The person who can perform this magic trick will definitely be the center of attention, because in the eyes of the audience, he/she is an omnipotent prophet!

"Do you know anything about prophets?" Mo Xiaohuan asked Nan Nan one day.

"Prophet? Brother Huanhuan, are you talking about the dashing prophet from 'Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf'?" Facing Nannan, who had grown up a bit and become more sensible, Mo Xiaohuan finally didn't have to rack her brains to come up with stories and magic tricks anymore.

"No, Nan Nan, I'm talking about a real prophet. A prophet is someone who is good at predicting things before they happen," Mo Xiaohuan explained, both amused and exasperated.

"What does the prophet have to do with the magic trick you're going to perform, Huanhuan?" Nannan asked, seemingly confused. "I'm going to play the prophet today, hehe," Mo Xiaohuan said. "Nannan, since you don't want to just watch the magic trick from down here, why don't you come up here and help me perform!"

After saying that, Mo Xiaohuan took out a deck of cards with her left hand and asked Nannan to take half of it from the top and place it in Mo Xiaohuan's right hand. Then she asked Nannan to take the top card from her left hand.

Mo Xiaohuan put the cards in her two hands together and asked Nan Nan, "The one you took, was it the 9 of Clubs?"

Nan Nan could hardly believe her eyes. Huan Huan hadn't done anything, yet he knew what cards she had. Was he really the prophet, Handsome Brother?

Magic Unveiled

Props: A standard deck of playing cards.

Prepare

1. Divide the playing cards into four piles according to the four suits: spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. The cards should be face up, and each pile should be arranged from top to bottom in the order of A to K.

2. Starting with the spade deck, flip the cards one by one until the King of Spades becomes the first card in that deck (below the King should be the Queen, then the 10, etc.). Then process the hearts, clubs, and diamonds decks in the same way until the 10 of hearts, the 7 of clubs, and the 4 of diamonds become the first card in each deck.

3. Place the King of Spades face down on the table. Then, take the top cards from the three stacks of Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds and place them on top of the King of Spades (i.e., the 10 of Hearts, the 7 of Clubs, and the 4 of Diamonds). Repeat this step in sequence until the four stacks of cards are combined into one stack.

Process revealed

1. Invite a spectator to cut the deck and take the top card from the bottom half of the deck. This is equivalent to the spectator taking a card from the middle of the deck.

2. Place the cut-off top half of the cards on the right, then place this stack of cards below the stack on the left, and in the process, quickly scan the bottom cards and memorize the contents of the cards.

3. Count three numbers up from the bottom card you see; that's the number of the card the spectator will take. As for suit, if the bottom card is spade, then the card taken must be diamond. For example, if the bottom card is the 6 of hearts, then the 9 of spades must be the card the spectator takes; or if the bottom card is the 10 of clubs, then the King of hearts must be the answer.

Important Notes

1. Before each performance of this magic trick, the shuffling can be shown to the audience by cutting the cards.

2. If an audience member requests to inspect the playing cards, quickly flip them over and show them to them. Because they are arranged irregularly, they won't be easily noticed. However, remember not to let the audience member shuffle the cards.