"Chang Lili! Give in!" Meng Yuxiu's mind went blank, and his hand, which was channeling internal energy into Chang Lili's body, trembled.

Seeing that her face was as pale as paper and sweat was pouring down her face, but she still wouldn't let go, Meng Yuxiu exerted force on her hand, and she finally opened her mouth.

The moment she let go, a bloodcurdling scream erupted. She had bitten her lip until it bled. But that wasn't what Meng Yuxiu was worried about. He was worried that her next target would be his tongue.

Sure enough, Chang Lili stopped making noise and bit her tongue.

Meng Yuxiu's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know how much force he had used, but he had pinched Chang Lili's mouth so tightly that it couldn't close.

Finally, panting heavily, he shoved his hand into Chang Lili's mouth.

It must have been too painful. Chang Lili, with a strength that seemed to come from nowhere, made Meng Yuxiu feel waves of excruciating pain coming from her hand.

Meng Yuxiu knew that she must be in extreme pain to bite so hard.

Soon, his hand was covered in bloody marks; a perfectly good hand had been bitten raw and mangled.

Meng Yuxiu, however, did not get angry but instead smiled, though his smile was somewhat bitter.

For some reason, he felt a little happy watching her bite him so rudely, transferring her unbearable pain onto him.

But looking at his bloodied hands and the countless teeth marks on them, he thought to himself that if this continued any longer, he would probably become the first and last general in history to be bitten to death.

Seeing Chang Lili lying quietly on the bed, her face pale, her damp hair gradually drying, and her breathing becoming long and even, Meng Yuxiu's heart calmed down.

He felt that he was responsible for her becoming like this; if it weren't for him, Xiao Shu'er wouldn't have set her sights on her.

But another kind of feeling, unknowingly and irresistibly, quietly grew and spread in his heart.

As if afraid of waking her, he carefully covered her with the blanket, a relieved smile on his face.

At least, her life was saved.

He went out and instructed the kitchen to prepare some soup for Chang Lili to drink after she woke up, and told the servants not to disturb her while she was resting.

Chang Lili didn't want her mother-in-law to see her looking so haggard, and she certainly didn't want her to know what had happened that day.

She rested at Meng Yuxiu's place until dark, then drank some soup and regained some strength. She returned to the courtyard and told her mother-in-law that she had caught a cold and felt unwell, which prevented her mother-in-law from suspecting anything.

In the following days, Meng Yuxiu sent someone to instruct her to stay at the mansion and rest well, and also sent her many nourishing things.

This prompted the mother-in-law to ask, "This... the general... girl... you and the general..."

Chang Lili hurriedly waved her hand and said, "Grandma, what are you saying? The general and I have nothing. The general treats us so well, probably because he is a good general. Look how well he treats the servants in this mansion!"

Thinking about it, the mother-in-law realized that it was indeed true. A great general like him should naturally be matched with the princess, so why would he be interested in this girl from her family?

She gave a self-deprecating laugh, taking it as the general's good intentions, and didn't ask anything further.

To outsiders, Chang Lili has been unusually well-behaved these past few days. Usually, she likes to grab people and ask them all sorts of questions, but she has been surprisingly docile.

However, the maids and servants looked at her with an inexplicable strangeness, probably because of the pig-like screams she made that day.

However, with Meng Yuxiu suppressing the matter, no one dared to mention it.

The mother-in-law was naturally happy to see Chang Lili being well-behaved and not running around. However, one day, when she brought Chang Lili some medicine to dispel the cold, she saw Chang Lili sitting at her desk, lost in thought, drawing something.

She walked over with the medicine and reached out her hand, but the girl didn't feel anything.

In fact, Chang Lili is not a girl who can stay still. The reason she has been so well-behaved these past few days is because she has been secretly preparing for the second test.

It's one thing for Xiao Shu'er to set a trap for her, but having barely escaped death only strengthened her resolve to learn mechanical arts.

She hasn't even learned mechanical arts yet; if she dies like this, she'll probably die with her eyes wide open in disbelief.

Thinking about it this way, she became even more eager to pass the test, and she kept thinking about the test that Meng Yuxiu had mentioned.

The second challenge was to design an ingenious weapon suitable for a woman. This weapon had been troubling her for a long time. Just now, a flash of inspiration struck her, and she couldn't wait to start drawing up the blueprints.

As Chang Lili drew the objects, the old woman dropped the medicine in her hand, spilling the brown medicine all over the ground and shattering the white porcelain bowl.

Chang Lili turned around abruptly in surprise. Her face, which had been flushed with excitement, was now pale. She called out weakly, "Grandma..."

Suddenly, the mother-in-law reached over the blueprints on the table and tore the thin sheet of paper into pieces in the blink of an eye.

"Mother-in-law!" Chang Lili looked at the torn blueprints with heartache, reaching out her hand but not daring to do anything.

She was pampered by her mother-in-law from a young age, who gave her the best of everything she could.

He would do his best to satisfy her in almost everything.

However, the only thing her mother-in-law always opposed was making weapons, without any room for discussion.

"Didn't I tell you not to touch these things? You're a young lady, you shouldn't be touching these things at all!" The mother-in-law trembled with anger, her wrinkled face flushed.

Her mother-in-law never got angry with her, except for this one thing.

Chang Lili always thought that her mother-in-law loved her so much and would always support her.

She looked at her mother-in-law with tears welling up in her eyes and said aggrievedly, "Mother-in-law, I know I'm just a girl, but what men can do, I can do too. What they can do, I can do as well. Why can't you let me try?"

"I just hope you can be a good girl, get married, have children, and live an ordinary life. Let men do things like sword fighting. I just want you to be okay," the mother-in-law said with a pained expression.

Looking at her mother-in-law's appearance, Chang Lili felt guilty. The person she owed the most in her life was her mother-in-law. She was already so old, yet she hadn't been able to give her a few days of peace.

"You promised your mother-in-law before that you wouldn't touch these things again." There was an undisguised disappointment in her mother-in-law's tone.

Chang Lili suddenly felt very uncomfortable. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything. On this matter, her mother-in-law couldn't make any concessions, and similarly, she couldn't bring herself to give up.

She really loved mechanical arts and weapon making; she loved it so much that she dreamed about it.

Seeing her stubbornness, the mother-in-law left the house in a fit of anger.

Chang Lili chased after him, but a servant in the mansion called out to her: "Miss, someone outside is looking for you. They say what you requested has arrived."