Chapter 76: Tragedy on the Magic Stage
The Lu family's magic show was scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM sharp. Yin Chuan and Lin Lang arrived early and looked at the program on the table by the entrance. Besides supporting performances by several apprentices and eldest son-in-law Hai Yifan, it also included a performance of "Dragon Palace Water Plays" by Lu Changhua, the patriarch of the Lu family.
Yin Chuan held the program list and always felt something was wrong.
"I say, the Lu family's program arrangement is a bit unconventional."
Linlang was a little confused, "What's wrong with this?"
"Look--" Yin Chuan pointed up and down at the rows of program names.
The program reads:
1. Assorted Magic Tricks (Lü Family Disciples)
2. Western Magic (Western magician Hai Yifan)
3. Magic Blanket (Golden Osmanthus)
4. Playing in the Dragon Palace (Lü Changhua)
5. Prelude Magic (Zhang Dafang)
6. The Great Transfiguration (Hai Yifan, Lü Shuixian)
"I don't understand," Yin Chuan said with narrowed eyes, "Today's distinguished guests all came to see the Lu family master's unique skill, 'Dragon Palace Water Playing'. According to the rules, this should be the finale, so why is it scheduled before Hai Yifan's 'Magic Revival'?"
Linlang also felt that something was amiss. "Maybe this is just the Lu family's custom. We should just follow the local customs."
Yin Chuan nodded and stopped caring about it.
The two of them went backstage for another look and saw a black box that was two meters high and three feet square at the bottom. It was twice as big as the box Hai Yifan used to perform the magic trick. They thought this must be the prop needed for the "Dragon Palace Water Play", but they were still confused about what the trick was.
As soon as they returned to the front desk, they found that Du Yunzhang had also arrived at the door and was greeting them.
"Hi! I'm here!"
"Why are you here too?" Yin Chuan asked.
"I just found out about the Lu family magic troupe's performance. All the important figures in Linqing Prefecture are here, including the leader of the Cao Gang branch, so I came along," Du Yunzhang said. "How's your investigation going?"
"It's only been half a day, what progress can there be?" Yin Chuan said helplessly, "How about you? How is the investigation of Feng Shijiu going?"
"He's a thief, he only shows up in the middle of the night. How can you expect me to find him in broad daylight?"
"Then we are the same, so no one should blame anyone else." Yin Chuan said with a smile.
"That's right. It just so happens that there's the Lu family's magic show to watch. It's a rare opportunity to have some fun and relax. You guys are quite good. You can clearly see the real tricks of the magic show backstage."
"Brother Du, I envy you for being able to sit in the front and watch magic tricks." Linlang smiled. "I used to often be backstage at magic shows and see the tricks clearly. What's the point? Only in the front can you appreciate the exquisite magic tricks."
"Hey, how about I switch with you?"
"Come on, come on. We have important things to do. Who is as heartless as you?" Yin Chuan punched Du Yunzhang.
"I'm not going to argue with you any more. Just go back to your business. I'm going to be heartless for a while."
After parting with Du Yunzhang, the two men joked and returned to the backstage. Less than twenty minutes before the show officially began, the backstage area was already bustling with activity. The actors, including Hai Yifan and Lü Shuixian, were busy making final preparations. Then, the second and third daughters' sons-in-law arrived. Even the mute uncle, Lü Tai, and Lü Tingen, along with his two apprentices, Zhang Dafang and Jin Gui, were all present. Finally, five minutes before the show began, the head of the family, Lü Changhua, and his wife, Mrs. Gao, finally arrived.
"Is everyone ready?" Lu Changhua asked everyone.
The actors from the Lu family magic troupe nodded one after another.
"Sichang, let's start the show on time." Lu Changhua said to Sichang.
At 3:00 PM, with the auditorium filling up, the troupe officially announced the start of the Lu Family Magic Troupe's performance. The first act featured a group of male and female Lu Family apprentices performing a variety of traditional tricks, including transforming an empty bowl into a fish, three immortals returning to a cave, and a large bowl of water splashing through the air. While these were basic techniques, the skill level was unwavering, dazzling the audience and earning rounds of applause.
The next Western magic show performed by Hai Yifan was basically the same as the several programs he had rehearsed in front of Yin Chuan Linlang, but in front of so many audiences, Hai Yifan's performance seemed more natural, relaxed and at ease.
The third act featured a "magic blanket" performance by Jingui, an apprentice of Uncle Lü Tai. In the magic world, the saying goes, "The magic trick's effectiveness depends entirely on the blanket." This means that a simple four-foot-square blanket can be used to create all sorts of unimaginable things. This requires the magician to be extremely skilled and precise, with the audience unable to detect any flaws. Jingui was a master at this, conjuring a brazier, a rabbit, and even a bowl of steaming hot and sour soup.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Uncle Jin is truly amazing. In our Lu family, only the Patriarch and my uncle are better than him in this technique."
Yin Chuan heard a disciple in the backstage exclaiming in praise.
"Isn't this only natural?" another disciple commented. "He used to be our equal. If our master hadn't kicked him out and let our uncle take him in as an apprentice, where would he have learned the skills of two generations of the Lu family and ended up being older than us? How could he have achieved such skills?"
"Yes, Master and Uncle were furious about this. After all, Uncle is the elder, and no matter how unhappy Master is, there's nothing he can do about it." Another disciple interrupted.
As Jingui was performing, backstage, Lü Changhua, with a sullen expression, was whispering to the production manager, "How did you arrange this? You did this without my approval?"
"Boss, I don't know. It was already like this when I got here. The inspector just discovered it and told me right away. Do you think we should make some temporary changes?"
Lu Changhua took a long breath. "Why change it? The audience has already seen it. Now that things have come to this, let's just leave it as it is. Tell Dafang. Oh, and when Jingui comes down, say hello to him too. Have them prepare so they can perform with me later."
The chief agreed and hurried off. Lu Changhua looked very dissatisfied, mumbling something in a huff.
None of this escaped Yin Chuan's extremely sharp ears. He came to Linlang and said with a malicious smile: "Look, the next show might be fun!"
Linlang was a little confused. "Fun? Isn't the next thing Master Lu will do? How can he be fun?"
Yin Chuan glanced at Lu Changhua, who was pretending to be calm, and said, "You'll know in a moment."
Soon, Jingui finished his performance and when he retreated backstage, the front desk inspector whispered something to him while they were checking the stage. Jingui was a little surprised and seemed completely unprepared.
"So this wasn't the arrangement? Was this a last-minute decision made by the head of the family?" Jin Gui asked.
"I'm really sorry, it's...something went wrong during the arrangement, and Boss Lu said that since it's already like this, we should just let it go."
Jin Gui hesitated for a moment, then said, "Okay, I'll go find Senior Brother Dafang and get ready. The Patriarch will go on stage first according to the program arrangement, right?"
"Yes."
Jingui nodded and made the necessary preparations according to the usual drills.
When the stage manager announced the next act, "Dragon Palace Water Play," performed by the great actor Lü Changhua, one of the Lü family's three unique skills, thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Lü Changhua then took the stage, spoke a few prelude to the show, and then headed backstage. Zhang Dafang and Jingui jointly rolled out a large black box that reached up to the sky and into the earth.
"Everyone will soon be able to enjoy my unique skill, 'Dragon Palace Water Play'. Come on—open it!"
At Lu Changhua's command, Zhang Dafang and Jingui opened the bracket lock under the black box. The four walls of the box fell in four directions, revealing a huge glass water tank inside. Obviously, this was the so-called "Dragon Palace" in "Playing in the Water in the Dragon Palace".
However, just moments after the box was opened, everyone on and off the stage stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded at the contents of the glass tank. They were not shocked by the size of the tank, but were all terrified by the contents.
I saw a huge glass water tank filled with water, and all kinds of dragon palace decorations were inside. The eldest daughter of the Lu family, Lu Shuixian, had her eyes wide open and was floating motionlessly in the water tank.
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