she was bullied. To her, Anxin was different.

Many children were protected by Anxin, but for Jiang Qin, there was only one Anxin who cared for her.

***

Her first life ended at thirteen, when a climbing rope snapped during a variety show.

When she awoke again, she found herself in darkness, her body frail and weak.

As she drifted in and out of awareness, she gradually began to hear voices from outside.

She realized, to her shock, that she had been reborn in a womb.

A woman’s voice, filled with love and anticipation, spoke to her, and when she learned her child was a girl, her excitement was palpable.

There were many male voices as well—her biological father, and several of her mother’s partners, all calling themselves her father.

From these voices, Jiang Qin understood: in this new life, she had crossed over into an interstellar society.

The gender ratio was 1:1000, making girls especially precious.

This time, she was born into a world full of love and expectation, no longer an abandoned child.

But fate, as ever, was unpredictable.

Jiang Yulian’s spaceship was hijacked by star pirates. Terrified, Jiang Yulian gave birth to her prematurely.

Amid the chaos, Jiang Qin was snatched away by the pirates.

She ended up on a barren planet. The pirate who had taken her died from his injuries before he could sell her off.

Passed from hand to hand, she stumbled through childhood, barely surviving until she escaped at seven. From then on, she lived near a junkyard, scavenging and hunting mutant rodents to survive.

Because she carried memories from her past life, Jiang Qin always remembered her parents’ love.

Especially on the day she was born—the look of affection in Jiang Yulian’s eyes sustained her through countless lonely nights, giving her the will to survive and find her way home.

In her previous life, she had also returned to the Jiang family at eighteen.

But reality was not as she remembered.

Her loving mother now had a daughter—a girl named Jiang Rumeng, the orphaned child of Jiang Yulian’s elder brother.

Her father had died ten years earlier, lost while searching for her.

The men who once vied for the title of her father now doted only on Jiang Rumeng.

Her three half-brothers, children of different fathers, were wary of her, convinced that this wild girl from a barren world would bully the delicate Jiang Rumeng.

Jiang Qin’s feelings for Jiang Rumeng were complicated.

In her previous life, this cousin—her so-called sister—had always treated her in unpredictable ways.

Sometimes Jiang Rumeng schemed against her, competing for affection; sometimes, perhaps out of insecurity, she showed her great care.

Her shifting demeanor made Jiang Qin believe that, if only she worked hard enough to get along, they could truly be sisters.

That the family would stop taking sides, that peace could be found.

But in truth, the real reason was that Jiang Rumeng’s face bore a striking resemblance to Anxin.

Especially when she pretended to be gentle…

Thinking of this, Jiang Qin opened her eyes, her pain replaced by a newfound calm.

Some things simply cannot be forced.

Born an orphan, how could she dare hope for familial love?

Nothing in this world truly belonged to her; no one would ever choose her, unwaveringly.

Since fate had granted her yet another life, this time she would not chase after a family that was never hers.

This time, she wanted to live for herself.

To truly live, for herself.

***

Meanwhile, at the hospital, every member of the Jiang family was anxiously watching Jiang Rumeng, who lay inside the medical pod.

Jiang Ruhai, Jiang Yulian’s eldest son by her third partner, spoke with indignation:

“Mother, you can’t keep indulging Jiang Qin like this. If this continues, big sister will be tormented to death by her!”

To him, only Jiang Rumeng was his true sister. Jiang Qin was nothing but an outsider who had suddenly appeared.

So what if she was a rare female? All he knew was that, from childhood, their parents had taught him to love and protect his sister.

His sister was delicate, a little female who needed protection. As a male, it was his duty to shield her, even at the cost of his own life!