Xiao Xiao found it a little amusing.
"It's all right."
"Some people just like to bite things into pieces."
"Pipa ghost, you can try biting it into pieces, too."
Mm.
Pipa ghost felt its heart relax.
It narrowed its eyes and nodded.
The main thing was, it had already bitten it into pieces.
So it wasn't a matter of whether it could try...
Mm...
Pipa ghost swallowed instinctively.
It was a little dazed.
Only the lingering sweetness remained in its mouth.
Xiao Xiao seemed to realize something.
"Did you swallow the whole sugar figurine?"
Mm.
Pipa ghost looked a little guilty again.
Was it not supposed to swallow the whole thing?
"It's not a question of whether you can or can't..."
Xiao Xiao smiled helplessly.
"I think you've noticed this yourself."
"You swallowed the whole sugar figurine, so you finished something that could have lasted much longer in an instant."
"And because you swallowed it, you didn't get to taste much of its sweetness..."
Pipa ghost took stock of how it felt.
It realized that was indeed the case.
The sweetness in its mouth had nearly faded away.
Its cheeks puffed up unconsciously.
It had only gotten one taste of the sweetness.
"It's all right."
Xiao Xiao smiled.
"You still have two more."
Mm.
Pipa ghost nodded.
It looked to the left, then to the right.
Then it put the sugar figurine the old man had made afterward—the one playing the pipa with its head bowed—into its mouth.
The sugar figurine holding the pipa was the one Xiao Xiao had personally described to the old man.
Lord Xiao Xiao had put the most thought into this figurine.
More than into the pipa itself.
The old man had been shown a picture of