Forces of Temptation

When the one-legged tin soldier turned out from the messy bookshelf maze with a sullen face and Jiang Fang, Nan Zhou was sitting on the floor beside the chess table.

His foot rested cautiously against the crack of the door, as if worried that the door would suddenly close.

The light outside the door was like vines, climbing along his ankles, Ming Huanghuang cast on him, making him look like light itself.

It belongs to Jiang Fang's story, and the formal rules are placed on his knees.

Nanzhou sat very close to the mummy.

The mummy has long been sitting on the stool.

No one knows how long it has been here.

Its clothes are rotten and its skin is peeling off, and it can only barely maintain a person's shelf.

Because its back is facing the chessboard for a long time, it looks like a pot on its back.

Even so, when the light shines, it still ignores the shavings and pieces of flesh that fall from its body, struggling to lift its face from the chessboard, eager, greedy, full of light looking out .

This is the limit of what it can achieve.

When Jiang Fang came out, Nan Zhou was trying to talk to it: "How long have you been here?"

Mummy: "…"

Nan Zhou: "It's been a long time. You should also be a gamer."

Mummy: "…"

Nan Zhou: "Can you understand me?"

Mummy: "…"

Nan Zhou: "Hello?"

Nan Zhou's perseverance made his face, which seemed so cold and uncivilized, looked extremely lively and lovely.

The one-legged tin soldier put Jiang Fang down, jumped step by step, and went to the depths of the bookshelf to find Li Yinhang.

The game is over, Jiang Fang, who slowly absorbed his memory from the book, walked forward with a faint smile: "What are you talking about? Can you take me with you?"

Nan Zhou stopped the one-sided chat with the mummy and looked at Jiang Fang: "You were in danger just now."

"Too bad."

Jiang Fang completely disbanded the scorpion-tail braid that was loosened during the fight, and while re-doing it, he wrote lightly: "It was originally planned to be eaten until the age of nineteen. At most twenty-two age."

The variable falls on the tin soldiers who patrol every half hour.

If the chess game can be turned over with a single blow, it will be the safest if the tin soldiers cannot be dispatched within half an hour.

Nan Zhou still disapproved of his risky move: "You can wait."

Jiang Fang shrugged indifferently: "They have already decided the outcome of three sets, and I only waited for this opportunity. If I miss this time, who knows if I wait for an ideal 'general' situation, and need how long?"

Speaking, he tilted his head slightly, and gave Nan Zhou a brilliant smile: "Besides, I trust you, don't I?"

For some reason, Nan Zhou seemed reluctant to look at him.

He replied vaguely, "Hmm."

Then, he handed Jiang Fang's book back to him on his knees.

Jiang Fang took it over: "Did you take a peek?"

Nan Zhou shook his head: "No."

Jiang Fang: "..." Tsk.

He couldn't tell if he was happy or depressed.

This is an extra bet that Jiang Fang set for himself outside of this game.

He bet that Nanzhou's curiosity would let him peep his secrets.

Since reuniting with Nan Zhou on the bus, Jiang Fang has been thinking, should he tell him about the past, or stop and start from scratch.

There are some things that are hard to tell, he wants Nan Zhou to see, and he is worried that he will see.

Therefore, he chose to use the game to take a risk and entrust his thoughts and memories to Nanzhou.

He bet Nanzhou would see it.

However, I lost to him again.

… For some reason, every time Jiang Fang wanted to bet with Nan Zhou, he would inevitably lose to him.

Jiang Fang laughed secretly, but when he took the book, his fingertips paused.

Probably because nine-tenths of his story was eaten by the book, making it 90% full, and forcing it to vomit out, it was not in a good mood.

So, Jiang Fang's memory recovered a little slowly.

When the memories are re-injected into the brain, there will be a slight sense of strangeness, so Jiang Fang took some time to adapt and clarify.

When the story is still written, it is told from a third-person perspective.

In countless flashbacks of memory, Jiang Fang suddenly found that his memory after the age of nine contained a little strange and unfamiliar content.

—He seems to have owned a healing tree house with a construction area of ​​about 20 square meters on a huge tree.

"The house was built by Jiang Fang and his father and mother."

"In the house, there are endless desserts, fruits, toys, books, and photos of Jiang Fang's family. Some are warm and very safe. A fireplace with the softest bed and softest blanket in the world."

"After this, every time he encountered painful things, he would hide here."

"When he is sad, it will rain for him."

"The rain falls on the wooden roof and the fire burns on the safe charcoal, making a pleasant white noise."

"He slept in the sound of rain and fire."

"When I wake up, all the pain is gone."

Jiang Fang frowned slightly.

The content of this memory is contrary to his logic.

His original home was in a steel forest.

There is indeed a forest park a few kilometers away from home.

When I was little, my father took his mother and he went there for a picnic.

But since he was nine years old, he has no such memory.

He travels between the overworld and the underworld in Kyiv.

He wants to send his mother to the alcohol and drug rehab center, how can he buy a bed and blanket for himself?

Even if there is such an ideal harbor, he has no time to live.

As for the photo with the parents, it is even more nonsense.

After getting drunk once, my mother burned all the photos of her family with my father.

Ten-year-old Jiang Fang wanted to hide the last photo in his wallet, but was also snatched by his mother who was on the verge of madness.

He could only watch the photo, along with the wallet his father bought for him, engulfed by fire.

All in all, only children need this kind of tree house where after being hit, they can put their heads in and sleep, and the wounds in their hearts can heal themselves.

…

However, the source of this strange memory is not difficult to find.

Just thinking about it for a moment, Jiang Fang's silver eyes lowered slightly, and a warm feeling came to her heart.

There is a person who wants to create a warm memory for him after getting his memory book.

The false memory of him sleeping on the softest bed in the world under the softest blanket in the world is a gentle leaden color.

…The color is very similar to the pencil that Nanzhou used to sketch these days.

Jiang Fang's heart was scorched by this warmth.

The slight tingling hidden behind the warmth made him almost panic.

Nan Zhou sighed softly.

Still.

It seems that this book will not absorb and assimilate memories that do not belong to the original owner.

So he honestly said, "I didn't peek."

"I found your nine-year-old's location using the catalogue, and wrote it with a pen in the blank space. I blocked your other stories and didn't even read them."

Jiang Fang did not expect that the more he talked to Nan Zhou, the more he liked it.

When love is coming, he just can't admit that he likes someone.

So he even started to pick the thorns of that beautiful story a little bit uncontrollably: "How could someone set a fire in a tree house?"

Nanzhou: "I said, that is a safe fireplace and charcoal." It was also emphasized twice.

Jiang Fang: "Desserts and fruits, you want to eat them."

Nan Zhou: "Yeah. That's very happy."

Jiang Fang: "When a person is sad, the sky will not rain for him. Moreover, when it rains, the tree house will be damp."

Nanzhou: "I know. But the sound of rain will make people feel calm. I want to make it rain in your story, and it will rain."

Jiang Fang laughed: "That's a fairy tale, not a reality."

Nan Zhou: "I know."

Nan Zhou: "But I want to give you a fairy tale."

Jiang Fang was dumbfounded.

He rubbed his head with a half smile and half seriousness: "How do you grow?"

How can such a gentle flower bloom in such a lonely, hopeless, dark and endless quagmire?

Nan Zhou showed his usual seriousness and replied, "It's getting longer every day."

Nan Zhou thought about it, combined his own experience, and said: "Fairy tales, some are false, some may be true. If you don't believe it, it will never be true. yes."

Jiang Fang stared at the tear mole under Nan Zhou's eyes.

The fairy tales he once believed in and refused to believe in the future are now standing in front of his eyes.

The cheeks are warm and the eyes light.

Jiang Fang finally smiled sincerely again.

"Okay, I believe."

The memory of the wooden house was automatically corrected and gradually erased from Jiang Fang's memory.

But this warmth resides in his heart.

A solid, fluffy, rubbing against him warmly.

Like a house cat.

Suddenly, in the bookshelf maze, the one-legged tin soldier slanted his head out from above the bookshelf.

It angrily said: "Please let your friends come out and stop hiding! I explained to her that the game is over, but she doesn't listen to me!"

Nan Zhou discovered that Li Yinhang had not come out.

At times like this, she cherishes her life.

It is not a safety guarantee from her teammates, she is all fake.

Although the chasing sound of the big leather boots behind her has disappeared, she still does not believe a word of the tin soldier's words, and she shuttles between the bookshelves like a rabbit to hide.

The one-legged tin soldier leaned on one leg, unable to catch up with her.

After a long rest, Nan Zhou's spirit also eased a lot.

He stood up, told Jiang Fang to keep an eye on the door, and stepped forward to head towards the inside of the bookshelf labyrinth.

When rubbing shoulders with Jiang Fang, he accidentally touched his shoulder.

Jiang Fang was a little dazed and couldn't hold the book, and the book fell to the ground with a snap.

Jiang Fang indicated that he would pick it up and let Nan Zhou go first.

So Nan Zhou walked quickly to the depths of the bookshelf.

The book in Jiang Fang's hand was the spine first.

The book is turned up one page with the front facing up.

There is still some text that has not completely disappeared.

Jiang Fang was about to bend over to pick it up, when he saw the faint words on it, his eyebrows could not help but narrow.

["Boss, we can listen to you in everything, but it's impossible to let him out."]

["He's a boss, boss, you can't treat him as an adult just because he has a human face?"]

["He is in your backpack now, of course you have the final say. Why do you have to let him out? This is the safest."]

【“Boss, what certainty do you have that you can completely guarantee that he will not hurt us?]

It's something everyone knows. Boss, don't make it hard for us, do you want us to believe that he will be kind to our players?"]

[Jiang Fang heard the collective protest of the team members, and was silent and thought. 】

[He said: "Then let him out after a while."]

Jiang Fang lowered her silver eyelashes, picked up the book, pinched the seam, and firmly controlled it in her hand.

As if it was a past he couldn't bear to look back.