Fleeing Famine, From Abandoned Girl to Harbinger of Disaster

The moment her closest kin pushed her off a cliff, Shen Nian awakened an ancient granary.

From then on, a new “jinx” joined the flight from famine. She could make a grain merchant's rice stores go moldy overnight, put bowls of white rice in the hands of refugees, and leave her grandmother, kneeling in the snow, with nothing but a bowl of sour porridge.

Some called her a living bodhisattva; others called her a female King of Hell. Shen Nian smiled. “I'm just a discarded daughter who holds a grudge, and I'm making everyone who owes me pay me back, one by one.”