A spring breeze blew in from the Atlantic at the end ofMarch, waking Paris from the slumber of winter.
The French were born with romance in their bones. Coupleswalked the street hand-in-hand and would sometimes kiss intimately without care.
Qi Mu had long since learned to ignore them and could now ignorethese sweet lovers as he walked by them. He grew up in Austria, and thoughpeople were open there, it was not so openas to kiss publicly in the streets.
His apartment was a couple blocksfrom the college. The handsome, sophisticated Chinese carrying a violin casethrough the streets was still eye-catching. Less than ten days after hisarrival, Qi Mu"s popularity continued to rise.
When he pa.s.sed the bakery, the chubby owner would smile and gifthim bread, wish him a good morning. The blonde woman cutting flowers at the flowershop around the corner would send out a flowering branch to send him on hisway.
A polite, good-looking child was the most liked.
Of course. . . this favoritismdid not include Professor Akkad.
Akkad was fond of his lovely student, but once it came tomusic, Qi Mu"s master would become seriousand would not tolerate even a defect the size of a sesame seed.
On the eve of Qi Mu"s third day of practicing the 24thCapriccio, Akkad had him play his adaptation.
The result was disappointing. Akkad said, "Small Seven, you"vetried to adapt some of the music, but what I want isn"t to completely changethe song. Rather. . . in your performance, there needs to be some chemical changes."
With an evaluation like that, Qi Mu got serious. Aside from practicing and adjusting tocollege life, he spent most of his time outside, hoping to gain some spark ofinspiration from the spring season in this romantic capital.
Across the strait, in London, England, the first performanceof the Vienna Symphony Orchestra"s European tour officially began.
They held the grand concert in the Royal Albert Hall, London"smost prestigious concert hall.
In this centuries-old hall, the Vienna musicians underwenttheir final commissioning, and theaudience waited in antic.i.p.ation for the start of the show.
In fact, this concert almost conflicted with the BerlinPhilharmonic Orchestra"s concert. To avoid the problem, Daniel had themperforming four nights later.
When Evra learned the "Golden Retriever" Agent had made apoint of splitting their performances by three days, he snorted with disdain. "Daniel,you know how Christi"s body hasn"t been well these past few days. I thought youwould delay the performance indefinitely."
Min Chen and Evra still had a good relationship. When MinChen was studying at the Leipzig Academy,the master once directed the academy"s orchestra, and Min Chen was the pianist.
So, Evra had invited Min Chen and Daniel backstage beforethe show, and they walked together toward the exclusive second-floor box toenjoy the music.
In the past, whenever Evra invited him, Min Chen would politelyrefuse. The man never enjoyed being treated as one of the privileged cla.s.s, andhe would sit in the audience. But this time, even Evra did not understand why hisinvitation was accepted.
Daniel thought about it and whispered, "Do you want to seefor yourself. . . what happened to Luo Yu Sen?"
After a moment of silence, Min Chen lowered his gaze, "You think too much."
That said, when Evra did alast check on all the members of the orchestra, Min Chen did not enterthe box. Instead, he stood behind the curtain and watched the handsome but haggardChinese violinist.
That, Luo Yu Sen. . .
Luo Yu Sen who was busy testing his violin, felt a chill inhis chest. He glanced around for a while but saw nothing strange. He shook hishead and fixed his violin"s pitch, then snuck a glance at the fat, black manstanding at the front of the orchestra, eyes. . . dark and fierce.
Soon after, just as the percussion group was about to go onstage,there was a scream, "Oh my G.o.d! Pieces of my score are missing?!"
Everyone looked at Jasper in shook, the man in question staring,horrified, at his score. "The pages I"m least familiar with! I don"t know if I canfinish it!"
Some people didn"t have a goodmemory, and Jasper. . . was one.
If it was Qi Mu, he could recite a ten-sheet music score in anhour. If it was Min Chen, he only had to listen to it once, and he could playit perfectly. While Jasper"s skill washigh, his memory. . . was not so good.
Evra, noticing the situation, turned a with a severeexpression, "Jasper, where did your score go? Prepare to go on stage, takesomeone else"s."
Jasper shook his head, an anxious sweat pooling on hisforehead, "No, no, no, Evra! It"s the part that"s different from everyone else"s.The background score is already difficult, but this section was harder. I. . . I have it memorized, but I can"t guaranteeI"ll play it perfectly."
Evra was so angry he could barely speak, "Jasper! How canyou be so careless with your score? You can"t even keep the score safe, and you still want to perform?!!!"
The relationship between Jasper and Evra was inherently good,but it was only natural for Evra to be furious that something like thishappened when he was about to go on stage——
After all, he was the runner-up winner of the world"s worst-temperedconductor.
The backstage became a mess, but even Daniel frowned. "Jasper"snot usually so bad? How did he lose only a piece of his score, and it"s a pieceof resplendence? That"s weird. . ."
By his side, the elegant man narrowed his gaze to a squint,watching the Chinese in the back, not saying a word.
Although Luo Yu Sen chattered anxiously with the others, thecorners of his mouth were tilted upward. . . lookingrather pleased.
His heart ached with realization, and Min Chen pursed his lips. He walked over to Evra"s side andwhispered, "Which song?"
Min Chen"s sudden appearance dazed the orchestra members:they didn"t expect the man to be backstage!
Among them, most appalled was Luo Yu Sen against the back wall!His eyes widened and the rising corners of his mouth sunk, because. . . He recalled what someone said about Min Chen whenhe was at school: "Mr. Bertram? The scoremachine! Whatever the song, one look is all it takes for him to recreate it,ah!"
Sure enough, when Evra heard his question, he froze for aminute then said, "My G.o.d, Min! I forgot you were here! It"s Farrell"s 《Sonatain F major》,d.a.m.n. . . have you ever heard it? It"s the song he wrote a few years ago, Ihaven"t performed it in public often."
Min Chen"s eyebrow raised then he whispered, "It"s one ofFarrell"s?"
The question made Evra despair, "Oh G.o.d, you haven"t?! Oh myG.o.d! This is a nightmare! Jasper, don"t make me. . ."
"A difficult piece. . . should be at the end of the thirdmovement." Min Chen"s voice silenced Evra, and Evra turned to see him face the nervousviolinist. "Is there any lines you can"t understand?"
Jasper nodded, "No, I can understand them! I"m just not sureif I can remember it all. The score"s just a hint."
Min Chen nodded and took the pen and paper Daniel offered. Hisfingers scrawled five neat lines over thepaper. With just a few additional notes, he marked the places for the fade awayand reinsertion!
No one dared to make a sound. When the scratch of pen onpaper finished, it was time for the first violin group to go on stage. Jasperdidn"t even glance at it before he took the handwritten score and filed onstage.
Evra also breathed a sigh of relief, "Ah. . . Min, I"m gladyou remember this song. That"s great."
Min Chen looked at him, tone even, "I listened to Farrell performit, hm. . . a year ago."
Evra: ". . ."
Daniel: ". . ."
With a belly full of anger, Evra stalked to the other side ofthe stage.
Behind him, Daniel wept. "Evra will hate you, Min! Histemper is no better than yours. He"s commanded the song many times, and there"sno way he could write it out in so little time. You can"t hurt him!"
Min Chen hummed but did not take it to heart.
Instead, his gaze fell on the brunette in the second violingroup, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"This is. . . Luo Yu Sen?"
Translator(s): Bet
Editor(s): Bet