My wife is a witch princess

Chapter 84: Maximum of 3 children

On a winter evening, the cold air condenses into white mist, which dissipates with each breath.

The streetlights came on early, casting a dim yellow glow in the cold, hard air. Xia Li kept her hands in her coat pockets, her fingertips fidgeting with each other.

She didn't actually want to "go out and play," but the person on the other end of the magic mirror said that taking someone who was in a bad mood out for a walk might help, and also said to "keep a close eye on them" and find an opportunity to ask them clearly, or ask friends, teachers, or parents to help ask.

"Winter... is cold," she said softly.

"Hmm." Song Che exhaled a puff of white breath. "If only it were summer. We could go to the amusement park, go swimming... there are so many things to do in the summer."

"Summer..." Xia Li silently memorized the word. She didn't have any particular feelings about the seasons before, but after losing her magic, she found that she hated winter. Except when she stayed in her well-heated home, the cold air felt like needles seeping into her bones whenever she went out to do anything. When she returned to the warm indoors, her frozen skin would feel a stinging, itchy sensation.

They walked side by side, neither too close nor too far, just close enough that their sleeves would occasionally brush against each other. In the winter night, unknown insects chirped intermittently in the corner, rising and falling in waves. Their hearts, though not far apart, each carried heavy burdens of their own thoughts.

"It's getting dark, let's walk around for a bit and then head back," Song Che said, looking at the increasingly dark sky.

"Mm," Xia Li responded, but her pace slowed slightly. Suddenly, she said, "I want to... go see Aunt Lan."

She had her own agenda.

When Song Che goes to see Aunt Lan, he'll definitely visit his parents as well. She noticed last time that this aunt has an "ultimate" level of control over Song Che. Having Aunt Lan come will surely help her discover his problems.

"Okay." Song Che didn't ask any further questions.

When Song Che arrived at Aunt Lan's place, he greeted her and planned to visit his parents on the way. However, Xia Li said she wanted to chat with Aunt Lan, so he went to his parents' place by himself.

I was planning to just take a quick look and leave, but as soon as I walked in, my mom caught me with her sharp eyes.

Song Che felt that his smile wasn't actually that fake; at least it was more natural than Xia Li's trying so hard to imitate "gentleness." But he didn't realize that his brows hadn't truly relaxed since the afternoon, making his forced smile look particularly awkward.

As soon as I sat down on the bench, Zhang Shushu's scrutinizing gaze swept over me.

"Tell Mom, what's on your mind?"

"It is a bit..." Song Che did not completely deny it.

"Is it related to that girl?"

"……Um."

"Want to talk?" Zhang Shushu pulled Song Jianguo aside. "Let your dad talk to you. I don't really understand all these complicated things you young people do."

Song Jianguo glanced at his son a few times.

He had never seen Song Che frown like this before. Usually, when this kid was unhappy, he would look a little aggrieved or sulky, but today he had a rare serious face.

"Could it be...something life-or-death situation?" Song Jianguo's intuition was frighteningly accurate.

"no."

Song Che was startled, but maintained a calm expression.

He simply didn't know how to face Xia Li, and the lifespan difference that lay between them. After thinking for a long time, he found a relatively "safe" angle: "I'm thinking... if I do something to Xia Li, what will she do if we break up in the future?"

"Hmm, that's a problem." Song Jianguo nodded, then stroked his chin. "This problem... it sounds familiar?"

"Did I ask you that before?" Song Che asked, puzzled.

"No..." Song Jianguo pondered, then suddenly slapped his thigh, "I remember now, I said that to your mother! Shu'er, do you remember?"

"You mentioned this?" Zhang Shushu clearly didn't recall it.

"Forget about it if you don't remember, I remember it very clearly." Song Jianguo laughed, with a hint of teasing about the past. "Back then, after I asked your mom something similar, she punched me squarely, and I almost couldn't get up from the ground—to put it bluntly. Anyway, I remember your mom was... well, in today's terms, 'love-struck,' patting her chest and saying that nothing could separate us. And then... you see, here we are now."

"Hmm..." Song Che still hadn't found the answer he was looking for. "I always feel that the promises I made to Xia Li might not be able to be fully fulfilled in the end. She values ​​promises a lot, she's stubborn and inflexible... I'm afraid that in the end, I might end up hurting her."

The couple clearly failed to detect the real concern about "eternity" versus "transience" in Song Che's words.

They were unaware that Xia Li possessed near-immortality, nor did they know that Song Che's fear lay in how Xia Li would face the long future after his death—would her identity issue be resolved? Once she possessed normal human emotions, how would she bear the loss? What if humans discovered her special nature? Would she be captured and studied, like in the movies…?

Although Song Jianguo did not fully understand his son's dilemma, he simply believed that as long as young couples still liked each other, there was no hurdle they couldn't overcome when they had a disagreement.

"Son, are you... short of money? Or do you feel that the family's conditions are not good enough to get married?" Song Jianguo raised several common practical concerns.

"No, not at all. I'll work on those myself."

"Then I can't think of anything else that would force you two to separate. Since you won't separate, what are you worrying about here?"

"For example... if one of us leaves first, leaving the other behind..." Song Che tried to use a different analogy.

"Which of you has a terminal illness?!" Zhang Shushu's voice suddenly rose, interrupting her son.

"I don't have a terminal illness, I was just giving an example!" Song Che quickly waved his hand. "Let me put it another way... For example, we like each other, but due to some unavoidable force, we have to separate and never see each other again."

"Then let's deal with that 'force majeure' situation," Zhang Shushu said, her logic simple and direct. "You can talk to that girl and think of a solution together."

Song Che knew he couldn't explain it to them.

Moreover, letting Xia Li know would probably make the problem worse—given her stubbornness and way of doing things, who knows what shocking things she might do. In Hit, the real "longevity potion" is taboo, involving laws and balance, and even requiring an unimaginable price to pay... not to mention here.

Xia Li came downstairs carrying the sunflowers she had brought earlier.

She stood at the doorway, her silver hair gleaming softly in the lamplight, her blue eyes gazing quietly over.

"Hello, Auntie. Hello, Uncle."

"Xia Li, come in and sit down." Zhang Shushu stood up, warmly took Xia Li's hand, paused for a moment, and then led her to the bedroom. "Come on, let's talk to Auntie."

"That's just how your mom is." Song Jianguo shrugged at his son, gesturing for him to sit down. "Since your mom took the girl away, let's have a chat, you and I. Anything bothering you... I was young once too, so I guess we're thinking similarly. Can you talk to your dad about it?"

He didn't intend to force his son; he just wanted to offer some advice from someone who had been through it all, rather than lecturing him—after all, his experience might not be suitable for today's children.

"If... I meet a girl and feel that I can't take responsibility for her, what should I do?" Song Che asked in a different way.

Song Jianguo seemed to be deep in thought: "So... Xia Li is actually the daughter of some low-profile tycoon? You think she's not good enough for him?"

Song Che said helplessly, "Dad, you can understand it that way... but Xia Li is poor now, even poorer than me."

"Then I guessed right!" Song Jianguo said as if he had solved a mystery. "Xia Li ran away from home. Her family lost their source of income. She was living a good life before, but then she ended up with you, a poor boy." The more he talked, the more he felt that his guess was reasonable.

"Dad, don't make wild guesses..."

"Oh, that's how it was portrayed in the TV series I watched last time."

"I'm not a TV drama..." Song Che sighed, "Even if that were true, I couldn't take responsibility. I just feel like, why would she fall for a poor guy when she clearly has better options? This plot doesn't make sense."

"It seems illogical at first glance, but if you think about it carefully, you can make it make sense." Song Jianguo became interested. "Maybe it's a predestined relationship from a past life. In the past life, the boy was a rich young master and the girl was a poor girl; in this life, it's the other way around, continuing their predestined relationship!"

"Is this also a TV series you watch?"

"Yeah! It's pretty good, I really enjoyed watching it."

"Fine..." Song Che was completely speechless.

"Don't look down on me," Song Jianguo laughed. "The male and female leads in those TV dramas are much braver than you. If you ask me, since you've met, cherish it. Even if you can't be together in the end, leaving something worth remembering is not bad. If you really feel sorry for the girl, just control yourself before you get married."

Of course, this is a traditional view from our older generation. Young people today are more open-minded and might not care about this. But once you decide to be together, it's always right to think carefully about whether you can bear the consequences before doing anything. I think the boy won't lose out anyway, and if the girl thinks it's okay… I have nothing to say.

"That's true..." Song Che murmured. He felt he was indeed overthinking things, yet he couldn't control himself. If he really was only after Xia Li's beauty, it might have been simpler to just deceive her and leave.

Before long, Xia Li, penniless and cognitively abnormal, will be found and sent to a shelter, or even possibly sent to a mental hospital for her behavior...

Just imagining that scene made Song Che's heart tighten.

Fortunately, it was myself who met her, not someone else.

But the problem came full circle—he had to explain things to Xia Li. But with her stubborn and inflexible mind, after hearing his explanation, she would definitely bring up the "contract" and "protection" nonsense again, and then recklessly start some "horrific" human drug experiments... That kind of thing not only couldn't succeed on Earth, but it would also be absolutely illegal!

Looking at Xia Li's current appearance, which is basically harmless except for her slightly fierce eyes, he almost forgot that she was once a ruthless and decisive witch princess.

……

In the bedroom, Zhang Shushu always spoke directly and frankly.

Even if she tried to be tactful, it still sounded blunt. So she usually delegated the tasks of conversations that required "roundabout" approaches to Song Jianguo.

She and Xia Li sat side by side on the edge of the bed. Zhang Shushu tried to speak: "Girl, Song Che is a really good person, it's just that our family isn't well-off, we don't have much money. But don't worry, we'll do our best to prepare the house, the dowry, and everything else... We can also help take care of the children after you get married and have them."

...to have a child.

Xia Li's cheeks suddenly felt hot. She felt like she hadn't even fully understood "liking" someone yet, so how did they get to talking about having children?

"Whether you want to have one child, two, or even seven or eight, I'll raise them all!" Zhang Shushu felt increasingly optimistic about the future as she spoke.

...and have seven or eight more.

Xia Li suddenly felt that Song Che's mother seemed even more "improper" than Song Che himself. She hadn't thought that far ahead yet. "Is it... possible to only have two children?"

She hesitated, then replied earnestly, "At most... three."

Xia Li's serious answer made Zhang Shushu laugh.

"Any number is fine, you can decide!" Zhang Shushu laughed, then remembered the important matter, "I see you two are getting along quite well, and you haven't had any conflicts, so why does Song Che look unhappy? Xia Li, tell Auntie, did Song Che do something to wrong you?"

"Song Che... he hasn't been paying much attention to me these past two days," Xia Li said truthfully.

"I'll talk to him about it right away!" Zhang Shushu immediately declared, then, remembering something, asked, "How long have you two... known each other?"

"It's been a long time." Xia Li didn't say the exact number of years.

Song Che taught her, and she's eighteen now. If she said they'd known each other for a hundred years, it would give her away.