My wife is a witch princess.

But it was only for a moment; she couldn't catch it, and it slipped away.

In her memory, emotions were the only thing that would disappear on its own.

"Do you laugh?" Xia Li suddenly asked.

"Hehe." Wei Yangyang forced a smile. "This should be... something everyone can do, right?"

Xia Li was even more frustrated.

She just can't do it.

She closed the script, stood in front of the mirror for a while, and then began practicing smiling.

—Actually, it's more like baring its teeth. At least to outsiders it looks like baring its teeth, and to the cat it looks even more like baring its teeth.

Because she really only shows her teeth.

"Good morning, Xia Li. Don't scare Bruce." Song Che glanced at him as he passed through the living room.

"Ah."

"I'm going out. Breakfast is on the table."

"it is good."

Xia Li didn't go out with him. Anyway, Song Che would always come back after ten minutes or so.

Since she couldn't smile, she put her hair up and started to tidy herself up.

She found that life was much more convenient after putting her hair up. After getting ready, she ate breakfast in the living room. When she was half full, she put the remaining buns into her coat pocket—this would keep them warm longer. Just as she finished doing this, Song Che pushed open the door and came home.

She handed him the still-warm steamed buns. Song Che would always accept them with a smile. Xia Li took this opportunity to carefully observe how he smiled and to think about why he smiled.

She was certain that even if she were given a hundred steamed buns, she would only feel happy, but she wouldn't be able to laugh.

Song Che still took the steamed bun, but this time his smile seemed forced. He called out, "Yangyang, are you there?"

Xia Li relayed: "She came out and asked you what you wanted."

"Auntie's health is getting worse, but I took her to the hospital for a checkup yesterday, and they still couldn't find anything... So, even though you're not by her side, she's still losing 'yang energy'—or perhaps it shouldn't be called yang energy, since you might not be a ghost in the traditional sense. I don't understand the principle, but I'm pretty sure now: everything points to you. You are an obsession, and you need to resolve that obsession to disappear. After that... Auntie should get better."

She said she didn't know what her obsession was.

Song Che took a bite of his steamed bun: "Do you remember the scene when you appeared?"

"She said it was a book. She felt someone was very angry, and she was angry too... Why did the great flood kill so many people? Those people clearly did nothing wrong... As she was thinking, she came out. When she came out, she realized that twelve years had passed, and she hadn't even finished the bag of sunflower seeds in her hand." Xia Li paused, "It seems like it was when I was reading a magazine back then."

Song Che remembered.

That day, Xia Li was furious. She stood by the bed with a kitchen knife, saying she was going to use it for self-defense. I almost thought she was going to chop herself and Bruce up—but can you really defend yourself from a flood with a kitchen knife?

Even after finishing the bun in his mouth, Song Che still felt that Xia Li was a bit scary.

He genuinely believed that Bruce had been chopped up by her.

"Besides being angry, what was Xia Li thinking at that time?"

"Fortunately, you didn't die."

"What you're saying... Couldn't you have just changed 'not dead' to 'still alive'? You need to know how to express yourself if you care about someone."

"Fortunately, you're still alive," Xia Li said coldly.

Well, it's not a language problem, it's a people problem.

To put it another way, it doesn't sound like concern at all, but rather like someone coming for revenge.

Fortunately, you're still alive—come and fight me for three hundred rounds!

Song Che couldn't find any further clues from the relationship between Aunt Lan and Wei Yangyang. Theoretically, Wei Yangyang's continued existence was due to her lingering obsession, but the problem was precisely that—she didn't seem to know what her true obsession was.

If we're talking about things to make up for regrets: having a meal together, comforting Aunt Lan, spending time with Aunt Lan... we've basically done all of that last time. So the problem doesn't seem to lie with Wei Yangyang.

...Could the problem lie with Xia Li?

"Besides thinking 'Thank goodness I didn't die,' what else were you thinking at that moment?"

“If I were here, I could freeze the flood.” Xia Li glanced at the magic broom by the wall. “It might take some time.”

"If you freeze, you'll die even faster."

"Then I can evaporate the water."

"A living devil... Princess Xia Li."

Is this an insult?

"No. So that's all you were thinking about at the time?"

What if there are another flood?

“Things are different now. Unless it’s a catastrophic flood—the kind of flood that was ten years ago—it’s much easier to deal with now. Of course, even with better protective measures, floods are still very dangerous.”

Song Che was getting anxious because he couldn't get a clear answer from the questions.

He had also considered that the problem might lie with Aunt Lan herself, but the timing didn't match up. So, after going around in circles, Song Che still felt that the explanation of "unresolved obsession" was the most plausible.

Whether it's an obsession or not, the only clues we can find right now are from Xia Li and Wei Yangyang.

"What do you want to do or play? Tell me, and I'll take you there."

She said she wanted to eat real sunflower seeds. The ones she had in her hand had no flavor.

"That's a bit difficult... Let's try something more practical."

"She wanted to see the sunflower fields in her hometown."

"Then we'll have to wait until the seasons change, but we can't afford to wait that long."

"She said, why don't you hire a Taoist priest or find a temple and have a monk perform a ritual to release her resentment? Find someone powerful, because she feels that she is somewhat of a vengeful ghost."

"..." Song Che paused, "Finding Taoist priests and monks... is not as good as finding me. Their Taoist skills may not be higher than mine."

Song Che really wanted to try it—but immediately felt he shouldn't think that way.

Bah! Wei Yangyang is at least a friend, how could you use this method?

If it were Jiang Shuo, he would stab him in the ribs twice; but not Wei Yangyang.

Song Che decided to go to Aunt Lan's house again and let Wei Yangyang observe carefully to see what unresolved obsessions she still had.

Let go of your obsession and be reborn in the Pure Land...

"Does it mean resurrection?" Xia Li asked.

I guess so. But I can't be sure. After all, I died in Hittite, where there's no concept of 'King of Hell'. Death there just means going to hell or something...

Song Che answered in his heart.

When Xia Li heard him say he was unsure, she didn't ask any further questions.

Sure enough, resurrection and ghosts are not very reliable... I should find some time to go back to my old profession and start researching longevity potions.

Xia Li glanced at Wei Yangyang, hesitated, and said, "She seems to have become a little distant."

Chapter 60 The Laughter is Genuine

He Lan rubbed her temples and slowly leaned back in her chair.

I've lived most of my life, and I've been tired of it all. Ever since I turned twenty, time seems to have been fast-forwarded.

Marriage, childbirth, divorce, making a living.

After earning and spending, I've finally saved up some money, but what's the point of all this money?

Xia Li's image keeps flashing in my mind. If Yangyang were still here, she would be this tall by now.

He Lan felt that the older she got, the more nagging she became, and shameless like those old ladies. The first time she met a young girl, she grabbed her hand and touched it repeatedly. Luckily, the girl didn't mind... But it wasn't that she didn't mind; she just didn't know that at that moment, she was merely using the girl as a metaphor to think of another shadow that could never return.

dong dong dong-

A knock came at the door.

He Lan got up, thinking that Song Che must have left something behind.

When the door was opened, a girl wearing a hat was standing outside.

"Auntie, this... is for you."

The girl smiled faintly. A black cat was crouching at her feet, covering its head with its paws like a human, silent but with a stubborn look in its eyes.

“Wei Yangyang said,” the girl’s voice was very soft, “that what you say in your dreams is all true.”

"Meow--"

……

"Mom, you said I've grown taller, is that right?"

"I've fainted again." He Lan looked at Yangyang in front of her, her vision blurred. "Mom... I want to go find you."

“It wasn’t a dream.” Yangyang shook her head, her smile pure. “There was an older sister who let me see you. Mom, I wanted to eat sunflower seeds, I wanted to see the flower field… Back then, I was running around in the flower field when I saw it… But I still love the flowers you planted the most.”

“Mom likes her too…” He Lan’s eyes were full of reluctance. The girl in front of her was so real, she could see her, hear her, and even touch her—but the more real she was, the clearer she knew in her heart: this was not real.

When a person dies, they are dead. They turn into a handful of dust, and nothing can be left behind.

But... it's alright. At least a handful of soil can be used to plant a flower.

If time could turn back, she would want to earn less money, travel less, and go home to see her family more often... But there are no "ifs".

"Mom, this is a sunflower for you."

……

“She said she felt a little warm.” Xia Li continued to relay what only she could hear, “She’s about to disappear… She wants to eat sunflower seeds and give her mother a flower.”

Song Che was both amused and exasperated.

He felt a pang of sadness at the thought of him disappearing. But what kind of obsession was it to crave sunflower seeds? Shouldn't he be crying and begging for a hug, or saying a few more words of reluctance?

"She disappeared." Xia Li uttered a few words calmly, without describing any scene.

But Song Che felt a void in his heart.

Xia Li silently sensed his emotions, and inexplicably, she also felt an emptiness in her own heart.