Chang Lili felt a pang of sorrow, sighed, and couldn't help but ask, "Meng Yuxiu, do you think machines can have feelings?"
Meng Yuxiu saw that her eyes shone unusually bright in the dim light, and there was sadness in them. He said, "Machines naturally don't have feelings."
"But Chan'er looks like she's guarding someone," Chang Lili said sadly.
Meng Yuxiu gently held her hand and said softly, "She won't feel anything; she's just following some kind of instruction."
Chang Lili nodded sadly, but then her expression brightened and she said, "Let's continue. We've overcome another challenge and gained something unexpected."
She fiddled with the books in her hands.
Meng Yuxiu smiled and said, "Yes, thanks to our Master Chang, we were able to escape."
As he spoke, he took a tinderbox and shone it on the wall. Sure enough, he found an oil lamp on the wall, and after lighting it, the dark passageway was illuminated.
Chang Lili lit several oil lamps in a row and looked around, but her mind was still preoccupied with the mechanical man.
"This is too ingenious. Who would have thought that Chan'er is actually a mechanical doll? She can create mechanical dolls that look just like living people. How come I've never heard of such a master of mechanical arts?" Chang Lili muttered to herself.
“This mechanism array has existed for a long time. Perhaps because of its antiquity, we no longer know who set it up,” Meng Yuxiu said, gently pulling her arm.
Chang Lili frowned: "But I feel like the name 'Mu Yun' is familiar." After thinking for a while, she still couldn't remember, so she patted her head and said, "Never mind, now is not the time to think about these things."
She tucked the book into her clothes and looked up. She could see nothing strange in the area illuminated by the oil lamp, but there were shadowy figures in front of her, as if something was there.
Meng Yuxiu lit the oil lamps along the way, and Chang Lili couldn't help but dream, "In the future, I will definitely become such a master of mechanical arts, and I will also make such mechanical figures!"
Inside the general's mansion, the old woman still frequently offered incense and prayed, hoping for Chang Lili's safe return. Little did she know that there were always servants guarding the courtyard.
At first she didn't care, thinking that these people were just wandering around, but they lingered and there always seemed to be people outside the courtyard.
She found it a little strange, but didn't say anything.
But the more she read on, the stranger it seemed. It was one thing for these servants to loiter around the courtyard gate every day, but every time her mother-in-law went out, they would sneakily follow behind, making her feel quite uncomfortable.
On this day, the mother-in-law finally couldn't take it anymore and turned around on the street, grabbing two servants out of the blue.
“This…Grandma, there’s no need to be so nervous. The guards just asked the two of us to watch over you in case you’re in any danger. Since Miss Chang isn’t here, we have to take good care of you,” the two servants said honestly.
The strange feeling of being watched that the old woman had been experiencing subsided considerably. She exhaled and put on a smile, saying, "Then please thank Guard Ke for me. However, I feel uncomfortable being followed every day, and it's also tiring for you all. You should go back and tell Guard Ke that he doesn't need to be so distracted in taking care of me."
The two servants objected, saying that they couldn't disobey the guards' orders, and besides, they wouldn't know how to explain themselves if something happened to their mother-in-law.
The mother-in-law had no choice but to let them follow her.
But gradually, the mother-in-law felt increasingly uncomfortable. She was already feeling uneasy being watched like this every day.
Meanwhile, she heard some rumors. Whenever she went out or encountered unfamiliar maids from the manor, she would hear them whispering behind her back. As soon as they saw her, they would immediately disperse as if nothing had happened.
But she still vaguely heard what they were saying, that something had happened in the mansion and that the guards were keeping an eye on Granny Chang all day.
Granny Chang also noticed that subtle changes were taking place in the General's Mansion. The maids and servants who were familiar with her no longer went to their courtyard. Even when they saw Granny Chang, they would only greet her with a distant air.
She didn't understand what was going on, so she pretended nothing had happened and patiently waited for Chang Lili to come back, but she felt somewhat uneasy.
One evening, after the mother-in-law had finished burning incense in the room, she had disposed of the broken incense burner and replaced it with a new one.
She felt somewhat annoyed, and after being away for several days, she looked much more haggard.
She pushed open the door, wanting to go out for a walk, but then she saw a slender figure flash by in front of the courtyard gate.
That figure was so familiar. She jumped up and chased after him without saying a word, calling out, "Lili!"
But when she rushed to the courtyard gate, the person she longed for was nowhere to be seen. Strangely, the two servants in front of the gate had fainted on the ground.
"This..." The old woman wondered, and wanted to squat down to look at the two servants, but she felt Chang Lili's figure flash by in her peripheral vision.
She looked up abruptly and saw a glimpse of a garment disappear around the corner. She could no longer care about anything else and chased after it.
But after chasing after him, the figure disappeared again, and the mother-in-law bumped into a maid.
She was anxious and uneasy, but she was sure she wasn't seeing things. She grabbed the maid and asked urgently, "Have you seen Lili? Wasn't Chang Lili here just now?"
The maid was terrified by her mother-in-law's appearance and quickly backed away, repeatedly saying, "I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't see anyone just now!"
Disappointed, the mother-in-law let go of her hand, and the maid ran away as if fleeing.
"Could I have seen wrong?" the mother-in-law said, somewhat distraught.
She had been unable to eat or sleep these past few days, constantly thinking about Chang Lili's safe return. Now she wondered if she was hallucinating from thinking about him so much.
But the figure reappeared, vanished in an instant. Before the old woman could think, she chased after it again. This went on and on, and she chased after it for quite a distance.
Everyone she met along the way thought she looked strange, but because of her special status, no one dared to stop her.
And so, without realizing it, the mother-in-law caught up with Meng Yuxiu to the door of his study. She paused for a moment in front of the study door, but she had clearly seen Chang Lili open the study door and go inside.
She hesitated for a moment, then pushed open the door and went inside.
Meng Yuxiu was usually busy outside, and when he stayed at home, he mostly practiced martial arts in the backyard, handled official business in the study, or read books. Therefore, the study was actually a confidential place.
But Meng Yuxiu never had the habit of sending someone to guard the place, so the old woman just pushed the door open and went in.
No one had visited this place for several days, yet it was spotless.
After the mother-in-law went inside, she looked around, trying to find Chang Lili's voice.
Then nothing happened. There was no one in the study. A pale yellow light shone into the study, casting a hazy glow on the furnishings.
"Lili?" The mother-in-law walked into the study and called out tentatively.
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