My wife is a witch princess.

"Song Che, if I kill a hundred bad guys, would I be considered to be doing a heroic deed?"

"It doesn't really count. There are people specifically assigned to deal with the bad guys here. Even if you kill them, you'll still be arrested and locked up for a while."

“…Oh.” Xia Li got the answer and continued sketching on the paper.

After a while, she spoke up, "Can I do it secretly?"

"Neither."

"Is there surveillance footage?"

"We can't do without surveillance!"

Xia Li has seen a lot now, and even understands surveillance footage. However, her thinking is normal. Doing bad things while being monitored... doesn't seem so normal.

"Do you have enemies here?" Song Che asked, putting down his book.

"No, I'm just looking into it."

She turned the page of a sheet of paper that was already filled with drawings and continued drawing the next page.

"I won't bother you anymore, you can continue studying."

“Okay.” Song Che agreed, but he kept a watchful eye on things and decided to see what Xia Li was up to.

He glanced at her furtively.

Song Che spying...

His eyes met Xia Li's.

Xia Li asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Look at you."

“…Oh.” Xia Li continued to draw.

Song Che glanced at it a few times. It was a potion recipe he had never seen before. It seemed that Xia Li was stumped. Usually, at this time, they would start experimenting and adjusting the recipe. Seeing that Xia Li was stumped, Song Che was not worried, because he would have to drink it once it was made.

Xia Li's potions taste awful.

Song Che ignored her and buried himself in reading and doing exercises according to the plan. His progress was not slow, and he should be able to finish studying and review before the college entrance examination.

As for how well he's learned, Song Che felt that he was only so-so at best, a bit worse than before, and had reached a bottleneck. He couldn't compare to those geniuses.

Song Che always thought that those who scored 700 points or higher were NPCs, characters specially created by God, and that no one would actually score that many points.

Offering yourself a little comfort is good for your health.

Around noon, after lunch, Xia Li started asking more questions, asking him every now and then. Song Che patiently explained, and it felt good to be needed. Song Che might have found Xia Li troublesome before, but not now. He found Xia Li's inability to think of answers cute.

He actually still suppresses some of his emotions.

Normally, he would have been trying to take advantage of Xia Li.

It's neither completely transparent nor completely transparent; that's the most uncomfortable feeling.

Song Che is like this now. He seems to understand some things, but it's all just theory. There are too many principles in this world and too many things to accept. Even if he lives for hundreds more years, Song Che feels that he will still be the same.

Bruce on the sofa kept sleeping and waking up, making Song Che envious. He wished he were a cat. Then Tao Yao opened the balcony window, and Tao Xiang looked at Song Che with a happy smile.

"Brother, I'm back, I'm hungry."

Another day has passed.

Song Che cooked, and everything proceeded as usual.

Tidy up and go to bed.

As expected, he didn't sleep well, but he was still sleepy and unable to fall back asleep when he woke up the next day. Song Che always felt that he hadn't actually slept at all. He was actually shuttling back and forth between two worlds. In one world, Xia Li would laugh and then die repeatedly. It seemed that as soon as dusk fell, she would die in various ways. Song Che was numb from watching it.

Xia Li in this world is learning to laugh. In a few months, or at most half a year, Xia Li should be able to be similar to a modern person. Xia Li's memory is terrifying. If she were a little smarter, she would be born to take exams.

The next few days were the same as usual. The weekend was for a performance, and Song Che wanted to finish his books in advance so that he wouldn't miss the exam or the performance. He hoped to do well on the final exam next Monday. Although his parents didn't say anything to him anymore, the less they said anything, the more uncomfortable he felt.

Getting scolded would actually make me feel better.

……

On a weekend morning, the chilly air condensed into frost flowers on the windowpane.

Song Che tucked the shoulder pads from the knight costume into the bottom of his backpack. The thing was made of cardboard wrapped in silver foil, and the edges were a bit prickly.

He checked the list: the script, the princess dress that Xia Li had altered, the first aid kit (which Jiang Xiaoxiao insisted on bringing), and a small bag of mints—Xia Li had watched others eat them for a long time during the last rehearsal.

"Xia Li, let's go."

"Hmm." Xia Li came out of the bedroom, holding the two ends of the light purple scarf in her hands, trying to tie a third knot. The scarf was already wrapped around her neck in some kind of complicated topological structure, but she was still seriously trying to tuck the end into some non-existent loop.

Song Che sighed and walked over: "Stop. If you keep going, you'll suffocate yourself."

Xia Li obediently put her hands down and looked up at him to untie the scarf, because she really felt like she was suffocating again, and she just couldn't learn how to do it.

She whispered, "I want to learn."

"Learn what, self-binding technique?" Song Che untied the knot and re-wrapped it. "Take it slow. Learn to untie first, then learn to tie. Or just don't tie it at all; wrapping it around yourself is warm enough."

“But you said last time that tying a scarf is similar to tying a red scarf.” Xia Li’s tone rarely carried a hint of complaint. “I know how to tie a red scarf.”

“That’s a kindergarten-level three-step method…no need to tie a knot in the scarf.” Song Che wrapped it simply yet warmly, then stepped back half a step to examine his work. “Alright. This time we’ll walk, ten minutes.”

The gate of Nanhui Middle School was a bit older than that of No. 1 Middle School. The bulletin board at the entrance still displayed the rankings from the previous semester, and Song Che immediately spotted the first and last place. Jiang Xiaoxiao was already waiting for them at the entrance, stamping her feet, her nose red from the cold.

"Brother Che, Sister Xia Li!" She jumped up and down, waving her hand, her breath forming a small cloud in the cold air. "Everyone else is here, in the dressing room!"

The dressing room was an empty music classroom, with a piano covered with a dust cloth and pushed in the corner, and several full-length mirrors standing against the wall.

The wizard is played by Lin Xiao from the radio station, who is practicing her gloomy expression in front of the mirror. The prince is played by a boy named Zhou Mingxuan—a new character added to the adapted script. In the traditional story, the princess should be with him, but in this version, he becomes the villain symbolizing "worldly expectations."

Song Che's role is that of a knight.

More accurately, he was a little knight protected by a princess.

This adaptation was the idea of ​​the language arts teacher: "Let's try turning it around. The princess is strong and resilient, and the knight needs her protection. This better reflects equality and mutual support."

When Song Che read the script, he had mixed feelings.

In the play, the knight is a naive young man, full of enthusiasm but lacking experience. He repeatedly finds himself in danger, only to be saved by the princess's secret help. The climax is not the knight defeating the dragon to save the princess, but rather the princess tearing the hem of her long dress, picking up the sword the knight dropped, and standing in front of him to fight against the evil wizard.

It's really illogical; the princess must have used some kind of cheat code to defeat the wizard.

However, since it was all a stage play, he didn't dwell on how the princess trained herself after being trapped and became even more powerful than the knight. In short, he just changed it according to what his Chinese teacher said.

If we can't win the championship, the Chinese teacher will take the blame.

"What do I need to do?" Xia Li had asked Jiang Xiaoxiao seriously during rehearsals.

“You need to portray the princess’s outward fragility and inner strength,” Jiang Xiaoxiao said, “especially when protecting the knight, that sudden burst of aura—from being protected to becoming the protector.”

Xia Li nodded without saying anything.

But Song Che noticed that she had practiced the sword-drawing action many times in private. She always used a magic wand and didn't know how to use a sword at all.

"Xia Li, let me do your makeup!" Jiang Xiaoxiao pulled Xia Li down to sit and opened her professional makeup case. Song Che was assigned to a corner, where another classmate helped him apply some powder—the knight's makeup needed to be more rugged, with sword-like eyebrows and a darker skin tone to highlight the feeling of having experienced hardships.

Song Che sat there letting others do as they pleased, but his gaze involuntarily drifted towards Xia Li.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was applying her base makeup; she's a full-time makeup artist now.

Xia Li closed her eyes, letting herself be manipulated. Her skin was too pale, which wasn't actually a good thing, so Jiang Xiaoxiao chose a foundation with a slightly warmer tone and then swept a light layer of blush on her cheekbones with a brush to make her look gentler.

The eye makeup was very light, just a light brown color blended out, but the eyebrows were carefully shaped, with the ends drawn slightly upwards, adding a touch of heroic spirit.

After all that, the makeup design turned out pretty good.

"Xia Li, try this color." Jiang Xiaoxiao handed over a mauve lipstick. "Don't make it too red, but make sure it brightens your complexion."

Xia Li took it, looked in the small mirror, and carefully applied the lipstick.

Her hands were steady, and her lip lines were drawn cleanly and precisely.

After applying the cream, she pursed her lips and turned to look at Song Che: "Is this okay?"

Song Che paused for a moment.

Under the lamplight, he could see clearly that Xia Li's silver hair was braided into a beautiful bun, the ends draped over her shoulders. Her princess dress was moon-white with silver thread embroidered on the cuffs, simple yet elegant. Her makeup made her features even more defined, especially her eyes—no matter how many times he looked at them, they were like two pools of water.

But all she asked about was the color of the lipstick.

"It's great," Song Che said. "It suits you very well."

Xia Li nodded and went back to let Jiang Xiaoxiao continue to style her hair. The princess hairstyle was quite troublesome, and Xia Li actually wanted to just tie it into a high ponytail.

After changing into their costumes and going over the lines one last time, the play was ready to begin.

Song Che's costume was a blue belted outer garment, which immediately showed the difference between him and the lead actor. He was wearing a drab gray cloak, which was extremely ugly, and a prop sword was attached to his waist.

eccentric……

After putting on the shoulder pads, he moved his shoulders, and the cardboard made a cracking sound, as if it was about to fall off.

This thing is no good!

Xia Li came over and adjusted the straps of his shoulder pads.

"It's a little loose," she said, twisting her fingers a few times and tying a tight knot. "It won't fall off like this."

She does know how to tie a tight knot, probably a skill she honed by wearing scarves; she ties them exceptionally firmly.

She always liked to tie the ropes so tightly they could strangle someone.

Xia Li looked up, her blue eyes lingering on his face for a few seconds: "You look a little nervous?"

"A little," Song Che admitted. "I'm afraid I'll fall later; the soles of these boots already feel a bit slippery."

"No, I won't," Xia Li said firmly. "I'll hold you back."

Song Che paused for a moment before remembering that there was a scene in the script where a knight slipped on the castle steps and the princess reached out to help him.

But the expression on her face when she said that didn't look like she was reciting lines.

"The fifth program, the No. 1 Middle School Drama Club's 'Princess Silver Moon and the Thorn Knight,' please enjoy!"

The curtain slowly rose amidst applause.

The stage lights came on, a cooler blue and white, illuminating the ice and snow kingdom depicted on the backdrop. A narrator began, saying that a dragon had kidnapped the princess, the king had offered a bounty on a hero, and the young knight had set off on his journey—it sounded rather cliché…outdated.

Song Che walked out from the side curtain and moved to the center of the stage according to his position.