The elevator descended slowly, and there were people in front, back, left and right, sandwiching Shangluo in the middle.
"Since they call themselves the 'British Empire'...do they speak English?" Shangluo was a little curious.
About a minute later, the elevator stopped and the inner door was opened, but the outer door was still closed and only a small window was opened. A face stuck out of the window and shouted:
“nice to meet you.”
“nice to meet you too.”
Shangluo listened silently from behind... He felt something was not right. They were indeed speaking English, but their speaking speed was very slow and their words and sentences were very stiff. Not at all like a native English speaker, not even as good as him.
The stumbling conversation lasted for 2 minutes before it ended. Judging from Shangluo's English proficiency, the English proficiency of these two people who claim to be reviving the "British Empire" has not yet left the category of entry-level English conversation textbooks.
As for the advanced vocabulary such as "Yangzhou Daying" and "Jinyiwei" used in the exchange of information, they can only be transliterated, which Shangluo can understand even if he does not know English.
"Mr. Shang, I was a little abrupt before. I'm really sorry. Let me introduce myself. My name is Franklin. Please go here. Mr. Senator is waiting for you." After finishing the conversation with the person at the window, Franklin switched to standard Jinling Yayin, Shangluo felt that this accent was much better than his standard.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm not in a hurry." He looked down at his watch. He is not at all interested in helping these people restore the "British Empire", nor does he believe there are any miracles to be witnessed down here. Now he just wants to find out whether these people want money or lives.
The iron door opened, and the two people turned a few corners in the long corridor behind the iron door. The walls here are wet and still retain the cave surface. The water flows down the wall and along the sink at the foot of the wall. There was a damp, musty smell in the air, as well as the varnish smell of newly renovated wood.
The two stopped in front of a wooden door. The smell of paint comes from the wooden door, and it's obviously not dry yet.
Before they could knock, the door opened from the inside out.
A gentleman in a tuxedo appeared behind the door. As soon as they met, he enthusiastically held Shangluo's hand:
"Hello, hello. Are you Mr. Shang?" His expression couldn't hide his excitement, and the mustache on his lips trembled back and forth with the shape of his mouth. Similarly, he also has a standard Jinling Yayin, which is also much better than Shangluo.
Pulling Shangluo through the door, there was a large desk facing the door. But as if to appear more enthusiastic, he pulled Shangluo to the sofa in the corner, pressed his shoulders and asked Shangluo to sit down. He himself sat across from him.
"Let me introduce myself first. I am Senator Jefferson from California. What do you drink? I heard that drinking coffee is now popular in Yujing?"
"Just tea. Thank you."
"Then while waiting for tea, I will explain today's business to you." Jefferson said with a smile, "Everything depends on you. You are the person chosen by the angel and our most distinguished guest. After everything is over, you You can choose to stay or go on your own.”
Shangluo thought for a while and asked: "So what is the specific matter? Your angel...how do you practice? And why did you find me?"
"It's a long story. The person we originally wanted to find was your father, because he is a famous bell craftsman. But after investigation, we found that you are the real treasure. There is a proverb in Persia : In terms of craftsmanship, only the Ming people have bright eyes, the Romans are blind in one eye, and everyone else is blind. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because some of you have mastered the flow of 'qi'. Obviously, Mr. Shangluo, you are one of them. You are the inheritor of those ancient skills. You are born with extraordinary vision and can see us ordinary people. Hidden things that no one else can see. I don’t know how you did it, but I think you can definitely help us.”
"But why should I help you?"
"I knew it would be like this." Jefferson looked him in the eyes, "So, please allow me to show you a little miracle."
He pointed to the table. In fact, there was always an inconspicuous small copper box there, which looked like a card box.
Jefferson opened the box—and sure enough, there were cards inside. Like a magician, he displayed the cards in front of Shangluo.
It was a set of exquisite playing cards printed on coated paper. There are numbers and suits in the upper left corner, including spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. But the patterns on the playing cards are not just arrangements of symbols, but specific pictures. There is a sword drawn on the Ace of Spades, two swords on the 2 of Spades, and the number increases to 10 in turn until the 10 of Spades. JQK also corresponds to the sword-wielding knight, queen and king respectively.
Hearts, diamonds and clubs also correspond to the Holy Grail, Pentacles and Wands respectively.
"The Chalice, the Sword, the Pentacles, and the Wands. This was the precursor to the modern playing cards, the Minor Arcana Tarot. Of course, the deck in front of you is really a deck of cards, because there are no Pages in it. It just uses Tarot cards. Elements."
"You brought me here just to perform magic tricks on me?"
"It's not magic, it's divine power. When you see the divine power of angels, you will also join our ranks. Please take out a coin first."
Shangluo happened to have a coin in his pocket.
The denomination of the silver dollar is one tael. It was minted in the first year of Shaoping, which is a new coin minted two years ago. There are one or two on the front, and the four words "Shaoping Tongbao" are engraved on the back.
The silver dollar is the largest denomination coin and is equivalent to one tael of silver.
The denomination of one tael is actually quite large, because it is equivalent to 1,000 Wen. A bus trip only costs 2 cents, a subway ride costs 5 cents, a bottle of Coke costs 3 cents, and steamed buns cost 1 cent for two or 5 cents each.
Because the denomination is so large, one tael of silver is only used on important occasions. For example, paying wages, giving red envelopes, and giving out lucky money.
"A very beautiful silver dollar. Use it then. Please toss it once."
Shangluo didn't say anything. He threw it into the air and caught it with both hands. One side up, one side down. After the throw, he stared into Jefferson's eyes, trying to see what trick he had next.
"Please confirm which side is up, don't tell me, I'll guess." After saying that, he began to play with the playing cards in his hand.
A few cards will be drawn from here, and a few cards will be drawn from there. For a while, they were spread out in a row, and for a while, they were washed back again.
"Front." Jefferson suddenly stopped. He raised his head and looked at Shangluo: "Your coin is heads."
He let go of his hand, and sure enough, it was face up, with the denomination of one tael written on it.
"But what happens after that? I can do this too. It's just one-half."
"Then please do it again." Jefferson made a "please" gesture.
Shangluo followed suit. Tossed and caught once, this time the feel was the same as before, also positive.
"Heads." Jefferson put down the poker in his hand and gave the answer much faster than before.
"..." Shangluo was silent for a while.
He did have some doubts. It's not because of probability, guessing correctly twice in a row is not a small probability event. Mr. Jefferson seemed sure that he would get it right every time he wondered. And without any hesitation.
He asked Jefferson: "Did you see it? Is there any mark behind this card?"
"It was not I, but the angel who saw it."
"How do you prove it?"
Jefferson smiled: "It's easy to prove - do you want to learn?"
"Huh?" Shangluo was stunned for a moment.
If it had confused him before, what surprised him the most was that he could "learn" it.
He looked carefully at the playing cards in front of him: he originally thought that this might be some kind of "qi" having an influence. But he saw nothing. The playing cards looked normal. There is no Qi flowing, and it is not a complex machine that can produce some kind of "emotion".
The sense of Qi obviously cannot be learned. And this can be learned? Is this really some kind of magic? It's hard to say whether it's magic, but it's certainly not as simple as magic. The answer to a magic riddle may be surprising, but the answer cannot be mysterious. Unless the answer to this mystery leads to another unsolved mystery.
"It seems that you have begun to feel surprised. You may have thought at first that this was just some kind of magician's trick? But of course not, it is a miracle. Miracles, like the sun, shine unconditionally on all people under the sun. I can do it Yes, you can do it too.”
This time, the playing cards are in Shangluo's hand. Jefferson didn't teach him anything, just let him try to "read" the cards.
"Then, let's start guessing." Jefferson held his coin, eager to try, waiting for Shangluo to guess.
Shangluo didn't know what to do at all. The cards were in front of him, he thought...why not shuffle them first?
He took the cards.
[Third-rate magician, why does he like tossing coins so much? New here, you say. 】The girl's lazy voice came from the void, as if she was used to these tricks. She didn't seem to expect the "new guy" to hear her, so she just said it casually.
