Chapter 178

After arriving in Vienna, Bai Ai went directly to Musikverein, where a medium-sized hall had been reserved for their rehearsals. Naturally, they arrived early.

Not every rehearsal hall in the building would be free whenever they needed it, so every orchestra that arrived would receive a different hall than the one they used the last time they visited. Unfortunately, Bai Ai’s rehearsal hall was far away from Wei Ai’s exclusive rehearsal hall. If one wanted to make an analogy, it was like the legendaryn Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

But they were in the same building, after all. By the time Bai Ai arrived at the rehearsal hall, the news already spread amongst Wei Ai’s members.

Probably because they had just entered a new term, the average age of Bai Ai’s members was 30 years old, which was ten years lower than Wei Ai’s. Which was why, when many fans made comments like “It’s like beauty and musicality coexisting!” about Bai Ai, the members of Wei Ai went——

“Tut, what classical music needs is temperament. Tem-per-a-ment! Got it?”

“We were far more handsome than they are now, right, Joe? I was Wei Ai’s little prince!”

“Back off. I’m the most handsome one, okay?”

“Hoho, who was it that worshipped Mr. Bertram so much that he went to Berlin and returned in the middle of the night before every New Year’s concert and got scolded by Mr. Dorenza?”

…..

Qi Mu couldn’t help but laugh at the members of Wei Ai teasing each other. In such an orchestra, where the members had worked together for a decade or more, everyone knew each other very well and got along splendidly. Moreover, Qi Mu was indeed a bit young in the orchestra, so everyone tacitly looked after him like older siblings.

Qi Mu’s life in Wei Ai can be described as that of a fish in water. Unlike when he first entered Wei Jiao where he had to pay attention to interpersonal relationships, Qi Mu could now spend his time fully rehearsing and practicing to improve his own skill and the orchestra itself.

In fact, this was exactly what the orchestra wanted Qi Mu to focus on. They chose this child as their deputy concertmaster and later, their concertmaster, so they observed his skills with the violin, as well as his potential and diligence.

“Ah, Little Seven is really diligent. It’s tea time now and he’s still reading the score.”

“What do you know? Little Seven is already reading the clarinet’s section score, okay!”

“Gosh, wasn’t Little Seven reading the cello group yesterday? He’s already on the clarinets?”

……

To sum it up——

“Our family’s Little Seven is so wonderful!”

Before the members of Wei Ai could continue their conversation, a tall, handsome man appeared at the cafe’s door. Taking a glance in the quiet cafe, he soon found the youth he was looking for by the French window in the corner.

The warm sunshine in the early spring was like a golden veil, shining through the floor-to-ceiling window and directly on Qi Mu, making his figure appearing quite ethereal. Perhaps for convenience, Qi Mu had his now longer hair tied with a thin black elastic. Some strands of hair still slipped loose, framing his face and making him look even more delicate and alluring.

Min Chen seldom saw Qi Mu being this focused and dedicated. The young man sat with his back straight while holding a black fountain pen in his hand, reading the score attentively and marking some notes on it.

He was the most attractive when he was focused.

Min Chen hesitated for a moment before he finally decided to interrupt this beautiful tableau.

Qi Mu was surprised when he saw Min Chen coming. “You’re here?” He closed the folder as he spoke and said with a laugh, “Julie was just talking about you, I didn’t expect you to come now. Let’s go find her.”

Qi Mu left the cafe with Min Chen without delay to look for a certain lady who was both elegant and dignified. After they left, the originally quiet coffee shop customers immediately boiled over once they returned to their senses with widened eyes——

“Oh, my God! What the hell did I see just now? What the hell? Did Mr. Bertram take away our Little Seven just like that?”

“This is not fair! That’s our Little Seven! And why did Mr. Bertram take our Little Seven as soon as he came?!”

“Exactly! Even I don’t have the heart to disturb Little Seven when he’s reviewing the score, yet Mr. Bertram actually just went up to him! He’s a demon!”

“Hey, hey, hey, aren’t you Mr. Bertram’s fan? Why are you calling him a demon now?”

“You don’t understand! Little Seven is my favorite, Mr. Bertram is just my one-sided admiration!”

Everyone else: “…”

So they preferred the new and discarded the old. Typical men…n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Qi Mu had no idea what was going down in the cafe. He and Min Chen searched for a while before finding Julie in the conductor lounge, having a conversation with Dorenza.

Seeing Min Chen, the elegant woman immediately gave him a big hug and said, “Oh, my dear Auston. We haven’t seen each other for more than a month. Give your Auntie Julie a hug.”

Min Chen went a little stiff before he slowly raised his hand and patted Julie’s back. “Well, hug… There you go.”

Seeing this, Julie’s grin grew wider and she reached out to ruffle the man’s black hair. “Oh, my dear Auston. You’re so cute!”

Min Chen, whose hair had been turned into a chicken coop: “…”

After that, Dorenza happened to have something to discuss with Qi Mu so Min Chen and Julie left first. As he left, Min Chen threw Qi Mu a meaningful glance and Qi Mu nodded naturally after seeing it.

Min Chen called him early that morning when he was still in Berlin, saying he had something to discuss with Julie. So, now was just the time for it.

The door of the lounge gently closed, leaving behind only Qi Mu and Dorenza in the peaceful room. Qi Mu wasn’t too restrained with the maestro. He pulled out the chair Julie was using and sat with his back straight.

Across the mahogany table, Dorenza said with a smile, “Little Seven, you came just at the right time. We’re going on the tour in another week and there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

———

During the afternoon rehearsal, Wei Ai practiced the first few symphonies they would perform in Brussels while Bai Ai got familiar with the venue before the members were assigned to their hotel rooms.

When Qi Mu and Julie left Musikverein, they saw a black Bently parked on the side of the road just after taking a few steps. The Bentley’s window slowly went down, revealing Min Chen’s beautifully-carved, elegant face.

“Oh, my dear Auston!”

With that cry of surprise, Julie rushed over to the car and sat in the back seat while Qi Mu went to the front passenger seat with a smile.

When the car arrived at their apartment, Julie was surprised to see Min Chen going up with Qi Mu and asked, “Auston, you’re going to Qi Mu’s for a visit?”

Qi Mu was about to answer with, “It’s actually Min Chen’s,” but before he could do so, Min Chen gave an affirmative hum before saying, “Yes, Julie. I have something to talk to Qi Mu about today. I’ll go back to the hotel later.”

Julie didn’t probe any further and went to her door after saying goodbye to them.

Only when they entered the apartment did Qi Mu blurt out, “You’re lying!”

Min Chen calmly raised an eyebrow and said, “Hmm?”

“Why didn’t you tell Julie that this is your house?”

“If she knows I’m going to live here during these few days, she’ll be ‘very happy’ and we’re going to be ‘very not happy’,” The man explained seriously before adding, “Julie is very energetic and she can often think of things no one else would ever.”

Qi Mu could only reluctantly agree with such an answer. That was indeed the case. Once when he and Julie were going through their morning exercise, Qi Mu, a young man, was already out of breath yet Julie was still chatting with him energetically.

——To put it simply, she had an energy that didn’t match her age.

After returning home, Qi Mu made a simple dinner and sat down at the table. While serving the glutinous rice porridge, Qi Mu asked, “What did you talk about with Julie this afternoon? It doesn’t seem serious since she behaved normally all afternoon.”

Min Chen picked up vegetables to put in the young man’s bowl, but his hand staggered a bit before he calmly answered with, “I told her I love you very much and you love me too. She said she could see that and warned me to be good to you or suffer her wrath.”

Qi Mu didn’t believe it.

Seeing the young man’s disbelief, Min Chen’s lips curled up in a faint smile before he spread his hands and said, “I also want to ask, what exactly did you do to make Julie so fond of you in just a month? Before this, she would never let me go easily but today, she just ruffled my hair and didn’t do anything else.”

Qi Mu looked at Min Chen up and down before saying, “Seems like you miss being doted on by Julie?”

Min Chen: ”……”

After a long while, Min Chen solemnly and earnestly said, emphasizing each and every word, “Please, I ask of you, by all means, at all costs, accept Julie’s love.”

Qi Mu: ”……”

After dinner, the two cleaned up the table and the dishes. While collecting the chopsticks, Qi Mu said, seemingly casually, “Oh, yes. Since you’re back, there’s something I know you’re really itching to get to.” After a slight pause, he looked up defiantly. “You can get to it right away. Are you happy?”

Min Chen was somewhat bewildered for a moment before raising an eyebrow and asked, “You want to look at Little Auston?”

Qi Mu: ”……”

“Roll your ass back to Berlin!!! I’m talking about doing the dishes! Doing the dishes! You hear that? Doing the dishes! What the hell is in your head?!!!”

Min Chen? Rolling his ass back to Berlin?

Of course that was impossible.

Min Chen knew his beloved’s weakness, Qi Mu was a ‘knife mouth, tofu heart’ kind of a guy. So after pretending to be pitiful and selling his misery for a while, Qi Mu still had to watch ‘Little Auston’ for the whole night, even though he was reluctant to do so at first.

When Qi Mu got up the next day, the man was still inside him. He moved forward, trying to disconnect them, but the man followed him. Qi Mu wanted to smack the shameless man with a pillow, but Min Chen grabbed his wrist.

“….You weren’t asleep?”

“If I was still sleeping, you would kill your husband.”

“….I will really kill you, trust me.”

“……”

Pulling the young man straight into his arms, Min Chen threw the pillow that was blocking the way under the bed and whispered in Qi Mu’s ear. “I’m leaving in two days. We haven’t been together for more than two months. Qi Mu, I miss you.” He rubbed against Qi Mu’s ear for good measure.

Such a seductive action made Qi Mu blush, especially when he found the thing inside him had the tendency to swell!

“You go out first…”

“No. Little Auston misses you too.”

“….Min Chen, I read a book on Chinese Heart Sutra a few days ago. There is a sentence in it that I really like.” A cold smile appeared on the youth’s face and Min Chen was taken aback. He involuntarily gulped.

Then he heard Qi Mu say, word by word, “Cut off the root of evil and throw away evil thoughts. Ump…”

Min Chen sealed the young man’s lips with a kiss. After that, he demonstrated to Qi Mu that evil thoughts can only be shared between two people.

See, this is a happy thing. How can it be ‘evil thoughts’, ah!