Late Night Bookstore

Chapter 28: Do you want to... replace me?

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Zhou Ze finally called the police, and the police arrived quickly. According to Zhou Ze, the delivery boy suddenly went crazy after coming to his store. He said that there were many ghosts of people he burned to death who came to seek revenge on him, and then he kept kicking and smashing the wall until he fainted.

When I came out of the police station after taking the statement, it was already daybreak. The cinema arson case had many twists and turns, but at least the situation has been solved. Before, the police may have not suspected the heroic delivery boy because they were in the dark. Even if there is no definite evidence now, as long as they really set their sights on him and search, they should be able to find out the truth soon.

As for the subsequent shift in public opinion, the subversion of the online crowd and the astonishment of those who had given gifts to the delivery boy, these were not issues that Zhou Ze needed to worry about or think about. This was all he could and was willing to do.

It is better to leave ghost matters to ghosts, and it is better to leave human matters to the police.

Standing at the door of the police station, breathing the fresh morning air, my mind suddenly felt clear.

When Zhou Ze took a taxi back to the store, he saw that Xu Qinglang's store next door had reopened for business. Xu Qinglang himself had changed into more casual clothes and was sitting at the door of the store, picking vegetables and basking in the sun, humming a tune of "Tongzixi" (a local song), looking leisurely and carefree, with a sense of romantic charm flowing out of him.

everything,

It seems still the same.

Zhou Ze walked into the store, Xu Qinglang clapped his hands and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

"Whatever. I want plum juice."

Xu Qinglang nodded.

Zhou Ze sat down in the store, tapping the table lightly with his fingers.

After a while, Xu Qinglang brought a bowl of egg noodles. The soup was clear and the noodles were chewy. Of course, none of this mattered. The most important thing was that the familiar sour plum juice appeared in front of Zhou Ze again.

"Make me a bucket, please. How much?" Zhou Ze pointed to the water dispenser bucket in the store, "Make me a bucket first."

"Wait a while." Xu Qinglang sat down in front of Zhou Ze with a cigarette in his mouth. He seemed to want to act like a little gangster smoking, but it gave people a sense of incongruity that "a woman can be so beautiful even when smoking".

He is neither effeminate nor gay. We can only blame God for giving him the wrong body.

He finished the noodles with sour plum juice. For the first time ever, Zhou Ze didn't feel as nauseous after eating the bowl of noodles. But he still drank several more glasses of water to relieve the nausea.

"Do you remember what happened to Lin Daiyu when she first entered the Jia Mansion for dinner?" Xu Qinglang asked, blowing out a puff of smoke.

Zhou Ze thought about it and understood.

When Lin Daiyu first entered the Jia Mansion, she had her first family dinner. After the meal, the servants brought her tea. Lin Daiyu had been taught by her father at home that it was not advisable to drink tea after a meal as it would cause indigestion, but when she saw that Grandmother Jia and many of her sisters were drinking tea, she had no choice but to drink along with them.

"It's OK as long as I'm full." Zhou Ze shook his head. Given his current condition, it is very likely that he will never be able to become a glutton or a gourmet in this lifetime. As for the digestion problem, they can talk about it later.

"I feel a little unbalanced." Xu Qinglang said straight to the point, "My parents are gone."

Xu Qinglang's parents had left long ago, but Zhou Ze knew what Xu Qinglang meant when he said "left" this time, and he must have gone.

"Why did you leave suddenly?" Zhou Ze asked. He wanted to respond with "My condolences", but then he thought it was inappropriate.

“We’ve been discovered.”

Zhou Ze's hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly.

Discovered

Zhou Ze remembered that the old man had shouted "They found me!" before he died.

Xu Qinglang looked at Zhou Ze, "I am very unwilling and unbalanced. Why did she take my parents away but not you?"

"Him? She?" The image of the little Lolita emerged in Zhou Ze's mind. Combining it with Xu Qinglang's condition that day and his departure at night, he guessed most of it.

"She, that's impossible."

"The underworld is in order, the dead are on their way!" Xu Qinglang lowered his voice and stared into Zhou Ze's eyes, "Long tongue becomes a guide, deep throat Xu Youming, familiar?"

"Black and White Impermanence?"

"That's just a general term." Xu Qinglang sighed, "But they are indeed law enforcers, traveling around the world of the living, maintaining order, and distinguishing between humans and ghosts. Humans have their own path, while ghosts have their own path."

"oh."

Zhou Ze still didn't quite believe it. If the little Loli was really someone like Bai Wuchang, then what about the time when she revealed her true identity on the school bus and stuck out her long tongue, causing the car accident and the driver's death

"She didn't take me away, but took your parents away. So, you hate me?" Zhou Ze pointed at himself.

"Yes." Xu Qinglang nodded.

"Then there's no poison in this noodle?"

“… …”Xu Qinglang.

"No poison, right?" Zhou Ze asked again.

"No." Xu Qinglang replied.

"That's good." Zhou Ze didn't know that the twice-cooked pork with rice that day was poisoned. If Dr. Lin hadn't come earlier that day, he might have really eaten that meal.

"Are you really stupid or just pretending to be stupid?" Xu Qinglang looked at Zhou Ze unhappily, "Why didn't she catch you?"

"Yes, why didn't she catch me?" Zhou Ze also asked.

"I'm asking you!" Xu Qinglang raised his voice.

"I don't know either." Zhou Ze spread his hands, "Maybe it's because I saved her once."

“… …”Xu Qinglang.

The conversation between the two ended with the cigarette butt burning out.

This time, both sides came straight to the point, breaking the original tacit understanding.

Zhou Ze walked back to his shop and when he was cleaning up the plastic benches on the floor, he found that there were ghost money of varying thickness stuck underneath six of them.

Is this money for reading or for meals

Zhou Ze remembered that the old Taoist who was doing the live broadcast a while ago also gave him a stack of ghost money, saying that it could help him accumulate good karma. So, did he get those ghost money in this way

How did he get here

Zhou Ze collected all the ghost money, a whole stack of it. It felt good, not as rough as the ghost money he usually saw. It felt like silk in his hand.

This reminded Zhou Ze of the underworld shop that the old Taoist mentioned. If you want to do business with ghosts, the best shop is of course the underworld shop, because the things sold there are all for the dead.

Therefore, if the ghost money you are holding in your hand now is the "banknotes" of the dead, then opening a ghost shop will definitely make more money than you do yourself.

The image of the man sitting behind the counter and eating porridge with difficulty in the video appeared in my mind again.

Zhou Ze suddenly felt that

I think I discovered something that might be very interesting.

Of course, no matter how interesting the things are, I don’t have the energy to care about them now. I didn’t sleep all night last night. Now that I’m back, I have to make up for it with a good sleep.

Zhou Ze pulled down the bookstore's rolling shutter and locked it. For some reason, his bookstore was open more often at night than during the day. Perhaps he would have the opportunity to order another sign in the future.

Call

"Late Night Bookshop."

Anyway, there is not much business during the day and the bookstore has been making losses. I can do some gimmicks and things at will. The worst result is just like what it is now.

The delivery guy’s mistake was extremely serious, but it also gave Zhou Ze some inspiration.

The shower facilities in the bathroom had been installed. Zhou Ze bought an electric water heater. He took off his clothes, took a shower, changed into a set of clean clothes and went upstairs.

When Zhou Ze bent down to adjust the temperature of the freezer, he froze there.

Because in the freezer in front of him,

There was a person lying there.

The other person had his eyes closed, as if he was in a deep sleep, his breathing was steady, his hands crossed over his chest, and he looked as comfortable as a little adult.

Very peaceful and cute.

The premise is,

If only her tongue hadn't grown so long.

Little Loli,

His own nest was taken over by a cuckoo.

Zhou Ze really wanted to shout and ask his classmate Xu Qinglang from next door to come over for revenge.

But after thinking about it, he decided to forget it. It was not that he felt that calling Xu Qinglang over for revenge would harm him, but he thought Xu Qinglang did not have the courage to come over for revenge. Maybe if he came, he would even greet him warmly:

"Are you awake

What would you like to eat

I'll do it for you."

The little girl opened her eyes. Her pupils were very deep, no longer as clear and pure as they had been in previous meetings.

The other person stretched out his hand, and Zhou Ze helped open the freezer lid.

The little girl sat up from inside, and Zhou Ze noticed that she didn't actually set the temperature, but just chose ventilation.

"Aren't you cold lying here?" the little girl sitting in the freezer asked. Before Zhou Ze could answer, the little girl said, "Oh, I forgot, you are different."

After saying that, the little girl sitting in the freezer reached out and gently patted the empty space next to her, looking at Zhou Ze innocently:

"Would you like to sleep together?"

Zhou Ze reached out his hand to rub the girl's head, but his hand stopped at the side.

She is a being similar to the Black and White Impermanence, and is the law enforcer of the underworld in the human world.

The little loli reached out, grabbed Zhou Ze's big hand with her little hand, pressed Zhou Ze's hand on her head, and then rubbed Zhou Ze's hand back and forth on her head.

“… …” Zhou Ze.

"You're fine." The little girl finally stood up from the freezer, but it seemed that because of her short legs, it was difficult for her to climb out.

Zhou Ze took her out of the freezer.

I don't know how she got in there before.

"You are very good." The little girl pointed at Zhou Ze and said, "Repeat it."

"Um... thank you." Zhou Ze didn't know how to respond.

"I'm leaving." The little girl turned around, her back to Zhou Ze, with her hands crossed behind her back. Zhou Ze knew that she wanted to show an awe-inspiring temperament.

But her problem is the same as Xu Qinglang's.

God gave me the wrong skin.

She looks so cute no matter how you look at her like this.

Hold it in.

No laughing.

Zhou Ze kept reminding himself,

This is the Lord Black and White Impermanence.

No laughing!

Hahahaha!

But I still can’t help it!

You're asking for death, haha!

It’s over, hahaha!

The harder he tried to hold back his laughter, the more exaggerated it became, until tears even came out.

The little girl ignored Zhou Ze's laughter, and did not punish Zhou Ze for the crime of disrespect.

Just asked:

"Do you want to take over from me?"