The moonlight flowed on the piano paint to form a galaxy, and Xia Chan's fingers gripping the rag suddenly froze. The electronic clock showed 23:47, and the third movement of "Moonlight" came from the soundproof room of the piano room on the top floor. The arpeggios that should have been smooth now sounded like shattered glass, with strange pauses every two measures.
"What the hell." She stared at the surveillance screen at the end of the corridor. All the piano rooms in the sixteen-grid image were empty. Amid the snowy noise of the old display screen, only the monitoring time of room B03 was frozen at 19:30.
Boom!
The heavy bass vibrated through the crack of the door, and the anti-theft bell that Lao Wang from the vegetable market gave to Xia Chan in his pocket suddenly rang wildly. She took out the master card given to her by the dean of studies and swiped it, and the moment she heard the light sound of the metal lock tongue popping open.
The moonlight dissected the interior scene like a scalpel. Jiang Zhixi sat in front of the grand piano with his back to the door. His white shirt was soaked with sweat and stuck to his spine. His left hand was hammering hard on the middle C key. There were torn pieces of music scattered around the piano stool, and a half-full bottle of tranquilizer was stuck upside down on the music stand.
"Who?" He suddenly turned his head, his gold-rimmed glasses hanging crookedly on his high nose bridge. Only then did Xia Chan realize that he was not wearing a hearing aid and there was a blood-stained cotton ball stuffed in his right ear canal.
There was a smell of rust fermenting in the air.
Xia Chan took a half step back and bumped into the door frame, and the cleaning agent in his arms rolled to the ground. The lemon scent exploded instantly, mixed with the smell of turpentine and blood on his body, forming a dangerous cocktail in the moonlight.
"Did you hack the surveillance camera?" As she bent down to pick up the bottle, she saw half of the signal jammer sticking out of his trouser pocket. "A good student would do such a thing?"
Jiang Zhixi suddenly stood up and approached, and the piano keys emitted harsh chords as he staggered. He propped his left hand on the door panel beside her ear, and pinched her chin with his injured right hand to force her to look up: "Xia, curiosity kills the cat."
His breath sprayed on her eyelashes, and Xia Chan saw the faint light of a trapped beast dancing in his pupils. It was close enough for her to see the unhealed scratches under his collar - like the marks left by some large cat.
"Let go." She bent her knees and pushed against his abdomen, and he pressed her against the door with his thighs. While struggling, she ripped open two of his buttons, revealing the purple bruises on his collarbone in the moonlight.
Jiang Zhixi suddenly laughed, and pressed his hot forehead against her shoulder: "You are shaking." His fingertips slid along her spine to her lower back, "You should call for help at this time, or..." His fingers hooked the hem of her school uniform tucked into her jeans, "Ask me what I need."
Xia Chan picked up the metronome from the piano and smashed it against the alarm button.
When the sharp beeping sound echoed throughout the teaching building, Jiang Zhixi had already retreated to the window. He supported himself on the windowsill with one hand, turned over and jumped down, falling into the night like a white bird with broken wings. The summer cicada flew to the window, only to see the ginkgo tree downstairs shaking violently, with the fallen leaves on the ground forming the shape of broken cicada wings.
The next morning, Xia Chan discovered that her locker in the tool room had been pried open. The woven bag containing the waste was intact, except for a box of imported ear medicine. On the back of the box was written in German: Für die neugierige Katze (For the curious cat)
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