Jiang Yingxue immediately screamed in pain. As a pampered young lady who never lifted a finger, even when she had to touch dirty things while learning mechanical arts, she would wrap them with a handkerchief. She had never suffered such pain before.

Her fair face instantly turned red, and she gasped in pain, sweat beading on her forehead.

"You've gone too far! You dare touch me! I'll kill you!" Jiang Yingxue screamed hysterically.

Chang Lili's single hand was enough to make her wince in pain and unable to move. After all, she came from the military manufacturing department, and despite her thin arms and legs, she was incredibly strong.

Looking at Jiang Yingxue, she smiled and said, "Kill me? Miss Jiang is truly lawless! Under the Emperor's nose, even if you are the eldest daughter of the Jiang family, can you kill whomever you want? Besides, this is the territory under the General's jurisdiction, can you do whatever you want?"

"You shameless woman, now you're trying to intimidate me with the General! You think I'm afraid... Ah!"

Jiang Yingxue was blushing as she spoke harshly, but Chang Lili gently exerted force, and she screamed in pain, unable to continue speaking.

Zhou Lue stepped forward and advised, "Ladies, please don't do this. We are all from the Light Machinery Department now, and we should unite. We are already outnumbered, and if we are not united, how will we fight against the evil forces outside?"

"Who's in the same department as her?! Who wants to fight against other forces with her? Just thinking about it makes me sick!" Jiang Yingxue shouted angrily.

Chang Lili said with a leisurely air, "Miss Jiang, let me tell you, I entered by breaking through the trap array, so it's perfectly legitimate."

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Yingxue spat out a disdainful "Pah!" upon hearing this.

Chang Lili, enraged, increased the pressure on her hand, causing Jiang Yingxue to scream in pain.

She said angrily, "Let me tell you, Jiang Yingxue, I'm standing here today because I'm a member of the Light Machinery Department. Even if I managed to get in by climbing the social ladder through the General, that's my own ability. Is that any of your business?"

"shameless!"

Just as Jiang Yingxue uttered her words, a clear yet cold voice rang out: "Shut up, all of you."

The voice wasn't loud and carried the naivety of a young boy, but Jiang Yingxue suddenly froze, as if she had been paralyzed, no longer uttering a sound, not even daring to breathe. Yet, her face, which had been filled with resentment and stubbornness just moments before, now revealed a hint of grievance.

Zhang Ziqing looked at Chang Lili and Jiang Yingxue impatiently, a cold glint flashing in his clear eyes: "Have you had enough?"

Chang Lili shoved Jiang Yingxue aside, too lazy to argue with her any longer, and walked towards the wooden house.

Jiang Yingxue was not about to give up. She grabbed Chang Lili's arm and shouted, "Ziqing, she wants to come into your cabin! How can someone like her be allowed into your cabin!"

Zhang Ziqing turned her face away, looking displeased, not wanting to look at the two of them anymore.

"This isn't my room. Anyone from the Light Machinery Department can come in here." He said coldly and continued to look at the mechanical arms and legs in his hands.

Jiang Yingxue froze for a moment. She let go of Chang Lili's hand and looked at Zhang Ziqing in a daze: "Ziqing, she can't go in!"

Chang Lili didn't understand what was wrong with her, and she didn't know why she was saying that the house belonged to Zhang Ziqing.

Seeing her like this, Chang Lili became even more curious about what was so special about the house, and walked into the house without saying a word.

Seeing that she could no longer stop him, Jiang Yingxue jumped up and down in a panic, shouting, "Ziqing!"

Zhang Ziqing said rather coldly, "Don't call me that, I don't know you."

Jiang Yingxue was stunned. Her rosy cheeks turned pale, and two lines of tears fell in the blink of an eye. She then covered her face and ran away crying.

Zhou Lue sighed and said earnestly, "Ziqing, you can't treat girls like that..."

Chang Lili didn't hear what was said after that. She stepped into the wooden house. The house looked clean and tidy and had a faint fragrance. The smell was a little cold and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Before seeing the books, a neat and elegantly colored bed caught Chang Lili's eye. She couldn't help but wonder whose bed it was. Could it be, as Jiang Yingxue said, that this room belonged to Zhang Ziqing?

Zhou Lue, who came in later, cleared up her doubts.

This room was originally a library, specifically for storing books on mechanical arts and the like, for their study.

Zhang Ziqing was the most diligent and obsessed with studying mechanical arts among them. During the day, he would work on machines under the trees, and at night or on rainy days, he would read books in the house, studying late into the night by lamplight.

Many times he lost track of time while looking around in this room and fell asleep here. Later, he simply set up his bed here and spent the night here every few days.

"So that's how it is. No wonder Jiang Yingxue said this was Zhang Ziqing's room, and no wonder she wouldn't let me in." Chang Lili understood instantly.

It seems that Jiang Yingxue doesn't think her entry into the Light Machinery Department is illegitimate, but rather because of Zhang Ziqing. She would be unhappy even if she just glanced at him a couple of times, let alone enter Zhang Ziqing's usual residence.

Chang Lili shook her head, then turned to look at the bookshelf on the side, where she stared in disbelief.

This small wooden cabin, apart from a small bed in the corner, has bookshelves on three walls. The top of the bookshelves is directly next to the roof beams. There are five shelves in total, and each shelf is filled with books. Although some of the books are a bit worn, they are arranged very neatly, indicating that they have been carefully taken care of.

Not only were the bookshelves overflowing, but the cabinets beneath them were also filled with stacks of books, each with a unique and eclectic title, yet all revolving around the word "mechanism."

After being shocked, Chang Lili came to her senses, opened all the bookshelves and looked at them, and then got up and looked at the bookshelves and cabinets. A look of great joy appeared on her face.

"So many books!" she exclaimed, reaching for a book on the shelf and starting to read.

Unlike the books she had read outside before, even those that Meng Yuxiu had painstakingly collected only scratched the surface of mechanical arts. These were different; the first page Chang Lili opened described how to make a mechanical bird.

She was overjoyed and cheered with delight throughout the house.

Zhou Lue, standing to the side, asked in bewilderment, "It's just a bunch of books, why are you so excited?"

Chang Lili was in an indescribably good mood and said with a smile, "You just don't understand. If this were a bunch of martial arts manuals, wouldn't you be happy?"

Zhou Lue shook his head: "I'm not happy." He spread his hands and said helplessly and sincerely, "I have already defeated all the masters in the world. I have no desires or wants. Martial arts manuals are just a pile of waste paper to me."

Chang Lili was taken aback and remained silent for a while before finally picking up the book and starting to read it with great interest.

Zhou Lue, however, was displeased and kept grumbling from the side: "Sigh, what's so interesting about this book? It's rare to have a new author, and he's obsessed with mechanical arts. He's just as boring as Zi Qing."

He kept talking and sighing. After a while, Chang Lili finally couldn't bear it any longer and spoke up, asking the question in her heart: "These books are all good books, but why does the Emperor hide them here? Wouldn't it be better to have them copied and circulated among the people so that the people of Yun Kingdom can learn mechanical arts?"