Chapter 417: Chen Yan: I'll fucking beat you to death!

At the same time, inside the County Magistrate's residence.

Li Lizhi was preparing to go see what Li Shimin had bestowed; just as she came out, she was intercepted by the excited Sizi and Chengyang.

"Older sister, older sister, look at the sky, what a huge Kongming lantern! Is that the hot air balloon that older brother said could lift people into the sky?" Sizi pointed at the distant sky and shouted.

Kongming lantern?

Li Lizhi blinked, followed her sister's pointing direction, and instantly froze.

The Research Institute is quite close to the County Magistrate's residence, so from here they could look up and see the huge hot air balloon soaring high.

Moreover, the hot air balloon flies very high; even from a distance, it can be seen clearly.

"What my husband said is true! Imperial brother... imperial brother actually made it." Li Lizhi murmured, her heart shaken.

It's flying up—too unbelievable.

"Older sister, let's go find older brother; I also want to ride that Kongming lantern!" Princess Chengyang said, full of anticipation.

Little kids don't understand much; they only know that flying up is awesome.

Sizi complained: "Older brother said, that's not a Kongming lantern, it's a hot air balloon."

"Okay, okay, whether it's a Kongming lantern or a hot air balloon, can older brother take us for a flight?" Princess Chengyang continued.

Li Lizhi calmed herself, then hurriedly brought her two sisters to find Chen Yan, who was directing the servants in slaughtering pigs.

"Husband, look at that flying Kong... hot air balloon—did imperial brother make it?"

"What made it?" Chen Yan initially didn't hear clearly; after reacting, he looked up.

"Holy shit!"

"This kid actually made it?"

Chen Yan clicked his tongue in amazement.

Originally he wanted to find Li Tai something feasible and shocking enough to do, thinking Li Tai would need at least a year and a half to accomplish it, but he didn't expect it to be done in just four short months.

Li Tai is indeed a genius in this area.

Actually, making a hot air balloon is quite simple; nowadays, if you have strong hands-on ability and some financial means, it's not hard to build one, but in this era it's extremely difficult.

However......

Chen Yan furrowed his brows, "Why aren't they moving?"

"Husband, look down, there are four ropes pulling it." Li Lizhi reminded.

Four ropes pulling it?

Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat; he stared intently and immediately panicked.

If he didn't misremember, just now Li Tai had taken Li Chengqian away.

The people up there probably aren't Li Tai and Li Chengqian, right?

Probably...... right?

Recalling Li Tai's earlier obsession with hot air balloons, Chen Yan couldn't stay calm; before he could say a word, he rushed quickly toward the nearby Research Institute.

Sizi thought Chen Yan also wanted to go ride the hot air balloon, and immediately got excited: "Older sister, hurry, let's go too!"

"Okay!" Chengyang had no objection, and she chased after Sizi with her short little legs.

Only Li Lizhi sensed something was off.

Just now Chen Yan's expression didn't look like delight......

"......"

"Come down! Quickly, fucking come down!"

Chen Yan rushed in panic to the place where Li Tai usually sat in the hot air balloon, not having time to mind the servants nearby who were still sighing, and shouted up at the sky.

"Fourth brother, it seems Zi Anxiong is shouting for us to come down."

Li Chengqian looked down, waving continuously, trying to attract their attention—Chen Yan, he said somewhat uncertainly.

"Really?" Li Tai poked his head out, overjoyed: "Brother Chen, do you also want to ride the hot air balloon?"

"I'll ride you...... Grandfather!!" Chen Yan instantly flushed, nearly losing his sanity.

"Who the hell let you fix it with four ropes? Don't you want to live?!"

"Hurry up and get down!"

Li Tai's smile froze, he blinked, somewhat at a loss from the scolding.

Could it be that using four ropes isn't okay?

"Fourth brother, I feel something's off; Zi Anxiong seems really angry—should we come down first?"

Li Chengqian hurriedly said.

"Okay...... all right." Li Tai was also a bit flustered now; although the hot air balloon was his creation, whether it was the original idea or the difficulties in the manufacturing process, they were all solved by Chen Yan.

Therefore, regarding this matter, he is willing to trust Chen Yan.

Li Tai didn't dare delay; he reached out, grabbed a rope running from top to bottom, pulled hard, the top valve on the hot air balloon opened, the hottest, lightest air swiftly escaped, and they began to descend slowly.

In fact, controlling the hot air balloon's ascent and descent by adjusting the flame size would be better, but this is difficult; although there are solutions, they would take too much time.

So Li Tai had a brainwave and made a top valve on the hot air balloon; opening it lets the balloon descend.

Meanwhile, as they descended, the servants below were slowly pulling the ropes to control the landing point, making Chen Yan's blood pressure spike.

Now it's too late to say anything; all we can hope is that Li Tai and Li Chengqian land safely.

Perhaps his prayer worked; Li Tai and Li Chengqian eventually came down safely.

Once Li Tai came down, he hurriedly called the servants to properly handle the fire source, so as not to burn the hot air balloon.

However, just as he finished speaking, Chen Yan kicked up a foot and struck him on the buttocks.

Li Tai was stunned by the kick; seeing Chen Yan with red eyes still wanting to beat him, Li Tai turned and ran.

"Brother Chen, what are you doing? Speak properly if you have something to say!"

"What? I said your damn leg!" Chen Yan clenched his teeth, utterly furious.

With a flying lunge, he instantly knocked Li Tai to the ground, lifted his fist and began pounding.

"You damn fool, you want to die? Who told you to use four ropes? Who let you puncture the hot‑air balloon?"

"You too… Uncle! I'll damn well kill you!"

"Ouch, stop hitting my face!" Li Tai wailed, covering his face: "Stop it, stop it, can't I admit I'm wrong?"

"You don't just know you're wrong; you know it hurts!" Chen Yan roared, "Today I must give you a lesson!!"

"Ah!!!"

The scene turned chaotic, and several servants looked utterly at a loss.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, this…"

One middle‑aged man hesitated, mainly because none of those elders could be provoked.

Seeing the scene, he didn't even dare to step up and mediate!

Li Chengqian also felt a sudden fear, waved his hand, "Don't… don't interfere with them!"

At that moment, Sizi, Cheng Yang, and Li Lizhi happened to rush over.

Upon arriving, they saw Chang Wei fighting Lai Fu and were instantly stunned.

Li Lizhi realized something was wrong, grew suspicious, and instead of stepping in to mediate, she covered the two younger sisters' eyes, grabbed the two kids, and led them out.

"Do you realize you're wrong?" Chen Yan, riding on Li Tai's back, asked coldly.

"Wrong, wrong!" Li Tai looked at the sandbag‑sized fist and dared not argue, quickly admitting his fault.

Chen Yan let out a long sigh, then landed a punch to Li Tai's chest, "You two damn it, today you barely clawed a life back; hurry back and properly kowtow to your ancestors!"

"I reckon they're also going mad down there."

"......"