Late Night Bookstore - Chapter 37

“My humble self merely wished to tease the Esteemed Officer. Why must the Esteemed Officer be so ruthless?

The Esteemed Officer is truly a cold-hearted and unfeeling man—taking liberties with me, then using that dreadful, monstrous thing to stab me. It hurt so much that I am still in pain, my skin is even torn; and yet, you refuse to take responsibility and even vent your anger on me because of your wife.”

The female corpse shed tears as she murmured to herself, her tone mournful and desolate. Coupled with the tattered, nearly shredded white dress she wore, she evoked a pitiful and woeful image.

It was often said that some people who lived to the age of seventy or eighty become as cunning as foxes. However, the female corpse before them had lived for two hundred years, having witnessed the vicissitudes of time.

Zhou Ze ignored the “lamentations” of the female corpse and turned his head to Xu Qinglang.

“Can you kill her?” Zhou Ze asked.

“……” The female corpse was speechless.

Xu Qinglang first shook his head, then nodded.

“What do you mean?” Zhou Ze inquired.

“The malevolent energy inside her is a problem. If she self-destructs and releases the malevolent energy at the last moment it will certainly harm innocent people nearby,” Xu Qinglang explained. “That would be very troublesome.”

“Mm-hmm,” the female corpse replied in agreement. She appeared to have abandoned her attempts to appeal to Zhou Ze emotionally. Ruthless men were the most heartless. It was clear that Zhou Ze had firmly secured a spot in her mental blacklist.

“But she wouldn’t dare resort to that. If she caused any atrocities in the mortal world, her soul in the underworld would face severe punishment. So, she can still be killed.”

Xu Qinglang held a cigarette in his mouth. Previously, he had panicked like a quail about to be forcibly taken, but now, with Zhou Ze’s sudden eruption of dominance, Xu Qinglang felt comfortable enough to watch the situation unfold and offer some sarcastic commentary.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! She is her, and I am me! We are two separate beings!”

The female corpse hurriedly pleaded, realizing that the two before her were seriously considering a permanent solution.

Every sentient being possessed a survival instinct, and the female corpse was no exception.

As the saying goes, “By the wrecked boat’s side, a thousand sails pass; before the sick tree, ten thousand blossoms bloom.”

The female corpse was not Lady Bai. To some extent, she was an independent being—a consciousness born from Lady Bai’s physical body over the course of two centuries. Nevertheless, the female corpse and Lady Bai were intricately intertwined.

Xu Qinglang was right. The female corpse dared not commit heinous acts in the mortal realm. Even if she were to die, she would not recklessly act in a way that would bring punishment upon Lady Bai in the underworld.

Zhou Ze squatted before the female corpse. “So, what was the meaning of your earlier actions? Just fooling around?”

The female corpse nodded.

“Heh,” Zhou Ze let out a dry laugh. In retrospect, he admitted he had been a bit too “naïve.” His inexperience as a Gui Chai had led him to agree to Lady Bai’s request without much thought.

“Is there no way to subdue her?” Zhou Ze asked.

“Extracting a strand of her zombie soul blood would suffice to control her, but she would need to willingly hand it over,” Xu Qinglang suggested from the side.

The female corpse raised her head sharply, her eyes filled with intense hatred as she glared at Xu Qinglang, who now seemed to her like her greatest enemy.

“Either die or hand over the soul blood. Your choice,” Xu Qinglang said with a faint smile.

“You… choose for yourself,” Zhou Ze said, directing his gaze at the female corpse. It was clear that he had accepted Xu Qinglang’s suggestion.

Zhou Ze, being a germaphobe, had no desire for another incident where the female corpse inexplicably came down to lick clean one of his cups with her tongue.

“Fine, I’ll give it to you.” The female corpse took a deep breath, seemingly burying her resentment and fury. Then, closing her eyes, a thread-like entity resembling a red earthworm emerged from the center of her brows.

Zhou Ze reached out, pinching the object with his fingernails. He pulled it out and placed it in the palm of his hand. It was warm, damp, and slick to the touch.

After surrendering her soul blood, the female corpse became visibly exhausted, nearly fainting and barely managing to stay upright.

“Go clean yourself up in the bathroom and then lie down upstairs. From this day forward, you are not allowed to step out of the bookstore without my permission,” Zhou Ze commanded.

“Yes, Esteemed Officer,” the female corpse lowered her head, adopting a submissive posture. With her soul’s blood in the hands of the other party, she had no choice but to bow.

……………

“Hiss… Hiss… Softer… Oh oh oh… Be gentle…

Why are you so rough? It hurts… It really hurts…

Slower… Go slower… Slow it down… Okay, now press harder…”

“Smack.”

Zhou Ze tossed the medicinal wine bottle onto the table. Clearly, he had been applying medicine to Xu Qinglang, but it sounded disturbingly like something unspeakable.

“You do it yourself.”

“Don’t be like that! I’m injured, thrown against the wall, and covered in bruises. Don’t you have any sympathy?” Xu Qinglang’s voice grew more indignant as he continued, “Zhou Ze, ever since you arrived, have you noticed how unlucky I’ve been?”

“That’s fate,” Zhou Ze replied, unwilling to take the blame. “By the way, the incantation you just recited, it sounded familiar.”

“Heaven and Earth Unbounded, Profound Heart Righteous Law.”

“It’s from a TV drama. I thought it sounded good, so I used it. It doesn’t actually help with spellcasting at all,” Xu Qinglang admitted honestly.

“It’s like giving yourself an unnecessary burden.”

“Heh…” Xu Qinglang rolled his eyes and picked up the medicinal wine to apply it himself. “There’s some plum juice in the kitchen. Take it with you. I won’t open the shop tomorrow morning—I need more rest.”

“I’ll head back and get some rest,” Zhou Ze said as he stood up, grabbed the plum juice, and left. Upon returning to the bookstore, he went directly upstairs.

The female corpse obediently cleaned herself up and lay down in the freezer, now wearing Zhou Ze’s clothes.

The white shirt was a bit large on her, hanging loosely and draping over her back, covering the raised curve behind her. She wasn’t wearing pants and lay inside with her legs crossed, her seductive eyes oozing charm.

Zhou Ze tapped the side of the freezer and said, “I remember Lady Bai once mentioned that she died before getting married.”

By this reasoning, Lady Bai should have been chaste, but the female corpse in front of him displayed behavior that suggested otherwise.

“That’s because she didn’t tell you the full story. Before her marriage, she had an affair with a poor scholar. When her father found out, he thought it brought disgrace to the family name and forcibly drowned her.”

“Oh, so she is an experienced ‘driver’ after all?”

“Of course. Do you know how much effort and thought she put into ensuring I wouldn’t look like a drowned corpse?”

“Women, in the end, love beauty,” Zhou Ze remarked, shaking his head. “Go to sleep.”

With that, Zhou Ze placed a pillow beside the freezer and lay down.

The chill radiating from the female corpse made him feel more comfortable than actually lying inside the freezer.

That night, Zhou Ze slept soundly. When he opened his eyes the next morning, he was greeted by a pair of long legs leisurely swaying in front of him, their curves perfectly proportioned, down to the arc of her toes.

If she was wearing stockings or high heels…

“You’re stiff,” the female corpse observed, keenly noticing the tent Zhou Ze had unintentionally pitched.

“Normal physiological response,” Zhou Ze replied without embarrassment. With Dr. Lin, he might feign shyness or restraint to play along with the dynamics of a human relationship between men and women.

But with the female corpse, Zhou Ze felt no need to pretend. Neither of them was human, so there was no need for the pretense of morality or decorum, resulting in a certain kind of purity.

“If you can’t hold it in, I can lie down, and you can get on top of me. I know you want to do it. Holding it back for too long isn’t good, especially since it is not your original body. Otherwise, it could seriously cause problems.”

The female corpse said this generously, smiling as she added, “Don’t worry, even though I’m not on birth control, I won’t get pregnant.”

“But you’re cold inside.”

Zhou Ze went downstairs to wash up. Afterward, he began preparing instant noodles. Once everything was ready, he drank the plum juice and struggled to finish his breakfast.

“Eating human food must be painful, right?” The female corpse sat on the stairs, tilting her head as she looked at Zhou Ze.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Why keep pretending to live like a human when you’re already dead? Don’t you find it exhausting?”

“You’re talking too much,” Zhou Ze said, frowning slightly.

“You told me yesterday I’m not allowed to leave the bookstore. So, other than talking to you, what else can I do?”

Zhou Ze grabbed a mop and a broom from behind the counter and threw them at the female corpse.

“Clean.”

……………

The sunlight was particularly bright today. The female corpse was on her hands and knees, scrubbing the tiled floor of the bookstore with a cloth. Zhou Ze, meanwhile, had brought out a small plastic stool and was sitting outside the shop, basking in the sun.

It wasn’t until noon that Xu Qinglang opened the doors of his shop and came outside. He took a cigarette from Zhou Ze, glanced at the scene inside, and chuckled.

“You’ve done a good job with the training.”

Zhou Ze continued to squint his eyes, basking in the sunlight.

Xu Qinglang exhaled a smoke ring and then, as if recalling something, said, “The plaque you made is pretty impressive—quite classy. It makes mine look so inferior by comparison. I’m thinking of getting a customized plaque myself.”

“Trying to act cultured?” Zhou Ze asked with a smile.

“Why not?” Xu Qinglang raised an eyebrow. “With the twenty-something property deeds I own, who can say I’m not cultured?”

Zhou Ze shook his head helplessly.

“Come on, help me brainstorm. Your plaque, ‘Listen With Skepticism, As I Have Heard,’ is pretty elegant. I’m planning for the horizontal inscription on mine to be ‘Life Is But a Dream.’ How does that sound? It seems quite stylish, doesn’t it?

But for the couplet, I want something related to ‘eating,’ so it fits with my restaurant’s theme. I haven’t come up with anything good yet. Do you have any suggestions?”

Zhou Ze pondered for a moment before asking, “Are you sure you want my opinion?”

“Go on,” Xu Qinglang urged.

Zhou Ze glanced at the female corpse cleaning inside and said,

“Humans live their lives eating what comes from the earth.

The earth consumes humans in death.

Horizontal inscription—Life Is But a Dream.”