The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 316 Dance Competition
Wu Shulan was stunned, as if this was a question she had never considered before. After a long while, she stammered, "Maybe he has always been this kind of patriarch, who knows?"

After she finished speaking, she slumped into the shadows of the room, as if even she herself was unsure whether her statement was accurate.

In the silence, across the dimly lit courtyard, came a knocking sound at the door.

"What's going on today? So many people are coming to see me?" Wu Shulan muttered to herself, stood up, went outside, and opened the door.

A dry, aged cough came from outside. Qi Fei immediately lifted the curtain and looked out. Sure enough, in the dim light, he saw a thin figure standing opposite Wu Shulan. It was Granny Meng.

The distance was too far for Qi Fei to hear what they were saying. He only saw that after Granny Meng finished speaking, Wu Shulan hurriedly followed her out the door.

Qi Fei followed without a second thought.

Sure enough, the two women entered the Wong Tai Sin Temple. Wu Shulan knelt before the statue of Wong Tai Sin, chanting incantations, appearing very agitated.

Qi Fei was peeking from outside the door when someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. Luckily, he was well-trained and didn't cry out immediately. When he turned around, he saw Zhong Kui standing behind him.

It's amazing that she didn't hear a sound even though she was wearing high heels.

"This is your doing again, isn't it?" Qi Fei said irritably.

"Heh, is this the persona I present to you? What kind of trouble are you trying to cause? I was just fulfilling her wish," Zhong Kui said. "Ever since I arrived here, she has placed a prayer list in the donation box every month, and the content is always the same: she wants to find her daughter. I just fulfilled her wish."

Qi Fei asked in surprise, "You found her daughter?"

"Otherwise what?" Zhong Kui raised her chin proudly.

"We're investigating how Wu Chongyue managed to find Wu Shulan's daughter back then, after he sent her away?"

"If it hadn't taken a lot of effort, how could I have waited until now to fulfill her wish after all that pleading?"

"The key question is, who is her daughter?"

"A young dancer, quite pretty, you'll meet her soon."

As they were talking, a girl came out from behind the statue.

The moment Wu Shulan saw her, she seemed to have a maternal instinct and excitedly stepped forward to hug her. The girl looked bewildered, clearly not yet prepared.

“Wait, this girl…” Qi Fei looked at the beautiful face thoughtfully, “I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

"Heh, so you say you recognize every pretty girl you see?" Zhong Kui said sourly.

"That's not what I meant," Qi Fei explained seriously. "I think I saw her in the news."

“Possibly. Yi Luo just won the gold medal in the East China Dance Competition, so she might have been in the news,” Zhong Kui said.

"So, she's the daughter Wu Shulan was sent away? How did you find her?" Qi Fei asked curiously. "An unexpected find," Zhong Kui said. "I was just curious about Wu Xingzhou's whereabouts before the incident. A male college student who used to hang out with his classmates every day, suddenly started acting alone one day. Can you guess why?"

"Huh? You don't mean Wu Xingzhou is in a relationship, do you?" Qi Fei immediately thought.

“It’s human nature; many things aren’t as complicated as people imagine,” Zhong Kui said.

"But this Yi Luo, we didn't see her at all during the investigation. How did you connect her with Wu Xingzhou?" Qi Fei asked, puzzled.

“That’s interesting. It’s related to the painting that Ge Ming accused of plagiarizing,” Zhong Kui said with a smile.

Speaking of that painting, Qi Fei couldn't help but blush, because he couldn't help but think of that heart-pounding dream.

This subtle expression did not escape Zhong Kui's notice. She mischievously leaned closer and said, "It seems you're not entirely devoid of artistic talent after all. Come on, let's go back to Wu Xingzhou's workshop and take a look at that painting." As she spoke, Zhong Kui had already stepped onto the bluestone path.

"Where, where are we going?" Qi Fei stammered.

Zhong Kui turned around and gave him a flirtatious smile: "What do you think?"

Soon, the door in the darkness was opened, and as the lights came on, the haphazardly piled statues and oil paintings seemed to be startled by the light and all held their breath.

Zhong Kui went straight to the two paintings and said, "Blue velvet, black swan... If you break these images down, it's not hard to find that they are elements from movies that art students usually watch. Not to mention these male college students who hang out together all day, it's not surprising that the movies they've watched overlap so much. This kind of seemingly entertaining activity can actually affect people's cognition, like a calibrator, making their imaginations converge in a subtle way."

"Um, I think I understand. You mean that neither Ge Ming nor Wu Xingzhou plagiarized the other, but because they spent so much time together, their creations just happened to be similar. But I don't understand, what does this have to do with Wu Shulan's daughter?" Qi Fei asked, puzzled.

Zhong Kui picked up a paintbrush and pointed to the black swan in the painting, saying, "I told you, these are all common elements in movies. What does the black swan remind you of?"

"Uh..." Qi Fei was speechless for a moment.

"Don't hesitate, say the first word that comes to mind."

"That ballet?" Qi Fei could almost hear the familiar melody of "Swan Lake" as he said this.

“That’s right. Black Swan is a dark film with a dance theme, released in 2010, while Blue Velvet is a work by David Lynch that most art students can’t avoid, and it explores themes of desire.” Zhong Kui analyzed.

To Qi Fei, it wasn't just about dissecting the two oil paintings, but also about analyzing his hallucinatory dream—even his infatuation with her sounded like something she controlled, which left Qi Fei feeling very frustrated.

"Are you listening?" Zhong Kui reminded the distracted student like a strict teacher.

"Ah, listen." Qi Fei tried his best to hide his panic. "So, this isn't just inspiration from the movies they usually watch. Who are they all infatuated with? What do you mean?" He tentatively offered his guess.

Zhong Kui smiled with satisfaction: "Very good. And this person is like a black swan; it's just such a coincidence that the time Wu Xingzhou disappears from his friends always coincides with the East China Dance Competition. To find out if Wu Xingzhou is attending the competition, we just need to contact the organizers and get the videos and photos from that time."

Wu Xingzhou not only attended every single performance, but he also presented flowers to only one person's performance..."