SYLFS 16

Chapter 16 

 The Calamity That Awaits Her Once

Chu Beihe glanced at her, a faint trace of doubt flickering in his eyes. He wondered why she was acquainted with someone from the Song family but chose not to ask.

With a slight motion of his hand, he signaled the driver to depart, and soon, the car arrived at an upscale villa district in the southern part of Haishi.

Since Chu Beihe’s car was leading, they passed through without any trouble and stopped right in front of the Song family’s villa.

If Guan Xuxu had come alone, she probably wouldn’t have even made it past the gates of this community.

Chu Beihe escorted her only as far as the entrance. He had no intention of accompanying her inside—after she got out, he drove away.

When the Song family heard that Young Master Chu’s car had arrived, they eagerly came downstairs to greet him. But instead of seeing Chu Beihe, they found an unfamiliar young girl holding a small fox in her arms.

“Who might this young lady be?” someone asked.

Remembering how the Jiang family had treated her earlier, Guan Xuxu decided not to mention them. She simply introduced herself as “Guan” and didn’t reveal that her real purpose was to help the Song family’s daughter recover her lost wisdom. Even if she told them, they wouldn’t believe her.

From her small bag, she took out a talisman from Qingfeng Temple.

“When I met Madam Song the other day, she accidentally dropped this. I came to return it.”

She had seen on Young Master Song’s social media that last month he had taken his grandmother to Qingfeng Temple to ask for a talisman, so she used that as her excuse.

Madam Song was a graceful, slightly plump woman with a gentle demeanor. Seeing the sweet girl before her—hugging a tame-looking little fox—she felt no particular suspicion.
“Oh, I see. So that’s what this is about.”

The elderly matriarch of the Song family was old-fashioned and deeply superstitious. Ever since little Lizi had hit her head and never fully recovered, she blamed the house’s feng shui. At first, she rearranged the furniture, and over the past year, she had turned to Taoism, even dragging her granddaughter to temples to seek protection charms.

She never expected that someone would actually return a lost talisman to her.

“Thank you for going through the trouble,” Madam Song said politely. “But how did you come to know my mother?”

Though her tone remained courteous, there was a hint of caution in her voice.

Without changing expression, Guan Xuxu began to explain—but at the same time, she gently pinched the belly of Hu Piaoliang, the fox in her arms.

This was their prearranged signal.

At once, the little fox kicked off from her arm and bounded upstairs.

Madam Song gasped in surprise, while Guan Xuxu pretended to panic, rising quickly to chase after it.
“Hu Piaoliang! Come back!”

Good job, Hu Piaoliang. Go find Miss Song.

Barely two minutes later, a sweet, surprised cry came from upstairs. Madam Song and the servants paled and rushed toward the sound.

Guan Xuxu followed right behind and, at the end of the hallway, saw a girl in a frilly princess dress squatting down, smiling brightly at the chubby little fox, her hand reaching out to pet it.

“Lizi!” Madam Song cried, rushing forward and pulling her daughter protectively behind her.

The fox seemed tame, but who knew if it might bite? She instantly regretted letting a stranger with such a pet into the house.

“Mama, puppy!”

Song Yuli—fifteen or sixteen years old—still had a trace of childish roundness in her face, but her beauty and lively aura couldn’t be hidden. Her large, clear eyes were pure and bright, but her speech was that of a small child, her mental development clearly arrested.

When Guan Xuxu looked at her, she noticed a dark shadow between the girl’s brows and frowned slightly.

Madam Song, noticing this expression, misunderstood—thinking the girl was looking down on her daughter—and her tone turned cold.
“If there’s nothing else, Miss Guan, please take your pet and leave. I’ll see you out.”

“Please wait.”

Guan Xuxu called out, gesturing for Hu Piaoliang to return. She looked seriously at Song Yuli and took another talisman from her bag.

“My little fox startled Miss Song just now,” she said gently. “Please accept this as an apology. It will protect her from one misfortune.”

She continued,
“Miss Song was born with a fate of long-lasting fortune. People with such a destiny often have a small red mole on their chest that gathers blessings. But since her wisdom was taken from her in childhood, her fate has a missing piece, and that mole’s color has faded. From what I can see, she will encounter a calamity within the next two days. You should try not to let her leave the house.”

Originally, Guan Xuxu had planned to speak directly about the loss of the girl’s wisdom, but the dark aura between her brows suggested a more pressing danger.

Madam Song, always sensitive when it came to her daughter, grew furious at such strange talk. Her gentle expression hardened.

“I don’t know where you came from,” she snapped, “but speaking curses over my daughter like that is despicable. So this was your reason for approaching my mother? Whatever scheme you’re running, I won’t tolerate it. I’ll overlook it because you’re young—but take your fox and leave immediately, or I’ll call the police!”

There was no use arguing further.

Guan Xuxu, used to such reactions, kept her face calm. She picked up Hu Piaoliang, quietly placed the talisman on a cabinet by the hallway, and turned to leave.

Song Yuli watched the “puppy” being carried away, her eyes full of longing. “Puppy… Mama, the puppy’s going away,” she murmured, trying to follow.

Her mother’s heart ached at the childish plea. She held her daughter close and soothed her.
“That wasn’t a puppy, sweetheart. It was a fox. It could bite. But you like puppies, don’t you? I’ll buy you one.”

“Really!? Mama, I love you! I want a puppy!”

Instantly, she forgot all about the fox and spun around happily on the spot.

Madam Song gazed at her daughter lovingly, eyes glistening with tears—then her gaze fell upon the talisman left on the cabinet. Her expression hardened again.

“Throw that thing away,” she told a servant coldly.

She would never let her daughter touch something of such suspicious origin.

As for what that girl had said—about “the red mole on her chest” and “a broken destiny”—she didn’t believe a word of it.
…Yet when she looked at Yuli again, her eyes couldn’t help but drift toward the neckline of her lace dress.

Was there really… a faint red mole there?

Even so, Madam Song brushed the thought aside. She found it more plausible that one of the household staff had leaked personal details to that strange girl.

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became. After sending her daughter back to her room, she hurriedly called her husband and son.

Someone must be targeting Yuli—and she wouldn’t rest until she found out who.

But at that very moment, unbeknownst to her, Yuli had quietly peeked out from her bedroom, crouched down like a mischievous child sneaking around the house, and slipped out of the room.

Then she dashed down the stairs as fast as she could.