Chapter 74: Rehearsal
"Mr. Hai," Yin Chuan interrupted, "I saw a photo of the young master of the Lu family being murdered at Mr. Lu's place. He said you asked someone to take it?"
"Uh... yes. In order to leave a record of the scene for the officials, I borrowed a camera from a friend I met abroad and took a picture."
"Were you there at the time? Did you take this photo?"
"It was really embarrassing. When I arrived at the scene, I almost vomited on the spot. I never went in there again after that. I just asked a friend to take pictures for me."
"Where is your friend?"
"I've already returned home."
The three of them now came to a side room. After sitting down, Yin Chuan continued to ask, "Do you still remember, at the scene, whether you saw the left calf of the corpse?"
Hai Yifan was stunned. "Left calf?" He thought hard and said, "I don't remember. I was so scared that I immediately looked away and didn't pay any attention to it."
"Hmm..." Yin Chuan responded sullenly, then fell into deep thought.
At this time, the servant served tea and the room was silent for a long time.
"If you two are free, I won't stay with you for now. I have to support my father-in-law in the afternoon and need to go on stage to warm up the show, so I still need to rehearse a little." Hai Yifan smiled and prepared to leave.
"Wait a minute, Mr. Hai." Linlang hurriedly called out to Hai Yifan.
"Miss Lin, is there anything else?" Hai Yifan asked politely.
"I also learned some basic Western magic in my early years, but it has been a long time and I have neglected to practice, so I have basically abandoned it. But I am still very interested in Western magic. Do you think we can observe your rehearsal?" Linlang showed an expectant look.
Hai Yifan was a little hesitant at first, but after a little thought, he agreed to Linlang.
"Since Miss Lin said she's familiar with Western magic, I'll show off my skills in front of an expert and see if you can figure it out." Hai Yifan pulled a deck of playing cards from his back pocket, shuffled them back and forth, placed them face-out in front of Linlang, and pulled the deck back vertically. "Look, Miss Lin, the cards are completely shuffled, right?" He gathered the deck together, then spread it open again behind his back. "Please point to a card here."
"Whatever?"
"Yeah, whatever."
Linlang was about to draw a card from the deck when Hai Yifan suddenly said, "Wait a moment. Let me write down what I've read into your mind." He casually took a pen and paper, wrote a few words, and then turned it upside down on the table. "Ms. Lin, please."
Linlang looked at the deck of cards and pulled out one of them. "Here, this one will do."
"Very good," Hai Yifan smiled slightly, "Please turn over this card."
Linlang turned over the card and it was a 4 of hearts.
Hai Yifan picked up his piece of paper with his left hand and held it up to show Linlang. There was a red heart drawn on it and the number 4 written below it.
Linlang was shocked. "Oh my God! Mr. Hai, this is amazing! How did you do it?"
Hai Yifan crumpled the paper and stuffed it into his pocket, saying somewhat smugly, "This is just a trick from Western magic, called mind reading. It means the magician can read your thoughts. Miss Lin, do you see the secret?"
Linlang shook her head, a little embarrassed. "My teacher, Master Jiang, only taught me some tricks like flying pigeons in hats and making flowers from handkerchiefs. As for your mind-reading skills... I really don't see the point."
At this time, Yin Chuan narrowed his eyes, as if thinking about something.
"Actually, this performance is just to interact with the audience, to enhance the atmosphere on stage, and to build up the audience's anticipation for my father-in-law's magic trick. Of course, I have other performances, so please feel free to watch them if you want."
After that, Hai Yifan led Yin Chuanlinlang to a spacious area at the back of the hall. This was probably his rehearsal space. It was filled with all sorts of Western magic props, from large boxes and curtains to small magic wands and hats.
Hai Yifan first practiced a few small magic tricks that he could perform by himself, such as making flowers appear with bare hands, taking a rabbit out of a hat, flying in the sky with candlelight, etc., which made Linlang and Yinchuan, who were watching on the side, couldn't help but applaud.
Next, he planned to rehearse the stage magic that he was about to perform, which required an assistant, so he called his wife Lu Shuixian.
Lu Shuixian was originally a full-time assistant to her husband, but when she saw two outsiders around, her face immediately darkened. "What do they do?"
"These two are detectives my father-in-law hired from the Cao Gang to investigate the murder of Lü Jiye."
"Detective? Lu Jiye has been dead for three years. What's the point of finding a detective now? And he's from the Cao Gang? He sounds unreliable." Lu Shuixian said unhappily.
"Don't say that. After all, my father-in-law is still brooding over Jiye's death. If he can't rely on the government, he can only resort to unconventional methods. And aren't you also annoyed by Feng Shijiu's frequent visits? Perhaps they can resolve this matter once and for all."
Lu Shuixian glanced at Yin Chuan, and seeing that he was plain-looking, she felt quite disapproving. The woman next to him was exceptionally young and pretty, and she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. "Since Dad has his own plans, I won't ask. But... you two should investigate honestly and don't cause any trouble, or I won't tolerate you. Get out of here, Potato Move!"
Lü Shuixian was no more than twenty-three or twenty-four, but her words were quite bold and uninhibited. Yin Chuan quickly smiled and said, "Sister, we certainly won't cause you any trouble. If you don't mind, we can even help you out and help you out. I'm good at that..."
"Yes, yes, yes... no need. I'm afraid you'll ruin the reputation of my Lu family's magic tricks."
"Just say less. Are you still going to line up or not?" Hai Yifan interrupted Lu Shuixian.
Lu Shuixian muttered a few words reluctantly before starting to rehearse with her husband Hai Yifan.
Yin Chuan was no expert in Western magic, but Linlang immediately recognized their rehearsal routine. It was a highly skilled magician's trick: a person vanishing from thin air from a box as tall as a person, then reappearing from a box several feet away. The couple's coordination was evident, evidently a long-standing partnership that had performed together many times.
"Great! Fantastic!" Linlang couldn't help but shout "good" in a combination of Chinese and Western styles. Yin Chuan also applauded.
After the rehearsal, Hai Yifan bowed to Linlang and Yinchuan and said, "Thank you both for your support. No one has ever applauded us during rehearsals before."
"With such wonderful performances from both of you, today's show will definitely be a great success!" Linlang said.
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