Chapter 1351

Seeing Lin Cheng at the bedside still acting like a shy maiden, Miss Qianhui couldn't help pretending to be angry: "Are you getting on or not?"

With a sharp rebuke, Lin Cheng sat on the bed like a well-behaved child, restless as if seated on needles, keeping some distance between them—but soon Miss Qianhui leaned against his shoulder, resting her head there with a faint smile.

Lin Cheng had imagined this moment—whether it would erupt and he would pin her down.

But now… nervous and stiff all over, he felt more like the timid maiden about to be favored, while Miss Qianhui seemed the bold husband taking the initiative.

Yet no matter how forward she was, Miss Qianhui was still a girl with a thin skin and no experience. Her mother had once told her that if she leaned against her beloved, he would guide her through what came next.

But her mother never told her what to do if Lin Cheng was even more nervous than she was.

Soon, after a long stalemate, Miss Qianhui grew sleepy.

She wanted to ask Lin Cheng, "Are you even a man?"—but she lacked the nerve, so she resorted to indirect hints.

"I'm sleepy. Let's sleep."

"Mm."

Lin Cheng, too, could no longer resist the tide of sleep, and nodded in agreement.

Under the same blanket, Lin Cheng had taken off his outer robe but still dared not move, instead sleeping with his back to Miss Qianhui.

Miss Qianhui reached around from behind and hugged him tightly, tears of grievance finally spilling from her eyes.

"Wu… Lin, don't you like me anymore?"

"Ah… how could that be? I love you the most," Lin Cheng panicked—he feared girls crying and had no idea how to comfort them.

"Then why won't you touch me…"

"I…"

Miss Qianhui clearly felt Lin Cheng's body tremble, then heard a trembling, fearful voice speak.

"I'm afraid—afraid this is all just a dream, this beautiful dream. I'm afraid I'll wake up and face endless emptiness and despair again. You might not understand how I feel—I'm trying my hardest to hold onto this dream. I'm afraid of hurting you, afraid you'll leave me, and even more afraid the dream will shatter."

"I won't leave you," Miss Qianhui stopped crying, clutching him tighter than ever. Suddenly she understood: perhaps to others, Lin Cheng was a successful, masterful eighth-rank forge-master—but inside, he was a fragile soul.

If one avoids the storm of wild joy, sorrow will never come crashing in!

Lin Cheng also clasped her hand, its warmth grounding him in reality.

"Do you want to hear my story?"

"Mm."

"Once, there was a boy, gentle by nature—but life is fickle…"

Then Lin Cheng turned and embraced Miss Qianhui, beginning to tell her his entire past-life story through the night.

Lin Cheng was no emperor, but since opening his heart to Miss Qianhui, he'd grown utterly enchanted. To be honest, his mind was no longer on his old mechanical research—he spent his days doting on Miss Qianhui, flaunting their affection in front of employees and customers, making everyone who entered the forge shop suffer, and then, at night, telling her stories like a lazy fish.

And Miss Qianhui? She adored having Lin Cheng beside her, not buried in some magic-crystal internal-combustion engine. Even ordinary couples cherish a sweet honeymoon period; though they weren't married yet, they'd already lived the reality of it—enjoying this sweetness for now was perfectly fine.

Lin Cheng and Miss Qianhui's sweetness made Li Li Changan suffer. She'd expected their relationship to fracture after her meddling—but instead, it grew stronger. All the plans she'd devised overnight collapsed before she could even begin.

The Imperial Capital Palace.

Imperial Prince Li Jian had barely persuaded his father to try introducing magic-crystal internal-combustion engines nationwide, but progress stalled due to Lin Cheng's slow pace; helplessly, he ordered the original model taken to the palace, where a group of Ministry of Works craftsmen—not entirely useless—under Li Jian's orders, with great difficulty built a mechanical mount resembling Lin Cheng's in appearance.

But the Ministry's mechanical mount was bulky and extravagantly ornate; though it still carried two to three riders and could barely move or run, it soon broke down due to an unknown issue—the engine overheated, the casing warped severely, and parts softened from excessive heat.

If Lin Cheng were here, he'd immediately recognize it as an airflow problem: the internal combustion engine overheated without cooling, causing the casing to melt—surviving without exploding was sheer luck.

His mechanical wolf mount was designed with sleek aerodynamics: air flowed in through front vents, carried heat away via condensation, and expelled it from the rear.

But to the Ministry craftsmen, those ventilation holes and hollow interiors were clearly Lin Cheng cutting corners—even if the mechanical wolf moved, it was just dumb luck.