Chapter 23 (2/2)

There was a proper noun “encore” (originally in English) in classical music that was derived from French. Translated to Chinese, it meant “encore.” During a concert, when the audience’s applause was long enough, the performers returned to the stage to perform an encore.

This was the first encore to appear in this concert!

Once he had returned to the stage, Qi Mu bent into another earnest 90° bow.

The applause ended at once.

After smiling to express his gratitude, he bowed once more and began playing his second song. This time, he did not play any more tricks and directly performed the 《Tzigane Rhapsody》 he had initially planned to play.

When Ravel composed this piece, he took inspiration from Paganini’s 24th Rhapsody, so the technical difficulty of 《Tzigane》was already high. Under the spotlight, the youth’s beautiful fingers danced across the violin with a life of their own.

As previously stated, Qi Mu had an excellent pair of hands.

The length of one’s hands was not directly related to their accomplishments with music, this could be seen by the Vienna’s concertmaster. He had thick hands, but he still performed wonderfully.

However, when one was good looking, who wouldn’t appreciate something with their eyes that they could also appreciate with their ears?

Especially during the second half of the song. The passionate music baptized the audience with sound, and some couldn’t help but beat out the melody against the chair with their fingers. To give Qi Mu an accompaniment in his “performance.”

The end of this music was both gorgeous and dazzling. Qi Mu’s fingers of white jade danced across the strings, and the audience’s eyes could hardly keep up with their afterimages. The atmosphere heated up and when that last note belted free, it was followed by a thunder of applause.

Qi Mu’s sweat had plastered his hair to his forehead.

The 《E Minor》 solo had lasted for ten minutes, and 《Tzigane》 was of similar length. The latter was also filled with tricky parts, and the fingers of his left hand felt a little numb. Well——the original had not touched the violin for many years and only those who had trained for more than a year could play those two songs continuously.

But the applause was not stopping.

Qi Mu reluctantly gave a bitter smile. This smile was seen by some women in the audience, but they couldn’t help but clap even harder.

Qi Mu: “. . .” He really didn’t have the stamina to do another song!

“Bravo!”

Just when he felt helpless, a man’s magnetic voice suddenly echoed over the unified applause. Turning in that direction, he saw a cold, tall man standing up and staring back at him calmly, still clapping.

He didn’t smile, but his dark gaze was focused on Qi Mu. His gaze was so penetrating that Qi Mu couldn’t help but shift his eyes away and refuse to meet his gaze again.

. . .Since Min Chen had stood up, the others couldn’t remain sitting.

Few people would call out a “Bravo” in a small concert like this, especially in the face of a personal solo. But since it was Min Chen who said it, what could they say? They could only stand up along with this rogue that didn’t follow the rules.

Min Chen’s voice had interrupted the “encore applause” that had been condensed together, and Qi Mu took the opportunity to escape. He walked away from the stage and quickly entered the backstage so fast, he may as well have flown. God only knew that he didn’t have the strength to play a song that was even harder than 《Tzigane》.

This wasn’t an orchestra’s performance, and each club was only responsible for a part of the performance, so it was possible to take a break. This was his solo, so. . . it absolutely could not go wrong.

What Qi Mu didn’t know was that behind him, the handsome man watched him flee silently and remained standing. He didn’t sit down. . . so the others didn’t want to sit down. So the atmosphere became awkward as the entire audience remained upright since no one wanted to sit first.

Daniel was the first to notice that something wasn’t right.

He reached out to pull this “only going to make trouble” man down and whispered, “Min, what medicine did you take today? I want to hear the Xiao Tian Shi play a bit more. How could you let him get away?”

“Xiao Tian Shi?” Min Chen raised an eyebrow.

Daniel took it for granted and nodded, “Yeah, is he not an angel? It is so hard to find a Chinese that’s marked so clearly and with such skill. The last one was Lu Zi Wen, he. . . well, I didn’t say anything!”

In the blink of an eye, Min Chen’s smile was still, and he remained silent for a while. Then he gently shook his head and changed topics, “Qi Mu’s left hand was trembling a little, he needed the rest.” His tone seemed flat, but it was unconsciously a few degrees lower.

Daniel scolded himself in his heart for a long time, then looked at Min Chen and asked carefully, “Min, how did you know that Xiao Tian Shi needed to rest? I think he still looked pretty good. Even if he wasn’t, he could still play a gentle piece to calm the atmosphere.”

Unexpectedly, Min Chen shook his head, and his dark eyes flashed with a strange light.

“He wouldn’t choose a dull song, he would. . . select something even more intense, something like Paganini’s 《D Major》.”

Daniel looked at him: “How do you know?”

Min Chen turned his head and glanced at him: “Intuition.”

“. . .”