Chapter 62: Partiality Knows No Morality

No records of Jiang Qin’s life prior to the age of seven could be found; the investigation only yielded a rough outline of her life thereafter.

The words written on the screen were shocking.

Disguised as a pure-human male cub, sleeping in a pit covered by shattered tin sheets, relying on scavenging garbage to survive day by day...

Every day at a fixed time, she would squat in the corner of the recycling depot, just to listen to the old radio played by the recycling depot owner’s father.

Because the owner's father only tended the shop during the afternoon.

With nothing to eat or wear, her meager findings were constantly snatched away; she was beaten, driven out, and even lured away and trafficked two or three times.

Yet she was very clever, always finding an opportunity to escape after a short while.

When she reappeared, she was already living in another garbage dump.

During that period, it seemed she had been adopted a few times, though the records were inconclusive. She lived with no adults, but occasionally, for a stretch of time, she would travel and stay with the same adult.

Yet after another interval, when she surfaced again, she was once more entirely on her own.

Thus, it was difficult to be certain.

Because Jiang Qin's face was perpetually caked in grime during her time on the barren planet, and no childhood photographs remained, tracing her footprints from those years was extremely challenging.

The investigators could only ascertain that she had lived in numerous different places.

Moreover, by the time she reached her teens, she had vanished from sight entirely for several years.

When she finally reappeared, it was at the hospital in the central urban district of the barren planet; by then, she was already eighteen years old.

Shortly after, she was brought to Blue Star by the Jiang family.

And then came the events that transpired within the Jiang family following her return to Blue Star.

Specifics could not be uncovered, but at present, the only blot on Jiang Qin’s reputation was that she had allegedly harmed her older sister, Jiang Rumeng, on multiple occasions.

However, this narrative originated solely from the Jiang family themselves, unsupported by any substantive evidence.

Accusations spread purely by word of mouth were far from guaranteed to be true.

In short, whether she had ever truly harmed a female remained uncertain.

Regardless, she had never harmed any other females; the rumors merely claimed she harbored hostility toward her sister, Jiang Rumeng.

Consequently, her true character was a matter for Ning Feiyu to judge for himself.

In the Interstellar era, minor conflicts among females generally carried no criminal weight and at most resulted in a reprimand.

***

After pondering for a moment, Ning Feiyu immediately began drafting a post.

He had no idea whether Jiang Qin had ever harmed a female; he only knew that a little female who had endured such harrowing hardships deserved some leeway, even if her personality had a few flaws.

It was unimaginable where and how she had struggled during those unrecorded years.

Had it not been for her own tenacity, she might not even have survived until the day she was retrieved.

Upon returning home, she discovered an entirely different version of life—a life that should rightfully have belonged to her. What was wrong with feeling a sense of imbalance in her heart?

She was a female, not a saint.

Having read through Jiang Qin's past experiences, only a single thought occupied his mind.

If she had never been resolutely chosen by anyone, then from this day forward, he would be the one to resolutely choose her.

If she was already being resolutely chosen by many at present, then he would simply add frost to the snow!

A female who had crawled her way out of the darkness deserved to be bathed in light.

What did favoritism have to do with moral high ground?

He admitted it—he had been putting on quite an act before. He was, by nature, a capricious person who lived entirely by his whims.

If he disliked something, he would curse it.

If he liked something, he would elevate it.

There was no need to let others place him on a noble pedestal where even following a star required walking on eggshells.

Consequently, Ning Feiyu’s followers discovered that the blogger they followed had seemingly been threatened with a knife to his throat.

The person who used to spit the word "trash" at every turn, calling people the scum of the garbage, had unexpectedly started showering others with praise.

Just listen to this.

Great lyrics, great composition, and an even greater person.

Were these really words that could come out of Ning Feiyu’s mouth?

His established persona should be that of a man who wrote nonsensical lyrics, composed music that sounded more synthetic than a synthesizer, and lived off the empire's leftovers.

His past posts: eight thousand words of relentless cursing.

His post today: twenty thousand words of unadulterated praise...

The text was so dense it could rival a thesis, completely dedicated to praising the lyrical artistry of every single song from various angles.

His concluding remark: Would my fellow Jiang fans please be so kind as to drag me into the chat group? Thank you.

...

[The people who were previously cursed out are truly wronged. Turns out the price just hadn't been negotiated properly yet.]

Ning Feiyu shot back: My family owns a mine; I'm not short on money.

[Unfollowed. You even snap at your fans; you make your money in such a pathetic way.]

Ning Feiyu: For any trending search post praising Jiang Qin, send a screenshot to claim ten star coins. Limited to one hundred claims per person.

[Unfollowing was just a trick to catch your attention! Actually, Brother Yu, I am your loyal minion and also a hardcore fan of Little Qin~]

[Brother, are there still any events going on?]

Ning Feiyu: Authentic and valid.

Wasn't it just hiring internet trolls?

Ning Feiyu declared that he wasn't short on cash; all the trolls he hired were active, real accounts. Let's see how many accounts those little haters actually had.

***

Jiang Qin, who had slept all the way until noon before waking up, opened her door to find the group of internet-addicted youths sitting in her living room.

Shi Lichuan and the other two, along with Xie An安, were tapping frantically away at the glowing screens of their optical computers.

Judging by their expressions, they looked thoroughly outraged.

None of them even noticed when she opened the door.

Curious, Jiang Qin walked over and asked, "Are you guys playing a game? Why are you so worked up?"

After all, their current appearance was the spitting image of the gamers she used to see.

Their fingers operated at lightning speed while curses flew from their mouths.

"Ah, Miss Jiang, you're awake?" Xie Anan and the other three simultaneously switched off their light screens.

Each and every one of them darted their eyes about erratically—looking at the ceiling, looking at the floor, anywhere but at her.

Jiang Qin grew even more puzzled. Could it be they were afraid she would be angry at them for neglecting their duties?

"Yes, I just woke up. Did you guys run into something infuriating? From what I just saw, you looked awfully angry."

Xie Anan grew somewhat flustered.

She did not want Jiang Qin to know that many people online were cursing her, yet she clearly understood that this matter was bound to come to light.

After all, those trending search topics were still hanging there.

They had suddenly gained a massive wave of friendly reinforcements, and by now they had almost completely occupied the comment section of the trending topics.

Because everyone kept commenting, the heat had remained high without dwindling in the slightest.

The moment Jiang Qin logged onto the Star Network, the trending searches would undoubtedly be pushed right into her view...

The administrative team in the group chat had the idea of boosting the popularity of the positive reviews so that by the time Jiang Qin checked, she wouldn't see those hurtful remarks.

Yet they hadn't managed to pull that off just yet; the comment currently hanging highest with the most likes remained the one questioning Jiang Qin for fabricating ancient knowledge.

Therefore, if she went on the Star Network later, she would definitely see it...

Seeing Xie Anan stammering and Shi Lichuan's group staring fixedly at their shoes, Jiang Qin decided not to press further.

She chuckled softly and said, "It's fine, I was just casually asking out of curiosity. If Anan doesn't want to talk about it, then let's not talk about it. Everyone has embarrassing moments they prefer to keep hidden, that's completely normal.

Alright, you guys go back to playing. I'll drink a nutritional supplement and go back to my room to play with my optical computer for a bit.

I'll call you all to head out when it's time for work."

Play with her optical computer?!

Xie Anan's heart leapt into her throat, her brain racing wildly as she frantically tried to figure out how to stall Miss Jiang.

Wuwu~ Admins, save me! She really couldn't pull this off!