Old-time musicians

The hazy night covered the small town of Hivaler with a thin velvet blanket. In the twilight of the winter night in the wilderness, there seemed to be some extraordinary and otherworldly tranquility. Google search reading

Fan Ning and his entourage arrived at the Marquis McAdam's residence a little early. He originally wanted to walk around the countryside first to relax his respiratory tract that had been tortured in the industrial city for a long time, and also to search for the "First Symphony". 》creative inspiration.

But Roy stayed with her until dark, and she took her to visit every place worth stopping inside and outside the mansion, from the country roads with open scenery to the mills, from the hunting forest to the balcony cafe, from the back garden to the greenhouse plant room. , and from the underground wine cellar to the McAdam Family Gallery.

"Ms. Roy, distinguished guests are arriving one after another. Are you sure you don't want to go and entertain them?"

"Mom will make all the arrangements. The guest assigned to Roy is you."

During this period, she and Fan Ning met several times because of rehearsals, but she didn't know if it was because of the conversation they had at the Bologna School after the Professor Browne incident. She felt that Fan Ning was getting along with her. More and more "formal politeness".

Compared with the first meeting, his attitude towards him was still kind and gentle, but there was a lot less chatting and joking. The subtle atmosphere in the eyes of both parties during the first rehearsal that night also disappeared without a trace.

In Roy's mind, tonight's music salon is an opportunity to improve the relationship between the two parties.

A few people finally walked out of the top-floor listening room filled with gramophones and gummy resin records. Fan Ning looked at the riverbank wetland in the distance. The tall pine trees there that were previously bathed in the sun now looked like a row of dim and fuzzy giants. , waiting for the night silently and calmly.

In the brightly lit banquet hall, Fan Ning saw Marquise McAdam in a red palace-style dress. She had a quiet temperament, a kind face, a straight back, and her black hair was tied up high.

The Marquise responded to Fan Ning's tip of the hat, and then ushered him, Sheeran, and Joan to her right side in turn, where banquet table cards were written on the top three seats.

At the dining table lined up in a row, Fan Ning greeted the familiar professors across from him and Roy, who was sitting next to him. Then he nodded to Lou Adair, the fourth person on his side, and said hello. Then he sat down and put his cane in his hand. and the top hat were handed to the attendant.

This seating arrangement attracted the attention of gentlemen and ladies. It was easy to understand that Lu was positioned relatively near the front, but almost no one knew Fan Ning and the two beautiful girls next to him.

However, many keen-thinking guests have begun to speculate. They know why those professors can sit on the left hand side of the hostess. Since Fan Ning can appear at the guest seat equal to them, does that mean...

Well, let’s wait for the introduction session at the salon to learn more about this young gentleman’s background…

The golden wall clock struck 6 o'clock in the evening, and the Marquise spoke casually and naturally: "Dear guests, the formal dinner takes too long, and our salon needs to start at 7 o'clock, so we can only have a casual meal, and the hospitality is not good. , please forgive me.”

The number of people in the banquet hall was not large. The Marquise's Music Salon strictly controlled the quota of 50 people, which made the guests who were eligible to attend almost all influential figures in the music industry of Uvranser. At this moment, again Including the McAdam family's own accompanying personnel, the number of people dining was only in their early 60s.

After the Marquise announced the start of the dinner, about 20 chefs, 40 catering helpers and 40 other service staff came in one after another and began to serve the guests. They first provided small portions of fruit and soup, and then continued to serve the dishes in three rounds. The program provides guests with rich food.

Fan Ning clearly remembered the etiquette and knowledge he had acquired in the aristocratic public school in the past few years. Although he studied a lot and practiced it rarely, it was difficult for him to become familiar with it, but he could at least maintain the words and deeds that were in line with his current status.

Facing the assorted silver forks and spoons on the plate, he used a tined fork to pierce the lemon peel juice and squeeze it into the sweet tea, used a sardine fork to take out the greasy and shiny meat from the can, and used a hollow flake spoon to strain out the juice from the diced tomatoes. juice, and use a strangely curved butter pick to dig out the butter in the bucket, and twist it into beautiful and elegant shapes on pancakes and rolls.

Fan Ning first ate fruit ice made from citrus, prunes and peaches, and drank a bowl of piping hot scallop and oyster bisque. Then as the meal progressed, he tasted cheese-baked lobster, pickled wild lobster and so on. Pork, tongue, bacon, pan-fried steak, grilled venison shank, roast rabbit, steamed lamb, grilled mushrooms, vegetable crepes, sardines on white rolls and cod and egg risotto – these are just a few of the dishes to try in small bites A third of the variety, but he felt almost full.

The guests were then led into the salon hall, which was originally a ballroom in the mansion, but now it abandoned the overly luxurious and shiny decorations and instead pursued a refined and elegant home feel.

At the same time, the layout has also been carefully adjusted. The stage has been removed, and the neat and square seats have been disrupted. They have been replaced by furniture such as sofas, armchairs, hanging chairs, stools, etc., which are naturally placed with other accessories or pianos, allowing guests to When you sit down, you can feel the freedom of moving around in various areas of your own home.

The ladies were given priority to sit down. They wore dresses of various colors held up by skirt hoops, with bare white and delicate shoulders. They held gorgeous fans, wore various shawls, and silk ribbons dangled on their wrists, like a group of butterflies with fragrant wind. Float everywhere.

Fanning saw familiar dessert styles in several areas, such as lemon almond cake and red velvet cake, but they were presented in the form of tall layered round cake towers, and the metal racks next to them were filled with cake combs for guests to take. In another direction, candied fruit smoothie cups and vanilla cream cakes were arranged in an array of several meters, and cherry crushed red wine puffs were piled up into a small mountain on a shiny silver plate.

"So how much did the president make from this order?" The figures of the ladies shuttled back and forth in Fanning's vision, but he always stared at the cake towers, trying to convert the price of the small desserts he bought last time with them.

Roy was responsible for the introduction of the guests. Each one was a detailed and unique copy, not a templated fill-in-the-blank question. Not only did he introduce the guests themselves, but he also pointed out the inviter.

Some guests invited more than one person, and they also needed to report them all to show that they had extensive connections in the upper class.

Holding such a music salon is a demonstration of strength and heritage for the McAdam family, an extremely important record of artistic activities for the attendees, and an important source of writing for mainstream art media.

They will do their best to dig out its shining points, including the grand occasion, the output of results, the performance records and gossip.

Therefore, in the total arrangement of 4 hours, this part alone reached 45 minutes. The little hostess did it so carefully to meet the participants' need for long exposure in front of celebrities.

Fanning's introduction was in the first place, followed by the professors, which means that they have equal status, one guest and one host.

Roy's expression was first "Mr. Fanning from the Guidance School", which confirmed everyone's guess, and then the expression of "a student at the Conservatory of Music of St. Lenya University, a young composer", made many thoughtful people "so that's it".

If it is such a public identity, then this young gentleman can be regarded as having intersections on both sides, no wonder he appeared in the main salon of the Bologna School.

At this time, many guests have already ranked Fanning as their first social target.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the 80th Music Salon hosted by the McAdam family. Our frequency is quarterly, and the number of times we hold it is as rare and precious as the number of guests. But thanks to your kindness, we have jointly exported many precious things to the art world of Theolian in the past 20 years."

"Then I propose an initiative for discussion tonight. You can speak freely around it, but you don't have to stick to it too much."

The Marquise's mellow voice, just hearing it, can be associated with the elegant smile on her face:

"The theme of tonight is: title music."