Only a few days after Qi Mu"s return to B City,he sent off the most solemn, western Christmas celebration ever and ushered inthe new year. On the night of December 30th, a New Year"s concert was to beheld at the Great Hall of the People, and the performer was Huaxia"s NationalSymphony Orchestra.

The B City Symphony Orchestra was in a similarsituation to the Vienna Symphony. Moreso, Tan Zheng Hui didn"t actually want toperform a national concert this year. So,on the evening of the 30th, Qi Mu arrived early at the Great Hall of thePeople.

This year, Huaxia invited the world-cla.s.smaster, Ivan Kocher from the US National Symphony Orchestra. This maestro"sstyle was delicate and gentle, and he had conducted the Huaxia NationalSymphony before. Qi Mu looked forward to tonight"s performance very much.

Throughout the nearly three-hour-longperformance, Ivan and the Huaxia Orchestra received a lot of praise andapplause. Once it had ended, a large part of the audience was still immersedand would not forget the experience.

Qi Mu had attended the concert alone thisevening. The Zheng couple went to their hometown to visit family for theholidays. When Qi Mu had gone next door with the two tickets he received fromthe B City Orchestra, he knocked for quite some time without a response.

Just as Qi Mu thought it was strange, heremembered——

Huaxia was holding a New Year"s concert, wasn"tBerlin the same?

Min Chen must have returned to rehea.r.s.e with theorchestra a few days ago. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra"s New Year concerton the 31st was also a must-see.

Therefore, Qi Mu sat alone under the magnificentdome of the Great Hall while the seat beside him remained empty. But, as he wasabout to leave, he hadn"t taken even a few steps when he suddenly heard someonewhisper his name.

Turning back, Qi Mu saw Tan Lao walkingtoward him with a smile.

Du Sheng looked Qi Mu up and down and smiled, "XiaoQi, ah, why did you come alone? Didn"t the orchestra give two tickets perperson? You don"t have a girlfriend?"

Qi Mu"s smile shrank, and he said helplessly, "Du-ge, you"re making fun of meagain. I don"t have a girlfriend, ah." I don"t even have a boyfriend!

Du Sheng just laughed and stopped teasing him.Instead, a graceful man in a suit besidehim, who had been smiling at Qi Mu all the while, said, "Xiao Qi, Ihaven"t seen you for a long time. Why didn"t you come visit? Did you forget your Uncle Zhu?"

As a matter-of-fact, Qi Mu had noticed Zhu WenJun standing beside Tan Lao.

The handsome middle-aged man was the currentconductor of S City"s Symphony Orchestra. Beside him, holding his hand andsmiling, was the orchestra"s music director and also his wife, Cheng Ting Wen.

Qi Mu nodded and politely greeted them with asoft smile, "Uncle Zhu, Auntie Cheng, long time no see. I received that S Citydelicacy you sent last month. Thank you for the gift."

Although Cheng Ting Wen was over forty, her bodywas well maintained, and she looked likeshe was in her thirties. She covered her mouth to hide her laugh and said, "XiaoQi is really sweet. Oh right, we received that alb.u.m you sent us from Hong Kongthe other day. Your skill is getting better and better. Your Uncle Zhu and Ilistened to the Sibelius" 《FirstSymphony》 you performed with New Ai, and we"ve decided totalk to you about something."

Qi Mu asked, "What is it?"

Henpecked as always, Zhu Wen Jun would neveroppose his wife. He only looked at her helplessly then said to Qi Mu, "Thismatter is still a secret. We intended to talk to Tan Lao first, theninvite you. But since Ting Wen"s already mentioned it, I"ll tell you directly. XiaoQi, do you know how many years ago our S City Orchestra was founded?"

This question was indeed a test. No matter how hard QiMu studied, it was impossible to remember the details of every singleorchestra clearly. Even for the S City Orchestra, which was one of the most famousin all of Huaxia.

As for the original?

His head was full of car racing and playinggames. There was no time to think of when an orchestra was established.

After thinking for a long time, Qi Mu gave aprobable answer, "If I remember correctly, S City"s Symphony Orchestra wasfounded in or around 1920?"

Zhu Wen Jun and Cheng Ting Wen looked at eachother and smiled. The former nodded and said, "Not too far off. It wasofficially established on January 8, 1916. The Yulin West Daily issued a statementon it that year. This year will be the 100th anniversary of the orchestra’sfounding."

Qi Mu was startled, but he continued to listen as Cheng Tin Wen said, "There were someaccidents, and our preparations werehurried. We won"t make it for January 8th this year, but the grand celebrationwill be held in February. When your parents were alive ten years ago, weregretted that we invited famous violinists and conductors to perform for our90th anniversary. This year, we plan to invite Chinese musicians and showcase afestival that belongs just to Huaxia."

Qi Mu was beginning to guess what was coming,from Zhu Wen Jun and his wife"s words, but he didn"t dare speak it aloud as hefelt it was unlikely.

Seeing his bewildered face, Tan Laosmiled, "For the S City Orchestra"s Centennial Celebration, other orchestras,including ours, will be lending a hand. For the piano, w.a.n.g Zheng, the secondplace winner of the Xiao Compet.i.tion last year, has been invited to performProkofiev"s 《Piano Concerto No. 2》."

Du Sheng also smiled and nodded, "For thiscelebration, many Chinese young talents are bringing invited. Besides Min Chen,several famous Chinese musicians under the age of thirty were invited, and many of them have already agreed to give aspecial performance."

After Du Sheng mentioned Min Chen"s name, ZhuWen Jun looked at Qi Mu and said, "Bai Ai seems to be busy at the beginning ofthe year. Otherwise, I would have likedto cede this baton to Min Chen."

Zhu Wen Jun"s self-depreciation made everyonelaugh. He looked at the confused Qi Mu and said, "Xiao Qi. At the end oflast year, we had a lot of plans and issued some invitations. For theviolinists, we considered many young talents like Sheng Yan Hui and Li Zhang,but now. . . I think there"s an even better candidate."

Qi Mu was no longer confused. He understood whatZhu Wen Jun meant.

But he was still a little shocked. After awhile, he frowned and asked tentatively, "Uncle Zhu, you want to. . . inviteme?"

Zhu Wen Jun laughed and said, "Yes, Xiao Qi.S City"s Symphony Orchestra will send you an official invitation tomorrow. Ihope you can take part in the celebration. Some people have some doubts and area bit prejudiced against you, but your cooperation with New Ai was great, and it"s dispelled their concerns."

He paused and his expression slowly changed. "QiMu, I sincerely hope you will accept this invitation. The past eight years. . .we"ve both made mistakes. We didn"t takegood care of you for Qi Jun and Ru Yue. We left you alone on the wrong path."

At the time, the death of Qi Mu"s parents was sosudden it jarred all of their friends. Qi Jun and Ru Yue left only Qi Mu, thisone seedling. Several of the seniors had the idea to nurture Qi Mu until he hadgrown, but who would expect this to be counterproductive and make this stubbornkid even more rebellious?

As a matter-of-fact, every time they gottogether these past eight years, they would lament over this. If Qi Mu reallydidn"t want to stay on this path, then what they did was indeed selfish. So inprivate, they contacted Zheng Wei Qiao and sent money for Qi Mu, but also helpedarrange jobs for him.

Even if Zheng Wei Qiao had a wide net ofconnections, it was impossible for him to find a new job for Qi Mu every week.It was also impossible for him to aid Qi Mu so frequently when he needed toprovide for his own family. These thin-skinned elders were too embarra.s.sed toapologize to the younger generation, and if the original had seen them, hewould have gotten angry anyway. So they had no choice but to use thisroundabout way.

But, when he proposed the idea this time, it wasthe first time he was actually serious.

Zhu Wen Jun sighed, "It"s been several monthsalready, and I think. . . you really dowant to get back into cla.s.sical music. If that"s the case, Xiao Qi, thisis also your parents" unfulfilled desire. We hope you will accept thisinvitation and make the celebration a success."

A chilling wind blew through the square. Even atthe end of the year, Chang"an Street was still packed. The city"s neon lightsshone down on the fair and the handsome youth"s face, making it appear silkyand hazy.

After a long time, Qi Mu slowly nodded andshowed a sincere smile:

"Alright, Uncle Zhu. I accept your invitation. Iwill try my best. . . not to let you down."

Translator(s): Kuro

Editor(s): Bet