My wife is a witch princess.

"Let's go see Auntie again," Song Che had just said.

dong dong dong.

There was another knock on the door.

As Aunt Lan opened the door, she leaned against the doorframe, slightly out of breath, clearly having run upstairs. Behind her, the black cat that could never be tamed obediently followed.

"Song Che." He Lan's voice trembled slightly. "Is Yangyang... here?"

Song Che was stunned for a moment.

Auntie, what's going on...?

Yangyang just disappeared. He was originally planning how to confess, but now, how should he respond?

Before he could sort out his thoughts, Xia Li stepped forward as if she had no teacher.

"Auntie, I have something for you."

She smiled.

A light shone in her blue eyes, and the corners of her eyes curved slightly, revealing a touch of playfulness in her liveliness.

"A sunflower, for you!"

She held a cute, cartoonish sunflower in her hand, its round, smiling face facing He Lan.

Song Che's mouth was slightly open, almost unable to believe it.

Xia Li, who was always so cold, actually smiled like that. What was that saying again? "A single glance back, a hundred charms bloom; the beauties of the six palaces pale in comparison..." No, that doesn't quite fit.

In short, Xia Li... you've become a spirit!

……

Song Che calmed down for two whole days.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but ever since she laughed that time, Xia Li seems to have become more and more...gentle.

He couldn't understand it at all, and he always felt that Xia Li and Aunt Lan were hiding something from him. He didn't see Wei Yangyang at all, and he was even a little confused about whether the farewell was real or fake.

He glanced at Tao Yao, who was always bristling with anger, and suspected that the cat was also hiding some secret.

Tao Yao couldn't keep a secret as expected. When Song Che stared at her, she immediately rolled her eyes at him and disappeared in a flash.

Peach Fragrance wafted out, grinning foolishly: "Sister isn't eating today, I'll eat!"

"There are steamed buns on the table, help yourself."

Song Che's gaze fell on Xia Li again, pondering how to make her smile once more.

Tickl her to tickle?

Xia Li took a step back warily, about to escape back to her bedroom.

"Xia Li," Song Che called out to her, "Why don't you... smile for me again?"

"I do not."

"If you can smile, then smile more."

"It feels... strange."

"That's because you didn't laugh enough before. Come here, I'll tell you a joke."

"No." Xia Li paused, a look of understanding flashing in her eyes. "You can't tickle my waist and armpits."

"So you're ticklish."

"I'm not afraid."

Song Che didn't believe it.

Since Xia Li can laugh, it means she can cry, be happy, and have many emotions... The more she tries to hide, the more interesting Song Che finds it.

"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore." Song Che's joking expression disappeared. "How's your memorization of the lines? We have to go to club rehearsal this weekend."

"remember."

Xia Li turned around and slipped back into the bedroom, closing the door with a click.

Song Che didn't care what she was secretly doing in the room—as long as it wasn't illegal, let her do it. In this society governed by law, there wasn't much trouble to be had.

In the bedroom, Xia Li opened the script again.

Since the day she let Wei Yangyang use her body to say goodbye, her understanding of herself and her feelings seems to have changed.

Things she couldn't understand before are now beginning to take shape. She's starting to understand what the princess's smile in the script really means.

It was a helpless smile.

Some people smile often, but their smiles may not be genuine.

Some people rarely smile, but every time they do, it comes from the bottom of their hearts.

At the end of the script, the princess finally showed a genuine smile. Xia Li wanted to practice that smile, but although she could smile now, she still couldn't make that smile truly grow from her heart.

But this is not the most important.

She discovered an even more serious problem—

I am becoming vulnerable.

She began to have lazy thoughts about some things; she developed a tendency to depend on certain people.

She had always been used to being alone, relying on no one. But now she felt that these ordinary days weren't so bad after all. If she could quietly study potions, that would be even better.

What exactly does this feeling feel like?

...Is it just that he "doesn't dislike Song Che"?

Xia Li was unsure.

At this moment, she was no less like a young girl experiencing her first love, many thoughts hazy and unclear, as if veiled by a layer of morning mist. In her nearly one hundred years of life, she had never truly experienced this feeling.

This is a feeling that is completely unfamiliar, except for the long period of loneliness.

She walked to the mirror and looked at herself. Those usually calm and serene blue eyes seemed to hold something more indescribable. She tried to smile, and the person in the mirror returned a faint smile.

Not enough, still not enough.

She recalled that day when she handed the sunflower doll to He Lan, the smile on her face almost flowed out naturally—because at that moment, she felt as if she could touch Wei Yangyang's pure desire to make her mother happy.

So, what if it's her? What if it's because she wants to laugh?

Xia Li lowered her eyes, her fingertips tracing the pages.

She could recite the lines on the paper by heart, but she still needed to work hard to imitate the emotions flowing behind those words.

The sound of Song Che walking around could be heard outside the door, along with his and Tao Xiang's quiet laughter.

At the time, she didn't quite understand. Now, however, she seems to have grasped a little of the gist of it.

Perhaps... becoming "vulnerable" isn't a bad thing.

Perhaps, allowing oneself to depend on others, allowing oneself to experience those unfamiliar stirrings of emotion, is also part of living.

Xia Li took a deep breath and looked in the mirror again. This time, she didn't force herself to smile; she simply recalled Song Che's slightly helpless yet warm smile when he took the steamed bun.

Slowly, the corners of the person's eyes in the mirror softened slightly for a moment.

Although it still doesn't quite qualify as a complete smile.

But it seems... something's starting to change.

Chapter 61 Stupid Xia Li (4k)

Xia Li is so creepy +3!

With less than a month left until the winter break for senior high school students, and his parents returning in two weeks, Song Che had just been dragged to the office by his homeroom teacher for a lecture. Dragging his tired body home, he saw Xia Li grinning at herself in the mirror again as soon as he opened the door.

The word "cute" seems destined to be forever out of her reach.

Song Che resignedly thought that she should just stick to eating her rice.

"Go to bed early tonight, you have to go to club rehearsal early tomorrow morning."

"it is good."

Xia Li had just finished showering and was haphazardly rubbing her wet hair with a large towel. She was only wrapped in a bath towel, barely covering her chest, and was running barefoot from the bathroom back to the bedroom.

Her long, silver hair clung wetly to her shoulders and back, dripping water from the ends and leaving a trail of water on the floor as she passed.

"Aren't you going to blow-dry your hair?" Song Che frowned as he looked at her dripping hair ends.

"I'll do it myself in a bit," Xia Li's voice came through the door, muffled.

"Okay. Next time, remember to wash after you eat, and don't wash so often in the dead of winter, aren't you cold?"

The bedroom door opened a crack, and Xia Li wrapped herself tightly in a bath towel, revealing only half of her shoulder and wet head. Her skin was slightly red from the steam and dazzlingly white under the indoor light.

"Fortunately."

Song Che shook his head, turned around and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, his phone tucked between his ear and shoulder—his mother had called as soon as he got home.

“Dabao, you’re really dating too early! Where is she from? Is she pretty? Is she in your class? Does she even have dyed hair? What’s she like? Is she from Myanmar? You can’t have a girl from Myanmar! To be honest, Mom is a little worried, but also… a little angry. Why didn’t you tell Mom?"

Song Che listened silently to his mother's rapid-fire nagging on the other end of the phone.

More than blame, there was worry in her tone. But there was no room for discussion about studying—at this age, what else can one do if not study?

Transmigrated to another world, fighting witches in a forbidden kingdom?

You know what, you really shouldn't say... once I told my mom about this... he's doomed!

He vaguely remembered that he was indeed mischievous when he was eighteen, but he basically listened to what his parents said. He had made a clear agreement with his mother back then: dating was fine, but he couldn't fall behind in his studies, or he would get a beating.

Of course, the talk of spanking was mostly a joke back then. Mom probably never imagined that Song Che could actually ruin his grades like this. He never tells the truth, he admits his mistakes as soon as he goes to the office, he only writes Chinese in exams, and he goes to the meeting alone as soon as the results come out.

This left her somewhat at a loss. It would be a lie to say she wasn't angry or worried at all, but after uttering harsh words for a long time, she ultimately couldn't bring herself to actually go back and beat him up.

Ever since the great flood, when the whole family survived, she has never really lost her temper with Song Che again.

On the other end of the phone, Mom seemed tired and finally paused to catch her breath. Only then did Song Che find an opportunity to speak.

"Mom, where's Dad? This can't be explained in a few words over the phone. I want to talk to Dad."