Chapter 10

The Gilded Dance Shoes 2, Gruesome yet Aesthetic

“Here’s the relevant information,” Ao Si handed the documents to An Ge'er, “Take a look at the photos first.”

An Ge'er didn’t move to do it himself, continuing to sip his porridge, and glanced at Mo Fei.

Mo Fei walked over, stuffing the remaining sandwich into his mouth to free his hands, opened the document bag, and pulled out the papers inside. The first photo made Mo Fei frown deeply... An Ge'er was looking up at Mo Fei's expression.

Mo Fei’s expression was peculiar, a mix of disgust and curiosity.

Mo Fei's shock lasted only a brief moment before he regained his composure and placed the photo in front of An Ge'er. An Ge'er looked down and immediately understood why Mo Fei had that expression earlier.

The scene in the photo was subtle... it could be described as gory, yet also aesthetic.

There were three photos in total. The first showed a pair of feet, beautiful feet with snow-white skin, slender, clearly those of a dancer, clad in fiery red dance shoes. However, it was just a pair of feet, severed at the calves, with fresh, bright red blood splattered around, indicating they had been recently cut off. The background was unclear, resembling a windowsill with potted plants or something else... it was blurred, with only the red-shoed feet in clear focus.

The second photo featured a pair of dance shoes, incredibly beautiful and luxurious, as if made of gold, adorned with an intricate, hollow pattern that was hard to classify as either Eastern or Western. The design was complex like Western patterns but irregular, casual like Eastern designs but lacking a certain abstract quality, strange and unique. Beside the golden shoes sat a black cat, slender and exquisite, its fur entirely black without a single stray hair, its round eyes golden, expressionlessly staring at the nearby shoes. It was an extremely aesthetic scene, but beneath the cat and shoes lay a swath of long, black hair like velvet, also sprinkled with bright blood.

The third photo was a sea of blood red... On closer inspection, it was a layer of dried blood on an entire pane of glass, covered in scattered, plum blossom-shaped footprints, those of a cat. Through these footprints, one could see a woman in black clothes dancing elegantly behind the glass.

An Ge'er finished his last spoonful of porridge, set down the photos, and asked Ao Si, “A very artistic set of photos, what’s their connection to the case?”

Ao Si pondered and then said, “Well, there’s been a famous ballet recently called ‘The Gilded Dance Shoes’. Have you heard of it?”

An Ge'er nodded, “I’ve seen the synopsis. It’s about a failed dancer in her sixties who stumbles upon a pair of magical dance shoes. When she wears them, she turns back into her twenty-something self, dancing flawlessly... then falls in love, and after a final dance with a young male dancer, she dies, right?”

Xia Qi, listening on the side, chuckled, “Do people still watch stuff like that?”

“In ballet, most people focus more on the performance of the dancers than the story,” An Ge'er noted, then asked Ao Si, “How does this relate to the case?”

“The main selling point of this ballet is the lead actress, Anna, playing the magical dancer.”

Everyone nodded, and Xia Qi smiled, “She’s a beauty.”

“She’s dead,” Ao Si announced startlingly, pointing to the feet in the photo, “Recognize whose feet these are?”

Everyone frowned, “Anna’s?”

Ao Si nodded, “DNA tests confirm it. They’re hers.”

“DNA testing?” An Ge'er was surprised, “Only the feet? The rest of the body wasn’t found?”

Ao Si nodded again, “That’s the problem. Not only is the body missing, but these items were also sent to the theater company.”

Mo Fei cleared away the bed table from An Ge'er and propped two soft pillows behind him for support.

After Anger settled down, his headache was gone, and he looked up at Os, "The details, please."

"It's like this, the troupe is called the Red Shoes Troupe, because their dancers like to wear red dance shoes during practice," Os sat back on the sofa, narrating the case to everyone, "Anna is the mainstay of this troupe, and the gilded dance shoes were custom-made for her. They've had several performances with good responses and started touring. But three days ago, Anna suddenly disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Anger looked at Os, "There was no report in the newspapers."

Os nodded, "The troupe hid this fact to protect the box office sales. Before a performance, the troupe received a letter with these three photos inside."

"And then?" Anger asked, "Where were the legs found?"

"At Anna's home, along with her cat," Os said, "According to the forensic report, Anna's legs were chopped off two days ago, and those footprints were indeed from her cat."

"What does this have to do with a cat dancing?" Chazi asked, puzzled.

"The troupe leader told me something, Anna has been emotionally unstable lately," Os continued, "A week ago, Anna told the leader that she saw her cat dancing at night. Later, the cat sneaked into her dance shoes and transformed into a girl in black dancing gracefully. When she went out, she heard the girl, with her back to her, pointing at the gilded dance shoes on the table, saying 'I deserve to wear them more than you.'"

"A... a cat demon?" Chazi widened his eyes.

"Anna said, when she tried to see the face of that person, she woke up," Os shrugged.

"A dream?" Mo Fei asked, thinking that only in dreams could such bizarre experiences occur.

"It is said that when Anna woke up, she really saw her black cat lying next to the red dance shoes, and its eyes were full of disdain," Os explained, "So Anna mentioned this to the leader, saying she didn't want to perform anymore."

"Nervous breakdown, perhaps?" Chazi said, "Is it just stress-induced dreaming?"

"The leader thought so too at the time," Os nodded, "He thought Anna might be nervous or have stage fright, always encouraging her... until her death, that's when he remembered what Anna had told him earlier."

Anger listened quietly, nodded, and asked, "What happened next? How did the ballet proceed?"

"They had the understudy perform," Os said, "Her name is Xu Mei, she had been Anna's backup dancer for many years."

Anger nodded, remained silent, and then asked, "Is that ballet still going on?"

"Originally, the troupe planned to end it after the last performance," Os said, "But Xu Mei's performance turned out unexpectedly well, with many even saying she was better than Anna. Therefore, the troupe decided to continue the show, following the original national tour plan."

"Will it still play in S City?" Anger asked.

"There's one more show tonight," Os said, "The last one."

"Do you want me to investigate this case?" Anger asked.

"The chief suggests that it's best to solve this case before the troupe leaves."

Anger looked at Os for a while, stroked his chin, and said, "Because this troupe is somewhat famous, and if the case makes the newspapers, it would cause quite a stir, bringing a lot of prestige to the chief."

Os shrugged, "Exactly, sly as a fox."

Anger thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "I'll go watch the ballet performance tonight, then take a walk backstage." After saying this, he sighed softly, "But for now, I need to sleep."

Chazi walked over, touched his forehead, and said, "The fever has subsided, and he just drank some ginger porridge. A good sleep should do the trick." After speaking, he looked at Mo Fei, "Handsome, take good care of him."

Mo Fei's lips twitched slightly as he saw the two out.

After Os and Chazi had left, Mo Fei went back upstairs, tucked Anger in, turned off the lights, drew the curtains, closed the door, and let him sleep in peace.

Leaving Anger's bedroom, Mo Fei looked down and realized he was still in his pajamas, having been busy all morning without noticing.

He intended to go back to his room to change, but then noticed the door to Anger's studio was open.

Curious about what Anger had been painting lately, Mo Fei walked in…

The binding of Anger's sketchbook had come undone, and sketch papers were scattered on the floor. In the center, the largest easel held a canvas, but it was covered with a white cloth.

Mo Fei crouched down, picking up the sketch papers, and saw that they were sketches of him cleaning… nearly every movement captured. He marveled for a while, wondering how Anger managed to capture the essence of a person's movement in a moment and then translate it so accurately onto paper with just a few simple strokes.

As he pondered, his gaze shifted to the large oil painting. Mo Fei walked over and gently lifted the white cloth—the person in the painting... was himself.

It was strange; he had guessed at first, with Anger drawing so many sketches of him as the model, that perhaps one of them was turned into the oil painting. But Mo Fei was wrong. The painting depicted him about to eat, holding a bowl, his hair wet with droplets of water, his complexion pale, and his eyes soft.

Mo Fei stared for a long time, never having imagined that his eyes could ever look so tender...

Throughout the morning, Anger slept peacefully.

After tidying up the room again, Mo Fei went downstairs. During this time, he completed a business deal—it seemed to be a regular customer, who purchased one of Anger's classical landscape paintings. The price offered made Mo Fei's eyes widen. He took the money and deposited it into Anger's account at the bank. Mo Fei also opened a card for himself, as Anger found it troublesome and asked him to remember to pay himself a salary each month. Mo Fei couldn't help but smile wryly at this – was Anger too trusting, or too astute?

When Mo Fei returned from the bank, he heard music coming from the gallery from afar... it sounded like a violin.

"Really?" Mo Fei had seen a violin next to Anger's bed, but with Anger still unwell, how could he be up playing it? Mo Fei went upstairs and upon opening the door, he saw that it wasn't Anger playing, but an old phonograph on the windowsill.

"You're awake?" Mo Fei asked Anger, who was now wearing a black sweater and sitting on the sofa, staring pensively at several photos in his hand.

Knowing that Anger was probably deep in thought and not wanting to disturb him, Mo Fei asked, "Are you hungry?"

Anger looked up at Mo Fei and suddenly asked, "Can you dance?"

Mo Fei was taken aback, scratched his head, and shook it, "I don't know how to do that stuff."

"It's not actually that hard," Anger, who seemed to have just woken up and was still a bit lethargic, simply gestured to Mo Fei, "I'll teach you."