Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“Here, try out my new plum juice.” Xu Qinglang placed a glass of plum juice on Zhou Ze’s counter. It was darker than the previous version. Zhou Ze swirled the glass like it was fine wine.

“What’s the difference?” Zhou Ze asked. He did not drink it straightaway.

“The taste is stronger, with a strong aftertaste, like aged yellow wine. You will no longer have to wolf down your food. It will make you a happier man.”

“Hmph, how sweet of you!” the woman sneered while tidying the books on the shelves.

Zhou Ze took a sip of the juice. It was different than the plum juice he usually drank. It was cold and sweet, and had a nice taste.

However, it was definitely not the taste he was looking for.

Not long after he took the sip, he immediately felt his stomach tangling up.

He gasped, and he began to shake. The sourness from the aftertaste was absolutely shocking!

He curled his fingers slightly before loosening his grip. He nodded in satisfaction. “That’s very kind of you,” he admitted.

“You’re welcome,” Xu Qinglang smiled. “I was planning to turn it into a best-seller for my restaurant, but unfortunately, I don’t think many people will like it.”

“Yeah,” Zhou Ze agreed.

The door squeaked as a bunch of students came in. There were around eight of them. They seemed a little nerdy.

“Boss, what’s the password for the WiFi?” a girl asked.

Zhou Ze pointed at the wall. The password was written on it.

The students found themselves some plastic stools and sat down. The girl took out her homework for the others to copy.

The winter holiday was coming to an end. It was quite a common sight between students.

Zhou Ze did not bother to lecture the students on why they should not be copying other people’s homework. He tapped on the counter, signaling the corpse to give him a cup of warm water.

The girl came to the bookshelves and picked up some books. She went to the counter and asked, “How much?”

“Ninety-five,” Zhou Ze said.

“Here, keep the change,” the girl generously paid a hundred yuan.

Zhou Ze gladly took the money.

—

The students were done copying one another’s homework by around five in the afternoon. The bookstore was deserted once again.

Xu Qinglang was not in his restaurant. He had gone to place an order for his signboard. It went without saying that Xu Qinglang did not follow Zhou Ze’s suggestion, since any person with a brain knew his couplet was more suitable to be placed on both sides of a grave rather than a restaurant.

The corpse was very diligent, and had finished cleaning both floors. Zhou Ze did not have any complaint with her, apart from how she would tease him by posturing seductively at times.

She did not tell Zhou Ze where she wanted to go. Zhou Ze did not ask, either.

Zhou Ze still remembered Madam Bai’s reminder. He was told to burn the body with bamboo on the first day of the Winter Clothes Festival. He did not know if Madam Bai was aware that her body already had its own consciousness.

If she knew, why would she entrust it to him, and tell him the time and way to cremate it?

Last night, the corpse had admitted that she preferred to die instead of harming innocent lives and putting Madam Bai in trouble.

However, it seemed like Madam Bai was trying to get rid of her body, like it was some kind of a problem.

Now that Zhou Ze thought about it, the corpse that he was treating like a maid was indeed pitiful.

“What’s your name?” Zhou Ze asked.

“My surname is Bai,” the corpse said.

“Bai what?”

“Bai Yingying.”

“Bai Yingying?” Zhou Ze nodded. Such a strange name…

“Actually, you didn’t need to suffer when you eat,” the woman stretched, showing off her alluring figure, “It’s like how you were able to sleep well when I’m close by. Your soul is tainted by the presence of Hell, but your body is living flesh. Your body needs to eat and sleep, but your soul doesn’t need them. It’s why your soul is rejecting it.”

“Keep going.”

“I can feed you,” the corpse smiled in embarrassment, “When the food goes into my mouth and is covered by my saliva, it will have the presence of the dead. That way, you won’t feel disgusted when you’re eating the food.”

Zhou Ze immediately realized why the water in the glass was sweet. What the woman had just mentioned had explained it. It was because the water was mixed with the woman’s saliva.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

—

A man in a leather jacket walked into the bookstore. His hair was slightly disheveled and his face was a little red. The man had clearly drunk some alcohol.

The man had been walking in circles outside the bookstore before entering it.

Zhou Ze did not put much attention on the man at first, but he soon squinted.

He knew who the man was. His name was Sun Tao, he used to be Zhou Ze’s assistant. He was a young, talented doctor.

The woman’s eyes flickered. She poked at Zhou Ze’s waist and said, “Your Excellency, can I eat that?”

Did she just ask if she could eat the man? Zhou Ze frowned.

“Your Excellency, didn’t you notice the thing on his back?”

Zhou Ze stood up and saw something black hanging on the man’s back.

Normal people would have no idea what it was, since it looked a little twisted, like a black worm with features that resembled a human.

However, Zhou Ze immediately knew what it was at first glance. It was a miscarried baby.

The infant began to sob, as if it was aware that Zhou Ze had noticed him.

The cry sounded a little familiar. Zhou Ze began to recall and eventually remembered where he had heard it before.

The nurse, it was the same cry that he heard coming from the nurse’s body.

Zhou Ze was not surprised that he had the ability to conduct maternity tests now. His heart was filled with sorrow.

-Did the nurse still have a miscarriage in the end?-

The woman was not referring to the man. She was referring to the soul of the infant.

Zhou Ze glared at the woman. She twisted her lips, not daring to say a word. She went to the side and swallowed her saliva, before holding her breasts and saying in a wronged voice, “I don’t eat human food, and I have to give you my evil presence like a furnace every night. If I don’t eat any soon, even these are going to deflate. By then, you won’t be able to peep at me when I’m working.”

Zhou Ze was stunned. Was she aware of him peeping at her all along?

“Pervert,” the woman snapped at him.

“Boss, you sell any alcohol here?” Sun Tao asked.

“You can find some in the restaurant across the street,” Zhou Ze answered. He proceeded to give the man a cup of water instead.

After all, the man used to be his assistant. Zhou Ze had grown up in an orphanage, while Sun Tao had grown up in a single-parent family. He was so preoccupied with work that he did not even realize Doctor Lin’s affection toward him, but he had taken good care of Sun Tao after the man became his assistant.

The main reason was because the two were quite similar in character. They knew the importance of working hard because of their background. They were eager to prove themselves.

“Cough… HAHAHA…” Sun Tao took the cup of water and drank a mouthful before he burst out laughing, “Boss, why are you looking at me like that? I have to let you know, I have no interest in men.”

“Oh,” Zhou Ze said. It was not like he would be interested in him either, when there was a gorgeous man living across the street.

Sun Tao sat on a plastic stool and bit his lips. He shook his head, “Boss, do you have kids?”

“We aren’t prepared to have one yet. He still thinks I’m too young for it,” the woman interrupted, trying to get some attention.

Sun Tao looked at the woman. Even though she was tall and her body was curvy, she did seem like a girl in high school still. He let out a smile and said, “You’re still young indeed.”

The woman angrily turned around and swallowed another mouthful of saliva.

“I was supposed to have a kid,” Sun Tao said ruefully.

Zhou Ze had the urge to tell the man that he did have a kid, and it was currently hanging on his back.

The younger generation’s thoughts had gradually ‘modernized’ as the medical field continued to improve. Abortion was no longer a sensitive word, but not many people knew the infants would bear a strong hatred for their parents when they died.

Infants that died to miscarriages were the most likely to turn into ghosts. However, their ability to get revenge was quite weak. Many would simply trouble their parents for some time before dissipating on their own.

The woman had the urge to eat the soul of the miscarried infant because it was like a seed that had not sprouted. It was incredibly ‘nutritious’ to her.

“What happened?” Zhou Ze asked. “Your girlfriend didn’t agree?”

Zhou Ze remembered the nurse mentioned that she was going to keep the baby even though she seemed quite shocked and uneasy.

“No, she’s willing to have the baby, but I wasn’t. I was scared. I asked her to get an abortion.”

For some reason, Sun Tao felt like talking to the owner of the bookstore. The man reminded him of a brother that he was extremely familiar with, who had passed away more than half a year ago.

“You were scared?” Zhou Ze asked.

“Her parents were not fond of me. She came from a wealthy family,” Sun Tao raised his head, he was trying to hold back his tears.

“But what is done can’t be undone,” Zhou Ze said.

“I didn’t want to use it to put pressure on her family, I don’t want my colleagues and my friends to think that I was forcing her family to accept me. I didn’t want the others to think that I’m a Phoenix Man. I’m not after their money or their power. I didn’t want my parents-in-law or their relatives to look down at me after I was married to their daughter. I’m from a single-parent family, so I know how important it is to earn my dignity.”

{TL Note: ‘Phoenix Man’ is a modern expression that describes a man who grew up poor in the countryside, but later moved to the city and married a city girl.}

“Even when the girl is willing to have the child?”

“She might be willing, but I’m not. I want to live with dignity. When I first started working, I had a brother that taught me I should earn my dignity and other people’s respect with my own hands. I haven’t gotten there yet, so now isn’t the time yet…”

Zhou Ze took a deep breath and asked, “Didn’t your brother tell you something else?”

“What is that?” Sun Tao asked curiously.

“That you shouldn’t forget to wear a condom when you’re enjoying yourself!”

Zhou Ze threw his fist right at Sun Tao’s face.

Smack! Sun Tao took the punch to the face and fell to the ground. He looked surprised.

“Stop trying to find an excuse, it’s not about your dignity or anything else. You’re just selfish, you’re just a selfish prick.” Zhou Ze gave the man another kick.

Smack! Sun Tao curled up in pain. He was still under the influence of alcohol. He snapped furiously, “Are you out of your mind? How dare you hit me!”

“Yeah, I was out of my mind. I must be f**king blind back then to actually consider lending you a hand back then!”

The twisted thing that was initially hanging on Sun Tao’s shoulder crawled up to Zhou Ze and squeaked.

The woman heard it, and so did Zhou Ze, but Sun Tao could not hear it.

The kid that did not even have a chance to see what the world looked like was clenching its teeth and crying furiously at the man that was beating its father up!