[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 37

Shiliu remained leaning against the door. Only after Li Xuanci’s footsteps had completely faded away did she straighten up, tighten her torn collar, rub her sore knees, and pick up the chest binder soiled on the floor.

She diligently brushed the dust off the chest binder. After a while, a small, dark circle quietly bloomed on the stained cotton fabric.

Of course, she was scared. This secret she had guarded for so many years sometimes kept her awake at night—fear of being driven away, fear of disgracing her sect, and even more afraid of causing trouble for her master.

But now, her biggest vulnerability was held in someone else’s hands, and by a madman who treated others’ lives as pawns for his amusement. To claim she felt no uncertainty about the path ahead would be giving Shiliu too much credit.

But what could she do?

Shiliu wiped her face, swallowing her tears, and slowly began packing her things.

She had to survive, no matter what.

This wasn’t the end yet. Even if it were, living a moment longer was always better than living a moment less.

Shiliu dried her face, stood up, pulled clothes from her small bundle to replace the torn rags she wore, then took out paper and brush, writing down all the clues and pondering them carefully.

Now that she was at a disadvantage, she had to make herself useful. Otherwise, she would truly have no leverage left and become worthless.

Her eyes scanned the lines on the paper repeatedly. Finally, she looked up abruptly, her expression a complex mix of sudden understanding and bewilderment.

After carefully reviewing everything again, she finally admitted her mental capacity was limited. To fully unravel this matter, she still needed Li Xuanci’s help.

First, she needed his cunning mind. Second, she needed his noble status and authority.

Shiliu hesitated for a moment, then decided there was no point wasting time. Since she already knew which path she must take, starting earlier meant reaching the end sooner.

She knocked on the door next door. When Li Xuanci opened it and saw that it was her, he raised an eyebrow.

Only a few hours had passed, and she could already approach him with a calm expression. She certainly had some nerve.

But the moment Shiliu saw him, her hanging fingertips trembled involuntarily. Li Xuanci didn’t miss that slight movement.

He pursed his lips, interest sparking in his eyes. It seemed she wasn’t as unaffected as she appeared.

“What, not scared anymore?”

Li Xuanci’s smile held a hint of malice. His fingers slowly and deliberately traced a stray strand of her hair, gently tucking it behind her ear, his fingertips brushing lightly against her small ear cartilage.

Li Xuanci watched the faint glimmer of skin at the nape of her neck and her unconsciously tightened lips, thinking with pleasure:

Right now, she must be tingling down to her very bones.

How amusing. Like a wild beast toying with an injured, trapped rabbit, batting the white furball back and forth.

But the rabbit spoke, “I’ve found some leads, but there are still things I can’t figure out. I want you to think it through with me.”

She was quite frank. But Li Xuanci wasn’t ready to let it go, pressing further, “Want me to?”

Shiliu silently swallowed her irritation, adding another entry to the mental ledger, and changed her wording, “I ask you.”

Yet Li Xuanci remained the same, looking down on her from his lofty height, waiting for more. His face showed no expression; impossible to tell if he was pleased or not.

“I beg you.”

Shiliu smoothly descended another step. Strangely, internally, she felt less tangled and tense than before.

Such a petty and childish person—no matter how brilliant or decisive—made her want to spit in disdain more than tremble in fear.

Little Shiliu wasn’t someone who dwelled on such things. Unlike a certain someone, she was mature and adaptable. Letting him have the upper hand in words was nothing to fuss over.

The corner of Li Xuanci’s eye lifted slightly as he stepped aside to let her into the room.

Shiliu laid the paper she had pondered over for so long on the table, then looked at Li Xuanci with hopeful expectation.

But Li Xuanci glanced at the crumpled, poorly handwritten note, then at the disheveled Shiliu, and found them equally shabby. Merely looking felt somewhat offensive to his eyes.

Receiving no response, Shiliu simply began explaining her reasoning.

“You truly foresee everything—the one causing trouble really is a Taoist.”

Flattery never fails. At a time like this, right after her secret had been exposed, leading with flattery couldn’t be wrong. Unfortunately, Shiliu’s flattery was a bit too blunt and limited.

Li Xuanci glanced at her sideways and mocked, “Not blaming wicked monks this time?”

Shiliu blinked, completely ignoring her history of shifting blame to their Buddhist counterparts, and skipped straight to the analysis.

“I went out to gather information today. The East Market had a backlog of horsetail sieves that sold out all at once, and young men were recruited to dig for stones in the mountains.”

“Horsetail sieves are used for filtering materials. Digging stones in the mountains is probably to obtain more mineral-based medicinal ingredients like saltpeter or stone yellow. Most alchemist Taoists have crucibles, but they might not stockpile large quantities of these consumables. Recruiting people to mine stones in the mountains suggests they must be conducting alchemy on a very large scale.”

Having thrown out her brick, Shiliu stared wide-eyed, waiting for the jade to come clattering into her arms.

“Is that all?” Li Xuanci’s sharp gaze swept over her, his tone flat.

“I’m stupid, you’re smart, alright? Since you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me?” Shiliu readily admitted her stupidity while secretly adding another entry to her mental ledger.

“Seeing one and knowing only one—that’s a fool. Seeing one and knowing two—half a fool.” Li Xuanci tapped the wooden table as if emphasizing his point.

“If that Taoist can influence the magistrate, why would he need to procure horsetail sieves and minerals himself? Items like saltpeter aren’t easy for ordinary people to obtain, but wouldn’t the authorities manage it easily? It’s just a matter of a single order. Yet he chose the harder path, privately sending people to quarry mountain stones.”

He stopped there, throwing the question back to Shiliu.

Her eyes went blank for a moment, then suddenly lit up. “He’s hiding it from the magistrate! He’s scheming on his own. Their goals aren’t the same!”

Li Xuanci looked at her, feeling increasingly that she was like a fat rabbit who forgot the claws hovering over it as soon as a carrot appeared. He raised an eyebrow and rarely agreed, “Not bad.”

“No wonder the children being rounded up all have carefully selected birth dates. Some were even sent back because their dates didn’t match. Traditionally, for river god sacrifices, finding anyone is hard enough; they aren’t so particular about birth dates, let alone sending people back.”

“That Taoist isn’t sacrificing to the river god. He… he’s using human lives to form arrays and refine elixirs!”

Li Xuanci looked at Shiliu’s shining eyes and thought that sometimes talking to a fool wasn’t so unbearable. At least his prey was stupid in a rather novel way.