[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 80
And so, entangled in a daze, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Outside, it was still daytime. If you pushed open the window and looked out, not far away was a small street.
The rain had stopped, the bluestone pavement darkened to a glossy black, and people were gradually emerging and moving about.
Over the roadside tea shed, a large oilcloth canopy was stretched. Many of those who had taken shelter from the rain earlier hadn’t left yet, lounging sprawled out on the long benches, peeling peanut skins and listening to the storyteller spin his wild tales.
Jin Zhan had earlier dragged He Chong here by force. The two grown men had wrestled and tugged at each other all the way, making quite an undignified spectacle.
Even after arriving at the tea shed, they didn’t settle down. He Chong kept sighing with a mournful face, occasionally slapping the table and leaping up in apparent righteous indignation, only to be pressed back down by Jin Zhan like whacking a mole. After a moment, he’d slap the table and leap up again, only to be pressed down once more.
After playing this game of ‘whack-a-mole’ several times, without even having a chance to drink his tea, Jin Zhan finally grew a bit tired. He simply sat there dryly, watching him.
The grief and indignation on He Chong’s face, having lost its respondent, drifted emptily to the ground. He cleared his throat, somewhat embarrassed.
A more sarcastic person might have started jeering at this point, but Jin Zhan was a man of few words and good nature, so he just grasped He Chong’s shoulder and arm, urging him to sit down.
He Chong took the offered way out and sat down steadily, though a trace of genuine worry still showed on his face.
“Your prince… he won’t really do anything to our Shiliu, will he?” He Chong’s eyebrows were twisted together like two fuzzy caterpillars.
Jin Zhan finished his tea before answering very honestly, “I’m not sure either.” Then he added, “Even if he really does something, what are you going to do about it?”
He Chong’s brows furrowed even tighter. After a moment, he squeezed out dryly, “If I charged in right now, your prince would…”
“…probably run you straight through.” Jin Zhan answered with utter candor.
He Chong swallowed hard, then said with great conviction, “No, he wouldn’t. Shiliu would protect me.”
He said it righteously and confidently, not seeming to find this statement the least bit spineless.
“That’s true.” That fool Jin Zhan didn’t find anything odd about it either, nodding in agreement.
“Shiliu… can protect me, right?” He Chong asked doubtfully.
“If it were before, naturally, no one could protect someone from His Highness’s hands.” Jin Zhan spoke frankly.
“But if it’s Brother Shiliu, then he really should be able to protect you.” Jin Zhan looked at He Chong. “The prince treats him… differently.”
Extremely differently, in fact.
He Chong was momentarily choked by that “Brother Shiliu.” He digested it for a moment before saying, “Your prince… has he ever liked someone for a long, long time before?”
He’d better not be some fickle philanderer. If he is, I’ll fight my way in there even if it kills me to protect Shiliu.
“No.” Jin Zhan shook his head honestly. “I’ve never seen the prince like any living person before.”
He Chong’s scalp went numb. He pressed urgently, “What does that mean? Everyone he’s liked, he’s killed? Loves one, kills one?”
Shiliu, wait for your senior brother! Senior brother is coming to take you away right now!
Jin Zhan quickly grabbed He Chong’s hand, pressing down the man who was practically vibrating with the urge to leap into action.
“Wrong, wrong,” he hurriedly explained. “Our prince… he’s never been pleasant to anyone before, never shown anyone a shred of warmth.”
“His Highness was once obsessed with falcons for a while, and he loves hunting. In the past, the only things that could hold his interest for a bit were either things that fly with wings in the sky, or things that run on four legs on the ground.”
“Among living people, Shiliu is the first one the prince has ever regarded differently. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Having laid it all out, even Jin Zhan’s face showed a trace of bewilderment.
He Chong finally sat back down, feeling somewhat reassured. It seemed that, even if it was because of the Fate-Link Gu, Li Xuanci at least held some special regard for Shiliu.
His mind still preoccupied with the messy, unclear relationship between those two, he became increasingly verbose.
“Shiliu isn’t like your… prince.” He managed to swallow the words ‘fated lone star’ and continued with a tone of pride, “Our Shiliu might seem quiet and cold to outsiders, but those of us who know him well, we all know how endearing he is. He’s sincere, good-tempered, and sensible. Aside from eating a bit too much, he doesn’t have any other flaws.”
Once Old Mother Chen started hawking her melons, she couldn’t stop, the words just kept flowing.
“But there is one way he’s a bit like your prince. Our Shiliu also doesn’t really care much about people. Aside from us, his martial brothers and sisters he grew up with, his heart is only occupied with eating and drinking. He’s this old already, but his mind isn’t much more developed than a child’s, muddled, ignorant and naive, never holding onto anything. I worry his temperament will lead to him being taken advantage of.”
Hearing this, Jin Zhan thought to himself: Our prince has plenty of cunning methods, just enough to protect Shiliu.
Just don’t know if His Highness is willing to protect him.
But judging by how the prince, upon meeting Brother Shiliu, has become a cut, he probably is willing.
The two of them sat facing each other, worrying about their utterly pointless worries.
Completely unaware that upstairs in the inn, the two subjects of their concern were tangled together like twisted dough, fast asleep.
Upstairs.
Li Xuanci had never shared a bed with anyone since childhood, and had never been willing to.
It was only after Shiliu lost her soul that he, through a series of coincidences, ended up sleeping alongside her for the entire journey. He had thus grown accustomed to the body heat emanating from the small form beside him.
Fortunately, Shiliu didn’t have bad habits like snoring or grinding her teeth. She only occasionally kicked the blankets off. Li Xuanci had previously ignored it, but sometimes when her light kicks woke him, he would viciously wrap her up in the quilt like a silkworm cocoon and toss her onto the floor.
This time, the faint drowsiness following his first taste of desire, combined with the warmth of the person held in his arms, made him unusually fall truly asleep in the daytime.
In his drowsy state, Shiliu kicked him again, this time squarely on the shin, jolting him awake immediately.
Li Xuanci sat up straight, looked coldly at Shiliu sleeping like a log, and pulled the quilt over, wrapping her up just like before into a white, chubby silkworm cocoon.
Then, he pulled the now-immobile plump Shiliu back into his embrace, closed his eyes, and went back to sleep.