I feel like it is heavily implied from the person who told Ling that “there is only one way for people who starve like that to survive” and she shouldn’t get close to that type of person, that her quote-on-quote “best friend” cannibalised the corpses of the other villagers in order to survive her excruciating starvation. This ties in later to the people selling their children for rice. It is my interpretation that others wouldn’t be buying those children to be slaves, as it is an extra mouth to feed, but rather to be eaten by others people. It shows the darkness of humanity in desperation.
Ling countered by asking how the king could bare to send these children to such unfortunate fates without letting their families know. The King helped her realize through his stark observation that the other adults selling them knew of their fates. He said something along of the lines of “They knew what they were doing. They sent the smallest of the children.” To be honest, I’m not too sure what he means. I’m guessing it is something along the lines of less meat on their bones and more meat for the people selling in case they need to start sacrificing others.
I could also just be overthinking it and they’re just selling the weakest ones knowing they will be worked to the bone and inevitably die. Idk I’m sleep deprived.