Secret Melodies

Chapter 1

„Good morning, good day or good evening my lovely audience. My name is Chen Yuzhi. I am a doctor by day and a pianist at night.

Let me take you on a little journey full of music and an accidental but predetermined encounter that changed not only my life and definitely only for the better.

Throughout this story I will play one or the other song and I would be very happy if you would listen to them while I am telling you about my life-changing experience.

Now, without further ado, let's begin.

It was..."

**

...Saturday night around 9 p.m., late spring. The sun had already set. It was a cloudless pleasantly warm evening as Jiang Yuelou, commissioner of the Jingcheng police decided to get off work, finally.

For several weeks, he had had almost no free evening and often even worked on Sundays. Jin Dacheng, deputy commissioner, had already decided yesterday, late in the afternoon, that the work week was over and had left for the weekend. Seemingly unimpressed by the files piled up on Jiang Yuelou's desk.

Jiang Yuelou had almost had to kick out Song Rong and Sun Yongren last night. The two had insisted on staying as long as he did, but just before 10 p.m. he had ordered them to go home.

"And I don't want to see either of you here until Monday morning."

The two knew not to even try to argue with him, so they left the station.

Aside from Jiang Yuelou, there were only a handful of police officers on call at the precinct. The pile of lmk files on his desk had become noticeably smaller since yesterday. Even though he hadn't been able to finish everything, Jiang Yuelou decided to leave the rest until Monday.

Now he only wanted one thing, to stop thinking about work and relax. He would not find it particularly difficult to do that at home. Apart from Xiao Bai, his old cat, no one was waiting for him. A good book, maybe some wine, he was satisfied with that.

When he had left the police station and was now standing on the street, he briefly thought of paying Bai Jinbo a visit. Since he had finally, after so many years, parted with that exhausting woman, Ya Li, he too, apart from the servants, was mostly alone in his big mansion.

Jiang Yuelou looked at his watch. A quarter past nine. It would take him at least twenty minutes by car to reach his adoptive father's house. A little late. Since Bai Jinbo had retired and had left the post of the commissioner to Jiang Yuelou, he was usually in bed by 11 p.m. at the latest. Bai Jinbo had quickly become accustomed to this quiet lifestyle.

Suddenly, Jiang Yuelou no longer felt the desire to go home. He didn't know exactly what it was that had made him change his mind. Perhaps it was the mild evening air that seemed to entice him to linger a little longer in the city.

"Maybe a drink or two," he thought to himself. Leaving the car at the station, he made his way toward downtown.

On foot, it was a little over fifteen minutes to his bar. Literally, his bar. He had bought the Library Distillery five years ago. Except for Song Rong, Sun Yongren, and Chu Ran, no one in Jingcheng knew. Well, Bai Jinbo knew it too, of course.

Jiang Yuelou had not planned the purchase. The bar had been his regular bar for several years before that. The former owner had had to leave Jingcheng rather suddenly and asked Jiang Yuelou, the two had become good acquaintances over the years, if he didn't know someone who might be interested in running a bar.

Jiang Yuelou had wanted to shake his head at first, but then he had spontaneously decided to buy the bar from him. To this day, he doesn't know exactly what prompted him to do so. But he never regretted it.