Originally, the princess blamed Mingting for her daughter Du Ruowei's troubles, but after hearing her brother's words, she gradually came around.
After all, the condition of Prince of Qi's Mansion is not as good as before. A woman's natal family was her backbone, and her brother's opinion mattered greatly to her.
Moreover, if they reclaimed Mingting, her daughter would no longer clamor to marry him.
Ever since Du Ruowei heard that Mingting was granted marriage by the Emperor himself, she had thrown tantrums… threatening to hang herself, going on hunger strikes, and smashing everything in her room. Princess Dongyang was at her wit's end.
But if Mingting became her brother, they would have to abide by the rules of sibling propriety.
More importantly, what Princess Dongyang cared about most was that Mingting had actually become sworn brothers with the Crown Prince.
If they were that close, wouldn't it be easy for him to put in a good word for Du Ruowei in front of Li Sheng? With his help, the position of Crown Princess might as well be hers for the taking!
After thinking about this clearly, Princess Dongyang immediately changed her attitude.
She waited on Song Yi with gentle servitude, even praising him for doing the right thing. Mingting was a child of the Song family, so how could he be allowed to remain the son of some village woman?
"I've already prepared the Moonview Pavilion in the east. That place is serene and peaceful. Mingting will definitely like it when he sees it."
After being married to the princess for so long, Song Yi had never seen the princess humble herself like this. He couldn't help but feel smug.
'As expected, I am a man of great fortune. Now, I'm able to regain my dignity through my son.'
The incident of Song Yi being struck by lightning in broad daylight was so shocking that Emperor Li quickly learned of it.
Such phenomena, which is beyond human control, inevitably evoked thoughts of divine retribution. The Emperor grew even more convinced that Mingting was heaven-sent to assist him in achieving greatness.
"What have the Crown Princeand Count Zhongyi been up to lately? Why haven't they been seen?"
Emperor Li called the shadow guard.
"This subject cannot say." The shadow guard lowered his head and replied, "This subject now serves the Crown Prince and must keep his master's secrets."
The more the shadow guard refused to speak, the more Emperor Li's curiosity gnawed at him like a kitten's claws, which was really uncomfortable.
However, the secret the shadow guard kept didn't remain hidden for long.
That day, the autumn sky was clear and boundless, without a trace of wind.
When Emperor Li was attending court, there were bursts of exclamations outside the palace.
He frowned, and the chief eunuch immediately went out to see what was going on. When the eunuch saw what was happening outside, he froze.
"Your Majesty, Count… Count Zhongyi has ascended to the heavens!" The chief eunuch, who had trained his eloquence in front of the emperor, stumbled over his words.
'What?!'
Emperor Li immediately led his ministers out of the hall in a rush. Following the eunuch's pointing finger, the Emperor saw a red ball floating in the sky, with a basket hanging beneath it. Inside, someone was waving.
After looking carefully, he realized that aside from Mingting, the other person in the basket was none other than the Crown Prince.
Emperor Li swayed on his feet, nearly fainting.
When he saw the huge banner under the basket with the words, 'By Imperial Decree, We Ascend to Heaven', Emperor Li pointed at Mingting and roared, "Get down here this instant!!!"
"The fuel hasn't burned out yet, we can't come down!" The Crown Prince shouted through a megaphone, his voice booming, "Father, didn't you order Mingting to ascend to heaven? Not only did he go up himself, but he also brought me along!"
"Father, aren't you moved?!"
'Moved his foot!'
Emperor Li decided then and there that once they landed, he would make sure the Crown Prince and Mingting understood the meaning of 'not daring to move'!
Unlike Emperor Li, the officials of the Ministry of Works were ecstatic at the sight of the hot air balloon.
For a human to ascend to the heavens… this was an unprecedented marvel. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would have thought they were dreaming.
Some even turned to Su Hengzhong for information, "Minister Su, have you heard of this ball? Didn't the Count mention it to you?"
"This official knows nothing of it."
Su Hengzhong's face was grim, his heart lodged in his throat.
He had no idea how Mingting had managed to ascend to the sky, but…
'This troublemaker hadn't just done something so dangerous himself, he'd even dragged the Crown Prince into it too.'
'The Crown Prince was the heir apparent, and the emperor had only this one son. Did that brat even realize what he was doing!'
'Had that ball been tested? How many times? Was it even reliable?'
'If he fell and something happened to him, wouldn't my daughter be widowed before she even married?'
Su Hengzhong's expression was even darker than Emperor Li's.
Unlike the officials of the Ministry of Works, the military officers saw greater potential, 'If someone on the battlefield rides this ball to the sky, can they spy on the enemy in the distance?'
'Or what if, during a night siege, soldiers were sent into the city via the ball to open the gates from within? If it could fly over land, could it also traverse the seas?'
Thus, they looked at Su Hengzhong as if he were a prized treasure.
'If the student was this exceptional, surely the teacher was even more remarkable. We had to pressure the Minister of Works to produce more of these giant balls for experimentation!'
When the hot air balloon appeared over the capital, crowds of commoners flooded the streets to gawk at the spectacle.
Once they realized the person inside was the young Zhuangyuan Jiang, even more people became convinced he was the reincarnation of the God of Literature. Otherwise, how could he have found a way to send people into the heavens?
Mingting and the Crown Prince eventually made a safe landing in the eastern part of the city. The imperial guards who had been chasing them nearly collapsed from terror.
If anything had happened to these two today, their heads wouldn't have been enough to atone.
"Your Highness, Lord Count, His Majesty commands your immediate return to the palace."
A crowd of men carried the hot air balloon as they trailed behind Li Sheng and Mingting, bustling back to the palace.
"Get over here!" Emperor Li glared at the two of them. Seeing that they were unharmed and full of energy, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to scold them for an hour.
After Emperor Li finished scolding, he drank a mouthful of water to moisten his throat and pointed at Mingting:
"Take this thing to the Ministry of Works. Top-secret classification. From now on, neither of you is allowed to touch it. Especially you! You're going straight to the Ministry of Works. If you don't explain everything clearly to them, don't even think about going home!"
"Your subject obeys."
The moment Mingting uttered these words, Emperor Li felt a headache coming on.
'The last time he'd "obeyed" an order, he'd created a flying contraption. What kind of monstrosity was he planning this time?'