Chapter 31 — Flute (2)
"Damn it…!"
A man cursed loudly while intoxicated from alcohol.
"What did I do wrong? I never thought my wife would cheat on me…!"
And it was also with the man he regarded as his own brother…
The expression of the man contorted in anguish and bitterness.
"Ah, what is the use to live in such a fucked up world!"
Not only did his wife cheat with his best friend, he was also treated unfairly by his boss from work.
The man was utterly stressed and driven to depression.
The alcohol further made it impossible for him to think rationally. It caused various depressive thoughts to ran across his mind whenever he remembered the time he returned home with his daughter after playing, but then saw his naked wife loudly fucking his friend.
And they've proudly confessed to doing such shameful things for years now!
Even when she knew their little daughter was at home!
"I worked hard under the unfair treatment of my boss just to provide her a nice life. I even showered her with all of my love and attention… Yet she paid it back in this way!?"
"And that bastard, I even helped him from going homeless by giving him money! Just what sins have I committed to receive such betrayals!?"
The man felt dying was the best solution to save him from this misery.
"Stranger, is there anything troubling you?"
An elusive voice emerged to snap him out from his depressive thoughts.
The man searched around before seeing a rather handsome youth.
He didn't know the reason, but maybe because he wanted to share his feelings for someone to understand him before he died—the man started to recount the troubles plaguing him.
"...I just don't understand why she would do that to our family. The pain just hurts so much to the point I just want to die and leave everything behind…"
The man sobbed pitifully as tears fell out from his eyes.
"Just what I did wrong…"
"Mister, your wife is a horrible person, but what about your daughter? She's still young and clueless. If you die, your daughter will be left to grow under her horrible mother. She will suffer if that happens."
"You're right, but…"
The man widened his eyes, but those still couldn't shake away the depressing emotions.
"Think about your daughter even just for a moment. Meanwhile, I'll play the flute to help you relieve your pain."
I lifted my flute to my lips and began to play it.
A series of vigorous lively sounds rapidly emerged, knocking away the man from his tears and then grabbed his ears to listen closely.
The Life and Elemental Stars were influencing the black flute.
The sounds reminded the man about the bright smiles of his beautiful daughter.
A smile that always greeted him whenever he returned home from work, making him feel energetic and happy despite the unfairness from his work.
The clear notes entered smoothly into the ears like a flowing stream of lively laughters, echoing clearly in his ears to clear his intoxicated mind from alcohol and stress.
They sounded like the laughter of his daughter whenever she was happy with him.
A joyful, carefree laugh she only showed to him.
The tempo was piercing like metal yet also steady as earth, silently urging him to pierce through the darkness of depression while his heart turned steady to shake away sorrow and anguish.
Yet the notes soon changed—the emerging new notes becoming aggressive and rageful to burn away the pains.
The sounds were now fueling the suppressed anger that hid deep within the heart.
He did nothing wrong, so why should he choose to die?
The man felt furious at his wife and the bastard that betrayed him.
He was angry at the boss who always treated him unfairly and his co-workers who chose to ignore it.
And most of all.
The man was extremely furious at his own pathetic self.
The one who chose to not even think of fighting for his daughter.
He failed as a father.
If he died, then what about his daughter who was still a child?
In the end, it was not him, but only his daughter who would truly suffer.
The man was a pathetic father.
That's why he decided to take proper measures to resolve his troubles.
And as if responding to his resolve, the pitch became more lively and full of vitality to encourage his resolve.
There were many people who were also listening to me play. All of them expressed different expressions, but the majority of them were positive.
"Thank you…"
As the music ended, the man sincerely thanked me.
I simply nodded.
"You don't need to give me tips. Just return home and settle things with your wife. Your daughter is still waiting for her father to come home."
The man nodded with teary eyes. He hurriedly ran home to see his lovely daughter.
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The man filed a divorce with his wife to the court. Fortunately, he was able to win the case and got custody to raise his willing daughter.
He also quit his job from the boss after submitting evidence of the unfairness he received to sue the boss.
As a result, the boss's company was shut down.
Although the man lost the job, he now started to work for Red Rose.
His new working environment was nice and healthy.
The man met many coworkers who were helpful and friendly to each other.
Red Rose always advocated to avoid having overtime, avoid stressful workload, and always strive for a friendly environment to foster creativity.
They even gave their employees high salaries along with many expensive company benefits.
That was the reason the employees were always brimming with motivation to work extremely hard everyday.
This was like heaven.
That was why the employees were afraid of slacking from their works.
If they slack from work, they knew this heaven of theirs would just vanish.
This sole reason drive them to work hard not only to avoid overtime, but they've also learned to work more efficiently and smarter to make Red Rose rise until their heaven will become eternal.
Such ideal habitual patterns were now deeply imprinted in their minds. The senior employees would then pass on the Spirit of Red Rose to the next generation—rinse and repeat.
If there was a problem, the man felt Red Rose was like a cult organization.
However, he later got converted into one of the fanatic cult members who zealously worshiped their God—Vlad.
The man only regretted not joining Red Rose much earlier…
As for cheating people—karma would always find its way to bite them down.
A few years later, the ex-wife and ex-friend ended up homeless on the street and then found dead from starvation.
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I continued to play the flute for other people.
As a result, I managed to hear various stories as I played for them.
An adventure story.
A love story.
A family story.
A pet story.
A heartbreak story.
A melancholic story.
I've heard many stories.
And each of those stories were equally precious despite most being mundane and simple.
But those stories were precious for just having emotions.
From their emotions, I was able to feel positive emotions. They helped me feel artificial warmness despite them not being mine.
These positive emotions offered solace to my dulled, broken heart.
I knew nothing was ever really mine.
That's why I felt envious.
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There were always many people listening to the mesmerizing flute session which were able to vividly dazzle their whole senses.
The employees from Red Rose always made time to watch it.
Tang Wulin and Na'er also came to watch the rumored flute session. Since then, they came to hear everyday.
Tang Wulin even started cultivating while listening to the flute music. The ethereal sounds were able to make his cultivation speed faster.
I was not that surprised.
This phenomenon also occured to the elemental stars whenever I used them with the flute.
As a result, their absorption speed would increase greatly.
Their maturation rate was visibly progressing everyday.
Which was why playing the flute became even more important than just stabilizing my emotions.
Not only was flute music capable of being a spiritual weapon, it was also able to accelerate the cultivation of various still unknown things.
"I should make Ning Shui record some of my flute music…"
After all, I will not always stay close by their side in the future.
This also gave me the inspiration to apply the nature of elemental stars into my unique boxing style.
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There were now interesting rumors about a flute immortal, the news spreading like a wildfire in a forest.
The rumors said there was a handsome immortal that descended from heaven to cleanse the impure desires of mortals through his heavenly flute music.
Some said that just hearing his heavenly flute music would grant boundless luck for the next three generations.
There were even rumors about criminals confessing about their sins after hearing the music from heaven.
This was proven true when various open criminal cases were easily closed.
The flute immortal now became renowned as the—Immortal Heart Flute.
As a result, more people came to Glorybound City to watch the flute immortal perform his flute music at noon when the sun begins to set.
Some people intentionally came with bad intentions, but not only was the flute immortal excellent at flute, he was also great at fighting.
There were now musicians who even worshiped the flute immortal. All of them admired his sounds that were directly conveyed to the heart.
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The library.
"The flute immortal is you, right..?" Na'er meekly asked with her eyes peeking from the top of her book.
Whenever she talked to me, Na'er always tried to hide her face behind a book.
"Yes."
I calmly answered while reading a book about music.
My expression remained the same even when I got exposed.
I never thought of keeping my Identity at first.
However, I didn't want to attract attention to myself.
"How did you know?"
I raised my head to look over at her.
"Well…"
Na'er shyly fidgeted her fingers with red ears.
"I just know it was you because It was you."
"...?"
Upon hearing her strange answer, It was no wonder that I tilted my head.
Na'er continued speaking with her voice gaining some confidence.
"Also, I saw you lately reading books about music…"
I nodded my head.
"I didn't expect you were wise enough to connect such a small clue to me."
Na'er then puffed her cheeks into small balloons upon hearing such words.
She felt insulted!
That's why she pouted cutely.
However, she was hiding her pout behind the book, so I could only see her violet eyes that sparkled even more beautifully than gems.
As I stared at those beautiful eyes, I then realized something peculiar.
"Why are you paying close attention to me?"
I enquired with a neutral tone.
After being suddenly exposed herself, Na'er let out a quiet gasp.
"Those eyes of yours."
I got up from my seat to slowly approach her.
"Your eyes gaze at me so weirdly. Why do they seem so curious about me? And why do they desire to know everything about me?"
I removed the book that hid her face to look closely at her face.
"Tell me the reason."
"Um, well…"
Na'er felt her mind blanking out, her heart beating so rapidly to the point her face was completely red.
After all, my face was closely looking at her now.
She was so flushed that her eyes turned watery from embarrassment.
From the fact I always knew she was watching me closely.
Even though she herself didn't know the real reason, she felt peaceful when she gazed at my face.
When was it?
The moment her heart started to beat so fast and hot?
Seeing her red face and watery eyes, I furrowed my brows.
"Nevermind…"
I returned to my seat.
"Has she really developed a traume for me at that time? The reason why she always observes me so closely?"
I wondered.
Although I knew Na'er was not that afraid of me anymore, I knew developing a trauma was a serious problem.
A scar that lingers forever.
I gazed at my hands that were shaking even with the stabilizing influence of the earth star.
Na'er took a deep breath to calm herself down.
The flushness of her expression gradually receded.
As she looked at me again, Na'er mustered her courage to try properly talking to me.
"Your flute sounded great. I knew it was you because the sounds showed slightly of your unique feelings…"
Her words caused my hands to stop trembling.
I went to look at her.
Na'er wore a small smile.
A natural smile that looked extremely pure and beautiful.
And facing such pureness, I just felt myself growing dirtier inside.
That's why I could only force myself to smile.
And scare those smiles away.
Just like before.
"I see."
I then coldly replied.
To hide my ugly self from her.
Once was enough.
Yet.
Na'er widened her eyes upon seeing my smile.
The smile that once scared her to the point of fainting.
A smile that looked hideous.
It was scary and ugly beyond all means.
Such a scary smile now, however, only served to make her feel nice.
"Your smile really looks ugly." She joyfully replied in a way that was closer to laughing.
I stared at her.
"Unm."
For some reason, I really felt unpleasant from her remark.
And now it seemed like she didn't develop a trauma.
Girls were hard to understand.
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Timeskip soon.
Dang bro, I really have get sick when it's vacation! Sigh, I'm known for going hiatus when I get sick...
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