He was acting under orders, and the person who ordered him had supreme power, which he could not disobey.
Even tigers don't eat their cubs, yet emperors have always been ruthless; how could he possibly want to kill him?
He didn't tell the Empress any of this. He assumed that the Empress thought it was another concubine who had instigated it, but since they never found out, the matter was left unresolved.
"What did you say?" the Empress asked in disbelief.
Xiao Lingshou took a deep breath and said as if he had made up his mind, "You shouldn't have paved the way for me. I am Liu Shan (Liu Adou), you shouldn't have helped me at all!"
Upon hearing this, the Empress trembled with anger, but there was nothing she could do. Suddenly, she felt very tired. After years of planning and scheming, her own son was so unambitious.
"You unfilial son! You good-for-nothing!" The Empress was so angry that she could hardly stand.
Xiao Lingshou hurriedly tried to help her up, but she shook his hand off.
"Guards! Guards!" the Empress cried.
Her personal maidservant rushed in.
"Return to the palace!" she called out, and then, supported by palace maids, she left the palace.
When Lanlan came in, she saw the broken porcelain shards on the ground and Xiao Lingshou with blood streaming from his forehead, and she panicked.
"Your Highness...this servant will go and fetch the imperial physician!" Her steps were quick and powerful.
Xiao Lingshou sternly called her back: "No need to call the imperial physician!"
Lan Lan stopped in her tracks, her face filled with worry: "But your forehead... is still bleeding."
"It's nothing, just a minor external injury." Xiao Lingshou closed his eyes, looking very tired.
“But…then let me treat your wound,” she said, but before she could finish, she noticed that Xiao Lingshou’s clothes were also soaked with tea and still had tea leaves on them. “I’ll go find you some clothes to change into.”
After everything was almost settled, Xiao Lingshou sighed, his expression calm and composed, his cold face revealing an unprecedented sense of loneliness and sorrow.
Lanlan knew that His Highness must have said something to cause him to act this way.
The prince in her heart was so aloof and arrogant, so pure and flawless, that he was completely out of place in this turbulent palace.
But he was a prince, and the empress had already paved the way for him. He had no choice but to take that path.
"Tell me, when can I leave this place?" Xiao Lingshou suddenly asked, as if in a daze.
Lan Lan was speechless for a moment. She didn't know if Xiao Lingshou was asking her a question, and even if he was, she didn't know how to answer it.
She knew he hated being here, but he was royalty; how could he possibly leave?
"Never mind, go get me some paper and pen." Xiao Lingshou suddenly laughed, a sad laugh.
After Lanlan brought paper and pen, Xiao Lingshou asked her to bring an envelope, and Lanlan knew what he wanted to do.
"If the Empress finds out..." Lanlan felt uncomfortable thinking of Chang Lili's face and the way the pure and innocent prince in her heart acted in front of her.
Xiao Lingshou's voice suddenly turned cold: "If the Empress Dowager finds out, you will be leaving this place."
Lanlan felt wronged and angry, but dared not say anything more.
Within the Light Machinery Division, ever since Chang Lili inadvertently mentioned the mechanical figures within the mechanical array, the atmosphere here has become strange.
The drunkard uncle hadn't changed much, and Zhou Lue was still talking nonstop all day long. Jiang Yingxue's gaze towards her was still filled with disgust, or even more so.
The source of the strangeness was Zhang Ziqing.
Although he was always aloof and sparing with his words, Chang Lili could even sense that he didn't particularly like her either.
But now, she noticed that Zhang Ziqing would often glance at her, intentionally or unintentionally, and if he was accidentally caught, he would look away.
This is also why Jiang Yingxue dislikes Chang Lili more and more.
This situation continued for several days. Chang Lili went from being confused at first to finding it interesting. Zhang Ziqing seemed to have something to say to her, but he just kept looking at her without saying anything.
After discovering this, Chang Lili deliberately avoided looking at Zhang Ziqing's improved mechanical legs and focused on making her own mechanical bird.
The book explained things in great detail, and Chang Lili became engrossed in it as she worked through it.
Suddenly, a youthful yet clear voice rang out, somewhat hesitant: "Um... is the mechanical doll... really exactly like a real person?"
Chang Lili looked up in surprise and saw a scene that shocked her. Zhang Ziqing was standing right in front of her, and his usually cold face was now flushed with a faint blush.
His stubborn yet shy demeanor made him seem somewhat endearing.
Jiang Yingxue followed him to the opposite side of Chang Lili, staring intently at Chang Lili, gripping the crossbow she was almost finished with, her teeth itching with anger.
"A government official? You want to know what a government official is like?" Chang Lili asked with great interest.
All that could be heard was a barely audible "hmm" from Zhang Ziqing.
Chang Lili asked in confusion, "Didn't Senior Zhou meet him too? He met him so much earlier than me, why didn't you ask him?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ziqing frowned impatiently. Just when she thought Zhang Ziqing thought she was talking too much nonsense, Zhou Lue said with a grin, "What's the use of asking me? I don't understand mechanisms. When I first came out of the trap array, I thought those people were demons and monsters!"
Chang Lili then realized that they were all people who were passionate about studying mechanical arts, and she was happy to share.
So she put down the parts she was holding and began to recount what she had seen and heard within the formation.
"That Chan'er is truly like a mechanical doll, tsk tsk. If it weren't for the fact that she has no warmth at all, her body is stiff as a rock, and her strength is astonishing. Oh right, she also has a wound on her body, but that wound doesn't bleed at all, nor does it heal." Chang Lili spoke fluently.
Zhang Ziqing listened attentively, his brows slightly furrowed, as if deep in thought.
The drunkard uncle suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils, which were usually unfocused, were drawn to Li Li's words as he glanced at her.
Jiang Yingxue initially disdained to listen to what she had to say, but after Chang Lili spoke vividly for a moment, she unconsciously let go of her hostility and began to listen attentively.
"Wounds? Didn't you just say she was invulnerable? How come she has wounds?" Jiang Yingxue asked curiously.
Zhou Lue suddenly burst into the group with great interest, and said smugly, "A wound? You mean that pretty little girl has a wound? Is it on her neck?"
He pointed to the area near his collarbone.
“That’s right!” Chang Lili exclaimed in surprise. “You saw it too! I wasn’t wrong. Even after all these years, the wound hasn’t healed.”
Zhou Lue clicked his tongue twice and said, "Yes, it hasn't healed for so long. Back then, I used my only weapon, the dagger, and it broke before I could even make such a small cut."
After he finished speaking with great emotion, he was unaware that everyone was looking at him in surprise.
After a while, the group resumed their discussion.
Chang Lili said with distress, "I don't know what material it is. I haven't found any material that can replace human skin. It looks soft and shiny, yet it's so hard."
“Perhaps it didn’t originally look soft and shiny, but rather it was coated with something,” Zhang Ziqing said in a deep voice.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
