Chapter 1 (1/2)
Lu Zi Wen climbed to his feet with difficulty and staggered out of the bar.
His body felt weak with exertion as if his heart had been ripped apart. The pain was intense, and his brain swam with dizziness. He could neither understand where he was, nor know what had happened.
His ears caught the sound of voices by the bar. When the door opened, a group’s loud laughter interrupted Lu Zi Wen’s thoughts, “Hey Qi Mu, you’re not dying out here, are you? It’s only eight o’clock!”
Lu Zi Wen abruptly turned and stared, with horrified eyes, at the group of punks who spoke.
They had dyed hair in shades of red and yellow and they sneered a few words in his direction before turning back to the bar. They left the pale-faced Lu Zi Wen standing by himself, his eyes wide. What they were saying, it was——
Chinese!
Shocked for quite a while, Lu Zi Wen slowly raised his hands and looked at his fingers.
As a musician, the most familiar part of his body to him was not his face, but his hands.
Even among musicians, not everyone would have beautiful hands but, no matter what they looked like, the hands were more valuable to them, even more so than their ears.
Even without ears, it was still possible to compose and play music, such as Master Beethoven. But, without hands, it was a complete farewell to the music industry and to their instrument.
Lu Zi Wen had a pair of slender, nice-looking hands with distinct joints and slim knuckles. This pair of hands was especially best when holding a brown violin. They looked good, but could not compare to the pair he currently had——
The nails were smooth and round, and the fingers——slender and pale, a white jade that people would seldom want to let out of their sight. At the root of the left index finger, about a centimeter from the knuckle, there was a red cinnabar mole shining brightly in the light of the city’s street lamps.
Lu Zi Wen subconsciously turned the left hand to look at the tips of the fingers, a thin layer of hardened skin adorning each.
These calluses belonged to a violinist!
Lu Zi Wen became suddenly clear-headed. Though his reaction was initially sluggish, he swiftly moved over to a curbside display window and peered into it. When he saw the blurred reflection, he promptly froze.
The youth reflected in the glass was pale and had dark hair, but could still be described as elegant and beautiful. Lu Zi Wen had spent enough time in Europe to see many beautiful people, including models, over the years. However, this youth was still exceptionally pretty, though not in the sense of feminine beauty.
Lu Zi Wen searched his brain for quite some time, then suddenly thought of a name:
“Qi. . . Mi?”
Lu Zi Wen frowned as the remembrance of this name also brought back other memories.
Qi Mu, these two words would probably not rock the boat too much in Europe right now, though perhaps a few would recall him. However, eight years ago, this dark-haired, dark-eyed Huaxia teenager would have set off a Huaxia fever, casting Vienna into a sensational hype for a long time.
He was a genius.
He had an excellent family. His father was the chief conductor of the famous Huaxia S-Symphony Orchestra, and his mother was its concertmaster. Under the influence of such a family, he learned to play the violin at the age of 3 and was famous in the Huaxia music industry by 6. At 13 years old, he won the junior group championship of the Menuhin International Violin Competition.
His name became incredibly renowned throughout Europe the following year.
He traveled the world with his parents. Even at the age of 14, he gave a performance with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and achieved great success. Lu Zi Wen also came into contact with him at that time.
In accordance with his family’s reputation, this boy was arrogant and difficult toward common people.
He looked down on everyone and never liked anyone. Every time he practiced in the orchestra, his nose would go up to the sky, and when the practice was over, he would leave directly, and even have others carry his case.
To be honest, Lu Zi Wen did not like Qi Mu, and he could even say that no one in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra liked this kid. But Qi Mu’s talent was truly amazing, and Lu Zi Wen, who had high standards, was convinced of that.
Qi Mu’s change occurred at the age of 14.
His parents were in a car accident, and the two died on the spot. Although the two died unexpectedly, they still left a large legacy to Qi Mu. So, although there were no relatives in the family, he could live well. Moreover, his parents were famous in the Huaxia music industry, and their popularity was very good. Many people were willing to take care of him.
However, if he was taught really well. . .
Would he have still suffered such a complete collapse afterward?
When his parents died, the boy with a talent higher than everyone was already arrogant. No one forced him to practice the violin. No one asked him to participate in competitions. He did not hesitate to trample his talents into dust. It was rare for him to even see a violin.
Although his parents left him with many properties, it couldn’t sustain his lifestyle of lavish spending. By the time he was 18, he had to pick up his violin and rely on “selling art”. Although there are people who could not look on and wanted to help, he had no intention to do anything about it. He was always cheated out of money, but he still refused to change.
Lu Zi Wen heard people say that he once said such a sentence: “The two old fogies are fortunate enough to die early, or else I would have killed them sooner or later! I am forced to learn the violin all day, and they say I’m fucking gifted? Fuck the talent! Even if this Laozi has to beg for food, I won’t touch the damn violin!”
However. . .
“He. . . was using drugs. . .?”
Lu Zi Wen sat on the side of the road with his back against the window. The pain in his chest gradually weakened and almost disappeared entirely.
Of course, he hadn’t fallen to the point of begging for food. He was just hit hard by the transition from his previous lavishness to his current lifestyle, and it left him depressed. Lu Zi Wen remembered that he seemed to have left Europe and returned to China at the age of 19. He never knew what happened to him afterward.
Lu Zi Wen’s eyes flashed in remembrance of the scene when he woke up. He remembered that in front of him was a pile of white powder and a few discarded plastic straws on the small table. The other people in the bar were holding the same thing, their expressions full of obsessive madness.
He fell to the ground for a long time, but even if he walked out along the wall himself, no one paid any attention. Sitting on the ice-cold brick floor, Lu Zi Wen’s complexion paled.
His memory stayed in the backstage lounge of the Golden Hall, his face buried in the fiber of the carpet, how hard he struggled, and feeling as though his whole body was constricted by his throat, even moving a bit was difficult.
That feeling, that no matter how much he struggled to breathe, there would be no air entering his lungs.
His trachea was completely blocked, he could only feel the oxygen in his chest growing less and less. His body was so painful that he was unable to extricate himself from it. At the moment before death, Lu Zi Wen felt desperate beyond hell.
He hated it!
He hated the fact that Luo Yu Sen was so unfeeling and just watched him die!
He hated it!
He hated that he was ignorant and believed in such an animal!
Most asthma attacks were caused by allergies. Lu Zi Wen had never found out what his allergens were. But, he never thought that he would eventually die under the hands of Luo Yu Sen.
Perhaps it was the little bit of dust on Luo Yu Sen’s hands, perhaps it was pollen on his arm, but when the violent and sudden asthma attack struck, Lu Zi Wen had no path of resistance.
Lu Zi Wen reached out and grabbed his face, leaning back against the cold glass. The passers-by looked curiously at this good-looking youth, and Lu Zi Wen was completely unaware of it as he contemplated. Suddenly, he jerked his hand away and slammed it to the wall. He instantly sobered.
“Luo Yu Sen. . .”
“Luo. Yu. Sen!!!”
Smiling a dark and cold smile, Lu Zi Wen whispered the name of that scumbag between gritted teeth.
At this time, even though it was absurd, Lu Zi Wen understood what happened. He didn’t know if he really died, but thinking of that feeling, being so out of breath, he thought that he——Lu Zi Wen must have died.