King of Classical Music

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As Huaxia’s capital city, there wasn’t much to say about B City, except for its shortcoming of constant traffic jams. Here, there were often concerts, theater performances, ballets, and even the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra chose B City for their tour every year.

Fans across the country were heartbroken by that.

Many people all over Huaxia rushed to B City to attend this music festival, which was held only once a year. The entire B City music hall was full, making the already packed street even more crowded. By seven o’clock, there were fewer people at the entrance——everyone was already seated.

“Well, this is my first time attending the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert. I always watched them on TV so I don’t know what to expect. . .” A middle-aged man sitting in the back row on the first floor excitingly said to his friend beside him, “I heard they will play Strauss’s song for the first performance, it’s really fascinating.”

“You know, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is of course very high level. It’s one of the few top orchestras in the world. But what I like the most is their style, particularly the classical orthodox style. Their former conductor had this style, but the new conductor seems even better.”

“You mean Min Chen?”

“Un, of course, him. He’s Chinese, so he really gives us Chinese people a lot of face!”

. . .

There are a lot of people in the audience whispering, but when the red curtain on the stage slowly opened, the whole hall fell quiet. A handsome, tall man entered the stage slowly, wearing a form-fitting black dress suit. He bowed quietly and began a grand performance.

《Annen Polka》, 《Song of the Swans》, 《Brandenburg Concertos》. . .《The Musical Offering》, until the very last song 《The Destiny Symphony》. When the last solemn and mournful sound faded, the entire hall was engulfed in silence. No one was able to recover from the heavy and tragic music.

No one knew how long it was, but when the applause began, it was loud enough to almost collapse the roof.

This night was destined to belong to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The silence in B City’s nighttime hid the beautiful music and it retained the liveliness of the past.

Later, the members of the B City Symphony Orchestra had boarded the plane back to B City, and they arrived early the next morning. It happened that Du Sheng drove his car to the airport and parked it there before, so he left his car there for the duration of the trip.

When he arrived home, Qi Mu fell asleep in the dark. His mobile phone suddenly rang, and he reached out to answer it without energy, giving a weak, “Hmm.”

“Xiao Qi, ah, didn’t you say that you would come back last night?!” Zheng Wei Qiao’s helplessly anxious voice rang out from the other side of the line. He then sighed, “I couldn’t get through to you last night and wasted an arrangement in vain!”

Qi Mu was startled hearing this but his mind was still dizzy so he was unable to respond right away, “Zheng Ge, what arrangement? What are you talking about?”

Zheng Wei Qiao immediately replied, “Tickets of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra! Didn’t you ask me to find you a ticket? I worked hard to get you two tickets! But I couldn't get through to you! Only your seat was empty last night, and I especially found you a front row seat for you to see them clearly. Ugh, it caused an uproar. . .”

Qi Mu’s mind awoke at once, and he suddenly sat up. His windbreaker crumpled with his movement but he didn’t pay any attention to such trifles right now, he was shocked, “What?! It was actually last night? Wasn’t it supposed to be today, Zheng Ge?!”

“. . .Didn’t I keep reminding you that it was yesterday?”

“. . .”

Qi Mu put his hand over his cheek and sighed weakly. He could imagine the situation last night. Zheng Wei Qiao sitting alone in the front row with a vacant seat beside him.

Hmm. . . it could be said that some sharp people would notice that there was an empty seat!

You know, tickets for such concerts were usually hard to get and even Zheng Wei Qiao spent a lot of time getting them.

But Qi Mu thought about it a little and felt relieved. He then said, “Actually, Zheng Ge, even if I knew it was last night, I would still be unable to rush back and attend the concert. It rained heavily in W City yesterday and all flights were delayed. I only arrived home early this morning.”

Zheng Wei Qiao only felt that it was a pity and said, “Forget it, there will be opportunities in the future. But this time, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra really did chose 《Symphony of Destiny》 as the closing song, which really surprised me. Usually, such a solemn song wouldn’t be chosen as the closing performance.”

Qi Mu was surprised, “《Symphony of Destiny》?”

“Yup, it was Symphony of Destiny. This is the first time I heard Bai Ai (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) play this song. And, to be honest, this orchestra is indeed first class. The conductor and concertmaster are both world-class, and they performed very well. I think if you heard it live, you would understand my feelings.”

“I really want to hear it. . .”

Qi Mu got up, pulled at his necktie and began to change his clothes. When he got home last night, he was so tired and rushed to the sofa as soon as he entered the door. He ended up being bound by his tie all night.

Over the phone, Zheng Wei Qiao seemed to have heard the rustle of his clothes and said, “You have a performance tomorrow so you have to restore your strength well.” Then he promptly hung up.

In fact, while Zheng Wei Qiao felt that it was a pity, Qi Mu was aggrieved!

According to his plan for the future, it would take him a year to develop in Huaxia if nothing unexpected happened. A world-class symphony like Bai Ai usually only came to Huaxia once a year. It would probably take another year for him to hear them perform. And he couldn’t leave Huaxia for quite some time. This really made him cry without tears!

At that time, he didn’t know——in what universe would it take a year?

A seemingly indifferent conductor would have to be eagerly sent to the door to perform for others, but for him, not only play the piano, but he also wouldn’t leave!

It was really a plan that couldn’t keep up with change. It would be his first time discovering that even though he was a world-class performer, after hearing it again and again for a hundred dozen times, he really wouldn’t want to hear it again!

On the other hand, after their performance, the members of Bai Ai got a holiday which lasted for ten days after Christmas. At the beginning of this long vacation, all members cheered for the first tour of B City.

Daniel watched their excited figures and helplessly said, “Min, have you decided when you will return to Berlin yet? It’s Christmas holiday now. If we don’t book tickets soon, I’m afraid there will be no first-class ones left.”

Daniel said so while flipping through articles in a music magazine. On top of his temporary work desk, there were stacks of music magazines, newspapers and non-music magazines. The only common feature of these newspapers and magazines was that they reported Bai Ai’s performance last night.

In contrast to Daniel who was sitting at his desk and chatting away while still busy, the man sitting on the sofa holding a thick document appeared to be at leisure. His eyes were focused on a page filled with Latin words. Hearing Daniel, he replied without taking his eyes off the document, “I’ll go back early next year.”

Daniel was so shocked that the newspaper in his hand fell to the ground!

“Next year?! You don’t even want to go back for Christmas?! Will Mrs. Bertram agree?”

Min Chen just said “Uh-huh” lightly and turned to a new page.

“. . .You are still? Okay, your parents are looking for you and not me anyway, but I’m going back! My sweetheart is going to spend Christmas with me.”

Min Chen just replied with another “Uh-huh,” as if he was too lazy to spare the other person even a minute.

Daniel, “. . .”

After a long time, the blond man finally lost his temper. He felt that if things went on like this, he would go bald sooner or later——though he didn’t know how his anger was related to baldness.

“I’m not talking to you, you evil child*. Since you’re going to stay in B City, there will be a concert tomorrow. Are you going?”

*The word used here was autistic, but that was a bit uncomfortable for our translator. The autistic editor agrees wholeheartedly!

Min Chen actually lifted his head and asked with some interest, “What concert?”

Daniel thought for a moment, “It’s B City Orchestra, they’re rather good. They sent us a few tickets yesterday so you can take them if you want to go.” Then Daniel took the tickets out of his drawer and set them on the coffee table. He then said, “If you want to go, then you can take them for yourself. I still have something to do.”

Who expected that Min Chen would just glance at them and say, “Not going.”

“. . .”

After a moment, Daniel shouted, “Why not?!”

“I’m sleepy so I want to sleep.”

“. . .”

What sleepy? You’re still here reading books!

The afternoon passed and Daniel was too lazy to say a word to this eccentric and self-serving man. But when it was getting dark and he was about to leave, he passed the coffee table and was surprised to find that——

The tickets were gone!!!

“Okay, who said that he wouldn’t go? Who said ‘I’m sleepy so I want to sleep’? You just don’t want to admit you want to go!”

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Translated by Kuroshinji, edited by Betwixted.