Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

-Dear policewoman, may I ask what my wife’s name is?-

The thought crossed Zhou Ze’s mind briefly, but he was not that stupid to actually say it out loud. That being said, he indeed had no idea what his wife’s name was. It was unlikely that anyone would use their new name in QQ and WeChat.

The middle-aged man glanced at Zhou Ze as if he had been betrayed. -Brother, why are you doing this? Didn’t we already promise to be one another’s fallen angel?- 

Zhou Ze looked at the man helplessly. -I’m actually quite surprised too…-

The middle-aged man lowered his head and let out a sigh. He murmured to himself, “I know how to make nice dumplings.”

“Come!” Zhou Ze’s wife demanded coldly, before heading toward the exit. Zhou Ze had no choice but to follow her.

The woman had a Porsche Cayenne. She immediately got into the car. Zhou Ze opened the door and sat down in the front passenger seat. To be honest, it felt quite awkward.

-That poor devil Xu Le, why couldn’t the man’s life be a little more normal, so I wouldn’t be stuck in such an awkward situation.- He would not mind finding some excuses to comfort his wife if she was actually worried, like he was having trouble remembering things because his head was hurting badly.

However, his wife was like an icy goddess, and completely ignored his presence. It was like bringing him out of the police station was just a normal routine.

My dog lost its way home. The police found him, so I went to bring him back. Zhou Ze felt like he was in that kind of a situation.

The woman started the engine. She was actually very young, she must be of a similar age to himself (Xu Le), quite some years younger than Zhou Ze supposed to be.

The woman finally broke the silence when they reached the highway.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Zhou Ze replied.

Silence followed.

The woman felt that her husband was strangely quiet today, yet she did not bother asking any more questions.

The woman’s phone started ringing. She accepted the call. It was connected to the speakers in the car.

“Doctor Lin, a school bus is involved in an accident on Qingnian Middle Road. The injured are on their way to the hospital. The head of department has asked you to come back at once.”

Zhou Ze was startled. It turned out that his wife was also a doctor, and her surname was Lin.

“Got it, I’m on my way back.” The woman hung up the call. She drove off the highway and took a turn at the traffic light, heading toward the hospital.

She did not ask Zhou Ze if she should send him home first, or stop at the side of the road so he could hail a taxi home. She drove into the carpark of Chongchuan District’s hospital instead.

The truth was, Zhou Ze was actually quite worried that the woman would demand that he hail a taxi home. It would be quite embarrassing if he asked, “Darling, where is our home again? I forgot where it is.” He would definitely sound like an idiot.

The woman exited the car. Zhou Ze followed her. The woman went into the building and took the lift up. Zhou Ze followed her. The woman went into the change room, Zhou Ze…

Zhou Ze sat on the bench in the corridor.

Meanwhile, the first batch of the wounded people arrived. One was in serious condition, and five kids were injured, too.

Zhou Ze saw his wife put on a big coat and immediately go over to work. He sat on the bench and was soon lost in thoughts. It felt like a mother had just brought her son to work. The mother was busy working while the son was trying to entertain himself.

That being said, the smell of sanitizer and the humidity of the air-conditioning felt rather familiar. Not far ahead was the emergency room. The victim currently in a serious condition seemed to be a little girl.

A kindergarten school bus was involved in the crash. The sight of a little kid crying out in pain on the operation table was heart-wrenching indeed.

Zhou Ze smacked his lips. Normally, he would have changed his clothes to perform the operation. He was once the most famous ER surgeon of the younger generation in Tongcheng, but he was merely a spectator now.

It did not feel great, but he had no choice but to endure it. Besides, this hospital was considered one of the best in Tongcheng, it should have enough good doctors to handle the emergency. The victims should be fine.

The second batch of children arrived shortly after the first. Their injuries were not too serious. They just needed some basic treatment for their wounds.

A traffic policeman was keeping an eye at the entrance. Some parents that had been notified of the accident had arrived. They seemed to be in a panic, but letting the parents in might disrupt the operation. The traffic policeman stopped them from entering.

Zhou Ze shook his head. He rose to his feet and went to the window at the end of the corridor. He opened the window and took a cigarette out from his pocket. He was a smoker, and so was Xu Le. It turned out to be quite convenient for him.

“Mister, you shouldn’t smoke in the hospital.”

He had just placed the cigarette in his mouth when the voice of a young girl came from behind.

Zhou Ze turned around and saw a little girl in a flowery dress standing behind him. She was looking at him with puffed cheeks.

Cough cough…That was pretty awkward.

Zhou Ze could only put the cigarette away. Either way, it was quite embarrassing to hear a little girl teaching him what the rules were.

“Little girl, aren’t you cold wearing so little?” Zhou Ze bent forward and asked.

The little girl had fair skin. Her face was a little chubby, and her eyes were big. The girl was quite adorable, like an enlarged Barbie doll.

“I’m not cold,” the little girl shook her head, “Mister, remember not to smoke in the hospital.”

“Got it.” Zhou Ze nodded seriously and asked, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, the other kids are injured. It must be painful for them.” The little girl turned around and looked at the children whose wounds were being treated. Most of them were crying, not because of the pain, but because someone else was crying, so they cried too.

The nurses were comforting the kids while treating their wounds. The parents were yelling and cursing as the traffic policeman stopped them from coming in. It felt like everything was in disorder.

“You’re pretty lucky then,” Zhou Ze exclaimed. The little girl did not have a single wound on her.

“Yeah, I was sitting at the last row, so I was fine,” the little girl nodded. She then took off to hang around the kids to comfort them.

-A sensible and tough little girl.-Zhou Ze turned around. He subconsciously took the cigarette out, before putting it back again.

He went back to the bench and sat down. Three nurses and two doctors came out of the emergency room. The doctors were a man and a woman, and the woman was his wife.

“It’s okay, we tried our best,” the man said and was reaching his hand toward the woman’s shoulder to comfort her, even though her husband was sitting on the bench nearby.

However, Zhou Ze was not annoyed by it…

That goddamned Xu Le had left him in such a complicated situation. Not only was he a live-in son-in-law, he also had a hot-tempered sister-in-law and grumpy parents-in-law.

Zhou Ze was hoping that his wife was involved in some kind of affair, so he could divorce her and live on his own. Anyone that had just come back to life by claiming someone else’s body would not want to continue living as a live-in son-in-law.

However, to Zhou Ze’s surprise, his wife immediately lifted the man’s hand off her shoulder and pointed at Zhou Ze, “That’s my husband.”

She did not sound gentle, but stiff and simple, as if she was saying, “This here is my pet husky.”

“Oh, hello, mister.” The doctor seemed quite awkward. Either way, he was trying to flirt with a man’s wife when he was right in front of them.

Zhou Ze smiled as a greeting. It turned out that his wife was well-behaved… but he was not too happy about it. It was not like he was looking forward to being betrayed. He purely wanted to live a simple life.

“I’ll go take a look, the other kids should be fine now. There isn’t much to worry about. You can go home with your husband and rest,” the doctor said and left.

Doctor Lin sat beside Zhou Ze on the bench. She took off the mask and the gloves and threw them on the floor.

Zhou Ze saw her eyes were red. She was biting her lips, too. She was clearly in a bad mood, which implied that they had failed to save the kid who was in serious condition. Zhou Ze felt sorry for her.

Zhou Ze somehow understood why Xu Le was willing to be a live-in son-in-law. He was clearly benefiting a lot since his wife was from a well-off family. On top of that, this Doctor Lin was really good-looking.

“Don’t think too much about it, it’s going to be very common for you, just know that you’ve tried your best.”

Zhou Ze subconsciously gave his piece of advice. He was obviously a lot more experienced than his wife, and he was better at withstanding the pressure.

“Shut up,” the woman responded. If Zhou Ze was a senior to her, it would surely be considered a piece of advice. Unfortunately, Zhou Ze was now Xu Le. Doctor Lin had totally treated him like an armchair expert.

Zhou Ze shrugged. He could not help but despise Xu Le once again. His wife even dared to ask him to shut up in public.

Doctor Lin’s eyes were still red. She slowly rose to her feet, “I’ll go change, let’s go home.”

“Alright,” Zhou Ze nodded.

Two nurses pulled the curtain of the emergency room to the side, revealing the sickbed in it. On it lay a small body covered by a piece of white cloth.

Zhou Ze took a glimpse into the emergency room. He had seen a lot of deaths. Since he became an ER surgeon, he had managed to save lots of lives, but there were times when he watched the patients die helplessly, too.

“Doctor Lin, this must be your husband,” a nurse said teasingly. They knew Doctor Lin was married, but unlike the other female doctors and nurses, her husband never came to the hospital.

It was unnecessary to blame the nurse for teasing Doctor Lin, even though someone had just died a few moments ago. It was the same as the people who visited Tibet once and immediately shared on the social media that they felt like their souls had been cleansed and purified, even though there was no way they could spend ten years in Tibet and still feel the same every day.

“He is,” Doctor Lin nodded. She began to calm down.

“You should go home then, perhaps you have some other plans in mind, am I right? Mister, Doctor Lin here is very fond of kids. You should hurry home and…”

“F**k!” Zhou Ze felt a huge blow to his brain when he saw the flowery dress that was hanging outside the white piece of cloth. He immediately recalled the little girl that he saw not long ago.

She was not human!