Chapter 176

That evening, Qi Mu brought Julie to her temporary residence. When he saw her stopping just a floor below his residence, he let out a sigh before smiling under her surprised gaze. “I live upstairs, Ms. Julie.”

When Qi Mu called Min Chen later, he was surprised to learn that Min Chen’s mother owned the apartment downstairs. Originally, she bought the unit with the intention of living close to her son. However, she was always busy flying all over the world and only went to Vienna once or twice after all this time.

So, it’s very likely that she lent the house to Julie. Since they were very close friends, lending a house or two was no big deal.

After listening to Qi Mu’s story, Min Chen thought for a bit before saying, “Julie has a good temper and is also a nice person. You should be able to get along well with her, as you two will travel a long way together.”

“Well, I’ve been talking to Ms. Julie all day long today.” Qi Mu did not hesitate to shower Julie with praises and when talking about the maestro’s first rehearsal with the orchestra today, he got even more excited as he spoke about how seamlessly she cooperated with the orchestra. “Choosing Ms. Julie as our guest for this tour was the greatest decision!”

Min Chen: ”……”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Halfway through Qi Mu’s babbles, he asked in a whisper, “Am I not better than her?”

The corner of Qi Mu’s lips twitched slightly and after a moment of silence, he nodded. “Yes, yes, yes, you’re better and much, much, more suitable than Ms. Julie, okay?”

After getting a satisfactory answer, Min Chen chatted a few more minutes with Qi Mu before ending the call. When Qi Mu got up the next day to start his morning work-out, he met an elderly lady wearing sportswear outside the door before he could even step out of the house.

Qi Mu froze for a moment before asking in a surprised tone, “Ms. Julie?”

The 50-something-year-old woman was sporting a skillfully tied ponytail, giving her a refreshing temperament. She said, “Little Seven, I already said yesterday you can call me Julie like Auston does.” After a slight pause, she observed Qi Mu’s outfit and added, “Are you going out for an exercise?”

Qi Mu was wearing light gray sportswear. The color didn’t diminish his youth but instead enhanced his beauty in simplicity. Coupled with the towel hanging on his neck, if he wasn’t about to go on an exercise, what else was he about to do? Cook?

Qi Mu replied, “Are you going out too? I’m familiar with this area so if you don’t mind, do you want to join me?”

“Oh, Little Seven, that’d be great!”

In the following days, Qi Mu had friendly and in-depth exchanges with his new neighbor.

Every morning, the two would jog together around the Danube River and experience the cold wind gradually warming up. Sometimes Qi Mu would make some soy milk and buns, treating Julie to breakfast at his house and sometimes the maestro would treat him to rich western breakfasts. After that, they would go to Musikverein together and return to the apartment in the evening together.

The passing days were so regular that gradually, the kind and wise elder figure integrated into Qi Mu’s life.

Julie could be his mother at her age, but her temperament wasn’t old-fashioned at all. Her views were refreshing and her temperament was up-to-date. Her opinions on some things amazed Qi Mu.

“Do you know that Ms. Julie likes Marvel?! I actually loved Spider-Man when I was a kid but I thought people of her age would prefer Lego bricks!”

Min Chen: ”……”

“Also, apparently, Julie knows England’s reputation as the Dark Cuisine Empire. A few days ago, Lancaster from the trumpet group brought, what was it…Ah, he brought grilled fish and apple pie to the orchestra. It wasn’t nice for us to refuse his kindness so we took it, but the taste was really ‘delicious’…”

Min Chen: ”……”

“And Julie is also physically healthy, she doesn’t look like someone in their fifties at all. I remember when you first went to exercise with me in the morning, you couldn’t even eat after that. But Julie is very relaxed, she told me she routinely exercised in the mornings for years.”

Min Chen: ”……”

“Oh, by the way, Julie…”

“Qi Mu!” The man spoke through gritted teeth and Qi Mu’s chatter came to an abrupt end. Letting out a surprised “Um”, Min Chen’s plain tone with a sense of loss resumed. “These days, every single of your calls are about Julie. And you call her Julie now. Didn’t you used to call her Ms. Julie?”

Confused, Qi Mu asked, “Didn’t you tell me to get along well with her and that I can call her by her name?”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Min Chen added, “I’m your boyfriend.” His tone sounded like complaining about something.

Qi Mu raised an eyebrow and replied with a smile, “So?”

“So let’s talk about what great things Auston Bertram did today.”

Holding back his laughter, Qi Mu replied with a serious tone. “But I have no interest in the Little Auston who always had a runny nose.”

Min Chen: ”……”

“Well, let’s talk about why Little Auston loved candy so much when he was a kid? Or how Little Auston cried and vowed that he would never eat candy again after he got cavities. Let’s talk about Little Auston who loved…”

“Qi Mu.”

The man’s baritone that was like a bass was so pleasant that Qi Mu was silenced by it.

The tall, handsome man stood against the floor-to-ceiling glass window of the music room under the bright and gentle moonlight. He seemed to be able to see the person who was thousands of miles away just by listening to his voice from the speaker. The person he had been missing every day for so long was just as he was, standing in his lonesome by the window, looking at the same moon.

“I miss you so much.”

The words touched Qi Mu. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, I miss you too.”

“I’m going to Vienna in a week.”

“Well, I’m leaving Vienna in two weeks as well.”

Min Chen’s low, magnetic voice at night sounded even more distant than usual. “I will bring your bracelet and… myself.”

The mischievous side of Qi Mu suddenly resurfaced as he quipped, “Are you bringing Little Auston?”

“Do you want to see Little Auston?” The man seemed to be suppressing his laugh, his low voice reverberated from the speaker.

Qi Mu noticed something was off, but he couldn’t quite catch it. He inadvertently asked, “What, I can’t see our lovely Little Auston?”

With the static noise from the network added, Min Chen’s low and magnetic voice sounded like a fine red wine in Qi Mu’s ears. “Well, yes. However long do you want to see him… Well, you can look at him long and hard all night, and slowly.”

Qi Mu, whose cheeks suddenly flaming red: “!!!”

“Min Chen, you don’t need to come here, you scoundrel! Keep your ass in Berlin!!!”

———-

The days full of rehearsals always passed in a flash.

Although rehearsals were quite challenging, about a week before their tour started, the members of the orchestra felt that time passed by so quickly. In a blink of an eye… it had been more than a month since Julie first joined them!

This was not the first time Julie Adelitt cooperated with Wei Ai. Except for Dorenza, Anthony, and other older members, Wei Ai had changed a lot over the course of three decades. The members back then had been replaced by younger generations and their sound was more vibrant.

During the orchestra rehearsals, Julie sat under the stage with Dorenza, sharing some anecdotes from decades ago. As they talked, her eyes inadvertently turned to the handsome young man on the stage.

At this time, Qi Mu led the rehearsal with the two violin groups under Anthony’s guidance. Anthony sat alone and almost never spoke while Qi Mu paid attention to each of the groups’ sounds and gave his advice in an organized manner.

His tone was gentle and his advice was appropriate and sometimes even pointed out what the members’ lacked.

“Little Seven, thank you so much!” A female violinist from the first violin group smiled. “I finally understand why Mr. Dorenza looks at me sometimes. It turns out he wanted me to play a little softer. Alas, Mr. Dorenza is too gentle sometimes. With you here, I believe we can improve!”

The handsome young man replied with a bright smile, “Cortana, I think Mr. Dorenza must have thought you would discover this by yourself. He wanted to give you more opportunities to improve, which is why he didn’t say anything.”

……

Onstage, the youth listened to the violin groups with a gentle and rigorous attitude, while under the stage, Dorenza discovered Julie’s attentive gaze on Qi Mu. With a smile, Dorenza asked, “Julie, do you like Little Seven, too?”

Hearing the question, Julie nodded. “Little Seven is a very lovely child. He’s very sensible and earnest. Dorenza, I haven’t seen a child like him who’s obviously gifted but who never slacks off for so many years. He loves violin and classical music dearly.”

“I appreciate Little Seven a lot.” After a slight pause, he added, “Actually, there’s something I haven’t announced yet, but there’s been a rumor about it outside. I want to tell you that the rumor is quite accurate. Anthony is going to retire and Little Seven is going to be Wei Ai’s new concertmaster and my trusted assistant.”

When she heard that Anthony was going to retire, she was keenly aware that something was afoot. So, when she heard, “Little Seven is going to be Wei Ai’s new concertmaster”, she gasped before saying, “A 23-year-old concertsmaster, and for Wei Ai, at that?”

“Yes, Little Seven is 23 and is going to be Wei Ai’s concertmaster,” Dorenza confirmed.

After a long silence, Julie sighed. “Although I think Little Seven is qualified to be the concertmaster, I didn’t expect you to be so courageous as to appoint a 23-year-old for this position, Dorenza. You know, even Christole only became Bai Ai’s deputy concertmaster at 23 and concertmaster when he was 25!”

Hearing that, Dorenza laughed and explained, “Actually, Julie, all of the members of the orchestra have already recognized the fact that Little Seven will be their next concertmaster. What you saw this month is only the tip of the iceberg, he’s that good. Believe me, you will find his strength soon, he’s dazzling.”

A few moments later, Dorenza added, “By the way, Reed, Farrell, Lance, and Auston all played important roles with their recommendation letters. It’s those letters that made the orchestra more confident in Little Seven’s strength.”

Julie paused before asking, “You said Auston wrote a recommendation letter for Little Seven?”

Dorenza didn’t think of anything wrong with it and naturally answered, “Yeah, Auston wrote a 12 pages letter of recommendation. His wording was precise and the tone sincere. It’s a very solemn recommendation letter.”