Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Watching TV.
The entire world's Chinese population was eagerly waiting.
Hurry, hurry, hurry!
What else is there?
What other acts will there be?
Hurry up and bring them all out!
Will the latter acts be as wonderful as the earlier ones?
At this moment, the Spring Festival Gala's female host, Yan Mei, smiled and revealed the next act. "Next up, let me introduce to everyone a magician. I heard that he will be bringing us some close-up magic 1 today and that the act will be pretty extraordinary. I wonder if it's true, so why don't we take a look?"
…
In the production control room.
Zhang Ye smiled.
It was time for the magic show. This should be the act that he was the least confident in. He could easily compose and give out songs for the song acts, as well as teach the dance moves for the dance acts. Even for the acrobatic acts, he could still give pointers and instruct the performers on how they had to jump. Everything except for the magic acts could be handled that way. The reason was that Zhang Ye did not understand the intricacies of how the magic trick was performed. He had seen some of the magic tricks before and could also describe to the magician what it was like. But if he were quizzed on how exactly the trick worked, and what the secret behind the trick was, he wouldn't be able to explain most of it. He only knew about some of the analysis of the tricks by the netizens in his previous world. Based on the process of the trick and some clues of how they worked, he had spent over half a month working hard with the magician to deduce and slowly experiment on the magic trick. The difficulty behind it all could not be understood by any outsiders.
The Spring Festival Gala!
Liu Qian 2 !
Coins!
The magic trick that Zhang Ye had been anticipating for the longest time was finally going to be reborn in this world. So Zhang Ye was really looking forward to it and could no longer wait to see the stunned faces of this world's people. Those expressions and amazement had also been observed on the faces of the people in his previous world when the trick was performed.
…
The TV viewers were also taken aback.
"A magic show?"
"It's time for the magic act?"
"A close-up magic act?"
"What's the meaning of that?"
"I don't know."
"Close-up? How close is it?"
"I don't like this. I prefer watching the skits and crosstalks. Hurry up and show us another one of those."
"Haha, I agree. The language acts are still better. Everything else is just a supporting act."
"It's always the same kind of magic acts every year. If they're not producing pigeons out of thin air, then it's flowers or a live human being. Watching that once or twice is enough since any more than that is boring. There's nothing new at all."
"That's true. They just depend on special props and sleight of hand to execute the tricks. Any viewer who has a brain can understand how it works, so there's no point in watching them too many times."
"Hehe, do you all remember last year's magic show on the Spring Festival Gala?"
"I remember, I remember! Someone explained how it worked after the act had just finished broadcasting for five minutes."
"Yeah, they just switched the boxes in the back."
"Yeah, it was just using misdirection to distract the audience. That's how all magic tricks work these days."
"You're right. They perform the tricks at a distance and often make use of curtains or cloth to block the details. No one can see what tricks or methods they're using behind the covers."
Some people became disinterested the moment they heard that the next performance would be a magic show.
In this world, the Chinese audience's liking for magic shows had already turned from an initial liking to numbness. They had come across it very often and seen too much of it. Whenever a magician used something to block the audience's view, the audience immediately knew that something was going on behind the covers. Even if they did not know what trickery the magician resorted to, they would assume that it was definitely happening. They would think that there wasn't much technicality involved and thus have less enthusiasm for it.
But when the scene cut to the stage 3 .
When the camera focused on the magician.
Everyone watching TV was taken aback.
This was too close!
They had zoomed in way too close!
"Three meters? Two meters?"
"Holy shit!"
"How are they going to execute the magic trick this way?"
"Is that really how he's going to perform the trick?"
"I can even see the magician's facial pores!"
"Whoa, they're purposely stirring up trouble like this!"
"Haha, where'd he get the balls to do that from?"
"At this distance, the trick will definitely be exposed!"
"Yeah, how daring of him!"
The entire Chinese world's viewers were in disbelief. Instantly, their curiosity was aroused!
Some people who were not that interested in the magic act and were preparing to take a trip to the bathroom sat back down at this moment. They wanted to see what tricks the magician could possibly come up with.
Onscreen.
A magician was seated and surrounded by a round glass table. Several audience members were seated all around him. Some items were on the table.
The magician was seated in the center.
Chen Tian was dressed handsomely and looked into the camera that was just a few feet away with a smile. "Hello, everyone, I'm Chen Tian. What we call close-up magic is also known as table magic. It just means that the magic will be performed under close observation. As for how close it will be?" He suddenly raised his palms and showed them to the camera.
The TV viewers could only see a hand obscuring the view.
The live audience members could also see this clearly on another screen at the venue.
Damn!
This shouldn't be more than a meter, right?
Everyone was astonished.
Chen Tian smiled and said, "Right, this is how close we're talking. Then let's cut to the chase. I'll first give a simple demonstration to everyone." He pointed at a cup on the table and held it up. "I have a cup of apple juice here." He raised it to his lips and sipped from it. Then he showed it to the camera before picking up a bottle of juice to refill to cup with a little more juice. "Yes, let's fill it up. This is Tianxi's Apple Juice. It's delicious."
Everyone was stunned.
With a pfft, the sound of laughter could be heard coming from many audience members!
They continued to stare at him without blinking.
The paper cup.
And the apple juice.
It was filled to the brim.
It didn't look like anything was off.
Chen Tian then placed his hand over the top of the cup. "Let's not say too much here. With my hand over the top and supporting the cup from below, it's time for everyone to witness a miracle."
A miracle?
What miracle?
Was he going to make the juice disappear?
Everyone was blinking and watching closely, not understanding what he meant.
They saw Chen Tian pause for two seconds before suddenly turning the paper cup upside down. He was actually holding the cup upside down. Under the startled looks of the viewers, he removed the hand covering the top of the cup. However, not a single drop of apple juice splashed out. With a clench of his hand, he crumpled the paper cup!
There was no juice!
The paper cup had actually become empty!
It had actually become empty under the gaze of everyone!
Applause erupted at the live venue!
A lot of people were so shocked that their eyeballs nearly popped out!
"Holy fuck!"
"Ah!"
"What's going on here?"
"How did it disappear?"
"Where's the juice?"
"This is one awesome trick! It's amazing!"
"How's that possible! Did anyone get a clear look? How did he make it disappear?"
"I don't know! It just happened!"
"My God, at such a close distance too? How did he pull that off?"
"Yeah, there are several hundred million Chinese people watching around the world! The camera was only one meter away, and there was no cut either! So how did it disappear?"
"Is this what close-up magic is?"
"Zhang Ye designed this act?"
"Goddammit, magic can even be done this way?"
"And that Tianxi Juice ad could even be done in that way?"
"Speaking of advertising, I really have to take my hat off to Zhang Ye!"
It was such an eye-opener for everyone. The majority of them had never seen magic being performed so up close before and were really shocked!
But unbeknownst to them, this was only an appetizer. They were just getting started!
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-up_magic
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Chen_(magician)
3. https://youtu.be/gxOesQOVX4Y?t=355