Chapter 2 (1/2)

Huaxia B City, early morning.

“Ding-dong— Ding-dong—”

The doorbell rang uninterrupted for 3 minutes, resounding awkwardly in the quiet corridor. The man at the door was obviously very patient. Even if there was no reaction from the house, he still tirelessly pressed the doorbell.

The young man inside struggled along the wall, staggering to the door. He opened it, surprising the handsome man at the door. The man then lifted the silver glasses on the bridge of his nose, looking at the youth with surprise.

“Qi Mu. . . why do you look like this?!!!”

The youth turned aside, allowing him to enter the house, then Qi Mu ambled over to the sofa and sat down, his whole body seemed to have no strength.

“How many days has it been since you last slept? Why do you look so pale?” The man frowned, and then said: “If Teacher saw you like this now, she would be very sad. You are her only son, I hope you can live well.”

Qi Mu looked up at the man, his tired eyes staring at him for a while, then he gently shook his head, and said: “I’m detoxing.” He then added: “Ah. . . It’s rehab for marijuana. Why are you here, Zheng Wei Qiao?”

Qi Mu quickly searched for the man’s name in his memory——

Zheng Wei Qiao.

Zheng Wei Qiao was the apprentice of Qi Mu’s mother, and he studied violin with her for over a decade. He had an accident a few years ago which fractured the bones in his fingers, and he could no longer play the violin. Ever since then he had become a music critic and was quite famous in the industry.

In recent years, many of Qi Mu’s parents’ friends and relative reached out to help him, but because Qi Mu’s behavior disappointed them, they never asked about him anymore, all except for Zheng Wei Qiao. His family was poor, so it’s only because of Qi Mu’s mother that he had an opportunity to learn violin. Maybe out of gratitude, but no matter how decadent Qi Mu was, he would tolerate it.

Zheng Wei Qiao listened then frowned in disgust, “Marijuana?! When did you start doing that kind of thing? Didn’t I tell you before to not hang out with those friends of yours? Why didn’t you listen? They just want your money, they don’t think of you as a friend at all.”

Qi Mu rubbed his temples, not answering him.

Zheng Wei Qiao saw this and sighed: “You’re young, and your parents died early, so you don’t know that this is normal. But, Qi Mu, I don’t want you to go on like this, wasting your talent. Teacher once said you could achieve what she had in 40 years in just 20 years. But how about you now?”

The most common symptom of marijuana withdrawal was insomnia.

For three days, he barely slept. He was in a bad mood, and he felt something was stifling his heart, but he couldn’t tell what it was. He couldn’t sleep at night, often felt hungry, and even if he ate, nausea would kick in, and he would throw everything up.

It was killing him.

Fortunately, the effects of marijuana didn’t take long to purge, so by the third day he already felt somewhat better and was a little sleepy. But just as he wanted to sleep, he heard the doorbell. He went to the door with his weak body, saw Zheng Wei Qiao, and now had to listen to his long lecture.

“If you really don’t like playing the violin, I won’t force you. I recently found a good job for you as an assistant at 《Sound of Music》. If you want, there’s a chance to climb up in the future.”

Hearing this, Qi Mu raised an eyebrow and asked, “Didn’t you arrange a job as a music teacher for me before?”

In the original’s memories, Zheng Wei Qiao arranged a lot of things for him in the past few years, finding dozens of different jobs for him. In the end, the original was overwhelmed by everything and refused all those jobs.

Zheng Wei Qiao was surprised by Qi Mu’s words, “I thought you didn’t even want to touch the violin? Even though this job is just as an assistant if you really don’t want to play the violin, it’s fine.”

When he said this, Zheng Wei Qiao helplessly shook his head.

He believed his teacher, and he also knew what kind of talent this young man in front of him had. But maybe his teacher pushed Qi Mu too hard when he was a kid, no one expected it would lead to such a severe psychological scar. Now, he didn’t even want to touch the violin.

Actually, Zheng Wei Qiao was wrong about that.

Qi Mu knew that the original didn’t really hate the violin, he was just afraid.

The original was afraid that even if he worked hard, he wouldn’t be as brilliant as he used to be. He was scared that even if he picked up the violin again, he would only be an ordinary violinist. Because he used to be lauded as a musical prodigy, he would be laughed at. That was what the original feared the most.

So, he might as well stop playing, and in this way, he could maintain the past glory.

“Qi Mu, it’s time for you to do something different. Even though it’s just an assistant job now, you can be an editor later. Even becoming the chief editor is possible. If you’re willing to work hard, I’m sure you can do it. . .”

“Are there any events going on right now?”

“You just have to go to《Sound of Music》. . . Ah, what did you say?” Zheng Wei Qiao asked in surprise.

He saw the youth smile and looked at him. Although his delicate face looked haggard and exhausted, it was still unable to hide his brilliance. Qi Mu said, “You know, recently. . . are there any events? Small concerts, even a family concert is okay too. Hmm. . . Or, if there’s a large orchestra recruiting, that’s even better.”

Zheng Wei Qiao didn’t respond for a while, then he asked awkwardly, “Do you want to go to a concert?”

Qi Mu chuckled and shook his head, “I was thinking about applying there.”

“If you want to go to a concert, the B City Orchestra. . . You said you want to apply?!!!”

Zheng Wei Qiao stared at his eyes which were filled with confidence and asked in amazement, “Do you really want to apply? What do you want to apply for?”

Qi Mu slightly frowned, then asked a rhetorical question, “Is it. . . Shouldn’t it be a violinist position?”

Zheng Wei Qiao was silent for a long time, in the end, he just nodded, “It should be. . .” The next second, he immediately reacted. “Qi Mu, why do you suddenly want to apply? Have you had some financial difficulties lately? Or do you actually really want to pick up the violin again? If you have any problems, you can just tell me. I’ll try my best to help you.”

“-ge” is a suffix meaning “Brother”

In the original’s memory, Zheng Wei Qiao had always been a calm person. So seeing the man’s disbelieving expression, Qi Mu couldn’t help but feel funny, then he said, “I really want to go back to playing the violin again. Zheng-ge, you don’t have to worry. Do you know anywhere that’s lacking personnel lately? Can you get me in touch with them?”

“If you have an issue, you can just tell me. I can. . .”

“I really, really don’t have any financial problems!” He immediately interrupted Zheng Wei Qiao. While saying this, he also reached out to Zheng Wei Qiao who was taking out his wallet with an expression that showed he did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Just trust me for once, Zheng-ge. I really want to go back.”

Hearing this, Zheng Wei Qiao paused in taking out his money. He looked the youth up and down with suspicion for a while to make sure he wasn’t lying to him. Then he said, “I’ll pay more attention to this when I go back. You. . . Your decision to go back into the circle is not because you think the position as an assistant is too low for you, right?”

The man had been suspicious of him since he entered the house. Thinking this, Qi Mu shook his head solemnly, earnestly, and said, “Even if I can be the Chief Editor for 《Sound of Music》 today, I will still tell you the same thing, Zheng-ge. So if you know anywhere that wants to recruit, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”

Zheng Wei Qiao looked at Qi Mu with a complicated expression for a long time. Although he complied with this request, he still didn’t believe that Qi Mu wanted to go back to playing violin until he was about to leave.

Just before he left, he hesitated and, in the end, he said, “If you really are short on money. . . just call me, Qi Mu. . .”

This made the beautiful youth want to cry without tears. Qi Mu couldn’t help but repeat again: “OK, OK, OK, if I’m short on money, I will definitely call you.”