Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

{TL Note: Old driver here is a modern Chinese slang, it means someone is an old hand at something.}

Zhou Ze could still smell firecrackers in the air. It was a little irritating, but it was the typical smell of the New Year, especially now that Zhou Ze suddenly felt his life was dramatically better.

It was not a pledge of undying love, nor was it an oath to stay together until the mountains flattened and the sky and the ground merged into one.

It was as innocent as a little kid without any pocket money finding a ten yuan note on the ground close to a stall selling snacks.

He had visited Hell, claimed another person’s body, and had to deal with troubles that he had discovered and had yet to discover. His values had also changed without him realizing it.

He recalled his past life; he was an orphan, all he could think of was climbing higher with his hands and his capabilities. Now that he thought about it, the reason why he had forgotten about Doctor Lin was not because the woman was silly or nor pretty enough. The girl was yearning for love back then, too. Otherwise, she would not cut out the group photo and put it in her purse.

Unfortunately, he was so busy that he did not have the time to check out the scenery along the journey. He was too preoccupied with his work, and acted like he was living in great bitterness while trying to retain his sanity.

But now, he had died once and returned. He felt unburdened all of a sudden.

Either way, it did feel great knowing that someone was secretly in love with him, even though he was already dead.

Doctor Lin came down after receiving the call. She was in quite a hurry. She smiled after taking the bag. She did not say thank you, as it was more inappropriate than sorry considering their relationship.

Zhou Ze waved his hand to say goodbye. It was bedtime for him.

He was looking forward to the next day, as he believed that tomorrow would be better.

Doctor Lin felt her husband’s emotions had changed all of a sudden, as if he had been relieved of a burden. Perhaps it was better if they could both get over it.

Instead of forcing themselves to stick to the relationship, it was better for them to separate and get on with their lives again.

Unfortunately, lives never worked out according to what people wanted. Doctor Lin would never expect that another soul was living in her husband’s body, not to mention that it was the man she had fallen in love with when she was still an intern.

Zhou Ze hailed a ride and crouched down to smoke a cigarette. The app was still searching for a ride. Zhou Ze was regretting that he had asked the driver to leave. He should have asked the man to wait for him so he could go back to the bookstore.

It was extremely difficult to find a ride early in the morning of the New Year.

——

Zhou Ze was starting to run out of patience after he finished smoking three cigarettes. He stood up and stretched.

Even though he was not scared of the cold, it was still quite tiring to walk back to the bookstore.

Luckily, a black car happened to pass by Zhou Ze. It slowed down as soon as it went past him.

“You need a ride?” the driver poked his head out. It was a middle-aged man wearing a black sweater with stubble on his chin.

“Yeah,” Zhou Ze had no other choice.

“Come then, I won’t charge you extra,” the driver smiled.

Zhou Ze went into the car and told the driver his destination. The driver started the car after reaching a deal with Zhou Ze about the fare.

The car looked fairly new. Zhou Ze could still smell the leather of the seat. The interior was very clean.

It was quite rare that anyone would be willing to use their new car as a cab.

“That’s a pretty remote place,” the driver gave Zhou Ze a cigarette.

“Mm.”

“You live there?”

“My shop is there.”

“Oh, isn’t it tough doing business there?” Everyone knew the district had been deserted for quite some time.”

“You’re not local?” Zhou Ze asked.

The dialect in Tongcheng was different from other places, thus it was very easy to tell if a person was local or not by their accent when they were speaking in Mandarin.

“I am from Chengdu, I just work here.” The driver lit up a cigarette, “Go ahead and smoke if you want.”

Zhou Ze lit up the cigarette and took a puff. He immediately frowned. It was beyond tasteless.

“You’re not going back for New Year?”

“My wife and my children are at home. They are doing fine. I was thinking of earning more money for them,” the driver placed his hand out of the window to shake the cigarette butt off. “I have four kids.”

“That’s impressive,” Zhou Ze exclaimed.

“It’s pretty tough, too.” The driver smacked his lips. “My first kid was a son, the second was a son too. I wanted to have a daughter, but the third kid was a son too. Luckily, we finally had a daughter as our fourth kid.”

“Good to know,” Zhou Ze took another puff of the cigarette and threw it out of the window. It was so tasteless that it felt like he was smoking a piece of paper.

“I am quite open-minded myself, I don’t value sons more than daughters, I just like kids, so I’m thinking of having a few more, haha!” The driver was pretty talkative when he started talking about his kids.

“I haven’t paid the fine for my youngest kid yet. I will have to do it when she is about to start school. By the way, what business are you running?”

{TL Note: In China, you have to pay fines for having more than a certain number of kids. I believe the limit is two now.}

“A bookstore.”

“How is it doing so far?” the driver just had to ask the wrong question.

“Not too well.”

“I thought so. It’s pretty easy to buy books online nowadays, and there are lots of discounts too.”

There was an accident on the road ahead. The traffic police had set up roadblocks. Only one out of the four lanes was open. Luckily, there were not many vehicles, as it was past midnight on New Year, thus it should not take too long.

“An accident on the first day of the year? That’s tough luck,” the driver remarked, taking a puff of the cigarette. He sounded like a leader criticizing his subordinates.

Zhou Ze leaned against the seat and switched into a more comfortable posture before he asked, “Is this car new?”

“Yeah, my son gave it to me as a gift.”

Zhou Ze smiled, “You don’t look too old. How old is your son?”

“Hehe,” the driver squinted, “I’m proud of my son. Age doesn’t really matter anymore. As long as you are willing to work and you are smart enough, as long as your life isn’t too tough, anyone can make a living.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Zhou Ze nodded in agreement.

A car behind seemed to be in a rush. It kept honking, urging the cars ahead to move quicker.

 The driver turned out to have a hot temper. He poked his head out and cursed at the car behind. “Stop honking, are you in a rush to see a ghost?”

However, more cars began to honk as if they were doing it on purpose.

“Humph!” The driver was about to push the door open and argue with the cars behind. However, the traffic policeman that was maintaining order signaled the cars to move along. The driver immediately decided against it and stayed in the car.

“It’s difficult doing business today,” the driver started complaining again, “I should have gone back for New Year instead.”

“It’s not too bad,” Zhou Ze refused to comment. The restaurant opposite his bookstore seemed to be doing fine. Most of his competitors were not open, and even though there were fewer demands around New Year, the restaurant had actually made more profit lately.

Besides, Zhou Ze had been unable to hail a ride after waiting for so long just now.

“Heh, it’s very tough,” the driver shook his head. “I don’t dare to rest, either. I have to earn money for the kids to go to school and to cover their living expenses. I have a job in the day and work as a cab at night. It’s pretty boring. I can’t even afford better cigarettes.”

-Your cigarettes…are most likely fake.-

Zhou Ze took out his cigarette and played with it.

“But it’s pretty convenient nowadays. I can video call my wife and my kids before I go to bed every night, so at least I can still see them.” The driver looked relieved.

Zhou Ze closed his eyes. He could not fall asleep, but he was not in the mood to talk.

Even though Zhou Ze was not responding, the driver continued to jabber on his own. He was far from home during the New Year. It was reasonable that he would feel lonely.

The driver kept talking about the names he gave to his kids, the schools they went to, before mentioning his parents and the amusing things in his hometown.

Zhou Ze leaned against the window and urged, “Can you drive a little faster?”

The car was moving very slowly. It was only going around thirty kilometers per hour, not to mention that they were currently on the highway.

Zhou Ze was suspecting that the man had purposely slowed down as he was feeling too lonely, just so he could talk to someone. Unfortunately, Zhou Ze had started to run out of patience.

“Hehe, it’s a new car, so I’m still not familiar with it. I don’t dare to drive too quickly,” the driver rubbed his hands on the steering wheel, “The car isn’t expensive. It’s actually quite cheap, but it’s a gift from my eldest son, so I have to treat it preciously. I’m thinking of using this car to earn some money, so I can get my eldest son a house when it is time for him to get married. I don’t want him to feel burdened to take care of his siblings. It’s unfair to him. After all, it was me that decided to have more kids. As long as I can still work, I will try my best to support them. I don’t want to be an irresponsible father. It’s my job to take care of my kids.”

Zhou Ze frowned. He was getting quite annoyed.

He lit up his cigarette and took a puff of it.

“I’m serious, can you please drive a little faster?” Zhou Ze was missing his freezer. He was regretting things at the same time. He should have asked Doctor Lin to drive him back.

“Be patient, young man, it’s New Year, fate has brought us together too, there’s no need to rush. I know, I know, I’m an old driver…”

Zhou Ze flicked the cigarette. A part of the cigarette butt did not make it through the window. It dropped inside the car.

The cigarette butt left a hole in the bottom of the door the size of a thumb. Zhou Ze could feel the cold wind blowing through the hole from the outside.