When Qi Mu returned to his hotel,it was nearly 11 o'clock.
It was quite late, so he took asimple shower and went to bed. When he woke the next day, it was already 10 inthe morning.
Bright, warm sunshine filled theroom. After his shower, Qi Mu turned on his phone and saw a missed call and twotexts, both from Min Chen.
Min Chen: 【Have you listened to it?】
Min Chen: 【I'm leaving for Berlin first.】
Looking at the screen, Qi Muthought a bit on his reply then pressed the screen several times. He quicklysent the message.
The man who just arrived inBerlin turned on his phone and received a text——
【Um. . . I haven't yet, the hoteldidn't have a record player. I'll listen to it today. You should be in Berlinby now, right? I wish you a successful performance this evening.】
In front of the airport window, ahandsome man halted in his steps and stared at his phone. The corners of hislips were slightly upturned as if something pleasant had happened.
Min Chen replied with a simplesentence. Before he could put his phone back in his pocket, Daniel's terrifiedvoice suddenly rang out, "God! Min! Why are you suddenly so happy? Whathappened. . . to make you so happy?!"
Min Chen: ". . .Shut up." Hecontinued walking.
"Hey, Min! Was it Angel whotexted you just now? You really like him, huh. . ." Daniel's murmur wasignored, but he continued, "You really like him. . . Min, is this a good or badthing. . .?"
The cold-faced manstopped and stared at this particularly chatty blond. His eyebrow raised. "A good thing."
Daniel failed to respond for amoment. ". . . Ah?! What did you say?"
Min Chen earnestly said in fluentGerman, "It's a good thing."
". . ."
I was justsaying! Why are you so serious!?
Daniel sulked silently. He had ahunch. If he stayed with this guy for more than a decade, he would end up bald!
Just thinking about it scaredhim. He wasn't going to care for him. He was about to walk away when the man'smuffled voice called out, "Hmm. . . Daniel, I need you to check on one morething."
Unkindly, Daniel said, "Checkwhat? I don't know you that well."
Able to ignore his friend's fierytemper for several days each month, Min Chen lowered his eyelids, thought for amoment, then whispered, "Luo Yu Sen. . . There must be something wrongwith him. You check on him, he. . . the past 10 months, he's behavedstrangely."
"Half a year ago, you told me tocheck his family background. Why are you still doing this now!"
Min Chen stopped again thenturned to look at Daniel. Indifferently, he asked, "You won't?"
". . . I will!"
He's been exploited for more thana decade!
How on earth did he survive allthose years, ah!!!
——Daniel's expressionwas full of tears.
Vienna, 3 p.m.
After leaving the home of a musiccritic, Qi Mu walked towards a subway station when he received a text messagefrom Luo Yu Sen.
Qi Mu was busy, either bycompleting his teacher's tasks or attending concerts. He didn't have the timeto pay attention to Luo Yu Sen. He entrusted the investigation to the privatedetective, intending to wait until he wasn't so busy to deal with this scumbag.
Even if Qi Mu had forgotten abouthim, Luo Yu Sen had no such patience.
In fact, Luo Yu Sen waited anentire week for his phone call.
According to Luo Yu Sen'sthoughts, the innocent young man was so delighted to get in touch with him thathe eagerly left him his contact information——who told the boy to admire him somuch?
What surprised Luo Yu Sen was thefact that the kid didn't contact him at all. He didn't call and didn't evensend a message! After waiting that long, Luo Yu Sen was no longer patient. Hesent a text first.
【Long time no see. Wei Ai has aconcert tomorrow, and I have two tickets. Do you need them?】
Just like the Berlin PhilharmonicOrchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra concluded their European tour andreturned to Vienna for the final concert. The concert of a world-classorchestra naturally attracted a large audience, and the tickets were bound tobe hard to acquire.
Qi Mu frowned. Finally, he replied,【I'm sorry, I have tickets. I've beena little busy recently. If there's an opportunity, I will contact you.】
After a brief "Okay." from Luo YuSen, the man didn't send anything else.
Qi Mu looked coldly at hisphone's screen and sank into his thoughts.
Qi Mu had already gotten someinformation from his private detective. He. . . got the gist of why Luo Yu Senwas treated coldly by the other members of the orchestra.
Qi Mu was so busy, he planned towait until this period ended to settle the matter with Luo Yu Sen. Compared tohis business with the scum, Qi Mu felt. . .
"Well, it's better to practicefive hours a day than spend an hour with that guy."
With that in mind, Qi Mu returnedto his hotel room and practiced happily for over an hour. By the time hearrived at Musikverein the next day, the crowd had already blocked half thestreet.
Such a grand venue wasn't worsethan the one Bai Ai had a few days ago, and it was even more enthusiastic. TheVienna Philharmonic Orchestra belonged to Austria, so many locals rushed to gettheir tickets.
Only then did Qi Mu realize howconvenient it was to be an insider.
A few days ago, just an hourbefore the concert, Bai Ai's ticket price soared up to over 1000 euros on theblack market. For tonight's concert, Qi Mu heard it was about the same.
Qi Mu didn't have to worry aboutit. Last time, he got a ticket from Min Chen. This time, Dorenza specificallyasked the staff to send him the invitation for a front-row seat.
Dorenza and Akkad were oldfriends, and since Akkad asked him to take care of his student, he undeniablyfound it fascinating. Dorenza had heard of Qi Mu. A violinist earning a 9.5score from Min Chen wouldn't be an ordinary person.
By coincidence, he listened to QiMu's 《Dance of the Goblins》 and saw Master Leonid's commentaryon Qi Mu. Even without Akkad's introduction, the mild-tempered conductor wascurious about Qi Mu.
Before Qi Mu could leave thevenue after Wei Ai's concert that evening, a staff member came to see him. Theyinformed him that Dorenza invited him to the orchestra's final post-concertcelebration that night.
Qi Mu was surprised, but therelong-lost joy in his heart.
Dorenza was one of the mostimportant figures in his previous life. In the last few months of his life, heprovided him with a lot of guidance. He was the one who gave Qi Mu the chanceto stand on the Golden Hall's stage. He was very grateful to him.
Qi Mu looked forward to seeingthe maestro again.
Wei Ai's celebration party wassimilar to those of other orchestras, they reserved several tables directly ata hotel. To Qi Mu's surprise, he shared the main table with the conductor,Dorenza, and Zaev, the concertmaster.
On such occasions, food was notthe main focus. Under the brilliant lights, the main table was full of famousfigures from the classical music world. Albert Dorenza was one of the fourleading conductors in the world, and Leon Zaev was also renowned.
Among those people, a handsomeyoung man would certainly be eye-catching. When some curious members came upand struck a conversation with Qi Mu to figure out who he was, there were threeexclamations——
"Ah! Were you the one who playedthat brilliant 《Dance of the Goblins》?"
"You're Master Akkad's student!"
"Is it really possible to get ascore of 9.5 from Mr. Bertram?!!!"
Dorenza had a good relationshipwith Min Chen, so he often came to Wei Ai to have a conversation with him. Manymembers of Wei Ai were aware of the fact that the world's best-temperedconductor (Dorenza) and the world's worst-tempered conductor (Min Chen). . .
Were very different!
We sympathizewith our comrades at Bai Ai, look at how lovely our Dorenza is!
Thus, being praised by the harshand poisonous Bertram, the young man must be exceptional! And his temper wasmild and as cute as their great Dorenza!
Fortunately, Qi Mu had onceworked with these people for several months. So, even as the butt of theirjokes, he could deal with them easily. He also harvested a lot of good pointsfrom Wei Ai's members.
When the benevolent old man came towards Qi Mu with a smile onhis face and a glass of wine in his hand, he couldn't help but feel a burst ofwarmth in his heart. A smile bloomed on his fair, delicate face. Voicemelodious, he said, "Hello. . . Mr. Dorenza."
Translator
(s): Kuro
Editor
(s): Empress, Ayn, Bet