12 Chapter 12 Survival of the Fittest, Living for Survival

After our father's death, my eldest brother took over the company.

Not long after, his fiancée was killed in a drunk driving accident by our second brother. Heartbroken, he left the country in despair.

Our second brother, a headache-inducing prodigal son, was then forced to take over the Qin family industry.

Meanwhile, Qin Ruan was framed and put in jail by Han Xian and her daughter, causing the death of the child she carried due to her carelessness.

Many things happened, considering Ling Xiaoxuan's case was put aside.

In her past life, even if Qin Ruan had met Ling Xiaoxuan today, she would not have known that she was plagued by demonic entities.

Now that she had opened her Heavenly Eye, she had the responsibility to control and eradicate all evil in the world, and naturally would not allow these things to harm Ling Xiaoxuan.

"Qin Ruan, what would you like to eat? Tomato stew again? Are you sure you don't want something lighter in the morning?"

Unconsciously, the two had already stepped into the restaurant.

Ling Xiaoxuan took two plates from the cupboard and placed one into Qin Ruan's hand.

Despite asking what Qin Ruan wanted to eat, she didn't hesitate to take action.

She pulled Qin Ruan's arm and quickly came to the window where the tomato stew was served.

Qin Ruan seemed cold, but she was very affectionate. She loved tomato stew the most.

Since Ling Xiaoxuan had known her for these few months, whenever they ate together, tomato stew was always present on the table.

It showed how much she liked this dish.

Hearing about the tomato stew, Qin Ruan's eyes sparkle a hint of excitement which quickly disappeared as she simply curled the corner of her lips into a smile.

"Alright."

In her previous life, from the time when disaster struck the Qin family until her death, she had never tasted this dish again.

Now, she actually missed it a bit.

Tomato stew, this dish for Qin Ruan, cast a shadow over her before she turned eighteen in her previous life.

From the time she was taken back to the Qin family until the moment of her death, this dish became her obsession.

West City, the slum district of Capital City, was mainly populated by all sorts of desperate folk. Thieving, kidnapping and defrauding were common events.

Even in the orphanage, the children were brutal.

Qin Ruan as a child was as thin as a monkey, always hungry and cold.

As she grew older and understood the principle of survival of the fittest, she started to resist, learning the bad habits of survival in West City, just to fill her stomach, just to survive.

Qin Ruan could never forget the dreadful experience she had when she was seven.

One of the male caretakers in the orphanage was a relative of the director. He was responsible for watching all the children in the orphanage, and many children feared him.

In the summertime, the man wore short sleeves, revealing tattoos of an Azure Dragon on his left arm and a White Tiger on his right arm. With his shirt unbuttoned, there was even more black ink covering his chest.

If any child in the orphanage upset him, a beating would swiftly follow.

He mostly targeted boys, rarely being violent with girls.

Noticing this pattern, Qin Ruan took her chances and provoked him.

Each year, the orphanage received donations of money and supplies from the government, private individuals, and corporations. These usually ended up in the hands of the orphanage's director and staff.

The children pounced upon the leftover old clothes and items that seemed unimportant to them – textbooks, bags, and daily necessities.

They struggled just to survive, so how could they care about these things? What they needed was food.

Qin Ruan was a girl, and she was too young to compete with the older children, so she often went hungry.

To fill her stomach, she would steal food from the kitchen.

Once, the cook at the orphanage was away for three days, leaving all the children starving.

For three days, they had nothing to eat. They had to go outside and find ways to fill their stomachs; whether by stealing or snatching, if it could fill their stomachs, it was good enough.

On the third evening, Qin Ruan was too hungry to bear it any longer. Her stomach was writhing in pain.

She climbed out of her wooden bed, intending to go outside and drink some water to fill her stomach.