My wife is a witch princess

Chapter 59 The Unfinished Obsession

Hibernation, hibernation... Why don't humans hibernate?

These past few days, Song Che has been getting up very late and rushing out as soon as he wakes up. Even when he's at home, he's always fiddling with his phone, looking very busy. Tao Yao is always running around outside, a complete wildcat, not even half as well-behaved as Bruce.

Xia Li held the script and read it over and over again. She had already memorized the lines word for word, but she just couldn't understand the actions and expressions that required them.

For example, the script says: Her Highness the Princess is someone who despises hypocritical interpersonal relationships, but she still has to keep smiling when facing others.

smile.

Xia Li tried it on in front of the small mirror and felt her lips stiffen.

Wei Yangyang floated around the room.

Xia Li always had a cold face. She didn't really want to stay next to her, but Song Che said, "Girls shouldn't always go to his room," so she could only hang upside down on the ceiling and stare blankly.

She was a ghost, but she only seemed to weaken Aunt Lan. After a few days, Song Che and Xia Li neither had backaches nor waist pains.

Wei Yangyang floated down and leaned close to Xia Li. "Can't you smile?"

"……I can."

Xia Li lay in bed, her mind filled with thoughts of "emotions." That feeling would sometimes surface in her mind for a fleeting moment.

A touch of sadness, a touch of joy, a touch of something indescribable.

But it was only for a moment; she couldn't catch it, and it slipped away.

In her memory, emotions were the only thing that would disappear on its own.

"Do you laugh?" Xia Li suddenly asked.

"Hehe." Wei Yangyang forced a smile. "This should be... something everyone can do, right?"

Xia Li was even more frustrated.

She just can't do it.

She closed the script, stood in front of the mirror for a while, and then began practicing smiling.

—Actually, it's more like baring its teeth. At least to outsiders it looks like baring its teeth, and to the cat it looks even more like baring its teeth.

Because she really only shows her teeth.

"Good morning, Xia Li. Don't scare Bruce." Song Che glanced at him as he passed through the living room.

"Um."

"I'm going out. Breakfast is on the table."

"it is good."

Xia Li didn't go out with him. Anyway, Song Che would always come back after ten minutes or so.

Since she couldn't smile, she put her hair up and started to tidy herself up.

She found that putting her hair up made life much more convenient. After getting ready, she ate breakfast in the living room. When she was half full, she put the remaining buns into her coat pocket—this would keep them warm longer. Just as she finished doing this, Song Che came home.

She handed him the still-warm steamed buns. Song Che would always accept them with a smile. Xia Li took this opportunity to carefully observe how he smiled and to think about why he smiled.

She was certain that even if she were given a hundred steamed buns, she would only feel happy, but she wouldn't be able to laugh.

Song Che accepted the steamed bun as usual, but this time his smile seemed forced. He called out, "Yangyang, are you there?"

Xia Li relayed: "She came out and asked you what you wanted."

"Auntie's health is getting worse, but I took her to the hospital for a checkup yesterday, and they still couldn't find anything... So, even though you're not by her side, she's still losing 'yang energy'—or perhaps it shouldn't be called yang energy, since you might not be a ghost in the traditional sense. I don't understand the principle, but I'm pretty sure now: everything points to you. You are an obsession, and you need to resolve that obsession to disappear. After that... Auntie should get better."

She said she didn't know what her obsession was.

Song Che took a bite of his steamed bun: "Do you remember the scene when you appeared?"

"She said it was a book. She felt someone was very angry, and she was angry too... Why did the great flood kill so many people? Those people clearly did nothing wrong... As she was thinking, she came out. When she came out, she realized that twelve years had passed, and she hadn't even finished the bag of sunflower seeds in her hand." Xia Li paused, "It seems like it was when I was reading a magazine back then."

Song Che remembered.

That day, Xia Li was furious. She stood by the bed with a kitchen knife, saying she was going to use it for self-defense. I almost thought she was going to chop herself and Bruce up—but can you really defend yourself from a flood with a kitchen knife?

Even after finishing the bun in his mouth, Song Che still felt that Xia Li was a bit scary.

He genuinely believed that Bruce had been chopped up by her.

"Besides being angry, what else was Xia Li thinking at that time?"

"Fortunately, you didn't die."

"What you're saying... couldn't you just replace 'not dead' with 'still alive'? Showing concern requires knowing how to express yourself."

"Fortunately, you're still alive," Xia Li said coldly.

Well, it's not a language problem, it's a people problem.

To put it another way, it doesn't sound like concern at all, but rather like someone coming for revenge.

Fortunately, you're still alive—come and fight me for three hundred rounds!

Song Che couldn't find any further clues from the relationship between Aunt Lan and Wei Yangyang. Theoretically, Wei Yangyang's continued existence was due to her lingering obsession, but the problem was precisely that—she didn't seem to know what her true obsession was.

If we're talking about things to make up for regrets: having a meal together, comforting Aunt Lan, spending time with Aunt Lan... we've basically done all of that last time. So the problem doesn't seem to lie with Wei Yangyang.

...Could the problem lie with Xia Li?

"Besides thinking, 'Thank goodness I didn't die,' what else were you thinking at that moment?"

"If I were here, I could freeze the flood." Xia Li glanced at the magic broom by the wall. "It might take some time."

"If you freeze, you'll die even faster."

"Then I can evaporate the water."

"A living devil... Princess Xia Li."

"Is this an insult?"

"No. So that's all you were thinking about at the time?"

"What if there are another flood?"

"Things are different now. Unless it's a catastrophic flood—the kind of flood that was ten years ago—it's much easier to deal with now. Of course, even with better protective measures, floods are still very dangerous."

Song Che was getting anxious because he couldn't get a clear answer from the questions.

He had also considered that the problem might lie with Aunt Lan herself, but the timing didn't match up. So after going around in circles, Song Che still felt that the explanation of "unresolved obsession" was the most plausible.

Whether it's an obsession or not, the only clues we can find right now are from Xia Li and Wei Yangyang.

"Yangyang, what do you want to do or play? Tell me, and I'll take you there."

She said she wanted to eat real sunflower seeds. The ones she had in her hand had no flavor.

"That's a bit difficult... Let's try something more practical."

"She wants to see the sunflower fields in her hometown."

"We'll have to wait until the seasons change, but we can't afford to wait that long."

"She said, 'Why don't you hire a Taoist priest or find a temple and have a monk perform a ritual to release her resentment? Find someone powerful, because she feels she's somewhat of a vengeful ghost.'"

"..." Song Che paused, "...finding Taoist priests and monks... is not as good as finding me. Their Taoist skills are not necessarily higher than mine."

Song Che really wanted to try it—but immediately felt he shouldn't think that way.

Bah! Wei Yangyang is at least a friend, how could you use this method?

If it were Jiang Shuo, he would stab him in the ribs twice; but not Wei Yangyang.

Song Che decided to go to Aunt Lan's house again so that Wei Yangyang could observe carefully and find out what unresolved obsessions she still had.

Let go of your obsession and be reborn in the Pure Land...

"Does it mean resurrection?" Xia Li asked.

I guess so. But I can't be sure. After all, I died in Hittite, where there's no concept of a 'King of Hell'. Death there just means going to hell or something...

Song Che answered in his heart.

When Xia Li heard him say he was unsure, she didn't ask any further questions.

Sure enough, resurrection and ghosts are not very reliable... I should find some time to go back to my old profession and start researching longevity potions.

Xia Li glanced at Wei Yangyang, hesitated, and said, "She seems to have become a little distant."