SYLFS 23

Chapter – 23 

Who Hates Her Family That Much?

As if pulled by invisible strings, five yellow talismans shot through the air with a sharp shush-shush-shush and stuck precisely onto five points on Song Yuli’s body.

In that instant, wisps of black smoke rose softly from the center of each talisman, almost as though they had begun to burn.

With a crisp crack, the jade tablet placed on Yuli’s forehead split cleanly in half.

At the same moment, in a small restaurant not far from the Song estate, a middle-aged man was grinning at the large sum of money that had just entered his bank account.
But the next second—without any warning—he vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto the floor, body rigid.

Screams echoed through the shop, and chaos erupted.

Inside the Song family’s villa.

The room had gone so silent it was as if everyone had been turned into chickens—still and speechless.
Even Jiang Huai’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

Grandmother Song stared so intently she almost forgot to breathe. Snapping out of it, she reached out with trembling hands and carefully touched the broken jade tablet and the talisman papers, as though checking for some hidden trick.

Otherwise… how could the talismans have flown so forcefully onto Yuli’s body? How could the jade split the very moment the talismans smoked? It was real jade—solid jade.

“Mother!”
Song Yongming warned her gently, but before he finished, Master Lu suddenly shouted as though jolted awake.

“This is nothing but an illusion spell! Madam Song, don’t be fooled!”

Most well-known fortune-tellers and geomancers had some minor tricks up their sleeves. Even the fire-spitting technique he had shown earlier was something he had practiced desperately behind the scenes.

There was no way a young girl like the one before him possessed any real power.
If she truly did, he’d stand on his head and eat shit—Master Lu had been quite confident.

But the next moment, when he saw the Song family’s young lady lying on the floor slowly open her eyes, his heart made a sickening lurch.

She… woke up?!

“Xiao Li!”
Madam Song cried out first. Her usual elegance had vanished, replaced by a trembling, tear-tinged voice.

Song Yongming rushed forward. “Xiao Li, are you alright?”

Still half-dreaming, Yuli blinked in confusion. “Mama? Papa?”
And—oh—Grandma was there too.

She didn’t understand. She had only been sleeping. Why were her parents and grandmother gathered around her bed?

Looking around with dazed eyes, Yuli suddenly noticed the crowd of people in the room, widening her eyes in surprise.

Her gaze landed on Guan Xuxu, and she broke into a bright smile.
“Doggy Sister!”

Everyone froze for a moment. Only Madam Song forced a strained smile and said,
“Xiao Li, don’t call people that. It’s Sister Xuxu, understand?”

Yuli grinned sheepishly.

Seeing that his daughter was acting exactly as she always had, Song Yongming finally allowed his tense expression to relax.
“Master Jiang, Xiao Li is fine now, correct?”

But Guan Xuxu quietly shook her head. Both parents felt their hearts stop.

“I forcibly broke the spell, and the caster suffered the backlash. He will never be able to target her again.
However, Miss Song has already signed a ‘Life-Borrowing Contract.’
Unless that contract is burned, another spellcaster could use it to attempt to take her life again.”

To have their daughter targeted again—
the thought made the Song couple’s hearts seize with terror. Madam Song instinctively held her daughter close, shielding her protectively.

Song Yongming no longer felt even a trace of doubt toward Guan Xuxu. Brow furrowed, he asked seriously,

“We investigated all surveillance footage from the period of her disappearance but found nothing. We will continue investigating, though I doubt results will come quickly. If, in the meantime, the culprit hires another practitioner…”

He couldn’t bear the thought of seeing his daughter fall into a coma again.

“Master Jiang, is there any way to find the mastermind? If you can save my daughter, you may name any reward.”

Guan Xuxu thought for a moment, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a white candy—
a Da Bai Tu milk toffee.

She offered it to Yuli. Seeing the girl’s sparkling eyes, she smiled gently.

“Xiao Li, let’s play a little game. You’ll get this candy as a reward.”

Yuli stared longingly at the candy and glanced at her mother. When Madam Song nodded, she beamed, accepted it, and bowed sweetly to Xuxu.

Guan Xuxu took out a thin red string, tied one end around Yuli’s thumb, then used a cinnabar brush to draw a tiny talisman.

The talisman flashed; light flowed into the red string.
The string straightened sharply as if pulled by an unseen force—pointing unwaveringly in a single direction.

Gasps erupted throughout the room.
Yuli’s eyes grew huge as she shouted in excitement:

“Wow! I can do magic!”

“Alright, Xiao Li. Follow the magic. It will lead you to a ‘surprise.’”

Eyes shining, Yuli hopped to her feet and happily followed the direction indicated.
The Song couple hurried after her, ordering all guards on the estate to accompany them.

They would find the vile person who targeted their daughter—
and make them pay.

The group walked out of the villa. Just as Song Yongming was about to order a car, Guan Xuxu calmly said,

“No need. A small utility vehicle will suffice.”

Seeing Madam Song’s confusion, Xuxu explained:

“Ordinary life-borrowing spells involve sealing one’s hair in a red envelope with money and scattering it on the street. Whoever picks it up and uses it has a tiny bit of their lifespan stolen.
It’s a wide-net method—usually only shaving off small amounts of life and rarely noticed.

But Miss Song’s case is different. A formal contract was made.
She was targeted deliberately.
Which means—
the culprit knows her personally.”

Madam Song inhaled sharply, tears brimming in her eyes.

Her daughter, who had suffered intellectual disability from childhood injury, already lived a harder life than most.
And yet someone hated her enough to take her life?

—Who could harbor such a deep grudge against her Xiao Li?!

Song Yongming’s gaze grew ice-cold.
Every enemy he had ever made flashed through his mind like a passing lantern.