Chapter 46: Chaos suddenly erupted

When the staff member had approached him earlier, Tang Rui’s first thought had been that he had been discovered—that somehow, his motives had been exposed.

Bracing himself for a confrontation, he and his friend had followed the staff member backstage.

Imagine his surprise when he saw the chaos unfolding behind the stage.

At that moment, Tang Rui felt his usually cold face grow warm, and his ears faintly flushed with embarrassment.

He had thought Lin Feng had intended to perform all along.

It turned out that the boy had simply been planning to watch the performances. He had never intended to go onstage at all.

However, because of the series of unexpected accidents backstage, Lin Feng had been forced to step in without any preparation.

However, they had no erhu instruments available because all the erhu instruments they had stored had had their strings damaged! They were not fully cut off. If they had been, they would have discovered the issue immediately. Instead, this method of sabotage was even crueler because it meant that only when the musician began playing for a while would the taut strings suddenly break and recoil.

This was exactly how the invited musician had been injured earlier!

In desperation, when the staff noticed the erhu case strapped to Tang Rui’s back in the audience, they had taken a gamble and approached him.

Fortunately, they had!

Their guess had been correct. Tang Rui was an accomplished erhu player who had participated in numerous competitions and had already begun making a name for himself as a promising young talent in the traditional Chinese music scene.

Tang Rui had then learned that Lin Feng would be playing the guzheng instead of the erhu.

The boy had simply explained that he was much more skilled with the guzheng than the erhu.

In the end, the two had done a quick rehearsal backstage shortly before the previous performance ended.

Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes as the final note faded away, revealing the soft, almost glowing amber eyes that captivated the audience.

Big Fish and Begonia was a piece that had immediately imprinted itself in his mind the first time he heard it.

Lin Feng was already quite familiar with the piece. Since yesterday, he had repeatedly heard the musicians practicing it.

Out of curiosity, he had even watched their rehearsal of the piece.

It was one of the things Lin Feng considered himself incredibly lucky to have encountered after transmigrating into this world.

Here, Lin Feng had discovered so many beautiful musical pieces that he had never heard in his previous life.

Along the passage of time since the Song Dynasty, countless masterpieces had emerged, captivating the world regardless of the time in which they were created.

This song would certainly become a timeless classic.

Even though Lin Feng could not perfectly reproduce every detail of the original arrangement during the rehearsal, he had played the piece with remarkable skill, relying entirely on his own musical instincts, emotions, and the melody he had heard.

Unexpectedly, it had worked remarkably well.

At this time, explosive applause filled the air, followed by energetic yells and screams requesting an encore.

"So handsome! So talented! Amazing!"

"Please continue playing!"

Amidst the thunderous applause, Tang Rui looked at Lin Feng with complicated emotions in his eyes.

He had noticed that the boy seemed not to recognize him at all.

Now that they had met face-to-face, Tang Rui could clearly see the innocence in Lin Feng’s eyes, as well as the natural warmth and sincerity in his expression.

His earlier thoughts were disrupted.

If Tang Rui had merely been hesitant before, he now realized that he had most likely been wrong.

This boy had never intended to exploit public sympathy for fame.

He seemed to be a completely clueless fool.

And yet, somehow, a completely clueless and remarkably captivating fool.

Tang Rui closed his eyes briefly, remembering his Fourth Uncle’s situation.

After bowing to the audience, the two began retreating from the stage toward the backstage area, along with the other musicians.

But just then, something suddenly flew through the air, immediately catching everyone’s attention.

Whoosh—

The object traced a high parabola through the air and dropped at a fast speed.

It was heading straight toward Lin Feng.

Tang Rui’s eyes widened instantly.

"Look out!"

"Ahh!"

The audience erupted in screams.

Just as Lin Feng turned around, he saw what appeared to be a glass bottle hurtling toward him, already about to strike him in the face.

Suddenly stiffening, Lin Feng’s eyes closed instinctively in fear, and he raised his hands to block his face.

A figure suddenly dashed forward and swung an arm, knocking the bottle away.

However, the bottle was surprisingly thin and fragile.

The moment Edmund realized that it contained liquid, his expression changed.

He immediately grabbed the frozen young master and pulled him sideways, using the momentum to change their positions. At the same time, he turned his own body, shielding Lin Feng with his back and preventing most of the liquid from splashing onto him.

Edmund’s reaction speed was exceptionally fast.

However, a few droplets still splashed onto Lin Feng’s hands.

"The young master’s hands!" Edmund immediately shouted. "Housekeeper Yang, pour water over the young master’s hands!"

As he spoke, he quickly unbuttoned his coat and tore it off, followed by his vest. He then simply ripped open his white shirt, exposing his bare back to the crowd.

Patches of faint pink were already visible across one side of his muscular back.

The sulfuric acid had burned through the outer layers.

Fortunately, Edmund had been wearing three layers of clothing, and the fabric was thick enough that the acid had not completely penetrated through them. Even so, some areas of his skin had been burned, particularly around his arms and hands—the parts he had used to knock the bottle away.

Housekeeper Yang had already been carrying a bottle of water for Lin Feng after his performance.

The moment he saw what had happened, he rushed forward, immediately twisted off the cap, and poured the water over Lin Feng’s hands.

"Uncle Yang, don’t mind me. Edmund—"

"Young master, you’re the priority." Housekeeper Yang’s expression was firm.

Nearby, Tang Rui’s eyes constricted in pain and shock as he lay on his back after being pushed away so suddenly by the man who had appeared out of nowhere.

Seeing the hissing smoke coming from the fabric and other objects in contact with the liquid, Tang Rui was even more shocked.

His face became serious as he jumped up and shouted, "This is sulfuric acid! Water, everyone, get some water! The others, get away! If something splashed on you, wash it off now!"

Edmund lowered his head to check on the young master. His brows did not even flinch in pain as he asked, "Are you alright, young master?"

"Edmund!" Lin Feng’s eyes welled up with tears. He could smell the foul odor and burning scent coming from Edmund.

Edmund reassured him. "Don’t worry. There are plenty of water bottles backstage."

He glanced up to see the horrified staff running over while carrying water bottles.

The bodyguards were scattered below the stage, unable to reach the thrown object and stop it in time.

One of them caught sight of the person who had thrown the object. Seeing the person raise another object, clearly wanting to throw it again, the bodyguard decisively ran, pushed through the crowd, and threw his body over the person.

CRASH! SHATTER!

A loud sound of the glass bottle shattering into countless pieces filled the air, along with the splashing sound of liquid.

"Ahhh! Let go!!!!" The person felt the skin of his body pressed against the broken glass as the sulfuric acid burned terribly. "Ahhhh!"

The bodyguard felt the sting of the acid but did not care at all and ruthlessly pressed the person down.

He raised his head and told the people around him, "If you were splashed by the liquid, make sure to wash it off immediately. This guy’s carrying sulfuric acid."

Suddenly, a loud shout came from a nearby stall.

"Make way! Make way! I’m selling bottled water here! Pass it over to the stage!"

The scene had already descended into chaos.

Some had run away in fear, but most stayed to continue filming and livestreaming the chaos, while some began moving toward the stage with various drinks and water bottles.

People began grabbing their own bottles of water and other drinks, pouring them over the stage in an attempt to wash away any remaining traces of sulfuric acid.

Edmund, who was still shielding Lin Feng, took the full brunt of the liquid splashing over him.

Water, juice, soda, and all kinds of other drinks drenched his body.

Yet the liquid did help cool the burning sensation on his skin.

So, despite the sticky sweetness of the various drinks covering him, Edmund could only helplessly raise his injured hands and expose the affected areas toward the audience, allowing more people to pour water over them.