After some reflection, Qi Mu decided to put aside the disgusting people. He ignored them and continued improving his skills. There were so many things to do. Improving his violin was far more important than anything else.

And so, Qi Mu told Charles to continue digging for more details. At the same time, he officially started working with the school’s orchestra.

When Qi Mu studied at the Geneva Conservatory in his last life, he served as deputy concertmaster. At the time, the concertmaster was a year older than him with skills and strengths on par with Qi Mu. The only difference was the concertmaster’s mentor was the violin department’s dean.

Before entering the school, Qi Mu (previous life) hadn’t studied under any top instructors. His first year there, he was very behind the other students, especially in professional knowledge. There were things the other students treated like common sense that were completely unknown to him.

Those first two years, he absorbed knowledge and practiced like a madman. During his third year, he became the deputy concertmaster and delivered his speech as the grade’s representative.

Now, he served as the concertmaster of the Paris Conservatory’s orchestra. Although it was a temporary arrangement, Akkad said the orchestra would have a performance the next week. Qi Mu needed to be ready.

The next afternoon, he arrived at the rehearsal hall early.

It was a large lecture hall, approximately a hundred square meters in size. There were no desks or platforms. Instead, it held only chairs placed according to the musicians’ positions. A score stand stood in front of each.

The room was designed in the generic baroque style used by the college. The lighting wasn’t as excellent as Akkad’s music room, but several windows were open for ventilation.

When Qi Mu got there, only a few girls sat in their chairs, chatting. From their positions, they seemed to be in the second violin group.

He watched them afar, but before he could greet them, a short-haired girl stood. Eyes wide, she exclaimed, “You’re Little Seven!”

The others were also surprised to see Qi Mu——

“God, my teacher said Little Seven would take Angelo’s place for a while, is it true?!”

“Lena, I told you he would, but you still didn’t believe it. See, he’s here now!”

“Didn’t they say Professor Akkad assigned him too many tasks? How could Little Seven have time to come?”

…

The ancient Chinese had a saying: “Three women were enough for a drama.” Qi Mu had never taken this saying seriously, but… When he saw the girls shift from surprise to discussing which mentor was gentlest, QI Mu helplessly covered his forehead and realized the truth——

His ancestors hadn’t deceived him.

After they argued, realizing they were going about it wrong, the girl called Lena walked over to Qi Mu and asked, “That… Little Seven, are you really going to be our concertmaster?”

At the girl’s meek behavior, Qi Mu smiled. “Well, if there isn’t a problem… I’ll be concertmaster for half the semester.”

The words “half the semester” frustrated the girls. They exchanged a few more words and introduced themselves.

Generally speaking, each student at the Conservatory had their own mentor to guide them. In smaller departments, like the harp department, having instructors teach students one-on-one was rather common.

But, for the violin, piano, cello, and other larger departments, the instructors would guide three or five students at once.

Of course, there were students professors paid special attention to.

Dylan, for example. He was his mentor’s favored student and often given closed-studies. He shared his professor with the short-haired girl, but she wasn’t quite at his level.

There were also mentors like Akkad, who only accepted one student. But, they were far and few between.

So the girls were quite jealous of Qi Mu for having a mentor that would give him one-on-one instruction, yet glad they didn’t have such a harsh mentor.

When the other orchestra members arrived, Lena turned to Qi Mu. “Little Seven, although the violin department is happy about your arrival… some people might not be so friendly.”

This remake had Qi Mu’s eyebrows raising. “Not so friendly… What do you mean?”

“Those guys in the woodwind section,” the girl said, “They’ve always envied Angelo for getting the dean’s recommendation to the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Our Angelo is strong, that’s a fact! Their envy is useless!”

The girl side-eyed the boys as she spoke, and as they demonstrated the vitality of youth.

At such youthful behavior, Qi Mu couldn’t help but chuckle——

He hadn’t seen such lovely students for a long time, or such blatant defiance.

After leaving the academy, most musicians learned to keep their emotions in check. It was like entering the workplace. They could no longer do what they wanted in fear of others stumbling into their path and speaking behind their backs.

At the girl’s concern, Qi Mu said, “Maybe you think too much. Angelo is very skilled; they must be blessing him sincerely…”

“Are you Little Seven?”

Qi Mu was interrupted. Surprised, he turned to see a boy from the woodwind group standing behind him, bowing.

That’s right… bowing.

The boy had a rare figure for a music student. He was muscular and stood half a head taller than Qi Mu. He had to be around two meters tall.

Though his tone wasn’t polite, Qi Mu wasn’t timid. Tilting his head up, Qi Mu answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, “Yes, I’m Qi Mu. If I may ask, who are you?”

A Chinese man amongst blondes stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens. The youth’s elegant demeanor and speech made the other members stop to look at him.

When they looked at this youth who had become a campus celebrity, they felt… he really was good-looking.

The impact was even bigger this close up. To Qi Mu’s surprise, the aggressive student lowered his head. “Actually… I wanted to ask a favor.” The boy pulled a thin CD from his backpack.

Qi Mu looked at it and saw a pair of hands laid over black and white keys on the cover. These fingers were slender and pristine. Just by looking, he knew they made beautiful melodies as if by nature.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, the boy said, “I love Mr. Bertram’s piano, and… I heard you were close to him. I was wondering if you could ask for an autograph?”

Thrown off, Qi Mu smiled and took the CD. “Yes, I’ll ask him as soon as possible.”

The boy sighed in relief and repeatedly thanked him.

Qi Mu looked at the taller student bowing to him, and before he could react, over half the orchestra had surrounded him——

“Oh God, can you really ask for Mr. Bertram’s autograph?”

“I’m a big fan, but when he was here as a judge, I wasn’t here!”

“Little Seven, you’re so nice. Please help me get an autograph as well. I’ll bring the CD tomorrow!”

…

By the end of the traffic jam, Qi Mu had collected eight albums and more than a dozen reservations for an autograph, all of which would be sent to him tomorrow.

Qi Mu had no choice but to pack up all the CDs and store them in the bag with his music scores. As soon as he turned around, a young boy around fifteen or sixteen looked up at him. With adorable blue eyes, the boy was as lovely as a doll.

Qi Mu’s heart softened. With a smile, he asked, “Do you want Min Chen’s autograph, too?”

“N… No.”

He shook his head rigorously. At Qi Mu’s surprised gaze, he removed a CD from his bag and thrust it forward. “… May I have your autograph, please?”

Qi Mu’s eyes widened when he saw the album.

The words “New York Philharmonic Orchestra” were written on the cover, and on the back, a familiar name was credited under concertmaster——

Qi Mu.

This was the album Qi Mu recorded at last year’s festival in Hong Kong.

Qi Mu’s heart warmed. He smiled and took the boy’s pen, signing his name in the black space on the cover.

“Thank you for your appreciation. I will work harder.”

His acknowledgment made the boy blush. The young man then ran to the back door, and Qi Mu took out his violin. Before long, the assistant conductor entered the room and introduced their new temporary concertmaster whom everyone had already met.

In front of nearly a hundred people, Qi Mu looked at their young, immature faces and felt something inexplicable——

This was the first time he had become the concertmaster of an orchestra.

Over the next month or so, he would be responsible for leading the orchestra even higher together with the conductor.

And, in the future…

“Hey, Little Seven, this orchestra has a rule. I don’t know if you know it.”

Qi Mu, already planning for the future: “…”

The interrupted Qi Mu coughed to hide his gaffe then turned to look at the young man. The brunet stood toward the end with empty hands. Qi Mu smiled, “This… I do not know, can you tell me?”

The young man smiled, baring his teeth, and spoke like a salesman: “It’s very simple. That is, as our concertmaster, your skills need to be advanced. For example… playing 《Infinity》 in under three minutes and forty seconds?”

Immediately, the orchestra sizzled like a frying pan——

“Playing 《Infinity》 in 3 minutes and 40 seconds? You have to be joking! I would be thankful if I could play in 3 minutes and 50 seconds!”

“This is too much! Since when did our orchestra have this rule? It’s 《Infinity》, you know!”

“Wasn’t Angelo’s record 3 minutes and 47 seconds?”

…

Finally, someone couldn’t stand it. “Hey, Kale! Just because the violin department won first twice in a row, and you beat Langston and Seven, doesn’t mean you can cause a ruckus! We’ve never had this rule! You’re just damaging yourself. If you have the ability, beat everyone in the assessment with your own piano.”

The boy from the piano department just shook his head dismissively and said, “What about the rule? Angelo has yet to graduate, and he’s already been replaced. He needs to be more skilled than Angelo. Fine, it doesn’t have to be 3 minutes and 40 seconds, I just made it up. But Langston can play 《Dante Symphony》, and Mr. Bertram appreciated it a lot!”

Everyone was so disgusted they hissed.

They knew “Kale hated the violin department” was practically his slogan because he was mad he lost twice in a row. Therefore, he deliberately made trouble for Qi Mu and twisted his words, all consistent with his personality.

It was no big deal to lose a verbal match anyway. He had nothing to lose.

Even though the other members shared these thoughts, Qi Mu stared at the vigorous brunet. Eyes narrowed, a trace of ridicule lit up his gaze. He held his violin and stepped forward.

In the noisy rehearsal hall, the young man’s low, even voice seemed to gain infinite power. The room fell abruptly silent——

“Since you want me to prove my ability so much, then…”

“Thank you for the invitation.”