Soon after Min Chen flew to Vienna, S City was addled with heavy rainstorms and lightning strikes. Numerous flights were delayed, leaving countless pa.s.sengers groaning at the airport.
The members of Bai Ai were among them, stranded in the S City
Daniel made a phone call to learn about the situation in Vienna. He knew they probably had to stay at the HongQiao Airport for another four to five hours, so he comforted the members of the orchestra. Unlike their chief conductor, he let the members move freely.
His headache saw no end.
Eyes glued to his phone, Christole exclaimed, "Wei Ai… Hah?!"
Running over, Daniel asked, "What is it, Christole? What happened to Wei Ai?"
Christole showed his phone"s screen to Daniel, displaying the 《Sound of Vienna》"s app interface. At the top, a bold, red headline read——
《The Concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is suspected of murder and has pending charges against him in the Vienna court.》
Looking at the headline, Daniel was somewhat at ease. Recalling the letter he sent a few months ago, he expected a harsh outcome. He just didn"t think it would be this, and just a month before Wei Ai"s tour at that.
He was pretty sure it was Dorenza"s doing, as it was tricky to handle it all so quickly.
But…
"Zayev is a murderer?!"
"He"s only suspected of it," Christole explained, reading the article. "It is said that he instructed someone to drug a young violinist,but I don"t know how that would cause the violinist to die."
After a brief discussion, they shifted their attention elsewhere. The case was still under investigation. It wasn"t like they could do anything about it.
Both Leon Zayev and Luo Yu Sen"s reputations had been completely destroyed. Even Zayev, who had been running one of the world"s best orchestras, would have no chance to turn a new leaf. He couldn"t, not after being involved in a drugging and murder case.
The cla.s.sical music world was a world of strength. It had some muddy waters, but it wasn"t dirty and rotten enough to tolerate such filthy villains.
No matter the circle, every group had to have a bottom line. Zayev and Luo Yu Sen had gone well past it.
Cl.u.s.tering at the windows, the Bai Ai members watched the dark clouds and raging winds.
While the Bai Ai members lamented their bad luck, Zayev and Luo Yu Sen were being held in police custody. They had endured dozens of hours of questioning and were starting to show signs of mental collapse.
Suffice to say, the police didn"t normally interrogate suspects so aggressively, but… it depended on the target.
After learning that his deputy chief"s seat had been sold for 5 millions, Dorenza was enraged. He used all the connections he had to teach the two sc.u.ms a lesson.
Luo Yu Sen, after basking in the interrogation room"s lamp for more than 20 hours, was about to collapse.
He hadn"t gotten a wink of sleep. Everytime he tried, the officer in charge reprimanded him. But, that was when he could try to sleep. The bright white light kept him up, making his thoughts fuzzy.
The officers kept repeating the same things.
"Did you kill him?"
"How did you kill him?"
"Say it now and you might have a chance to reduce your sentence."
"You took his medicine, right?"
When the last question was thrown to him, Luo Yu Sen rose from his stupor.Shaking his head vehemently, he said, "No, no, no, I didn"t take his medicine! I never did that! He died just like that, it wasn"t me! It had nothing to do with me!"
The policemen in the interrogation room looked at each other, then nodded.
Zayev, in another interrogation room, wasn"t any better. At first, he insisted, "I"m waiting for my lawyer. I"m not saying anything until my lawyer arrives."
The pathetic Zayev didn"t realize that under Dorenza"s influence, his lawyer had long since resigned from his position as Zayev"s personal lawyer in a cold sweat. He didn"t dare to meddle in the case, even at the risk of paying the penalty for breaching the contract.
At first, the officer ignored Zayev, but finally said, "I"m sorry, no lawyer sent us a notice." After that, the officer proceeded to interrogate Zayev according to the method they used against Luo Yu Sen.
Zayev was more than two decades older than Luo Yu Sen, so he didn"t have the same kind of energy. Zayev"s legs had already turned soft by the time he first entered the interrogation room.
After being interrogated for more than 10 hours, Zayev finally collapsed and told them everything he knew. And in his testimony, he pushed all the blame onto Luo Yu Sen. It was only after the officer questioned him about the bribes he took that he realized that his career was completely over.
They should be thankful that Austria was a benevolent country. There was no death sentence, the worst punishment was life imprisonment. They would be locked up for the rest of their lives.
When Luo Yu Sen walked out of the interrogation room with sweat dripping down his back, he felt lucky that he changed his nationality to an Austrian. If he hadn"t, he would face a death penalty.
But, Luo Yu Sen….
Sometimes, living is far more tortuous than dying!
When Qi Mu cleared up the dishes and began to wash them, the man who"d been eating like a freeloader finally found his conscience and rose to help.
Looking at the long, slender fingers gently rubbing oil stains on the dishes, Qi Mu felt funny. Leaning against the cupboard, he said, "So from now on, I will cook and you will do the dishes?"
Min Chen scrubbed some particularly sticky grains of rice and nodded. "I"m very good at washing dishes."
His tone was faintly proud, as if wanting some praise from the young man.
But, Qi Mu didn"t know how to praise. He started helping his adoptive parents with household ch.o.r.es when he was around six in his past life, and even then, he did more than this.
Qi Mu directly ignored the "Praise me" messages the man was giving off and began to tidy the room. As he was straightening up the room, Min Chen rinsed the last bowl with water and rested it on the disinfection rack.
The apartment was equipped with a dishwasher, but… Min Chen felt a little empty doing nothing.
When Min Chen left the kitchen in search of Qi Mu, he found the young man wiping the piano in the piano room.
The piano was actually very clean. Bright moonlight shone from the window, casting a metallic l.u.s.tre on the piano board.
Seeing the man entering the room, Qi Mu wiped the center of the board and said, "Actually, I was planning to rest tonight and clean the room tomorrow, because you were supposed to come back tomorrow night. I didn"t expect you to return early."
Qi Mu was relatively independent. He didn"t like people coming in and out of his house. Min Chen noticed, so he dismissed his maid early on.
But now that he saw the effort it took the young man to wipe the piano board, he regretted the decision a bit, thinking: Isn"t this piano… too big? Well, I should"ve bought a smaller one.
Looking at the young man wiping down the 9 foot Steinway, Min Chen wanted to cry.
Min Chen stopped Qi Mu from continuing. He took the cloth from the young man"s hand and put it aside. Under Qi Mu"s surprised gaze, he led the youth to sit on the piano stool with him, holding his hands.
The black and white keys shone brightly under the moonlight. Qi Mu still stared at Min Chen, his eyes wide in surprise.
Anyone who sat in front of such a grand piano couldn"t help but hold their breath.
Min Chen brought his hands to the keys, then covered them with Qi Mu"s. Qi Mu"s palms were a little smaller than Min Chen"s, but their fingers were almost the same length.
Qi Mu frowned, then asked, "What is it?"
"You told me to hold a separate recital for you, in this room."
Because of the tight s.p.a.ce and their posture, Min Chen"s deep and magnetic voice reverberated in Qi Mu"s ear. The warm exhalation brushed his ear, tingling Qi Mu"s senses.
Qi Mu finally remembered the words he impulsively uttered in his apartment in Paris. After thinking about it, he smiled helplessly. "Your recital goes on for more than two hours. Are you sure you can play them all right now?"
"No… Not all of them."
Surprised, Qi Mu looked at the man, only to see Min Chen staring at him with a focused gaze. "Recently, there"s a melody that"s been stuck in my head. It"s short, but it"s the most beautiful sound I"ve ever heard."
Qi Mu"s eyes widened, "You have a new piece?!"
Min Chen gently nodded. "Yes. I"m a little busy right now, but I will finish it once I"m free."
Qi Mu nodded. Looking at his hands on Min Chen"s, he didn"t know whether to laugh or cry. "Yes, it"s good that you have a new piece, but I can"t play the piano. Even if you put my hands on yours, I couldn"t keep up with your speed, Min Chen."
"It doesn"t matter. The piece is an adagio, a very slow adagio."
"Really?"
There were two lamps in the room. One was a crystal chandelier at the center of the room. It shone brightly, lighting up the entire s.p.a.ce once it was switched on. The other was on the wall, still bright, but dim in comparison.
Qi Mu didn"t turn on the chandelier when he entered. Looking at the man"s deep eyes under the dim glow, he was bewitched into agreeing to the ensemble.
The next moment, his fingers followed Min Chen"s, gently pressing the keys.
Translator(s): Kuro
TL Check: Teo
Editor(s): Empress
Proofer(s): Ayn