At 7:30 p.m., the show "Entertainnt First Line" began.
It opened with a song and dance sequence as the host Robin Cook and the invited guests made their appearances one after the other. The audience cheered loudly upon seeing their favorite stars, but the cheers reached a crescendo when Li Yuntang made her entrance — the whole venue was thunderous with applause.
"Welco to ’Entertainnt First Line’ sponsored by Seks Chain Hotels. Seks Hotel — travel is more than getting from A to B, it adds joy to your vacation happiness. Good evening, everyone, I’m your host Robin Cook." The cara panned to Robin, and he recited the opening lines as usual.
"Today we are fortunate to have the cast mbers of the soon-to-be-released movie ’Love Apprentice’ with us, welco!" Robin, the host, encouraged the guests to wave to the audience below. "Since that’s the case, let’s all say hello, starting with Miss Li Yuntang."
Standing in the center position, Li Yuntang waved her hand, "Hello, everyone, I’m Li Yuntang."
The audience cheered once again.
Backstage, Jiang Shu watched the screen while cracking sunflower seeds brought by Su Xiaoou and asked, "’Love Apprentice’? Just hearing it sounds uninteresting."
"What’s the use of you not liking it? You don’t go to the cinema to watch movies anyway." Su Xiaoou retorted, "It’s not like it’s taking your money."
"Pssh, wasn’t it said that Li Yuntang is now taking on more challenging roles?" Jiang Shu was a bit puzzled.
A youthful romance film didn’t seem challenging at all, did it?
"She’s playing the mother of the protagonist, a villain who’s dead set on breaking up the lovers." Su Xiaoou looked at Jiang Shu, "The pay is quite low, just two million, but she still took the role."
Jiang Shu: "..."
Well done, director, having a twenty-year-old girl play soone else’s mom, pretty clever.
But it’s not too low, almost matching the pay of a hit film.
The two continued to watch the variety show, mostly boring Q&A interspersed with so small gas that had Jiang Shu yawning repeatedly.
"Mr. Jiang, it’s almost your turn to go on stage, you’re scheduled for 8:30 sharp, I’ll co to notify you later," a staff mber opened the door, saying to Jiang Shu.
"Alright." Jiang Shu nodded before turning to Su Xiaoou, "Get ready, let’s stick to the plan, and no mistakes."
"Mhm, mhm." Su Xiaoou nodded repeatedly and then rushed to the side to check the props, which she had prepared several hours earlier.
Jiang Shu also began to check the props he needed to take on stage. Shortly after, led by the staff, he climbed onto the stage.
——
"Now, let’s please welco today’s special guest — Magician Mr. Jiang Shu!" On stage, host Robin gestured invitingly with his hand.
Jiang Shu, equipped with a microphone, entered from backstage and jogged to a spot on the edge of the stage. There, a place had been reserved for him.
Hmm, to the left in the center of the stage, Li Yuntang had reserved a spot for him.
"Hello, everyone, I’m Jiang Shu, just an ordinary magician," Jiang Shu said into the microphone.
The audience quieted down for a mont, and then exploded with cheers just as loud as before.
"It’s Jiang Shu!"
"They actually got him here..."
"Is he going to perform magic? Tickets for the magic show are now selling for over five hundred each!"
To Jiang Shu’s surprise, most of the audience below actually recognized him; even those who didn’t rember him were quickly reminded by the keyword "House of Cards" and imdiately recalled who he was. It seed he had quite a high profile in the Seventh District.
"It looks like our Jiang Shu is very popular," Robin, the host, followed up.
"Thank you all for your support," Jiang Shu said politely in return.
Suddenly, a shout ca from the audience, "Master, teach to foresee the future, I want to dream about doing shaful things with Tangtang too!"
Jiang Shu: "..."
The people of Lonely City really are enthusiastic learners.
Then, he saw a staff mber take away the fan who had shouted...
Luckily, the live broadcast had a delay of about a minute, so that comnt would probably be blocked out.
"As a mber of the Entertainnt Series, I actually really want to know how Magician Jiang Shu accomplishes those seemingly mysterious magic tricks," the host Robin started with a question that was of great interest to everyone. He continued, "Could it be true, as people online are saying, Mr. Jiang, that you really can perform magic?"
In front of the Simulated Light Screen, Kirie Tsukimiya nodded with certainty.
On stage, Jiang Shu began to smile slightly, "Magic and such, of course that’s not possible. I am a firm materialist. Everyone should still believe in science."
Following that, after asking about the daily life of a magician, the atmosphere on stage beca even more lively. At this point, host Robin finally stopped teasing, "Our magician, Mr. Jiang Shu, who has co to our program today, has also prepared a magic trick."
The audience instantly grew agitated.
"Okay, now let’s hand the stage over to our magician, Mr. Jiang Shu," Robin continued, then signaled with his eyes to the other people on stage.
The black curtain was pulled down, and slight noises ca from the stage. Then the curtain was drawn back to reveal Jiang Shu, standing in front of a black backdrop, dressed in a black suit, and slowly bowing.
The lights in the venue dimd to near darkness, barely revealing Jiang Shu and an altar to his left, as well as a simple four-legged table to his right.
Behind him, on the backdrop, the artistic words "Fla Spirit" were projected.
Jiang Shu slowly began to speak, his voice deep and carrying a sense of tiless storytelling.
"When I was very young, my grandfather told that there are three fires on a person’s body. At that ti, I didn’t believe it."
"How could there be fires on a person’s body?"
"My grandfather said that these three fires symbolize a person’s vitality; if they get scared, the fires would go out, and once extinguished, one’s vitality weakens, leading to sickness."
He went on to say, "It wasn’t until last week that I discovered so wonderful things."
Jiang Shu walked over to the table. There were three long white candles laid out on it; he removed the cups covering the candles and set them aside. Then he stood behind the candles, looking at the rapt audience.
"I discovered that I can take the fire from within my body and use it to ignite objects from a distance."
He held his hand above the candles, gently rubbing them together.
The three candles lit up one after the other, the faint yellow glow of the candlelight brightening up the dark space.
In the studio, all the lights were turned off, leaving only the candlelight as the sole source of illumination.
"Oh!"
"The candles are lit!"
"Shh!"
A slight commotion arose from the crowd, but everyone knew this was just an appetizer.
"I also found that the fire taken directly from the body turns blue and doesn’t harm ," Jiang Shu continued, slowly lifting his hand open and flat.
Suddenly, bright yellow flas burst forth on his hand, soaring half a ter high, then extinguished in an instant.
Then a faint blue fla rose gently from the palm of his hand.
Jiang Shu held his fla-imbued hand before his eyes, his face illuminated by the softly glowing blue light, looking mysterious and unfathomable.
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