248: Chapter 248 Gifts must be given in person

Vienna's Golden Hall.

This sanctuary, which had carried centuries of classical glory, was currently being forcibly taken over by an unprecedented Eastern aura.

Under the spotlight, Ye Xi's dark green gown rose and fell with the light.

As her fingertips rose and fell, the faint shimmer reflected from the silk seemed to leap repeatedly through the air.

The moment her slender fingers landed on the piano keys,

what erupted was not a gentle whisper, but a sense of power that signaled burning one's bridges.

In the first row below the stage, several international piano masters, who had originally been maintaining polite smiles, unconsciously leaned forward.

"This sense of narrative..."

Gary, the American master hailed as a "living fossil" of the piano world,

suddenly snapped his squinted eyes open, his cloudy pupils filled with sheer amazement.

He heard something different from the traditional European schools.

It was a vitality that struggled amidst extreme suppression and rekindled hope within the cracks.

At this moment, Ye Xi's mind held no complex fingerings, only those lingering shadows of words.

She thought of Dylan's desperate gamble on the wasteland in "the ferryman,"

and she thought of Tristan's line: "I am here because you need me."

That resonance spanning life and death was kneaded by her into an impassioned allegro.

Then, the melody took a sudden turn, becoming sharp and eerie.

That was Lin Que's "fan jin passes the imperial examination."

That distortion, ecstasy, and madness under feudal shackles,

and finally, that sliver of bone-chilling clarity gained amidst the sound of slaps.

Ye Xi transformed this literary social satire into segments of highly impactful descending chromatic scales,

sending chills down the spines of the music critics below, as if their souls were being washed clean by the piano music,

exposing the absurd essence hidden beneath their magnificent suits.

As the final piece concluded, the piano music came to a dead stop like tearing silk.

Applause erupted like thunder throughout the hall; many noble ladies even forgot their decorum and stood up in excitement.

Just as the audience thought the performance had ended perfectly and prepared for the curtain call, Ye Xi did not stand up.

She adjusted the microphone, her clear eyes scanning the forest of spectators below,

and spoke softly in fluent English with a unique Eastern charm:

"I was once extremely anxious, and even thought about fleeing the stage."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"But the reason I can stand here is because of a story, and a person."

The corners of Ye Xi's mouth unconsciously curled up slightly,

and the originally cold color in her eyes instantly turned into fragments of soft light when that person was mentioned.

"That story told me that the wasteland isn't scary; what's scary is losing the courage to go home."

"And that person told me that if I'm nervous, I should just treat the audience as a flock of pigeons waiting to be fed."

A wave of good-natured laughter rippled through the audience.

"To thank them for that courage, this next piece is an original composition I've never performed publicly,

serving as an 'Easter egg' for the first stop of this tour, and also... a gift I'm giving to that person."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall was in an uproar!

Performing an original composition in a supreme temple of classical music like the Golden Hall

required not only confidence but a nearly arrogant level of boldness.

The piano music rang out again.

This time, the melody became more complex than ever before.

The first half was like trudging through a fog, heavy and lonely.

But the second half held a faint, extreme clarity following madness, like a blood-red flower blooming upon ruins.

Ye Xi had almost perfectly crushed the satire and redemption from Lin Que's writing into the black and white keys.

When the final note dissipated beneath the dome,

Ye Xi's hands left the keys, her chest heaving violently, with fine beads of sweat hanging from her brow.

The entire hall seemed to have been pressed with a mute button.

This silence made Ye Xi's heart race,

and she instinctively clenched her fists, even beginning to doubt

whether her experimental original, steeped in heavy Eastern philosophical colors, had truly offended these discerning ears.

However, just then,

in the center of the first row, Master Gary, a titan of the industry, stood up tremblingly.

He didn't speak; the old man, who was used to the ups and downs of the world of fame and fortune, had hands resting on his knees that were actually shaking slightly.

He was the first to raise his hands and clap heavily!

"Bravo!"

With Gary standing in tribute, the entire audience snapped out of their daze, erupting into the most fanatical and sustained cheers of the night.

"Oh my god! A masterpiece of genius!"

"That piece... I heard the sound of a soul being torn apart and then reassembled!"

Ye Xi looked at those once arrogant and indifferent Western faces, which were now filled with a nearly religious fervor.

She bowed deeply to Gary, her eyes finally unable to stop from welling with warmth.

...

Backstage dressing room.

As soon as she entered, her manager, Sister Yang, rushed forward excitedly, hugged Ye Xi, and shouted incoherently:

"Xiao Xi! You did it! You actually stunned Master Gary just now!"

Ye Xi was shaken until she felt dizzy and slumped onto the sofa,

all her strength seemingly drained away with that final piece.

Ignoring Sister Yang's celebration, she immediately grabbed her phone

and opened the chat box labeled [Mu Men].

With a hint of a young girl's joy and the nervousness of someone eager for praise, her fingertips moved rapidly:

[Fugitive Beethoven]: Just got off stage, I have no energy left...

[Fugitive Beethoven]: But your 'pigeon feeding method' really works!

[Fugitive Beethoven]: It looks like I've fed them all well! [Proud.jpg]

A moment later, the phone vibrated lightly.

[Mu Xia]: As long as it works.

[Mu Xia]: But...

[Mu Xia]: Since you said it was a gift for someone, wouldn't it be a pity if they didn't receive it?

Ye Xi was momentarily stunned when she saw the reply.

Wait.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

When she was speaking on stage just now, there was no live broadcast,

and to maintain a sense of mystery, all non-official audio and video recordings were prohibited at the venue.

How did he know in such detail? He even imitated her tone of voice perfectly, as if...

he were right there at the scene.

[Fugitive Beethoven]: How did you...

Before Ye Xi could finish typing,

the other side sent a photo directly.

Ye Xi held her breath and clicked it open.

In the photo was a close-up of her bowing slightly during the curtain call, with the lights converging on the crown of her head.

The angle was perfect, with light and shadow interlaced,

the dark green satin appearing almost unrealistically magnificent under the lens,

and amidst the shifting light, even the texture of the fabric was clearly discernible.

Ye Xi's gaze was locked onto the screen, her breath hitching from extreme shock.

Because that shooting angle...

was neither an official camera position nor a second-floor box.

It was a vantage point that could only be captured by someone sitting on the left side near the front row!

In that position, there currently sat a high school student who was supposed to be far away in Jiangcheng, China.

Clatter.

The phone slipped to the floor.

Ye Xi looked up, toward the red curtain leading to the audience seats.

Her heart,

at this moment, almost stopped beating.

...