Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 380 Zhai Da's Great Sword
Yes, the teacher has no hair.
In fact, when Zhai Da first met his teacher, he was surprised by the giant, who was even older than he had imagined.

Rather than being young.

It was only later that I learned that the photo of Qian Lao, with his bright eyes, that is well-known to the outside world and that most people remember, was actually of him when he was over 70 years old, which is now almost 30 years ago.
Of course, even thirty years ago, no disrespect was intended. The teacher's hair was rather thin; to be honest, it only covered the back of the head.
Now, there are only three to five hundred left in that circle.
In other words, if you use a comb to brush it all off, it will only buy you three to five days of natural lifespan.
Zhai Da took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

After going around in circles, I finally found an item that could extend my lifespan. How could it be so awkward?
Do we need to regrow the teacher's hair first? Getting a 98-year-old to regrow their hair is probably on par with "extending lifespan."
Moreover, Mr. Qian is only a little over two years away from turning 100.

Zhai Da looked around for a long time and finally determined that the store only had one piece of equipment, but it was closed now, so he would have to come back tomorrow.

I definitely need it. If the teacher can't use it, I can give it to my mom. Ms. Yu has always had a lot of hair, and combing her hair every day can help her live a long life, which is quite effective.

Perhaps they can be combined into a set or synthesized in the future. It's always a hope.
Silently noting down the address, Zhai Da turned and disappeared into the night.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Two days later.

The Expo Avenue in Shanghai is located within the Expo Park.

To be precise, it is not officially open yet. Even the China Pavilion, which is theoretically the fastest to be completed, is still not finished. However, the main gate of the Expo Park has been completed ahead of schedule and is very beautiful.

In order to gain some support from other parties, the filming of "Magic Talent Show" was held here, which also served as a way to promote the Shanghai World Expo.

At this moment, many things were placed in front of the gate, and a team of dozens of people of all sizes gathered together, preparing to film.

A van pulled up, and a local man named Hu got out and repeatedly bowed, saying, "Hello, teachers!"

Judging from the condition of her face, she was already wearing makeup, which was obviously done at the hotel.

The staff led Brother Hu to a tent on the side. This area was not open to the public to begin with, and there were more birds than people. The venue had even given it a closed-off treatment, so the setup was a bit simple.

Hu Ge walked into the tent. The conditions weren't great; a large fan was whirring, but he was used to it. Most of the time, he just got by on set.

Inside the tent, all the other guests from this episode in Shanghai had already arrived.

There were five people in total, including him. The other four were: Huo Jianhua, Tang Yan, Yang Mi, and Liu Shishi.
Yes, after multiple rounds of negotiations, it inexplicably turned into this "Sword and Fairy 3 Family Bundle" lineup.

It all started when Zhai Da contacted Brother Hu. After asking, Brother Hu readily agreed. Then, upon hearing that there were still vacancies in the guest lineup, he recommended Tang Yan, who was also from Shanghai, worked at the same company, and was currently unemployed at home.

They were all minor celebrities, and since it was convenient to film in Shanghai, Tang Yan agreed. Moreover, her appearance fee was only 3 yuan, so she was doing Xinglang a favor.

When the production team was in charge of casting, they realized that they had managed to get two young actresses with good exposure for only 60,000 yuan.

I feel like I deserve a lot of credit, a really big thumbs up!

Then, a brilliant idea struck her, and she went to talk to Huo Jianhua and Liu Shishi, who had just gained some fame because of Chinese Paladin 3. In the end, Yang Mi, who was far away in Beijing, thought to herself, "You guys have all come together, wouldn't it make me seem out of place if I didn't go?"
Finally, for this episode in Shanghai, the guest lineup became the entire "Chinese Paladin 3" package, costing 150,000 yuan. That's only 30,000 yuan per person.
At this price, it wouldn't even be enough for a few Royal Salutes at a top Shanghai nightclub, so it's truly remarkable that they managed to assemble such a lineup.

They are all acquaintances, and the Legend of Sword and Fairy 3 is currently airing and receiving a very good response. The relationships between the group are also quite close, which is very beneficial for filming the show. Reality shows require a relaxed and natural emotional state.

Brother Hu patted Huo Jianhua on the shoulder: "Old Huo, still pretending to be a cultured man reading books?"

Huo Jianhua laughed and said, "This is Professor Zhai's book, 'The Time-Traveling Cohabitation Manual,' which was recommended by a friend. I think it would be very suitable to be adapted into a movie."

Brother Hu opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't reveal anything about "The Long Road of Lü". The project wasn't fully prepared yet, and Senior Gao Yuanyuan wouldn't allow him to talk nonsense.

"Where's Teacher Zhai? Hasn't she arrived yet?"

"Teacher Zhai arrived early this morning, probably busy with preparations."

About half an hour later, the group finally received a filming notification and left the tent to arrive at the main entrance of the World Expo.

A stage was set up here, with the logos of "Magic Talent Show" and sponsor ZTE mobile phones behind it. Nearly ten cameras were set up in front of it. This was Zhai Da's suggestion, so that everyone would have their own camera to follow them and that no footage would be missed.

An object in the very center quickly caught their attention.

A huge crow perched on a pole.

Tang Yan immediately jogged over: "I recognize it! During the Hongtu OS launch event, Teacher Zhai transformed into it and flew away!"

A celebrity's basic courtesy is to help grandpa make an appearance.

She smiled and said, "Hello!"

Surprisingly, the crow actually responded to them!

The large crow lowered its head and pecked at the small device on its claw: "Hello." The entire collection of Sword and Fairy 3 game characters: ???
This is the second time Xiao Hei has appeared in public, but it only flew once before.

"Can you talk?"

Little Black pecked again: "That's right~"

"It can not only speak! It can understand! My goodness!"

Can I touch you?

Liu Shishi stretched out her sinful hand, which was then pressed down by Xiao Hei's bird claws and pushed away bit by bit.

It seems to be saying: Show me some respect!
The production team didn't interrupt, quietly gathering material until they felt it was enough before speaking up: "Welcome everyone to 'Magic Talent Show'!"

The group kept their distance, but their eyes kept glancing at the large bird. Then came some content about the program's theme and the creation of a story, which lasted about twenty minutes.

However, the show's main character, the great magician "Zhai Da" who is gathering his disciples to embark on a global magic tour, still has not appeared.

Without warning, Little Black suddenly spread its enormous wings, and only then did everyone realize that its size was even more exaggerated than they had imagined.

The little black cat flapped its wings continuously, and suddenly a large number of black feathers appeared all around it. Visually, they seemed to be the little black cat's own, but the number was obviously not right, unless it was bald.

As more and more feathers appeared, the guests subconsciously squinted and held their breath. Then they saw a figure slowly emerge from the feathers, like an eraser, from head to toe.

Dressed in a black formal suit with a black and white cape over her shoulders, she held a golden cane and had a pocket watch pinned to her chest.

It was Zhai Da.

He was wearing almost the entire magical costume.

Little Black flew to Zhai Da's shoulder and landed in its favorite spot. Zhai Da nodded slightly: "Welcome everyone."

If this were a TV program, everyone's shocked expressions would probably be edited out and shown once. However, the actual filming process was continuous. Zhai Da continued, "You need to team up, two people per group, with the last person left out."

The process involves forming teams through on-site games and tasks, then choosing a magic trick from three themes: "joyful," "cool," and "serious" to receive training. There are also tasks during the training, and finally, participants need to find someone in the Lujiazui area of ​​Shanghai to perform the magic trick they have mastered and gain "recognition."

The format is the same as traditional reality shows, but it's very novel at the moment, and currently only South Korea has similar programs.

Zhai Da took out three blind boxes and let Hu Ge, the only one in a single team, choose first. Hu Ge ultimately chose "Joyful", Huo Jianhua/Tang Yan chose "Carefree", and Yang Mi/Liu Shishi chose "Serious".

However, the answer was revealed in reverse order, with Brother Hu leaving it for last.

The "Serious" treasure chest was the simplest, containing only a deck of cards. Zhai Da demonstrated the most basic card divination technique to the group.

The "Carefree" treasure chest was actually a magic wand. Zhai Da deftly picked it up with two fingers, and with a flick of his left hand, the black wand turned into a red silk scarf. After a couple of flicks, the scarf transformed back into a wand.

The three basic magic tricks all require only hands and brains. The slightly less advanced ones can be learned with just hands, which is the only way to enable them to learn and perform a basic version within a few hours.

After this segment is filmed, Zhai Da will go and teach the magicians. After that, they will go out to film, while Zhai Da will prepare for the large-scale magic show that night.

Throughout the entire series, Zhai Da may not have had the most screen time, but because the guests change every episode, he remains the absolute core figure.

They were chatting and laughing all the way through, but when Hu Ge finally opened the "Joy" box, he was dumbfounded – it was a sword.

That's right, it's the kind of extendable sword used in "sword swallowing" magic tricks—simple, unpretentious, and hilarious.
Zhai Da demonstrated it on the spot, but swallowing it himself would be too stupid. He needs to maintain an elegant persona, at least on the show.

So they called in their magic assistant: a beautiful woman they found at the Shanghai Drama Academy.

Then, in front of everyone, he "stuffed" a sword more than a meter long into Dilraba's mouth.

Because of her exotic looks, and because the later episodes were filmed overseas, she was recommended by her teacher to come here.

Although she had practiced last night, she still couldn't quite control her facial expressions.

The teacher never said anything this abstract!

Years later, the meme of someone being forced to eat a big sword by Zhai Da remains popular.
　There's no shift in focus; the emphasis of future trips abroad won't be on entertainment, but on other things, and this is the only one I'll write about in detail.

　　I can't find any entertainment, I've been criticized, and I'm tired of it all.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)