Song Qingzhang and Jiang Qiuyue nodded and left. Once they were gone, Li Xian stood where he was and heard a strange noise.
As though sensing something, he looked toward the road leading from the Toy Factory. Sure enough, a whole army of toys was marching toward him!
Fortunately, they were still quite far away-he couldn't even make out what they looked like, only a blur of tiny black dots moving in his direction.
Li Xian had more than enough time to get home. He glanced at the old woman, who was still tottering along and hadn't made it back inside, then crouched down and began picking up the broken glass on the ground.
First, Li Xian made a token effort to gather a few pieces in the hem of his shirt. Then he picked up a shard with a sharp edge and drew it across his fingertip-
A bloody line instantly appeared on his delicate skin.
Startled by Li Xian's actions, Ji Xie moved to climb down from his shoulder, only for Li Xian to hold him in place at once.
"Shh."
He tossed the shard he'd used to cut his fingertip onto the ground, then cried out in pain and jumped to his feet.
The glass gathered in his shirt fell to the ground with a sharp clatter. The old woman, who already had one foot over her threshold, turned at the sound and saw Li Xian's blood-red finger.
"What happened?"
Perhaps Li Xian had earned some goodwill by helping her up earlier. She stopped going inside, turned around, and took the initiative to ask.
Li Xian pouted.
"I... I wanted to help you clean up the glass, Grandma..."
He looked down at the shards scattered across the ground again, shifted awkwardly, and rubbed his bleeding finger against