fingers of musicians

This square-shaped building falls in the interior of Central Park, surrounded by a sea of ​​trees like a moat.If you look down from the top of the city, on one side of the sea of ​​trees, there are old people practicing Tai Chi sword, couples walking with children, art students sketching, and a blind date corner where men and women of all colors gather; while the other side of the sea of ​​trees is completely is silent.

At this time, sitting on a bench outside the sea of ​​trees was a man who was quietly reading a newspaper and seemed to have an aristocratic atmosphere from the classical period.

The man's hair is combed behind his head, with two slightly curly strands hanging down his forehead. He is wearing a custom-made suit, and the wool coat is loosely draped over his shoulders. With a rough glance, his whole body is nothing but minimalist black and white Two colors, only one collar pin fastened to the collar on both sides of the white shirt is golden all over.There are two thin chains hanging below the collar pin, and on the lower one is a light blue five-petal flower that is wrapped just right. If you get close enough, you can see two capital letters engraved in the center of the flower. : LU.

"Ahem——" Zhong Guanbai glanced at his watch, threw the newspaper away without a trace of temperament, and quickly wrapped up his coat, "Girl, you have been sketching characters for too long, and I was frozen to death in the winter." , I have something to do, so I will leave first, and you can use your imagination for the rest." In the end, he turned his head and winked at him, "Remember that the pectoral muscles can be bigger."

Zhong Guan adjusted his neckline, and strode towards the sea of ​​trees.

Naturally, he didn't come to be a model for others, he just considered all possible emergencies on the road before coming, so he reserved enough time, but he didn't expect that everything went very smoothly, and he didn't even encounter a red light.Mr. Zhong, who arrived nearly two hours early, first guided a group of children to play two Frisbees in Central Park, and then, with the mood of helping others, asked a college student to draw a sketch (more than half of it to be precise). It was only then that the extra time and the tension about meeting the lover's parents were killed together.

When Zhong Guanbai walked to the junction of the inside and outside of the sea of ​​trees, he felt a difference. Compared with the noisy world when he came, the world ahead was as quiet as it was fake.

Quietness itself is a kind of threshold, especially in this kind of place.This deliberate man-made perfection made Zhong Guanbai's body tense unconsciously at the first step.

"Sir, please show your membership card." The doorman smiled.

In fact, this place does not need a membership card. Remembering the face of every member is the most basic requirement of the doorman. This is a synonym for "do not enter", because Zhong Guanbai's face is not in his memory.

Zhong Guanbai didn't stay away from such places for too long, and he understood what was going on: "Mr. Lu Huaichuan asked me to meet here. My surname is Zhong."

The doorman's smile remained unchanged: "Sorry, we haven't received a notification from Mr. Lu."

As soon as Zhong Guanbai heard it, he knew that Lu Zaoqiu's father was implying that the family background gap between them was enough to make a meeting an insurmountable hurdle, even though they were geographically separated by less than 500 meters at all.

"I'll make a call." Zhong Guanbai said.

The doorman smiled and said nothing.

Zhong Guanbai thought it would be useless to report Lu Yingru or Lu Zaoqiu's name now, and he did not call Lu Huaichuan, but directly called He Yulou.

He Yulou answered the phone and asked if he was looking for Wen Yuean. They were painting a cup, "Yuean thought the moon I drew was not big enough, and asked me to draw another one." Zhong Guanbai could hear He Yulou's words through the phone. He Yulou turned on the speakerphone, and Zhong Guanbai hurriedly asked Wen Yuean if he was in good health these past few days. After hearing Wen Yuean's word "good", he began to brag about how well he had recently practiced the piano. Wen Yuean just boasted how hard he worked to compose the music, and he poked his tail and said that he especially wanted to drink tea from a certain club now, "The tea there is most like the one my teacher made for me before, and the tea from other houses doesn't have this taste." , and finally complained aggrievedly: But the doorman refused to let him in.

Wen Yue'an grew up watching Zhong Guanbai grow up, and he knew that at least seven out of ten of what he said was nonsense, but Zhong Guanbai called him all the time, and there must be a reason for it, so he didn't ask much. , only looked at He Yulou.

He Yulou purposely said to Zhong Guanbai on the other end of the phone in a neutral manner, "If you want to drink the tea made by Yue'an, just come here by yourself."

After he finished speaking and hung up the phone, He Yulou saw Wen Yuean holding a pen as if he was going to stare at him, so he smiled and raised his hands in surrender: "I'll ask someone to do it right away."

Zhong Guanbai choked on He Yulou's last words for a long time, and was thinking about calling Qin Zhao to try it out, but he didn't expect that a manager surnamed Ping came out to pick him up after a while, handed him a business card, and said it was Mr. He people.

Ping Huiyuan led Zhong Guanbai inside, and said with a smile as he walked, "I've heard Mr. Zhong's name for a long time, but I didn't expect Mr. Zhong and Mr. He to have such a relationship."

"What's the matter?" Zhong Guanbai asked. He walked into the building and felt that the temperature was very high, so he took off his coat and suit jacket, leaving only a shirt and a vest.

Ping Huiyuan thought of the sentence that didn't fit He Yulou's usual tone, "A child in my family was locked up outside, so he came to my place to make trouble": "Hey, it's a good relationship. Where exactly is Mr. Zhong going? For tea , I will take Mr. Zhong to a quiet tea room."

"It's like this, Mr. Lu Huaichuan invited me to meet, it should be at—" Zhong Guanbai suddenly saw a man in double-breasted white clothes and several bodyguards in uniforms appearing on the winding corridor with a strong sense of design in the distance. "over there."

At the same time, the other party also saw him.

He looks almost the same as the photo on the information, it is Lu Huaichuan, and he looks younger than the photo, probably because the photo does not show his tall and straight figure, and Lu Zaoqiu's good looks probably come from him.But the information did not say that when Lu Huaichuan looked at people, his eyes were half-raised, as if there was an excessive sense of indifference. I don't know if it was because of his condescension.

Ping Huiyuan said: "Then I will send Mr. Zhong up now."

When they were a few steps away from Lu Huaichuan, Ping Huiyuan stopped, called "Mr. Lu" in a neutral manner, and then said to Zhong Guanbai: "Mr. Zhong, Mr. He said that he must send you back. Remember to call the number on the business card before you leave, otherwise I won’t be able to explain to Mr. He.”

Half of the words were for Zhong Guanbai, and the other half were for Lu Huaichuan. Ping Huiyuan has been here for a long time, so he naturally has a certain understanding of the characters in it. He Yulou has never explained it so carefully, but he can't be careless in his work. .

Zhong Guanbai nodded and said yes, and Ping Huiyuan packed his coat for him before leaving.

"I almost didn't recognize it." Now that the two are standing at the same height, Lu Huaichuan still half-raised his eyes and looked at Zhong Guanbai's clothes. Before he continued to speak, Zhong Guanbai realized that something was wrong. Sure enough, Lu Huaichuan took another look at a passing waiter, who was also wearing a shirt and vest, although the color and material were completely different from Zhong Guanbai's.

Zhong Guanbai warned himself three times, "The other party is Lu Zaoqiu's father, I am a mature adult", and "I can use my beautiful chest muscles to hold up a white shirt", and took off the vest in a particularly good-tempered manner. Come down and put it on your left arm, then take two steps forward, extend your right hand sincerely, and say: "Mr. Lu, hello."

Lu Huaichuan glanced at Zhong Guanbai's hand, he didn't intend to shake hands at all: "No one taught you that you can't be late when you meet your elders."

Zhong Guanbai has always been particularly disgusted with all the questions that start with "No one taught you" or "Your parents never taught you", and he does not believe that Lu Huaichuan did not investigate his background, although he did not show it at this time. Unhappy, but he didn't take the initiative at the beginning. He retracted his hand and put on an apologetic smile: "What you said is that you are the father of early autumn, and of course my elder. I really didn't think carefully, I am not here Members who thought that it was enough to arrive at the door on time, how could they know that reporting Mr. Lu's name in this place would not work, and they would bother other elders."

Lu Huaichuan's half-raised eyelids lifted up slightly, and the way he looked at Zhong Guanbai seemed to be a little different from just now, but it didn't seem to be the case, Zhong Guanbai still couldn't see through the eyes that were not fully opened. what.

"If anyone who knows the word Lu Huaichuan can come in, then what's the difference between here and the outside?" Lu Huaichuan laughed, as if he thought it was funny from the bottom of his heart, "However, I don't know that such a simple thing as entering the door requires It can only be done by others. Let's go, pianist—" Lu Huaichuan stopped mentioning the word "elder" and turned around after choosing this title, "I still have a lot of people to meet."

Zhong Guanbai followed behind Lu Huaichuan, and disappeared into a corner of the corridor together with those bodyguards.

The huge mirror floor without a single seam reflects long dining tables covered with exquisite tablecloths, people in various costumes holding goblets, an orchestra playing banquet music, and a white grand piano...

At this time, it also reflected Lu Huaichuan who had just entered the banquet hall.

The bow that the cello was drawing in the band didn’t even finish, the bow left the strings, and the music stopped abruptly. No matter where the guests talking were in the hall, even those with their backs to the door, At the same time quiet down.

All eyes gathered in the same direction, Zhong Guanbai was standing behind Lu Huaichuan, although none of these faces were familiar to him, he was not unfamiliar with such an occasion.

Lu Huaichuan didn't introduce Zhong Guanbai's meaning to anyone, he just raised his chin towards the grand piano in the corner of the hall: "Go, pianist, after the end, someone will settle your performance fee, if you can play it well enough for everyone If the guests are satisfied, you will make more money today than any concert you have ever held before."

The audience was too quiet, and these words fell into everyone's ears.

Zhong Guanbai looked at Lu Huaichuan, he knew that Lu Huaichuan didn't respect music, but for a moment he still didn't want to believe that Lu Huaichuan would do such a thing: "Mr. Lu, you agreed to meet me just to let me... occasion to play the piano?"

"You just play the piano, but in the future, it's more appropriate to contact the banquet planner. Oh, by the way, there are some art students over there, maybe they are your alumni, you can go and say hello." Lu Huaichuan He casually glanced at several young women in the same tight skirts in the banquet hall, then walked towards several guests who were chatting together, and ignored Zhong Guanbai, as if he really couldn't find anyone else who was similar to Zhong Guanbai. The reason for being in the same room.

Zhong Guanbai stood at the entrance of the hall, looking at those necklaces, skirts, high heels, ties, trousers, and leather shoes, he suddenly felt very ridiculous.Perhaps in this luxurious room, no one except himself would feel that Lu Huaichuan's proposal was inappropriate.

Probably all people who learn the piano will have such an experience, that is, they are always asked regardless of the occasion: Don’t you know how to play the piano, play it for everyone.And the bystander will always take it for granted.

Zhong Guanbai still remembers that when Wen Yuean taught him the piano, he said to him: "Abai, if you leave my door, you can decide whether to play or what to play. Don't get your hands dirty."

The white grand piano is no more than half the distance of the banquet hall from him, which is not a long distance, but in this place, or in many places in this world, the distance from the entrance of the banquet hall to the depth of the banquet hall, some people need Take decades to go.

Zhong Guanbai walked through the crowd and walked towards the piano step by step.

Everything around him seemed grotesque, as if something was changing with every step he took, and the voices of the crowd's conversations rose and fell in his ears like a tide.

Suddenly, the fragments of past memories seemed to be wrapped in the surrounding conversation, one after another, they got into Zhong Guanbai's ears——

"Chairman Lu, this is a Stradivarius. I recognize it. It was the first time you played with me on this violin. Then, what about the other one?"

—“My mother’s.”

"She also plays the violin? When you...that...when will you take me to your house, let's—"

— "She's gone. Besides, I'm not going home."

……

"Our family doesn't need an artist, just buy what we like."

……

There is also the line of words on the information, which flooded up with the surrounding voices over and over again——

"Ye Yu, Lu Huaichuan's ex-wife, an internationally renowned violinist, and his current spouse, Cong Yu, is also an internationally renowned violinist."

……

It was only a dozen steps away from the piano.

Zhong Guanbai looked at Lu Huaichuan in the distance, and Lu Huaichuan also half-raised his eyes and glanced at him, then turned his head and said something to the assistant behind him, his posture had nothing in common with Lu Zaoqiu.Lu Zaoqiu's aura is reserved most of the time, he refuses people thousands of miles away, and doesn't allow anyone to do more research, while Lu Huaichuan even if he just orders the people around him to pour a glass of wine, he always has the appearance of attracting the attention of the audience. pressure.

This time it's not pouring wine, what Lu Huaichuan said to his assistant was: "Send the surveillance video to Lu Zaoqiu, let him see how the little star he raised performs for others."