He changed Tiwat

Although it was a necessary "disguise," although she knew these relationships were fake, and although she knew Schubert was watching from below the stage... in front of thousands of eyes and ears, Yura simply couldn't bring herself to say the answer.

Han Fulai calmly gave the answer: "That's right. In fact, Miss Yura and I are already engaged."

So what if he's being gossiped about... This isn't the first time the Liyue tabloids have gossiped about him, Keqing, and Ningguang, right? Anyway, they can just publish a clarification in the newspaper after it's all over.

The saying goes, "If you are entrusted with a task, you should be loyal to it." He replied to Lin Ni in this way purely out of the self-cultivation of an actor.

—The above is the confession that Han Fulai gave half a month later on the washboard.

On the opening day of the "Badminton Festival", all of Mondstadt knew that Captain Yura was engaged to Sir Humphrey.

A blooming rose appeared in Linni's hand. Although this delicate and pure pink flower is called a rose, it is essentially closer to a lily.

“This is the ‘Rainbow Rose,’ which symbolizes ‘passion’ and ‘a beautiful encounter.’ May today be the most beautiful encounter of our lives for all of us,” Linni said to the two.

He placed the flower in the vase.

"Now, I'd like to perform an impromptu magic trick for you two, and it's called—'Love'."

Chapter 188 The Girl and the Sun [4k5]

"Do you all know what 'magic' is? Magic is something mysterious, something surprising, and something... beyond the realm of common sense."

Linni strolled slowly to the spot between Han Fulai and Yura.

He stopped and faced the vase in the center of the table, and the "rainbow rose".

Since Han Fulai and Youla had taken the two chairs, Lin Ni had no seat and was standing. He stood between the two of them, empty-handed, like a restaurant waiter waiting for customers to order.

This wasn't a mistake on Lynette's part when preparing the props, but rather because Lynette didn't need to sit down—this magic trick was a "fully automatic" one, requiring almost no physical action from the magician—of course, he had to use his mouth.

Linni spoke again, her voice carrying a seductive quality.

"Anyone who has lived in Fontainebleau for a while must have heard the legend of the Song of Iriye. In that ancient ballad, the knight in search of pure water met the elves at the Dew Spring in the heart of Fontainebleau and embarked on a journey of redemption together. A thousand years have passed like the flowing dew, and whether it was laughter or tears, joy or suffering, it all eventually turned into a dreamlike dance and dissipated into the clamor of cheers."

"As a magician who loves mysterious things, I heard an interesting story at a newsstand in Fontainebleau—it is said that if you sit quietly by the Dew Spring alone at night, you may have the chance to hear the whispers of the spirits in the spring. Although no one has been able to provide any real evidence to prove the existence of spirits in the Dew Spring, I think the legend may not be false."

"So about two weeks ago, I sat by Lujing Spring for one night... Unfortunately, perhaps because I fell asleep by the spring, I only heard Officer Meilushin on patrol scolding me... She said that my sleeping by Lujing Spring was detrimental to the city's appearance and fined me 5,000 moras."

Linni shrugged dramatically, and a burst of laughter came from the audience.

Linni coughed and put on a serious expression: "But I didn't come away empty-handed."

He used his gaze to draw the audience's attention to the bouquet in front of him. Han Fulai and Yura also looked at the iridescent rose.

“You know, magic shows often use bouquets—like I just did, a flower appears out of nowhere. And this was the flower I had with me when I went to Lujing Spring that day. When the patrolling police officer woke me up, I saw this flower floating in the spring water…”

"I fished it out and took it back to my mansion to prepare for the next performance. I was home alone at the time, but I heard a tiny voice calling my name. I looked for the source of the voice and discovered—this flower could actually talk!"

"According to ancient records, seven-colored roses were once found everywhere on the ground. Because of their bright colors, which were almost comparable to the radiance of the seven heavens, they were named 'rainbow'. Now, these colorful roses have disappeared, and only the pink roses that accompanied them in the past remain—the rainbow rose, which is actually a spiritual plant."

"It inherited the name 'Rainbow' and was also imbued with the power of the spring spirits. It told me that the spring spirits gave it a share of their power, allowing it to seek out all the beautiful encounters in this world—like the legendary knight Iriye and the spirits that accompanied her."

Han Fulai, who had been listening in, smiled as he guessed what Lin Ni was about to say.

One of the essential skills a great magician must master is storytelling. Whether the story is true or false is actually irrelevant; the key is to immerse your audience in the story's atmosphere, and clearly, Linnie excels at this.

"As you can probably guess, this is why I brought this flower—what follows is not in the hands of me, the magician, but rather in the hands of the spirit residing within this flower. I am merely acting as the 'servant' of the flower spirit."

Linni smiled and bowed slightly to the iridescent rose in the vase.

The iridescent rose in the vase moved slightly, as if nodding.

Linni bent down and leaned close to the vase as if listening intently.

"Hua Ling said that it wants the two of you to have only each other in your eyes, and that it can see the truth in your eyes."

The magician raised his hands and gestured, indicating that Sir Humphrey and Miss Yura should follow the instructions of the Flower Spirit.

"Do we need to make eye contact...?" Yura whispered to Linni for confirmation.

In response, Linni replied, following Hua Ling's instructions: "Silent poems can speak eloquently to defend love, more persuasive than the tongue. Learn to read the silent poems, listen with your eyes, for that is the wisdom of love."

It's surprising that Linni has such a talent for being a bard; his lines are quite impressive... Han Fulai turned his gaze to Yura across from him with great interest.

Yura's face flushed slightly, and her eyes darted around a little... Well, this was the first time for this nineteen-year-old girl to make eye contact with a man while being watched by so many people.

Moreover, both she and Han Fulai knew that there was no "genuine affection" between them at all.

—Although she knew it was just a magic show, and Linnie couldn't possibly expose them at a time like this… but what if? What if this flower really did have some kind of magic, able to see through "true feelings" and declare that they were just pretending to be a couple…

Under the gaze of thousands of spectators, Sir Humphrey and Miss Yura gazed at each other "affectionately" for a minute.

One of them stared intently, unmoved, silently pondering the intricacies of Linni's magic trick and whether it could be incorporated into their Guhua school's "minor tricks"; while the other, with a shy and annoyed expression and shifty eyes, silently prayed that time would pass quickly... In short, it didn't resemble the gaze between lovers at all.

However, apart from the flower, no one in the audience noticed this.

Linni once again adopted a listening posture, and after a moment straightened up.

"Hua Ling said that Sir Humphrey's love is an ever-burning lighthouse, gazing steadily at the storm without wavering; Miss Yura's love is a guiding star for lost ships, you can measure how high it is, but its value is infinite."

Han Fulai almost applauded Linni. So that's how their eye contact could be described? Linni, if you come to Mondstadt to sing, you might be able to steal that drunkard's job.

Yura secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself that magic tricks were indeed all fake.

"It says that the celestial orbits in the high heavens have already destined your union, and it sees your predestined future in you. Moreover, it is prepared to prove this to you."

"Hmm? What method are you going to use to prove it?"

Han Fulai smiled to himself, thinking that even Mona couldn't see through his fate, so what was this talk of destiny? And how could a flower prove to them that it was "destined"?

To this day, he still can't figure out what Linni is planning to do.

"The Flower Spirit told me that it would use the method that best represents 'the arrangement of fate' to prove it..."

Linni smiled and uttered two words: "Girl and Sun."

"A girl and... the sun?" Yura raised an eyebrow, completely baffled by the connection between the two words.

However, several tourists and businesspeople from Fontainebleau in the audience already had knowing expressions on their faces.

“Oh, Miss Yura is from Mondstadt, so she hasn’t heard of our Fontaine’s fairy tales—in Fontaine, every child knows that the maiden and the sun are lovers.”

Linni snapped his fingers, opened his palm, and a card box appeared in his hand.

He showed the two the deck of cards—a complete deck with a cartoon version of Linni's face printed on it, a popular item from Linni's "Traveling Magic Troupe." In other words, it was a brand new deck, unopened.

Linni tore open the seal and showed the cards to the two men and the audience. They were the same special cards he had used in his previous performances, without numbers but printed with various patterns.

"The story goes like this: The fox's adopted daughter reached marriageable age. Her face was as gentle and beautiful as a spring, and she was so stunning that everyone would say she was better than any other beauty in the world."

He picked out a card with a red rose printed on it from the deck and handed it to Yura.

"So the fox said to his daughter, 'My dear daughter, I am getting old and may not be able to take care of you as I used to. I hope you will choose a husband for yourself, for people long to have the honor of being your husband.'"

The girl replied to her mother, "In that case, my mother, please marry me off to the most powerful being in the mortal world."

“‘Ah, that is the sun,’ said the fox, ‘and you, sun high in the sky, are my son-in-law.’”

In the audience, Schubert Lawrence stroked his brown goatee, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Will Sir Humphrey be the "sun" the Lawrence family needs?

Han Fulai's lips twitched slightly as he thought that this story was almost a carbon copy of last night's—the girl had already decided that Taiyang would be her fiancé... Why don't you ask Taiyang if he's willing!

Linni continued telling the fairy tale. This wasn't something he made up on the spot; it was a classic story from the *Fontainebleau Animal Fables*, a book every child in Fontainebleau fell asleep to listening to their parents read it aloud.

“No,” the sun declined, “these clouds are far more powerful than I am, for they can obscure my light.”

“‘Then, O drifting cloud, O drifting cloud that can block out the sun’s rays, let my daughter marry you.’”

“Oh no! The wind could easily blow me away; you should entrust her to the wind!”

"But the wind was blocked by the mountains, so the fox went to the mountains again. The mountains declined, saying that they had once quarreled with a mouse, and the mouse, in a fit of rage, had dug a tunnel through the mountains. This shows that the mouse is far more powerful than the continuous mountains."

"The mouse refused to the cat, the cat refused to the dog, the dog refused to the wolf, and so on and so forth, until finally it returned to the sun once again."

"And so the young beauty married the sun."

Linni picked out a card with a red heart pattern from the deck and handed it to Han Fulai.

At this point, the part of the magic trick that required Linnie to "take action" has ended.

Linni folded the cards back into a stack, looked at Han Fulai, and said the last line of the story: "This story is about how people should follow their destiny, instead of making excuses. No matter how sincere or clever you are, you can't escape the responsibilities you are meant to bear."

Han Fulai frowned slightly, feeling that Lin Ni's words were quite profound.

Linni pushed the cards on the table to Han Fulai, then took two steps back and raised his hands in a "Fontainebleau salute".

"As you can see, from this moment on, I will not touch that deck of cards once. My hands will remain in this position before you, and everything will be done by Sir Humphrey and Miss Yura themselves to prove what Hua Ling said—that it is the arrangement of fate."

"Sir Humphrey, please place your heart on the table, then pick up the deck of cards and begin dealing. You may stop dealing at any point you prefer."

Han Fulai picked up the deck of cards, thought for a second, and decided to pick a prime number... 7, it's been almost seven months since he transmigrated.

So he stopped when he was dealt the seventh card.

"Are you sure you want to stop here? You can continue dealing cards, okay?" Linnie's tone sounded like she was playing a game of drawing jokers, making it hard to tell if you'd actually drawn the joker.

Han Fulai blinked and shook his head decisively.

He chose the number himself, and he really didn't believe Linni could guess it. Besides, the entire deck of cards didn't even have numbers, so even if Linni guessed it, it wouldn't make any difference, right?

Linni nodded: "Okay, now that you've made your choice, please place the heart face up on top of the cards you were dealt, then cover it with the rest of the deck, and then hand the whole deck to Miss Yura."

After Han Fulai did as instructed, Linni asked Yura to do the same thing.

Yura stopped when the 18th card was dealt. Why? Amber's birthday is August 10th, which adds up to 18.

She also felt that the number she chose could not be seen through by any "flower spirit".

“Now, please witness this destined love.” Linni, still holding her hands up, gave the final instruction, “Please turn all the cards over together. You will find that only the rose and heart representing you two are facing down. And they each embrace their own destiny, just like… a kiss.”

As Linni said, after turning all the cards over, only two cards were face down, each "face to face" with a card.

The cards Linni gave them were newly opened, so theoretically they hadn't been tampered with beforehand. Even if he had, he couldn't have manipulated Han Fulai and Yura to stop dealing cards at a specific moment; the cards Han Fulai and Yura each chose should have been completely random.

In other words, if the card they drew was anything special, it could only be attributed to... fate.

"Please reveal this fate to all the audience."

Han Fulai and Youla exchanged a glance, then reached out and uncovered the two cards on the table.

—The "rose" representing Yura kisses the "sun".

—The heart-shaped symbol representing Han Fulai embraces the "girl".

"This is my little miracle of love for you two."

Amidst the applause of the entire audience, Linni bowed deeply to the crowd once again.

Magic is about mystery, surprise, and things that defy common sense.

—Just like falling in love.

P.S.: The magic trick Linni performs in this chapter really fits the background of Genshin Impact perfectly, because its official name is 'Gemini Twins'. It's a magic trick that doesn't require any special techniques and can be learned by any audience member.

The only time Linni tampered with the deck was a split second before handing it to Han Fulai—he placed the "Maiden" card and the "Sun" card at the top and bottom of the deck, respectively. No matter how Yura and Han dealt the cards, the two cards attached to their key cards would always be the top and bottom cards of the deck. Thus, everything became predestined.

You'll understand once you try it out with a deck of cards. Choose two cards randomly as prophecy cards, casually flip over the deck, and confirm to the audience that the deck hasn't been tampered with. Then remember the top and bottom cards as the prophecy targets, and add your own stories to the interpretation. Master one method, and you'll understand all methods.

Based on the author's own practical experience, this magic trick is perfect for flirting. It's simple to perform, has amazing effects, and you can use it as an excuse to gaze deeply into her eyes or touch her hand to "feel fate." —If there's any preparation involved, first you need to find a girl who's willing to listen to your stories and watch you perform magic.

Chapter 189 A Fated Arrangement

It wasn't until he stepped off the stage that Han Fulai vaguely realized the cleverness behind the magic trick—the so-called "destiny" meant that no matter how he and Yura dealt the cards, they would always choose the card that Linni wanted them to choose.

Clearly, this is a "card trick by a civil servant," and all the choices made by the audience are actually given by the magician.

He now realized that Linni hadn't done something very routine before handing him the cards—shuffling them.

The story of the rainbow rose that sounds mysterious; the so-called guidance of the flower spirit; opening the new deck of cards in front of them; making exaggerated gestures to indicate that he will not touch the cards, etc... are all to divert the audience's attention from the fact that "there was no shuffling this time".

The key to this magic trick lies in the "order" of the cards.

He wondered if he should buy a set of magic cards after the show to study.

Yura, standing next to Han Fulai, was still reeling from the shock of the magic trick, silently clutching the "sun" in her hand.

The "Sun" and "Girl" cards representing the two of them were performance souvenirs given to them by Linni.

Yura's mind was replaying the Fontaine Fairy Tale that Linni had told her, and his last words: "People should follow their destiny, not make excuses. No matter how sincere or clever you are, you cannot escape the responsibilities you are obligated to bear."

Just imagine, when she needed a "fiancé," Han Fulai was in Mondstadt—everything was just right...

Is this a "predestined arrangement"? Was it also "fate" that I came to him?

Amid cheers from the audience, Lynette emerged from backstage, took her sister's hand and raised it high, then bowed to the audience in thanks.