Chapter 200 Ascending to Heaven
It took about two hours for the servants to find everything.
Lin Changning scratched her head as she looked at the things that had arrived. In fact, she was only talking theory; she had seen hot air balloons before, but she was a bit clueless about how to assemble them.
Seeing the stares of those around him, Lin Changning gritted his teeth and went ahead. After finally getting the fire going and the steam rising up, Lin Changning discovered a big problem.
The bamboo baskets the soldiers found were actually just carrying baskets on their backs. Smaller soldiers could fit inside without any problem, but if there were too many things inside, the baskets might not be very sturdy, and it wasn't easy to maintain balance in mid-air.
Lin Changning tied the rope to the basket on his back, secured it to the ground, and then flipped over and jumped into the basket.
Then he shouted to the people next to him, "Slowly loosen the rope."
Some of the soldiers nearby looked around, hesitant to let go.
They were afraid that Commander Lin would ride away on that strange, giant ball.
Lin Changning said impatiently, "What are you being cowardly about? Hold the rope and slowly lower it into the sky."
Qi Rong frowned and looked at Lin Changning with some disapproval: "Xiao Liu, you come down and let someone else go up. Zhi Qi, you go up."
Zhiqi, looking completely bewildered, pointed to himself: "Huh? Me?"
Lin Changning politely declined: "There's no need to change the commander. I need to go up and take a look, confirm some things, and see what else can be discerned?"
Knowing it: ...
Qi Rong hesitated for a moment, then nodded, a hint of worry in his eyes: "Then be careful, and keep a close eye on the people below."
After all, the idea of a person riding a giant sphere into the sky still seemed a bit unbelievable to them.
As the hot air balloon slowly rose into the sky, Qi Rong looked up and suddenly felt a little lost.
Could Xiao Liu be some kind of reincarnated deity?
It can really fly.
Lin Changning, who seemed to be a reincarnation of a deity, stood up shakily in the basket on his back, watching the ground recede into the distance.
The higher the basket rises, the more unstable it becomes.
Just as she expected, the higher they flew, the harder it was to maintain the balance of the basket on their backs.
However, since it can fly, that's a good thing. Another issue is that the distance between the hot air balloon and the ground is difficult to control.
After the experiment was over, Lin Changning shouted towards the ground, "Pull me down!"
Upon hearing the commotion, everyone hurriedly pulled together, dragging the rope to pull Lin Changning down.
As they approached the ground, Lin Changning wiped away a bead of sweat.
The people around her looked at her with a mixture of admiration and curiosity.
Lin Changning breathed a sigh of relief, and once he felt grounded, he called over a few people to bring baskets. He tied the four baskets together and put sandbags inside.
Qi Rong was a little confused: "Xiao Liu, what's going on?"
Lin Changning explained, "Once we fly up there, one basket isn't very stable, and people can easily fall off. So we tie four baskets together and put some sandbags underneath to make them more secure and stable in the air."
Qin Zhong looked at Qi Rong and then at Lin Changning: "How did Commander Lin know that this thing could fly? I think even the miscellaneous affairs bureau of the Prince's mansion might not have thought of this ingenious idea."
Lin Changning chuckled: "I had a few years of schooling before, and I'm very interested in miscellaneous things. When I was in Daxing, I liked to tinker with things, and this headlight was something I wanted to try out back then."
I made a simplified version before, which my son took to play with. Just now, Lao Han mentioned flying it, and it reminded me that since the smaller one can fly, the larger one might be able to too. I figured a basket hanging from the bottom could hold people.
Qi Rong seemed to suddenly remember something, and looked up at Lin Changning: "Was that big ball in An'an's room a gift from you at the end of the year??"
Lin Changning nodded, somewhat puzzled.
Qi Rong: ...
Qi Rong looked at Lin Changning with a complicated expression: "That day when we got back, An'an found a jade rabbit in my room and insisted on sending it to the moon palace. When I heard this, I lit a ball for him, and the jade rabbit flew into the air. I wanted to shoot the ball down, but An'an stopped me..."
Lin Changning coughed lightly, feeling a little guilty: "Was that jade rabbit expensive?"
Qi Rong glanced at Lin Changning casually: "Not expensive."
Before Lin Changning could even breathe a sigh of relief, Zhiqi snorted coldly, "Yes, it's not expensive, just a hundred taels of silver."
Lin Changning laughed it off: "The moon is quite round tonight, huh?"
Qi Rong shook his head and chuckled.
Lin Changning muttered to herself that she was still penniless. Although the Prince of Chu had given her a lot of silver and she now had a house, the daily food expenses at home still amounted to a considerable sum every month.
Moreover, he still needs to save money, Zhiyuan needs to take the imperial examination, and he needs to get married in the future. Now their family can be considered an official family, and there will be many places where they will need money in the future.
His salary is enough to support his family now, though it's not a big problem. But in the future, he'll need to prepare for Zhiyuan's official career through the imperial examinations, his second brother's business ventures, and the dowries for his two nieces. Once the family's situation improves, all of these things will need to be taken care of.
Thinking of this, Lin Changning looked up at the sky and sighed, "Sigh, I'm poor."
Qin Zhong also glanced at Lin Changning with some surprise. Their Chu King's Guard never exploited their salaries, yet this Commander Lin's sigh sounded as if he had some kind of financial difficulty at home.
Qi Rong thought Lin Changning was in some kind of trouble, so he glanced at Lin Changning and said, "If your family urgently needs money, I can give you some first."
Lin Changning waved her hand, her face slightly flushed: "That's not what I meant. Everything is fine at home. I was just expressing my feelings."
As the group chatted and laughed, the baskets on their backs were already tied up.
Hearing someone call him, Lin Changning walked to the location, tugged at the four baskets fixed together, picked up the sandbags inside, shook them left and right to make sure they were secure enough, and then casually found a few soldiers who were slightly thinner.
After leading the person onto the basket, Lin Changning stepped back.
"After the rope is released, keep your balance up there and don't be afraid. If you find it unstable, the four of you should move closer to the middle."
The four rather thin soldiers nodded. Lin Qianhu had already gone up alone once, and they were both scared and excited.
After all, this is from heaven.
Legend has it that only immortals can ascend to heaven. In the end, the novelty overcame the fear. The four people stood on four baskets and the ropes were lowered little by little.
The hot air balloon slowly floated into the air, and one of the people in it exclaimed in surprise.
As they got further and further away from the ground, the group gradually became excited.
Lin Changning shouted at the top of his lungs from below, "How's it up there? Is it stable?"
One of the thin soldiers leaned over the basket on his back, shifted his body closer to the center, and responded loudly.
"Chief, it's very windy up there, but the wind is very strong!!!"
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