The heavy rain wove flowing silver gauze on the curved floor-to-ceiling windows. In the three-story lobby, the Venetian gray marble floor reflected the fragmented light of the crystal chandeliers.
When Yi An stepped into the entrance hall, she casually threw the wet mink shawl to the servant.
"Where's Qingliu?"
"Young Master... is in the piano room..."
There was an electrical noise coming from Butler Li's Bluetooth headset, and suddenly there was a heavy sound of piano from the second floor.
Chen Chunhua looked up and saw Ye Qingliu standing barefoot on the lid of a Steinway piano, the charcoal pencil in his hand leaving hideous scratches on the wall inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
The moment Ye Qingliu turned his head, the halo of the crystal chandelier just covered the teardrop mole at the corner of his eye - exactly the same as the woman in the painting "Playing the Lute Under the Moon" at the end of the corridor.
Yi An's high heels brought a cool fragrance as she stepped up the stairs, and the central control system of the entire building began to play Debussy's "Moonlight".
Chen Chunhua held the frightened Hua Jinyue and hid behind the second-floor corridor column. She saw the woman taking off her gloves like a snake shedding its skin, and the lace fabric slipped off, revealing the hideous old scar on her wrist.
Chen Chunhua saw the woman's fingers painted with dark red nail polish stroke the gilded handrail, leaving wet fingerprints on the Italian calfskin-wrapped railing.
Ye Qingliu ran down the stairs barefoot, his footsteps as crisp as broken jade, and he suddenly stumbled on the last three steps.
"Qingliu." Yi An's earrings shone coldly as she bent down, the jade pendant facing the boy's brow. "Let me see this face."
She pressed her thumb, which was painted with dark red nail polish, against the corner of his eye. The moonlight shone through the stained glass window, casting their shadows on the wall, as if a beauty was strangling a young animal's throat.
"These eyes. They are truly the most perfect curse of the Ye family." She suddenly pinched the boy's chin, and the platinum claw setting of the Tiffany Schlumberger ring dug into his skin, leaving a crescent-shaped blood mark on his pale cheek.
Chen Chunhua felt Hua Jinyue in her arms suddenly twitch. The girl in her arms broke free from her and rushed out, throwing the celadon doll at the rain boots flying at Yi An's feet.
Amid the sound of cracking porcelain pieces, Ye Qingliu fell backwards and bumped into the brass candlestick, and the flames exploded into golden meteors in his pupils.
"What beautiful bones." Yi An picked up a piece of broken porcelain with a smile, and placed the cold blade against Ye Qingliu's face. "Just like the day of your mother's funeral..."
Yi An's last words suddenly trembled, and when the porcelain piece drew a thin line on the boy's cheek, nanny Chen Chunhua saw that the rose tattoo on the back of her neck was twitching.
The moment the thunder struck, the whole house suddenly fell into darkness. When Chen Chunhua touched Ye Qingliu's cold wrist, she heard the sound of Yi An's high heels rolling over the broken porcelain on the ground.
The moment the lights came on again, Chen Chunhua saw the woman's skirt stained with blood, winding up the spiral staircase, like a snake shedding its skin, swimming towards the west corridor where she had been imprisoned for many years.
This was just the beginning, and it was also the first time that Chen Chunhua intuitively felt the bloody storm that was about to come. Facts proved that her words were right, and also verified everything that followed.
She knew a little about Madam Yi from the servants. She was the stepmother of the brother and sister. She had brought bad luck upon her and was no longer able to survive in the Ye family.
——————————(time dividing line)
The crystal chandelier cast diamond-like spots of light on the Italian Carrara marble floor. When Ye Qingliu played the third movement of the "Moonlight Sonata" incorrectly for the seventh time, the gilded candlestick on the lid of the Steinway piano was dripping with wax.
Piano teacher Lin Manqing struck the music stand with her silver pointer, startling a blue magpie perched on a crabapple tree outside the window.
"Your wrist should be like holding a spring of water." Lin Manqing's fingers, painted with nude nail polish, suddenly pinched the boy's wrist bone. "Your mother made her international debut at the age of sixteen..."
The voice stopped abruptly, and Ye Qingliu pulled his hand away suddenly, knocking over the piano stool. The stool legs inlaid with mother-of-pearl scraped against the wooden floor, making a sharp sound.
Chen Chunhua stood quietly in the corridor holding the washed piano cover. She saw cold sweat oozing out of the back of Ye Qingliu's neck, soaking the ribbed collar of his custom-made shirt into dark gray.
Lin Manqing picked up the fallen silver metronome. The metal pendulum swung in sync with the boy's trembling eyelashes. "If the heir of the Ye family can't even control the strength of the keys..."
The door to the piano room flew open, and the lily-of-the-valley pattern on Yi An's skirt swept across the threshold. She was holding a gilded enamel jewelry box in her arms, and the corner of the box knocked against the Steinway piano, making a dull sound.
"Teacher Lin," Yi An's fingertips lifted the pearl necklace wrapped around the box, "I heard your father bought that harpsichord at Sotheby's last month?"
Lin Manqing's pointer slipped on the music stand. Ye Qingliu took the opportunity to hide his left hand in the shadow of the piano stool. Chen Chunhua saw that his little finger joint was swollen like a ripe plum - it was from Yi An hitting him with a paperweight when he "corrected" his fingering last week.
"Keep playing." Yi An suddenly dumped the entire box of jewelry onto the piano keys, the diamond bracelets wedging into the gaps between the black keys. "Your mother loved wearing these when she practiced."
A drop of sweat fell from Ye Qingliu's eyelashes and hit the ruby ring that was left by his cousin.
When the eighth wrong note rang out, Yi An's hands with red nail polish grabbed the back of the boy's neck.
Although Yi An didn't know how to raise or lower the pitch, she was able to accurately find the scratches left by her cousin - five long and thin scratches on the sandalwood piano cover, which were left when her cousin played "Pathetique" for the last time.
"Here." Yi An pressed his thumb against Ye Qingliu's protruding spine. "She straightens here every time she plays a fugue."
The emerald-studded nails dug into the boy's skin, pressing him against the piano keys. The weight of the diamond necklace sliced through his collarbone, sending a drop of blood oozing into the crack of the middle C key.
Lin Manqing's Chanel suit wrinkled. "Mrs. Ye, the angle of the keys needs to be professional..."
"Professional?" Yi An suddenly hummed a broken melody, a grotesque rendition of "To Alice" tinged with blood. "She taught me hand-in-hand for three months, and in the end, she said my hands were only fit for rings."
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