Late Night Bookstore - Chapter 5

Officer, can I ask what my wife’s name is again?

This thought flashed through Zhou Ze’s mind, though he wisely refrained from saying it out loud. He truly had no idea what his new “wife’s” real name was. In this day and age, few people used their real names for QQ or WeChat.

The greasy man shot Zhou Ze a resentful glance: Brother, you’re not playing fair. Weren’t we supposed to be each other’s wingmen?

Zhou Ze exchanged a helpless look with him: I’m just as surprised as you are.

The greasy man lowered his head with a sigh and murmured softly, “The dumplings I made are really delicious.”

“Let’s go.” The “wife” spoke coolly, then turned and walked out without a second glance.

Zhou Ze had no choice but to follow her.

She drove a Cayenne and got in without a word. Zhou Ze opened the passenger door and took his seat.

To be honest, it was a bit awkward. If that unfortunate soul Xu Le had a somewhat normal relationship with his wife, Zhou Ze could have made up excuses to explain his wife’s concern, like feeling light-headed or forgetting some things to explain his behavior. But this woman clearly exuded an icy, aloof demeanor. She didn’t seem to care about him at all—picking him up from the police station felt more like a chore than an act of concern.

It was like retrieving a lost pet from the security guard: My dog ran away, the guard found it, now I’m here to take it home.

The woman started the car. She looked quite young, probably around the same age as Xu Le, younger than Zhou Ze’s original self by a few years.

As they drove onto the highway, she finally broke the silence.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Zhou Ze replied.

And then… silence again.

She seemed to sense that her husband was unusually quiet today but she had no desire to explore the reason.

Just then, her phone rang. She pressed the speakerphone button and a voice came through the car’s speakers:

“Dr. Lin, there’s been a school bus accident on Qingnian Zhong Road. The injured are being brought to our hospital now. The director wants you back immediately.”

Zhou Ze was taken aback. It turned out that his wife was also a doctor and her surname was “Lin.”

“I understand, I’ll be there right away,” the woman said, hanging up the phone. She made a sharp turn at the traffic light, exiting the highway and drove toward the hospital.

She didn’t ask if Zhou Ze wanted to be dropped off at home or if he’d prefer to take a taxi. Instead, she drove straight into the parking lot of the Chongchuan District People’s Hospital.

To be honest, Zhou Ze was quite worried that she would make him get out and take a taxi home, thinking that he would have to awkwardly ask, “Wife, where do we live? I forgot.” That would have been embarrassing.

The woman got out of the car and Zhou Ze followed her. She walked into the hospital building and entered the elevator and Zhou Ze followed. She went into the women’s changing room and Zhou Ze…

Zhou Ze sat down on a bench in the hallway.

Just then, the first group of injured from the bus accident was wheeled in—one person in critical condition and five children with serious injuries.

Watching his “wife” come out in her white coat and rush to the rescue, Zhou Ze could only sit on the bench in a daze. It reminded him of when a mother brings her child to work and the child sits quietly, watching while the mother works.

However, the unique smell of disinfectant in the hospital and the stuffy feeling from the central air conditioning brought back memories. It felt familiar.

Right in front of him was the emergency room and it seems that a young girl was critically injured and in life-threatening condition. The school bus involved in the accident had been from a kindergarten and seeing these little children cry out in pain on the operating table was indeed heart-wrenching.

Zhou Ze pressed his lips together. In the past, he would have already suited up and joined the medical team in treating the injured. He had been one of the most prominent young surgeons in Tongcheng. But now, he could only sit and watch, a mere spectator. The feeling of helplessness gnawed at him, but he had to endure it. Moreover, People’s Hospital was considered the best hospital in Tongcheng, and the number and quality of doctors are beyond doubt; they should be able to handle it.

Soon, another group of children was brought in. Their injuries were less severe, requiring only bandages and minor treatment.

Traffic officers were stationed at the entrance to keep parents, who had been notified and were now anxiously arriving, from flooding into the ER. Their emotions were running high but allowing them inside would disrupt the medical team’s work, so they could only be held back for now.

Zhou Ze shook his head and walked to the window at the end of the corridor. He opened it, pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He had been a smoker and so had Xu Le. In this moment, it was convenient.

“Uncle, you can’t smoke in the hospital!”

He had barely put the cigarette to his lips when a little girl’s voice chirped behind him.

Zhou Ze turned around to see a little girl in a lily-patterned dress, pouting with puffed cheeks as she glared at him.

Cough, cough. This was awkward.

Zhou Ze could only put the cigarette away. After all, it was somewhat embarrassing to be lectured on public morals by a little girl.

“Little friend, aren’t you cold dressed like that?” Zhou Ze bent down to ask.

The girl had delicate skin with a bit of baby fat on her face and large eyes. She was very cute, like a larger version of a Barbie doll.

“I’m not cold,” the little girl shook her head. “Uncle, you really shouldn’t smoke in the hospital.”

“I won’t, I promise.” Zhou Ze nodded earnestly.

“Are you okay?” he asked again.

“I’m fine, but the other kids are really hurt. They’re in so much pain,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the other children, who were having their wounds bandaged. Most of them were crying, not necessarily because of unbearable pain, but because the sight of one child crying usually prompted the others to cry as well.

The nurses were trying to both treat their injuries and comfort them, while outside, the parents continued to argue with the officers at the entrance.

In short, this floor felt chaotic.

“You’re really lucky,” Zhou Ze remarked, noting that the girl didn’t have a single scratch on her.

“Yeah, I was sitting in the last row, so I didn’t get hurt,” she nodded and then ran off to comfort her classmates, moving from one to another to console and encourage them.

She was a thoughtful and resilient child.

Zhou Ze turned back to the window, instinctively reaching for his cigarette again but thought better of it and put it away. He returned to the bench and sat down, just as three nurses and two doctors emerged from the emergency room. One was a male doctor and the other was a female doctor—his wife.

“We did our best,” said the male doctor, placing a hand on Dr. Lin’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

As her husband, Zhou Ze was right there, but he didn’t feel bothered by this scene at all.

Xu Le had left him with such a complicated situation—being a son-in-law, dealing with a hot-tempered sister-in-law and a clearly irritable mother-in-law and father-in-law.

Zhou Ze wished his wife would quickly stray from their marriage, kick him out and leave him to be alone in peace.

Anyone who had just come back to life in a new body would likely find the prospect of navigating a complex domestic life tiresome.

But to Zhou Ze’s surprise, his “wife” brushed the doctor’s hand away, pointed at him and coldly said, “He’s my husband.”

There wasn’t a hint of affection in her voice. It was a statement as cold and blunt as if she had been saying, “This is my pet husky.”

“Oh, hello, sir.” The male doctor’s face turned awkward. Flirting with someone’s wife right in front of their husband was never a good look.

Zhou Ze smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. It seemed his wife was faithful but he couldn’t bring himself to feel happy about it. It wasn’t about jealousy, he just preferred a simpler life.

“I’ll go check over there. The other children have been taken care of, so there shouldn’t be any issues. You should head back and rest with your husband,” the male doctor said before walking away.

Dr. Lin sat down next to Zhou Ze on the bench, pulled off her mask and gloves, and tossed them on the floor.

Zhou Ze noticed her eyes were slightly red and she bit her lip, clearly in a bad mood. This meant that the critically injured child couldn’t be saved.

She looked heartbreakingly vulnerable.

Zhou Ze somewhat understood Xu Le. At least this son-in-law earned more than his peers. The father-in-law’s family was better off than his own, which was a given and Dr. Lin was indeed attractive.

“Don’t let it get to you. You’ll face this a lot in the future. Just find peace in knowing you did your best,” Zhou Ze said, offering the advice of someone who had been through it all before. His experience far surpassed that of his “wife,” and his mental resilience was much stronger.

“Shut up,” she snapped.

If Zhou Ze were speaking as the seasoned doctor he once was, this advice would have been sound. But as Xu Le, his words sounded hollow and patronizing.

“……” Zhou Ze shrugged, inwardly mocking Xu Le for being so cowardly that his wife dared to tell him to shut up in public.

Dr. Lin stood up slowly, her eyes still red. “I’m going to change. Let’s go home.”

“Alright.” Zhou Ze nodded.

At that moment, two nurses pulled back the curtain of the emergency room, revealing a small body lying on the bed, covered with a white sheet.

Zhou Ze glanced at it. He had seen many dead bodies over the years. As a doctor, he had saved many lives but there were also quite a few patients who had died right in front of him.

“Dr. Lin, is that your husband?” one of the nurses teased. They knew Dr. Lin was married but her husband had never visited the hospital before. Unlike the other doctors’ spouses, he seemed completely absent from her work life.

You couldn’t fault them for making jokes in the face of death. It’s like asking those who visit Tibet once and post on social media about how their souls have been purified and how moved and devout they felt to endure living there for ten years. It wasn’t realistic.

“Yes,” Dr. Lin nodded in response, her emotions had settled somewhat by now.

“You two should head home,” the nurse teased. “Who knows, you might have a little surprise when you get there. Dr. Lin loves kids, after all. You two should get on it, right?”

“Damn!”

Zhou Ze’s eyes widened in shock. Beneath the white sheet, a corner of a lily-patterned dress was visible. His mind buzzed as he realized that the little girl he had just spoken to—the one completely unscathed—was not human!