Urban Seduction: Housewives Club Chapter 2176 - 497: Aunt Su Nuanyue 1

After locking up her store, Yang Cancan guided Wang Yue along the busy main road for quite a stretch before turning into a terribly rundown neighborhood.

Wang Yue couldn’t have believed such a decrepit shantytown existed inside a world-class Super City if he hadn’t witnessed it himself.

From the building designs, these seemed to be the initial emergency shelters erected just after the Great Cataclysm—refugee temp housing that miraculously endured to this day.

Over centuries and more than ten generations of dwellers, this tight space got even more clogged with haphazard sheds and add-ons, forming a web of passages barely wide enough for one person. To newcomers, it was an utter labyrinth; disorientation hit in moments.

Yet this disorder acted as built-in defense. Pursuing anyone here was almost futile without sticking within ten meters, or they’d slip away around a bend instantly.

Wang Yue figured Yang Cancan’s boldness against those hoodlums stemmed from her fighter-like skills and this hidden maze’s shield. No one would endure the nightmare of chasing her down for a trivial protection racket fee.

Trailing her through endless bends and zigzags, Wang Yue abruptly sensed a cold shiver racing up his back—his hairs prickled.

He glanced ahead to a somewhat broader open spot. More than a dozen mature women sat on tiny stools, fanning themselves with palm leaves, fixating hard on Yang Cancan and him as they passed.

The barrage of prying stares unsettled Wang Yue more than confronting a peer-level foe. His body tightened on reflex.

This sensation was entirely new to him. Puzzled by his abrupt anxiety, he struggled to maintain a neutral expression.

Yang Cancan clearly knew the crowd well, tossing casual hellos as she ushered him past the lineup.

No incidents occurred during the traverse, and Wang Yue exhaled quietly in relief. Yet soon after, whispers from the "Auntie Brigade" floated their way from behind.

"Why is Cancan back so early today? And she’s got a man with her?"

"You think she finally got a boyfriend?"

"He’s not much to look at. Looks shorter than her, too."

"He’s a bit plain, but isn’t that a perfect match for her?"

"True. For a girl like her, it’s a miracle anyone wants her at all."

...

Overhearing their "innocent" but cutting remarks, Wang Yue’s hands balled into fists. In time, he willed them to unclench.

Folks like that were beyond his control. Slaying them for mere words? Overkill. Still, their barbs cut deep.

Not even as a Transcendence Realm powerhouse could he shield himself from these spiteful gossips who idled away days munching seeds and wishing misfortune on neighbors.

Actually, his elevated cultivation sharpened his ears too keenly. Their voices carried from afar, dragging out the agony. Yang Cancan, deaf to it all, fared far better.

Fortunately, the ordeal ended quickly. Another youth strolled by, and the Aunties swiftly pivoted to tearing into him.

After five or six hundred meters plus eight more twists, they arrived at Yang Cancan’s place.

A modest courtyard awaited. Though aged, it stood far superior to the neighborhood’s typical bare-bones single-room huts.

Wang Yue now grasped why those women badmouthed her. Envy for the better-off, scorn for the worse-off—humanity’s darker traits in action.

Yang Cancan worked diligently and managed her shop young; outsiders admired that, but local slackers saw it as a thorn.

His gaze swept the yard. Barely a hundred square meters, yet spotlessly maintained against the surrounding grime. A three-room main house flanked a little annex.

"Mom, I’m home!" Yang Cancan brought him right into the main dwelling. The middle served as living area; east held kitchen and bath, west her mother’s sleeping quarters.

As expected, a weak voice emerged from the west room: "Why are you back so early? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," Yang Cancan replied frankly. "Someone showed up claiming to be family. Says he’s your nephew. Come out and see if you know him."

"Your father and I don’t have any siblings. How could I have a nephew?" The woman replied while opening the door and emerging.

Wang Yue eyed her, his eyebrows knitting faintly.

She appeared a strikingly fragile lady in baggy home clothes and cheap slippers. Pale-faced, she exuded a vulnerable, ailing vibe.

Beautiful in a pitiful manner, this woman still wasn’t his second aunt, Su Mengchen, Wang Yue knew. She shared just thirty percent likeness with his mother. As identical twins, aunt and mother wouldn’t diverge so much after thirty years of separate lives.

Nevertheless, the undeniable tug of familial blood linked him to her.

This revelation shocked him.

"Mom, this is him. He says you’re his aunt," Yang Cancan said, gesturing at Wang Yue.

Su Nuanyue regarded the ordinary youth with bewilderment. "Sir, you must have the wrong person. I don’t have any sisters."

"Then... may I ask if you know the name Su Yixuan?" Wang Yue inquired cautiously.

He’d first thought Yang Cancan’s mom was Su Mengchen, hence claiming kinship to Cancan. Doubts crept in now. Blood ties pulsed, but the precise link eluded him. Improvisation was key.

The name struck Su Nuanyue like lightning. She gasped, "You know him? Where is he?!"

That name etched deep in her mind. Though never met, her mother had named him on her deathbed. He was her father.

Her response confirmed it for Wang Yue, though he inwardly sighed: Grandpa mirrored Uncle—another secret lover.

He drew a steadying breath. "He... he’s been missing for a long time. I’m afraid he’s..."

"How does a man just go missing?" Yang Cancan interjected.

Wang Yue answered, "He went to explore a ruin years ago and never came back."