My wife is a witch princess.

"Oh~" Momoka drawled out, standing sullenly to the side looking at the night sky.

There were no fireworks. Only a few dark clouds and sparse stars, their light so dim it was almost swallowed by the night.

Xia Li walked to the telescope and reached out to touch the lens. Compared to the stargazing instruments in the castle that relied on the resonance of crystal and magic, this instrument made of metal and glass looked...more sophisticated, and also more unfamiliar.

Song Che pointed the telescope at the sky and adjusted the focus: "In the castle, we observe the stars with the naked eye. This, however, can 'bring' the stars right in front of us... Of course, it's a scientific method. Would you like to hear the principle behind it?"

He originally wanted to explain to her properly: to stargaze, you first need to find the stars, then aim at them, and you can use an app to check the direction. Beginners don't need to worry about latitude and longitude, just distinguish between east, west, south, and north... But it was his first time doing it himself, and he was a bit flustered. He could only barely get the equipment stable at the moment.

Xia Li had already moved closer to the eyepiece, and her movements looked quite professional.

—Can you learn by watching videos?

She remained in that position for a long time without saying a word.

"How is it?" Song Che asked.

Xia Li slowly raised her head, her face expressionless, but her blue eyes shone brightly in the night: "Blurred."

As expected, she didn't understand technical terms like "focusing" when I didn't say anything.

Xia Li stood there, under the night sky. He couldn't see if Xia Li was pursing her lips, but he guessed... she was very easily angered.

"..."

Song Che suppressed his laughter: "Turn it around like this until it's clear."

He readjusted his direction according to the phone's prompts, but after searching for a long time, his field of vision remained empty. It was probably due to severe light pollution; the city's streetlights had long since drowned out the faint starlight, and the city center, in addition to streetlights, was filled with various other lights, making stargazing even more complicated.

He asked Xia Li to look while he continued to check the positions of the stars on his phone. The Milky Way was dimmer in winter, so it wasn't his first choice; he was looking for Sirius.

Xia Li bent down and brought her eyes closer again.

This time, she remained silent for a long time.

Song Che thought she had lost interest again and was about to speak when he heard her say softly, "...I saw one."

There was a childlike wonder in that voice, though it was still quite calm, Song Che could tell.

“Right?” He gazed at the night sky. “You can see more details. Look around, there should be more nearby—”

“There’s a halo.” Xia Li interrupted him.

"That's color difference; cheap telescopes are all like that."

Xia Li didn't reply, but simply turned the lens, slowly scanning the night sky. Her movements were awkward; she would occasionally turn her head away, then clumsily turn back.

Song Che watched from the side, letting her figure it out on her own.

Tao Xiang, who had been gloomy about the lack of fireworks, was now drawn over and stood on tiptoe to get a better look. Xia Li noticed and stepped aside slightly. Tao Xiang followed suit and leaned closer, then exclaimed, "Wow! The stars are shaking!"

"Hold the lens barrel firmly, don't touch the frame," Song Che reminded him.

"Oh, okay." Tao Xiang obediently did as instructed, and soon exclaimed in surprise, "I can see it! It's so bright!"

Bruce circled around Xia Li's feet twice, then raised his front paws to grab the support, his dark eyes full of curiosity, wanting to figure out what these two humans were looking at.

Woof... I don't like my owner, I just want to look at the stars.

Song Che stepped aside, watching Tao Xiang's excited profile, then looked up at the real night sky. The city's light pollution made the stars sparse, but through the telescope, those distant lights were gathered, revealing a texture invisible to the naked eye.

Each star is not just a point of light, but a tiny world.

“It’s different from the crystal ball used in astrology,” Xia Li suddenly said.

“Of course they’re different,” Song Che laughed. “That’s magic, this is science.”

“Science…” Xia Li repeated the word.

After admiring the peach blossoms for a while, she retreated contentedly and then strolled over to the railing to look around again.

Xia Li moved closer to the eyepiece again, but could only find that one star; she couldn't get the others right no matter what she tried.

She stared at it for a long time, so long that her breath condensed into a thin mist on her glasses.

"Time's almost up." Song Che glanced at his phone. "Three minutes left."

It seems there really won't be any fireworks this year.

I only saw one star, probably Sirius. It was bright enough to stand out amidst the light pollution. Next time I'll have to go to the suburbs or go back to my hometown; that should be much better.

However... it wasn't entirely without gains.

Xia Li straightened up from in front of the telescope, her tone tinged with disappointment: "We didn't find the Witch's Death Star..."

Is it blue?

"Ah."

“Actually…” Song Che paused, took out his phone and scrolled through it, then found a picture and handed it to her, “The star you’re looking for, is it this kind of blue, or this… azure?”

On the screen, a blue planet floats in the dark universe, serene, mysterious, and so beautiful it seems unreal.

Xia Li's pupils contracted slightly. "Where...is it? How do I get there?"

“It is,” Song Che said, “right at your feet.”

Seeing Xia Li's stunned expression, Song Che continued, "It's a bit complicated to explain. This picture was taken by an astronaut. As I mentioned before, we're also on a star, called Earth, which has many countries and regions. As for how the astronauts took the picture... well, they used rockets. They rode rockets to leave the ground, leave the star, and reach the vacuum of space. Of course, Hit is also on a star... Hmm? Xia Li, are you listening?"

Xia Li was clearly bewildered. She stared at her feet, unable to understand why she couldn't see any color while standing on the blue star. This was different from what she had expected.

Song Che didn't say anything more, letting her think about it herself.

That's normal. Compared to Earth, Hitt is like a primitive society. Even if they have magic powerful enough to destroy mountains and rivers, it's still not as good as a nuclear bomb. As for gods like the goddess of magic, Song Che doesn't know where they are. According to Earth's perspective, they might just be extraterrestrial civilizations or aliens.

clang~

A distant chime echoed from the center of Nanhui Square.

A new year has begun.

"Ah... there really aren't any fireworks this year." Momoka slumped her shoulders.

Bruce didn't mind; it came out to keep its owner company, and now it just felt cold and wanted to go back to its bed.

At 12:02, the sky was still the same sky.

"What exactly are fireworks?" Xia Li asked again.

The words had barely left his mouth—

boom!

A muffled thud came from afar.

Peach Fragrance jumped up instantly: "Fireworks!"

Immediately afterwards, a cluster of golden lights burst open on the southeastern horizon, crackling and scattering, briefly illuminating a small patch of the night sky. Although it was far away and the sound was muffled, it was indeed fireworks.

"Let it go! Let it go!" Tao Xiang clung to the railing, her eyes sparkling.

A few more fireworks rose sporadically, streaking briefly across the night sky. They weren't large-scale, probably set off secretly, but they were still quite eye-catching in the quiet winter night.

Song Che walked to Xia Li's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with her, looking at the flickering lights.

"The fireworks made by humans are quite beautiful."

Xia Li hummed in agreement, shifting her gaze from the fireworks back to the telescope, and suddenly asked, "Can it see other stars?"

“Sure,” Song Che said. “When summer comes and the Milky Way comes out, you’ll be able to see much more, but in the city… you won’t be able to see it clearly.”

“Summer…the Milky Way!” Xia Li repeated softly, as if the scene had already appeared before her eyes—a warmer night, a more dazzling starry sky, perhaps with the chirping of insects and the evening breeze.

And she will be here, with these people.

Bruce nuzzled her ankle. Peach Blossom was pointing at the sky and yelling nearby. Song Che stood beside her, his shoulder almost touching hers.

boom!

Another firework burst open, illuminating his profile for a moment.

The fireworks were very close this time, and so were he and she.

Then, one after another, fireworks burst open in the night sky, rising and falling in waves. Xia Li's face was also outlined by the flickering light, and her usually calm blue eyes were now filled with a shimmering light.

Song Che couldn't describe the scene before him; he only felt that the fireworks were beautiful, Xia Li was beautiful, and his heart, which pumped out seven tons of blood every day and traveled ten kilometers, was beating faster for one person.

……like.

Xia Li watched the fireworks, and Song Che watched her.

The quiet thoughts that surfaced mingled with the fireworks, but the girl watching the fireworks seemed not to hear them; she merely blinked her eyelashes.

Just as Song Che calmed down and continued to enjoy the fireworks, Xia Li suddenly turned her face to look into his eyes.

Xia Li always looks at people's eyes first, and she'll keep looking until you don't dare to look at her. Xia Li's face softened under the fireworks, and that beautiful face made Song Che's heart race again... Yes, this hypocritical man was lustful again.

Xia Li is really beautiful.

...Damn it, why think about these things? How vulgar!

Xia Li was about to ask a question when Song Che interrupted her, "Look at that tree..."

"Yes, I saw it." Xia Li asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"

"It looks like a tree... haha... ha."

Song Che could no longer laugh. He was usually very eloquent, but now he couldn't utter a single word.

Xia Li was puzzled, but nodded, "Yes, it looks a lot like a tree."

Damn it, it's a tree, you idiot!

Xia Li ignored Song Che's inward curses and simply asked, "What is 'like'? I've heard you say it so many times."

“Liking someone is…” Song Che couldn’t explain this emotional thing, and he didn’t know why he would suddenly like someone.

That's so strange.

But Xia Li kept staring at him, as if to say, "If you don't say anything, I'll keep watching you."

Song Che hesitated before speaking, preparing to offer a different explanation, "You might find it hard to understand liking right now, but you certainly know what dislike is, right?"

"Ah."

"You should be able to understand why I don't dislike it, right?"

Xia Li hesitated for a moment, then said, "Yes."