After meeting Luo Yu Sen againand obtaining his contact information, Qi Mu didn"t contact him even once.
Partly because Akkad gave Qi Mu atask: to visit some famous maestros. And partly because Qi Mu knew if he wastoo enthusiastic, Luo Yu Sen would know something was wrong. He wasn"t thatstupid.
When he left a famous violinist"shouse with his violin case, Qi Mu looked down at the path and walked toward hishotel.
At noon, the bright sunshine litup the land, painting the red-brick lane with a layer of gold. Qi Mu recalledthe phone call he received the other day. His eyebrows creased as he was lostin thought.
He secretly hired a privatedetective on the first day of his arrival to see if he could find the personbehind Luo Yu Sen.
From his point of view, since theother person could make Luo Yu Sen take the risk of drugging him, they had tohave a high status. And they must have promised some kind of benefit.
As long as there was moneyexchanged, it left a paper trail. Being caught was just a matter of time.
However, when Qi Mu thought hecould easily catch the person behind the scenes, the private detective he hiredreturned in distress, "Luo Yu Sen"s bank account didn"t receive any largeamount of money in the last 10 months. Would you like to look for otherinformation, sir?"
It shocked Qi Mu. He thought fora moment before replying, "Look for other things."
After receiving another sum ofmoney, the private detective began searching for other things involving Luo YuSen over the past 10 months. Qi Mu hung up the phone, puzzled.
If it wasn"t a deal with money,then. . . What was init for Luo Yu Sen?
Qi Mu knew that in the monthsafter his death, Luo Yu Sen wasn"t promoted to the deputy of the second groupviolin. The seat remained empty. And from what he saw that night outside theconcert hall"s building, the other members had alienated Luo Yu Sen.
If Jacques was the one Luo Yu Senwas helping, then. . .
Why was he so miserable now?
Qi Mu first thought the truth hadalready emerged on the surface, waiting for him to scoop it out. Only now didhe understand the whole matter was wrapped in layers of thick silk webs likelooking at the reflection of the moon in water, unclear.
And now, after three days, Qi Muwas planning to contact Luo Yu Sen again to see if he could find any anomalies.
Before he could, his mobile phonevibrated. Qi Mu saw the familiar name on the screen and was surprised. Hepressed the answer b.u.t.ton and whispered, "Min Chen?"
A low "Um" came from the otherend of the line. Min Chen continued in the same low tone, "Long time no see, QiMu."
Qi Mu was still surprised butchuckled. "Well, it"s been a while since I last saw you. Is Bai Ai busy withrehearsals nowadays? If you have some time, let"s go have a meal together orsomething. I"ve been somewhat idle lately."
Min Chen came to Vienna as earlyas ten days ago. He had sent Qi Mu a text informing him of his arrival.
At that time, Akkad was stillglued to Qi Mu"s side, and he was unable to escape. When Akkad finally leftVienna, Bai Ai was getting busy with their rehearsals, leaving Min Chen with notime to spare.
"Where are you now?"
Qi Mu looked around and answeredbluntly, "I just visited Master Anton near Gaul Street." After a pause, henearly cried, "What a coincidence, you"re nearby?"
Qi Mu thought it was toocoincidental. The corner of his lips curled upward, and he couldn"t help butchuckle. "Okay, how can there be such a coincidence. . . Vienna is so big, howlucky we are for this to happen."
The other end of the line wa.s.silent for a while. The handsome man"s thin lips curled even higher, and hethought, Well, it"s really fate. . . It had already happened twice.
"Did you get the ticket for BaiAi"s concert tonight?"
Qi Mu continued to walk forward,nodding, "Yes, I got it this morning. I didn"t expect Daniel to personally sendit to me. Thank you very much, Min Chen. You know Bai Ai"s ticket is tough toget. I heard that on the black market, the price shot up to 500 euros for oneticket."
"Well, it"s good you got it." Theman"s mellow and magnetic voice came through the speaker.
Qi Mu laughed. "But it seemed alittle bit too much for you to send Daniel in person. . . I was surprised whenI opened the door this morning. I thought you would either courier it or pa.s.sit to me along the way. It was quite over the top."
Min Chen: ". . ."
So. . . Between he delivering the ticket inperson and Daniel delivering it, the latter was more serious?
The two chatted for a bit and,after saying "See you tonight" to each other, they hung up the phone.
After the call, Qi Mu somehowfelt his complex mood clear. Taking advantage of his good mood, he cast thethought of the disturbing sc.u.m aside and wondered what was for lunch.
In the concert hall no. 3 ofMusikverein, the members of Bai Ai were horrified to find out——
Their conductor smiled!!!
He was in a good mood!!!
They saw the cold man in themiddle of the auditorium with the corner of his lips raising while he gazed athis mobile phone. Something happened, and it made him happy.
This scene was so shocking forthe members of Bai Ai they had suspicions. Their conductor with such apoisonous tongue that could make them cry for their mothers. . . Did he blow afuse?
Daniel, the representativewarrior, tiptoed over. After hesitating, again and again, he asked, "Min. . .Have you been upset lately? Our concert starts tonight. If you have somethingon your mind, don"t bury it in your heart. Daniel"s ears are always open toyou, my friend!"
Min Chen lifted his gaze to lookat Daniel. Disdainfully, he repeated, "I"m upset?"
". . ."
After a long while, Danielgloomily said, "You call this not upset? You scolded all the members the otherday! Whenever they saw you, they would walk the long way around to avoid you,did you know that? Although you seem to be in a better mood today, you"re stillterrible!"
Min Chen raised his eyebrows inprotest and stated, "Daniel, my mood is as good as my temper."
Daniel: ". . ."
After a long while and a loss ofrestraint, Daniel spat out, "Well, you strange fellow, you"ve had a cold faceall day long. You looked like everyone owed you millions. And suddenly, you"rehappy. Min, I"ve known you for more than a decade. I always knew you have astrange temper, but I didn"t know you were this weird."
On the rehearsal stage, Christolebegan leading the orchestra in a new round of tuning their pitches.
Under the stage, Min Chen wasdeep in thought. After a while, he parted his lips and asked, "Daniel, if. . .if you"re 99% sure of something and only missing that remaining 1% so you cannever be sure it"s the total truth, what would you do?"
"What the h.e.l.l is with thisproblem?" Daniel silently muttered. After thinking about it for a bit, hereplied, "Now that you got 99%, how important can that 1% be? It"s only 1%,right?"
Min Chen was apparently satisfiedwith his answer. His grim face softened. After a gentle "Hmm," he stoppedtalking.
Daniel"s curiosity was thoroughlyprovoked. He asked, "Hey Min, what on Earth is going on with you?"
Min Chen: "Nothing."
Daniel: ". . .There must besomething!"
Min Chen looked at him and said,"Nothing."
". . .There absolutely must besomething!!!"
Not bothering to listen to theweirdo any longer, Min Chen stood and walked up to the stage.
Behind him, Daniel kept repeatingthings like, "You d.a.m.n fellow, say it, ah," "Hey, Min, you have to takeresponsibility for piquing my curiosity," and "d.a.m.n, you devil!"
. . .
As for. . . What was going onwith Min Chen?
Well, it didn"t seem like a bigdeal.
Why was Qi Mu, who had never studiedGerman, suddenly fluent in German? Why was he familiar with the Vienna SymphonyOrchestra? Why did his 《La Campanella》 sound exactly the same as Lu ZiWen"s? Why did he stand under Lu Zi Wen"s apartment and look at it for so long?Why did he suddenly go to Luo Yu Sen, someone whom he should have never known?
All these questions pointed atonly one answer.
The answer was so fantastical andunbelievable that he couldn"t accept it at first.
Three days later, as Daniel said,since you"ve affirmed it 99%, even if you were missing the remaining 1%, it. .. didn"t matter much either way.
You see, boldconjecture, careful investigation, and confirmation was a very scientific meansfor research, ah.
In a 24-hour convenience storehalf a city away, a young man, who didn"t know he"d exposed his secretscrutinized, two bok choys.
"The left one is a littlethicker, and the leaf on the right one is a little dry. Hmm. . . which one isthe best choice?"
Having spent nearly half a yearin Huaxia, this was a great change. He now had. . . very critical eyes towardfood. He wasn"t this picky in his previous life, he even bravely triedBritain"s dark cuisine. But. . .
Who wouldn"t cry eating bread,pizza, spaghetti, and pasta after rich and colorful Chinese cuisine for half ayear?
A week after arriving in Vienna,Qi Mu asked the staff of his hotel for permission to borrow their kitchen.
Even if his cooking was regardedmedium-level in Huaxia, it was better than eating bread, pizza, spaghetti, andmacaroni every day. . .
After half an hour spent tangledin the convenience store, Qi Mu finally walked back to the hotel with two bagsof food in tow.
Looking out at the lovely bluesky and the smooth clouds, Qi Mu couldn"t help but stare. He smiled thensighed, "Today"s weather is good. The sun is bright, and the sky is clear."
Well, yes. . . In fact, you"realso very clear.
Translator
(s): Kuro
Editor
(s): Empress, Ayn, Bet