[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 98

“Tonight, double.”

Shiliu was utterly stunned by this man’s audacity. How could he say such a thing so shamelessly in broad daylight?

It was like a flying insect, mindlessly crashing into her ear, disregarding her feelings, fluttering its wings wildly, stirring up a tiny yet ambiguous storm within her body.

Shiliu reached out to push him away, but the moment she touched his chest, her wrist was captured. Li Xuanci’s hand was much hotter than hers. The sensation of her wrist bone pressed against his palm, for some reason, made even his body temperature carry a slight sting.

Even his gaze had temperature. Those beautiful, sharp peach-blossom eyes were so close. Shiliu had no other choice but to be swept into the hidden storm within them.

“Shiliu!”

Her senior brother’s urgent call from behind shattered the indescribable atmosphere completely. Shiliu quickly put some distance between them and turned to wave at her senior brother.

The two arrived panting, traces of smoke still on their faces. He Chong asked excitedly, “How did you find this secret passage?”

Li Xuanci just glanced over, showing no intention of answering.

Shiliu naturally couldn’t leave her senior brother hanging, so she took over. “We smoked out so many rat holes, but hardly any rats came out. They couldn’t all have died inside, right? So, the rat holes must connect to another place below. As long as it’s connected underground, the smoke can flow through. If they can use this passage to escape, we can use the smoke leaking from it to find them. Earlier, there was a crack under this stone leaking smoke, and he followed the smoke from that crack to find it.”

He Chong nodded. “The Lady Mouse might be inside here. Let’s go down and check.”

He led the way down first, Jin Zhan following. Shiliu, left behind, also huffed and puffed, wanting to jump down. But Li Xuanci remained motionless behind her and, just as she was eager to jump, grabbed her by the collar.

Belatedly realizing she was caught, Shiliu turned her head with some effort, looking at him puzzled, then understood the reason from the undisguised disdain on his face.

This young lord definitely found the tunnel connected to rat holes too dirty, unwilling to set foot in it, and by extension, wouldn’t let her either.

Shiliu was someone who had personally raised pigs! She had to clean the pigsty regularly; how could she mind a little dirt and mess? But she couldn’t help that this was a Jingui Master. Shiliu felt anxious but couldn’t think of a good way to coax him immediately.

In her desperation, she grew bold, grabbed Li Xuanci’s lapel, pulling him down, stood on her tiptoes, and planted a straight, blunt kiss on his lips.

It was an utterly unromantic, rash, foolish, and reckless kiss, even emitting a very loud “smack” sound.

When she landed back on her feet, her face red, her eyes darting around trying to look nonchalant, she said, “I’ve paid the interest already. If this matter isn’t resolved, I’m going to default on the debt.”

The next moment, her breath was completely captured. A damp, hot tongue blatantly pried open her just-closed lips, licking over her small lip pearl, leaving a burning wetness there.

Her waist was encircled by Li Xuanci’s arm, pulled forcefully into his embrace. Her slender waist and back almost bent backward, offering her body to this rude invader.

The sensation between their lips and teeth was so clear; even the intertwining of their breaths felt tangible. Their breath, carrying body heat, fermented in that tiny space. He pried open her teeth, finally capturing her reserved tongue, deliberately toying with it. Their saliva rubbed against each other, mixing into silky strands of a net, capturing all her senses in this moist and hot entanglement.

When he finally released Shiliu, she was unsteady, as if soaked in wine, dizzy and sinking, unable to speak for a while, leaving only somewhat rapid panting.

Li Xuanci looked down at her, his breath relatively steady. But he still felt an inexplicable itch, uncontrollable, hidden in the blood vessels of his palms, in the gaps of his wrist bones, between his teeth, brewing a dissatisfaction mixed with anxiety and pleasure.

He lowered his head and bit Shiliu’s cheek, which was like soft bread. His instincts screamed to bite off a piece of flesh, but when he actually made contact, he only let his teeth roll over the soft flesh, leaving a light mark, and temporarily let her off.

“This is called interest.”

His breath brushed against Shiliu’s slightly itchy cheek, making her inexplicably flustered, afraid to meet his eyes.

The two had been motionless for a long time. He Chong, who had gone down first, finally couldn’t resist calling out to them. Li Xuanci looked at Shiliu, who seemed to wake from a dream and struggled to escape his embrace, chuckled lightly, didn’t let go, still holding her by the waist like this, and jumped in through the entrance.

The underground tunnel was quite spacious. He Chong and Jin Zhan had already lit fire starters and explored a section ahead. Seeing the two descend, they turned back and said, “It seems deeper down here than expected. Be careful, let’s not separate and get lost.”

So the four proceeded together.

The cave was dark, only the flickering flame of the fire starter swayed with their steps, casting their fragmented, overlapping shadows onto the dirty cave walls. Though windless, it seemed to teem with shadows.

The deeper they went, the more Shiliu’s heart tightened. The air underground was carrying a foul smell that weighed heavily. Every breath seemed to draw in dust. The surroundings were eerily quiet; occasional sounds made the back of their necks feel cold.

After a few times, they couldn’t help but become like startled birds. Shiliu subconsciously kept her guard up, carefully moving forward. But she kept feeling extremely faint sounds leaking from unknown corners, like pus clinging to bone, creeping from the back of her neck down her spine. However, even after carefully examining everywhere with the fire starter, they found no trace.

Suddenly, she looked up sharply. Not far away, on the cave ceiling, were countless pairs of tiny green eyes, quietly flickering in the interplay of light and shadow. Now, seeing the fire starter approach, those green eyes moved rapidly and chaotically, emitting sharp cries in the darkness, and swooped down toward the four below.