Chapter 16: She Cheated!

“Great!”

The audience responded with enthusiastic applause, as if Lin Ran had just performed an incredible magic trick. Most of today’s audience didn’t understand magic; they came purely to see Lin Ran. No matter what she did, the audience found it entertaining.

“Next up, please welcome our handsome magician, Li Xingyue!”

Li Xingyue’s magic today was spectacular. With Lin Ran’s assistance, he performed several high-difficulty human transformations, which piqued the audience’s curiosity, resulting in prolonged applause.

Following that was the close-up magic by Qi Ruige and Liu Zhe.

As usual, they performed their magic among the audience. While assisting them, Lin Ran spotted Cao Xu in the crowd. The woman who accompanied him last time was not present, and he was alone, with slightly bruised eyes, glaring at Lin Ran with hostility.

Ignoring him, Lin Ran continued to assist Qi Ruige and Liu Zhe’s performance, which concluded successfully with enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Lin Ran stepped onto the stage and announced loudly, “The next performance features magicians Lin Ran and Li Xing’Ao!”

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[Uyd pbl alyzzu es kv? Rp pbl fwpv blal vs qssz wp?]

[Isn’t she the host? The third magic performance better not be a bunch of beginner tricks.]

[Is her magic worth the ticket price? What a joke.]

Seeing the commotion, Cao Xu immediately started his performance. He had just received a call from Cao Xinyu and was there to stir up trouble.

“If it’s not a water tank escape, I won’t watch!” Cao Xu shouted, “Bring back the magician! Don’t bully the magicians! This is a magic troupe performance, not a beauty pageant! Show some respect for the magicians! Respect the art of magic!”

Cao Xu’s shout prompted many magic enthusiasts to join in.

[Exactly, we’re here to see magic, not just a pretty face.]

[Did she push the magician out because of her looks? How could this happen…]

[This is too much, the magician must be really miserable!]

Cao Xu, encouraged by the support, shouted louder, “Bring back the magician! We want to see real magic!”

Some magic enthusiasts near him were also riled up.

Lin Ran tilted her head and looked at Cao Xu, smiling, “We never promised a water tank escape today, and you haven’t seen my magic yet, so why do you think it won’t be good?”

She cleared her throat, “Our boss said, if today’s magic performance doesn’t satisfy everyone, we will refund the tickets in full!”

A few magic enthusiasts exchanged looks upon hearing “full refund,” as their curiosity was piqued. They were eager to see what kind of performance the host could deliver to satisfy them.

Cao Xu continued to incite the crowd, “No water tank escape, no watch! Get off the stage! If you don’t change the performer, we’ll leave! Everyone leave!”

He stood up, trying to encourage the audience to walk out with him.

Meng Xiao, seated in the front row, couldn’t hold back any longer and turned around, shouting, “Who do you think you are? If you want to leave, go ahead. No one is stopping you!”

Qiqi, sitting next to Meng Xiao, suddenly said in his innocent voice, “Mom, is this person the kind of bad guy on TV who gets paid to stir up trouble?”

His words made many people laugh.

Even a child could see through it; if the adults were easily swayed, it would be quite embarrassing.

The audience gradually stopped complaining and sat back down to continue watching the performance.

After all, even if they watched and were unsatisfied, they could still get a refund. They had nothing to lose. Moreover, the tickets were hard to come by, and it would be a shame to leave now.

Cao Xu, standing in the aisle, felt awkward seeing no one following him. He didn’t want to walk back to his seat but was also reluctant to leave, stuck in a dilemma.

Lin Ran ignored him and cleared her throat, “Please welcome my partner, magician Li Xing’Ao!”

Li Xing’Ao came bouncing out from backstage, dressed in his kindergarten uniform, as the magic troupe hadn’t prepared a costume for him.

Lin Ran extended her hand, and when Li Xing’Ao reached the stage, she took his small hand and smiled as she crouched down, “Xing’Ao, will you show the audience some magic today?”

Seeing the large audience, Li Xing’Ao’s face turned red with excitement. As a child, he didn’t know what nerves were and immediately started showing off his magic.

He took out a paper bag, showed it to the audience, and then pulled out a toy from it.

Then he performed a trick where a heart appeared on a piece of paper, and after completing the trick, he happily ran to Lin Ran for praise.

Magic enthusiasts couldn’t help but cringe at the simplicity of the tricks.

Surely these simple tricks weren’t the entire performance?

Someone couldn’t help but shout, “I could do that too! The paper bag must have a hole where the toy was pulled out! The paper has two sides, just flipped with a flick! Are you doing simple impromptu tricks? These are just magic props you can easily buy online!”

Lin Ran didn’t mind. She patted Li Xing’Ao’s little head and smiled, “Xing’Ao, you were amazing! So, here’s a tasty reward for you!”

She took off her magician’s hat and slowly pulled out a bag of chips, handing it to Li Xing’Ao.

The audience began to quiet down, realizing that the real magic performance was just starting.

Li Xing’Ao happily accepted the chips and was about to open them when Lin Ran stopped him, “Xing’Ao, remember, good things should be shared with the audience, okay?”

Li Xing’Ao nodded obediently, took the chips to the audience, and handed them to a pretty girl in the front row.

The audience couldn’t help but laugh. Despite his young age, this kid had a keen eye, immediately spotting the prettiest girl in the audience.

The pretty girl accepted the chips with a smile, and people around her gathered to see. Sure enough, it was just a regular bag of chips filled with air.

Their gazes toward the stage changed. Lin Ran had a slender figure, and it would be difficult to hide such a large bag of chips on her.

The mystery of an undetectable method was the charm of magic!

The pretty girl opened the chips and shared them with the surrounding audience. Qiqi even ran over from a far seat to grab a chip, making everyone laugh.

Li Xing’Ao only got to eat one chip and ran back to the stage, complaining, “Sister, I only got one chip!”

The audience burst into laughter, feeling the child’s genuine grievance.

Lin Ran smiled, “It’s okay, I have more!”

She pulled another bag of chips from her hat and patted Li Xing’Ao’s head, “Go share with the audience again!”

Li Xing’ao obediently took the chips and found another pretty girl, sweetly saying, “Sister, have some chips!”

Even the magic enthusiasts started to take it seriously.

Typically, magicians use foldable objects that are easy to hide and expand quickly when taken out for a visual effect.

But how do you hide a bag of chips filled with air? The packaging was intact, showing no signs of being deflated, and couldn’t have been inflated on the spot. One bag of chips would be hard to fit in a magician’s hat, especially since Lin Ran wore the hat initially, showing no sign of hidden objects.

There was only a table nearby. Could it have come from the table?

Or was there some quick inflation device? But the bag of chips was passed around among the audience, who could inspect it. Despite so many eyes, no one found a flaw.

Li Xing’Ao ran back again, and Lin Ran smiled, “I know some girls haven’t had dinner yet because they’re dieting. Little Xing’Ao is so good, knowing that she is hungry. So…how about I treat everyone to dinner tonight?”

She then pulled two loaves of bread from her hat, which Li Xing’Ao took to the audience.

Next, she reached into her hat again and pulled out a bag of cat food.

The audience erupted in laughter.

Lin Ran chuckled, “Oops, I took out my cat’s dinner. The cat might get mad… oh no!”

A large cat jumped out of her hat and grabbed the bag of cat food with its mouth.

Many in the audience stood up and applauded; even the magic enthusiasts were stunned.

The large cat, biting the cat food, crawled back into the hat and disappeared.

Lin Ran smiled, “Sorry about that; my cat was a bit rude. Any other girls haven’t had dinner? I have more…”

She continued to pull out various snacks from her hat, handing them to Li Xing’Ao to distribute to the audience.

Many in the audience saw that these were all regular packaged foods from the supermarket, with intact packaging, not foldable magic props.

After distributing dozens of snacks, the audience was highly enthusiastic, and no one had any complaints.

At this point, Lin Ran pulled out a bottle of green tea and said, “Sugar-free green tea! Perfect for dieting girls!”

The performance lasted an hour, during which Lin Ran produced a large amount of snacks and drinks, occasionally pulling out odd items like a fruit knife, table leg, tablecloth, and teacup for comedic effect.

By the end of the performance, almost all the audience members were standing and applauding.

Cao Xu, standing in the aisle, weakly said, “She… cheated…”

But no one paid him any attention.