Thefirst song Qi Mu selected was 《SummerNight》, an authentic Chinese piece. Only four minuteslong, it was short and required no special skills. An amateur song around leveleight.

While the piece played, more andmore people gathered around.

Every spring, visitors from allover the world flocked to Vienna and to its famous attractions like HeroesSquare. It was filled with people of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

The more people that gathered, thenoisier it became. In such a loud, spacious area, playing the generous andpassionate 《Turkish March》 seemed like the best choice. However, whensomething exactly the opposite began to play, Akkad was surprised by themelodious violin.

After pondering for a while, theexperienced Akkad finally recognized it as a Chinese piece!

Even Akkad had to think for a whileto know the piece was. Others would not know the name or origin of thismysterious song. However, they knew it sounded gentle and made them feel warm.Even their irritability faded.

While most passers-by hadn't beenexposed to musical instruments, that didn't prevent them from enjoying thewondrous music. The beautiful violin was like a thin veil before their eyes,isolating the outside noise.

Even the noisy children chewedtheir little fingers and stared at the musician standing amidst the crowd.

More people continued to gather.When Qi Mu set down his bow, four or five layers of people surrounded him.

Qi Mu was a little surprised. Heplaced his right hand on his chest and bent in a unique gentleman's bow.

The passers-by woke from theirstupor, and thunderous applause broke out.

"Great music!"

"Vienna really has great musicianseverywhere!"

"This kid is really good. Oh,what's the name of this piece?!"

……

Many languages filled the airaround Qi Mu. Among them, he only understood English, German, and a bit ofFrench. As for the others, Qi Mu couldn't understand a single word. However, heknew they were praises from the smiles and applause.

The applause lasted for threeminutes without pause.

When Qi Mu placed his bow on thestrings again, the crowd was silent, then someone exclaimed, "Is thereanother?" The applause halted.

Qi Mu smiled and looked at a littleblonde baby in her mother's arms toward the center of the crowd. He touched hislips with his index finger, and miraculously, the babbling little girl wentsilent. She stared blankly at the handsome young man before her.

After that, Qi Mu raised his bowagain. This time around, his performance just began, and the crowd alreadystarted whispering——

"This is 《Zigeurnerweisen》!"

Under the statue in the square, thedesolate violin slowly resounded. Qi Mu's brow tightened, and his expressiongrew solemn.

His slender fingers danced alongthe black fingerboard. The melody was not as light-hearted as the one before.Instead, it was tactful and quiet. The audience was stunned, their heartbeatsrising with the sudden high pitch of the opening note.

《Zigeurnerweisen》 had another name, 《TheWanderer's Song》which was one of therepresentative works of Spanish composer, Pablo de Sarasate. As a professional-level piece, it required so high a level ofskill that many performers were hindered. It was both unique and profound.

A wandering Gypsy shivered in thecold autumn wind, the sorrow vividly demonstrated by Qi Mu's violin. Expressingthe wanderer's terrible condition and lamentation over and over again, thispiece aroused deep sympathy.

By the time Akkad heard the thirdnote, he had guessed the piece.

What he didn't understand was whyQi Mu chose such a delicate piece as his second song.

《TheWanderer's Song》 was a regular visitor.Performers from all over the world performed this long-standing classic on thestage.

Of course, Akkad never doubted QiMu's skills. While 《Zigeurnerweisen》 was difficult, it was easier than Paganini's 《La Campanella》. Theformer paid more attention to artistic emotion while the latter paid moreattention to skill. There was nothing much to compare between the two.

But. . .

"Since you've played 《Zigeurnerweisen》. . . Whatare you going to play next. . . Little Seven?"

Of course, Qi Mu couldn't hearAkkad. His eyebrows were furrowed, the violin climbing to a high pitchedtreble. The wanderer once again cried out his lament.

Such a miserable melody made theaudience melancholic. Some people's eyes reddened. It seemed like they had metpoor wanderers not accepted by the world, by the people, by everything.

The youth's skillfully emotionalperformance silenced the whole square.

The sad melody steadily grew to itshighest tide and sharply change from sadness to joy. As if relieved fromthousands of ordeals, it delighted them but left behind that underlying sorrow.

The contrast was too strong, theinfinite grief turned instantly to incomparable joy. Such a transition seemedto have been deliberately made to force people to smile and in doing so, thosewho resisted now let their tears flow.

The scene was amusing. Theyresisted their tears when the melody was sad, but when it reached the joyful allegroin the fourth movement, they couldn't help but cry.

Only those who have experiencedordeals in life could understand the pain behind laughter.

Of course, many also noticed theyoung man's brilliant skill.

To be able to perform 《Zigeurnerweisen》 at such alevel, people with an understanding of music realized——

This young man playing in front ofthem was. . . an outstanding violinist!

His left hand gently plucked thestrings, the other held the bow. Despite displaying these difficult skills, hewas elegant and calm. The music he performed was more beautiful and moving thananything they had ever heard!

This was a musician!

Vienna was truly full of crouchingtigers and hidden dragons!

——This the audience thought.

When 《Zigeurnerweisen》 ended, the applause was even more enthusiastic than before. Eventhe blonde little baby nestled in her mother's arms clapped and babbled at QiMu.

Qi Mu smiled and nodded at her. Amiddle-aged man came from the crowd and took a brand new €50 from hiswallet, intending to place it in his violin case.

Qi Mu reached out and stopped thekind-hearted man. He smiled and said in fluent German, "Thank you for yourkindness, sir. Please give this money to those who need it more, instead."

The sun bathed the youth's delicateface win a golden light, stupefying everyone.

The middle-aged man understood hismeaning and apologized. "Sorry, I didn't know you were an artist. Thank you forthe music you played for us. It's a beautiful melody!"

Many tourists and passers-by approachedQi Mu and expressed the same sentiment.

In places like Vienna, manymusicians wanted to dedicate their music to the enjoyment of the music cityrather than for money. Obviously, these people regarded Qi Mu as a musiciandevoted to the art.

Qi Mu didn't know whether to laughor cry, so he just nodded. He had yet to recover when, a tender, childish voicecalled out, "En. . . Encore. . . Encore!"

When Qi Mu turned to the source ofthe voice, he saw the toddler clapping. She repeatedly shouted, "Encore!". Itseemed like her mother told her to say it. She kept chanting. Soon, everyoneelse joined her.

"Encore!"

"Encore!"

"Encore. . ."

Qi Mu smiled. He performed thegentleman's bow again then. . . placed his bow on the strings once more.

The voices went silent. The crowdgathered around the statue in eight or nine layers——each drawn in by the sadand moving 《Zigeurnerweisen》. At the time, they were angry at themselves for not coming to seewhat the performer looked like.

At the back of the crowd, Akkad'slips 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 bejealous of me, haha. . ."

Akkad frowned and thought, "But. .. What if there is another like Auston with bad intentions? Oh no, I willprotect my student. . . I won't let him. . ."

Before Akkad could finish hisbroken 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 inamazement, looked towards his student violinist, and exclaimed, "It's thissong!"

Translator

(s): Kuro

Editor

(s): Empress, AyN, Bet