[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 35

The next day, Shiliu was particularly cautious when leaving her room. Uncharacteristically, she woke up early and deliberately waited until she heard movement next door, only venturing downstairs for breakfast after Li Xuanci had left.

For the time being, she needed to avoid Li Xuanci and keep a low profile.

Preoccupied, Shiliu headed downstairs and bumped right into the innkeeper’s wife, who was carrying water upstairs. Water from the bucket splashed all over her.

The innkeeper’s wife quickly set down the bucket, flustered, and used the towel on her shoulder to wipe Shiliu down, saying, “Oh, dear customer, I’m so sorry! This old woman was so careless. Please take that garment off, and I promise I’ll wash it spotless for you.”

Shiliu put on a serene, detached expression and declined, “No need. One shouldn’t dwell on unintentional mistakes.”

What a model of monastic integrity—not taking so much as a needle or thread from the common folk, refusing to take advantage.

After saying this, Shiliu resolutely tried to step around her. Unfortunately, the auntie’s attitude was as warm as her towel. She diligently wiped Shiliu’s dampened lower garments clean and promised to make her specialty sugar-fried chestnuts as an apology.

Hearing she could have sugar-fried chestnuts, Shiliu cheered up immediately. She politely bid the innkeeper’s wife farewell and went out to gather information.

The “innkeeper’s wife” continued upstairs and knocked on a door. When she emerged a while later, she happily pulled a silver ingot from her bosom, bit it with her back teeth to test it, then treasured it away.

Shortly after, Jin Zhan came out of the room and entered the one at the end of the corridor. He bowed and quietly reported the woman’s words.

When he reached the part, “His member is truly substantial; even a slight brush revealed it’s among the most impressive this old woman has ever encountered in her life,” Jin Zhan coughed and omitted the latter half.

He secretly admired Little Brother Shiliu in his heart.

Truly, the quiet ones are the surprising ones. He looks so slight, yet who would have thought he was so… impressively endowed!

Li Xuanci had his back turned, his thoughts unreadable. He simply raised a hand to stop Jin Zhan’s report and said mildly, “Send her away.”

Jin Zhan bowed in acknowledgment. Originally, he had been tasked with conducting the physical inspection himself. But just before, for some reason, the Prince had changed his mind and instructed him to find an old woman from outside to pose as the innkeeper’s wife. It was troublesome and risked exposure—hardly his usual style. Sending her away promptly was the right move.

As he was about to withdraw, he hesitated, then added, “But the woman we hired mentioned she promised Shiliu she’d make sugar-fried chestnuts. If he doesn’t get them, I fear he won’t let it go.”

Li Xuanci’s chest rose and fell slightly. He muttered, almost inaudibly, “All he thinks about is eating,” then dismissed it with, “Then let her make them before she goes.”

Jin Zhan acknowledged the order and went to instruct the woman to prepare the sugar-fried chestnuts.

At the market, Shiliu was noisily slurping a bowl of wontons. The fragrant little wontons didn’t contain much meat, but they were delightfully enhanced with dried shrimp, making them irresistibly delicious. She was eating with great relish.

Unfortunately, Shiliu had a mouth like a leaky ladle that couldn’t handle heat. Scorched by the steaming wontons, she accidentally dropped one. It rolled down her clothes and onto the ground.

“Ah!” she exclaimed, watching as it hit the dirt and became inedible. She could only click her tongue regretfully, then philosophically continued eating, unconcernedly patting the broth-stained spot on her clothes.

Beneath her clothes lay a clever secret.

After Li Xuanci’s unexpected confrontation last night, Shiliu had felt uneasy. So she had gotten up in the middle of the night, repeatedly rolled and stitched her undergarments, added two straps, stuffed them into her underpants, and tied them securely—creating a homemade prosthetic.

The only downside was that she didn’t have scissors handy to trim it, so it ended up a bit bulky after being rolled up.

But men seemed to take pride in that part of their anatomy, like raising pigs where bigger was always better. Shiliu didn’t really understand why, but from a male perspective, bigger was probably preferable.

And see? It came in handy this morning, didn’t it? Did he really think she hadn’t noticed something off about that “innkeeper’s wife”? Chestnuts weren’t in season now; they were expensive. Sugar was pricey too. What kind of businessperson would be generous enough to give away chestnuts just because of a little spilled water?

Not to mention all the groping.

Only someone as greedy and frugal as her would first suspect the chestnuts and only secondly wonder why someone was feeling her up.

But still, this should ease Li Xuanci’s suspicions a bit, right? Shiliu ate her wontons contentedly, deciding she would keep wearing this “treasure” down below from now on.

While eating, Shiliu wasn’t idle. Braving the pressure from the wonton stall owner, she stubbornly sat there all morning, listening to the gossip flowing through the marketplace.

Although no one dared discuss the river sacrifice directly, there were plenty of vague references. Apparently, the selection was very particular. Not just any child could be chosen for the sacrifice. According to the local shamaness’s calculations, the children taken all had unusual birth characters.

But such crucial information was mostly scattered within mundane chatter. Consequently, Shiliu had to endure a lot of empty talk from those women—like how Old Lady Wang on West Street was pregnant in her old age, or how the Fan family shop in the East Market had sold out all their horse-tail sieves and were now acting high and mighty. They also complained about their own useless husbands, one of whom had recently taken on backbreaking work digging in the mountains, coming home covered in dirt every day and making her wash clothes until her back was breaking.

By the time the women finally ran out of things to say, Shiliu’s tea had been refilled numerous times, gradually weakening until it was practically water. She glanced at the stall owner, whose expression had grown truly unpleasant, calmly and shamelessly placed money for the wontons on the table, thought for a moment, then somewhat painfully added two extra copper coins before getting up and leaving.

Shiliu skipped happily back to the inn, very pleased with the day’s intelligence gathering, and planned to return to her room to think things over carefully.

After entering and closing the door behind her, a sudden rush of wind sounded in her ears. Shiliu whipped her head around just in time to see a cold, glinting sword light flying toward her.

The sword thrust was utterly committed, stopping perfectly an inch from her eyeball. The hand holding the hilt halted the attack with effortless control.

Li Xuanci stood on the other side of the sword, looking at her with a faint, mocking smile.

He gave Shiliu no chance to speak. With a flick of his sword, he sliced open her outer robe. Detecting clear resistance from within, the corner of his mouth curled up into a cold smile.

Applying a bit more force, the sword tip cleanly cut through the tightly bound chest wrap. With a rip, it burst open, revealing the girl’s naked, youthful white bre*sts.

They swelled only slightly, like newly emerged lotus tips on a summer pond, showing a touch of pink at the peak, the buds themselves as white as fresh milk.

He looked upon this scene, both pure and seductive, but his eyes held only rising malice and satisfaction. The curve of his lips seemed even more terrifying because of it.

“Smart @ss.”

He pronounced the judgment in a low voice.