Du Lai was quiet for a moment, then said mildly: “I’ll take it one step at a time. I have a record, so finding work on land won’t be easy. At least this keeps food on the table — and the money I send home can’t stop…”

“Why do you think I came to find you?” the man said with a smile. “Du Lai, I trust your skill. There’s a job right now — if you’re willing to take it, the commission alone will be at least this much…”

He made a gesture with his hand.

Du Lai raised an eyebrow slightly. “Fifty thousand?”

The man smiled again, and shook his head lightly.

Du Lai’s eyes flashed with shock, and his voice carried a note of disbelief: “…Five hundred thousand?”

The man said: “At least five million.”

Du Lai drew a sharp breath.

Five million! Even the commission alone was that high — the total value of this job must be more than ten times that!

His throat went dry. He forced himself to stay calm and glanced around. The crew members were coming and going, and no one was paying attention to their conversation.

His silence was interpreted by the man as hesitation. The man spoke up to persuade him: “Du Lai, with five million, what would you have left to worry about? Even if you did nothing at all — just deposited it in a bank and lived off the interest — it would be more than enough to take care of those little ones.”

Du Lai lowered his voice. “Why come to me?”

The man said: “You’ve been practicing magic these past few years, but I believe your old skill set hasn’t gone rusty. I won’t hide it from you — this job does carry risk. The last person we brought in got caught. But if there were no risk at all, the commission wouldn’t be this high. You understand that logic.”

At that moment, the floor manager’s voice rang out from inside the dressing room:

“Magician! Is the magician ready?!!”

Du Lai looked toward the dressing room with a furrowed brow, and said to his Shifu: “I need to go on stage. Which room are you in — let’s continue this later.”

The man didn’t say outright, but pulled out his room number card and let Du Lai have a look.

Du Lai memorized it and gave a nod. “I’ll come find you once the show is over.”

The dressing room kept urging him more frantically. Du Lai didn’t linger any longer, turned, and left in a hurry.

His mind was full of thoughts, and he gave the floor manager a perfunctory reply before picking up his prop box and walking onto the stage.

A performance he had done thousands of times — even distracted, he completed it flawlessly. When it came to the final segment, he swapped out the rabbit for a snow-white pigeon and added a shower of rose petals drifting through the air. One small change was enough to earn him a standing ovation from the full house.

Du Lai stood at the center of the stage in his tailcoat, bowing in acknowledgment, his mind having long since flown elsewhere — not above the clouds, but to the job his Shifu had described.

He had once sworn never to steal again. But five million — five million was far too tempting.

It seemed he was not a man of firm principles. If he had any, they surely required sufficiently large temptations to reveal themselves.

……

Du Lai stepped off the stage and immediately headed to his Shifu’s room.

——That man had taught him magic for a year. Even though it had been just a single brief year, at the time Du Lai had been at the end of his rope, with nowhere to turn. The man had not only taken him in but given him a place to build a life — like a hand reaching out to pull him back from the edge of a cliff. Du Lai had been grateful ever since.

Even without the five million, he could not simply turn away when his Shifu came to him.

He hurried toward the man’s room, but when he reached the staircase, four large men in black blocked his path.

Du Lai stopped in his tracks, alert, and looked at the four of them.

One of the black-clad powerfully built men said with a blank expression: “Your performance was very good. Our young miss requests you come and perform again.”

Du Lai: “…”

He had encountered capricious wealthy guests who privately requested extra performances before, and as long as the tip was decent, he was generally happy to oblige — but of all times, why now…

Du Lai quietly took a half step back.

The four men opposite took a half step forward in response.

It looked as though they did not intend to let him leave.

—