Page 27 of Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

Shifty eyes? Awkward silences? Constipated look?

Mysterious connection with the victim?

She should patent her formula. Although, to be fair, so far all of the people here tonight, except for Emma and Oliver, are potential killers according to her formula, so maybe Vera’s formula needs a little fine-tuning.

She tells Qiang Wen to help Emma with her chopsticks, then turns her attention to TJ and Aimes, who are busy talking about social media. Vera quite likes social media; it’s a wonderful way to learn about the new generation. When Tilly was a teen, he hated having Vera or Jinlong knowing anything about his life. He was so protective over everything that had to do with his life. But now, young people can’t seem to share enough about their lives with the world. It’s very handy for nosy parents.

“I will make some tea,” Vera says, gliding behind her counter. Once she’s in her element, Vera’s entire body goes through a metamorphosis; even the way she stands feels different. Making tea in front of an audience makes Vera feel like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis, unfurling her glorious wings to luxuriate in the attention. She moves with liquid grace, patiently taking out dried rosebuds from a jar with a pair of chef tweezers and measuring them out on an old-school weighing scale. The scales are made from brass and have a little weight on the end that Vera has to slide with care until she is satisfied. Next, she sprinkles some dried osmanthus onto the small pile of rosebuds, the flakes so delicate that they fly weightlessly. The entire process, Vera feels, is laced with magic. A small smile plays on her mouth as she pours the hot water. When it is done, she glances up and says, “Tea is served.”

That’s when she realizes that Aimes has been recording her with her phone. There is a moment of silence as Aimes stares at her through the phone screen, mouth agape. Vera flaps an impatient hand at her. “Eh, Aimes, what you doing?”

Aimes snaps to attention. “Oh my god,” she says, tapping at the phone. “Vera, that was…wow. I don’t know what made me decide to record you making tea, but oh my god. We’ve got some amazing footage there.”

“Aiya, what are you talking about?”

“No, seriously, that was so comforting to watch. Oh my god. I like to watch soothing videos before I go to sleep at night—I know, scrolling through my phone in bed is a terrible habit, I know, but to be fair, I’m not doomscrolling. I stick to these soothing village cooking videos.”

“Village cooking videos?” Vera says.

“Yeah, there are lots of them from around the world. My favorites are the ones from China and Poland. Hang on, let me show you.” Aimes goes through her phone and then shows Vera what she means.

Vera watches in wonderment. It’s a video of a middle-aged woman in China butchering pork and cooking all sorts of delicious pork dishes from scratch. She even makes the dumpling skin from scratch. “People watch this?” she says.

“Oh yeah. Look, this one’s got three million views.”

“Is that a lot of views?”

“Yeah! You get paid per million views,” Aimes says.

Vera is flabbergasted. “How much you get paid?”

“Well, it really depends on how you choose to monetize. You could have ads or sponsors and collabs with people in the biz, not to mention merch.”

“Aimes, you speak English, okay? Don’t use these silly words, like ‘merch’ and all that,” Vera scolds.

“Oh, sorry. Okay, just to keep it simple, you should get paid around two thousand dollars per million views.”

“Two thousand dollar?” Vera cries. She glances again at the video, where the woman is now kneading a ball of dough. “Just to cook this? This is such simple dish, I make almost every week!”

“Well…yeah. Because most of us don’t do this, Vera,” Aimes says. “Most people don’t make—is she making noodles from scratch? Okay, yeah, most of us don’t do that. We buy premade noodles from the supermarket.”

“Aiya, you young people.” Vera frowns at the video. An idea is starting to take shape. An idea that would kill two pigs with one stone. It would establish her as a social media starandfind justice for Thomas/Xander. She nods to herself. Yes, it’s the perfect plan. Straightening up, she clears her throat and makes her announcement. “I have decide that I will be new social media star.”

Aimes and TJ look suspiciously like they’re trying to hold back a smile.

“Now, how you post it?” Vera says.

“Whoa, hang on, you can’t just post raw footage. You gotta edit it first.”

---