Shangguan Dandan's skirt flared up as her little feet kicked, revealing tiny bells hanging from two embroidered pink pom-poms on the tops of her feet. Their crisp chimes blended with her singing, full of innocence and delight.
Then the sound abruptly stopped. The joy vanished from her little face in an instant, and her big eyes flickered with uncertainty and alarm. Like the immense pressures of life, the vending machine bent the Empress Dowager's tender little spine.
Shangguan Dandan parted her lips slightly, glanced to the left, then to the right, before stiffly straightening up.
After thinking for a moment, Shangguan Dandan closed her eyes. When she opened them again, it was as though she had cultivated some Heavenly Eye technique—only the whites of her eyes remained visible.
Even Liu Chang'an jumped in fright. With his hands in his pockets, he pushed off with his heels and instantly hopped three steps back.
Still feeling that wasn't safe enough, Shangguan Dandan set down the vending machine, pulled out a mulberry leaf from her sleeve pocket, and stuck it to her forehead, completely covering her face.
Her invisibility technique had activated. He couldn't see the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager had never seen him.
Shangguan Dandan hoisted the vending machine onto her back again, as though a paused recording had reached its end and the play button had been pressed once more. The scene continued: she sang as she skipped along, carrying that huge thing home.
Liu Chang'an stood where he was and watched her finish her performance before rubbing his neck. Sure enough, in the entire Nine Provinces Wind and Thunder Sword Sect, Shangguan Dandan was still the strangest and most abnormal one.
At most, everyone else had one thing wrong with them—their thoughts, their values, or their brains. But