King of Classical Music 186

On the warm spring night, a breeze swept through Vienna. The guests’ skirts swirled in the wind, adding a hint of softness to the evening’s romance.

As Austria’s most important, national-treasure level orchestra, the final stop of Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s every tour was always in the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Friends of Music Association building.

This large symphony hall, which stood tall in Austria for hundreds of years, had witnessed the rise and fall of countless orchestras as well as hundreds of geniuses throughout the history of classical music. It passed the vicissitudes of life but never aged.

One by one, the ladies and gentlemen walked along the red carpet of this ancient building in their most beautiful attire. Tonight was one of Wei Ai’s grandest performances of the year, and the word “solemnity” could no longer encompass the emotions swirling within the fans.

In the middle of the last century, the world’s major opera houses and concert halls had a rule: “The audience must wear formal attire to attend.” This seemingly unreasonable rule could be seen even in comedic movies. But, even now, most fans adhered to this long abolished rule.

Both symphony and opera were elegant works of art. The audience had to listen and appreciate with the most pious attitude. Only in this way… could everyone contribute to the efforts of the composers, conductors, and orchestra members! 

Perhaps it was due to the warmer weather, but an especially large number of fans gathered at the Golden Hall that night. Even Tuckerman, Wei Ai’s agent, said in a bout of emotion, “All the tickets were sold out last week! God, who said the past twenty years have been the trough of classical music? Our fans are still enthusiastic!!!”

If Tuckerman was allowed to sit with the audience and listen for a while, he would understand why this year’s concert caused such a terrible stir.

What’s the most irresistible marketing in the world?

Word of mouth.

When someone says something is good, another may doubt and wonder “But is it?” However, when two people say something is good, those with ordinary willpower will begin to be swayed. What then if it were three, four, five… No, hundreds of people?!

Then it must truly be something extraordinary!

When the numerous media praised Wei Ai’s tour to the sky this year, even those that weren’t fans couldn’t help but rush out of their own countries to listen and find out just how wonderful this orchestra was.

Qi Mu sat on a stool backstage and was carefully wiping his rosin when Tuckerman entered the throngs of orchestra members and proclaimed, “Oh friends! Do you know who’s here in person today?!”

“I just saw Wei Jiao’s chief conductor, Mr. Evra!”

“Hey! I also saw Mr. Evra. And that black guy, Jacques, is here too!”

“And I saw Mr. Richard, the cellist, in the second row!”

“And Master Lance! Master Lance is here too! Oh yes, I remember. He seems to know Little Seven. Did he come for Little Seven?”

Qi Mu reluctantly set down the rosin in his hand and nodded. “Yesterday, I went to Master Lance’s and sent him an invitation. He said he’s been quite leisurely recently and wanted to come listen.”

“Oh, Little Seven! You’re so lucky to be able to enter my idol’s house!”

“Hey, Chuck, don’t you admire Mr. Bertram the most? Why’ve you become Master Lance’s fan all of a sudden?”

“Ellie, you don’t understand! One is a life idol, the other is a male god. They are on different planes of existence!”

“I think you’re worse than my daughter…”

……

They continued to have fun for half an hour before the concert started. As the time wound down, everyone stopped chatting and bowed their heads to prepare their instruments with intense focus.

Qi Mu took his rosin seriously and wiped his snow-white bow to make it even whiter. Then he carefully opened the crimson violin case and took out the slender little princess.

Over the last two days of rehearsal, he’d used “Edith” only the day before. Otherwise, he still mostly used his original violin, the imitation Stradivarius.

After all, it had been hundreds of years. “Edith” needed considerate care and couldn’t be used for practice often. This was like the “cannon” held and managed by the Italian government. It had a strict and diligent maintenance process and wasn’t used for performances often.

However, even the many years of being locked away couldn’t keep such a top-class violin silent forever. Over forty years ago, Master Akkad was the first violinist approved to “play with cannons” and now his only student, Qi Mu, held hands with “Edith” to stand in the Golden Hall.

Qi Mu carefully adjusted the timbre and strummed it once, when the concert’s warning sounded throughout the hall——

The audience fell silent, and the concert was about to begin.

Qi Mu was surprised by the sound, realizing he was about to stand on that stage again.

In his last life, Qi Mu hadn’t been able to step foot on that stage. As Wei Jiao’s deputy concertmaster, he couldn’t even count how many times he’d been there. But this time, although he had the same identity, Qi Mu knew that… some things were truly different.

“Little Seven, are you nervous?”

A young woman’s gentle voice sounded from behind him. Qi Mu turned around and saw Julie walking out of the pianist’s lounge. She stood next to him and looked at him with soft eyes. Julie, always bright and capable, wore a long, light blue dress for the formal concert.

Qi Mu chose not to lie about it and answered with a smile, “To be honest, I’m a little nervous, Julie.”

She patted his shoulder in understanding and asked, “Are you worried? Don’t worry. Although I cannot help with the second song, I’m here for the first. You’ve practiced so many times, you will perform successfully.”

Qi Mu nodded as his smile gained confidence.

The other members of the orchestra entered the hall one by one and Qi Mu watched them disappear behind the curtain. In turn, he walked over to the heavy curtain. With each step, he suddenly felt like everything was a bit surreal——

Behind this curtain was the Golden Hall, the last place he stepped in his last life!

“Hey, Little Seven, stop hesitating!”

Qi Mu was pushed onto the stage under Julie’s mischievous smile. The rumbling in the auditorium assaulted his eardrums and Qi Mu dumble raised his head to look around the magnificent hall——

The intricate patterns painted on the golden walls, the towering arches, the flowers scattered everywhere, and the statue of the goddess of music, everything proved this really was the Golden Hall.

This hall wasn’t that large, but it was the destination where countless musicians dreamed of performing.

Qi Mu’s eyes gradually came into focus. He felt like he’d been staring in a daze for a long time, but it was, in fact, only a moment. He calmly took a step forward and followed the last member of the violin group to his seat.

Coming here was just the beginning, it was hardly the end!

——–

Berlin, night.

A tall, handsome man stood in front of large French windows staring into the distance. Reflected in the glass was the Spree river, dyed black by the night as it flowed tirelessly onwards.

“Min, tonight is Wei Ai’s final concert. Are you really not going?” The blond manager opened the door and entered the room, rubbing his head as he walked over. “There’s a meeting on the second half of this year’s membership tomorrow morning, but if you come back overnight, there’s still time.”

A week ago, Bai Ai ended their tour in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. Their tour was still excellent and attracted countless fans to attend. Several critics and the musical media consistently praised their concerts.

Bai Ai was rising to another level—— many critics had said it like this.

But this kind of praise didn’t hinder the performances in the first quarter of 2017. Almost all orchestras had been dominated by Wei Ai, and Bai Ai was no exception.

Wei Ai’s praises were continuous. Even Bai Ai, who had always been evenly matched and perhaps even better, had been darkened a bit during this year’s tour. Some couldn’t even compete with them at all.

In fact, Bai Ai’s performance wasn’t worse than Wei Ai’s. However, after the events of that “shady concertmaster” and having “stagnated for years,” this brand new Wei Ai was even more shocking.

Or, in Daniel’s words: “Our performance is obviously better than them!”

Yes, your performance wasn’t necessarily inferior to theirs, but your progress was far inferior.

Wei Ai  was like a tangled ball of yarn always in search of the right thread. When they had the right one, they quickly unraveled out of this “misunderstanding” and aimed for a higher place. Compared to this, Bai Ai’s progress was slower and had no greater outstanding feature.

It was precisely because of this that tomorrow’s meeting was so important.

Eyebrows wrinkling in a slight frown, Min Chen sighed. “No. To come back tomorrow, the timing is too tight.”

Daniel spread his hands helplessly. “Well, it’s a pitty I can’t listen to Angel’s first performance in the Golden Hall… oh no, this should be the second time, right? I recall when the little Angel was 13, he performed in the Golden Hall? Damn, was it 14 or 13…”

Faced with Daniel’s question, Min Chen did not answer.

Was this Qi Mu’s second time in the Golden Hall?

No, he knew, this should be the real “first time”.