Rewarding You with Eternal Loneliness

The eerie snow fell without warning, and then it became unstoppable.

The town's harbor was frozen over, and all roads leading to the town were blocked by heavy snow, which gradually solidified into impenetrable ice.

Fang Deming remembered the giant python's warning, so before he did anything, the first thing he made sure of was that no one could interfere with anything in Nanshui Town in the short term.

Even if doing so would cause countless townspeople to freeze to death.

He has this blank book; he doesn't care.

He only cares about the Fang Mansion.

Therefore, he kicked the Fang Mansion out of the snow-covered area. No matter how much the surrounding area was covered in snow, the Fang Mansion would never change.

... Outsiders couldn't get in, and the townspeople couldn't get out. The rude outsiders and the ungrateful locals experienced despair together.

Apart from the people from the Fang Mansion, Fang Deming didn't want to keep a single person.

It would be better if they all died; only when they all died could he write a completely new future.

With this mindset, he often wandered around the town, taking advantage of his sheltered state and indulging in the suffering of others.

Without General Fang, Nanshui Town should have remained as it was. He was merely making them taste the pain that was belatedly inflicted upon them.

The people in the Fang Mansion knew nothing.

Those people stayed in the mansion, and under the interference of the giant python, they didn't even think about going out.

Fang Deming hadn't felt this kind of freedom in a very long time.

One day, he wandered into a small alley he had never been to before. Because it was quite a distance from the north of town and so secluded, he had never noticed that there was an inn in the alley.

The hotel looked like it wasn't doing well; it was in a remote location and was dilapidated. Even when the port was still operating, I doubt many outsiders would have chosen to stay here.

The hotel seemed to be full, and Fang Deming could hear voices coming from inside, even through the door.

It seems a lot of people have fled here.

Fang Deming watched for a while at the entrance but then lost interest. In his opinion, even if people were crammed into a small inn, they wouldn't live long.

The town will only get colder.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, the shop door opened.

A middle-aged man wearing a thick cotton-padded coat saw him, exhaled a puff of white smoke in surprise, and rubbed his hands together. "What are you doing here? Wearing so little, aren't you afraid of freezing to death!"

Fang Deming stared at him coldly, without saying a word.

The middle-aged man sized him up for a moment, then sighed, "Never mind, come in with me. I have so many people here, one more won't make a difference."

Fang Deming, his thoughts unknown, remained silent as the man pulled him through the door.

The world inside the door was stifling.

Fang Deming experienced the ultimate freedom in the deserted streets, but he also felt the ultimate oppression here.

Many people were crammed into different small rooms, fighting over a little bit of blankets, clothes and food.

The middle-aged man sat behind the counter, somewhat worried by the chaos among the residents. But he still said to the boy he had just brought in, "I don't have a room here anymore, you'll share a room with me from now on. Are you freezing? I'll cook you a bowl of noodles."

Fang Deming received a bowl of hot noodles without saying a word. Occasionally, guests passing by the hotel lobby would look at him with envy, their eyes occasionally revealing weariness, greed, and a longing for food.

Fortunately, no one tried to steal it.

Fang Deming understood; a bowl of noodles like this must be quite precious in an inn. He looked up and asked the middle-aged man sitting next to him, "Are you the innkeeper?"

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "That was true at first, but judging from the current situation, it might not last long."

When the residents become completely out of their minds, who will care about the shop owners anymore?

Many of these people were taken in out of pity and kindness, but sooner or later these people would erupt because of survival issues. The more people he took in, the more time bombs he was carrying.

Perhaps he will lose his life because of his kindness? Either way is possible.

"Knowing full well that doing this is risky." Fang Deming didn't move the knife at all, nor did he pretend to be cold. He was wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt, and his complexion was healthier than everyone else here.

Why take them in?

The middle-aged man chuckled, "Who knows how long this snowstorm will last? This weather is really strange."

"At a time like this, even if I don't take them in, won't they be able to get in? Rather than having the door broken down while I'm sleeping, I might as well let them in. If someone tries to break down the door again, they'll actually drive them away to protect their current place, and I can benefit from that and live a couple more days." The middle-aged man seemed oblivious to the difference between Fang Deming and the others; in any case, he smiled as he spoke of this harsh reality.

This time it was Fang Deming's turn to carefully examine the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man met his gaze, touched his chapped face, and said, "And my son is gone too. He was about your age, wasn't he? He was still in school when it snowed."

"The roads were closed too quickly. I didn't have time to look for him the day it snowed. Later, I walked around the school area, but I couldn't find him. I heard that the people inside the school are trapped and can't get out... They don't have any food reserves at all."

The middle-aged man laughed for a while, then sighed.

What made him smile even when talking about his son's death?

That blank look in his eyes clearly showed he was heartbroken; he must be missing his son.

Fang Deming lowered his head, took a bite of noodles, and then put down the chopsticks.

I'm not staying here. Goodbye.

"Sigh--" The middle-aged man snapped out of his thoughts and only saw the back of the somewhat troublesome young man.

He followed the boy as they pushed open the inn's door and stepped into the snowstorm without hesitation. His upright back did not hunch over in the cold, as if he came from another world.

The middle-aged man was unaware that the pity he felt when he saw the boy earlier that day was what allowed him to survive in the increasingly chaotic environment.

Because Fang Deming remembered the taste of that bowl of noodles.

Fang Deming didn't know what the shop owner's attitude was towards the Fang Mansion. He didn't even know if the shop owner was a local or an outsider, because in recent years, some outsiders had settled in the town.

He didn't care about all that because the noodles were delicious.

Back home, he added a paragraph to the blank book that already had two pages filled with writing.

The innkeeper who gave the Fang Mansion descendants a bowl of hot noodles lived for a very long time. Whenever his guests tried to harm him, they would freeze to death. No one dared to bully the innkeeper for survival, but the innkeeper also couldn't interfere excessively with the guests' behavior.

Fang Deming always did this, writing down whatever came to mind. He recalled the greedy looks the residents gave him and his bowl of hot noodles.

How annoying, that look in your eyes.

Since that's the case, then I'll let you live a little longer and show me a Yugi.

More than half a year passed, and the continuous severe cold and heavy snow finally wiped out all the other parts of the town. In the vast white expanse, only the hotel guests remained.

They could always find some supplies to sustain their survival, but it wasn't enough. As a result, they began to fight over them, revealing the ugliness of human nature and creating chaos in their lives.

It's not that no one wants to take the shop owners' resources, but before they can even make a move, they'll die in front of everyone. Over time, both the residents and the shop owners themselves have come to understand this unspoken rule.

Fang Deming secretly visited the hotel a few more times afterward, without letting anyone notice. He simply enjoyed the farce the guests were having while secretly observing the middle-aged hotel owner's expression.

The middle-aged shop owner finds himself unable to interfere in the residents' affairs, and protected by strange rules, his daily life becomes increasingly lonely.

The residents were afraid of him, while those who were bullied felt he was excessively cold-blooded, always watching everything with indifference, like an outsider.

In particular, everyone noticed that the middle-aged shop owner seemed to be immune to the cold.

To the people of that time, the appearance of an anomaly in the crowd was like that of a monster. And yet, they were living in the territory of this monster. The monster watched them fight for resources every day, as if watching a group of clowns—this was the residents' own perception. In fact, they all knew that they were the clowns, and that they had done too many ugly things in order to survive.

This was Fang Deming's last form of entertainment in the heavy snow. He watched as the residents died one by one, the once crowded rooms gradually becoming empty, and the noisy, cramped air began to feel the loneliest chill.

He seemed unaware that his mindset had become distorted. The heavy snow was originally intended to cut off Nanshui Town from the outside world and clear away all uncertainties, but he enjoyed the pleasure of being in control and began to treat human lives as amusement.

The last surviving guest in the hotel was a young man wearing glasses.

On a rare sunny day without snow, the young man walked into the alleyway in front of the inn and looked up at the sky.

The middle-aged hotel owner sat behind him, watching the young man's back with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"Your brother has been buried?"

Because he was smoking, the innkeeper's voice was somewhat muffled, but the young man could still hear him clearly. He was wrapped in thick clothes, wearing a scarf and gloves, and his nose was still red from the cold.

These bizarre outfits were all taken from the bodies of deceased residents; this had become the norm for survival.

The young man turned around and smiled, "He's been buried."

Perhaps he never imagined that his brother, who had never gotten out of bed since his leg was broken, would have such a tenacious will to live, outliving everyone else.

The young man still remembered that there had been a moment when he wanted to kill his brother.

The twin brothers worked at the town's clinic, whose father was an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor who was very fortunate to have died a week before the snowstorm hit.

Before the two brothers could rebuild their clinic, they were trapped and died in the seemingly endless snow.

They had been huddled in the clinic, but the building was old-fashioned and made of wood. The gaps between the wood let in drafts, which couldn't keep out the cold or retain the heat that was gradually being lost from their bodies. Then one day, the innkeeper, who was no longer afraid of the cold, went out to find supplies and found the two of them who were about to freeze to death.

The two were invited into the inn, and with the medicinal herbs and medical equipment they had scavenged from the clinic, they moved into a room where someone had just died.

By then, my brother's leg was already ruined. He had been cut by a sharp metal object hidden in the snow while searching for food. The deep wound, which exposed the bone, was further eroded by the severe cold, leaving only necrotic flesh.

In order to earn his brother's share of survival supplies, the younger brother had to do the work of two people and then grit his teeth and trade with other residents at extremely high prices. He was once surprised that... these people looked at him as if they wanted to skin him alive, but they never laid a hand on him.

He later learned from other residents that the reason there was no open robbery among them was because of the shop owner's strange "rules".

They couldn't steal anything from the shopkeeper; if they did, they'd die. They assumed the shopkeeper had deliberately set up that punishment. Of course, they thought the shopkeeper, this outsider, just wanted to see them struggle to survive. If they tried to openly rob him, they might also be killed by the shopkeeper's rules.

The young man was shocked when he first learned of this, but when he recalled how the shopkeeper moved freely in the snow, he believed it and also regarded the shopkeeper as that kind of cold-hearted monster.

But now they were the only two people left in the entire hotel.

The young man had long seen the shopkeeper's kindness, because whenever the residents exposed their ugly side, he could always see a trace of sadness in the shopkeeper's eyes, just like the look in the shopkeeper's eyes when he saw him almost kill his brother.

He was so scared that he let go because he was afraid the shop owner would think he had broken the rules and kill him too.

He never laid a hand on his brother again because he had only been possessed by him that one time.

He and his brother had a close relationship since childhood, like conjoined twins, always inseparable. They ate together, slept together, learned medicine from their father and the Master at the clinic together, and stayed at hotels together.

He used his medical skills, medicinal herbs, and resolute heart to accumulate a relatively large amount of resources, all for the sake of his brother so that he wouldn't have to live such a difficult life.

But perhaps influenced by those eyes that would stop at nothing to survive, for a while he suddenly felt very tired. His brother was like a bloodsucker, lying on the bed, unable to do anything, yet consuming his energy and resources.

He was possessed, so he wanted to kill his brother.

But the shop owner's glance brought him to his senses.

The shop owner had seen them huddled together in the clinic, and he recalled the past from the sorrow in the shop owner's eyes.

The wind blew against his face as the young man's hands dug a snow pit to bury his brother's body.

He plopped down next to the shop owner. "Do you have any cigarettes left?"

The middle-aged man gave him one.

In fact, the young man didn't smoke at all, nor had he ever thought of smoking. He just put the cigarette in his mouth and stared blankly at the brick wall in the alley.

How long has the snowstorm lasted?

Have no idea.

I don't know anymore.

The middle-aged shop owner smoked with practiced ease. He took a deep drag, exhaled a smoke ring, and asked, "Just the two of us, how does it feel?"

The young man smiled again.

He seemed to suddenly understand why the shop owner was always smiling, as if he had already forgotten the predicament he was facing.

When you realize that there's nothing left to lose, and the so-called will to survive no longer matters, laughter becomes the easiest expression to make.

"I don't feel anything," the young man said, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "It's just that suddenly the snowstorm doesn't seem so terrible anymore."

They were not only the shop owner and the last resident, but also perhaps the last two living people in the world they could reach.

Two people with nothing to do.

On this sunny day when it wasn't snowing, neither of them went out to look for resources. Instead, they sat on the small steps in front of the door, chatting away.

"I buried the account books with my brother," the young man said calmly. "The account books were worn out, and it feels a little strange to suddenly lose them."

"I remember your brother had a notebook," the shopkeeper exhaled another puff of smoke, "... buried that too?"

"No, not at all." The young man rubbed his hair. "I read his 'diary' and realized he went mad so early. Now that he's dead, let's not let him see those things in the Yellow Springs Road."

A chuckle escaped the young man's nose. He couldn't quite get used to the feeling of having a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He took the cigarette away with his hand and sighed softly, "I was wondering before why he looked at me with such knowing eyes when I wanted to kill him, as if he had been waiting for that day all along."

"Do you know what kind of image I have in my brother's diary? A big devil who extorts money from all the residents, a heartless Doctor who refuses to help an old lady when she's dying, nearly tortures him, and even poisons other people's medicine."

"Everyone else has gone mad, but he's the only one who's sane. He watches those terrible things happen, he feels righteous but he's powerless to do anything about it, especially with me, his brother—living with him every day has become his greatest fear."

"So in his mind, it was only a matter of time before I took action against him. He was afraid of me every day, and later he even condemned me for not letting him die."

The middle-aged shop owner burst into laughter.

The young man glanced at the shop owner but didn't ask him what he was laughing about.

They can laugh at anything now, and they don't need a reason.

"I admit the Doctor are unscrupulous, after all, they charge high fees."

"But it was him who wouldn't let me treat the old lady." The young man folded his cigarette, treating it like a toy. "The old lady wanted to see a doctor, but she wouldn't give us anything, saying she was so old and life wasn't easy for her."

"I know she's trying to take advantage of her age, but there's nothing I can do. It's a matter of life and death; I really can't bear to see an elderly person sick, it's too pitiful."

"So I invited the old lady into the house, and when she saw my brother, she asked me why I had brought such a burden with me. My brother got really angry; this was already a problem for him. And this old lady, why was she so talkative? In the end, my brother told me to kick her out and not let me treat her anymore."

"I was angry too, so I ignored her." The young man crumpled the cigarette in his hand. "Looking back now, it was what the old lady said that scared my brother."

"He always felt that I was going to abandon him. I was busy and tired at the time and didn't notice his emotions in time, which caused him to scare himself into such a state, filled with hallucinations."

The middle-aged shop owner's eyes crinkled into crescents. Things that had once made him feel powerless and exhausted now sounded surprisingly good when he recounted them in a nostalgic tone.

He took another drag of his cigarette. "I remember, it was your brother who poisoned him, right? That day, he struggled to get out of bed, mixed the poison in, and then tripped and fell on the floor. It was both pitiful and funny."

The young man added to the shop owner, "It's quite hateful too."

Do you remember why he did that?

"I vaguely remember, it was that guy who mocked my brother's legs and said some unpleasant things, but to be honest, I never imagined my brother would poison that guy's medicine." The young man casually grabbed a handful of snow, made it into a ball, and threw it at the wall in front of him, watching the snowflakes scatter.

"He fell so hard, it's a good thing he fell, otherwise I might have already packed up the medicine and sold it." The young man recalled that in the end, he was the one who painstakingly picked out the poison's components bit by bit; thankfully, the medicine wasn't in powder form.

He could choose not to save people, but he never intended to poison them. If he dared to, all the hard work he had done at the hotel for so long would be wasted, and no one would believe the medicine he sold anymore.

Moreover, given the group's obsession and madness, they might even take the opportunity to "exile" the two brothers so they can divide up their supplies.

"As a result, he put all these things on me in his little notebook." The young man was speechless, then shook his head with amusement. "I know his little notebook is for his own eyes only, not for slandering me."

"He's just insane, genuinely fantasizing that I'm the devil and he'll be the most innocent victim."

When only a few people remained at the hotel, the young man's brother's madness had reached an irreversible point.

During the day, his brother would always hold his hand tightly, saying that he wanted to live for two more days.

That night, the older brother began to fantasize that he was already in despair and wanted to die, but his wicked younger brother insisted on keeping him alive to continue torturing him. As he fantasized, he wrote it down in his notebook.

The young man had long since discovered that his older brother had his own diary, but he hadn't looked at it. He could understand some things from his brother's eyes, and there was no need to flip through that notebook that might make him feel like he had wasted his conscience.

"You're such a contradictory person," the shopkeeper said. "At first, I thought you two brothers had an unbreakable bond. He's already lost his mind, and you've been tolerating him, even indulging him. So when I saw you trying to strangle him, I was genuinely shocked. What were you thinking back then?"

The young man rubbed his eyes and said softly, "I just didn't think it through for a moment, and acted impulsively."

People are always driven by impulses, especially in such a repressive environment.

But his impulsive moments were very short-lived; it only happened once.

He's luckier than some people who impulsively commit suicide; at least the shop owner happened to scare him away, while those who commit suicide have no chance to turn back.

"Alright, what about you?" The shopkeeper finished his cigarette, patted his pocket, didn't smoke another one, coughed twice, and cleared his throat.

"Putting everything else aside, I just want to ask you for one thing."

The young man laughed and said, "You still have times when you need me to do things for you? You should tell me right away."

The shop owner laughed and said, "You can be impulsive as you like, just don't do anything rash and decide you don't want to live anymore. Live a little longer."

Please.

You may not live long, but can you live as long as possible, otherwise...

Once you're dead, I'll truly be all alone.

I was the only one left in the whole town.

The middle-aged shop owner was a person who hated being alone. He quite missed the bustling inn where people used to huddle together.

His inn was originally opened for the sake of liveliness, in this alley where few people would come, waiting for a chance encounter.

Those who are destined to stay here can enjoy a peaceful night's sleep at a very low price, undisturbed by anyone.

Therefore, his hotel was named the Peaceful Sleep Inn.

But now no one will stay at his hotel anymore, and he has already foreseen his future loneliness.

He couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart; it seemed he wasn't afraid enough. He was always waiting for time to pass while worrying about the future.

On the next sunny day without snow, the innkeeper opened the door.

There was no one behind him anymore.

Compared to him, it was far too difficult for others to survive. The young man had promised him to live a little longer, but it seems he hadn't kept his word.

The scene of chatting on the last sunny day is still vivid in my mind; the young man was already at his last gasp back then.

The young man was covered in frostbite and had difficulty controlling his body, making him as stiff as a zombie. So most of the time he could only stand upright, and when he sat down, he would let out a thud.

Why was the young man so eager to chat? It was probably because he was still heartbroken after seeing his brother's diary and wanted to explain himself to the last person before he died, to clear his name, which was not so important and no one cared about.

Looking at the empty hotel and the deserted streets, the middle-aged shopkeeper suddenly felt that all of this was a punishment from God for him.

The infighting among the residents was utterly pointless, and he was left as the only spectator in this absurd and ridiculous Yugi.

Those people fight and struggle, their biggest obsession being survival, but in the end, it all comes to nothing.

That's what the shop owner originally thought.

However, at this moment, he was even more shocked to realize that in the end, his life had been nothing at all.

With nothing left, what was the point of his life? The utter desolation of the ice and snow pressed down on him alone. Just then, he saw a moving figure in the distance.

The shopkeeper was afraid it was some kind of hallucination, afraid that he too had fallen into madness without realizing it, but then he thought, it wouldn't be so bad if he were mad; maybe when he turned around, he would see the inn packed with people again, bustling and lively.

Fang Deming had no idea what the shop owner was thinking. He trudged through the snow, his steps uneven, until he reached the shop owner.

He was still freezing cold, wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt, leaving his neck and hands exposed to the cold wind.

The boy's skin wasn't particularly good; it was quite rough, but there wasn't a single frostbite. It was clean and smooth, as if he had come from another beautiful world.

The middle-aged shop owner suddenly realized.

"You're here again." This time, he didn't invite Fang Deming into the inn for a bowl of noodles, because he knew the young man in front of him didn't need it.

He just smiled and said, "You seem to have grown taller than you did back then."

Fang Deming was indeed at the age where he was growing taller. Boys of this age can shoot up to Old Gao in a short time, and they seem to change every day. His thin body had also grown out and no longer looked so pitiful.

He looked at the now quiet inn and the healthy innkeeper, and slowly a smile appeared on his face.

"This is a reward for someone I admire."

The seemingly nonsensical remark appeared to be instantly understood by the middle-aged shop owner.

He often thought of that boy who walked straight into the wind and snow; although he had only met him once, he could hardly forget him.

It all started with that bowl of noodles.

But is this really a reward?

"The snowstorm is about to stop."

Seeing the shop owner's momentary expression of surprise, Fang Deming felt a surge of satisfaction.

"There will be many more 'people' in town in the future, so you don't need to worry about a lack of visitors."

"Since you're the only one I left behind, I'll give you a bigger reward and let you live on forever—yes, I'll grant you immortality."

Fang Deming thought the reward was generous enough.

The shop owner in front of him was the only memory left of the old Nanshui Town. Fang Deming originally just wanted him to live more comfortably during the snow disaster, but now he really couldn't bear to erase him.

He certainly didn't think that immortality was the most terrible punishment for a kind person under these circumstances.

The arrogant and obsessive young man abandoned the distraught shopkeeper and went back to continue writing his story.

It's time to move on to the next step.

As the snow melted in the town, the survivors rebuilt everything.

Of course, apart from the innkeeper, no one survived the snowstorm, but he could write about these people, which is why he was so indifferent to the lives of the townspeople.

A brand new Nanshui Town has emerged.

The new townspeople possessed the memories bestowed upon them, as if they had always lived contentedly and happily. One by one, the townspeople began to live according to Fang Deming's design, and each of them respected the mansion at the northern end of the town.

They didn't remember it was the General's Mansion, because Fang Deming didn't want the words "general" and "guardian" attached to the Fang Mansion.

No need.

The Fang Mansion became the most powerful family in town. Although they didn't need to do business or anything, in the minds of the townspeople he depicted, the Fang Mansion was incredibly powerful and wealthy, and no one dared to provoke them.

The snow and ice outside the town had finally disappeared, and the outsiders rushed in with the expectation that no one would survive, but they were shocked by the thriving scene.

Reporters on the front lines asked the townspeople what was going on. The townspeople smiled and said that the heavy snow had only surrounded Nanshui Town and had no impact on the interior. They had been scared at first, but over time they had stopped being afraid.

Now that the ice and snow have melted and life has returned to normal, the townspeople are very happy and welcome everyone to visit Nanshui Town. They took advantage of the boring time when it was frozen to recreate an old long street called Baibao Street, which contains many things that are now rarely seen.

The fact that he could even play a quick game during a reporter's interview forced people to believe that nothing had happened in Nanshui Town, and that the townspeople were in a good mood.

The media rushed to report on the strange events in Nanshui Town. The bizarre heavy snow caused quite a stir, but since no one was injured or killed, the incident was simply listed as an unsolved mystery and received little further attention. Instead, friends flocked to the town, boosting the local tourism industry.

Movie star Xu Wan, who accidentally injured her back while filming, chose to come to Nanshui Town to relax after hearing about the incident.

She met a very handsome man in town, no less so than the male celebrities she had worked with. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, dressed impeccably, and had the air of a young master from a wealthy family.

This man was also very individualistic. At least when Xu Wan first saw him on the street, she found that he seemed somewhat aloof, like a difficult hedgehog.

The occasional flash of ruthlessness in his eyes made him seem like a dangerous, deep sea, full of secrets and captivating.

She soon learned that the man she had her eye on was Fang Deming, the eldest son of the most powerful Fang Mansion in town, the Fang family.

Fang Deming controls the port of Nanshui Town, has connections in both the legal and illegal worlds, and is a very shrewd man.

Xu Wan is not a woman who follows the rules. She likes to try all kinds of lives and she also likes to have her beauty seen by many people, so she chose to become an actress.

She wasn't afraid of the dangerous aura emanating from the man; instead, she embraced her passion like a moth drawn to a flame and plunged into Fang Deming's life.

She is truly beautiful.

Fang Deming no longer harbored any resentment, for he held absolute control over this place.

He began to enjoy everything, including love.

Xu Wan's arrival was like a blazing fire; her bright eyes ignited his dormant heart. Plus, with the book still in his hands, Fang Deming had nothing to worry about.

He began to pursue Xu Wan, and Xu Wan fell deeper and deeper in love with him during their interactions—especially after visiting the Fang family.

The giant python, visible only to Fang Deming, still coils around the Fang Mansion. Its promised protection is to gradually change the perceptions of those within the Fang Mansion; the more positive things they receive Fang Mansion, the less they can resist it.

Whether they are newly married into the family, visiting guests, or newborns, they will all eventually accept Fang Deming's beliefs, and the entire Fang family will become one.

However, Fang Deming didn't wait for the change in everyone's perception in the Fang Mansion to take full effect. He killed Fang family who yelled at him and said he was crazy.

In his story, his life was very long.

He no longer needs the useless Fang family; a pen and a snake are enough.

In the years since the snow disaster ended, some people have come to the Fang Mansion to investigate, sensing something was amiss. As long as Fang Deming keeps them at the Fang Mansion for a few days, they will naturally forget all their suspicions and leave happily.

After visiting the Fang Mansion once, Xu Wan fell completely "in love" with Fang Deming, and the two got married legitimately. Xu Wan, who had only come to relax, ended up settling down there.

Fang Deming doted on Xu Wan.

Perhaps few people can share his feelings: he has already obtained everything and hardly needs to give anything to anyone, so the good things he possesses gradually become tasteless.

But with Xu Wan's arrival, Fang Deming finally had a way to give back. He wanted nothing more than to give Xu Wan the best of everything, as long as Xu Wan.

Less than two years later, Xu Wan learned the truth about Nanshui Town.

It was Fang Deming who told her.

Fang Deming wrote in his book that even though Xu Wan was initially terrified, she still chose to stay by his side after careful consideration.

Xu Wan struggled with her feelings. Deep down, she had a romantic streak. She was attracted to the mysterious, ruthless, and shrewd port tycoon. The townspeople's blessings were genuine, as were their envy and appreciation of her beauty!

What she wants is not a one-woman show that belongs to only her from beginning to end! What's the difference between that and having only staff watching her movies?

The illusion Fang Deming created for her shattered, Xu Wan's love was extinguished. She wanted to escape, but after "careful consideration," she stayed by Fang Deming's side.

She was afraid.

She feared that Fang Deming, with his methods, would retaliate against her for escaping, and besides... they had a child together.

Xu Wan already regretted getting married. For her, being together with someone she no longer loved was the most unbearable thing, yet she had no choice but to endure it.

By the time her second child was born, Xu Wan was already mentally unstable. Coupled with her persistent back injury, she was tormented by pain and the pain of enduring an unloving husband, leading to her Impermanence personality.

Fang Xiao Fang Deming was grooming his eldest son, Fang Xiao, to be his successor. He was shrewd and ruthless, Xu Wan didn't dare to touch him. She could only vent her resentment on her younger son.

There was another thing that terrified her the most: after having two children, her figure was out of shape, and her appearance began to age with her age. Old injuries made her look haggard, and her beauty gradually faded.

No, that can't be done.

Xu Wan's obsession with beauty is pathological; she can endure being close to a man she doesn't love and living her whole life with him, but she cannot bear to become ugly.

She asked Fang Deming to find her all sorts of the latest cosmetics and skincare products. Her youngest son accidentally broke one of her cosmetics, and the terrified Xu Wan beat him so badly that he was bedridden for half a month.

Later, Xu Wan died.

Fang Deming was truly fond of her, so he sought help from the giant python and obtained a method to revive Xu Wan.

--Using other people's flesh and blood, they sewed a new body for Xu Wan.

Because Xu Wan is Fang family, the giant python was able to provide her with such protection. And because Fang Deming had the book, he was able to increase the chances of completing this outrageous method by writing it down in the book.

Moreover, Xu Wan's obsession is beauty; only a beautiful appearance can give her a new life.

Fang Deming began kidnapping people. He used his control over Nanshui Town to screen outsiders, only women with particularly beautiful features or delicate skin were chosen and brought into the Fang Mansion.

He would take only the best part of each woman, then gag them and lock them in an empty room in the Fang Mansion, where the giant python would take care of them.

This process was rather lengthy, because there weren't many beautiful women who met his high standards, and he also had to be careful not to let his secret be discovered.

Before long, rumors began to circulate in the town that Xu Wan was reluctant to leave, that her soul was still wandering around the Fang Mansion, and that she was crying every night... Those cries were coming from the women who had been tied up.

With such a commotion, the two children in the Fang family would naturally know.

Fang Xiao pretended to be indifferent, but in reality, like Fang Xing, he was traumatized by the terrifying home. They both wanted to escape, but the giant python's "rules" bound Fang Xiao, while Fang Deming's informant, the nanny Li, bound Fang Xing.

Yes, Li the nanny was a character created by Fang Deming specifically to monitor his two children, and until this point, Fang Deming had not noticed anything amiss.

It wasn't until Fang Xing actually escaped that Fang Deming suddenly realized—the townspeople hadn't caught Fang Xing for him.

Because he didn't realize it beforehand, he didn't have time to write down the scene in the book where the townspeople captured Fang Xing and brought him back to the Fang Mansion, so the townspeople wouldn't do anything for him.

He belatedly realized that what he wrote was only determined by him at the moment he put pen to paper. After that, what each town resident thought and how things would develop would proceed autonomously according to logic, unless he specifically wrote another plot.

But his book...

"His books were almost finished when I found them." Fang Xiao ended the story with this sentence, the scent of ink in the air quickly dissipating, and the rustling sound of turning pages seemed to have come to an end.

Yu Xing covered his head, using the painful gesture of bowing his head to conceal the glint in his eyes.

Fang Xiao poured him another cup of tea, a deep smile on her face, "So we grew up in a fake world, little brother. Are you scared?"