Chapter 254: Note
After leaving Liangzhou City, the two men, one holding a gong and the other carrying a shoulder pole, on which were some small odds and ends. The outfits of the two men were exactly what Yao Zhi had just bought from the brother and sister who performed magic in Liangzhou City.
Magic tricks are highly mobile and rarely confined to one place. Most of the time they are performed wherever there are temple fairs or celebrations, which is just right for two people to travel with.
The art of disguise itself is not limited to the face. If you want to play another person, you must not only work hard on your appearance, but also be able to do what the person you are playing is able to do.
Therefore, some simple and popular magic tricks were not difficult for Yao Zhi, and there were also female magicians. A couple would have the man beat drums and gongs to collect money from the onlookers, while the woman would be responsible for the performance. There were so many such things that it was nothing unusual.
Therefore, at the beginning, Yao Zhi subconsciously put herself into the role of earning money to support the family.
In order to experience the fun more immersively, the two deliberately did not bring much money when they went out. Ye Shuo was used to a wealthy life. It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Even he could not change his habit of spending money lavishly in a short time. In just two days, the money they had was basically gone.
When Ye Shuo shook his purse, only a few scattered copper coins fell out, and he was completely dumbfounded.
I was careless. I didn’t expect that money could be spent so easily.Seeing the young man’s guilty face, Yao Zhi was not very angry. He had been spoiled since he was a child, so it was normal for him to be unaccustomed to living outside.
Besides, Yao Zhi couldn’t bear to see him live a hard life.
Seeing his head drooping, Yao Zhi subconsciously comforted him, “Don’t worry, I will be able to solve it before dinner, and I will definitely let you stay in the inn.”
Let her think about what to do?
Just when Yao Zhi was hesitating whether to go to the black market, she saw the young man go out at some point, and when he came back, he had a bag of silver in his hand.
“Where did you get the silver?” Yao Zhi was stunned and couldn’t help but wonder if he had secretly taken some silver notes when he came out.
However, Ye Shuo said: “Just now I went to the restaurant next door, and asked the boss there about a few recipes for snacks.” Ye Shuo has lived in the palace for so many years, and he has memorised a lot of beauty recipes, health recipes, snack recipes, etc., even if he didn’t pay much attention.
These recipes from the palace were like a dimensionality reduction blow to the people.
The owner of the restaurant didn’t believe it at first. Although the young man in front of him was good-looking, his appearance didn’t look like that of someone who knew some precious secret recipe.
But the other party finally succumbed to Ye Shuo’s persuasion and let his chef have a good try.
Well, it’s true that the desserts made with the recipe the young man mentioned are indeed more delicate and sweeter than those made in the best pastry shop in the city. The only drawback is that they are too expensive, and probably not many people can afford them.
However, snacks like this are not popular items and are originally supplied to a small number of people in the city.
Then, the owner of the restaurant had evil intentions.
In this day and age, how could it be so easy to get by in the outside world? How could the owner of the restaurant pay a magician who had no background so readily? ṙâɴǒĘ
In the end, Ye Shuo had no choice but to show his fist.
Seeing that the other party was actually a gangster, a gangster was a bunch of desperate criminals. If he got angry, what would he do if he came to seek revenge in the future? It was better to spend money to avoid disaster, so Ye Shuo successfully got the silver.
But selling those prescriptions is only temporary after all. It can be used to meet occasional emergencies, but it is not a long-term solution.
Ye Shuo recalled carefully, then locked himself in the room for two whole days. On the third day, he suddenly took out a bunch of drawings.
“What are these things?” Yao Zhi flipped through them. Although she couldn’t fully understand the modern drawing techniques, she could at least understand some of them. She vaguely guessed that these seemed to be some small props or something.
Yes, these are some of the props needed for magic tricks.
Now that Ye Shuo has this identity, he has to do something related to this identity.
Breaking a big stone on the chest is too rough. The most important thing is that the big stone is too heavy and it is not very convenient to move it. Small objects like playing cards are still very ornamental.
As for breathing fire, swallowing swords and the like, there are simply too many people who are good at these things. No matter how much Ye Shuo practices, he can’t compare to others who have accumulated skills for dozens of years. He can only work hard in other areas.
For example, if you are good at chemical reactions, you can be regarded as a god in ancient times.
The more Ye Shuo thought about it, the more ideas came into his mind. In just a day or two, Yao Zhi watched him playing with various things in his hands, sometimes it was a copper ball, sometimes it was an unknown powder, and sometimes it was some cards.
Thanks to Qinglufang’s fame, playing cards have become popular among the people.
The young man became more and more skilled at the game, and his tricks increased. At first, everything was still within an acceptable range, until Yao Zhi watched him put his fingers into the bowl, and the water in the bowl froze into ice in the blink of an eye. Yao Zhi could no longer hold back.
However, Ye Shuo seemed not to notice and asked, “What do you think? If we go to the temple fair, can we compete?”
Yao Zhi was silent for a while, then said, “Maybe… I will be invited to perform at the home of a noble official…”
Well…
That’s not necessary. I managed to escape with great difficulty.
The two looked at each other, both full of confidence.
Then, they took these odds and ends and went to the nearby city where the temple fair was about to be held.
When the group of black-armored guards sent by Emperor Taicheng to look for someone arrived, they found nothing.
Seeing the snacks becoming popular in the city and slightly similar to those in the palace, the black-armoured guards hesitated for a moment and then reported what had happened here.
Although Ye Shuo fled from Shangjing, there was still some news about him. People had to know that he was still alive and well, so there were occasional clues left behind.
After briefly reading the letter, Emperor Taicheng paused and said nothing.
After a while, Emperor Taicheng sent another letter to ask how Xiaojiu and his wife were doing. As expected, the result he got was that his younger brother had become a famous magician. Every time he performed, most people in the city would come to watch.
I don’t know where he got so many ideas, but almost every time they were different. This was simply amazing for ancient people who had not received systematic scientific education.
Later, just as Yao Zhi said, Ye Shuo was often invited to the homes of local officials and wealthy businessmen.
Then…he was forced to witness many crime scenes.
After all, no family would be so idle as to invite people to perform at their home just for the sake of watching magic shows. Most of them would use the excuse of watching the performance to commit illegal acts.
No one took the two magicians seriously and regarded them as just extras.
This was indeed not his intention, but since it happened, he couldn’t just pretend not to see it.
Although termites are not very aggressive, if there are too many of them, they will erode the foundation that has been built with great difficulty.
But Ye Shuo really didn’t want to get involved. After thinking about it, he decided that this matter could only be handed over to Xiao Ming to handle. He probably would be happy to do so.
Xiao Ming is the emperor, who will take care of this matter if he doesn’t?
Then, Emperor Taicheng received many small notes with names on them.
When Emperor Taicheng was hesitating whether to praise Xiaojiu, he saw that the small note suddenly disappeared. It turned out that the young couple was tired of playing, so they changed their faces and clothes and rushed to the next place.
It took Emperor Taicheng a long time before he got any news about the two again.