My wife is a witch princess

Chapter 60 The Laughter is Genuine

He Lan rubbed her temples and slowly leaned back in her chair.

I've lived most of my life, and I've been tired of it all. Ever since I turned twenty, time seems to have been fast-forwarded.

Marriage, childbirth, divorce, making a living.

After earning and spending, I've finally saved up some money, but what's the point of all this money?

Xia Li's image keeps flashing in my mind. If Yangyang were still here, she would be this tall by now.

He Lan felt that the older she got, the more nagging she became, and shameless like those old ladies. The first time she met a young girl, she grabbed her hand and touched it repeatedly. Luckily, the girl didn't mind... But it wasn't that she didn't mind; she just didn't know that at that moment, she was merely using the girl as a metaphor to think of another shadow that could never return.

dong dong dong-

A knock came at the door.

He Lan got up, thinking that Song Che must have left something behind.

When the door was opened, a girl wearing a hat was standing outside.

"Auntie, this... is for you."

The girl smiled faintly. A black cat was crouching at her feet, covering its head with its paws like a human, silent but with a stubborn look in its eyes.

"Wei Yangyang said," the girl's voice was very soft, "that what you say in your dreams is all true."

"Meow--"

……

"Mom, you said I've grown taller, is that true?"

"I've fainted again." He Lan looked at Yangyang in front of her, her vision blurry. "Mom... I want to go find you so much."

"It wasn't a dream." Yangyang shook her head, her smile innocent. "There was an older sister who let me see you. Mom, I wanted to eat sunflower seeds, I wanted to see the flower field... Back then, I was running around in the flower field when I saw you... But I still love the flowers you planted the most."

"Mom likes it too..." He Lan's eyes were full of reluctance. The girl in front of her was so real, she could see her, hear her, and even touch her—but the more real she was, the clearer she knew in her heart: this was not real.

When a person dies, they are dead. They turn into a handful of dust, and nothing can be left behind.

But... it's alright. At least a handful of soil can be used to plant a flower.

If time could turn back, she would want to earn less money, travel less, and go home to see her family more often... But there are no "ifs" in life.

"Mom, this is a sunflower for you."

……

"She said she felt a little warm," Xia Li continued, relaying words only she could hear. "She's about to disappear... She wants to eat sunflower seeds and give her mother a flower."

Song Che was both amused and exasperated.

If he were really going to disappear, he felt a pang of sadness. But what kind of obsession was it to want to eat sunflower seeds? Shouldn't he be crying and begging for a hug, or saying a few more words of reluctance to part?

"She disappeared." Xia Li uttered a few words calmly, without describing any scene.

But Song Che felt a void in his heart.

Xia Li silently sensed his emotions, and inexplicably, she also felt an emptiness in her own heart.

"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 be honest, 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 seem entirely accurate.

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's not 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 don't."

"If you can smile, then smile more."

"It feels... strange."

"That's because you haven't laughed enough. 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 rehearsals this weekend."

"I've got it."

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 her 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 she "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 own reaction? 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 such 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.