Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

Time flies.

Three months, then another three months.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year has slipped away quietly.

In the past six months, the landscape of Jiangcheng's entertainment industry has undergone many changes.

The name "Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze" has become an untouchable myth.

Xu Qing no longer focuses solely on writing songs for Luo Qianyu.

He started randomly posting his work across the entire internet.

Sometimes I write a rock song for a washed-up, cash-making uncle.

Sometimes, a sweet song is given to a newly debuted idol girl group.

He even wrote a folk song for a disabled old man who sang on the street.

Every song they release immediately tops the charts.

Hefty copyright fees were deposited into his account one after another.

Millions, tens of millions.

Xu Qing didn't leave a single penny.

The moment he received the money, he transferred it all to the corporate accounts of the Sunshine Welfare Home and various children's aid foundations.

He himself still lives in that perpetually dark basement in the old town.

I eat the cheapest instant noodles and discounted boxed meals from the fast food restaurant downstairs every day.

Of course, he was often forced to accept extremely expensive "poverty alleviation" takeout orders from Luo Qianyu.

Although Xu Qing has given his songs to most of the entertainment industry.

But he would still occasionally send a god-tier single to Luo Qianyu's email inbox.

Relying on three exclusive custom-made songs released in the past six months.

Luo Qianyu's status at Xinghuang Entertainment has skyrocketed.

She went from being an unknown nobody who didn't even deserve a dressing room.

They fought their way into the third tier.

After releasing a new song last month, he has solidified his position as a second-tier singer.

He received numerous invitations for high-end endorsements and top variety shows.

Agent Hong Jie now follows Luo Qianyu around every day, her attitude so humble that she's practically a personal maid.

But even now, Sister Hong still doesn't understand how Luo Qianyu managed to get on Mingyue Qingfeng's good side.

Luo Qianyu still has a long way to go before she truly becomes a superstar.

But everyone knows that it's only a matter of time.

Besides writing songs to earn money and donating it.

Xu Qing still spends most of his time on the computer backend of the End Literature Network.

In the past six months, he has published several short stories and novellas.

Without exception, all of them were topics he wanted to write about.

Moreover, each book is more depressing than the last, created solely for the sake of being depressing.

He built up those originally beautiful things little by little in the book, and then smashed them to pieces in front of all the readers.

Readers hurl insults at him in the comments section every day, threatening to send him razor blades.

But after venting their anger, they still dutifully paid to subscribe.

Luo Qianyu, as Xu Qing's most loyal reader, was also the one who suffered the most.

Previously, their WeChat chat history usually looked like this.

Patrick Star: [Wow, this chapter is so heartbreaking!]

Patrick Star: [Why did they have to kill off the male lead? Waaaaah, I cried a whole pack of tissues!]

Patrick: [Can you change the ending? Even crippling him would be fine, just don't let him die!]

Below these lines of text was a series of crying emojis.

Even through the phone screen, Xu Qing could feel the heartbreak and despair of the girl on the other end.

Faced with these accusations, Xu Qing's response was always just a cold five words.

Xu Qing: [Tragedy is eternal.]

They didn't even change a single punctuation mark.

But a person's capacity to endure can be infinitely increased.

After being tortured by Xu Qing for half a year.

Luo Qianyu's nerves have been trained to be incredibly tough.

She even learned to anticipate Xu Qing's tactics.

This morning, Xu Qing published the first chapter of his new book, "The Forest Keeper," on the Zhongyan Literature Network.

The protagonist of the book is an extremely ordinary forest ranger in the deep mountains.

The novel had been published less than ten minutes ago.

The phone on the broken table started vibrating.

Patrick Star: [A new book?]

Patrick: [Don't think I don't know what you're up to.]

Patrick Star: [I bet the protagonist of this book will also meet a terrible end!]

Patrick Star: [He was either shot and killed by poachers in the mountains, or buried alive by a mudslide while trying to save someone!]

Patrick Star: [Anyway, he definitely won't survive past the finale; he's definitely dead!]

Xu Qing leaned back in her chair, looking at the messages on the screen.

He typed with one hand and replied with a single punctuation mark.

Xu Qing: [?]

The other party replied to the message instantly.

Patrick: [Don't play dumb!]

Patrick Star: [You just want to portray him as very simple and kind from the start.]

Patrick: [Then let him die a horrible death, just to make us cry!]

Patrick Star: [I've seen through your true colors, and this time I definitely won't cry!]

Xu Qing gave a cold laugh.

This girl has grown too big for her britches now, daring to challenge his outline.

In his original plan, this forest ranger would indeed be burned alive by a wildfire in Chapter 40 while protecting a rare forest.

He left behind a wife who was newly pregnant and an elderly mother.

This extreme beauty of imperfection is absolutely enough to trigger maximum emotional distress.

But when I saw Luo Qianyu's message, "May you die a horrible death,"...

Xu Qing suddenly changed her mind.

He placed his hands on the keyboard and deleted the outline he had already written in the backend drafts folder.

He decided to break the mold this time.

Since you say he will die a horrible death.

I'll make sure he lives longer than anyone else.

For the next month or so.

"The Forest Ranger" is updated daily.

The readers of Zhongyan Literature Network are in a state of extreme anxiety every day.

Everyone is waiting for that inevitable knife to fall.

The comments section was extremely bizarre.

"The main character coughed once today, oh no, he's definitely got a terminal illness!"

"He went to gather herbs on the cliff edge today; he'll definitely fall and break his leg tomorrow!"

"I know the nature of those emotional old foxes all too well; this is just the calm before the storm!"

The first thing Luo Qianyu does every day after finishing her schedule is to open her novel app and keep up with the latest chapters.

After reading it, I sent a message to Xu Qing.

Patrick Star: [If I didn't die today, I'll definitely die tomorrow.]

Patrick: [You're stalling for time.]

Xu Qing never refuted it.

He just quietly typed in the basement.

He wrote that the forest rangers safely passed through that winter when poachers were rampant.

He wrote that the forest rangers not only did not have terminal illnesses, but they also rarely caught a cold.

He wrote that the forest ranger married his childhood sweetheart and had a son and a daughter.

The children not only avoided any mishaps, but also successfully gained admission to top universities in big cities.

The readers were completely baffled.

"It's already chapter sixty, how come no one has died yet?"

"The main character is already sixty and retired! He's even collecting his pension!"

"Has that old thief of emotions been possessed by someone else?"

Xu Qing typed on the keyboard.

The novel has reached its finale.

Xu Qing set the scene in a bright and sunny spring day.

An 89-year-old forest ranger lay on a rocking chair in the yard.

His wife sat beside him peeling oranges.

The son and daughter were chasing and playing with their grandchildren in the yard.

The old forest ranger looked at the thriving yard and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He slowly closed his eyes.

He peacefully stopped breathing in his sleep.

End.

There were no accidents, no terminal illnesses, and no tragic sacrifices.

He lived a simple and happy life as an ordinary person, and eventually died peacefully in his old age.

The moment the finale was announced.

The entire comment section of the End Literature website crashed.

The readers grabbed their hair, their faces filled with disbelief.

"Died of old age?!"

"Living to eighty-nine years old?! Five generations under one roof?!"

"I bought a whole case of tissues, ready to wail and cry, and this is what you show me?"

"You emotional rascal, you owe me money for my tissues!"

"What kind of scam is this?!"

In a high-end apartment in Jiangcheng.

Luo Qianyu, who has already moved out of her old, dilapidated apartment, is applying a face mask that costs several thousand yuan.

She lay on the sofa, staring blankly at the last line of the finale.

She rubbed her eyes and read it again from the beginning.

He didn't die.

They really didn't die a horrible death.

He actually died of old age.

Luo Qianyu suddenly sat up and ripped off her face mask.

She picked up her phone and tapped on the moss-covered stone portrait.

Patrick Star: [???]

Patrick Star: [He lived to be eighty-nine?]

Patrick: [Did you send the wrong document?]

In the basement.

Xu Qing was eating the Boston lobster that Luo Qianyu had ordered yesterday.

The shrimp was cold, but he ate it with great relish.

Upon seeing the message on his phone screen, he pulled out a tissue and wiped his hands.

Xu Qing: [No mistake.]

Xu Qing: [This is the ending.]

Luo Qianyu started typing frantically on the other end.

Patrick Star: [You're clearly a pervert who writes angst!]

Patrick Star: [Why did you suddenly write such a happy ending?!]

Patrick: [You're definitely doing this on purpose to mess with me!]

Xu Qing looked at the accusations on the screen, a faint smile curving her lips.

Xu Qing: [What evidence do you have that I'm going against you?]

Xu Qing: [This is my artistic pursuit.]

Patrick: [You stingy little devil!]

Patrick: [You just don't want me to guess the plot!]

Patrick Star: [You even changed your own outline just to beat me! Don't you have any principles as a writer?!]

Xu Qing took a sip of water.

Xu Qing: [My bottom line is that I have no bottom line.]

Luo Qianyu, sitting opposite, was so angry that she kicked her legs on the sofa.

But as she pedaled, she suddenly stopped.

She looked at her phone screen, then glanced at the last paragraph of the novel describing the sunlight and breeze.

She suddenly felt a warm feeling in her heart.

She didn't know what Xu Qing had gone through to become so obsessed with describing destruction and death.

But in this ordinary forest ranger, she saw a warmth that was extremely rare in Xu Qing's writing.

Luo Qianyu picked up her phone again and gently tapped her fingers on the screen.

Patrick Star: [You win.]

Patrick: [I admit defeat this time.]

Patrick: [But...]

Patrick Star: [To see him die peacefully in his old age, to see him with his family by his side.]

Patrick: [I'm actually quite happy.]

Patrick Star: [Great writer, it wouldn't be bad to write happy stories like this once in a while, right?]

In the dimly lit basement.

Xu Qing looked at the last message.

The dim yellow light bulb above my head flickered twice.