Fan Fiction |
by StArrY^^
Adapted from TV serial and Book-- "Di 8 Hao Dang Pu"
-(Chapter 9)-
-||* A Century Ago *||-
A century ago, the Boss had a name. A century was a long period of time. It meant a hundred years, ten decades in total. Whatever that had happened one century ago were in the past, history, forgotten. Let the time-turner in the lands humans cannot reach turn back one hundred years ago, and let the events unroll themselves before the eyes of the readers…
A century ago, the year was 1930…
The name the Boss had was-- Wang RenFu.
*+*
In the year 1930, Wang RenFu was a young lad in his twenties. He was a talented musician and had gone overseas to Germany to further his studies, and entered the Roe University in Vienna.
He rented a simple room and it became his home in the strange land. He was often lonely, but would normally wash his homesickness and miseries when the night fell, with his violin. The music he played on his violin soothed him and cheered him up lots.
Life on the campus was rather mundane. The lessons were long and dreary and stacks of tutorials filled the desk in RenFu’s room. However, he always found some precious time for him and his violin. In his Year 2, he joined the famous String Ensemble in the University, when he passed the stiff audition with flying colours.
As Roe’s String Ensemble was renowned and recognized worldwide, it would hold a concert annually, in the grand concert hall in Vienna. RenFu’s playing skills surpassed his peers and some of his seniors, so he was selected to take part in the concert as well, and it was an honour, as juniors in the Ensemble seldom had the chance to take part in the concert.
The concert day drew closer, and RenFu’s days were normally packed with practices and rehearsals came along not long after. He never grumbled or found it a chore, as playing the violin meant the world to him.
When the big day finally arrived, RenFu stood behind the curtains, in his place, with all his fellow string mates, waiting patiently for the Emcee to announce the first item. They straightened their suits a little nervously and pulled at their ties, then tuned their stringed instruments for a final time.
The lights dimmed and the concert begun with a vivacious march.
The concert proceeded on smoothly, and there was overwhelming response from the audience. Applause sounded through the large hall, and reverberated, to the delight of the performers.
The second last item was a violin solo. And unmistakably, Wang RenFu was the soloist, the youngest ever to take part in the concert and actually present a solo. The audience stirred a little in their seats and whispered to their neighbours as they waited for RenFu to appear and begin his solo piece.
“Fancy! He is only 21?” A lady exclaimed as she read the programme.
“Do you think he would be good?” Her neighbour, her mother in fact, asked dubiously.
A man beside her, her husband, reassured her. “He has got to be good or else Roe would not put him in this concert!”
RenFu walked out to the stage confidently. His violin had been polished and it reflected in the bright stage lights, literally shining with radiance. He donned a simple white long sleeved shirt, and a pair of well-cut black long pants, showing off his slender figure. He wore an unbuttoned formal black jacket over his shirt. His hair was straight, and in streaks of blonde brown. Part of his hair fell neatly over his eyebrow, and he flicked it lightly away with a slight shake of his head. He smiled with suave ease, and bowed low before the audience, his hazelnut brown, soulful eyes shining in the dazzling lights above. Butterflies were fluttering their pretty wings in his stomach, but he knew that once he pulled his bow across the first note, they would disappear instantaneously.
His first number was an andante one, and it was melancholy and brooding. The basic skills of flawless intonation and the fullness of the tone of the colour were placed before the audience, and he surpassed himself with the aura and mood he created in his playing. He conveyed the inner message from within the music to the audience, even to the extent of activating the active tear glands of some ladies.
The lady who had been surprised by RenFu’s age was totally mesmerized by him and his playing. She felt herself being brought into a whole new world, a world that consisted only of his music and… him. Even from the distance, she could see that he was handsome, and his grace captured her.
When his piece was done, the rapturous audience stilled for a moment. Suddenly, someone from somewhere started applauding, and soon, everyone in the concert hall began clapping profusely, and fervently, eager to reward the young, talented violinist. The lady put her small hands together and clapped for all’s worth. She flashed a mega-watt smile at RenFu, hoping to transmit her message of encouragement to him.
RenFu’s lips stretched wide and he held out his violin and bow in his two hands and bowed deeply, thanking the audience. Then his expression turned serious again, as he started to prepare for his second piece. The applause died down as the audience awaited his second and last item, with sheer anticipation.
The second piece was a refreshing difference from the first one. It was a fast number, a scherzo. (Scherzo means “a joke” or “jokingly”) It was lively and some parts teased the performer with its scalic passages and running notes with were coupled with trills and such. RenFu’s bow moved from string to string quickly and the fingers of his left hand moved furiously, and at times up and down as positions changed from the 1st to the 2nd or to the 3rd or 4th. His body swayed about and his hair bounced and flapped up and down a little from the vigour and fervor of his playing.
When he finally pressed on the last note and plucked it deftly, that is, pizzicato on the last note, he drew out a long breath of sigh and enjoyed the glory and wondrous moment of the thunderous applause from the enchanted and impressed audience.
A boyish grin appeared on his face, releasing every bit of tension left from his performance. He grinned widely like a silly, and yet with a victorious air of a winner. Then he bowed below ninety degrees, before the audience and escaped into the cool comfort in the dressing rooms behind the curtains, in the backstage.
In the vicinity of the room, he placed his violin gently back into its case, and rubbed the remnants of some rosin on the strings and wood of the violin with a nylon cloth. He clapped the case shut and rubbed his hands together for some warmth. He touched his flushed cheeks and realized that they were burning hot. He grinned again, like a Cheshire cat and pumped his fist into the air.
“YEA MAN~! I HAVE DONE IT~!” He roared, his lungs expanding as air rushed in.
Someone knocked on the door and RenFu opened it, wondering who the visitor could be. Then a familiar face appeared. It was his bosom friend back at Taiwan.
“XIEZHI~!” He boomed out happily and hugged his friend tightly.
Sun XieZhi grinned sunnily and gave RenFu a friendly slap on his back. After exchanging news like two excited long-lost friends, XieZhi broke some news to him.
“Hey… Fu, I have a favour to ask of you!”
“Just shoot~” RenFu nodded amiably.
“Well, my uncle and his family are coming to stay in Vienna, could you play host to them?”
RenFu dimpled and agreed promptly. “A definite yes~! Erm… who is in your uncle’s family?”
“Well, just my uncle, my aunt and their daughter.”
“Daughter?” RenFu’s eyes opened wide.
“Yes… Hehe… My cousin is one gorgeous young lady~!” XieZhi winked and replied cheekily. He knew his buddy too well. RenFu gave a somewhat sheepish and abashed grin.
XieZhi laughed at his friend and initiated, “Let’s have dinner together? Will show you my uncle’s family tomorrow~ Just bear it for one more night yea?”
RenFu nodded in consent and completed with his violin, he set off with XieZhi to the nearest restaurant.
“I’m famished!”
“Yea… I could eat Sun XieZhi alive! Arhh… Tender meat…” RenFu pretended to lick his lips in delight, earning a quick punch from his buddy.
“Dream on! I won’t let you touch me!” RenFu ducked from the punch and grinned smugly.
XieZhi kicked him in the shin while he gloated on and caught him in surprise. RenFu’s smug grin wiped off as he howled, smarting from the pain. “XieZhi! You kicked me right on spot!”
They carried on their playful, and somewhat childish fun on the way to the restaurant. Big guys they were, but small kids in their hearts.
*+*
RenFu was back in his little room. He lied on the bed comfortably, his tousled head resting on his arms, which crossed themselves on the soft furrows of his stuffed pillow. His thoughts were fleeing about randomly and he felt rather restless. He stared at the white ceiling above him, his brownish orbs focusing on a particular spot, willing himself to enter dreamland.
Presently, he did, as his heavy eyelids yielded to the sleep bugs, after the hectic day.
His dreams were all similar. A beautiful girl entered his dreams; her presence was like that of an angel. He could not see her face clearly, but he was sure of her beauty. She appeared hazily before him, yet so far, but so near. She looked as if she were within touch. But when he stretched his hand out to catch her small pale one, he could not reach it. No matter how far he stretched his arm out, the tips of his fingers could not even brush against hers.
Who was the girl?
*+*
When daylight peeked tentatively through RenFu’s blue curtains in the morning, he merely turned his body to hug the large bolster at the side of his bed. A sweet, innocent smile hung at the corners of his mouth. He looked vulnerable and peaceful, and the creases that normally formed on his forehead during his waking moments were absent.
Just at this time, his alarm clock rang loudly, its shrill whistling boomed across from the table to RenFu’s ears. He jumped up, and sat up straight on his bed. He ran a hand over his mussed up hair and yawned widely. His face drew into a grimace as he felt decidedly rudely awaken. Then he slid down his bed and sat on the cold floor for a while, to wake his sleepy senses. After his senses slowly crept back into his mind, he headed for the bathroom for a refreshing cold morning shower.
“R-ring!” RenFu clad himself hurriedly with a bathrobe and rushed out to receive the call.
“Fu… Can we meet at about 11am? I’m bringing Uncle and family along for you guys to meet!” XieZhi’s voice greeted him.
“Sure. Where? Cinders Café? Ok sure, cya then~!” RenFu hung up with a huge smile plastered across his face, and went into his room to change into a fresh set of clothes. He had no lessons that day, as it was the official off-day students involved in the previous night’s concert. He had a simple breakfast of bread and butter and took out his violin. He began playing a lively gigue, the smile never leaving his lips.
At 10am, RenFu kept his violin. He changed into suitable casual wear and checked his hair in the mirror. Then he set of for Cinders Café in a relatively fast pace. He could not afford to be late, couldn’t he? He wondered about XieZhi’s uncle’s family. How would his uncle and aunt be like? Old? Ancient? His eyebrow rose quizzically as he tried to picture an old loving yet sickly couple, coughing and sniffing away while bickering away, lovingly. Then his thoughts strayed towards their daughter. As he sat at a table, waiting for XieZhi and Co, he tried to imagine how the girl would look like. But all he could think of was that girl in his dreams last night. So, would she be the girl in his dreams, and presently, the girl of his dreams?
~*~
HellOZz~!!
I finally posted~!! Waaaahh~~!! Whee~! Hehez.. Excited for nothing.. Wahahahahahaahhax.. =Pp
+Readers start throwing rotten stuff twds starry^^+
+starry^^ pouts+
So……..are these chapters boring ehz? +scratches head+ hahaz… Do pardon me worx… I feel damn out of touch~! Arhh….! Wadeva~!!
Anw, another thing!!!~ Whee~!! I finally type RenFu’s name out at last!! Orhhx… Missed his name soo much horz? Hehehez… +silly smile+ Hahahaz.. For like, a few chapts, his name will continue to appear~! But aft that… hehe… will revert back to Boss lorz.. hIakhIakhIakz…>,<””
Feeling mad~ Sighz… Wadz happening!!!! -_-“
Anw, I’m sorrie, but no replies to comments yet for 2dae~! Ahahz… Not like u all are dying for my replies or wad… Sigh~ hehe… But will reply asap! Thanx for the support!! +grinx+ Will update soon! Lurve ya all~!
P.S. Can guess who is der gurl? Hahaz… Pretty obvious huh? +shrugs+
CyaZz~!!
Comments, pls? =)