Shen Le helplessly stared at the copper coin spinning merrily on the table.
Perhaps it had been corroded by rust, forcibly bound to its companions for over a thousand years and stifled beyond endurance. Or perhaps it had only just gained sentience and was filled with ignorant, fearless curiosity about the world...
The copper coin spun with extraordinary liveliness.
It leaped up, landed, spun 1,080 degrees in midair, landed again, rolled two clockwise circles around the table, then three counterclockwise circles, and spun thirty-two times in place around the point where it touched the tabletop...
If the copper coin were imagined as a tiny person, the dance it performed on the tabletop would have put the greatest ballet dancers, rhythmic gymnasts, and figure skaters to shame.
But Shen Le's expression as he watched it was indescribable. At first, he sat upright and watched; then he folded his arms against the edge of the table, afraid the coin would roll right off and force him to search the entire floor for it.
After a while, he switched to propping his chin on one hand while pressing the other against the tabletop, his fingertips tapping away...
"Are you done yet? Have you danced enough? If you have, come over and let me take a good look at you..."
He reached for the copper coin. Yet it traced a joyful arc, dodged his fingertips, and spun merrily behind a piece of equipment...
Who knew whether its intelligence was too weak to respond to his questions, or whether it had only just acquired sentience and simply did not want to pay attention to anyone, wanting only to play happily until the end of time.
Shen Le: "..."
Don't get mad, don't get mad. It wasn't worth getting angry at these little things that had