Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

Nervous, uneasy, and a little confused and excited was the surge of emotions that Zhou Ze was feeling on his way to the outskirts of Tongcheng.

He needed money desperately, but he did not need a huge amount of it, at least not for the time being.

After coming back to life, he needed some money to settle the troubles of his current life and the debts of his past life. After that, he would have to decide what he wanted to do instead of wasting his time.

For example, he might move out. Even though Lin Wanqiu was very pretty and attractive, he could not be bothered going back ‘home’. It was not like they had any kind of intimate relations, and it did not seem like Xu Le owed the woman anything since he did not get to do anything, either.

As such, he would not feel any pressure saying goodbye.

However, if he was planning to leave, he needed to make some preparations. He needed a place to stay, and a high-quality freezer. Zhou Ze did not dare buy a second-hand freezer. What if something happened while he was sleeping inside the freezer and it ended up killing him?

Money! Even a ghost like him needed money!

However, Zhou Ze was feeling uneasy after receiving the call meant for Xu Le. Xu Le was just a live-in son-in-law, and so useless that even his parents-in-law could pick on him as they pleased. He was so useless that he and his wife were sleeping in separate beds, and yet he turned out to be a big shot criminal?

The sudden change was quite thrilling, like a scene out of an American television drama. The big shots always lived a normal life as a disguise.

For example, Spiderman was just a high schooler, and Superman was a journalist!

Now, what was he going to do about it? Should he take out the entire gang?

Zhou Ze did not want Xu Le’s hidden identity to stain his name. It would mean endless troubles. He would have a hard time running from the cops, not to mention that the people that the old man and the faceless woman mentioned were looking for him, too.

Zhou Ze was having a headache. He was still adapting to the situation, but he still decided to visit the long-abandoned chemical factory.

Two men were standing at the entrance. One was wearing a rugged military jacket, and the other a low-quality suit. The two were crouching on the ground while smoking their cigarettes.

Zhou Ze paid the tab and exited the cab. The men rose to their feet and came up to him.

“Boss is waiting for you,” the man in the military jacket said in a deep voice.

Zhou Ze nodded. He followed the man into the factory. The man in a suit stayed behind to smoke, it seemed like he was keeping an eye out.

After entering the factory, Zhou Ze saw a bald, fat man with a gold chain sitting on a plastic chair while enjoying his drink. He quickly rose to his feet when he saw Zhou Ze approaching. “Brother Xu, you’ve finally arrived.”

The man was quite tall, around one hundred and eighty-five centimeters. He looked quite grandiose, especially when Zhou Ze saw the golden powder on his neck that seemed to have come off from the golden chain.

“Where are the goods?” Zhou Ze placed his hands behind him and crossed his fingers. There were only three of them here. He would not have any problem taking them out, but what was he supposed to do after that? Wouldn’t he be in trouble if he simply handed them to the cops?

Should he just silence them on behalf of the moon? That did not seem like a viable option either. He might be punished if he killed for no reason, just like when he saved someone’s life. He would not dare take the risk…

“Brother Xu is straightforward as usual!” The man wiped his mouth and patted on Zhou Ze’s shoulder.

Zhou Ze’s mouth twisted. He took a deep breath to withhold the urge to slap the man’s greasy hand away.

“Come, this way!” The man gestured and brought Zhou Ze to a storage room deeper into the factory.

Zhou Ze’s eyes widened after going into the room. The goods were stacked up like a little hill, with a black piece of plastic covering them.

Zhou Ze had never done anything illegal, but he knew the amount of goods could easily sentence him to death a few hundred times.

“I believe these goods aren’t for Tongcheng only,” Zhou Ze really had the urge to ask if they had just robbed an entire convoy from the Golden Triangle.

{TL Note: The Golden Triangle is known for its vast amount of Opium and Heroin.}

“Brother Xu, that’s quite obvious, the market in Tongcheng is still too small. It’s only a springboard for us to smuggle the goods into Shanghai,” the man stretched and said, “We should hurry up and sell the goods, we’re going to make a fortune on them.”

Zhou Ze rubbed his forehead and said in a troubled voice, “Wouldn’t it be hard to sell them all?”

They were not selling Chinese cabbages; they could not just ride a tricycle and ask if the people were interested in their goods with a loudspeaker.

“Brother Xu, don’t you worry, we just need to deliver the goods to the people under us. We won’t earn as much as selling them ourselves, but it’s quicker and safer. Once we are done with this batch, we can go ahead and get another batch of goods,” the man said casually.

-Xu Le, you had even set up a network of drug dealers. You’re really something…

-And yet, a big shot like you was killed by a bat to the head because some idiot was robbing three hundred Yuan from you!-

“Brother Xu, take a look at the quality of the goods,” the man flipped over the plastic covering the goods.

Zhou Ze immediately looked surprised. He did not see a pile of drugs, but a pile of books and DVDs.

Were the drugs hidden in the books?

“Brother Xu, thanks to your old classmate, we managed to get the goods quite easily. These DVDs have the movies that the cinemas are still showing. I purposely made extra copies of them. As for these pirated books and novels, they are hot sellers on the market too. Also, the epilogue you wrote for the novel about Bai Jie that has around two million words, many of our downlines have placed lots of orders for it. We won’t have any trouble selling them either,” the man said.

“These are the goods you mentioned about?” Zhou Ze asked the man.

“Yeah?” the man was startled. “They are all here.”

Disappointed.

Very disappointed.

Absolutely disappointed!

In the meantime, Zhou Ze was embarrassed by himself, too.

Xu Le was still Xu Le; in order to sell the pirated goods better, he even wrote the epilogue to Bai Jie’s story!

An epilogue with two million words!

How much time did he even waste on it…

“What percent will I get from it?” Zhou Ze asked. “I’m thinking of quitting.”

It was quite obvious that Xu Le had invested some money in the business in order to keep it going.

“Huh? Brother Xu, you’re quitting?” the man seemed quite surprised. “We have just started to make a profit. Why are you quitting now?”

“Yeah, it contradicts some of my core values, so I’m quitting,” Zhou Ze said in a serious voice.

He did not want to take any risk, especially when he was still getting his life sorted. He did not want to be involved in any kind of trouble.

“Brother Xu has higher ambitions. I’m impressed, but Brother Xu, you invested…” the man raised two fingers and said, “Twenty thousand.”

“Twenty thousand it is, give me the money, and everything else is no longer my concern,” Zhou Ze could not be bothered with the details. It was enough for the time being.

“Sure, I do have twenty thousand with me,” the man nodded and proceeded to take the money.

——

Fifteen minutes later, Zhou Ze was on the way back to the city with an extra twenty thousand yuan in his pocket.

He was not in a rush to go back to the bookstore, but he went to an electrical appliance store instead. He spent more than ten thousand on a freezer. It was high-quality, normally used to store meat. Zhou Ze did not hesitate to spend the money. After all, he was going to sleep in it from now on. He was worried that something would go wrong with a cheap freezer.

The store gave Zhou Ze great service. They even helped Zhou Ze deliver the freezer to… the entrance of a bookstore.

The driver helped Zhou Ze move the freezer into the bookstore. He seemed quite confused.

“Boss, you need a freezer for your bookstore?” the driver asked.

Zhou Ze gave the driver a cigarette and said, “It’s tough doing business here. I decided to sell some seafood for some extra income.”

——

The driver left after receiving the cigarette. His job was done here. Everything else was none of his concern.

The bookstore had two stories. The upper floor was basically a storeroom for the books. Zhou Ze tidied the place up and put the freezer inside the room. He finally had some peace of mind after seeing his new ‘bed’.

After coming down from the upper floor, Zhou Ze discovered someone in the bookstore. It was not a customer, but his wife!

Doctor Lin was flipping through a magazine. She asked suspiciously when she saw Zhou Ze coming down from the first floor, “What were you doing up there?”

“Just doing some cleaning,” Zhou Ze brushed off the question.

“I just finished work,” Doctor Lin said.

“Mm,” -not like you’re going to sleep with me after you’ve finished work, Zhou Ze thought.

“The girl has woken up,” Doctor Lin looked at Zhou Ze and said, “Her father has invited us to dinner at a restaurant. You should come, too.”

“Why should I?” Zhou Ze said.

“The girl keeps asking for where you are when she wakes up,” Doctor Lin asked Zhou Ze in a curious voice, “Do you know her?”

“She must have been aware of her surroundings even when she was unconscious,” Zhou Ze continued to bluff, “She might have sensed my presence when I was trying to save her.”

“Are you going?” Doctor Lin asked.

“Nope,” Zhou Ze shook his head. “I’m not hungry, and I don’t have any appetite either.”

Doctor Lin nodded. She did not force him. She headed for the entrance, but stopped at the door, “Are you going home tonight?”

The same question again.

-You’re not going to sleep in the same bed with me even if I go home.

Zhou Ze replied decisively, “Not tonight, I’m rather busy.” -Even when the bookstore is as cold as an iced latte-.

Doctor Lin hesitated for a moment, but she did not insist. She took the car keys from her pocket when she suddenly heard a loud crash.

Doctor Lin turned around and saw her husband falling into a bookshelf. The books were scattered across the ground.

“Are you alright?” Doctor Lin quickly went up to take a closer look at Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze’s vision blurred. He was struggling to gather his focus. He was panting heavily while his legs felt feeble, as if he was stepping on cotton. He completely lost his balance.

“I almost fainted from hunger…” Zhou Ze murmured.

It had been days since he last ate…