Deadly Trap.

Chapter 60. “Ave Maria”

This chapter includes Schubert's "Ave Maria".

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Standing before this old residential building, which he had visited once before, Gu Mufeng's heart sank. He remained silent.

Last time, he came with Su Li, having just taken her and pretended to be her boyfriend to meet her parents, and was in a great mood. Now, the sunlight shone generously on his slightly pale face, and in the winter of Minhang, the wind was unusually gentle, almost cruel.

He sighed softly, covering his face.

Having already let go, there was no point in hesitating any longer. Gu Mufeng decisively took out the key that he had copied from Su Li and kept in reserve for a month and a half.

With a blank expression, he instructed Quenxus to guard the door before he opened the door to Su Li's apartment building.

The piano melody still flowed from behind the door. This time, it came from afar as Schubert's Ave Maria played.

The hymn, with its heavenly voice, gradually rises softly, yet it is performed as if in a grand sacrifice, brimming with personal emotional tension, each note deeply touching the base soul beneath the surface of humanity.

Gu Mufeng was taken aback.

He paused for only a moment, but resolutely, he still pulled open the door at the end of the corridor.

The sound of the piano stopped suddenly.

The woman's voice was kind and elegant, but clearly hesitant, and then it floated over immediately: "...Little Pear?"

Before Gu Mufeng sat a middle-aged woman, dressed in a simple long dress, sitting upright on an antique Steinway piano. Her frail body resembled a candle that could be extinguished by a gust of wind.

Su Yan's ten gnarled, thin fingers remained firmly pressed on the piano keys. She stood up abruptly, trembling all over, her withered, blind eyes beneath her eyelids seeming to reflect horror, as if she had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Through her eyelids, she looked straight at him:

"As expected. You still came. Gu Mufeng... right?"

"Can you tell me," Gu Mufeng said, though he didn't show it, he was still very surprised, "I've only heard that blind people can locate things by sound; but you're different. How could you recognize me so quickly?"

"If you were also trapped in the same house and couldn't see anything for over ten years, you could do it too."

The reply was extremely soft, Su Yanrou's voice carrying a chilling smile. That smile was sinister:

Everything in the world breathes. A house naturally breathes too, just like you and me. Everyone's breathing frequency, rhythm, and habits are different.

"Haven't you noticed this at all?"

"Besides, I know. There's always a ghost that will come back to me one day."

"...Gu Fangran, is that right?"

“I’ve already said I don’t know Gu Fangran.” With pride and arrogance, Su Yan raised her head high, as if the person standing beside the zither was an undisputed crowned empress.

"Even now, you still won't admit it?" Gu Mufeng sneered.

He already knew that Su Yan was someone who had real connections with his mother, Gu Fangran, in New York, and that she held the key he most wanted—the key to unlocking the past.

He clenched his fists: because of his love at first sight for Su Li, he had hesitated and delayed his revenge for far too long. He truly didn't want to hurt her.

Su Yan is no ordinary woman either.

Gu Mufeng suppressed his emotions: since he had to kill the secret lover himself, he convinced himself not to rush things. Unhurriedly, he strode across the entrance hall as if he were in his own home.

He usurped the host's place, uninvited, and sat down in the armchair next to Su Yan.

Suppressing the turmoil within him, he deliberately spoke arrogantly and coldly:

"It seems I didn't come to the wrong person. But have you forgotten your daughter, Su Li?"

"I suppose Su Li has never dared to tell you what I really do. She is now in my grasp."

"That's a bad thing to say."

He gave a cold, arrogant laugh: "If I want her to be trapped in this house too, never to see again, and to keep you company for decades longer, until she dies..."

Forcing himself to be utterly cold, Gu Mufeng still couldn't stop his heart from trembling. He paused:
"It's not difficult for me." "Heh."

Upon hearing the threat, Su Yan laughed dismissively, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"I know the thing that came out of my belly best. You trying to scare me? Su Li isn't as easy to deal with as her name and appearance suggest. Be careful not to prick yourself."

“You know your daughter, but you clearly don’t know me. I never threaten anyone unless I’m absolutely certain.”

As he spoke, his expression indifferent and devoid of emotion, Gu Mufeng's fingertips slipped into the lapel of his suit jacket. The black phone case in his hand dimmed. Beneath the shattered screen from the night of the banquet, Su Li's photos and videos lay laid bare before him, completely exposed.

"We have as much evidence as we need. Do you want to hear it?"

His fingers trembled slightly. He paused briefly, a struggle flashing in his eyes, but the next second he pressed the play button with even greater coldness.

"You! Fine. Fine."

As Su Li's lingering voice called out "Mu Fei" amidst the enchanting beauty of the water, Su Yan trembled with fear.

She couldn't believe it. Hatred made her pale and grit her teeth. Her blind eyes stared straight at Gu Mufeng, who was covering his face with his hands and whose face was even paler.

On the piano, the veins in Su Yan's thin, bony hands bulged. As if unable to control herself, her body, pressing down on the keys, swayed repeatedly.

"This is truly retribution."

"So, you really are Gu Fangran's son, aren't you? You've come to see your father, haven't you? When you first came, you said that Gu Fangran was your mentor. I knew it. My bad, I didn't think you were that capable."

"Fang Ran, she's so selfish, how could she possibly have the patience to teach even one student? I never expected..."

With a bitter expression, Su Yan gritted her teeth: "My daughter, Su Yan's daughter, actually fell in love with Gu Fangran's son? What a small world!"

"If you think the world is small, then so be it." As if brushing away the dust of self-loathing from his heart, and feigning indifference, Gu Mufeng coldly put away his phone.

"You wouldn't be here today just to blackmail me, would you? You deliberately approached my daughter, wouldn't you?"
“I always lecture her, telling her to be strong and not to be a burden on my heart all the time. I even had to teach her those tricks for dealing with men. She’s such a useless thing! She’s nothing like me.”

"Enough with the nonsense." Gu Mufeng frowned immediately, impatiently interrupting Su Yan:

"Now that you know why I'm here, let's begin. Explain clearly: Who is that man? And where is he now?"

"I'll give you ten minutes. Finish speaking by then. Otherwise—"

Suppressing the stinging resistance in his heart, Gu Mufeng interlaced his fingers. He adopted a composed demeanor: "For the rest of your lives, you two, mother and daughter, will depend on each other for survival while you are blind."

Su Yan bit her lip.

It seems that this is the end for her.

“‘When a bird is about to die, its song is mournful.’…” Dejected, Su Yan slumped down in front of the piano.

“‘A dying man’s words are good.’” Her two hands, with their deep furrows and prominent knuckles, rested on the black and white keys of the piano.

First, a barely audible single note; then, as if a soul had been suddenly infused. With both hands working in unison, she seemingly casually played a few chords, yet it was the opening of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.

The music seemed to have taken deep root in Su Yan's soul, inseparable from her. A blind person spoke, yet the melody flowed naturally from her fingertips, bursting forth with her breath and emotions:

"Since things have come to this, allow me to tell the story from beginning to end. The story of me and... Fangran."

Completely immersed in the music and memories, Su Yan murmured to herself, recounting her story in a gentle, detailed manner.

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Next chapter: Rachmaninoff
[Author's Note | Chapter Sixty]

First, they broke up with her coldly, and now they're threatening Su Yan...

Clearly, Gu Mufeng had reasons to threaten Su Yan, and he was even more tormented by it. But is Gu Mufeng's approach acceptable to you?
If you were Su Yan, how would you respond?
What truth is hidden beneath the music this time...?

The next chapter has been forcibly edited. Savor it! Just savor it!

Everyone is welcome to speak freely!

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(End of this chapter)