Qing Wan knelt on the ground, pressing her lips together as she stared at the few broken mechanism clasps that had been trampled underfoot. Children's noisy voices rang in her ears.
“Xia Zhi, you actually helped this mute steal things from the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion! If Master Yi Hang finds out, you'll be in for it!”
Under the tree, a girl's voice sounded soft and sweet. “They were going to be thrown away anyway. What's wrong with giving them to Qing Wan?”
“Those are for us to practice with, as the master instructed. Why should a mute get them? We'd rather throw them away than give them to her!”
“You're going too far!”
Someone else chimed in, “If she wants to become a disciple of the Heavenly Mechanism, she can take the mechanism test held once every three years! Why steal our things?”
“Hey, are you going to take the test?” The speaker laughed, their face full of mockery. “Oh, I forgot. You can't speak at all.”
Theme: Learn to face adversity with courage
When will Dabai open Shaobai?