Chapter 78 (2/2)
Such a miserable melody made the audience melancholic. Some people’s eyes reddened. It seemed like they had met poor wanderers not accepted by the world, by the people, by everything.
The youth’s skillfully emotional performance silenced the whole square.
The sad melody steadily grew to its highest tide and sharply change from sadness to joy. As if relieved from thousands of ordeals, it delighted them but left behind that underlying sorrow.
The contrast was too strong, the infinite grief turned instantly to incomparable joy. Such a transition seemed to have been deliberately made to force people to smile and in doing so, those who resisted now let their tears flow.
The scene was amusing. They resisted their tears when the melody was sad, but when it reached the joyful allegro in the fourth movement, they couldn’t help but cry.
Only those who have experienced ordeals in life could understand the pain behind laughter.
Of course, many also noticed the young man’s brilliant skill.
To be able to perform 《Zigeurnerweisen》 at such a level, people with an understanding of music realized——
This young man playing in front of them was. . . an outstanding violinist!
His left hand gently plucked the strings, the other held the bow. Despite displaying these difficult skills, he was elegant and calm. The music he performed was more beautiful and moving than anything they had ever heard!
This was a musician!
Vienna was truly full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons!
——This the audience thought.
When 《Zigeurnerweisen》 ended, the applause was even more enthusiastic than before. Even the blonde little baby nestled in her mother’s arms clapped and babbled at Qi Mu.
Qi Mu smiled and nodded at her. A middle-aged man came from the crowd and took a brand new €50 from his wallet, intending to place it in his violin case.
Qi Mu reached out and stopped the kind-hearted man. He smiled and said in fluent German, “Thank you for your kindness, sir. Please give this money to those who need it more, instead.”
The sun bathed the youth’s delicate face win a golden light, stupefying everyone.
The middle-aged man understood his meaning and apologized. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were an artist. Thank you for the music you played for us. It’s a beautiful melody!”
Many tourists and passers-by approached Qi Mu and expressed the same sentiment.
In places like Vienna, many musicians wanted to dedicate their music to the enjoyment of the music city rather than for money. Obviously, these people regarded Qi Mu as a musician devoted to the art.
Qi Mu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so he just nodded. He had yet to recover when, a tender, childish voice called out, “En. . . Encore. . . Encore!”
When Qi Mu turned to the source of the voice, he saw the toddler clapping. She repeatedly shouted, “Encore!”. It seemed like her mother told her to say it. She kept chanting. Soon, everyone else joined her.
“Encore!”
“Encore!”
“Encore. . .”
Qi Mu smiled. He performed the gentleman’s bow again then. . . placed his bow on the strings once more.
The voices went silent. The crowd gathered around the statue in eight or nine layers——each drawn in by the sad and moving 《Zigeurnerweisen》. At the time, they were angry at themselves for not coming to see what the performer looked like.
At the back of the crowd, Akkad’s lips twitched. He whispered, “Well, of course, my student is very excellent. His violin is superb, and he’s also cute. If you guys knew, I’m sure you’d be jealous of me, haha. . .”
Akkad frowned and thought, “But. . . What if there is another like Auston with bad intentions? Oh no, I will protect my student. . . I won’t let him. . .”
Before Akkad could finish his broken thought, he heard a rapid, fast-paced allegro ring out in the square.
Akkad’s words died in his throat. After a while, he realized what he was hearing. He opened his eyes in amazement, looked towards his student violinist, and exclaimed, “It’s this song!”