Verak felt like he had a sudden enlightenment. After listening to the singing, he became much more energetic. He couldn't wait to go back to see Keating, so his pace accelerated so much that the prison guards couldn't catch up with him and urged him to slow down.
After returning to the cell, Keating saw that Verak was so energetic after returning from work for the first time, and he guessed that something good must have happened: "Is there any good news from Lecter or Dawn?"
"No." Verak waited patiently for the prison guards to go away and said excitedly, "I know what I should fight for them."
"What?"
"Music." Verak lowered his voice and said these two words, his eyes full of light. "The most lacking thing here, what they can't get at all costs, is entertainment. Usually they can only pass the time by playing cards. If
We can enrich their lives and unite them through music, and it may be effective."
Keating nodded slightly: "Music is indeed a spiritual need that is not usually noticed, but is always present."
"I think it's very feasible. How do you think it should be implemented?" Verak asked Keating for his opinion before he had time to think about it.
"Perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask Ross about this." Keating raised his chin at the wall behind Verak.
Verak turned his head and looked.
Ross, who lives next door, was a pianist before, so it would be more appropriate to ask him this question.
"He should have gone to bed now. I'll ask him when I work in the afternoon." Verak didn't disturb Rose during the lunch break, and it was inconvenient to chat across a wall now.
"Then you should rest first and recuperate your energy."
"Well." The excitement gradually passed, and fatigue invaded the whole body again. Verak lay on the bed, "In addition, I haven't had a chance to see Dawn in the past two days. If we can't get together during the outing tomorrow, I will go find Lecter.
Find a way to transfer me to the leather shoe production area."
Keating frowned: "Didn't you say that the workload is the biggest there? Your body will definitely not be able to bear it if it gets over there."
"There is no way. Today is already the 9th. It is unknown whether Lecter will be able to obtain these conveniences after resolving his crisis, so we must implement many things before noon on the 12th." Verak typed.
Yawning, "Forget about the teacher, I really need to get some sleep."
"...Have a good rest." Keating also hoped that he could help Verak more. Seeing that Verak was facing a huge mental and physical challenge all day long, he felt a little ashamed.
——
After the lunch break, Verak and Rose came to the work area to work.
"Ross, you used to be a pianist, right?" As soon as he went over to start working, Verak started talking about music.
"Well, I used to form a piano quintet chamber orchestra with some of my friends, and we often played at the noble's house I mentioned. Later, something happened to the noble, and the five of us were arrested and imprisoned here for these years. The other members of the orchestra
Three of the four people have already..." Ross took a long breath, controlled his emotions, and did not become depressed because of mentioning the unhappy past, "Why do you ask this?"
Verak did not answer Rose's question first, and was confused about the piano quintet he was talking about: "Quintet? What exactly is it?"
"Don't you know?" Ross felt that as a noble, Verak should know this. "To put it simply, it is five people using five instruments to play five parts of chamber music. Our piano quintet chamber orchestra includes a piano
, violin, viola, cello and double bass, now only me and Ennio the cellist are left alive.”
"Ennio? Is he here too?" Verak has met many prisoners with Ross these days, but he has never heard of such a person. "You must be very close, right? Why didn't I hear you mention it?"
Pass him?"
Ross was operating the machine: "He is over there in the leather shoe production area, and we don't live in the same cell. We rarely meet each other, and all we can do here is live, and when we meet,
I will recall the past, and if I recall the past here, isn’t that looking for trouble... So... I won’t talk much..."
"Understood." Verak spared his hand and patted Ross on the shoulder, "By the way, can you and Ennio play a quintet?"
"Two people are a duo." Ross corrected the mistake in Verak's words, "Okay."
"Then tell me, if we had a piano or a cello now, would you still be able to play?"
Ross seemed to have heard some big joke and shook his head with a smile: "Don't make these meaningless imaginations. We will never touch a piano or cello again in this life."
"Is it still possible?" Verak asked stubbornly.
Ross's smile froze, and he opened and closed his mouth slightly a few times: "...I don't know."
Their eyes were focused on Rose's rough hands. Due to years of intense work, Rose's originally fair and slender fingers had become somewhat deformed.
"Try it." Verak suggested.
"How to try?" Ross smiled bitterly.
"I'll find a way to help you get a piano and a cello." Verak thought about what he should ask Lecter next, "What you and Ennio have to do is to work together again and prepare to play."
Ross was stunned: "Wha, what?"
"Let's work." Verak patted Ross on the shoulder again.
"Can you get a piano or a cello?!" Ross looked at Verak in disbelief, "Aren't you just an ordinary prisoner like us now? Where can you find these things? And what's the use of them? We can play them
Really? Who will you play it for?"
"I don't know, just take it one step at a time." Verak wasn't sure whether Lecter could help him get a piano or a cello. If he couldn't get it, it would be useless to explain to Ross. "I'll give it to you tomorrow afternoon."
You give me a clear answer."
——
The next day, at nine o'clock on October 10th, when it was time to allocate the prisoners for release, Verak felt his heart being tugged. If he still couldn't meet Dawn today, he would have no choice but to take the worst possible approach.
Please Lecter, please transfer yourself to the leather shoe work area where the workload is the largest.
Fortunately, Verak and Dawn were not among the batch from nine to ten o'clock, which meant that they were all in the second batch of prisoners released.
Another good news is that Ross and his good friend Ennio are both in the first batch. He and Verak said that they would talk to Ennio during their break.
Without Rose's company, Verak completed the work seriously by himself and stayed up until ten o'clock.
After following the second group of prisoners to the square, Verak saw Keating, who was also looking at him. He pointed at Dawn, who was lying alone again in the distance, and said that he would take the opportunity to find Dawn first.
Yes chat.
Keating nodded and pushed the wheels of the wheelchair around with his hands.
"Dawn." Verak sat next to Dawn again, "I'm finally assigned to you again."
"What else?" Dawn asked coldly.
"It's still about the jailbreak." Verak's voice became softer, and he looked around at the prison guard at the sentry guard, "I know that you have no expectations for the jailbreak, and you also think that I, a newcomer who has just arrived, don't know about the jailbreak at all.
No matter how difficult it is, the proposed method will not be feasible. But you should know what I have experienced and what I have done since I came here. I am not a person who likes to just talk."
Dawn didn't respond at all, which was actually a sign of waiting for Verak to continue speaking.
Verak carefully considered his words: "I know who you are, so I can tell you this with confidence. Now that the plan has begun, I have won the opportunity to hang out with Mr. Keating, and I have taken the initiative to work with everyone. It is all part of the plan."
.However, if you want to succeed, you will undoubtedly need to gather the strength of all the prisoners. As the most prestigious one among the prisoners, this matter will definitely not be bypassed by you... I really want to tell you what our plan is and how feasible it is.
Gao, but frankly speaking, these are not yet clear. Only when we reach cooperation and include everyone in the plan can we formulate the plan with the greatest hope."
"Very good." Dawn replied with three words.
"Either this." Verak found that what he said did not impress Dawn very much, and proposed a more realistic cooperation method that would be safer for Dawn and other prisoners. "Let's do something first that won't threaten you even if something happens."
It’s a safe and simple cooperation. After the specific implementation of the plan is clear, you can decide whether you want to work together or not.”
"So what does simple cooperation include?" After ensuring everyone's safety, Dawn felt qualified to talk to Verak on everyone's behalf.
Verak groaned: "...What we need now is probably some information that everyone knows, such as the most comprehensive topography of Damans Prison, the shift time of the prison guards, and even the personalities of the prison guards, etc."
"I can provide you with all of these." Dawn opened her eyes, "But you also know that you found me simply because I have a good reputation among the prisoners. To convince me is to convince other prisoners. In a sense,
I represent them, so I have to be responsible for them. Are you sure you can rescue everyone?"
"No." Verak didn't dare to brag, "The plan hasn't been fully formulated yet, and I don't know what it will be like in the end."
"...I will start preparing for the information you mentioned." Dawn agreed to briefly cooperate with Verak first.
Verak breathed a sigh of relief and convinced Dawn, and the foundation of the plan became much more solid. As for simple cooperation, it didn't affect anything in his opinion. If there was really hope of going out, they could naturally cooperate in depth.
, if he still has no clue after learning this information, then in-depth cooperation is not of great significance.
"Thank you." Verak thanked him and stood up, "Please also ask you to collect more information recently. We need as much information as we need."
"Yeah." Dawn didn't move at all.
Verak left and went to Keating to share the good news, while continuing to pretend. If he didn't contact Keating during the one-hour break, Lecter would definitely become suspicious if the news reached Lecter.
"Teacher, it's done. Dawn agreed to briefly cooperate with us first and tell us all the information they know. If we can develop a feasible plan later, he will consider in-depth cooperation." Wei Wei
Luck pushed the wheelchair and leaned slightly to talk about the situation.
Keating clapped his hands and wiped the dust on his hands after pushing the wheels of the wheelchair with a towel: "That's good."
"In addition, Ross and I talked while we were working." Verak introduced some things about Ross, "If we get a piano and a cello, he should be able to perform a duet with his friend Ennio, and we will be in the square then.
Or just perform on the ground floor."
"I haven't listened to music for a long time." Keating looked forward to it.
"Everyone here is." Verak squeezed Keating's shoulder, "Then I will go and mention it to Lecter at noon today, and you must be ready for the golden clue."
——
After lunch, Verak met Lecter in the infirmary.
This time, before Lecter could ask, Verak took the initiative to report: "It's basically done."
Lecter swallowed back the routine question, feeling uneasy and happy at the same time: "What do you mean it's basically done?"
"Mr. Keating's heart has been very shaken. I'm afraid he will tell me some information tonight, or noon tomorrow at the latest." Verak did not give Lecter a chance to think, and threw him a piece of good news first.
So that he could readily agree to the next request, "If things continue like this, it's not impossible for him to tell the location of the gold directly."
"Tell me more specifically." Lecter dismissed the doctor.
Verak rambled nonsense, leaving Lecter confused: "...It's almost like this. In addition, Mr. Keating said he really wanted to listen to music. If I can help him fulfill this wish, everything is under control."
Already."
"It's simple. I have a gramophone in my office, and it's made by your family. You can take it away and give it to him later." Lecter only understood the last of Keating's request.
"No, the music from the gramophone is not good." How could Verak agree to the gramophone? It was so different from the effect he wanted to achieve. "Mr. Keating has a clear request and wants to invite a chamber orchestra to perform live."
"Chamber orchestra?" Lecter chuckled, "Where can I find a chamber orchestra for him? Is there any orchestra with a name that he can see that is willing to travel thousands of miles to come to this place?
Playing in a prison?”
Verak looked deep in thought and suggested after a while: "Do you know Danny Rose?"
"who?"
"There is a prisoner who lives in the cell next to me and works on the same production line as me. I heard him say that he used to be the pianist of the chamber orchestra, and their entire orchestra was arrested, but now except for him, only
The cellist is still alive." After Verak finished speaking, he denied himself, "With only two people, it still won't work..."
"Not necessarily." Lecter crossed his arms and said, "A duet is also possible."
Verak looked troubled: "But there shouldn't be a piano or cello in the prison, right?"
"No." Lecter narrowed his eyes and stared at Verak, "However, if we can really find out the whereabouts of the gold because of these, it is worthwhile to transport it from outside. Anyway, it is almost the 12th, and what Keating wants is fine.
Transported here with the new batch of prisoners."
"Then let's make some arrangements?"
"There's no rush. It won't be too late to make arrangements tomorrow. At least you can ask for some useful information first to prove that it makes sense for me to arrange these things." Lecter said.
Verak heard that this was Lecter's test. He still suspected that he and Keating were planning to escape from prison, so he was very wary of the piano and cello: "You said it as if I wanted to listen to music. Prove whether everything is possible."
The meaning depends not only on me, but also on you. We all want to find out the whereabouts of the gold. If I can be free, you can also make great achievements."
"It's best to have a win-win situation." Lecter went to call the doctor, "I will find a way to arrange it, and I will also wait for your good news."
"I'm also waiting for your good news." Verak looked at Lecter's back and said.
After the doctor came back and changed the medicine for Verak, in order to implement it as soon as possible, Verak discussed with Keating at noon what clues about the gold should be revealed to Lecter, and found Lecter again before starting work in the afternoon, and Keating
The transit point for transferring gold was told to him.
It was a matter of whether he could stay. After Lecter sent Verak away, he immediately dialed his father's phone and reported the progress of his interrogation of Keating.
His father determined whether the information was credible, and then further traced the whereabouts of the gold based on clues from the transit area. It would take at least a week. Lecter would not be taken away this month at least, and he was not worried that Verak would tell lies.
, because the authenticity of the intelligence can be verified within a week, and Verak is asking for his own death by telling lies.
Verak returned to the work area and explained the situation to Ross as agreed.
He said that Keating wanted to listen to music, which might reveal the whereabouts of the gold, so he recommended Ross and Ennio to Lecter, and Lecter also agreed to let them form an orchestra to play for Keating.
Ross cried with joy. He didn't care who he was playing for, he just wanted a chance to play the piano again.
——
Noon on October 12th.
Because Lecter was busy abusing Verak during this period, and later focused on how to stay, he did not encourage the prisoners to escape and then suppressed them himself, making the 12th of this month a rare moment of tranquility.
The transport ship docked at the dock of Dymans Island, and Lecter received a new batch of thirty prisoners, as well as a piano and a cello that he had specially arranged for.
When he saw the two musical instruments, he actually felt the desire to listen to them: "Move them back carefully, don't damage them."
There is no suitable place to place these two objects in the prison, and it is inconvenient to move them to the underground floor. They will easily block the corridor, which is not very spacious. Prisoners passing by every day may accidentally break them. Lecter thought about it.
Go and decide to arrange it in the square.
In the afternoon, he was so anxious that he called Rose and Ennio away and went to the square to practice, hoping to play for Keating as soon as possible and figure out the whereabouts of the gold.
Although Verak had been working alone all afternoon, he thought that Ross was playing the piano again. While he was sincerely happy for him, he also gained motivation to work.
In the evening, after Verak returned to the cell, Ross still hadn't come back at eleven o'clock. He leaned against the door and looked at Keating: "I guess he was forced to practice all night by Lecter."
"Maybe they are willing to do this themselves," Keating said.
"I'm looking forward to their performance now." Verak waited for Rose while holding back his sleepiness for a long time. Seeing that he couldn't wait any longer, he left the wall and lay down, "Forget it, we should be able to meet him tomorrow."
Keating, who had been staying awake with Verak, also lay down and said, "Good night."
The beautiful sound of the piano sounded inexplicably in Verak's ears, and the corner of his mouth raised: "Good night."
——
October 13th
Early in the morning, Verak was called away by Lecter, who suggested that he take Keating to the square early today, listen to Ross and Ennio's performances, and then arrange for the prisoners to go out for a walk.
The purpose of Verak's doing this is to let everyone hear Ross and Ennio's duet. If it was just him and Keating, it would be meaningless, so it was just that they were too deliberate and it would be easy for Keating to do it.
Sensing something was wrong, Lecter persuaded Lecter to arrange for Ross and the others to play when the prisoners had a break.
In the morning, Verak was still working alone. Rose and Ennio had not touched the piano for many years. Now, under Lecter's urging, they had less than a day to recover and a perfect ensemble, which was very stressful.
At nine o'clock, after Lecter's instruction, Verak was arranged to be among the first batch of prisoners released and came to the square.
At this time, in the center of the square, Ross sat in front of the piano, and Ennio set up the cello next to him. In the eyes of some people, they were waiting for Keating, but in the eyes of Keating and Verak, they were waiting for the same thing.
Prisoners who endured suffering.
"They're really here!"
"Look, it's a piano!"
"Isn't that Ross and Ennio?!"
The prisoners who entered the square one after another were attracted by Ross and Ennio in the center, and they stepped forward one after another and surrounded them.
Verak stood at the door, waiting for the prison guard to push Keating in, and then took the wheelchair from the prison guard: "I didn't expect Lecter to be so anxious, and let them start playing in less than a day."
"Since he is willing to arrange it like this, it must mean that Rose and Ennio have almost practiced." Keating also lamented how Rose and Ennio could do it in such a short time.
"I can't believe it." Verak pushed Keating into the crowd.
"Ross, what's going on?!" a prisoner asked.
Ross raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, and looked at the prisoner with a smile.
"Starting from today! We will organize concerts for everyone every day!" At the sentry post, the prison guard grabbed the loudspeaker and introduced the situation to the prisoners. "Everyone, keep quiet! Sit down and spread out! Those who do not comply with discipline will be detained for three days!"
"
Ross and Ennio were arranged to practice piano playing because the matter of Keating and Gold had spread all over the place yesterday. No prisoner naively believed that the prison was mercifully prepared for them. However, when the rumors were confirmed,
, they still cheered, and after the prison guard fired several shots to shock him, they sat down and looked at Ross Ennio quietly.
"It's about to begin." Verak sat next to Keating's wheelchair and glanced at the sentry. Today's sentry was actually full of prison guards, including Lecter, staring at him.
"Enjoy the music." Keating closed his eyes.
"Um."
Rose and Ennio looked at each other, and they nodded slightly to each other. Then, Rose's hands gently touched the keys, and only black and white remained in his eyes.
The light and flying piano sound sounded, and Ross began to play freely on the keys. After a fast playing, the music suddenly slowed down, and Ennio played the delicate and soothing cello.
"Playing love." Keating whispered the name of the song.
This piece of music is simple, clean and pure. Everyone present had not listened to music for a long time. When the sound of the piano sounded, their emotions were completely taken away and they began to rise and fall with the sound of the piano.
——
Note 1: "Playing love" is a piece of music composed by Ennio Morricone for the movie "The Pianist".