Chapter 112 (1/2)

After some reflection, Qi Mu decided to put aside the disgusting people. He ignored them and continued improving his skills. There were so many things to do. Improving his violin was far more important than anything else.

And so, Qi Mu told Charles to continue digging for more details. At the same time, he officially started working with the school’s orchestra.

When Qi Mu studied at the Geneva Conservatory in his last life, he served as deputy concertmaster. At the time, the concertmaster was a year older than him with skills and strengths on par with Qi Mu. The only difference was the concertmaster’s mentor was the violin department’s dean.

Before entering the school, Qi Mu (previous life) hadn’t studied under any top instructors. His first year there, he was very behind the other students, especially in professional knowledge. There were things the other students treated like common sense that were completely unknown to him.

Those first two years, he absorbed knowledge and practiced like a madman. During his third year, he became the deputy concertmaster and delivered his speech as the grade’s representative.

Now, he served as the concertmaster of the Paris Conservatory’s orchestra. Although it was a temporary arrangement, Akkad said the orchestra would have a performance the next week. Qi Mu needed to be ready.

The next afternoon, he arrived at the rehearsal hall early.

It was a large lecture hall, approximately a hundred square meters in size. There were no desks or platforms. Instead, it held only chairs placed according to the musicians’ positions. A score stand stood in front of each.

The room was designed in the generic baroque style used by the college. The lighting wasn’t as excellent as Akkad’s music room, but several windows were open for ventilation.

When Qi Mu got there, only a few girls sat in their chairs, chatting. From their positions, they seemed to be in the second violin group.

He watched them afar, but before he could greet them, a short-haired girl stood. Eyes wide, she exclaimed, “You’re Little Seven!”

The others were also surprised to see Qi Mu——

“God, my teacher said Little Seven would take Angelo’s place for a while, is it true?!”

“Lena, I told you he would, but you still didn’t believe it. See, he’s here now!”

“Didn’t they say Professor Akkad assigned him too many tasks? How could Little Seven have time to come?”

…

The ancient Chinese had a saying: “Three women were enough for a drama.” Qi Mu had never taken this saying seriously, but… When he saw the girls shift from surprise to discussing which mentor was gentlest, QI Mu helplessly covered his forehead and realized the truth——

His ancestors hadn’t deceived him.

After they argued, realizing they were going about it wrong, the girl called Lena walked over to Qi Mu and asked, “That… Little Seven, are you really going to be our concertmaster?”

At the girl’s meek behavior, Qi Mu smiled. “Well, if there isn’t a problem… I’ll be concertmaster for half the semester.”

The words “half the semester” frustrated the girls. They exchanged a few more words and introduced themselves.

Generally speaking, each student at the Conservatory had their own mentor to guide them. In smaller departments, like the harp department, having instructors teach students one-on-one was rather common.

But, for the violin, piano, cello, and other larger departments, the instructors would guide three or five students at once.

Of course, there were students professors paid special attention to.

Dylan, for example. He was his mentor’s favored student and often given closed-studies. He shared his professor with the short-haired girl, but she wasn’t quite at his level.

There were also mentors like Akkad, who only accepted one student. But, they were far and few between.

So the girls were quite jealous of Qi Mu for having a mentor that would give him one-on-one instruction, yet glad they didn’t have such a harsh mentor.

When the other orchestra members arrived, Lena turned to Qi Mu. “Little Seven, although the violin department is happy about your arrival… some people might not be so friendly.”

This remake had Qi Mu’s eyebrows raising. “Not so friendly… What do you mean?”

“Those guys in the woodwind section,” the girl said, “They’ve always envied Angelo for getting the dean’s recommendation to the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Our Angelo is strong, that’s a fact! Their envy is useless!”

The girl side-eyed the boys as she spoke, and as they demonstrated the vitality of youth.

At such youthful behavior, Qi Mu couldn’t help but chuckle——

He hadn’t seen such lovely students for a long time, or such blatant defiance.

After leaving the academy, most musicians learned to keep their emotions in check. It was like entering the workplace. They could no longer do what they wanted in fear of others stumbling into their path and speaking behind their backs.

At the girl’s concern, Qi Mu said, “Maybe you think too much. Angelo is very skilled; they must be blessing him sincerely…”

“Are you Little Seven?”

Qi Mu was interrupted. Surprised, he turned to see a boy from the woodwind group standing behind him, bowing.

That’s right… bowing.

The boy had a rare figure for a music student. He was muscular and stood half a head taller than Qi Mu. He had to be around two meters tall.

Though his tone wasn’t polite, Qi Mu wasn’t timid. Tilting his head up, Qi Mu answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, “Yes, I’m Qi Mu. If I may ask, who are you?”

A Chinese man amongst blondes stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens. The youth’s elegant demeanor and speech made the other members stop to look at him.

When they looked at this youth who had become a campus celebrity, they felt… he really was good-looking.

The impact was even bigger this close up. To Qi Mu’s surprise, the aggressive student lowered his head. “Actually… I wanted to ask a favor.” The boy pulled a thin CD from his backpack.