My wife is a witch princess

Chapter 71 You've Already Been Exposed

Jiang Shuo left cursing and swearing, and Zhang Hanyu even had to grab him by the neck to leave the house.

Seeing that Song Che didn't seem to be in any trouble, Zhang Hanyu slipped back to school to study.

This girl seems carefree and outspoken in front of Song Che and Jiang Shuo, but that's only true in front of them.

She was terrified of other people, especially her extremely controlling parents, and didn't want to say much.

Her vague gender identity and nonsensical, boastful remarks initially stemmed from her naive desire to portray herself as stronger and more like the boy she imagined. In the end, she didn't learn any skills but instead learned a bunch of random things, accumulating a mountain of learning materials that she couldn't possibly censor.

In the end, she was ostracized by those around her, and only Song Che and Jiang Shuo, two carefree individuals, were able to accept her as a timid and eccentric friend without any concern.

Xia Li quietly finished her porridge, put down the bowl, and then spoke as if she had just gathered her thoughts: "Zhang Hanyu and Jiang Shuo are both very nice people. Jiang Shuo is good to my sister, and Zhang Hanyu is... very gentle with me."

"Hmm, why are you suddenly praising them?" Song Che was a little surprised.

"Seeing them reminds me." Xia Li's eyes were still a little dazed from just waking up, and she looked blank.

"Are you still half asleep?"

"……Um?"

"Did you secretly stay up late reading again last night?"

"Hmm, almost finished reading." Xia Li seemed to be savoring the contents of the book, her tone ethereal. "Fate... always plays tricks on people. If it were me, I certainly wouldn't have done as well as them."

"Oh, our Highness sees things so clearly?" Song Che raised an eyebrow.

"...I don't understand." Xia Li shook her head frankly, instantly pulling herself out of that philosophical atmosphere. "It's written like that in the annotation of the 'Babylonian Fatalism' section in the book."

Her feelings were quite different from the label. The book gave her an overall impression of coincidences, as if everything was arranged and fate was being pushed toward a predetermined ending.

She felt that the characters in the book shouldn't have met such an end.

"Oh, annotations..." Song Che understood. Only Xia Li, with her witch-like memory, could remember the dense annotations on that book clearly.

"By the way, my parents should be back in a few days, either this weekend or next Tuesday. When you meet them, if you don't know what to say, just say less, since you don't know much about modern things. Or... you can 'listen' to me telling you what to say in your mind, and then relay it to them."

This mind-reading ability can be quite useful sometimes, but unfortunately it only has about two weeks left on its validity period. That blessed gold coin seems to have some real effect... but it doesn't matter, he's determined to get the next one.

If Xia Li plays the prince naturally, winning the championship will be a piece of cake.

"Does your mother... really break her ribs to make soup?" Xia Li suddenly asked, her expression serious.

"Don't panic." Song Che laughed. "My mom only hit my dad's ribs."

Seeing that she seemed to take it seriously, he quickly added, "It was just a joke, an exaggeration, do you understand?"

"It's like you're always thinking 'strangle me' in your mind?" Xia Li gave a ready-made example.

"...I guess so." Song Che was taken aback, but admitted it helplessly.

That's a really accurate analogy.

"What exactly do you mean by the plan you mentioned last time?" Xia Li steered the conversation back to the main topic, "Why was Auntie so... angry because of your poor grades?"

"It's not entirely anger, more worry and anxiety. I guess all parents are like that." Song Che understood his mother's feelings. "As for the plan... it's quite difficult. If my mom really gets serious, it's terrifying."

"I'm not afraid," Xia Li said calmly.

"Your Highness, you've seen many grand occasions, of course you're not afraid." Song Che smiled wryly, "I am afraid."

"Didn't you go to the battlefield with me, fearless in battle? Why are you afraid of your aunt?"

"...You don't have a mother, you don't understand." Song Che blurted out.

"Then how can I understand?" Xia Li asked, her eyes clear.

"You wouldn't understand. Or..." Song Che blurted out on a whim, "You'll understand when you become a mother."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Xia Li suddenly turn her head, her blue eyes staring straight at him, her voice unconsciously rising slightly: "I know what you mean, the magic mirror told me everything. To be a mother, you have to give birth, and to give birth, you have to sleep with your boyfriend! You want to sleep with me... and then touch each other, and finally, in the end, you, you..."

She hesitated for a long time, then pursed her lips and remained silent.

"You're right." Song Che readily admitted, effectively shutting down Xia Li's subsequent words.

Seeing her stunned expression, he slowly added, "But I need to clarify one thing: if we were truly a normal boyfriend and girlfriend, it would be perfectly normal to want to sleep together. And, do you think there's anything wrong with sleeping together in itself?"

"It's... a little indecent," Xia Li managed to say, her ears turning slightly red.

"It's not exactly 'proper,' but this is a very natural and normal thing between two people who love each other," Song Che explained, with a hint of apprehension in his mind.

If one day this blockhead finally sees the light, at least he won't find this completely incomprehensible. Modern people's feelings aren't so convoluted; if they like someone, they want to get closer and possess them—it's very direct.

Snapped!

I took a light tap on the forehead.

Song Che rubbed his forehead; this time the knock was quite forceful and actually hurt a bit. He sighed. Oh well, that's just how His Highness is; he'd just take it as her "whining."

"I wasn't being coquettish," Xia Li emphasized immediately, her little face serious. "And I wasn't angry either."

"Then why did you tap me?"

"...I don't know!" This was Xia Li's go-to answer whenever she was in the wrong but still felt confident.

...This is clearly just her being coquettish.

"I just feel... it's too early now." Xia Li was silent for a few seconds, her voice lowered, with a rare hesitation, "I haven't thought it through yet, and I don't understand these things. I'm still learning... I'll tell you when I've learned."

"Alright, Your Highness, take your time learning." Song Che smiled, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "Once you've mastered it, I'll take your surname."

The comical yet somewhat tragic scene involuntarily resurfaced in his mind.

One day, Xia Li suddenly hugged him with a look of sudden realization and said, "I understand! I understand everything!"

He asked, barely able to speak, "Xia Li, without spiritual roots... is it really impossible to cultivate immortality?"

Then Xia Li smiled sweetly: "Remember to take my surname."

Then he died with a snap... but he had one wish: that he wouldn't be cremated before he was fully dead!

Xia Li was clearly not following his jumping around in his mind's little drama, and just felt that the question of "whose surname to take" was of no practical benefit.

She took the empty bowl and turned to go to the kitchen.

Song Che also calmed himself down and opened his books to start reviewing. He had flipped through his books more times in the past month than he had in the previous half semester combined.

Identifying and filling in the gaps in knowledge has become a daily routine.

Xia Li tidied up the kitchen and quietly sat down next to Song Che.

She is also learning on her own. She is already proficient in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and now she is starting to explore simple equations. In her spare time, she reads the news to understand the rules of this complex world.

She had always been curious about what Song Che was studying that could make him so focused. She remembered that back in Hit, Song Che hadn't been this serious about potion research; she usually had to urge him on with a whip. But he was completely absorbed in these problems composed of strange symbols.

Xia Li quietly moved closer, her head almost touching his arm, and watched him write the questions in silence.

Song Che wouldn't send her away, so she watched step by step. She watched him furrow his brow when he encountered a problem, watched him slap his forehead in frustration when he made a small mistake due to carelessness, and watched him so focused that he seemed to forget she was there.

Xia Li blinked and stared at his profile for a while, but Song Che didn't react at all, his mind completely absorbed in the ocean of knowledge.

...So studying is such an important thing?

At this moment, she could hardly hear Song Che's other chaotic thoughts; she could only "hear" his clear and rapid mental calculations and problem-solving strategies.

As she watched, Xia Li's desire to go to school with Song Che grew stronger. She knew that going to school could earn money, and Song Che was studying so hard simply so that he could earn money in the future.

But who is he working so hard for?

Xia Li didn't know the exact answer.

But she knew she wanted to earn money and then give it all to Song Che so he could pay the bills. That way, she would have a lot of face in public.

—Your Highness never needs to pay for his own travels.

It doesn't matter whose money it is, as long as she doesn't have to pay for it.

Once Song Che starts learning, he often won't speak to her for the entire morning.

Xia Li could sense that studying was actually very energy-consuming for him, and fatigue would occasionally flash across his brow.

Strangely, whenever he looked up halfway through, glanced at her, and made eye contact with her, his fatigue seemed to quietly disappear, and he could throw himself back into the role.

...What a strange phenomenon.

Xia Li observed silently for several weeks, but still couldn't figure out the underlying principle.

She didn't disturb him, but while he was engrossed in his studies, she would idly stroke Bruce as he rubbed against her, or doodle on her own draft paper, continuing to work out the recipes for several life-extending potions that she hadn't been able to complete in her previous life.

She planned the materials and designed the auxiliary magic circle, taking into account the biggest variable: the lack of magical materials in this world.

The research was extremely troublesome. Without magic potions and laboratories, the properties of many materials could not be tested. More importantly, there was no money to buy them.

She didn't want to ask Song Che to spend money on her "impractical" research, so she could only turn to the magic mirror for help time and time again.

However, the answers given by the magic mirror, such as those health products that claim to prolong life, were full of loopholes in her eyes and had no magical logic whatsoever.

She once asked Song Che, "What are health supplements?"

Song Che simply scoffed and said, "It's mostly a lie."

He also seriously warned her, "Don't believe it, or you'll get taken advantage of."

Xia Li had no choice but to temporarily shelve the improvement of the potion and think of another way. As for the candidates for the potion test... she thought Bruce or Peach Fragrance would be quite suitable.

She glanced at the time on the magic mirror. In a little while, Song Che would be looking up from his sea of ​​questions and asking her what she wanted to eat for lunch.

Xia Li was a little bored.

Her potion research had stalled, so she could only continue staring blankly at Song Che. Actually, many questions popped into her head every day, but Song Che seemed so busy that she didn't want to bother him.

Ask the Magic Mirror, and the answers you get are often ambiguous. You can find several contradictory answers to the same question, not to mention that it often returns a 404 error or simply crashes with a blank screen.

Bruce was also bored.

When it woke up, as usual, it went to play with Song Che first. But after being ignored by its master who was focused on studying, it jumped into Xia Li's arms and rubbed its fluffy head against her.

Bruce thought the girl always smelled nice and was always clean. Cats are naturally clean animals, so sometimes he did prefer to rub against Xia Li.

However, Song Che is the master, and in Bruce's heart, he will always be number one.

It's been so long since I've been a stray... Woof! I haven't thanked my owner for taking me in yet!

Bruce rolled around and cuddled skillfully in Xia Li's arms. Every time it rubbed against Xia Li, she would feel a little helpless and could only awkwardly imitate Song Che's actions, gently scratching its chin, stroking its round head, and finally picking up the increasingly chubby cat with both hands and looking into its big, dark eyes.

Bruce is getting fatter and fatter. This cunning fat cat seems to know his cuteness advantage and is always trying to please Xia Li.

Unfortunately, it miscalculated—Xia Li was completely unaware of the power of the word "cute".

As for Tao Yao, the black cat who always calls herself the Fox King, she is still impossible to tame and always sneaks out.

When she gets hungry, she transforms back into Peach Blossom's form and comes back to mooch a meal.

Song Che didn't bother with it, and would always add a little extra food when serving Tao Xiang—because he once discovered that Tao Xiang would secretly hide some food, probably for her older sister. It seemed that the two cats' appetites and energy levels couldn't be fully shared.

Outside the window, the sun is shining brightly.

The snow and ice from a few days ago have already melted away, and it looks like it won't snow again until around the Lunar New Year.

Waiting for the last snow to fall.

Spring should be coming soon.

Song Che finally closed the book and let out a long sigh of relief.

The used draft paper next to it had already piled up into a thick stack.

His talent ceiling is limited; if he lacks talent, he can only compensate through hard work. Sometimes, learning simply requires gritting your teeth and giving it your all, just so you won't have any regrets in the future.

He chose the college entrance examination route not because other routes were easier, but because this route was relatively the most stable.

He had too many things to consider, even thinking about the distant future—what would happen to Xia Li after he, a mortal, died?

At that time, he would have to teach her how to perfectly hide her identity, or... like in those movies, make her a big shot who has connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds and secretly controls everything.

In that case, the issue of identity would naturally no longer be an issue.

...However, given Xia Li's quirks, it's probably hopeless.

Her way of solving problems is probably still to simply suppress them with magic.

Song Che shook his head, temporarily setting aside those distant worries, and got up to make lunch.

Drinking hot soup in winter will warm you up a lot.

Xia Li followed to the kitchen door as usual, waiting to help.

Actually, she doesn't need to help with anything, but as soon as Song Che says "No need, you can rest," she purses her lips, her eyes showing displeasure, and the next second she might smack him on the forehead... To be honest, she really needs to find an opportunity to change this habit.

Fortunately, her "reprimands" are currently only directed at him. If she were to do the same to someone else one day, things would get complicated.

"I've learned how to make this soup too," Xia Li said suddenly, watching his busy figure.

"Hmm, you're learning very quickly. When my mom comes, you'll be in charge of making soup for us so she can taste your cooking." Song Che said while stirring the soup with a spoon.

"Okay," Xia Li agreed solemnly.

As the two sat down to drink soup, Song Che suggested, "Xia Li, let's rehearse our statements beforehand and simulate the scene after my mother comes back, so we don't give ourselves away."

Xia Li immediately put down her spoon, straightened her back, and with a serious expression, spoke clearly and distinctly to the air: "Hello, Auntie, I am Xia Li, I am eighteen years old, and I am an orphan..."

"You've already given yourself away; it's obvious you're acting!"