My wife is a witch princess.

Damn it, Xia Li, you're such a big idiot!

He cursed inwardly, then sighed helplessly.

"Fine, I'll come too."

“…Okay.” Xia Li responded softly, silently crossing out one yuan from the “bill” in her mind. Having saved another yuan through her own efforts, Xia Li felt…a little happy.

Seeing that Xia Li had stopped pursing her lips and her eyes had relaxed slightly, Song Che could only mutter to himself: "I'll indulge her this once, but don't let it happen again." Who would walk this far just to save a dollar?

Only Xia Li would think that way.

Why didn't he just suggest she eat less at each meal? That way she could lose weight and save money at the same time.

“I can eat less in the future,” Xia Li suddenly said, then paused and added, “Although I eat a lot, I’m not fat and don’t need to lose weight.”

……

Upon arriving at the venue rented by the drama club, they found a rather spacious old classroom with some simple backdrops and props around the perimeter. Jiang Xiaoxiao was already waiting in a seat and waved with a smile when she saw them enter.

"Brother Song Che, Sister Xia Li, you're here!"

"Hmm, just the three of us? There seem to be other characters in the script." Song Che looked around the empty classroom.

"They haven't arrived yet, probably still sleeping in." Jiang Xiaoxiao shrugged. "Anyway, today is mainly about rehearsing lines, as long as the most important lead actors are here. They don't have many lines, so they just need to remember their entrance times and a few key actions."

“Alright, Xia Li and I will take another look at the script and try to rehearse the lines.” Song Che said, turning to look at Xia Li beside him, his face suddenly adopting a high-pitched, theatrical tone as he shouted:

"Oh no! Your Highness! Something terrible has happened! That dreadful queen, with her henchmen, is about to storm the castle and capture you! We must run!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Li's aura suddenly changed.

The girl who had been called an "idiot" by him for trying to save a dollar on the bus vanished instantly.

Her back was straight, her chin slightly raised, and when her blue eyes swept over us, they carried a natural aloofness and majesty that came from someone who had long held a high position.

Although she was wearing a regular sweatshirt and trousers, just standing there quietly, she gave the impression that she wasn't standing on the terrazzo floor of an old classroom, but on the cold, polished black marble of a castle.

Song Che blinked.

Don't let his constant use of "idiot" to insult Xia Li fool you; if Xia Li were truly at her peak, he'd probably only dare to say one thing with utmost respect:

"Your Highness, your magnificent skirt... seems to be dusty."

……

……

Xia Li always gave Song Che a misconception.

She was still the witch princess standing atop the clouds, looking down upon all living beings. She was proud yet polite, indifferent yet unable to bear the suffering of the world; she seemed invincible, but inside she hid a softness unknown to others.

At this moment, she was looking at Song Che and reciting the lines from the script about the princess protecting the knight, word by word.

But a princess's destiny is always intertwined with that of a prince.

How can a mere knight withstand the pressure of worldly trends?

Song Che felt the plot was a bit melodramatic, but seeing how well Xia Li was acting, he went along with it, playing the role of the one being protected, occasionally adding his own personal comment: "Your Highness, you... will take responsibility for me, right?"

Pooh.

This doesn't fit the image of a knight at all.

Even if the princess and the knight end up together, it should be the knight protecting the princess.

Song Che knew in his heart that being a kept man might not be so bad, but it was ultimately just a "maybe." He wanted to be the one with the ability to stand by her side.

Which man hasn't dreamed of "embracing a beautiful woman and conquering the world"?

Now, things have taken a turn for the worse. The dream is there, but the roles have been reversed—she's now a princess in a gorgeous dress, wielding a sword, breaking through enemy lines.

But the key point is, Xia Li... she really is a witch.

Song Che composed himself and continued reciting his lines, occasionally whispering a reminder to Xia Li: "Keep it to yourself. There are no enemies in front of you, so don't let your murderous aura get the better of you... Look, you've scared Xiao Xiao."

Holding the script, Jiang Xiaoxiao shrank back timidly, her eyes wide: "Sister Xia Li...did you study acting before?"

"I guess I've... learned a little bit," Song Che replied casually.

"But just now... she seemed to really want to kill someone..."

Is it possible that she really did this?

Song Che suddenly reached out and gently pinched Xia Li's cheek.

Xia Li's imposing aura froze instantly, dissipating like a punctured balloon. She struggled to turn her face away, her lips moved, but she couldn't utter a word for a long time.

“This part isn’t in the script…” she finally managed to say, her voice muffled.

"I know." Song Che let go of her hand, his fingertips still feeling the soft touch of her cheek. "I told you to be more careful. Look, you scared Xiao Xiao."

Xia Li lowered her head and remained silent, her toes tapping the ground.

Anyway... she felt it wasn't her fault.

"My fault, my fault, please continue." Song Che turned to Jiang Xiaoxiao and smiled, "She's not usually like this."

As she spoke, she took out her phone, found the photo she had secretly taken of Xia Li with black makeup and a blank look in her eyes, and handed it to Jiang Xiaoxiao: "Look, this is what her eyes usually look like, doesn't she look like a bewildered big black goose?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao leaned over to take a look and couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh: "I remember! Last time you two did each other's makeup, one of you had a face full of purple and the other had a face full of black."

After laughing for a while, she said seriously, "Actually, Xia Li's acting was really good. I just wasn't used to it at first... The aura and authority she had when she delivered her lines were so real. I think it was more moving than the performances of many art students."

Song Che nodded, swallowing his words.

Is it possible that... she wasn't actually "acting" at all?

He recalled the battle in Hitt. Under the moonlight, she stood in mid-air, exchanging magic with the enemy's archmage. Brilliant flames tore through the sky, and the aftershocks of the explosions sent him, who was watching from afar, flying away.

Fortunately, she has lost her magic. Otherwise, given the size of Nanhui City, it probably wouldn't be enough for a single high-level spell to dismantle.

This world has no gods, nor any top-tier individual combat power capable of restraining her. If Xia Li were to descend upon this world in her complete form, it wouldn't be a fairy tale, but a catastrophe.

Thinking of this, he felt an itch to pinch Xia Li's cheek again.

Such opportunities are rare.

Snapped!

Xia Li raised her hand and tapped his head lightly.

Song Che didn't feel any pain at all. Instead, he couldn't help but laugh foolishly as he looked at her puffed-up cheeks.

No matter how you look at it, he's the one who benefited.

Jiang Xiaoxiao silently hugged the script, retreated to a chair in the corner of the classroom, and went to read the lines by herself.

After rehearsing the scene several more times, the classmate playing the villainous queen still hadn't arrived. Jiang Xiaoxiao made a few phone calls to inquire, but the other party hesitated and finally admitted: it was too cold, and she really couldn't get out of bed.

He's a villain after all, so let's be understanding.

The script wasn't very long, and Song Che had already memorized it.

As for whether he would be nervous when he actually went on stage and faced the audience, he estimated that Jiang Xiaoxiao would probably be the only one in the entire audience who would be so nervous that her palms would sweat.

Chapter 64 Song Che Didn't Scold Me This Time (5k)

The play's dialogue was fine, and the performance was surprisingly smooth.

Watching from the side, Jiang Xiaoxiao felt that the tacit understanding between Song Che and Xia Li was astonishing. Every move they made seemed to be perfectly natural—as if they were born to be a princess and a knight.

With just a glance or a gesture from Xia Li, Song Che knew where to stand and how to respond. After several rounds of rehearsals, it was Jiang Xiaoxiao, who had rehearsed several times beforehand, who became the most awkward in cooperating.

She had a feeling that with Xia Li and Song Che's performance, if they were to go on stage, they would definitely leave the other contestants far behind.

Moreover, the natural and comfortable atmosphere of being with them is far superior to those "friendships" that require deliberate maintenance.

She suddenly realized that she didn't need that many friends.

One or two close friends are enough.

……

It was already afternoon when I came out of the club room.

The winter sky was overcast, and the wind felt like tiny knives on my face.

"Are you tired?" Xia Li asked suddenly as she walked, looking at the towering buildings on both sides of the road.

"I'm not tired." Song Che rubbed his hands, which were numb with cold. "Are you tired?"

"I'm not tired either." Xia Li slowed her pace, looked up at the residential buildings that were dozens of stories high, and asked with curiosity in her eyes, "Why can these buildings be built as tall as small mountains?"

In Hitt, the tallest building she had ever seen was the central palace of the kingdom, but even that paled in comparison to the imposing and densely packed modern buildings before her.

"If the foundation is deep and the structure is well-designed, we can build it up layer by layer," Song Che explained, unable to resist breathing white breath into his palm. "There's another river over in Taixi, and several observation towers have been built in the middle of it, which are even taller than this."

He was genuinely cold. Walking outside in the dead of winter was not only tiring, but the biting wind was also incredibly penetrating, relentlessly seeping into his collar and cuffs.

His face was almost frozen stiff.

Looking back at Xia Li, the tip of her nose was also red from the cold, like a small cherry.

She blinked and looked at Song Che: "Your nose is red."

"Yours has become popular too."

"It is a bit cold."

"It's more than 'a little'... I'm freezing to death." Song Che's gaze shifted downwards, landing on her hands that were hanging naturally at her sides, and he tentatively asked, "How about... warming your hands?"

“…Okay.” Xia Li hesitated for a moment, then extended her hand. “But my hands are cold too.”

"It's okay, you'll warm up after a while."

With permission granted, Song Che immediately reached out and grabbed Xia Li's slightly cool hand, then slipped it into his coat pocket. This forced them to stand closer, but their hands were indeed enveloped in a relatively warm space.

But a few seconds later, Xia Li suddenly pulled her hand away, grabbed Song Che's hand instead, and stuffed it into her own pocket.

“It feels a little strange to keep it in your pocket all this time,” she said softly.

Song Che was pulled so hard that he stumbled, and their shoulders almost touched.

He was grabbed by her hand from behind—her hand was a size smaller than his, and she couldn't quite grasp it completely.

The sensation of palms touching was clear; her fingertips were icy cold, but her palms still retained a slight warmth.