My wife is a witch princess.

After handing it over, she stood by the table with an empty bowl in her hand, expressionless, waiting.

Zhang Shushu noticed every single one of these little actions.

Including the way the girl looked at her son when she realized there weren't enough chopsticks, the way she kept pausing when she spoke, and that... how should I put it, that overly obedient attitude.

This girl must have been threatened by her son.

Right now, she needs to give her son a good talking-to. This is outrageous! He's threatening girls like a little rascal.

She needed to talk to this girl alone first. Thinking this, she handed the chopsticks back to Xia Li.

Then Song Che was convicted.

Even if he is your own son, you can't indulge him in this.

She always sticks to the facts.

Tao Xiang, who was standing to the side, vaguely sensed that something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

The thought of "using my aunt to teach my brother a lesson and avenge my sister" had just popped into her mind when it was suppressed by the fear of "what if my brother makes Bruce bite me afterwards?"

Finally, all her complicated thoughts turned into appetite—she picked up a spoon and scooped up a large mouthful of rice, stuffing it into her mouth.

Let's eat first and talk about it later.

Zhang Shushu didn't immediately bring it up; she continued to observe.

Xia Li kept drinking soup, then, seeing Song Che's expression, she served soup to Xia Li and Jianguo. This child... does Song Che have some kind of leverage over her?

Song Jianguo didn't pay attention to such details. After simply praising Xia Li's good looks, he finished his meal and went to tease Bruce.

Bruce had just finished licking his fur while he was eating when Song Jianguo arrived again.

It was about to cry.

Chapter 77: I'm willing to give it to someone else's girl, but you're my girl (4k)

There wasn't much conversation at the dinner table, only the chewing of food and the light clinking of bowls and chopsticks. After the meal, Zhang Shushu gently called her to a stop and led her into the bedroom.

The door closed behind him, shutting out both the light from the living room and Song Che's probing gaze.

Song Che could only stare blankly at the door, silently chanting in his heart: Don't be nervous, just say the "confession" we agreed on.

In the bedroom, Xia Li wasn't actually that nervous.

The lingering drowsiness and warmth from the meal hadn't completely dissipated, and Zhang Shushu felt no different from any other gentle middle-aged woman on the street. She sat down on the edge of the bed, her back ramrod straight.

My hand was suddenly grasped.

Humans seem to really enjoy this kind of contact and always like to rub their hands. Xia Li could feel that Zhang Shushu's palms were a bit rough, with hard calluses on her fingertips and the base of her thumb.

She knows that.

It's a pair of hands that are used to doing manual labor.

Zhang Shushu originally intended to keep a straight face.

But somehow, seeing the girl sitting there blankly, her face relaxed on its own.

The girl, on the other hand, remained the same—calm and composed, with a quiet gaze and a flat mouth, seemingly unmoved.

This is probably her most ordinary appearance, but there's no sense of dislike about her.

When you speak... should you pout?

Xia Li suddenly remembered what Song Che had said. But then she immediately felt that it seemed a bit strange.

She was a little unsure why her aunt was just looking at her without saying a word. If her aunt didn't speak, she was even less likely to speak. She only talked a lot when discussing magic.

Zhang Shushu was indeed looking at her.

Just like when she came in and looked at the clothes in the closet and the utensils in the kitchen, and then said that Song Che was disobedient, she is now looking at the girl herself.

Xia Li wondered if her aunt would say she was disobedient.

Zhang Shushu came from the countryside when she was young and didn't receive much education. She was considered pretty when she was young, but she always had a hunchback and was somewhat reserved. She was never associated with words like "elegance".

The Xia Li in front of her was different; she made Zhang Shushu fall silent.

He just sat there quietly, but there was something about him that was hard to describe.

It's like a kind of... innate sense of propriety and distance.

What does it resemble?

A somewhat inappropriate analogy suddenly popped into Zhang Shushu's mind.

Like the cranes perched by the water in New Year paintings, their necks have a cool and aloof curve, or lotus flowers... It's a shame that I lack cultural knowledge; I can't find any suitable metaphors.

Her silver hair was so smooth; it reminded her of the Defu advertisement, "Indulge in silky smoothness."

Moreover, she has a good figure; she looks quite slender but not thin, which is a very healthy physique.

As you get closer, you can smell a clean fragrance, though it's hard to tell if it's from laundry detergent or her own scent.

Her face was clean, her skin had a smooth sheen, and her features were... well, let's just say, Nuwa must have been in a good mood when she sculpted her; Nuwa was definitely biased.

A thought suddenly popped into Zhang Shushu's mind, and she was startled.

The feeling came abruptly—it was a woman's jealousy.

She herself was stunned.

Jealousy? Would she be jealous of this girl?

Or perhaps she's jealous that her son found such a girl.

Pshaw, pshaw, pshaw, stop thinking nonsense!

"Hello, Auntie." Xia Li spoke first. "I don't see many people usually, and I'm not very talkative. Please don't mind if I say anything wrong."

This is what Song Che taught me: as long as you're polite, you won't make mistakes.

Xia Li was quite confident in her politeness.

"It's alright, it's alright." Zhang Shushu came to her senses and patted the back of her hand. "Auntie sometimes says things that are not pleasant to hear, Xia Li, don't take it to heart."

……

In the living room, Song Che strained his ears but couldn't hear anything coming from under the door.

I could only judge by my mom's expression when she came out—she seemed alright?

If you don't immediately lose your temper, you've already succeeded halfway.

"Song Che." Zhang Shushu sat down on the sofa, her tone unreadable. "Those two girls are both orphans? Why didn't you tell your family sooner?"

"Ah... oh, I forgot." Song Che couldn't explain any further. "Xia Li... didn't say anything strange, did she?"

"Did you bully that girl?" Zhang Shushu went straight to the point. Just now in the room, when she saw Xia Li's face, the stern questions she had prepared stuck in her throat, and in the end, she only exchanged a few words before leaving.

We still need to let Lao Song ask.

"Huh?" Song Che's heart skipped a beat.

Xia Li has already complained?

All I did was tease her a few times calling her "idiot," and now that she's officially my girlfriend, she's already complaining to her future mother-in-law. Is my mom going to side with her son?

"You hit her?"

"I didn't hit him!" Song Che felt a throbbing pain in his forehead. Usually, it was Xia Li who would raise her hand to hit him when she was unhappy.

"So that's a threat? Otherwise, why wouldn't she dare tell me anything?"

"What did she say?" Song Che asked tentatively.

"She said you took her in, treated her well, gave her food and shelter, and even taught her things..."

"Isn't this great? Where did I hit her?"

“She spoke like she was reciting a book, word for word. Do you think Mom couldn’t tell?” Zhang Shushu glanced at him.

"Fine." Song Che sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Xia Li's acting skills are a fatal flaw, and there's no way to deny it.

That's just how she talks, she's very straightforward.

“I don’t believe it.” Zhang Shushu shook her head. “Taoxiang just let it slip that you almost beat her sister to death before, but she changed her story later.”

...her older sister.

Song Che instantly understood which "older sister" Tao Xiang was referring to. This silly little fox's younger sister never thinks before she speaks; she's always the one who gets caught out!

"Mom, do you see any injuries on her body? There isn't a single bruise."

"What if it's an internal injury?"

"I can even cause internal injuries?!" Song Che was speechless for a moment.

My mom's thought process is sometimes just as sharp as Xia Li's.

He paused, then asked suspiciously, "Mom... have you been watching martial arts dramas lately?"

"Huh? How did you know?"

"Do you think your son, a senior high school student, can master the Nine Yin White Bone Claw or hit a cow from across a mountain?"

Reminded by her son, Zhang Shushu realized she had gone a bit too far. She cleared her throat and asked a more practical question:

"Then why did you let Taoxiang sleep on the sofa with a small blanket?"

“I…” Song Che stammered.

Oops.

Mom didn't know that Tao Xiang and that stupid fox were one entity, with a special constitution that allowed them to survive even in freezing weather. Looking at it this way, it really seems like he was abusing a child.

“Tao Xiang usually…sleeps with her older sister.” He tried to salvage the situation.

Xia Li said no.

Zhang Shushu's mind was already uncontrollably conjuring up images from social news: delinquent teenagers coercing orphaned sisters, threatening and bribing them not to speak out, and even... She quickly stopped this terrifying association.

Song Che gave an awkward laugh.