Jiang Shu handed the playing cards to his Magic Assistant, Su Xiaoou, and then said, "Now that you have the playing cards in your hands, you can also pass on secret signals to me, right?"
"Mhm." Su Xiaoou nodded as she took the cards.
"I will tell an audience member picked at random to choose a card, flip it over, see what it is, and show it to everyone," Jiang Shu explained, "Of course, I will instruct him seriously to place the chosen card down carefully, so I can’t tell anything from its appearance."
"Then you’ll blindfold yourself and turn around while the audience picks a card?" Su Xiaoou understood; she could guess what would happen next, "This seems pretty simple."
"Yes, I won’t be able to see during the reveal, but you will, so I can know the audience’s chosen card by the way you hold the cards," Jiang Shu said with a smile, "Once I know the audience’s choice, the rest of the performance is under my control, any speech will do."
"For example, dress it up with psychological knowledge, like Micro-expression Reading." He thought for a moment and chose a set suitable for the magic act, then spoke with assured confidence as though performing, "Now, as my hands move over these nine cards, you must ensure your expression does not change at all, so I can’t figure it out."
"Very good, is it this one?" Jiang Shu performed as though talking to himself, "Clearly, the eyes are the windows to the soul, and your eyes have told me your selection."
"You see, this way, there is a very reasonable explanation for the magic," he shrugged, "And you can repeat it many more times, to achieve the effect of repeatedly reading the mind. Each time, the audience will try to mask their reactions better than before, they may even close their eyes, turn around, or use all sorts of desperate measures to avoid you reading their expressions, but to no avail, they have been misled from the start."
"I see, I understand now," Su Xiaoou exclaimed, suddenly enlightened.
"Okay, now that you understand, go and perform for your Shen Xuwan," Jiang Shu said with a laugh, picked up the cards, and headed to the next room, "Just like this."
"Eh? So soon?" Su Xiaoou was stunned, but she had no choice but to follow Jiang Shu.
Her heart was still somewhat uneasy, a bit mystified.
Moments later, Su Xiaoou returned to the Magic House, stumbling through her magic act with a sheepish retreat, encountering many difficulties in her impromptu performance.
She had thought she was quite adaptable, but only during the actual performance did she realize that even a trick with such a simple principle was not so simple after all.
"You see," Jiang Shu laughed again, "From the moment you turned around, you lost your rhythm because you failed to get my signal right away."
"Mhm, I understand," Su Xiaoou nodded. From that moment, she had panicked, resulting in a performance full of flaws.
"It’s simple, one detail," Jiang Shu pointed out incisively, "When turning around, you should turn from my side, so you can immediately be aware of the audience’s choice, not sneak peeks at my hand while handling the speech later."
"Oh—" Su Xiaoou’s eyes widened; she hadn’t considered such a detail, but it was very practical, and the rhythm of the magic became instantly smooth.
"This is also the detail I wanted to talk to you about," Jiang Shu knew she was starting to reflect, "For future magic acts, you must rehearse yourself, and handle every detail personally, understand?"
"Mhm, got it," Su Xiaoou benefited greatly.
"Of course, what I really want to say is..." Jiang Shu paused for a moment, "this book you have to memorize in earnest." Jiang Shu pulled out a booklet, "It contains common signals. You have to know them inside out; otherwise... my magic routine will have big problems."
"Eh?"