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Vivian Fang whipped up a feast in no time. Her leg was still banged up, so Yvonne Hu and Lilian Grace played waitress, ferrying dishes to the table. The four of them sat down together. Vivian’s cooking was so mouthwatering that Shawn Young almost moaned with delight—he thought it was every bit as good as Tang Yuanyuan’s, and couldn’t hold back his praise.
"Wow—Aunt Vivian, your cooking is so good it could make a monk break his vows! It’s a triple threat—looks, smells, and tastes all top-notch!" Shawn Young blurted, practically drooling.
"If you like it, Shawn, eat up! I haven’t cooked in ages—was afraid I’d forgotten how to wield a spatula!" Vivian Fang blushed, basking in the praise, feeling a warm fuzzy glow inside.
"Seriously, I haven’t tasted my mom’s home cooking in forever. We usually have some fancy chef at home—she’s always running around, either stuck at the office or jet-setting somewhere. If she hadn’t busted her leg, she’d probably be bossing people around at work right now," Yvonne Hu chimed in, rolling her eyes.
"Oh? What kind of company does your family own?" Shawn Young asked casually.
"Harmony Realty Group! You must have heard of it, right? Aunt Vivian is the chairwoman!" Lilian Grace interjected.
"What?! Harmony Realty Group! One of the top fifty real estate companies in the country! So it’s really Aunt Vivian’s?" Shawn was shocked—Harmony Realty Group wasn’t just the biggest real estate firm in Nanning City, but also the leading company in the province, and even ranked among the top fifty nationwide. It had started as a small, unknown business but, thanks to excellent management in recent years, had quickly risen to become a prestigious, publicly listed company. Shawn had always known Yvonne Hu’s family was wealthy, but he never imagined it was the legendary Harmony Realty Group.
"Haha, actually, Harmony Realty Group was left to us by Yvonne’s father. He passed away ten years ago. I just managed and grew the company after that," Vivian Fang said with a gentle smile.
"Aunt Vivian, you’re selling yourself short! My dad always says the company would’ve gone belly-up years ago if you hadn’t stepped in. He calls you a business genius—a real queen of the boardroom! He says you’re the pride of womankind, and honestly, I think he’s got a point!" Lilian Grace said, winking.
"Oh, Lilian, your dad could sweet-talk a statue! I’m just a regular middle-aged lady, not the superwoman he makes me out to be. He’s the real deal in business!" Vivian Fang said, her cheeks turning pink.
"Aunt Vivian, I mean it! You’re gorgeous—no way you’re just ‘ordinary.’ If I were a guy, I’d be head-over-heels for you at first sight!" Lilian Grace declared. Shawn Young silently agreed—Vivian was a knockout, even in her forties, and with a daughter like Yvonne Hu, her looks and figure were totally next-level. That mature vibe? Deadly for any man with a pulse.
"Hmph—so what if my mom’s beautiful? My dad still messed around with that woman. If it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t have…" Yvonne Hu suddenly interjected, her face turning cold.
"Yvonne! That’s enough—it’s all in the past. Eat your food!" Vivian Fang gently reminded her.
"Hmph—whatever, I’m stuffed. Not hungry anymore!" Yvonne Hu huffed, putting down her bowl and sulking, her mood nosediving like a bad stock.
Vivian Fang looked a bit awkward and changed the subject, turning to Shawn Young: "Shawn, I’ll go get some red wine. Yvonne and I like to have a little—it’s good for the skin, and it’s nice for men too!"
"Oh—sure!" Shawn picked up on the tense atmosphere and quickly played along. He had no intention of poking at anyone’s sore spot.
Vivian Fang gave him a grateful look, then got up and fetched a bottle of red wine from the cabinet. Lilian Grace’s eyes lit up when she saw it: "Wow, a 2002 Lafite! Nice!"
But Shawn Young sensed something was off and said directly to Vivian, "Aunt Vivian, may I take a closer look at that bottle of wine?"
"Oh! Of course." Vivian Fang handed the 2002 Lafite to Shawn.
This French red was seriously fancy—each bottle cost nearly 50,000 RMB and had a rep as the drink of the rich and famous. Shawn Young took the 2002 Lafite, popped the cork, and poured a splash into a goblet, looking like he was about to perform a magic trick instead of wine tasting.
"Uh—Shawn, you’re supposed to let red wine breathe for half an hour and swirl it a bit. If you drink it straight like that, it won’t taste right and you’ll waste it!" Lilian Grace reminded him.
"Oh, I’m not drinking it—I’m inspecting it," Shawn Young replied, lifting the glass and examining it carefully under the chandelier. Suddenly, his expression changed. He put the glass down and quickly said to Vivian Fang and Yvonne Hu, "I know how you two were cursed—the curse is hidden in this bottle of wine! If we can trace where it came from, we’ll basically know who’s behind all this!"
"What?! Are you kidding me?!" Vivian Fang’s jaw nearly hit the table.
"I’m just stating the facts. If you don’t believe me, you can test it right now using my method—do you have any silverware?" Shawn asked directly.
"Yes, yes! What are you planning to do?" Yvonne Hu asked hurriedly.
"Pour some clean water into a silver bowl, then I’ll use my cultivation to force the cursed bug out of this bottle of wine. You’ll see I’m telling the truth," Shawn explained.
"Okay! I’ll get it right away." Yvonne Hu dashed upstairs and soon returned with a silver bowl full of clean water, placing it on the floor as Shawn instructed.
Then Shawn poured half the wine into the silver bowl of water. He struck a dramatic pose: left hand in a sword-finger gesture, right hand pressed to his chest like a kung fu master channeling his inner Bruce Lee. He started chanting, "Stars shift, constellations spin, all powers unite—hurry, hurry, show yourself now!"
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Next, Shawn jabbed his sword fingers at the silver bowl—"whoosh!"—a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it white beam shot out, zapping the wine-water mix. Instantly, the red wine swirled at the bottom, coughing up layers of creepy blue-black fuzz. The fuzz unraveled, wriggling around like a bunch of drunken snakes at a pool party! The three ladies stared, mouths agape as if they’d just seen a ghost.
"These are the Soul-Stealing Mother-Daughter Curse bugs. The squirmy ones in the water? Soul-Leech Worms. Once they’re inside, they gobble up your essence, multiply like rabbits, and eventually take over your brain. Whoever planted the curse can use them like remote controls, turning you into their personal puppets! Looks like someone wanted to keep you two on a short leash—for some seriously shady reasons," Shawn Young said, deadpan.
"Wait—what?! That bottle of 2002 Lafite was a gift from my second uncle when he went to some fancy conference abroad! If you’re right, then—my second uncle’s got his fingerprints all over this!" Yvonne Hu shrieked, practically clutching her pearls.
"Well—if your second uncle can come and go as he pleases around here, then I’d bet my last dumpling it’s him. Odds are ten to one," Shawn Young said, nodding with the confidence of a detective in a soap opera.
“Oh my god! I—I can’t believe my second uncle would do something like this! What could we possibly have done to deserve this—why would he go so far?!” Yvonne Hu’s face was pale with disbelief.
Vivian Fang, however, sat silently on the sofa, her head down and face deathly pale. No one knew what she was thinking. After a long pause, she finally looked up and said slowly, “I remember now—Shawn is right. It was Warren Hu! He’s the only one with the motive and the means.”