Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Ah Diao

The seventh performer was Rister from the Empire. He also chose a singer with the Mermaid Gene.

It was another showcase of high notes.

And then there was the eighth performer, Ali Cook.

They were all composers from the Empire, so naturally, they adhered to the imperial style.

All the singers they chose were Beastmen with the Mermaid Gene, and their musical style consisted of shrill, high-pitched melodies that lasted from beginning to end!

One such song might be stunning, and two might be considered good, but after the third and fourth, everyone’s eardrums just ached.

Moreover, while their styles were similar, their compositions weren’t as good as those by Jones and Finland.

So, unsurprisingly, their scores weren’t very good.

One received an average score of 87, the other 85.

They received many votes, but it was a low number compared to the other contestants—only slightly more than Hai Ning.

As of now, the duo of Hai Ning and Sak were in last place.

Finally…

It was Jiang Qin’s turn.

From an incredible angle in a corner, Beta captured a fleeting glimpse of Jiang Qin standing at the entrance to the wings.

In the interplay of light and shadow, the girl with black hair and black eyes kept her gaze lowered, her expression unreadable. The pure white diamond necklace around her neck twinkled like tiny stars.

Through her lens.

Dressed in a form-fitting black strapless mermaid gown with a long train, Jiang Qin elegantly emerged from the darkness and stepped onto the stage.

The stage was pitch-black, with no background projection, only a single, hazy beam of light shining down on Jiang Qin.

An accompaniment like the tinkling of a spring began to play.

A children’s choir began to sing in harmony.

“Yi ya yi ya yi ya yo—yi ya yi ya yi ya yo~”

“Ah Diao

Living somewhere in the southwest

Like a vulture

Perched on the mountaintop—”

That was right. Jiang Qin believed her strength lay in her storytelling, in her ability to touch the heart.

So she chose the song “Ah Diao” and altered some of the locations in the lyrics that didn’t exist in the Interstellar age.

For the Tibetan-style harmony in the middle, she had invited Jin Yuexin, a singer from Star Entertainment.

She had heard Cang Hong mention it once during a casual chat—of the three singers they had brought this time, besides himself, the other two could speak rare languages, and several at that.

Partly out of curiosity and partly to learn more, she had asked about it.

She was surprised to learn that Jin Yuexin actually knew Tibetan.

In the Interstellar age, that language was rarer than pandas.

So she had filed that information away.

After all, her music library contained many songs that involved Tibetan-style vocals.

And sure enough, it had now come in handy.

The unique vocal style and distinctive high notes added a special quality to the song.

In any case, the audience was completely captivated.

Jiang Qin’s Spiritual Body had also emerged from between her brows. Seemingly sensing her emotions, it wasn’t being mischievous, but lay quietly at her feet.

She closed her eyes and sang, her voice like that of a storyteller:

“Ah Diao

You always dress yourself

like a boy…

…

Sunken cheeks

You rarely speak

A simple answer

Where will you be tomorrow…”

At this moment, the fans who knew Jiang Qin’s story felt their hearts begin to ache for her.

It was common knowledge that Jiang Qin came from a Poverty Star. She was an orphan before she turned eighteen, and of course, she was still an orphan after.

Everyone had long since heard about the part of her childhood where she had to pretend to be a pure human male just to survive.

She never had enough to eat or warm clothes to wear, living in a tiny space sheltered by a sheet of iron.

Sure enough, Jiang Qin soon sang,

“Ah Diao

Will you be able to eat a full meal tomorrow

You’ve grown accustomed

to loneliness as a faith…”

In the audience, some people began to cry.

If loneliness were truly her faith, why would she have been willing to return to Blue Star with the Jiang Family after only a few words?

One could only imagine what a person who longed for companionship must have gone through to say that they had long grown accustomed, that loneliness had become their faith…

Her gentle, narrative singing style was like a recounting of her own life.

“A cruel fate

Fascinated by indifference

…

…

But unwilling to be defeated by mediocrity

You are Ah Diao

You are a free bird!

Heya~ heya!”

The sudden burst of power in her voice was like a life snatched from the jaws of despair.

Content to be ordinary, yet unwilling to accept defeat.

Even an ordinary person can win their own victory in life!

It was just as the rap in the middle of the song said.

Scars will eventually grow into beautiful flowers.

You can’t give up just because it hurts.

Wen Jiaqi wiped the tears blurring her vision. ’Sob… just you wait,’ she thought. ’When I get back, I’m going to find someone to dump trash at the Jiang Family’s home!’

’It’s making me furious.’

’What kind of people are they? They can lose their own child, and then not even care after they find her.’

’If they don’t care, why even bring her back? Sob…’

’It would have been better for Qin Bao to be taken in by the Female Protection Center. Life at the center would have been better than with her own mother.’

’At least she would have been able to study, would’ve had food and shelter, and could have lived on a relief stipend.’

The thought that Jiang Qin was only eighteen and, because she was an unregistered citizen, had been forced to work in a bar to earn her Blue Star citizenship certificate made Wen Jiaqi’s heart ache as she ground her teeth in anger.

Normally, an eighteen-year-old female Beastman wouldn’t have even graduated yet.

But Jiang Qin had already been struggling to survive for eighteen years.

Her childhood consisted of rummaging through garbage dumps from dawn till dusk, all for a single mouthful of expired nutrient liquid.

She had to watch out for adults fighting for scraps and worry about being forcibly dragged away and sold.

The people of the Poverty Star lived one day at a time, and most were unregistered citizens, so the planetary government didn’t bother managing the lawless areas.

They only maintained order in Central City; the other areas were left to develop savagely.

After all, a single beast tide might wipe them all out anyway.

Only the fittest could survive.

People always used her background as a female from a low-level star to attack and discriminate against Jiang Qin, but no one ever considered just how strong she had to be to have climbed her way out of there.

Even if the Jiang Family hadn’t brought her back, she would have been able to claw her way out on her own.

Those who tried to dig up dirt on Jiang Qin only ended up unearthing her shocking and harrowing experiences.

For instance, to save an older man who had only occasionally sheltered her, she gave everything she had.

That money represented years of hard work and her only hope of leaving the Poverty Star.

If she hadn’t given all her money for that man’s medical treatment, Jiang Qin would have left that godforsaken place years earlier.

In fact, it wasn’t just this once. There were many times Jiang Qin had saved up enough money.

Because according to the exposés, Jiang Qin was actually very good at making money.

But she could never hold on to it.

After reading those exposés, other people might have thought Jiang Qin was stupid, or kind to a fault.

But Wen Jiaqi felt that she just wanted to be a human, not merely a beast in human skin.

She wasn’t performing acts of charity; she was simply acting human.

The exposés mentioned a period when Jiang Qin made money very quickly, always taking repaired devices and reselling them.

But she was very cautious, never peddling her wares in the same spot and avoiding the buy-back stations.

Instead, she would travel far, gather plenty of information, and precisely market her goods to those in need.

If the people digging for dirt hadn’t investigated so thoroughly, practically digging three feet into the earth, no one would have likely ever known she had earned that much money.

But she didn’t keep that money, either.

The people digging for dirt had originally thought the destination of this money would likely be a stain on Jiang Qin’s record.

But when they investigated, they found out…

The money had gone to pay the medical bills for a young Beastman boy whose legs had both been severed.

That boy was the one who repaired the devices.

The two of them were partners: one was responsible for salvaging items from the trash and then selling them, while the other only handled repairs. They split the profits fifty-fifty.

Later, the boy’s condition worsened to the point where he would die without treatment, so Jiang Qin gave away all the money they had earned…

In the end, they still weren’t able to save him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep