Chapter 3: Our World

an impressive person indeed. But even more impressive was that Yu Mu, despite speaking little, always managed to shock with his words. When everyone pointed accusations at him, he remained calm and i...Chapter 3 Our World

"I have some understanding of mechanical devices."

This is the line for a studious expert, and it's never reliable.

Qi Lin didn't look at Ah Piao but half reclined on her bed, looking at Feng Changqing’s drawings. Suddenly she thought of something and raised her head abruptly, just catching Ah Piao's clear black eyes. Qi Lin frowned slightly.

"Where did you come from" There are nine levels of palace buildings here, heavily guarded with complicated mechanical devices "How did you get in"

Could it be that he had already infiltrated at the start But she hadn't sensed anything. Alright, she didn’t have such abilities, but there were so many experts around.

In her thoughts, a hard slap on the forehead made Qi Lin touch her head and glare at Ah Piao with the desire to tear him into pieces.

"Do you want to know how I managed to get in when even a fly couldn't enter Phoenix Palace" Whenever Qi Lin was thinking deeply, she would be quiet. She would stare like this at others. He had noticed it long ago "I naturally have my methods; you should think about how to approach the Empress Dowager."

While talking, his gaze fell on the drawings in Qi Lin's hand. The routes drawn were similar to what he planned to give her. He didn't expect Feng Changqing to take things this far.

Putting down the drawings and sighing slightly, she realized that she still couldn’t understand ancient people very well.

"So what are your plans" Looking at Qi Lin's calm expression, it seemed she had already thought of something.

"Approaching the Empress Dowager is secondary. The key point is how to make her willingly come out after getting close." She couldn't possibly drag her out; that was the Empress Dowager whom Feng Changqing seemed to respect very much, unless Qi Lin wanted to die. "Almost every three years there’s a change in personnel within the palace. Apart from Emperor and Purple Origin Prince and the little prince, no one else knows anything about the Empress Dowager."

Unfortunately, these three people couldn’t give her any clues.

"What do you want to know about the Empress Dowager"

"At least I need to understand her thoughts." To hide in that palace; it was either due to losing a beloved son or fratricide. She couldn't bear to look at it directly.

Seeing Qi Lin’s expression, Feng Changqing must have mentioned something.

"She merely feels guilty."

Qi Lin raised her eyes in surprise; Ah Piao was looking at her then. His deep eyes seemed like a black hole in the universe; an aura of depression and melancholy spread out, even the flickering candlelight couldn't melt the coldness in his gaze.

Hence, ancient people were really strange.

She truly didn’t understand and didn’t want to try understanding either.

Ah Piao approached Qi Lin without hesitation, climbed onto her bed, scaring Qi Lin almost off the bed. Fortunately, he was quick-eyed and pulled her back in time; pulling a pillow between them, he sat cross-legged.

Even so, Qi Lin still looked at him warily, clearly not trusting him.

He just smiled and said in a slow and steady tone, "Let me tell you a story. In the past, there was a woman who had two clever sons whom she loved dearly. However, her elder son and younger son began to scheme against each other over something they both wanted. But as much as they respected their mother, they kept up appearances in front of her."

"Actually, the mother knew about their feud all along but couldn’t bear it any longer. One day, when the two brothers had planned a showdown, she found out and didn't want them to hurt each other."

So, "she decided to sacrifice one of them."

"But who should she choose She was苦惱，掙紮著，最後決定給大兒子送去一碗毒酒。

"一瞬間天堂，一瞬間地獄。大兒子被小兒子折磨至死，不，應該是生不如死。

從那天起，母親陷入了深深的自責之中，把自己關了起來。

說到這裡，阿飄給了齊琳一個微笑，並繼續說道，“親手將一個孩子送進地獄的滋味不好受吧。”

齊琳靜靜地注視著阿飄。這個故事中的母親就是太後，而那兩個兒子則是鳳長卿和另一個皇子白千燁。

從鳳長卿口中聽到的故事，她看到了他對白千燁的不甘心、嫉妒與憎恨，以及對母親的思念之情。

但從阿飄口中說出這個故事時，齊琳看到的是一個母親對孩子深深的自責以及兩個孩子對母親深沉的愛。當然也看見了白千燁的痛苦。

原來是這樣嗎？

"你知道該如何做了嗎？”阿飄依舊帶著微笑看著齊琳，以為會在她眼中找到一絲同情，但是隻看到平靜與寧靜。

不知是燭光的原因還是其他原因，總覺得齊琳的眼眸閃爍著淚光。

這或許是一個母親的悲劇，但那個被拋棄的孩子呢？

"你說，這個孩子恨他的母親嗎？”也許這位母親隻想知道答案吧。

應該是會恨的，畢竟是敬愛的母親做出了這種事。

"誰知道呢？”阿飄嘴角上揚，伸手勾起齊琳的下巴，讓她看著自己，開口問道，“如果是你，你覺得不會恨嗎？”

會不會呢？她不知道，或許知道卻不想評論。看著阿飄深邃的眼睛，她忽然覺得，這也許就是白千燁的眼神：冷漠、孤獨。

"那麼，我也給你講一個故事吧。”她木然地開口道，但也不知道為何會說這些話，甚至是對著一位男士。

阿飄有些驚訝於齊琳的反應，鬆開了手靜靜地聽著。

這個故事是這樣的：從前有位女性因為愛情嫁給了男性，並且生了一個女兒。但是愛情不會永遠持續下去，在孩子還未滿月時，男人就離她而去，留下了繈褓中的孩子和一大筆賭債。

失去房子後，女人四處借錢，親戚們卻避而遠之，最後勉強湊齊了錢。

Although life was tough, the woman still loved her daughter and was relatively happy because of that.

The daughter grew up without a father figure in her memory. She knew that the man had only brought sorrow to their lives, so she vowed to give her mother happiness. Of course, she also believed that her mother would always be there for her.

She continued to believe this all along.

Until another man came into their life. This man was wealthy and seeing the smile on her mother's face, she knew that stopping it wouldn't work either, so she followed her mother to live in his house.

The new man had two sons who were intelligent and handsome but cold toward girls. They occasionally tormented her too, seemingly trying to drive her away. For the sake of her mother's happiness, she endured everything they did.

So Even when those brothers entered her bathroom secretly, took pictures of her in an embarrassing situation, and accused her elder brother of being seduced by her, she still bore it all for her mother's happiness.

As long as her mother was happy.

But then, the man and her mother had a child together. A cute little boy who gradually received all their attention. From that point on, her mother paid less and less attention to her.

It didn't matter though, as long as her mother was happy. She thought like this all along.

However, the more the little boy grew up, the worse his attitude towards her became. So she chose to live outside of their home.

On her mother's birthday, she brought a gift home but heard from the doorway that her mother told the little boy he needed to grow up to be an outstanding man and inherit the family business in order to become a real man.

Then she realized this house had no place for her anymore.

So She decided to leave this home. She tried every excuse not to return, enduring hard but fulfilling days.

Growing up, she abandoned her beloved major and switched to a more lucrative industry. Five years was enough time to make her stand out in the field.

But before her twenty-fifth birthday, an accident happened.

Shedisappeared from this world.

Disappeared

The story ended there as Qi Lin fell asleep. It was like listening to a child's tale.

Covering her with the quilt and gently stroking her face, he wondered if she too had been abandoned. Yet in her eyes, he saw no hatred.

He was curious though about that world Qi Lin talked about—was it the same as this one

"Where is your world" Sleeping people often unconsciously reveal many things, but he never believed that or would do so himself.

"My world"

Ai Piao was taken aback, but Qi Lin opened her eyes at that moment and smiled slightly at him.

"It's a place you can't reach."

By the end of her words, Qi Lin had completely fallen asleep again.

The sky began to turn pale with dawn, dew was heavy, and thick fog enveloped everything. Anyone more than ten steps away could not be seen clearly.

However, people from Qinquan軒 were already bustling about.

This was the busiest day in history for them.

"Quickly, quickly, over there." Green Bamboo kept directing other palace maids. Because Feng Changqiang had come before, these little palace attendants and eunuchs also seemed more spirited than usual. Even though they usually followed Qi Lin's strict but fair discipline, they dared not express their resentment openly; now things were much better.

Early this morning, Qi Lin had instructed the servants to collect morning dew as she said it was for the emperor’s tea.

"Eep." A small palace maid didn’t notice and bumped into Green Bamboo. Green Bamboo patted her shoulder, saying, "Be careful, this is for the emperor, can you take responsibility if something goes wrong"

"I know my offense," the little palace maid bowed with her bangs wet from dew that clung to her forehead, even her long eyelashes had a few drops of dew on them, making her look very endearing.

Just as Green Bamboo was about to speak, she was interrupted by Qi Lin.

"It's an unintentional mistake, no need to dwell." Wiping the dew from her forehead, she handed the bottle in her hand to Green Bamboo and said with a smile, "Making everyone work so early is truly difficult for you."

"Being able to serve Lady Qi is my fortune," replied the small palace maid.

"Go back to your duties then." Qi Lin remained smiling.

After the little palace maid left, Jinyu stepped forward and whispered, "Lady Qi, that palace maid might be from Liang Mei’s faction."

Liang Mei Qi Lin thought carefully. After these days of understanding, she finally grasped the system in this dynasty for the emperor's harem—after Empress came Imperial Noble Consort and Noble Consort. However, there seemed to be no Imperial Noble Consort or Noble Consort here yet.

The first rank was a position reserved for concubines; currently, there were four people holding such positions: Xiao Concubine Du Ruohuan, Zhuang Concubine Bai Lu, Hui Concubine Jun Zi, and Xian (formerly Lan) Concubine Liu Xiaoxiang. The latter had originally been Lan Concubine but alas, times have changed.

Then came the first rank from: Lady—there were only three so far. Yi Junru, Lady Yi; she was said to be a descendant of the military family and had a good appearance as well as playing excellent music on her zither. Mu Qingcheng, Lady Mu, Princess No. 3 of the Maonao Kingdom, half-sister of Mu Qingfeng, one dance could captivate the city, one smile could make the city fall in love with her, also was favored by Feng Changqiang but because she was born out of wedlock, she could only be a Lady. The third lady is called Second Shengxue, daughter of the first divine doctor of Phoenix Kingdom, yet her personality was exceptionally bold and forthright.

The second rank from: Concubine—were concubines sent for political marriages by smaller states or women with exceptional talent; there were ten people in total within the harem.

The second rank right: Noble Consorts, usually daughters of officials with status. Fifteen people in total.

The second rank from: Zhao Yi Zhao Ruan Zhao Rong Zhao Hua, mostly selected formally from the common folk or talented women predicted by the high priestess to be beneficial to the state; a total of twenty people.

And the rest were over thirty people. Liang Mei seemed to be one of the palace maids favored by Feng Changqiang before he left the palace.neered, stretched lazily, twisted her waist, then smiled, saying, "Life is endlessly beautiful. How could I be willing to die"Bu Yao truly wanted to go up and beat Qi Lin to death with the way she rea...