Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The surname Wei could only be associated with Master Wei.
Qin Yu was stunned after hearing this reminder from Lin Wan.
Wei Zihang’s surname was indeed Wei, but —
“He’s a notorious little bully in our school.” Qin Yu looked away and glanced at Lin Wan. “He’s always fighting and everyone in our school is afraid of him.”
How could such a person be related to Master Wei?
“Really?” Lin Wan paused. His temperament did not seem like that of a bully.
Qin Yu did not want Lin Wan to pay too much attention to Qin Ran, so she explained, “He’s just a school bully. He was from Zhi High School last time; the group of students there did all sorts of bad things. Now, he’s in First Middle School’s sports class.”
Lin Wan nodded and finally withdrew her gaze.
“But Mom, shouldn’t Sister be in school now?” Qin Yu sorted out the two tickets and turned her head, unable to understand. “Why is she here with Wei Zihang?”
Lin Wan sneered again.
Ning Qing pursed her lips. She had wanted to go over and ask Qin Ran what was going on, but when she heard this, she stopped in her tracks.
The two of them went inside.
Only then did Qin Yu glance in Qin Ran’s direction with a slight frown on her face.
Before long, Xu Yaoguang also reached.
“I had some matters.” Xu Yaoguang wore a black baseball jacket and a black mask that showed only his cold eyes. “Sorry for the wait.”
Qin Yu hugged her violin and said it was fine.
The two of them went inside.
Qin Yu glanced in the direction of the small door again, but Qin Ran and Wei Zihang had disappeared. She thought it was a little strange.
Xu Yaoguang went to take his seat beside Ning Qing, his mask making him difficult to recognize.
But Ning Qing recognized him and nodded at him.
When he saw her, Xu Yaoguang paused and then greeted her. “Aunt Ning”.
There was rare respect in his tone.
Ning Qing was a little stunned. Qin Yu had told her more than once that Xu Yaoguang was the unmovable first place in school, so she was very impressed by him.
He was a little arrogant and usually did not talk much, but why was his attitude so good today?
Xu Yaoguang was respectful to Ning Qing, but he only greeted Lin Wan casually.
Lin Wan glanced at him lightly and did not reply.
After a while, the phone in Xu Yaoguang’s pocket rang and he reached out to pull his mask. “I’m going to the washroom.”
Qin Yu stood up and wanted to tell him that the washroom backstage could not be used and he had to go outside, but Xu Yaoguang had already left.
Qin Yu wasn’t particularly concerned about him, so she just sat back down and thought nothing of it.
**
Qin Ran and Wei Zihang went directly backstage, where there was a small door for the staff to use.
Wei Zihang was familiar with the place.
When the two went in, several music masters were warming up backstage.
“I heard from the organizers that there’s a solo performance, and the newbie is pretty good,” a middle-aged man said. He was Dai Ran, second only to Wei Lin.
It wasn’t easy to climb up to this position.
Especially in such a large-scale, high-end music concert.
The others nodded. “It’s a girl. Her aptitude and spirituality are good, but she’s here specifically for Master Wei.”
“Who isn’t here for Master Wei?” Someone laughed.
Dai Ran stood by the side in silence, his expression cold.
He was younger than Master Wei, and his family achievements were equally as impressive; it was only in this industry that he had to bow down to Wei Lin.
Sensing the strange atmosphere, the others closed their mouths and dared not say anything.
“Zihang, are you here to find your grandpa?” Wei Zihang brought Qin Ran in during the silent atmosphere and a few teachers pointed out the direction for him. “He’s tuning his violin inside there.”
“Thanks.” Wei Zihang smiled, good-mannered.
The others waved their hands and then glanced at the girl beside him.
The girl was unfamiliar, and judging by her casual dressing, she did not seem to be a competitor tonight.
Could she be Wei Zihang’s girlfriend?
Everyone in the circle knew that Master Wei’s grandson had been kidnapped when he was a kid. He was mischievous and it was said that he had stayed in the country and wasn’t willing to head to Beijing to study.
Master Wei heard their voices and came out with his violin.
“Ran Ran, you’re here.” Master Wei’s face glowed and he seemed very happy. “Come in first.”
He turned and allowed the two of them to advance into the lounge.
Judging by his attitude, he was much better toward the girl than to Wei Zihang.
“Master Wei, this is…” Someone smiled at Qin Ran.
There had been rumors that Master Wei had a favorite girl disciple.
But some people did not believe it.
This was because they had not found a female apprentice around Master Wei even after such a long time. If he really had a favorite disciple, her status was definitely above that of a common violinist, so why wouldn’t he bring her out to boast?
“My juniors came to watch my performance.” Master Wei’s voice was gentle, unhurried, and emotionless.
The others did not doubt him.
**
Inside.
Master Wei opened the monitoring videos inside to view the stage and the auditorium.
“How’s this performance hall?” Master Wei stood in the middle of the room and pointed at the glorious performance hall on the TV screen. “Anyone who can board this performance stage is considered recognized by the industry.”
This performance hall used to be a royal residence and the requirements to perform here were extremely strict.
The goal of every musician was to have a personal concert here.
Qin Ran dragged a chair over and held the backrest with one hand and a cup in her other. Squinting, her long eyelashes drooped slightly in an unruly and casual manner.
She looked lazily at the TV screen.
As if she wasn’t ignited by Master Wei’s surging passion.
Wei Zihang half-sat on the table with his head lowered and seemed to be sending a message to someone.
Master Wei paused and then extended his right hand to smack Wei Zihang’s head fiercely. “Why on earth are you here? Are you sure you’re here to watch my performance?”
Wei Zihang was speechless.
“Yeah.” Wei Zihang looked up, kept his mobile phone, and sighed tiredly. “I was wrong, I should watch your performance seriously and religiously.”
He bowed his head.
“Oh, Sister Ran.” Wei Zihang put his phone back in his pocket and glanced at Qin Ran. Then, he stood up, held out Master Wei’s violin to her, and squinted his pair of phoenix eyes. “Try it?”
Qin Ran looked at the violin in her hands for a moment, her expression still casual and unruly.
After a long while, she finally put the cup on the table and took the violin.
Then, she lowered her head and closed her eyes slightly.
**
Familiar with the place, Xu Yaoguang quickly came backstage.
He pulled down his mask.
Dai Ran came out and was shocked to see him. “Young Master Xu?”
The Xu family was a prestigious family and Old Master Xu’s name was well-known in the capital. Everyone in the circle knew clearly in their hearts who could and couldn’t be provoked in Beijing.
“Teacher Dai.” Xu Yaoguang liked the violin, so the people here would reserve a ticket for him every time there was a large-scale performance.
The Dai family also had some interactions with the Xu family.
Dai Ran wanted to talk more to Xu Yaoguang, but his performance was coming up, so he did not stay long and went to the waiting area in advance.
Xu Yaoguang did not enter the washroom and just made a phone call in the corridor.
After the phone call, he heard the faint sound of a violin coming from the lounge when he was about to leave.
The outer chord was clanging, while the inner chord was gentle and low. The chords rose up and down, cutting open his heart and hitting his soul directly.
This kind of music was like a fulfilling pageant to one’s heart.
It was able to draw people in and fully immerse them even within a few moments.
Xu Yaoguang was still holding onto his mask as his gaze wandered in the lounge.
Not long after, the door at the end of the corridor opened, and the people from the music group rushed in. “Hurry up, Teacher Dai is waiting for us!”
“Don’t forget your instruments.”
The opening performance was a whole ensemble.
There were almost a hundred people in the music group.
Their noisy footsteps disturbed Xu Yaoguang’s thoughts.
He stood there looking at the lounge for a long time, recognizing it as Master Wei’s room. After thinking for a while, he decided to leave first.
If he remembered correctly, there was a monitoring camera backstage.
Xu Yaoguang returned to his seat.
Qin Yu was a little surprised.
The bathroom was outside and it would take at least 15 minutes to and fro, but Xu Yaoguang had returned in less than 10 minutes.
However, the performance was starting, so Qin Yu kept quiet.
Their seats were in the middle and there were four rows of individual VIP seats in front of them, which were reserved for some nobles and masters who were going to perform solo.
The lights above their heads went down instantaneously and the performance began.
**
Apart from some cultural snobs, those who came to watch the concert were mostly knowledgeable people in the industry.
The solo performances were by masters this time, so even those cultural snobs felt goosebumps all over their bodies when they heard their music. They experienced the five flavors of life through the music.
This was especially so during Master Wei’s finale performance.
He demonstrated all the greatest skills he had acquired throughout his life.
Be it changing handles, playing on double strings, harmonic, or jumping strings, he played extremely smoothly and reached perfection.
These skills could not be achieved simply with talent; the most important thing was to persevere with practice.
Wei Lin was known by everyone as the master of the violin, and it wasn’t groundless. His rigor and reverence of the violin were beyond everyone’s imagination. Over the years, he had never made a single mistake in any of his thousands of performances.
His greatness could only be truly understood by real violin masters.
A palace-level master and an ordinary master were worlds apart.
After Wei Lin played for twenty minutes and pulled the last string, the audience was silent for a whole minute before the tide-like applause sounded.
Qin Ran sat on the far left of the first row. After listening, she rubbed her face and took a deep breath.
The two teachers beside her were still discussing amongst themselves.
“Master Wei’s performance this time can be compared to his pinnacle performance in Country Y. After listening to him, I feel like I might as well go home and become a farmer.”
Everyone left after the show.
Qin Ran pulled her sweater’s hat over her head and left from another passageway.
“There are two new students whom the organizer pushed in.” Wei Zihang followed Qin Ran and whispered, “Let’s wait.”
“Okay.” Qin Ran lowered her head slightly, so deep in thoughts that her reaction was slow.
The two of them still went out the small door.
**
Almost everyone had left the performance hall.
Ning Qing and Lin Wan stayed, along with the other boy’s family.
“Look, Yu’er is going onstage to play soon.” Ning Qing directly sent a video to Ning Wei, her tone suppressed with excitement.
Hearing this, Mu Ying, who had been doing her homework, couldn’t help but look over.
She had been sulking these few days, so Mu Nan and Ning Wei did not take the initiative to talk to her, but she took the initiative to lean over now.
The video was not a dress rehearsal like last time and was the concert site. Be it the lighting or the special effects, it was way beyond that of the last dress rehearsal.
“The stage is so beautiful.” Mu Ying could not help but gasp. She paused and then asked, “Aunt, is Second Cousin going onstage?”
“Soon. Once the boy finishes playing, it’ll be your second cousin’s turn.” Ning Qing had always been proud of Qin Yu. Now that she finally had the chance, she could not restrain from boasting.
Lin Wan took out a mirror, reapplied her lipstick, and glanced over at them with the corner of her eye in disdain.
It was as if they had never seen the world.
The first one on stage was the boy.
He had been selected by the organizers, so his qualifications were obviously good.
He was about 15 or 16 years old and was very young. Unfortunately, his spirituality was not as impressive as his skills.
However, it was obvious he was a top-notch seedling.
The group of teachers all praised him, but only Master Wei sat on his chair and held his cup calmly. He was not extremely impressed and only said slowly, “He’s alright.”
Getting a word of praise from Wei Lin meant that the boy was indeed good.
The teachers already understood this.
“The next one is a girl named Qin Yu.” The teacher had clearly done her homework. “She was recommended by the organizer, who said that Master Wei would surely like her.”
Her surname was Qin as well?
And she even thought he would like her?
Master Wei raised an eyebrow and felt a little more curious.
Qin Yu went onstage holding her violin.
Within ten seconds, Master Wei seemed to hear something. He threw the cup in his hands on the table, squinted slightly, and stared coldly at Qin Yu.
