Midnight Bookstore

The newly opened shop was filled with joy.

To Zhou Ze, the renovation, rent, and other expenses of the new store were not paid by him.

Xu Qinglang paid half of the money, and the other half was the money earned from Bai Yingying’s funeral goods.

Of course, Xu Qinglang was going to “semi-retire” from now on. He only planned to sell coffee and snacks in the bookstore to live a healthy life.

He could only rely on Zhou Ze to earn money.

Thankfully, no one doubted Zhou Ze’s ability to earn money. The new shop was located on Nanjing Avenue. There was a lot of traffic, and there should be a lot of ghost traffic.

As long as Boss Zhou was not afraid of suffering or staying up late, and kept sending these ghosts to hell to be remodeled, it should not be a problem to earn large amounts of notes.

When the time came, everyone could just squat at the entrance of the bookstore to burn paper money and wait for someone to drop their wallet. They would even be exempted from paying the administrative fee to go to the bank.

The overall color of the bookstore was soft and dark, and the bookshelves inside were not packed. Newspapers and magazines that had been updated quickly were in a row, and the novels were in a row. The more serious books were in a separate area.

As for teaching materials, Zhou Ze did not enter.

The bookstore had a second floor, and it was separated into three rooms and a bathroom. It was considered everyone’s living quarters.

On the first day of opening, there were no fireworks, firecrackers, or fireworks. Everything looked simple and peaceful.

The old Daoist priest was tactfully cleaning the place with Bai Yingying. Zhou Ze sat behind the bar and savored the cocktail that Xu Qinglang had just made.

After taking a sip, he put down the wine glass. Little Monkey picked up the wine glass and secretly took a sip. Then, he felt that it was extremely disgusting and kept sticking out his tongue.

Tang Shi was alone in the bedroom upstairs. She was a homebody, and if she had nothing to do, she wouldn’t feel bored if she stayed in her room for the entire day.

After everything was packed and ready to receive the guests, it was already dusk. The sky had already darkened.

With the plaque in one hand, the whiteingale hung up the “Late-night Book House” sign. Then she jumped down and clapped her hands. After making sure she had done a good job, she smiled contentedly.

Following that, she followed the boss’ instructions and hung the couplet plaques on both sides of the plaque.

This was the sign that he had brought back from the old store.

Bai Yingying asked Zhou Ze what he meant by “listening to everything” and “listening to me”. Zhou Ze explained that it was a simple story that he had heard and told it to everyone.

It did not represent their own views. Everyone was just listening to it for fun. There was no need to take it seriously.

The bookstore was still doing the dead man business, so the living man business could only be considered a bonus. After all, there was a “Tongcheng Bookstore” not far from Nanjing Street. It was a big bookstore that specialized in selling physical books. If one wanted to compete with it, the difficulty would be extraordinary, and there was no need to do so.

Zhou Ze remembered that when he was young, “Tongcheng Bookstore” was considered the most influential bookstore representative in Tongcheng City. However, in recent years, as the physical book market was constantly being compressed and in bad times, Tongcheng Bookstore had already shrunk its business area. It was much poorer than when it was at its peak.

It could only be said that the popularity of phone and screen reading had caused most people to slowly forget their habit of reading ink and paper.

Everything was done, and everything was back on track. Now, it was time for business.

In reality, business came quickly. Since the business started at 7 pm, there had been several groups of customers, but they were all living people who had ordered coffee or other drinks.

When the living came, Zhou Ze simply stopped moving. On the other hand, Xu Qinglang kept calling for him to make drinks and was extremely busy.

It was already 9: 30 pm when Xu Qinglang saw the guests off. She took a sip of water and looked at Zhou Ze, who was rocking back and forth on the rocking chair. She suddenly felt very upset!

“Ol ‘Zhou, I think we can hang a sign that says’ No living person is allowed to enter ‘. What do you think?”

“The next day, the Trade and Commerce Bureau will go to the door.” Zhou Ze rejected Xu Qinglang’s suggestion without hesitation.

“But I feel that this is even more tiring than opening a noodle restaurant,” Xu Qinglang lamented.

Previously, when he opened the noodle restaurant, there were not many people who actually went to the restaurant to eat. Most of the orders were on take-out. If he wanted to rest, he could just shut down the take-out app. However, now that the customers had come in, he could not push them out, right?

“Look, he’s here.”

Zhou Ze looked outside.

It seemed like it was really because of the location. The real business came very quickly today.

The person who entered was an old woman holding a walking stick. She was thin and shriveled. Her eyes were wide open like she had died with her eyes closed.

There was some resentment in the old woman’s body. This meant that she still had some lingering spirits, so she had not been able to go to hell or reincarnate.

However, her resentment was still far from becoming a Specter. She was still a ‘harmless’ ghost.

“Prepare the dishes,” Zhou Ze said to Xu Qinglang.

Xu Qinglang did not complain about being tired this time. In fact, it was his suggestion to prepare food for the people who were going to hell.

He felt that Zhou Ze’s act of sending ghosts to hell was too simple and crude. There was no foreplay at all. It was too dry and lacking in service quality.

Because of this, he suggested that before he sent people to hell, he should prepare some food and send them off. At that time, they would leave more notes.

It was just like how the movie theater also had a huge income from selling coke and popcorn.

The dishes were also very simple. A plate of dried radish, a plate of peanuts, a bowl of rice with chopsticks in it, and a cup of aged yellow wine.

They were all ready-made items. All they needed to do was load the plates. It was not troublesome.

The old Daoist placed the small table, the stool, and even pulled up the curtain to block out the view outside. If not, if other customers saw this, they would be shocked.

This was also a small room that was specially prepared for ghosts.

Zhou Ze walked over with the teacup in his hand and said to the old woman, “Please.”

The old woman hesitated. It was obvious that she was afraid, but she was more afraid of Zhou Ze. She could only sit down in fear.

Xu Qinglang handed the old Daoist priest a bottle of cow’s tears mixed with talisman water. The old Daoist priest wiped his eyes and saw the old lady.

To be honest, the old Daoist priest had not encountered such a thing ever since he left the underworld shop. For a moment, he sighed and couldn’t help but think of his boss in Chengdu.

However, it would be soon.

The old Daoist priest had already sent a message to his friend in the livestream room that he had not livestreamed for several months. He would start the livestream again on April 1st, around midnight of March 31st or 20th.

That day was the day that the boss said he was coming back.

Bai Yingying also came over with a small stool. The old woman was a bit shy. She was a zombie, a ghostly servant, a mystic cultivator, and an old Daoist who seemed to be steaming in his pants.

The old woman expressed her fear.

Her resentment was nothing compared to the wolves.

“Eat, then we’ll be on our way.”

Zhou Ze urged.

The old woman smiled, lowered her head, and began to eat.

It was just like how a tiger was scary, but the tiger in the zoo was like a kitten.

When the old woman went out, if someone accidentally caught a glimpse of her, they would probably be scared sick or faint. However, at this time, she could only eat obediently.

“Auntie, how did you die?” the old Daoist priest asked.

The old Daoist priest was a very active person. Even though he was old, the older he was, the more talkative he became.

Usually, he would chat with the little monkey and talk about how he had subdued demons and devils 500 years ago and suppressed a big monkey under the Five Finger Mountain and so on.

Monkey also supported him. As long as the old Daoist bought some snacks, Monkey could sit there and listen to the old Daoist brag for the entire afternoon. He even waved his hand from time to time.

“Wow!”

“Three clashes.”

The old Daoist priest was confused. He knew that the old woman spoke in a dialect, so he looked at Zhou Ze.

“He died of illness,” Zhou Ze translated.

Tongcheng dialect was very different from Mandarin.

“Auntie, this won’t do. Even if you become a ghost, you can’t forget to learn. We have to learn Mandarin well, or else we’ll be in hell.

Think about it. There are so many people on the Yellow Springs Road. It will be difficult for you to find someone who can speak Tongcheng dialect. When the time comes, you won’t even have someone to chat with. How boring would that be? ”

The old Daoist kindly reminded.

The auntie felt a little awkward and could only lower her head to eat.

“Do you have children?” the old Daoist priest asked again.

“Yu Guo oh.”

The old Daoist priest looked at Zhou Ze, implying that he should quickly translate it.

“I have a daughter,” Xu Qinglang translated.

“Then your daughter must have burned a lot of paper money for you, right?” The old priest rubbed his hands.

When the old woman heard that, she was stunned for a moment before she said with a bitter smile, “My family’s conditions aren’t good.”

“Your family is not well-to-do?” The old Daoist priest did not give up. He continued, “It’s fine. Paper money is not expensive anyway. As long as your child has you in his heart, there will be more paper money.”

“Lying on the bed, I don’t have the money for treatment,” the old woman said. She put down her chopsticks and wiped her tears.

“How pitiful.” The old Daoist priest also wiped his tears.

Bai Yingying also pursed her lips, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

“My daughter asked me on the hospital bed whether I should continue to spend money to cure her. I was lying on the bed, unable to speak or move. She cried and said to me, ‘If I don’t want to continue, I’ll just blink once. If I don’t blink, you have to cure me even if you have to sell everything.’

“This daughter is not bad,” the old Daoist said. “What did you do?”

“I blinked, then I went home from the hospital and died.” The old woman continued to wipe her tears.

“It’s not easy either. You’re also thinking for your children. You’re really great. It’s not easy. Your children have to live as well.” The old Daoist priest also felt sad.

In reality, there were many cases like this in real life, especially when it came to incurable diseases. It meant that one had to keep throwing money into the hospital, and many families could not afford to do so.

“Auntie, you’re pretty great.”

“I’ll pour you another drink,” Xu Qinglang said.

At the side, Zhou Ze did not know whether to laugh or cry when he saw everyone’s tearful faces.

He pointed at the old woman’s eyes that had been wide open since she entered the room and asked,

“How did you blink?”

The old woman heard this.

Stop crying.

He immediately said fiercely,

“She asked me

Mom, let me ask you. If you don’t want to be treated, just blink. If you don’t blink, you have to treat me even if you have to sell everything.

Then…

After waiting for five minutes,

I can’t help it.

She blinked.

She immediately started wiping her tears and said,

Okay.

Mom,

I know what you mean.

Let’s not treat him anymore. “