Life has infinite possibilities, and life deserves more attempts.
My eardrum had the feeling of throbbing for the first time, but it was not harsh, my heartbeat quickened, as if beating along with the rhythm of the music – thump, thump, thump.
The conductor on stage was not waving a baton, but stirring up one wave after another.
It made people sit up straight with their backs quivering slightly.
The auditorium was dark, with only a spotlight at the front.
The music echoed around.
A big wave rose up, fell, and another even higher wave was whipped up by the sea breeze, crashing down noisily, after a few times, the seawater calmed down, I could hear the sound of small waves lapping against the rocks, and the sound of waves colliding with each other, it felt a little delightful, a little tranquil.
It calmed my excited heart down as well.
Yet my heart could not completely settle, because I felt like a nerve in my back was still pulling at me, as if facing the temporarily calmed sea, I kept feeling that an even bigger wave would come surging over.
Sure enough, when I was lulled by the soothing music and my mind seemed to be completely at ease, the waves suddenly rose again, and my heart was seized as well.
Xiao Qi did not expect that just by listening to music, she would have such an immersive experience.
She could feel excited, passionate, angry, calm, cheerful and different emotions exchanging within her body, she was very nervous. She stroked the hair by her ear and realized her palm was already wet with sweat.
The effect was completely different from listening with earphones. She even felt her back turn slightly cold.
Fortunately, although the air conditioner in the concert hall was turned up high, it was very high up and there were many people, so it was not cold.
There was an intermission in the middle. The screen next to us specially indicated that applause should be withheld during intermissions between movements.
Since most people did not have much experience listening to symphonies, sometimes during an intermission, they would uncontrollably applaud, mistakenly thinking a piece had ended.
Each piece was very long. When it got exciting, the violinists’ bodies swayed along with the rhythm of the music. Sometimes their bodies would bend like shrimps.
The conductor waved his baton even more extremely, flailing in all directions as if his whole body was convulsing.
The concert hall seemed to have become a small leaf boat rocking and struggling forward amidst tempestuous winds and rains.
When a piece finished, Xiao Qi felt that even her soles were sweating.
Finally applause rang out and she clapped along.
The lights in the venue also brightened. She turned to look at Teacher Zhou beside her, but saw that Teacher Zhou still sat upright, like she was at work, also clapping politely. Compared to Xiao Qi’s strange state, Teacher Zhou was much calmer, even using her phone to take pictures in between.
Next, some violinists left part of the stage with their violins and some cello players also left, but the cellos were not taken away, probably because they were too heavy.
The next performer was master saxophonist Martin Frost. As soon as he appeared on stage, thunderous applause broke out. Xiao Qi noticed Zhou Meiling was also more excited, because sitting close they could see the people on stage very clearly.
Martin Frost was too handsome, and he was very tall. The conductor was conducting from a platform and Martin Frost was standing under the platform, yet he looked almost equally tall.
He wore black pants below, and a gray knitted high neck sweater above, holding a saxophone in his hand. It was simple attire, yet all eyes seemed focused on him, as if he glowed, while everyone else around him had become part of the scenery.
He was truly gorgeous.
It was Xiao Qi’s first time realizing that men could also have such refined, elegant good looks.
He seemed completely out of this world.
Compared with the previous piece, this one was very lively and cheerful. The audience also felt happy. The violinists, men and conductor all interacted with bright smiles.
As Xiao Qi listened, she gradually felt it was tiring to keep sitting, confirming she indeed lacked any musical capacity. Now she felt the seats were a little cramped, hard to stretch her legs forward. Actually there was a rack in front, she badly wanted to prop her legs up, but that seemed impolite to the people in front, like putting her toes over their heads. Yet keeping her legs folded also felt tiring.
Only then did she realize the previous piece had been quite long.
That handsome sax guy was really handsome, but he did not have the same shock factor. Xiao Qi started spacing out a little.
She saw Zhou Meiling still watching attentively with perfect posture, not a wrinkle on her skirt.
Xiao Qi wore a skirt too. Her legs were also slightly unnaturally positioned. To sit side-saddle like Teacher Zhou with knees pressed together took great effort to maintain.
She looked around again and it seemed everyone else also sat up straight, though a minority few played on their phones, with the brightness turned low.
Occasionally a cough would be heard, then swiftly muffled, as if they started coughing but stopped halfway, making everyone’s throat ticklish.
Xiao Qi’s thoughts wandered, she was restless and fidgety. She realized sitting properly this way for hours would be quite difficult.
Thinking this way and looking at the performers on stage, the violinists, sax players behind, cellists, all sitting there in the spotlight unable to shift position or pick noses, scratch heads, shake legs etc, she gained more appreciation for their challenging role.
After the sax piece ended, loud applause erupted again. Martin Frost hugged the conductor, then a staff girl in uniform went onstage to present flowers.
Martin Frost accepted the bouquet, then started playing again.
When this piece finished, he shook hands with the violinist beside him. Xiao Qi noticed that violinist was unexpectedly good-looking too, with long, golden brown hair. Her gaze lingered, realizing the violinist had a great figure, very slender and delicate, with distinct elegant features.
The conductor and Martin Frost exited to the rear stage, then came out again to another round of hearty applause as they continued performing together with the musicians already on stage.
Xiao Qi was so uncomfortable shifting left and right, this song finally ended, the lights came on, showing an intermission of fifteen minutes on screens to the sides.
Xiao Qi didn’t especially need the bathroom yet, but wanted fresh air, unable to keep seated.
She didn’t know why sitting cramped two hours on the bus down from her rural hometown to Lvshan City never seemed as tiring and stressful as sitting here one hour.
Zhou Meiling could sit still very well, partly because it was inconvenient getting in and out from their middle seats, they would have to squeeze past people. She stayed put, taking out her phone to play with.
Xiao Qi still slowly squeezed out bit by bit.
Stepping outside, she heaved a breath of relief.
She saw a few foreign youth, male and female, chatting by the door. Xiao Qi thought her English was pretty good...yet it turned out they were probably speaking German or something she couldn’t understand. They were all very tall, the girls over 1.7 meters at least, blonde hair styled crisp and neat, guys had brown hair. Unsure if they were musicians or fans.
In all of China, Fucheng was still not considered a very developed city, at most third-tier. Fucheng did not have many foreigners, especially Europeans. Whereas Meng City as a coastal town had way more foreigners and a stronger economy too.
Xiao Qi loitered outside awhile, specially checking if the doors were closed. She had wondered if so many people would walk out on this kind of dull, tedious concert during intermission with the doors wide open...but the doors were shut, everyone had to re-enter...
Although photography was prohibited in the hall, based on current social media trends, people would still sneak photos and videos on their phones periodically. Teacher Zhou also took quite a few, seeing her edit posts for her moments.
When they returned after intermission, the music suddenly felt much more comfortable and enjoyable. Xiao Qi’s mind no longer wandered.
The previous sax concerto had been Mozart’s pieces. Next up were Beethoven ones.
Beethoven's compositions were very passionate, highly suitable for symphonic modes. Many musicians streamed onto stage again all at once.
Xiao Qi adjusted her state well until she finished listening, without falling asleep halfway or looking around. It was not until the lights on site turned on and people started leaving in batches that Xiao Qi realized it had ended.
She was a little impatient earlier, feeling it was very long. But when it really ended, she felt it was over very quickly.
She was a bit stunned that she had just watched a world-class performance. She strangely felt that being rich is great. Listening to these pieces live and through earphones is completely different. If she were very rich, she would probably buy tickets too and feel they were worth that much money.
Some instruments are very difficult to carry onto planes and cannot be checked in normally. They probably need to buy separate cabin tickets.
Walking out of the concert hall with Teacher Zhou, they got into the car. Zhou Meiling glanced at her phone occasionally, liking and commenting on posts, then turned to ask Xiao Qi, “How was it?”
“The opening was very shocking. It felt like my whole body was shaken. The middle was a bit boring and I couldn’t sit still. By the end, it was relatively tranquil and I could calmly appreciate it. It was quite good and very different from what I usually experience. I can’t really describe it clearly.”
Zhou Meiling only asked casually. Her friend gave her expensive tickets. She also wanted to go shopping in Fucheng, so she could enrich her social media feed. She did not expect the girl to answer so seriously.
"It's okay, you'll get used to it if you listen more next time." Zhou Meiling patted her shoulder and enviously glanced at how the girl's shoulders shone white without blemishes or pimples in the dim car.
"En." Xiao Qi nodded.
She thought that you really can't judge a book by its cover. She previously felt Teacher Zhou was quite casual and liked listening to very popular folk music. She did not expect that Zhou Meiling actually likes such elegant music. *fog*
She instantly felt there was still so much for her to learn in life, which seemed endless.
Zhou Meiling drove back without planning to stay overnight in Fucheng.
Perhaps because they just listened to such elegant symphonic music, the music in the car now was very comfortable without the most popular folk music, flowing like a mountain stream.
The mountains outside the window looked like ink paintings in the dark night.
Xiao Qi looked outside, lost in thought.
