The Cursed Piano

It was not until noon that I finished the two errands for the youngest brother. When Wang Dali and I came out, I felt completely exhausted. I would rather do an autopsy on a corpse that had rotted for two months than endure the physical and verbal abuse from the youngest brother!

Just then, Huang Xiaotao called and invited us out for lunch.

Wang Dali and I went to the school gate and saw Huang Xiaotao leaning against a black BMW sedan. The combination of a beauty and a nice car attracted the gazes of passing students. She was probably used to being watched all the time and didn't care at all.

Wang Dali exaggeratedly said, "Sister Xiaotao, this is your own car?"

"Yes, I'll take you out for a drive sometime. Come on, let's go eat somewhere good near campus. Sis will treat you!"

We found a grilled fish restaurant and ordered a bunch of grilled fish, fried shrimp, and drinks. After working all morning, I was starving, so I didn't stand on ceremony with Huang Xiaotao and worked the chopsticks furiously with Wang Dali, wolfing the food down.

Huang Xiaotao smiled as she watched us drink her milkshake. I felt a little embarrassed and asked, "Are we that hard to watch when we eat?"

"No, watching you eat with such relish makes me a little envious. We police officers don't have a regular lifestyle, and the pressure is enormous, so we often suffer from insomnia and poor appetite." Huang Xiaotao said dejectedly.

Wang Dali said, "Sister Xiaotao, it's so tough being a cop. Why do you insist on doing this job? Your family circumstances seem pretty good, so I guess it's not just for the pay, right?"

"The police don't make much money. I mainly just love the work! Being a cop was my childhood dream job. Actually, I used to be very introverted. It wasn't until I put on this uniform that I became outgoing and confident." Huang Xiaotao replied.

"I would never have guessed!" I said.

"Work can change a person." Huang Xiaotao smiled and continued, "Anyway, I just went to that plastic surgery hospital, and you were right again - Deng Chao did have plastic surgery on his hands."

"Hand surgery?" I asked.

"Yes!" Huang Xiaotao nodded.

"What? I can't follow your line of thinking!" Wang Dali asked in confusion.

I briefly recounted what we had discovered so far. The woman's handprints on both victims were my biggest puzzle, but now it finally made sense. Deng Chao had hand surgery to make his hands smaller and more slender, which is why his roommate said he had been wearing gloves lately to hide the changes.

Wang Dali exclaimed in surprise, "Damn, that's so awesome! I've heard of destroying your fingerprints so you don't leave any behind, but I've never heard of getting hand surgery to throw off the police." After pondering for a moment, he continued, "How can a guy get his hands shaped like a woman's? The sizes are different too."

"Not necessarily. Some men have small hands, and some women have big hands. I looked at Deng Chao's photos before, and his hands seemed quite thick, but his bone structure isn't actually that big. Hand surgery is mostly about sucking out the fat and trimming some of the muscle, so naturally the hands look smaller afterward." I explained.

Huang Xiaotao held out a slender, fair hand and said, "Right, look at my hands - my fingers are a little thinner than yours, but the length isn't much shorter than either of yours."

Wang Dali exclaimed, "Fuck, that's so badass! But I'm still confused - how could a student get the money for that kind of surgery?"

"Probably a scholarship I guess. His roommate said he had a scholarship of around 20,000 yuan. He could easily use that for minor plastic surgery instead of giving it back to the school." I reasoned.

"It's so unfair. Even evil people can get scholarships, while I'm so virtuous yet have nothing." Wang Dali complained bitterly as he bowed his head over his rice again, making me laugh. Scholarships aren't handed out based on morality.

Chewing on her straw, Huang Xiaotao said, "But I'm still wondering - if Deng Chao altered his hands to look feminine, doesn't that mean he intended from the start to point the police towards the Woman in White and the Cursed Piano? But that's absurd. The police would never believe the killer was a ghost..."

"He was probably just wishful thinking. Even smart people can lack experience. He underestimated the police." I said.

"No, Xiangzi, you're wrong!" Wang Dali suddenly exclaimed. "The Cursed Piano is real!"

"I don't believe that nonsense!" Huang Xiaotao wrinkled her nose dismissively.

"It's true!" Wang Dali wiped his oily mouth and continued, "When I was bored waiting in the youngest brother's dorm earlier, I searched the school forums for info about the Cursed Piano. Lots of people said they saw a girl in white clothes with long hair playing the piano in that music classroom late at night, and more than one person heard Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. That's why the building was sealed off for 10 years - it's haunted!"

"Speaking of which, what exactly is the story behind this Cursed Piano?" Huang Xiaotao asked.

"Let me tell you!"

Wang Dali explained that 10 years ago, there was a couple at the school - the guy was very handsome and the student council president, while the girl was pretty and a talented pianist. Anyone could see they were a perfect match that others envied.

However, outsiders didn't know that the girl's parents divorced when she was little, leaving her closed-off and extremely insecure. She saw her boyfriend as her entire world. But the guy had to attend many student council activities and was adept at socializing with lots of friends of the opposite gender.

The girl felt very unsafe and tried to restrict and control him. She would throw tantrums if he didn't return her calls immediately or talked too much with other girls. She had even threatened to cut her wrists and commit suicide.

Naturally, this kind of relationship was suffocating. The guy felt he couldn't take it anymore and wrote a breakup letter, intending to end things. But the girl found the letter early, which felt like the sky was falling for her!

She thought he had fallen for someone else or never loved her at all, and planned to kill him that night before committing suicide.

So she asked him to meet her in a music classroom, saying she had something important to tell him, and prepared a knife.

That night, when the guy arrived, the girl was crying and playing the piano. He immediately sensed something wrong with the atmosphere. The girl suddenly stood up and confronted him about the breakup. The guy stammered out a confession, and the girl tearfully recounted her grievances.

Before he could finish explaining himself, the girl became emotional and brandished the knife, intending to kill him. They struggled, and the guy, physically stronger, shoved her heavily onto the piano. He didn't expect her to smash her head and die instantly!

The guy panicked. Even accidental manslaughter could mean prison, which would ruin his future!

He refused to sacrifice his life for such a twisted relationship. He felt their love itself was cursed, and even in death, the girl still cursed him!

So he picked up the knife and viciously chopped her corpse into pieces, feeling a cathartic sense of relief - perhaps this was love turned to hatred.

As he stuffed the dismembered body parts into the piano, the instrument suddenly let out an abrupt, discordant note. The guy figured he must have accidentally struck a string and carefully avoided touching them as he continued. But each time he added remains, the piano sounded another note, seeming to form a familiar melody. To his horror, it was the Moonlight Sonata the girl loved to play!

The guy was nearly driven mad with fear, but reason triumphed over emotion. He finished cramming the corpse inside, washed away all traces of blood, and fled the scene. As he left, eerie piano music drifted out from the classroom...