Chapter 139 (2/2)

“Haha, you don’t know anything, do you? Zayev was worried Lu Zi Wen would be a threat to his position. He’d been Wei Ai’s concertmaster for more than a decade. As long as there wasn’t an issue, his position shouldn’t change.”

A member of the trumpet group glanced around covertly, then whispered, “One of my former classmates comes from a very rich family. His violin skills are only average, but how could he compare to our concertmaster? He’s been showing off to the rest of our classmates since last year.”

A member of the violin group asked curiously, “Showing off? What do you mean?”

“He said he could be the deputy concertmaster of one of the world’s top orchestras!”

Hearing this, everyone laughed. Even the deputy concertmaster of Palisade Theatre Orchestra made fun of himself, “Come on, even I’m only suitable to be a member of a top orchestra. But, the deputy concertmaster? I better go dream of something else. I think only our Little Seven is good enough for that. Right, Little Seven?”

Walking over with his case in hand, Qi Mu glanced around the members and smiled helplessly, “I wouldn’t say that.”

After they joked around, the members quickly asked the trumpeter, “Hey, Niall, you haven’t finished your story yet. Go on!”

Niall sniggered and continued, “We didn’t believe it before, how could he become a deputy concertmaster for a top orchestra, at his skill level? But then he quit school last year! Rumor has it, he had a special tutor and he improved a bit. But, judging by his violin when we met a few days ago, tch, it doesn’t sound like it improved at all.”

“Stop stalling, get to the point!”

“Well, later a classmate revealed that his family bought a relationship with a member of a top orchestra a year and a half ago. He agreed that as long as he was skilled enough, he could be the deputy concertmaster of a top orchestra. I heard that… they paid this much!”

Niall held out his palm as he spoke.

Qi Mu’s eyebrows raised. “500,000?”

Niall, however, shook his head. “No! It’s 5 million euros!!!”

Everyone gasped.

Even Qi Mu was shocked. He didn’t expect someone would actually pay 5 million euros for a deputy concertmaster seat. Of course, what made him even more surprised was that——

Zayev did that kind of thing in the dark!

“We didn’t know which orchestra it was before, we only heard that it was either an Austrian or a German one. Say, there are only a few top orchestras in the world, and the best in Austria and German are Wei Ai, Bai Ai, and Dresden. We all think it’s among those three, plus Wei Jiao. But now, I guess anyone could tell which one it is.”

Niall stopped at that and didn’t go on, but the other members understood. They didn’t need to say the name of the orchestra, everybody knew it.

All musicians and orchestras of Vienna very clearly understood Dorenza’s reputation. When the maestro learned of such dirty things happening in his orchestra, wasn’t he enraged enough to tear Zayev to pieces?

Even Wallace, their orchestra’s conductor, knew what happened in Vienna. It might be why everyone in the Palisade Theatre Orchestra was absent-minded during the rehearsal that day.

An hour before they clocked-off, Wallace gave them a holiday.

“You guys probably won’t be able to focus after all this. Well, actually, I’m going to visit Dorenza right away. That poor old friend of mine, I’m afraid he’s not feeling well now.”

In response, the members said their condolences.

“Send him our regards, Mr. Wallace.”

“You must comfort Mr. Dorenza.”

“Mr. Dorenza is so pitiful.”

After Mr. Wallace angrily bellowed, “You little shits!”, they all laughed and went their separate ways.

The day’s rehearsal was over.

Carrying his violin case and saying goodbye to the other members of the orchestra, Qi Mu walked alone to the nearest subway station. As he walked, he thought he should ask Charles to keep up with the trial.

By late autumn, the Vienna air already carried a chill, even with the sun’s rays warming the land. Likely due to the temperature, not many people lingered in the streets. Those that were around moved quickly.

Qi Mu looked at the gray ground in deep thought. He crossed a street and walked a few more steps, only to hear a low, magnetic voice behind him——

“Young gentleman, you seem to have lost something.”

The voice struck him in the deepest level of his heart. Each word he spoke lingered in Qi Mu’s ears each night.

Pausing, he turned back.