Chapter 14 (1/2)

As Huaxia’s capital city, there wasn’t much to say about B City, except for its shortcoming of constant traffic jams. Here and there often were concerts, theater performances, ballets being held 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’ve 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 at a 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 to 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 the concertmaster are both world-class, and they’ve 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.