Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“Brother Le?” The young man subconsciously took a few steps back in fear when he saw Zhou Ze’s hand bleeding after he broke the cup.

“Brother Le, just forget it if you’re short on money, really.” The man was obviously afraid. He was talking in a sobbing tone.

The two were grasshoppers tied on the same string. It was impossible for any of them to threaten one another. The man was only mentioning the favor he did to convince Zhou Ze to give him some pocket money.

However, if he ended up forcing his cousin into a corner…

His cousin might be the main person responsible for the murder, but what about him?

He was his accomplice. He was the one that contacted the driver as the middleman. His crime was no lighter than his cousin’s. As for the driver, he would be deemed the murderer.

Therefore, he did not dare to put too much pressure on his cousin. He was scared too.

—

Zhou Ze finally understood why Xu Le did not have much money after he took over the man’s body. The loss that the bookstore was making was one thing. Most importantly, Xu Le had spent most of his savings on the murder.

It was ridiculous and amusing.

He had not dreamed that Xu Le was the reason behind his death.

Zhou Ze slammed back into his chair and looked at the broken pieces of the cup stuck to his palm. He watched his hand bleeding.

He did not try to stop the bleeding. It was not hurting him much.

He actually thought it was interesting. Even the most brilliant black-comedy script writer would have trouble expressing the irony he was experiencing.

The pitiful man that he had always assumed to be weak, useless, and undignified was actually a person that had hired the driver to murder him!

Everything had come together in a circle.

You could say that it was karma!

You could say that everything happened for a reason!

You could say that one would have to pay for the crimes they did eventually!

But these were all the opinions of bystanders. A bystander would anticipate the bad guy being punished and the good guy being compensated for his loss as the ending.

The bystanders would feel a sense of security. They would think it was the perfect ending. They would be in such a good mood that they might eat a couple more mouthfuls during dinner.

Unfortunately, who was going to pay so he could get his previous life back?

Zhou Ze lowered his head. His body was trembling slightly.

A fit of strong anger started filling him.

Doctor Zhou, Head of Department Zhou… he had made his difficult way through thorns and thistles, since he was from an orphanage.

He did not have a good background, nor did he know any people who could lend him a hand. He had worked his way up in the hospital with his own hands. He had strictly followed the code of conduct as a doctor while hoping to achieve more and climb higher.

He had been extremely careful with everything he did, like he was walking on thin ice!

He had finally gotten to where he was at such a young age.

He had finally made a name for himself in the field with his skills.

How much sweat had he shed?

The motivation and encouragement he gave himself every night as he was lying on his bed.

He even had to clench his teeth and swallow the grudges he had numerous times!

It was gone, it was all gone thanks to this son of a b**ch!

This assh*** had discovered that his wife was secretly in love with him.

He had realized why his wife was not willing to sleep with him.

He was nursing a grievance; he was angry, and he was unwilling to accept it!

He did not reflect on how he had abandoned his dignity to become a live-in son-in-law.

He did not reflect on the reason why everyone was looking down on him.

He did not realize his shortcomings, nor did he reflect upon himself.

Instead, the asshole had vented all his anger on him!

He could still accept the outcome if he really had an affair with the man’s wife.

However, he had long forgotten about the young woman who was an intern under him many years ago!

He was totally unaware of her feelings for him!

However, at the crossroads where he was waiting for the green light on his way to the orphanage with a cake and presents to celebrate Children’s Day with the kids after he had finished work, the driver who took the money had slammed on the pedal and destroyed the life that he had worked so hard for!

—

“Brother Le, well, I’ll be going first. Take care.”

Xu Le’s cousin did not dare to stay any longer. He quickly turned around and left. He still needed to pick his father up at the hospital. Judging by Zhou Ze’s reaction, he was actually worried that he would provoke his elder cousin. He seemed weak at normal times, but would dare to go to extreme measures when needed!

“I’m going to kill that guy! I’m going to use her money to kill him!”

Xu Le’s cousin still remembered the words and the twisted expression on Xu Le’s face when he placed a stack of cash in front of him.

He once despised his elder cousin because of how weak and timid he was. The man even went as far as becoming a live-in son-in-law, whose kids would never inherit his surname.

However, his impression toward his elder cousin had changed completely on that particular evening.

——

Zhou Ze watched the back of Xu Le’s cousin. The nails of his bleeding hand grew longer, before returning to normal soon after.

A black mist was circling his fingertips. A blood-red and black glimmer intertwined in his eyes.

The man was one of the people that were responsible for his death. He was thinking of keeping the man here forever.

He was thinking of giving the man to Bai Yingying as food, so she would suck his blood dry and turn him into human jerky!

But he ended up letting the man leave.

Zhou Ze did not make his move. He did not even stand up and yell out, “Stop right there!”

This goddamned rationality, putting him in despair and placing him on the verge of a mental breakdown!

Zhou Ze understood he could not kill the man.

Leaving the consequences he would have to face after killing someone to get his revenge when he was an Envoy of Hell aside… if he did kill the man, what would the driver in prison think?

Would he think he had killed his younger cousin to keep his secret?

Wouldn’t that mean he would have to kill the driver too?

Yeah, the driver was the actual murderer!

That son of a b**** was watching for him that night, before running the red light and ramming the truck into him!

The cousin deserved to die, so did the driver!

However, once he killed them both, regardless of how perfectly he managed to disguise them as accidents, the cops would still find the connection between them.

Everything would be clear by then!

Most importantly, he was now the person that had hired the driver to kill someone!

He was the mastermind to the police!

If he killed the two to get his revenge, he would simply expose himself.

Those assh**** had ruined his first life.

Would he really want to give up on his chance to live again after he got to reincarnate by claiming someone’s body because of the same people that had killed him?

Would he really want to ruin his second life?

Zhou Ze clenched his fists and slammed them on the counter.

BANG!

The world started spinning.

Zhou Ze staggered and took a few steps back. He leaned against the wall and slowly fell to the ground.

He covered his eyes with the hand that was covered in blood and scratched the tiles of the floor with the other.

He was furious, but he had no place to vent it.

This goddamned life!

Screw the Laws of Heavens, screw “everything happens for a reason”.

He had saved so many lives and helped so many people in his previous life!

Tears started rolling down from the corner of his eyes.

Everyone had their weak moments. The only thing they could do was to cover their eyes that were shedding tears.

Everyone would complain about how unfair the world and the heavens were. Not everyone could analyze the situation they were in calmly, like a robot, all the time.

Zhou Ze believed he had never done anything against his conscience in his previous life. He saved many patients, protecting their lives and families.

He was not living aimlessly, nor was he willing to live in corruption like the others. Despite having a strong ambition to earn a reputation and climb higher, he still stuck to his principles as a human being and a doctor. As such, the difficulty and the effort needed for him to climb to a higher position were a lot higher than everyone else!

He caught a glimpse of a joss paper at the corner of the counter.

It must be the last one he was left with after burning the rest.

It was just as Bai Yingying had said, the joss papers from the dead were a symbol of his secret virtue.

Perhaps the heavens were well aware of the good deeds he had done in his previous life, so they decided to make up for it.

They gave Zhou Ze the chance to be reincarnated and gave him a beautiful wife and a bookstore. On top of that, in order to show how just and incorruptible they were, they had arranged for Zhou Ze to stumble into Xu Le, who had been killed accidentally by a robber, so he could claim his body and take over his murderer’s life.

The heavens believed it was the perfect way for his murderer to pay the price for killing him.

But… no one had asked if Zhou Ze was willing to accept it.

As a result, he could not even avenge himself!

When that assh**** walked up to him and told him how he had arranged for the driver to kill him, he could only remain in his seat helplessly!

——

The fading light of the sunset shone upon the corner of the entrance, bringing the last hint of warmth of the day with it.

“By the way, I recently came up with a new strawberry juice. Do you want to try it out and give me feedback so I can improve it?” Xu Qinglang walked through the door with a glass of juice.

He was stunned when he saw Zhou Ze sitting at the wall with his hand bleeding. He placed the glass of strawberry juice down and went over.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Qinglang asked.

“Why… this isn’t fair… no… it’s the goddamned justice,” Zhou Ze murmured.

Xu Qinglang fell silent. He had no clue what had caused Zhou Ze to suddenly behave like this. The Zhou Ze he knew had always been rational and treated everything calmly.

He would even pull a joke during serious moments. He was a very self-disciplined person, but it was easier for a self-disciplined person to suffer a serious breakdown and feel more helpless when they were troubled.

Somehow Zhou Ze reminded him of himself on the day when the little girl came to his restaurant to take away his parents.

He was complaining about how unfair it was because the little girl had come to take his parents’ souls, while ignoring the ghost Zhou Ze across the street.

Xu Qinglang let out a sigh.

He wrapped his hand around Zhou Ze’s shoulder and pulled him closer to his chest while saying, “Brother, I don’t know what happened to you, but I sure understand what you’re feeling right now. Even Chopin wouldn’t be able to express our sorrow with his piano.”