When he was younger, he disliked separation by nature, and it didn’t matter what it was—as long as the objects were placed together, Xie Lian would refuse to separate them. So whatever it was he built, he’d forbid anyone to touch it, and he always wished desperately that he could glue the fragile sheets together so that it’d never collapse. When he was even younger, if he saw his golden palace fall apart, he’d be distressed to the point of refusing food and sleep until the king and queen coaxed him from his shell.