Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“I was just teasing Your Excellency. Why does Your Excellency have to be so rough on me? Your Excellency is truly a heartless man. You touched my body, took advantage of me, yet you weren’t willing to admit it. You even took your anger out on me because you were busted by your wife.” the woman sobbed. She sure looked pitiful, especially after her white dress had been torn to pieces.

People always said that a person in their eighties was as cunning as a fox. This woman had lived for two centuries. She had experienced all kinds of vicissitudes of life.

Zhou Ze ignored the woman’s pleas. He turned to Xu Qinglang and asked, “Can we kill her?”

The woman was left speechless.

Xu Qinglang shook his head, and nodded, too.

“What does that mean?” Zhou Ze asked.

“The evil presence in her body is going to be a problem. If she decides to release it before she dies, it might endanger the lives of innocent people,” Xu Qinglang explained. “That’s going to be a problem.”

“He’s right,” the woman said. She had given up on trying to convince Zhou Ze by pretending to be pitiful. Heartless men were the worst. It was quite obvious that Zhou Ze’s name had a big cross on it in her heart.

“But she wouldn’t dare to do that. Otherwise, her soul that has gone to Hell would be punished according to the troubles she stirred up in the living world. In other words, we can still kill her.”

Xu Qinglang was holding a cigarette between his lips. He was panicking like a little bird not long ago, but after seeing how strong Zhou Ze was, he immediately sneered at the woman.

“Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, that woman and I are two different entities!” the woman yelled. She could tell that the two men were serious about erasing her existence.

Any entity with intelligence had the will to live, including a woman’s corpse. It was normal for a person to treat their life more preciously when their end was near.

The corpse was not Madam Bai. In some ways, it was actually more appropriate to consider her a unique existence. Madam Bai’s body had given birth to its own consciousness after two hundred years.

However, the body and Madam Bai were still tightly related.

Xu Qinglang was right that the corpse would not dare to stir much trouble in the living world. Even if her life was in danger, she would not dare to act recklessly, as that would result in Madam Bai being punished in Hell.

Zhou Ze crouched in front of the woman, “So what was that just then? Just a joke?”

The woman nodded quickly.

“Hehe,” Zhou Ze scoffed. He now realized how naive he was, accepting Madam Bai’s request when he was utterly clueless about the consequences.

“Is there any way that we can keep her under control?” Zhou Ze asked.

“You can easily control her by holding onto a wisp of her soul blood, but she will have to give it to you voluntarily,” Xu Qinglang suggested.

The woman raised her head and glared at Xu Qinglang. The man had suddenly become her greatest enemy!

“Either die, or hand over your soul blood; make the call,” Xu Qinglang said with a slight grin.

“I’ll let you choose,” Zhou Ze looked at the woman. He clearly agreed with Xu Qinglang’s suggestion.

Zhou Ze was obsessed with cleanliness. He did not want the woman to come downstairs and swirl her tongue in his glass again for no reason.

“Fine, I’ll give it to you!” The woman took a deep breath, as if she was trying to withhold her unwillingness and anger. She closed her eyes as something poked out of her forehead like a red earthworm.

Zhou Ze pinched the thing between his nails and pulled it out. He placed it on his palm. It was warm and a little slippery.

The woman was worn out after giving her soul blood away. She was trying hard not to fall to the ground.

“Go clean yourself up and go upstairs. From today on, you are not allowed to leave this bookstore without my permission,” Zhou Ze warned her.

“Yes, Your Excellency,” the woman lowered her head humbly. She had no choice but to act humbly after giving her soul blood away.

——

Zhou Ze slammed the bottle of ointment on the table. He was only helping Xu Qinglang apply it to his wounds, yet somehow it felt like he was doing something extremely disgusting.

“Apply it yourself.”

“Just give me a hand, you’re not the one that was thrown into the wall. See the bruises I have, don’t you feel guilty?” Xu Qinglang gradually raised his voice, “Zhou Ze, have you realized how unfortunate I have been since you showed up?”

“It’s your destiny.” Zhou Ze was unwilling to take the blame. “By the way, the chant you were saying, why did it feel so familiar?” Wuji of the Heavens and Earth, laws of the Taoist Doctrine…

“I learned it from a drama. I only said it because it sounds cool. It doesn’t really make a difference,” Xu Qinglang replied honestly.

“So it’s like playing some background music for yourself?”

“Huh…” Xu Qinglang rolled his eyes and applied the ointment on his bruises himself, “There’s some plum juice in the kitchen. Go ahead and take it, I won’t be open tomorrow morning. I seriously need some rest.”

“I’m going back too.” Zhou Ze took the plum juice and left. He went straight to the second floor.

—

The obedient corpse was already lying inside the freezer after cleaning herself up. She was wearing Zhou Ze’s clothes.

The white shirt was a little too big for her. It was a little loose on her, covering her slight curves. She was not wearing long trousers. Her legs were crossed as she lay in the freezer. Her eyes were half-closed.

Zhou Ze knocked on the freezer and said, “I remembered Madam Bai mentioned that she passed away before she was married.” As such, he expected Madam Bai to lack experience, but the corpse was acting a little ‘slutty’.

“She never told you that she was actually having an affair with a poor egghead before her marriage. She was overwhelmed by shame when her father found out, so she drowned herself.”

“Oh, so she’s an ‘experienced driver’ then?”

“Of course. You cannot imagine how much effort she put in just so I wouldn’t look as horrible as people that drowned.”

“Women do care a lot about their looks,” Zhou Ze shook his head, “Time to sleep.”

Zhou Ze placed a pillow beside the freezer and went to sleep.

The icy aura that the corpse beside him was emitting was extremely comfortable. It was actually more soothing than lying inside the freezer.

——

Zhou Ze had a nice sleep. When he opened his eyes the next morning, he saw a pair of legs swinging slowly in front of him. Even the curves of her feet were perfect.

-Imagine if she was wearing stockings or heels…-

Zhou Ze felt a lot more at ease when he was with the corpse. They were both not human, thus it was unnecessary to put up an act. They could just act naturally.

“I can lie down if you can’t control yourself. I know you have a strong urge to do it. It’s not good holding the urge back, especially when the body isn’t yours in the first place. You should really take care of your body,” the woman smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t get pregnant.”

—

Zhou Ze went downstairs to brush his teeth and wash his face, then went to cook some instant noodles. After it was ready, he took out the plum juice and proceeded to carry out the difficult daily quest of food intake.

“Isn’t it torturous? Eating human food,” the corpse sat on the stairs. She leaned to the side and looked at Zhou Ze.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Isn’t it tiring? Trying to live like a human when you’re already dead?”

“You are talking too much,” Zhou Ze frowned slightly.

“You said I’m not allowed to leave the bookstore without your permission, so what else can I do except talk to you?”

Zhou Ze grabbed the broom and the dustpan behind the counter and threw them at the woman.

“You can start by cleaning up the bookstore.”

——

It was a sunny day. The woman was kneeling on the tiles close to the entrance while cleaning them. Zhou Ze brought a plastic stool and sat outside the bookstore.

Xu Qinglang opened his restaurant and came out at noon. He took a cigarette from Zhou Ze and glanced into the bookstore. “You did a good job teaching her how to behave, huh?”

Zhou Ze squinted, and continued to enjoy the sunlight.

Xu Qinglang took a puff of the cigarette and a thought crossed his mind, “That’s quite a nice signboard you got there. It really makes my restaurant look bad. I’m thinking of getting one for my restaurant too.”

“Trying to be trendy?” Zhou Ze grinned.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Xu Qinglang raised his brows. “Who dares to say I’m not trendy when I show them the title deeds of my properties?”

Zhou Ze shook his head helplessly.

“Here, help me come up with a good one. Your ‘Listen to what I have to say, and choose to believe or not yourself’ sounds pretty cool. I’m thinking of Life is but a dream. How’s that? It’s cool, right? But I suppose I should come up with something that’s related to food, since it will suit a restaurant more. I’m having trouble coming up with a good one, do you have any suggestions?”

Zhou Ze remained silent for a while before he said, “Do you really want to hear it?”

“Just say it,” Xu Qinglang urged.

Zhou Ze glanced at the corpse inside the bookstore and said, “Humans eat food grown in soil for their entire life, and the soil eats humans when they die, which is why life is but a dream.”