Chapter 14: Caught in a Plagiarism Scandal

Just after listening to the voicemail, You Wei’s call came through.

His tone was cautious. “Miss Jiang, have you seen those things online?”

“Online?” Jiang Qin was a bit confused. “I just woke up.”

She clearly heard You Wei exhale in relief.

“That’s good. For now, don’t check StarNet. It seems like a rival is targeting us. I’ll have someone deal with it. Stay safe in your apartment. Work can wait; come back only when I notify you.”

Jiang Qin didn’t know what had happened but agreed for the time being.

After hanging up, she checked StarNet.

What was just a smear against a small bar on a second-class planet had somehow ranked in the top ten trending topics across the entire network. One could only imagine how much money was behind this attack.

According to You Wei’s guess, it was probably the work of competing bars on the same street.

Yet Jiang Qin harbored doubts.

She had rejected many companies’ offers yesterday; perhaps those people wanted to teach her a lesson.

Moreover, her new song, “Wish Fulfilled,” had climbed to eighth place on the charts.

But downloads had plateaued, and netizens were accusing her of plagiarism.

There was also disdain for her as a female from a low-tier planet, along with contempt for her “ungrateful” behavior.

No one from the Jiang family stepped forward to clear her name.

This was expected.

From the start, when the Jiang family had secretly sent a private ship to fetch her, avoiding public attention and never revealing her existence, she knew.

They looked down on her origins and were even more disgusted by her inability to operate a household robot or recognize all the characters when she first came to the Jiang family.

Now she could read, thanks to the memories from her previous life after rebirth.

In her past life, she never got to attend school, but she never gave up. She always remembered the phrase posted on the school wall in her first life: “Knowledge changes destiny.”

Since she couldn’t go to school, she took online courses on StarNet, starting with preschool lessons.

Although she was no academic genius now, calling her illiterate was truly an exaggeration.

But no one knew this. People had already labeled her as illiterate, someone who had never attended school. How else could she know so many new songs?

Without a doubt, they insisted it was plagiarism.

So now, people were demanding the removal of the three songs she had uploaded, claiming it was unfair to other singers.

Jiang Qin fell into deep thought.

She suddenly realized that although she hardly ever left her door, she had quite a few enemies.

First, those she had rejected might seek revenge for their wounded pride.

Then there were competitors among the bars.

And the new song charts.

“Anonymous Comfort” was about to break into the top ten. If nothing unexpected happened, by the end of the month’s settlement, she would have at least two songs in the top ten.

If her songs were pulled now, the rankings would shift, and those two would drop below the cutoff.

The top ten was a clear dividing line from the rest.

As a C-level female without backing, occupying two spots was already a sore point. It was no surprise someone would try to bring her down.

The final suspect was Jiang Rumeng.

Though the Jiang family disliked her, she was still a female with blood ties to Jiang Yulian, so no one would harm her.

Even Jiang Ruhai could only hurl insults.

The only one who might deal with her was Jiang Rumeng, but her actions were illogical. Jiang Qin had no idea what would motivate her to harm her.

In their last life, Jiang Rumeng was already disliked by Jiang Yulian, yet she still harmed her, then tried to help afterward — a strange contradiction of harming and atonement.

***

When You Wei said he would find someone to solve it, he meant repeatedly reporting the posts, deleting comments.

He also hired his lawyer friends to send lawsuits to those marketing accounts, suing them for cyberbullying females and spreading personal information.

As for defamation, he dared not sue.

Though he didn’t know Jiang Qin well, much of what was online was true.

He wasn’t sure if she had plagiarized, so to be safe, he ignored that accusation since there were enough charges.

Interstellar society cared a lot about issues involving females.

After reports, by noon, all those posts and trending topics had vanished.

But the rumors had already spread widely, and doubts about plagiarism hadn’t ceased.

Pan Yangxia was a music student at Mocha University and had become a devoted fan after watching Jiang Qin’s piano performance video.

He refused to believe the sudden online smear, choosing instead to trust what he had seen firsthand.

So he posted online with the title:

“Piano: One of the Ancient Instruments”

Overnight, my idol’s blackened reputation spread everywhere.

She’s just a comforter at a small bar. I don’t understand whose territory she’s encroached on.

I’m not sure about the other slanders, but I can’t accept the accusations against her songs.

Let me first educate you about the instrument Jiang Qin plays during work — the piano, which originated three thousand years ago.

It’s an ancient instrument, now only recorded in some household registries, so many might not recognize it.

But Jiang Qin not only recognizes it but can play it. Doesn’t that prove her skill?

In this age where any sound can be synthesized, shouldn’t someone who can play an ancient instrument be called a musician?

Or are you just discriminating against her for being a female from a barren planet?

Though Pan Yangxia was an ordinary student, he occasionally streamed singing and had a fair number of fans.

He was handsome and had already been contacted by several companies to sign contracts, but he wanted to graduate first before officially debuting.

Just as his post went up, his fans received notifications and eagerly logged in.

Instead, they saw their favorite streamer speaking up for someone else...

“...Speechless. I thought Xiaxia finally remembered his neural implant password, but turns out he’s online defending someone else.”

“Xiaxia should delete that post. Snakes get bitten — better stay out of it.”

“Yeah, and you don’t even know that female. What if it’s all true? Then everyone will blame you.”

“Sigh, I love those two songs too. Too bad we probably won’t hear them anymore.”

“They’ll probably get taken down soon. Once enough reports come in, it goes under review.”

“That won’t happen, right? If she plagiarized, there should be an original to accuse her. Why hasn’t anyone spoken up?”

“You’re a prophet? The original plagiarized artist just came forward. Everyone, go check it out!”