Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The two nurses were startled by the sudden curse, even Doctor Lin was taken by surprise too. It was simple and rough!

Zhou Ze did not explain himself. He reached out his hand and lifted the white cloth that was covering the body.

It was her, it was actually her!

It explained why the girl did not have any wounds, not even the slightest scratch. She was not lucky that she was sitting in the last row, as it turned out she was the one that was injured the most. She was the one that the doctors were trying to save.

The girl was totally unaware that her soul had left her body. She even reminded him that smoking was not allowed in the hospital, and proceeded to comfort the other kids that were injured. Unfortunately, the other children could not see her. He was the only person that could see her in the hospital!

“She’s dead?” Zhou Ze asked while looking around him.

“Xu Le?” Doctor Lin looked at her husband. She totally disregarded the foul language that the man blurted out, as she realized that her husband was behaving strangely.

“She’s not dead yet. Just keep saving her, quick!” Zhou Ze suddenly grabbed Doctor Lin’s arm, He pulled her closer and yelled.

“There is still time, there’s a chance that she can wake up still, keep saving her!”

“Sir, sir!” The two nurses immediately went up and tried to pull Zhou Ze away when they saw him grabbing Doctor Lin roughly. It was as if her husband had suddenly lost his mind, and it felt like Doctor Lin was a victim of domestic violence.

Zhou Ze pushed the nurses aside and loosened his grip. He murmured, “Where are you? Where are you? Where did you go!?”

Zhou Ze rushed out of the room and ran along the corridor, searching for the little girl. Her spirit had gone to comfort the other kids just a moment ago, but he had lost sight of her.

Did she already go to Hell? She was already dead. Was it too late?

Zhou Ze was slightly at a loss. He did not understand why he was so agitated, and why he was panicking so much. Perhaps it was because of his occupation. He felt obliged to save his patients as long as there was still hope. Besides, the kind little girl was just talking to him not long ago.

“Mister, are you looking for me?”

A familiar voice appeared behind Zhou Ze. He immediately turned around and saw the little girl. However, the little girl’s body was not as solid as before. She was now half-transparent.

“Mister, I feel a little cold,” the little girl placed her arms around herself and squatted down. “I asked the nurses if they could borrow me a jacket, but they simply ignored me. Is it because they don’t like me? Did I annoy them?”

Light dots kept dissipating from the little girl’s body. Zhou Ze had seen it before, he was once in the same situation too.

“Xu Le, come with me!”

Doctor Lin came over.

The little girl turned around and glanced behind her.

“Don’t look!” Zhou Ze quickly went forward and covered the little girl’s eyes. He could not tell if something would happen to the little girl if she saw her own body lying on the bed.

Would she break down mentally? Would she realize that she was dead and vanish?

When Zhou Ze’s hands touched the little girl’s body, his fingernails were heating up slightly. They did not grow longer or turn black, but Zhou Ze could feel them burning. Meanwhile, the little girl’s body began to twist and turn into a ring of light circling Zhou Ze’s fingertips. It was obvious that the others could not see the light.

“Make way, she can still live!” Zhou Ze rushed toward the bed.

“Xu Le!” Doctor Lin’s chest was heaving. The little girl was already dead. She had no idea what her husband was up to. Besides, her husband had studied construction. It had nothing to do with medical science.

The two nurses did not dare stop Zhou Ze. The man flipped the cloth over and pressed his hands on the girl’s chest. It was how he had come back to life.

The little girl’s soul could still go back to her body after it came out. She was going to live!

When Zhou Ze saw the light circling his fingertips dissolving into the little girl’s body, he proceeded to do CPR on the little girl. He placed both his hands on the little girl’s chest and applied pressure.

“Wake up! Wake up!”

“Wake up! Wake up!”

The two nurses did not dare to go any closer. They both looked at Doctor Lin.

“She’s already dead.” Doctor Lin walked up to Zhou Ze.

“There’s still time left, I am well aware of how much time had passed,” Zhou Ze kept on pressing the little girl’s chest and yelled, “She will live, she’s going to live!”

Doctor Lin smacked her lips. She pushed Zhou Ze away and started doing CPR on the little girl herself.

“You are using too much force. She is injured. Ah Chun, start up the equipment, we’ll try saving her again.”

Zhou Ze was not angry even though he was pushed to the side. He continued to stare at the little girl on the sickbed.

The only relief was the traffic policeman was still stopping the parents from coming into the building, and many kids were still crying outside. No one was aware of what was going on in the emergency room.

Doctor Lin continued to apply pressure. Her forehead was covered in droplets of sweat. She had no idea why she was going crazy together with the man, but she saw something different inside the man’s eyes.

The man was her husband, yet she was struggling to see through him today.

The equipment was powered on, but the display was still showing a straight line. The two nurses stood on the side helplessly.

Did he fail to save her? Even after he placed her soul back inside the body, he still couldn’t save her?

A sense of helplessness rose in Zhou Ze’s heart.

Beep…beep…beep…

The straight line started to have pulses. Doctor Lin stared at the display in astonishment.

Was this a miracle?

——

It was late at night when the two left the hospital. Zhou Ze was in the front passenger seat while Doctor Lin was driving. They did not talk. Silence was pretty common between the pair. Normally, Xu Le would usually try to break the silence, but it was Doctor Lin’s turn today.

“Did you learn medical science before?”

“No.”

“What you did just then, was very professional,” Doctor Lin could easily tell how experienced the man was.

“I learned it when I was getting my driver’s license,” Zhou Ze came up with an excuse.

“But you don’t have a driver’s license,” Doctor Lin slightly furrowed.

“…”

Once again, Zhou Ze despised Xu Le at the bottom of his heart.

Doctor Lin did not ask any further. “Thank you for insisting on that today.”

“It’s nothing,” Zhou Ze waved his hand. As a doctor… at least he was still treating himself like a doctor, it was unnecessary to thank him for saving a person’s life.

The little girl was still unconscious, but there was hope at least.

“I’m thanking you on behalf of the little girl,” Doctor Lin took a quick glance at her phone, “It’s almost eight, my parents are still waiting for us for dinner.”

-Parents?- Zhou Ze suddenly had a headache. Was he really going to see his parents-in-law?

——

The car entered a luxurious neighborhood. Tongcheng was close to Shanghai. The city and Shanghai were located on opposite sides, close to the estuary of the Yangtze River. The land was not as expensive as Shanghai, but the houses here were not cheap, either.

Doctor Lin parked the car and headed inside. Zhou Ze followed behind her. They entered the lift and got out together. Doctor Lin took out her keys and opened the door.

The place was well-decorated, a duplex unit inside a condo. Judging from Doctor Lin’s car, he could easily tell that her family was quite well-off. His identity as a live-in son-in-law was also a clear indication of that. After all, the family had to be quite wealthy to convince someone to be a live-in son-in-law.

An old man wearing a sweater was seated on the couch in the living room, watching the news on the TV. Half of his hair had grayed. He seemed quite interested in the news, as he only took a quick glance when his daughter and his son-in-law had come back home.

“Wanqiu, you’re back!”

Zhou Ze’s mother-in-law pushed the kitchen door open and leaned out of the doorway. It was likely that both Doctor Lin and her sister had inherited her mother’s physical traits. Their mother was tall, and even though she had put on some weight, she would still attract the attention of the old men quite easily when she was dancing at the public square.

-Knock knock…time to pick up the pen and jot down some notes…-

He had finally learned his wife’s name: Lin Wanqiu!

Zhou Ze’s mother-in-law briefly shifted her gaze at Zhou Ze. Her face darkened slightly.

“Old man, it’s time for dinner, Wanqiu is back.”

“Finally!” The sister-in-law came out of the study. She waved her fist at Zhou Ze and twisted her lips, signaling to Zhou Ze to behave in front of her parents.

Zhou Ze was amused. The young woman might be hot-tempered, but she still knew where the lines were.

Zhou Ze went to the washroom to clean his hands. Lin Wanqiu came into the washroom too. The two washed their hands thoroughly with soap. Lin Wanqiu looked at Zhou Ze for some time, before she rinsed her hands with water and went back to the living room.

Zhou Ze was done washing his hands. He dried them and left the washroom. The others were already seated at the table. Zhou Ze sat down on the chair beside Lin Wanqiu.

The mother-in-law served the rice. She purposely applied more force when she placed the bowl in front of Zhou Ze. Zhou Ze was relieved that he did not need to serve the rice himself.

“Xu Le, do you think we aren’t treating you good enough?” the mother-in-law said as soon as she sat down.

“Not at all,” Zhou Ze replied.

“But you didn’t come home last night, what are you…”

“Mum, let’s eat, he was busy with something at the bookstore, he already told me about it,” Lin Wanqiu interjected.

The parents-in-law exchanged glances with one another. They were quite surprised that their daughter would speak on behalf of their son-in-law. It took them quite some time to collect their thoughts, and they totally forgot what they were going to say.

The sister-in-law was surprised too. Her sister never cared about her brother-in-law. Was the sun going to rise in the west tomorrow?

“Let’s eat,” the father-in-law picked up the chopsticks and said. “You eat too,” he pointed the chopsticks at Zhou Ze.

Although the action was quite impolite, Zhou Ze was relieved that they were no longer fussing about last night.

“Wanqiu, try the red braised pork, I spent a long time on it.”

The mother-in-law placed a piece of the red braised pork in both her daughters’ bowl. She hesitated slightly, before placing another piece in her son-in-law’s bowl.

Zhou Ze finally realized that he had not eaten the whole day, since he had claimed his new body last night. He immediately picked the meat up and placed it in his mouth.

Zhou Ze’s expression stiffened. An unexpected disgust rose in his mouth. Even his stomach started twitching. He spat the piece of meat out, as if he had just eaten some kind of poison.

“…”

The atmosphere suddenly dropped to the freezing point.