Chapter 611 - Chapter 611: Chapter 611: Changing the World (1/2)
Chapter 611: Chapter 611: Changing the World
After finishing their meal in the restaurant’s private room, Zhang Qian called the server to tidy up the table, served the dessert, and closed the private room door. She then signaled Yang Zhuo to start his “show”.
“Sister Qian Qian, we can start with a small Q&A game,” taking a new deck of cards from his sister’s bag, Yang Zhuo began shuffling them while talking, “Sister Qian Qian, you can ask me three detail questions about the surroundings or people from the moment we entered the restaurant until now. Any questions are fine. For example, you can ask how many floor tiles there are between the restaurant entrance and our private room, how many crystal balls hang from the chandelier in the main hall, the pattern and color of the curtains, and so on.”
Zhang Qian found this interesting and asked after some thought, “How many water pots and cups are on the cabinet behind you?”
“Two water pots and six cups,” Yang Zhuo replied confidently. “There was one pot and six cups when we first entered the room, but the server brought another one shortly after, so it should be two now.”
Xiao Min, sitting next to Yang Zhuo, turned her head and glanced at the cabinet behind them, laughing, “True, there are two water pots and six cups. Correct answer!”
Zhang Qian continued, “Which hand and finger was the server wearing a ring on when he cleaned the table?”
With no hesitation, Yang Zhuo immediately responded, “On his right little finger, a silver ring.”
Xiao Min turned to Zhang Qian, “Did Xiao Zhuo answer correctly, Sister Qian Qian?”
Zhang Qian nodded, smiling, “Correct answer, it really is on his right little finger, impressive! Final question, what was the second dish we ordered?”
This seemingly simple question made Yang Zhuo ponder for a few seconds, finally he said, “It was that pork loin.”
“Hmm, correct answer,” clapped Zhang Qian. “Well done, little brother, so observant and such a strong memory! Have you been remembering things all the time? Do you really remember how many tiles are there from the restaurant entrance to our private room and how many crystal balls hang from the chandelier?”
Yang Zhuo laughed, “Of course, I don’t remember those. We were led to the private room by the server as soon as we arrived, so I didn’t have time to count.”
Zhang Qian looked surprised and asked, “But you just said…”
Yang Zhuo interrupted, “It sounded like as if I have strong observation skills, good memory, and full of confidence, if it was to Xiao Min, I wouldn’t ask like this, she would easily go along with my example and let me answer, but knowing your personality, Sister Qian Qian, you definitely would not directly ask those two questions.”
“If you asked a question, Sister Qian Qian, it would definitely not be something that’s hard or impossible to verify, it would be something you know the answer to or something that can be verified immediately.”
“Right when we got out of the car in the parking lot, my sister suggested that I should ‘perform,’ so I thought about this Q&A ‘game’ at that moment. That’s when I asked you if you had been to this restaurant before, you said no, which means you didn’t have prior information about the place, you also needed to adapt in real-time.”
“Since entering the restaurant, I deliberately fell a few steps behind and focused on the direction of your gaze, the things you observed and remembered them.”
“I actually thought you’d ask about the main hall’s advertisement slogans or discount information, because when we entered the restaurant, you glanced at the cashier’s counter. Also, I thought you would ask about the number of the private room next to ours because you looked up before entering our room. This restaurant’s private room numbers are unique, ours is 035, but the neighboring ones are 033 and 025.”
“The server and the cabinet behind me were likely things that could be asked about, so I carefully observed every server that came into our private room, whether they led us in, served dishes, settled the bill, or cleared the table. It seems like I guessed the questions right. On the other hand, I almost couldn’t answer the most normal and simple question: what was the second dish.”
Listening to Yang Zhuo’s analytical explanation, Zhang Qian continuously nodded in agreement, “He’s really starting to resemble Xiang Kun.”
Yang Zhuo said, “This is the ‘observational analysis method’ and ‘nine stages prediction method’ taught to me by Brother Xiang. It’s about acting out possible situations in advance, analyzing conditions and advantages one could have, then taking the initiative to create opportunities, making the first move, and guiding the situation to develop as expected.”
“But reality is not a game where all the conditions can be calculated. Things won’t always go as you hope. There are too many variables.” Zhang Qian shook her head as she spoke.
Yang Zhuo replied, “These methods are merely training, a training for your thought process and observation habits. This way, when we can gather more sensory information, we can think and analyze quickly and make the right decisions.”
Having said that, he stopped the card shuffling he had been performing non-stop, and placed the shuffled deck of new poker cards in front of Zhang Qian.
Zhang Qian picked up the deck and asked Yang Jie, who was sitting next to her, “Now the ‘performance’ is about to start?”
Yang Jie pulled out her phone, ready to film the entire event. “I am going to record this. I do not believe that I won’t be able to uncover his trick,” she stated, filming as she spoke.
“Sister Qian Qian, you can take a look at these cards and choose one. Put it in your hand or pocket, then return the remaining deck to me.” After Yang Zhuo finished speaking, he stood up and turned around to indicate that he wouldn’t be watching her card drawing process.
Zhang Qian and Yang Jie both inspected the deck and confirmed that there were no creases or marks before Zhang Qian took out one card and put it in her bag.
“Done.” She gave the rest of the deck back to Yang Zhuo.
As Yang Zhuo sat back down, he picked up the deck again and continued shuffling without even glancing at it, while Zhang Qian, Yang Jie, and even Xiao Min by their side, observed his hands, his movements, his line of sight, to see if he was secretly peeking at or checking the cards.
However, no matter how they looked at it, there was no way he could see the faces of the cards with his style of shuffling.
After shuffling for less than 10 seconds, Yang Zhuo stopped and looked at Zhang Qian. “Sister Qian Qian, your card is the 10 of spades.”
Zhang Qian raised an eyebrow slightly, shared a surprised glance with Yang Jie then pulled out the card from her bag, placing it on the table — it was indeed the 10 of spades.
Obviously, this couldn’t have been a lucky guess.
“Sure brings to mind Xiang Kun’s fortuneteller-like magic,” Zhang Qian took back the deck and inspected it more carefully. “Did you place a mark on the cards while shuffling that only you can discern — so you can tell which card was picked after I drew one and you shuffled and felt them again?”
“Not at all…”
“I get it now. Does this have something to do with that question-answer game you were playing up? Were you trying to probe which card I would pick, or subtly hint at which card I should choose? That doesn’t seem right either…”
Yang Zhuo laughed, “It’s nowhere near as mysterious as you imagine, Sister Qian Qian.”
He continued to shuffle the deck in his hand as he spoke. “I didn’t mark the cards. I merely familiarized myself with the feel of the cards as if I was ‘getting to know’ them. So when I get them back in my hands, a simple ‘greeting’ tells me which one has been taken.”
Zhang Qian seemed taken aback. “Why do I feel like your explanation sounds even more mysterious?”
“It’s not that mysterious, not mysticism at all. It’s actual sensations. Here, Sister Qian Qian, hold these two cards and close your eyes, try to ‘sense’ them as if you were using ultrasound… never mind, you probably won’t be able to feel it in such short time. Let’s try something else – do you have some loose change, Sister?”
Yang Jie pulled out some coins from her bag and placed them before her brother. There were six, one-yuan coins, and two, fifty-cents coins, all of different ages.
Yang Zhuo picked each coin, weighing it in his hand. He then selected one of the one-yuan coins and set it aside. He pushed the remaining seven coins back to Zhang Qian and Yang Jie, and said: