Deadly Trap.

Chapter 61. Rachmaninoff
This section can be accompanied by listening to Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 (I highly recommend Lang Lang's version).

>>>>>
"—Winter in New York is just as cold as winter in Minzhou. Both are cities built on capital, where you can't see the sky when you look up and you can't see any vibrant people when you look down: they're all just dust motes under the weight of money and power. Not to mention, I'm still isolated overseas."

“In that era, children who could learn musical instruments at home from a young age usually came from well-off families; but I was an exception.”

"Aside from the pretense and burden of being a 'scholarly family,' my family was destitute and owned nothing."

"To prove that I am better than my so-called superior peers, I have paid a heavy price... Finally, I used every means to win the last government-funded study abroad spot."

"But as I walked this path, standing in the chilly winter wind of New York, at the entrance of the Manhattan School of Music, I hesitated..."

"I've always felt like I'm a conspicuous oddball..."

"Until Fangran, she pushed open the door and came out."

A brief pause, as if lost in reminiscence...

However, Su Yan continued, murmuring:

"Have you seen the white marble sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica... Michelangelo's Pietà?"
"When Fang Ran stood gracefully in the Manhattan wind, took the suitcase from my hand, and asked if I was also coming to study at the music academy... she was like Mary with a compassionate heart, personally jumping down from her altar."

"Like moonlight indiscriminately overlooking the earth..."

"Although we are indeed worlds apart:"

"She has a housekeeper, cook, driver, and maids, and lives alone in a mansion on Fifth Avenue; while I'm crammed into a room in Queens, barely managing to share with five strangers—"

"But perhaps because we are all strangers in a foreign land, our hearts are more closely connected."

"Back then... Fangran always told me that she wanted to break free from her family's control. She was always so idealistic, the complete opposite of me."

"But even though she was a classmate, her friendliness always made me feel that she was too unapproachable."

"Perhaps looking up for too long has been too tiring. One night... as we walked out of the practice building, I couldn't help but ask her:"
"Fangran, we're friends, right?"

"..."

Suddenly, the surging, rolling piano music under Su Yan's ten fluent fingertips paused briefly; the lingering sound echoed in the air.

But soon, she began to speak and play music again, as if time could never be turned back—

"Do you know?" Fangran smiled.

Her smile was still so innocent and pure...

Standing in front of the car that came to pick her up, she turned around and gave me a slight nod.

She said to me:
"—'Swallow, I do consider you a friend.'..."

"...

"...No...you don't consider me a friend?"

Suppressing her laughter, Su Yan let out a series of laughs. The laughter was filled with complex and bitter emotions.
"...I stood alone in the evening breeze, and the longing in my heart... vanished. She made me finally recognize my true feelings—"

I hate her.

"Isn't it enough for anyone to hate someone like her just for existing, for her to simply live?"

"Everything she's taken for granted, everything she wants to get rid of, is a million times more than anything anyone—like me!—could earn in a lifetime of hard work."

"Isn't it laughable that someone like her is still saying she hopes to live an 'ordinary, ordinary life where she can rely solely on herself'?"
“What’s even more despicable is,”

Su Yan smiled bitterly.

"She didn't just talk about it; she really thought and did it!"

"When I see her practicing the piano tirelessly in the practice room again; when I see her secretly shedding tears of nervousness before a rehearsal... I want to rush over to her and use these hands of mine—"

"Strangle her."

Why does someone like her exist in the world? Why is she so beautiful, so pure, and already so talented, yet she still works so hard?
"Shouldn't someone like her die? Don't you want to watch her sink into the mud and die covered in filth?!"
"So, I went to your father... Tang Quan."

Gu Mufei was stunned.

"Tang Quan and I grew up in the same compound; he was known from a young age as much as his bastard father, always causing trouble."

"His father was a domestic abuser. He not only beat his sickly mother at home, but he also hung her up and beat her. Everyone in the neighborhood knew about it."

"But Tang Quan was actually quite capable. He had just started junior high school when he managed to drive his father away completely."

"After that, the creditors took turns harassing the widow and orphan. The entire compound just watched the spectacle. He, however, was never afraid—"

"Until he devised a wicked plan, killing a creditor who had humiliated his mother as a warning to others, and hanging the body on the door... This forced him to flee overnight, heading south to Minzhou to escape into the darkness... In other people's eyes, he was unruly and destined to be utterly wicked; in my eyes, he was also a huge troublemaker, but... he was also like a half-brother, always standing up for me when our parents weren't around and I was always being bullied..."

“Back in New York, I heard that he was hiding overseas because of his criminal record. So I immediately thought of him.”

"To bring down Gu Fangran, this goddess from her pedestal... wouldn't Tang Quan, with his shady background, be a piece of cake?"

"...Is this the origin of the monthly anonymous remittances to your bank account?"

"what."

Su Yan smiled contemptuously:
"Everyone who knew about Tang Quan's past was 'executed' by him. Only I am still alive."

"Because I'm blind, I live worse than garbage. He knew that was the thing I couldn't stand; his repeated acts of charity towards me were the best way to silence me."

"He looks down on me, just as I look down on him. We're like two equally filthy dogs, licking our wounds while avoiding each other."

"Besides, do you think... your mother is some kind of innocent white lotus?... You're so smart, don't you understand where you got your intelligence from?"
"She knew perfectly well why I took the opportunity to introduce Tang Quan to her; she understood my feelings at a glance. But she just smiled, looking at me with pity, watching me struggle for her, watching everything I did for her..."

"She's the one who's manipulating people's hearts!"

"I've had enough of the pitying look in her eyes when she looks at me, enough of her constant superiority, enough of how she always manages to outdo me no matter what..."

"Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 was the first public performance we gave in New York upon graduation... The professor personally selected the piece for us."

"Piano Concerto... I am the one at the very center of the stage! I know that my tireless efforts day and night have not been in vain—but!"
"When Fangran, as the principal violinist, joined me in playing her instrument..."

"The soul within her strings, so full and vibrant, overflowing with life and compassion—"

"My...my despicable behavior is no longer important..."

Fangran knows I'm jealous of her. But she never... would even glance at my jealousy...

"...And is it my fault? She and Tang Quan were never truly together. But do you know how happy Fang Ran was about her affair with Tang Quan?"

"She willingly jumped into the trap I set."

"Moreover, no matter how cunning and shrewd Tang Quan is, do you think Fang Ran wouldn't know how dangerous your father is, given the power and influence of the Gu family conglomerate?"
"But she loved him so much."

"With the help of Tang Quan, she openly broke the marriage contract and finally broke free from the control of her family; she tasted the wonderful flavor of rebellion, like a bird released from its cage, and would not listen to anyone's advice."

Soon, she followed Tang Quan back to Minzhou from New York. In the last few years of her life, she lived by the sea, spending every penny she earned to support the man she believed was most worthy of her intelligence.

She is as radiant as a star. She is the happiest woman in the world.

"I looked up at her happy face, still so proud, so pure and clean, like the moon that shines indiscriminately on the earth."

"But I know she'll soon get into trouble, and her brilliance will eventually get her killed."

She knows it herself.

"But she's always been so selfish..."

"She once told me that people only live once; she wanted to live for herself. Once she tasted freedom, she forgot everything else."

"As a mother, she never thought about you and that little girl for a single moment—poor you two little things! You're just tools for her to break off the engagement."

"As Tang Quan fought his way through the bloodbath, overcoming all obstacles and ascending to the top of Minzhou, firmly establishing himself as the president of the Xinglong Society, his dissidents were already impatient..."

"After Fangran's concert, Tang Quan would always wait for Fangran to come to his side—it was I who personally designed and betrayed everything about Fangran."

"We didn't have such a torrential downpour all summer long."

"Fangran's car suddenly went out of control. On the Parrot River, she and her driver crashed violently into the blood-red pillars of the Jiangjin Bridge. The pure white Maria was flung through the air, falling into the muddy rain, shattering her pampered internal organs to pieces—"

Smugly, Su Yan laughed loudly:

"Doesn't she deserve such a wretched death?!"

"You're insane—!"

In an instant, Gu Mufeng pounced.

Veins bulged on his arms, and a look of loss of control and sorrow flashed in his eyes. Gu Mufeng's face was deathly pale as he viciously gripped Su Yan's withered and crazed throat with one hand.

He abruptly lifted her off the ground.

>>>>>
Next chapter: All beings suffer
[Author's Note | Chapter Sixty-One]

Through meticulous planning and a painful decision to sever his own feelings for his mother, Gu Mufeng finally uncovers the truth behind her murder!
Su Yan recounted everything herself; who could have imagined that love and hatred could have such destructive power?

What do you think of Gu Mufeng's shock?
What do you think of Su Yan as a person?
Let the young author know in the comments section!
Adding to favorites, following reads, and voting will help young authors write even more exciting chapters!


(End of this chapter)