Chapter 20: Burning

The barrage of comments looked as if someone was orchestrating a massive campaign, with the screen completely dominated by requests for songs in the Western language.

Thus, under Jiang Qin’s screenshot, there was, without a doubt, a comment demanding a Western language song.

Many people were currently feeling smug behind their optical computers.

The owner of Nalan Bar was one of them.

Yesterday, his bar had lost a full third of its customers, and he had taken note.

As another bottom-tier bar on Tai Street, he would not allow Moonlight to climb above him, and he certainly wouldn't allow that guy You Wei to flaunt his success in front of him.

However, before he could even make a move, he hadn't expected the only Soother at Moonlight to be hit by a scandal.

If not now, when would be the best time to kick her while she was down?

So, without a moment’s hesitation, he spent 500,000 star coins to hire internet trolls to join in.

In his view, this female had no merits other than being beautiful and having a good singing voice; she was also incredibly stupid.

To actually dare to make such a bold claim to prove her strength.

Even if she had a massive stockpile of songs, could she really happen to match the netizens' demands?

As long as they threw something difficult at her that she couldn't sing, the popularity she had gained from winning the PK would instantly backfire!

Therefore, those in the barrage clamoring for Western language songs were partly his doing.

Not only that, he had even thought of the difficult theme for the next song.

He would choose one with a small repertoire, something very obscure; he didn't believe this little female wouldn't crash and burn.

As a B-grade male, the reason he was able to gain a foothold on Tai Street wasn't because his bar’s suppressants were better; if he didn't have a brain, he would have gone out of business countless times already.

So, when the customers started to drift away, he had an intuition: he absolutely could not let this continue.

It would be best if this little female left Moonlight Bar, or even left Azure Planet.

Otherwise, this change would endanger their entire Tai Street.

***

Jiang Qin didn't care about the choices of such malicious people; she wouldn't have been this bold if she didn't have the confidence.

So, she quickly selected a familiar song from the system.

This time, she didn't choose the guitar, but sat down in front of a piano.

Boss You Wei was truly generous; he had ordered three of every instrument for her.

One was kept at the bar, and two were sent to her apartment.

One of those was kept permanently in the apartment for her daily practice, and the other could be put into a space button to carry when she went out.

You never knew when she might be out and suddenly get inspiration that required an instrument.

At least, that was what You Wei thought.

Because he had discovered a secret: the songs Jiang Qin sang, aside from the fact that larger audiences reduced the effect, also had different effects depending on the song.

For example, that song "As You Wish" (Ru Yuan) had a slightly higher purification value than other songs.

He didn't understand the reason; he only knew that Jiang Qin was his opportunity to soar!

So, whenever he could use material goods to build a relationship, he was never stingy.

It had to be said, Jiang Qin was truly satisfied.

Especially since the craftsmanship of these instruments was excellent; for them, You Wei hadn't just spent money, he had also cashed in quite a few favors.

*Deng, deng, deng—*

The crisp piano notes rang out, and Jiang Qin closed her eyes, brewing her emotions.

"Passion is sweet

Love makes weak

You said you cherished freedom so～～"

Her red lips parted slightly, and fluent English suddenly emerged.

Although most people couldn't understand the Western language, it didn't stop them from thinking the song sounded beautiful.

Compared to the messy Western language songs currently in the music library, this was simply like the sound of heaven!

[Hiss—haha, I can understand the Western language. I can only say, those of you who don't understand the lyrics are missing out on a lot～～]

[I didn't expect the little female to be able to compose such a song. It makes my face flush and my heart race.]

[Is this what you call illiterate? She can compose, sing, and speak fluent Western language?]

[I don't understand it; for a moment, I couldn't tell who the illiterate one was.]

[I don't understand it, but I think it sounds great +1.]

[+Optical computer ID, I love it~]

"My skin's still burning from your touch～～"

The ethereal voice carried a tingling sensation. Those who couldn't understand it only felt as if a hook was tickling their hearts.

There was a strange desire that couldn't be expressed, and they didn't know how to describe it, but they just felt that after listening to this song, there was something in their hearts that wanted to be released.

As for those who understood, they were already blushing and lost in wild fantasies.

You Wei’s family still had people who spoke the Western language. Although he wasn't proficient, he could generally understand it.

He never expected that just as he entered the live stream, he would hear such a lyric.

He instantly felt awkward.

The song was good, and the listener felt like they were seeing heaven, yet unable to touch or reach it, but these lyrics...

In his eyes, Jiang Qin was just a poor child; she was still a child!

How could she describe such things in such detail?

God, what kind of life had she lived before?

At this moment, You Wei only felt the anger in his heart rising. Thinking of the information he saw when he helped Jiang Qin apply for her citizenship, he felt even more pity.

He was over fifty this year and had no partner; it was very likely he would never have his own offspring in his life.

So, he couldn't understand why a cub would grow up so miserably.

Where was her family?

Even for a citizen of a barren planet, a family that had given birth to a C-grade female shouldn't be that bad.

Yet, Jiang Qin hadn't even attended school.

It was hard to imagine under what difficult conditions she had learned to compose, sing, and speak the Western language.

He couldn't even imagine what kind of chaotic place she must have lived in to write such a song...

Jiang Qin: T_T Actually, I just spent some Reputation Points.

However, You Wei didn't know she had a cheat code for life.

In his mind, a picture had already been painted.

A pitiful little girl silently crouching in a corner, enduring hunger.

And her mother likely mated with a partner right in front of her, and very likely described the sensations, or even taught the young female such things.

At the thought of this, You Wei felt his world collapsing.

He hadn't dared to ask about Jiang Qin's family before because he was afraid of asking about her painful past.

After all, if she still had family to love her, the newly adult Jiang Qin wouldn't need to come out to find work.

But he hadn't expected that things might be even more terrifying than he thought.

Perhaps it was necessary for him to look into Jiang Qin's family.

Abusing a cub was a crime!

But he was afraid of making Jiang Qin unhappy, so he hesitated for a moment.

No one would want their sordid past to be known...

After thinking about it, You Wei still didn't press the communication button for that person.

Looking at the girl in the live stream, immersed in her song, perhaps her current life was already what she wanted.

He would just have to take better care of this poor child.

《Burning》Maria Arredondo version

Translation from Kugou

(End of chapter)