Chapter 27 (1/2)

The concert ended at 9pm, but by the time Tan Lao and Du Sheng finished sending off the guests, it was already 10 o’clock. Since it was late autumn, B City was bleak and chilly. Tan Lao didn’t linger to celebrate further, and Du Sheng went to send them home.

During the car ride, Du Sheng continued to praise Qi Mu on his performance. He also inquired about why he refused Daniel’s offer to pursue an education in Europe. As aforementioned, Conservatoire de Paris and The Royal Conservatory of Music were among the top world’s conservatories. Those who lacked even a bit of strength couldn’t touch their threshold.

Qi Mu had to make clear that he wanted to practice more in Huaxia, and that he had no intention of furthering his studies yet.

Du Sheng felt it was a pity but didn’t say anything else. It was Tan Lao who, after staring at Qi Mu for a long time, suddenly asked, “Xiao Qi, are you. . . familiar with Min Chen?”

Qi Mu was stunned when he heard the question. He automatically shook his head, “Tan Lao, I had never met Mr. Min until you introduced him to me the other day. How could I be?”

Tan Lao hummed lightly and didn’t speak another word on the matter. He said instead, “You’re not too young, and if you don’t want to continue your education, you must have your own reasons. This year’s tour is over. Before the Spring Festival concert, you only need to come to rehearsals a few times a week. Xiao Qi, do you have plans?”

In fact, even before Tan Lao mentioned it, Qi Mu already knew that he would spend the next month or so idle. As assistant concertmaster, he only needed to replace Du Sheng in some songs, so his rehearsals were relatively few. Other than that, he had nothing to do.

After thinking on it, Qi Mu eyes curved with his smile and he nodded, “Thank you, Tan Lao, for your concern. I do have plans already.”

A month ago, Qi Mu knew that Tan Lao would probably have said something like: “What are your plans?” or “You must seize this time. You cannot relax.” But Qi Mu’s recent growth was obvious, and Tan Lao had seen it with his own eyes. His previous hesitation and concern towards Qi Mu had vanished.

Tan Lao just nodded to indicate that he understood and questioned no further.

Qi Mu’s home was the closest, so Du Sheng dropped him off first, then Tan Lao.

In the cold and windy night, the youth wearing a crimson coat watched the black car leave. The red of his coat was like a fire searing into the night, one that could not be ignored.

When Du Sheng’s car disappeared down the road, Qi Mu raised his head slightly and turned to head upstairs. There was a hint of a helpless smile in his amber eyes. Qi Mu took the elevator and pressed the “26” button. He then watched as the golden number at the top changed rapidly.

The evening’s events were above and beyond what he anticipated, but. . .

It was still mostly in line with his expectations.

Tan Lao had already planned for this indoor concert before Qi Mu joined B City Symphony Orchestra. Later, he deliberately left a place for him as one of the performers. This was Tan Lao’s goodwill for him.

Before Zheng Wei Qiao left, he pulled Qi Mu aside and excitedly told him that he would write a manuscript immediately after he got back, on Qi Mu’s performance.

Zheng Wei Qiao still had quite the reputation in the Huaxia music circle. Qi Mu’s mother was his teacher so his violin skill was not low and he also had some writing skills. Qi Mu knew that as long as this article was published, it would cause quite a hype.

Therefore, the effect that Tan Lao desired would be achieved.

Qi Mu had no idea that half the city away, a man with a kind face was staring at his computer screen while scratching his ears and cheeks. The screen was filled with dense square characters, and Zheng Wei Qiao was engrossed in typing.

About half an hour later, Zheng Wei Qiao suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and excitedly sent the manuscript to several newspapers and magazines that he was familiar with and waited to receive a reply.

But, Zheng Wei Qiao didn’t expect that just as he stood to walk away, not even two steps from the computer, he heard one notification after the other. He turned quickly and looked——

【Music Hall – Xiao Wang: Zheng-ge, we don’t need this manuscript. The boss decided to personally write one with the same topic.]

【Sound of Music – Lie Jie: Xiao Zheng, unfortunately, we have also written a paper on the same topic. The boss hasn’t written anything personally for months so we can’t accept yours this time.]

【Classical Music – Ah Chen: Zheng-ge, you are so unlucky. Lu Jie said she’s planning to write a manuscript on your topic herself! We can’t accept your manuscript, alas. . .]

. . .

There were another three or four messages just like these, all from the various classical musical media that Zheng Wei Qiao was familiar with. These were all well-known media outlets in B City. Not only were there weekly magazines but also semi-monthly and monthly ones as well. Zheng Wei Qiao’s articles were also popular with them. When the market was poor, they would even rush to publish them. Zheng Wei Qiao never thought that this time. . .

He would unexpectedly encounter Waterloo?!!!

Zheng Wei Qiao was stunned for a long while. Then he quickly sat back down in his chair and carefully read the draft he wrote from beginning to end three times. He then finally went to Xiao Wang, the editor of Music Hall and typed: 【Xiao Wang, were you mistaken? My topic is Qi Mu, the new Assistant Concertmaster of B City’s Symphony Orchestra, and not the actual concert organized by Tan Lao tonight. Zhang’s article could be used as the main article and mine as a supplement.]

Zheng Wei Qiao then opened the chat of Lie Jie, the editor for Sound of Music. He hadn’t even typed out his message yet when Xiao Wang replied: 【No, Zheng-ge. The chief editor meant that he would write an article on Qi Mu himself.]

Zheng Wei Qiao was shocked when he read the words. He then asked several others like Sound of Music and Classical Music and got a unified response——