King of Classical Music 198

The one-day tour of the Geneva Conservatory of Music ended in a visit to Professor Deville. 

Professor Deville was the vice dean of the Geneva Conservatory’s violin department. Qi Mu was his student in his previous life. Qi Mu used to think he was a serious, rigid professor, and he was on top of everything, until… he met this professor again, more than ten years later. 

“Oh, I really didn’t expect to see you at the college, Little Seven! I like your music very much! I went to see Wei Ai’s performance in Brussels and it was excellent! Come, come, let’s take a photo together, okay!!” 

Professor Deville used to teach dozens of students, so Qi Mu wasn’t very familiar with him, but now… Just when did this professor become so warm and humorous!!!

Qi Mu smiled and spoke with a voice a little unnatural due to meeting his professor again, “Thank you… cough, thank you for your support, I think Mr. Dorenza will be very happy to receive such an evaluation from you.” 

“Oh, no, no, no, It has nothing to do with Wei Ai! I like your violin more, it’s a great sound, very great!” 

Qi Mu: “…” 

Why did it feel so strange to be praised by the former “devil professor”… 

Under Professor Deville’s guidance, the “outsiders” Qi Mu and Min Chen toured the violin department in sunglasses and masks. Professor Deville introduced each room as they passed, “Oh, this is the violin department’s practice room,” “This is the place where the students gather,” “This is the rehearsal hall,”…

Faced with these familiar places, Qi Mu had to answer with a smile, “Oh yes,” “It’s so beautiful here,” …

After the sun’s body slipped completely below the horizon, Qi Mu stood before the college’s majestic black iron gates. Professor Deville excitedly shouted, “Little Seven, I didn’t expect us to separate so soon. If you have the opportunity in the future, you and your friend should come back to see more. There are many students here who like your music very much!” 

Thinking of the students who “liked his music very much”, Qi Mu couldn’t help but swallow and give a dry smile. “Okay, thank you for your invitation. I will definitely… cough, come back often.” 

While talking, Professor Deville kept shaking Qi Mu’s hand. The professor in his fifties looked very enthusiastic, no less enthusiastic than the crazy fans from earlier. 

When he heard Professor Deville invite them back, Qi Mu suddenly realized, “Professor Deville, you… really don’t know who he is?” As he spoke, Qi Mu pointed to Mr. Sunglasses-and-Hat beside him. 

Professor Deville was taken aback. “Isn’t it your friend, Little Seven?” 

Sighing deeply, Qi Mu smiled. “He is indeed my friend.” 

Min Chen: “…” 

After this trip to the college, Qi Mu watched the man rubbing his hands incessantly, repeating, “That guy Deville touched him twice!”, “The boy also touched him once!”, “There was a girl who touched him three times!!!”.

After Qi Mu had lingering anxieties and admitted, “I don’t want to step foot into the college anytime soon,” the two of them breathed a sigh of relief. The next day, they started the rest of their trip. They walked past Swan Square, Saint Pierre Cathedral, and Lake Geneva. By the time they left Geneva, it was already the morning of their third day. 

After the plane landed at the Vienna international Airport, Qi Mu and Min Chen put their belongings back in their apartment and then went to find more familiar places. 

When Qi Mu reached the apartment where he had lived for nearly ten years in his last life, the handsome young man looked up at the brightly lit window and was silent for a long time. Finally, he said, “When I came to Vienna last year, I came here. I stood here for hours. I felt as if the house was close to me, but I couldn’t walk back.” 

Hearing this, Min Chen lowered his eyes and looked at Qi Mu without speaking.

“After thinking about it, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. A new life has begun, and it doesn’t make any sense to linger on the past.” 

The man’s hand clenched around his was Min Chen’s only response. Its heat transmitted along where their fingers touched, causing the corners of Qi Mu’s lips to curl up as he squeezed back. 

On the warm, humid spring night in Vienna, under the city’s splendid purple light, Qi Mu rarely returned to the bridge that had been filled in. The temperature at night was still a little low, but he didn’t feel cold at all, and the loneliness of the past ten years had completely dissipated by then. 

He already had support, proof that he’d never be afraid again and would never walk alone in his long life. 

The second day after returning to Vienna, Qi Mu and Min Chen cleaned the apartment together. Since they didn’t want to hire a maid to disturb their living environment, they had to clean up frequently. And this apartment was really too big. By the time they finished cleaning, the sun had already set and night had fallen. 

Sitting in the huge, quiet piano room, Qi Mu lowered his head and pressed the keys from time to time. While the nine-foot Steinway made a clear, moving sound, Qi Mu asked with a sly smile, “Do you still remember when you were there? When I asked you what you thought I was doing in here?” 

Min Chen raised his eyes and recalled, “Was that the time you missed me so much?” 

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he simply ignored the other man’s answer. Qi Mu coughed lightly and said, “I was actually playing the piano that time. My family didn’t have much money when I was a child, so I didn’t learn the piano. But I still figured out some basic scales and tunes, like this.” 

Qi Mu casually played a  short practice scale on the elegant piano. His fingering was messy, but he could still hear a coherent melody.

“Decent playing.” Min Chen gave a pertinent evaluation. 

Qi Mu chuckled softly, “Should I say it’s a great honor to have Mr. Auston Bertram’s approval?”

“No, it was an honor to hear a great violinist play a rare piano piece.” 

When it came to love words, Min Chen naturally refused to give in.

The silent moonlight shone into the house from the sparking clean floor-to-ceiling windows. Because of a thin layer of snow-white window screens, the moonlight filtered through like falling snow, making the piano room brighter and brighter. 

In such a quiet piano room, the excellent violinist played a simple piano piece under the guidance of an equally excellent pianist.

The melody went from simple and monotonous at the beginning, to more and more complex and diverse, until at the end, Qi Mu simply pulled his hand out of his partner’s and surrendered. “Okay, I won’t play anymore. You really are whimsical, you actually want me to play 《Islamey》 ?!”

Min Chen sighed softly. “You heard it.” 

Qi Mu: “…” 

If he couldn’t even understand the notes of 《Islamey》, Professor Deville, his history of music professor, would cry!!!

Qi Mu had long since given up his temper with this guy. It was getting late, so he got up and left the piano bench, intending to end this “do more harm than good” piano lesson. But, before he took a step away, he suddenly heard a soothing, pleasant piano piece from behind him. 

The extremely gentle music seemed like the goddess of moonlight descending from the sky in a veil. She sprinkled pure white brilliance into the world. The melody was low and soft, and after two passages, it began to speed up. Even if he didn’t see it with his own eyes, Qi Mu could fully imagine that a phantom of the man’s fingers moved across the black and white keys. 

Qi Mu turned his head to look in astonishment. 

Behind the black piano, a handsome, elegant man bowed his head, playing attentively and conscientiously. 

Chords, arpeggios, octaves, glissandos!

All kinds of splendid and gorgeous techniques spread from the man’s fingers. Qi Mu couldn’t help standing behind him, watching him play. Each note ended enthusiastically, and the next rose quickly and smoothly. 

From the first soothing note to the current excitement, from the current excitement to the next gentleness. 

When a familiar and gentle melody flowed out from Min Chen’s fingers, Qi Mu’s pale eyes widened slightly. He finally understood this unfamiliar yet familiar tune!

    ——《Twilight in Moonlight》.

As far as Qi Mu’s ear was concerned, the piece should be divided into four chapters, starting in a major key. If it was classified according to Min Chen’s past piano concertos, it should belong to 《Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major》.

He didn’t know why, but Qi Mu always felt that this song was a bit lacking. Generally speaking, there was no problem playing a piano concerto without an orchestra’s accompaniment, and it could still express the music’s theme, but this piece made Qi Mu feel that a very important voice was missing. 

It was like a dragon, crouched to fly, but blinded, lacking its sight. Like a formation about to take shape, but missing its center. 

Qi Mu frowned in confusion. After the piece ended, he asked curiously, “How do you intend to present this piano concerto? Isn’t it to be played with an orchestra? I think something is missing. It’s a strange thing, is it still unfinished?” 

Unexpectedly Min Chen quietly looked up at him. “Do you think… this is a piano concerto?” 

“Is it not?!”

Under Qi Mu’s astonished gaze, Min Chen calmly said, “This is a violin sonata, a piano and violin ensemble sonata, called——”

    “《 Twilight in Moonlight》。”