Late Night Bookstore - Chapter 3

At midnight, the streets were desolate, dimly lit by yellow streetlights. People passed by, hurried and anxious. The cold air cut like a knife, and Zhou Ze felt it acutely. He had no idea where he was but he knew one thing, this was… the world of the living.

He had died, and yet here he was, back again. Confused and without a plan, he mechanically continued walking forward.

He couldn’t afford to think too deeply about what had just happened—his fall into the underworld, the elderly man he had tried to save before his car accident, the faceless woman in red in the water, or even… his own fingernails.

He was alive, which should be a joyful thing but no matter how hard he tried to greet the occasional passerby, no one could see or hear him.

He had been excluded from this world, isolated.

Those who had never experienced solitary confinement couldn’t understand the deep pain of complete isolation. For Zhou Ze, this entire world had become his prison, shrouded in darkness. No one could see him, speak to him, or touch anything tangible. Even the wind passed through his frail body with ease—”frail” wasn’t an exaggeration. Zhou Ze had become so weak, it was as if he could be blown away by a mere breeze.

Moreover, what shocked and horrified Zhou Ze the most was that he could see faint points of light continuously dispersing from his body. In other words, his body was slowly fading away. Perhaps in just a quarter of an hour, he would completely disappear, leaving no trace of his existence.

He didn’t know how all of this was happening but he was clear that his time was truly running out. In the legend of Eight Immortals, Li Tieguai entered the body of a person who had starved to death in the form of a soul, which was how the image of him was passed down through the ages. Zhou Ze had also heard stories about ghosts “borrowing a body to return to life.” He wanted to borrow a body too. He was cold and anxious, and he needed a physical form to cling to. He didn’t even care who that person was.

In his desperation, self-interest overcame morality and Zhou Ze was no exception. He was truly at his limit. However, every time he tried to approach someone, flames would appear above their heads and shoulders, preventing him from getting close. He would even suffer injuries from this, accelerating his “evaporation.”

Exhausted and numb, Zhou Ze waited for his end. As someone who had already died once, facing death again felt oddly less daunting. In fact, given his current condition, the longer he remained, the more prolonged his suffering would be.

Creak…

In front of him, there was a store still lit up, seemingly a bookstore, as bookshelves could be seen through the glass door.

Someone pushed the door open from inside and walked out; it was a man wearing a hoodie. The man had a hat on, obscuring his face and after glancing around for a moment, he hurriedly left.

Of course, the man couldn’t see Zhou Ze, who was standing less than five meters away from him.

Initially, Zhou Ze didn’t feel anything unusual but shortly after the man left, he sensed a warm breath coming from the bookstore.

Yes, a warm breath.

This warmth made Zhou Ze feel inexplicably comforted, like a person on the verge of freezing to death who suddenly found a box of matches. Even though the matches couldn’t save his life, he would still strike them to feel the last bit of warmth before he died.

Zhou Ze walked towards it, his body passing directly through the glass door of the bookstore, continuing inside until he reached the back of the bookshelves.

Behind the bookshelves, there lay a person. A handsome young man, probably around twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Since the store had air conditioning, he wasn’t wearing much, just a long-sleeve shirt and a thin jacket.

He was lying on the ground but Zhou Ze sensed a warmth emanating from him, like a poor soul who had found a bag of gold coins while walking at night.

This attraction was irresistible and Zhou Ze was in no position to resist.

Zhou Ze walked over and squatted down in front of the young man. He didn’t know how to enter the other person’s body but he understood how to reach out for the warmth he needed.

He extended a hand and placed it on the man’s chest.

Zhou Ze saw his own nails slowly embedding into the man’s body.

It was a strange sensation, different from the “breeze” that had brushed against him while walking on the street. This was a merging, a fusion facilitated by his own nails as a medium.

Gradually, Zhou Ze began to enter the young man’s body, and the two began to merge.

……………

“Xu Le! Wake up, wake up!”

Zhou Ze was jolted awake by a shove. No, to be precise, he was “disturbed.” He opened his eyes and found himself sitting behind the counter of a bookstore, with his hands resting on it.

“Hey, wake up!”

The woman’s voice was sharp and high-pitched, carrying a tone of authority.

Raising his head, Zhou Ze looked at the woman in front of him. No, to be precise, it should be a girl, probably of high school age. Although she was nearly a grown woman, she still had a hint of childishness.

“Hey, Xu Le, what do you mean by this? You think you’re something now, huh? You want to give my parents and my sister a hard time? You actually dared to stay out all night last night! Who gave you the guts to do that?”

Xu Le?

Who is that?

Zhou Ze looked down at his hands in confusion, noticing that they were very smooth. His previous hands had developed calluses from long hours of practicing with surgical instruments but these hands had none.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!”

The girl slammed her palm on the counter, full of aggression.

Zhou Ze frowned slightly, stood up and walked to the glass mirror by the store door. He saw his reflection—a strange face. No, he had seen this face before. It was the one he had seen last night.

This body,

Is it mine?

“Hey, what’s your problem? My parents are really angry! My mom is throwing a fit at home! Let me tell you, everything you eat, drink and use right now belongs to my family. What right do you, as a son-in-law, have to act all high and mighty in my house? Who are you trying to impress? If you dare not come home tonight, do you believe I’ll come over and slap you directly?”

The girl raised her hand as if to strike but she suddenly realized that the man in front of her, her “brother-in-law,” wasn’t flinching or begging for mercy like usual. Instead, the look in his eyes made her feel scared.

She glanced at the time and realized it was already seven-thirty.

“Hmph, I’m going to school first. I’ll settle the score with you tonight!”

The girl left angrily.

Zhou Ze slowly sat back down in the chair behind the counter. There was an old laptop here and next to it was a mobile phone.

Even now, he still hadn’t fully adjusted to his new identity. He was Zhou Ze, a well-known young surgeon in Tongcheng and an orphan. But now, he had become this person.

What did that girl just say? 

I am… a live-in son-in-law? 

With a wife? 

And in-laws? 

Judging by the attitude and tone of his sister-in-law when she spoke in front of this “brother-in-law,” it seemed that being a “live-in son-in-law” really conformed to the traditional stereotype.

A live-in son-in-law, commonly known as “Dào Chā Mén¹,” were not only looked down upon by his wife’s family but was also scorned by everyone around him in ancient times. In fact, during the Han and Tang dynasties, many of those forced to serve on the borders were often live-in sons-in-law.

He picked up the phone, which had no password set. He didn’t know if the previous owner was just lazy or afraid to set a password, but at least it allowed Zhou Ze to easily open his WeChat and QQ.

There were very few people on his QQ list, just a few middle school, high school and college classmates, and a family group with only one person noted as “Wife.”

He opened the chat history with her on QQ and it was empty.

Zhou Ze opened WeChat and tried to look for her. He found the woman noted as “Wife.” There were replies, mostly Xu Le asking various questions, such as what to eat tonight, what to prepare for tonight, how much money was needed for restocking, how much the bookstore had sold recently, how was her health and so on.

The responses from the other party were often very perfunctory and aloof, like “Oh,” “Mm” and “Good.”

Zhou Ze tossed his phone aside. This interpersonal relationship seemed a bit complicated. He looked at his hand, noticing his nails were no different from those of an ordinary person.

However, when he treated the old man before the car accident, the way he escaped from the faceless woman and the fact that he entered this man’s body— his nails played a crucial role.

As his heart stirred, Zhou Ze noticed that his nails began to slowly grow longer, becoming pitch black and translucent. There was a faint black mist swirling around his nails.

“Ha…”

He let out a long breath, closed his eyes and when he opened them again, his nails had returned to normal.

From morning until noon, Zhou Ze sat there trying to adapt to his new identity and calm the discomfort brought on by the identity shift. He didn’t eat lunch, either because he forgot or simply didn’t feel hungry.

This was still Tongcheng. Zhou Ze’s former home was in Chongchuan District and now he was in Gangzha District, which wasn’t far away.

By afternoon, he sighed in resignation and silently stood up. Since he was here, he might as well make himself comfortable.

He began to try to clean the bookshelf. After all, he needed to find something to do for himself.

The old man who had pinched him before he died had said, “He was discovered,” and the faceless woman in hell had said, “You will be caught eventually,” which made Zhou Ze feel a slight sense of crisis.

His current state could be described as “barely surviving.” Being dead and then brought back to life is a stroke of luck from the heavens, so he cherished it. At least, until he fully understood the situation and had enough clues, he needed to immerse himself in this identity. It was best not to draw too much attention or attract the notice of those who want to catch him.

The business at this store was truly poor. The slump in the traditional book market has been going on for quite some time and this place was not located in a prime location like near a school entrance.

One could say that the decision of “Xu Le” to open a bookstore here raised questions about whether it can break even.

It wasn’t until three o’clock in the afternoon that the first customer of the day walked in.

The customer wandered around the section for elementary school reading materials for a long time. Zhou Ze waited for a while before walking over and asked, “What genre are you looking for?” Even though Zhou Ze wasn’t knowledgeable about books.

“Just browsing,” the other person replied.

“Alright.” Zhou Ze decided not to pursue it further. He still hadn’t fully stepped into the role of a “bookstore owner.”

But just then, the other person walked up behind him and said softly, “You really don’t recognize me anymore?”

“What?” Zhou Ze asked.

“Last night, I hit you on the head with a baseball bat and stole your money. I even checked to make sure, you clearly weren’t breathing at that time.”

TL Notes:

1. Dào Chā Mén – Literally meaning, ‘entering through the back door’. It refers to a man who marries into his wife’s family, which is inverting traditional Chinese expectations.