Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The cops arrived soon after Zhou Ze gave them a call. He told the cops that the young man suddenly ran into his bookstore and went on a tantrum, saying that the people that he had burned to death had come back to get their revenge. He kept punching and kicking the wall until he fainted.

After he was done with the report at the police station, the sun had already risen. The case about the fire that broke out at the cinema had many twists and turns. The cops were only blinded temporarily, as they had not suspected the delivery boy who had risked his life to save the people in the fire. Even though they did not have any evidence, now that they had started to look in the right direction, they would soon find the truth.

As for what was going to happen next and what the people that complimented the young man for his bravery would think when the truth was revealed, it was none of Zhou Ze’s concern. He had done all he could, and all he was willing to do.

He would not mind settling the problems of the dead. As for the living, it was better to let the cops do their job.

He stood at the entrance of the police station and took a deep breath of the fresh air. He immediately felt refreshed.

——-

After Zhou Ze got a ride back to the bookstore, he saw that Xu Qinglang had reopened the restaurant. The man was dressed in normal clothes. He sat in front of the restaurant picking the edible parts of vegetables under the sun. He was humming a local folk song.

Everything had returned to normal.

Zhou Ze went into the restaurant. Xu Qinglang dusted off his hands and asked, “What do you want to eat?”

“Anything, some plum juice too.” Xu Qinglang nodded.

Zhou Ze sat in the restaurant and tapped the table softly.

A while later, Xu Qinglang came out with a bowl of egg noodles. The soup was clear and the noodles had a good texture, even though none of it mattered. Most importantly, there was a familiar glass of plum juice in front of him.

“Can you make a whole bottle of it for me? How much is it?” Zhou Ze pointed at the huge water bottle on the water dispenser, “I’ll take a bottle.”

“Not now,” Xu Qinglang sat in front of Zhou Ze. He was smoking a cigarette. It seemed like he wanted to smoke like a thug, but somehow, the contradicting thought of ‘a woman can only want to look so good when they are smoking’ kept crossing Zhou Ze’s mind.

He was not sissy nor homosexual. He was just unlucky that the Heavens had given him the wrong body.

Zhou Ze finished the noodles together with the plum juice. To his surprise, the disgust was not as strong as before. However, he still drank a few glasses of water just to help him recover.

“Do you remember what happened to Lin Daiyu when she went to the Jia Family to have dinner?” Xu Qinglang took a puff of the cigarette and asked.

{TL Note: Lin Daiyu is the main character in Cao Xueqin’s classic Chinese novel, Dream of the Red Chamber.}

Zhou Ze immediately understood what the man was referring to.

When Lin Daiyu had her first meal in the Jia Family, everyone was drinking tea after the meal. Lin Daiyu’s father taught her that drinking tea after a meal would result in indigestion, but since her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law had all drunk it, she had no choice but to drink it too.

“I’m satisfied as long as I can fill up my stomach,” Zhou Ze shook his head. Under the circumstances, it was likely that he could never enjoy food or become a gourmet for the rest of his life. He could not care less about digestion, either.

“I find it unfair,” Xu Qinglang cut to the topic. “My parents left.”

Xu Qinglang’s parents had died a long time ago, but Zhou Ze knew what he meant when he said that his parents had left. They must have gone to Hell.

“Why did they leave all of a sudden?” Zhou Ze was going to say my condolences, but he decided against it as it felt inappropriate.

“They found them.”

Zhou Ze was holding a cigarette, and his hand shuddered.

-‘They’ found them?- Zhou Ze remembered the old man had mentioned that someone had found him too!

Xu Qinglang looked at Zhou Ze, “I couldn’t accept it; why did she take my parents, but not you?”

“She?” Zhou Ze thought about the cute little girl and recalled Xu Qinglang’s strange behavior on the same day. It did not take him long to realize what had happened.

“The girl? That’s not possible!”

“The order of Hell has to be maintained, the deceased must depart!” Xu Qinglang lowered his voice and looked Zhou Ze in the eyes. “The long tongue serves as the path for the dead to enter the afterworld, sounds familiar?”

“Heibai Wuchang?”

{TL Note: The two deities in Chinese folklore that are in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the Underworld.}

“That’s just a collective name for them,” Xu Qinglang let out a sigh, “But they were indeed the enforcers of the Underworld responsible for maintaining the order by separating the living and the dead. The living has their paths to walk, and the dead have the Underworld Bridge to cross.”

“Oh,” Zhou Ze was struggling to believe it still. If the little girl was someone like Heibai Wuchang, why did she reveal her true self and stick her tongue out, resulting in the accident and the death of the driver?

“She didn’t bring me away, but she brought your parents away, so that’s the reason you hate me?” Zhou Ze pointed at himself.

“Yeah,” Xu Qinglang said with a nod.

“Don’t tell me you’ve put poison in the noodles?”

“…”

“Was it poisoned?” Zhou Ze asked again.

“No,” Xu Qinglang answered.

“That’s a relief,” Zhou Ze said. Little did he know that the twice-cooked pork the other day was actually poisoned. If Doctor Lin had not come earlier, he would have eaten the poison.

“Are you really stupid or just pretending to be?” Xu Qinglang snapped. “Why didn’t she catch you?”

“Yeah, why didn’t she catch me?” Zhou Ze asked.

“I’m asking you!” Xu Qinglang raised his voice.

“I have no idea,” Zhou Ze shrugged, “Maybe because I saved her life once.”

“…”

——-

The conversation between them came to an end when their cigarettes were reduced to ashes.

They had finally spoken the truth this time, breaking their mutual understanding of keeping their secrets.

Zhou Ze went back to his bookstore. He discovered six stacks of joss papers under the plastic stools when he was packing them up.

Was this money for the books or the meal?

Zhou Ze remembered Old Dao, the streamer had given him a stack of joss papers too, saying it was a good luck charm for his kindness. Did the man earn the joss paper the same way he did?

How did he get it?

Zhou Ze put the stacks of joss paper aside. The joss paper felt good to touch, unlike the rough kind that he usually saw. It felt like he was touching silk.

Zhou Ze immediately recalled the joss shop that Old Dao had mentioned. It was definitely the best option if he was to deal with the dead, since everything that a joss shop sold was for the dead, too.

If the joss paper he was holding was the currency that the dead used, he could easily make fortune by opening a joss shop.

The thought of the man that was struggling to eat porridge in the background of the clip crossed his mind again.

Zhou Ze suddenly felt that he had discovered something very interesting.

Unfortunately, no matter how interesting it was, he no longer had the energy to spare for it. He had not slept for the whole night. It was time for him to get some rest.

—

Zhou Ze drew the curtains down and locked the door. For some reason, his bookstore was operating more at night than in the day, perhaps he should place an order for a new signboard when he had the chance.

Midnight Bookstore…

He barely had any customers in the day anyway, and the bookstore had been making a loss. He could come up with some ideas to gain some attention, since it was unlikely that business would be worse than it already was.

The delivery boy had committed an unforgivable mistake, yet it did give Zhou Ze some ideas.

A shower had been installed in the washroom. It had a heater installed, too. Zhou Ze took a shower and put on some clean clothes before heading upstairs.

He froze when he was about to set the temperature of the freezer.

There was a person lying inside the freezer.

Her eyes were closed, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. She was breathing at a steady pace with hands crossed in front of her chest.

She was calm and adorable. If only her tongue would not grow so long…

The little girl had claimed his bed.

Zhou Ze felt an urge to call Xu Qinglang over to get his revenge.

He decided against it in the end. He was not worried about the man’s safety. He simply assumed the man was not bold enough to come and get his revenge. Perhaps he might even ask the little girl in a friendly voice, “You’ve woken? Do you feel like eating anything? I’ll cook it for you right away.”

The little girl’s eyes sprang open. Her eyes were extremely deep. They did not look as clear and innocent as before.

The girl stretched her hands out. Zhou Ze helped open the lid.

The girl sat upright inside the freezer. She did not set the temperature. She only turned on the circulation so air could flow in and out.

“Aren’t you cold lying in here?” the little girl asked. She added before Zhou Ze could answer, “Oh, I forgot, you’re different.”

The little girl patted the spot beside her in the freezer and gave Zhou Ze an innocent look, “Do you want to sleep together?”

Zhou Ze reached his hand out, as he was thinking of fondling the girl’s head, but his hand froze in the air. She was something like Heibai Wuchang, an enforcer of Hell in the living world…

The little girl grabbed Zhou Ze’s hand and placed it on her head. She then pulled his hand back and forth to rub her head.

“…”

“You are good.” The little girl finally rose to her feet in the freezer. However, it seemed like she was struggling to get out, since her legs were short.

Zhou Ze lifted her out of the freezer. He began to wonder how she got into the freezer in the first place.

“You are good,” the little girl pointed at Zhou Ze and repeated.

“Uh… thanks?” Zhou Ze was lost for words.

“I’m leaving,” The little girl turned around, her back facing Zhou Ze. She placed her hands behind her back. Zhou Ze knew she was pretending to act like she was in charge here.

However, she had the same problem as Xu Qinglang.

The Heavens had given her the wrong body. She looked just too adorable!

Endure it, don’t laugh…, Zhou Ze kept reminding himself. She is Heibai Wuchang, you shouldn’t laugh.

“HAHAHAHA!”

He couldn’t hold back his laughter!

He was screwed, “HAHAHA!”

He was done for, “HAHAHA!”

The harder he tried to hold back his laughter, the louder he was laughing. He could even feel tears coming out of his eyes.

The little girl ignored Zhou Ze’s laugh. She did not punish Zhou Ze for being disrespectful.

She asked, “Do you want to take my position?”