"I thought I'd never eat something like this again in my life..." Nian Fu gave a quick, bitter smile as memories gradually colored her eyes.
The human brain had emotional defense mechanisms. Painful events were easily blurred into vague, empty blanks. Only when pain became routine would it leave an impossible-to-ignore streak across white paper, like a great smear of gray paint.
Most of Nian Fu's memories of the past had taken place in an orphanage.
Everything there was scarce, including food, clothing, and beds.
The director took the relief funds allocated by the Federation government and fattened himself into a pig, then let a pitiful trickle of slop slip through his teeth to feed the children in the orphanage.
As long as no one starved to death, no matter how harsh the conditions were, there would be no problem. Even if a few did starve to death, chopping them up to feed the pigs or selling them into black-market industries were both perfectly good ways to deal with them.
The children's only purpose seemed to be serving as the public face of charitable foundations, drawing donation after donation from people across society.
The rest of the time, they were cast into every corner of the orphanage like unattended little animals. Under hunger and pain, they learned the jungle law of the strong devouring the weak far too early, fighting like beasts over scarce resources.
As a child sent to the orphanage midway through her life, Nian Fu had once been the cherished jewel of a well-off family before losing her parents. She was less able than those children who had grown up in such an environment to adapt to those rules of competition.
During the first month, her food was often snatched away by the older children, and even