Chapter 623 Magician Performs on the Spot
Kong Haoran introduced me: "Qi Yi. My friend's child."
I nodded and said, "Sit down."
Yiwei said, "You guys sit down, Sister Xiaolin and I will go play."
After that, they left.
I make tea.
Kong Haoran said, "I heard that you are in charge of tourism at Xuri now. I would like to introduce Xiao Qi to you to work. See if there is any suitable job for him to do. He can even drive for you."
Qi Yi smiled and said, "Boss Wan, I've heard Boss Kong introduce you many times, and I've wanted to come visit you for a long time. I heard you went abroad."
I poured them some tea. I looked at him carefully. There was nothing unusual about his appearance, except for his hands. He must be around twenty-four or twenty-five.
I said, "It's not appropriate to call you Xiao Qi. Let me call you my brother. Brother Qi, please introduce yourself first."
He nodded and said:
"I've had a literary dream since I was little. Later, I moved and my neighbor was a magician in an acrobatic troupe. My interest changed, and I wanted to learn acrobatics and magic from him."
"How many books have you read?"
“I didn’t graduate from high school.”
"What skills do you have? Just drive for me?"
"I can drive, or if there's a performing arts center on your island, I can go and perform magic tricks."
To be honest, the island won't hold an evening party like some scenic spots do. That's an old and outdated practice.
Before I met Qi Yi, I had never considered the factor of magic, but when he came, I suddenly had an idea.
This idea is not only practical but also creative.
I was not in a hurry to speak out. I wanted to know if he met my requirements, so I chatted with him casually and asked:
"You didn't graduate from high school, and you've been doing magic outside these years?"
"Yes, I'm out performing. The entertainment industry has been declining in the past two years. I stay at home and occasionally take on a performance."
It doesn't matter if he graduated from high school, Wan is also just a high school student. I wanted to test his level of knowledge, so I asked:
"Didn't you say you were interested in literature? You can write online novels at home."
He chuckled and said, "The literature I'm talking about isn't online literature, it's pure literature. But no one reads it anymore."
I nodded and said, "That path is indeed difficult to follow. Even during the era when pure literature was at its peak, a writer as famous as Lu Xun only earned 120,000 yuan in his lifetime.
Converted to RMB, it's about 10 million. It's not even as much as a current online writer earns in a year. Back then, he still had a salary income."
Unexpectedly, Qi Yi said, "Lu Xun was able to earn 120,000 yuan because his royalties were very high. He demanded payment per word, regardless of whether anyone read his works or not. And the price per word was not low.
If no one reads online writing these days, it’s useless to write as many words as you can; you won’t even earn enough to buy cigarettes.”
When I heard that this boy was well-read and knew this anecdote about Lu Xun, I said:
"There was also a writer in later generations who imitated Lu Xun. He wrote a book and asked the publisher to pay him per line of text."
Qi Yi immediately said, "I know, this person is Gu Long. So when Gu Long wrote a novel, he wrote it like this:
knife,
A Qinglong sword,
Total length 3 feet 7 inches 6 minutes,
With a sound of "whoosh",
draw out,
The whole world is eclipsed."
After Qi Yi finished speaking, Kong Haoran and I burst into laughter.
I wanted to test his imagination, so I said, "Here's a vase. Write a few lines based on Gu Long's poems."
He glanced at it, thought for a moment, and then read:
she,
Peerless independence,
A person stood for thousands of years.
The ribbon on the waist,
But entangled
Thousands of years of men’s lovesickness.
When I heard it, I realized he was referring to the ethereal beauty in the vase.
Kong Haoran looked at me excitedly.
I only said two words - not bad.
At this point, I was 70% satisfied. Literature relies on imagination, and so does inventing magic. His imagination is quite rich.
In the future, you can ask him to create more unique magic tricks with his own patents.
So, I got to the core of the topic and asked directly:
"Can you do close-up magic?"
"Yes."
"Then play a few and show them to me."
"Okay, please find me a glass, Mr. Wan."
I went to the kitchen and got a wine glass.
Qi Yi showed me the cup, then found a piece of white paper to cover it, held a coin in his hand, and said, "Play a coin-crossing game."
He picked up the coin and stuck it into the paper. With a "ding-dong" sound, the coin passed through the paper and bounced in the glass.
Kong Haoran looked at me and said in surprise:
"I've seen him do this at least three or four times, and I can't figure it out."
I smiled slightly.
Seeing that I wasn't surprised at all, Qi Yi asked, "Teacher Wan, do you have cigarettes?"
I stood up and went to the bookshelf to get cigarettes, saying, "I smoke occasionally, I don't remember giving them to you."
The three of them were smoking, Qi Yi was puffing away quickly, and I knew he was just using the cigarette as a prop. Kong Haoran said, "This one of his is even more amazing."
I smiled slightly.
Qi Yi quickly smoked his cigarette until only a little spark remained. He took a sip of tea and said:
"Teacher Wan, please stand up."
I stood up, and he lifted up my shirt and pressed the burning cigarette butt directly onto my clothes.
After pressing it, the cigarette butt disappeared, and then he took out an extinguished cigarette butt from his clothes.
Kong Haoran looked at me again.
I just smiled, not showing any surprise, and asked, "Is there anything more amazing?"
Qi Yi said, “There are many more.”
I nodded without comment.
Qi Yi seemed to be feeling a bit defeated. He performed two close-up magic tricks, but I was not surprised. He looked at me with the cup in his hand.
I laughed and said, "Brother, your magic tricks are amazing. But they're all done by others. Can you create a few of your own?"
"Okay, if you have a request, I will definitely think about it carefully."
"Okay, next time, bring me some magic tricks you created yourself. If I'm satisfied, I'll give you a stage."
He nodded seriously.
Kong Haoran said, "Xiao Qi, you see, you really met an important person tonight. Teacher Wan will definitely bring you good news. You go back first, and Teacher Wan and I will sit for a while."
Qi Yi thanked him repeatedly and left.
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