WT Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Concerto, Let’s Go to Vienna Together.

Wen Shixi was stunned, asking, “Me?”

“Anyway, it’s just a rehearsal. With the piano part missing, the conductor has been using a player to harmonize with each section. If you go, it would be a help.” Cheng Xuan asked, “Do you want to go?”

Wen Shixi sat at the piano. In the backlit angle, those thin lips tightened slightly, not answering for a moment.

Wen Shixi had never tried playing a concerto with a symphony orchestra.

His personal style when playing the piano was extremely strong, which could be seen from the piano brand he stubbornly chose.

Although “disliking ensemble” was just a lie he told Jiang Quanyu when he was young to gain favor, he had kept himself in a box and never thought about changing.

While thinking, Wen Shixi turned his head and looked at the keys below.

But everything had changed, hadn’t it?

At least, he was no longer a Jiang family member. Those rules and frameworks should no longer be carried on his back.

Wen Shixi breathed out and looked at Cheng Xuan.

“Okay, let me try.”

–

The Harbor Royal Academy of Music is located next to the coastline. The crimson main building of the campus, set against the rocky coast, looked particularly solemn.

The day Wen Shixi went to the school, the sky was drizzling. If the monsoon wasn’t still around, it would probably turn into snowflakes soon.

Before going out, he stood inside the door, standing quietly for a moment.

This was the first time he had stepped out of the house in front of him after breaking away from his original identity.

Because the Jiang Corporation had issued an announcement in a timely manner, the online discussions had completely disappeared in a matter of days.

But Wen Shixi didn’t think it would pass so quickly.

In the rain, he drove all the way and, after entering the school campus, steadily arrived outside the rehearsal room building.

He parked the car, stepped on the puddles on the brick ground, and walked into the familiar high-rise.

At this time, many students had already gathered in the rehearsal room.

The people in the string section were fine-tuning their timbres, the oboe section was gathered together discussing reeds, the short notes of the flute occasionally floated by, merging with the tremolo of the timpani.

Wen Shixi hadn’t seen so many performers in a long time. Standing at the door, his expression shifted slightly.

He was wearing a light-colored cashmere coat, and a wide, soft plaid scarf covered his slightly pointed chin. If he wasn’t wearing a school uniform, he would be no different from the students.

Someone noticed the arrival of a stranger. Before long, more and more eyes were cast on him.

Most of those gazes were very complex, but it was impossible to continue to delve into what the complex reasons were.

At this moment, a call came from a corner of the crowd.

“Shixi, over here.”

Wen Shixi looked in the direction of the voice and saw Cheng Xuan and Teacher Liang Min standing together, waving at him.

He raised his hand in response, breathed out lightly, and walked towards the two.

Before long, as the students arrived one after another, the orchestra officially began to rehearse.

The school orchestra had a large number of people. Wen Shixi sat in front of the piano next to the conductor’s platform, turning his head to look at the young faces full of curiosity towards him.

Although Teacher Liang Min had arranged it, Wen Shixi was only replacing the original piano section student to cooperate with the rehearsal twice.

In the silence, he breathed out lightly and looked at the empty conductor’s seat.

A moment later, a familiar figure leaped onto the round platform under the lights.

Wen Shixi was surprised, watching the person who suddenly walked onto the podium.

In surprise, Cheng Xuan didn’t speak, but made a gesture to Wen Shixi to silence.

Cheng Xuan was wearing simple casual clothes and standing on the podium, looking very informal, but with every move, the style of a famous European conductor was evident, and elegance overflowed the hall.

Gentle gaze intertwined with the lights, the conductor smiled slightly, saying to the pianist beside him.

“Wen Shixi’s first piano concerto, of course, I have to conduct.”

In the hands of the conductor who encompassed all sounds, the baton lightly touched the flowing light.

The next second, notes emerged from the light.

The sound of rain lingered outside the rehearsal room, overflowing through the window cracks in a wisp, completely inaudible.

Wen Shixi had no ensemble experience, but he had practiced at home for a few days, and his original sight-reading ability was also very strong. Together with Cheng Xuan, they played according to the rhythm imagined by the original conductor, and the cooperation with the orchestra was fairly harmonious.

When rehearsing for the last time, at the moment of fusion in the symphony, Wen Shixi’s left hand crossed over the notes, passing over the main melody being played by his right hand, gently plucking the high notes.

In the crisp and free notes, he suddenly revealed a hint of a smile.

The principal violinist beside him had superb skills, leading the entire string section, instantly wrapping his piano sound and introducing it all together into the magnificent landscape woven by notes under Rachmaninoff’s pen.

Wen Shixi suddenly realized that the ensemble he had refused for many years was actually a very interesting thing.

Time stretched into disorder, and he seemed to return to a few years ago when he was still a student.

He and everyone in the symphony orchestra were no different, they were just using actions and the instruments around them to interpret their own music.

That faint smile stopped at the consistently indifferent lips, like agile waves on the reef, and at the moment when the rain stopped and the clouds cleared, diamond-like water sparkled from the sunlight.

Shining brightly.

At the same time, in a warm private psychological clinic in the south of the city, a small building stood quietly in the rain.

In the consultation room, a steady figure sat by the pattering window, having just finished a conversation with the gentle-looking doctor in front of him.

Jiang Quanyu got up, straightened his cuffs, and turned to walk out the door.

The doctor looked up, watching the figure walking further and further away, and after thinking it over, opened his mouth.

“I remember, before you decided to return to the country, I reminded you on the phone.”

Jiang Quanyu heard the words, stopped and turned around.

Doctor: “If you insist on getting close to Wen Shixi, both you and he will be very painful.”

Jiang Quanyu slightly lowered his eyes, thinking of Wen Shixi’s metaphors about dogs and cages.

“I know, you’ve said it many times,” Jiang Quanyu said.

Doctor: “I just want to remind you again to make a choice that is good for both of you.”

Jiang Quanyu was silent for a moment, his sharp eyes covered with frost.

In all fairness, he had followed Wen Shixi’s words and cancelled all those surveillances, leaving only the last bit of attention, just to know that Wen Shixi was going home every day, that was all.

Jiang Quanyu: “Shen Chuji, what exactly do you want to say?”

Dr. Shen looked gentle, ignored the unhappiness in Jiang Quanyu’s words, and asked with a smile, “Just want to ask you, do you need some sleeping pills? Chen Jiale said you are busy until very late every day and don’t have much time to rest.”

Jiang Quanyu frowned, listening to the teasing in the other person’s words.

He didn’t say a word and turned to walk out of the room.

–

The drizzle had not stopped even after the rehearsal was over.

Wen Shixi drove home, and Cheng Xuan hitched a ride, returning to the city with Wen Shixi.

While driving, Wen Shixi felt his phone vibrate suddenly.

During the red light, he took out his phone and looked at it.

As he read, Wen Shixi frowned slightly.

Secretary Liu, who was by Jiang Lian’s side, sent a message reminding him that he needed to move out of his current apartment as soon as possible.

The flat he lived in was under Jiang Lian’s name. When he moved out of the old house, Jiang Lian had also urged him to leave as soon as possible, even generously handing over the password and keys.

He had some money in his hand, but it might take a few days to find a house that could accommodate a piano and wouldn’t disturb the neighbors when played.

Cheng Xuan sat in the passenger seat, holding a pen and writing annotations on a junior’s score, offering some suggestions that he thought could be optimized.

Before long, he saw the red light turn green, but Wen Shixi hadn’t started yet, so he called out, “Shixi?”

Wen Shixi came back to his senses, and amid the urging of the car behind him, put down his phone and continued driving.

Cheng Xuan was a little strange and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Wen Shixi shook his head, and while driving, asked, “How could the piano section student who was originally responsible for the performance be so bold as to ditch such an occasion as the report performance?”

Cheng Xuan: “That’s a very talented student. If he can win an award in Bologna this time, he will be the youngest performing-level winner of the Berledi Competition. Compared with such a title, a school orchestra’s report performance is indeed nothing.”

Wen Shixi rested his elbow on the edge of the car window and touched his chin, saying, “The younger generation is to be feared.”

Cheng Xuan thought for a while and fairly evaluated, “He’s good, but compared to you, he’s far behind.”

Although Wen Shixi didn’t have any overly high award experience, it was not difficult to see from the two days of rehearsal that just by trying out, all the students were respectful to Wen Shixi, their senior.

Wen Shixi’s level was already beyond the scope that current public competition awards could define.

Cheng Xuan: “Although Teacher Liang Min didn’t say it, I think the school orchestra will agree to let you participate in the performance.”

Wen Shixi tilted his head, “Is that so?”

“No one would give up Wen Shixi,” Cheng Xuan said sincerely, “to choose other pianists.”

Raindrops lightly hit the roof of the car, and the sound was chaotic and intertwined.

Cheng Xuan sat for a while in a quiet and noisy mood, hesitated a few times, and suddenly opened his mouth to ask.

“Shixi, don’t you really want to go abroad for further study and become a better pianist?”

Wen Shixi’s hand holding the steering wheel clenched slightly, and after a moment, he opened his mouth and said, “The last time you left, it seems you already asked me this question.”

Cheng Xuan: “I still think it’s a pity for you to stay in Harbor. You should go abroad with me to see more and better performers and tell everyone about your music. I have always believed that you can stand on the top.”

The car’s air system filtered away the cold and humid air, and there was a dry heat between breaths.

Wen Shixi was silent for a while, his tone calm and natural, asking.

“Cheng Xuan, before that, tell me, do you like me because you like my piano, or do you like my piano so you like me?”

Cheng Xuan heard Wen Shixi’s words, and his hand holding the pen stopped in place.

The vehicle continued to drive, gently shaking the two people in the car.

Wen Shixi saw that Cheng Xuan didn’t speak, and asked, “Is it so difficult to answer because you haven’t thought about this question yourself?”

Cheng Xuan: “…I’m just a little surprised that you would ask so directly.”

Wen Shixi: “To be honest, the day you went to Vienna, I blacklisted you.”

Cheng Xuan’s fingertips moved slightly, his heart stopped for a moment, and then he quickly said, “I know, you’ve always been like this.”

Wen Shixi: “Then why did you specifically run back to find me, and why have you been staying in Harbor, the resident conductor of the Laisen Symphony Orchestra hasn’t returned to the team, won’t there be problems?”

Cheng Xuan: “There won’t be problems for now.”

Wen Shixi: “There won’t be for now, then that means there will be soon, right? Don’t be so willful just because you are a disciple of Master Simolte.”

Cheng Xuan heard the words and revealed a smile: “I never thought that one day I would be called willful by Wen Shixi.”

Wen Shixi: “When are you leaving, I’ll take you to the airport.”

“Probably after the report performance,” Cheng Xuan said, “next Monday or Tuesday.”

Wen Shixi: “Okay, I have time, tell me when you’ve booked your ticket.”

In the sound of rain, Cheng Xuan listened to Wen Shixi’s clear and cold tone, and his heart sank little by little.

Complex emotions were mixed in his heart, and when faced with unattainable fantasies, the usual gentle and elegant shell was cut open with a dull knife.

The silence in the car didn’t stop until the entrance of the community.

The two said goodbye to each other, Cheng Xuan opened the car door and got out, holding an umbrella and standing by the car door.

A shadow under the umbrella made the already dim sky seem even darker.

Cheng Xuan closed the car door, but didn’t leave for a moment.

Then, in the second before Wen Shixi started the car, Cheng Xuan bent down and knocked on the car glass covered with raindrops.

Wen Shixi heard the sound and turned his head, the car window slowly lowered, revealing the rain curtain outside the window and Cheng Xuan’s face full of tenderness.

Cheng Xuan thought for a while and said gently, “Shixi, no matter when I leave, I always think that, in any case, you should live a happier life.”

The low notes flowed out, just like when he manipulated music, with a magnificent yearning.

Wen Shixi sat in the dark car, looking at Cheng Xuan’s opening and closing mouth.

Cheng Xuan’s face took on earnestness, as if the car in front of him, if driven away at this time, would never come back.

There were never many things that could keep Wen Shixi, and he had nothing at all.

Except, he knew how much Wen Shixi loved the piano.

And, as a conductor, the yearning and longing hidden in the piano sound that he had keenly noticed in that concerto just now.

Cheng Xuan smiled gently, mixed with earnestness, his voice incomparably serious.

“Shixi, think about it again… after the report performance, with me, let’s go to Vienna together.”