Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“Pardon me,” Zhou Ze raised his hand to imply that he did not mean it. It was a great slap to the face of his parents-in-law, especially considering how they were treating Xu Le.

“Are you feeling alright?” Doctor Lin placed the chopsticks down and asked.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Zhou Ze picked up the chopsticks again and shoved the rice into his mouth.

However, before he could swallow the rice, his stomach started twisting again. A strong disgust rose within his heart, as if he was swallowing a pile of manure instead of rice.

This time, Zhou Ze spat out all the rice in his mouth, right onto the face of his parents-in-law that were seated across him. The rice was stuck on his father-in-law’s glasses and hair. His mother-in-law’s hair that was tied up in a bun was glittering because of the rice too.

The father-in-law slammed the chopsticks on the table. His face contorted as if he was still unsure what reaction he should have under the circumstances.

Meanwhile, the mother-in-law took a deep breath as flames of anger engulfed her eyes!

Where was the respect!?

PA!

The mother-in-law shoved the chair and rose to her feet.

“Xu Le!” The mother-in-law was a retired head nurse. She knew no matter how sick a person was, no one would spit the rice out in such a ridiculous manner. Besides, Xu Le did not seem like he was on the verge of dying.

He must have done it on purpose! He was rebelling!

Zhou Ze held his chest and rushed into the washroom. He flipped the lid up and started vomiting. This time, he even spat out some bile. He could taste a strong bitterness in his mouth. It did not seem like he was going to finish dinner.

Doctor Lin glanced at Xu Le, who kept on vomiting in the washroom and said to her sister, “Xiao Yi, go cook some noodles.”

“Okay, sure,” the sister-in-law stuck her tongue out. She felt that her brother-in-law had definitely crossed the lines today. She immediately went into the kitchen to cook some noodles.

“This is ridiculous, that a**hole!” The father-in-law smacked the table. He took off his glasses and shook the rice off it. He was once a vice-chairman of a hospital, thus he was very mindful about his demeanor, but he sure forgot about it today.

“I’m going to ask him what we have done wrong to him! We didn’t ask for a single cent as the betrothal gift from him, we even gave him money to open that useless bookstore; what more did he want!?”

The mother-in-law headed for the washroom.

“Mum, clean the mess up, he’s not feeling well.”

Doctor Lin started cleaning the dishes that were barely eaten.

“You’re still defending him after what happened?” the mother-in-law pointed at her daughter and snapped.

“Then what should I do? Who was the one that forced me to marry him by threatening that she would go and hang herself?” Doctor Lin looked right back at her mother with a firm expression.

Her mother was left speechless. It was true that they were the ones that forced their daughter to marry Xu Le. They were looking forward to having a grandchild, hence they did all they could to find a live-in son-in-law. They were so naive to think that since they only had two daughters, they had no choice but to find a live-in- son-in-law, just so the grandchild would inherit their surname. Meanwhile, Xu Le’s parents had passed away, and he was a university graduate. He had ticked all the boxes.

“I’m done here.”

The father-in-law did not dare to look at her daughter. He was the person that made the decision. Now that he thought about it, he had surely let his daughter down. He rose to his feet and went to the study.

“Sigh, old man, you have stomach trouble,” the mother-in-law yelled worriedly.

“Mum, give Dad some noodles later.”

Doctor Lin cleaned the table and went to the washroom.

The mother-in-law watched her daughter leave in silence.

Doctor Lin pushed the door open and saw Zhou Ze still crouching in front of the toilet. He was grabbing the edge of the toilet bowl with one hand, while holding his chest with the other.

“How do you feel?”

“Not too bad,” Zhou Ze replied. He was perfectly fine before dinner, but he somehow ended up like this when he was trying to eat something.

“I already asked Xiao Yi to cook some noodles, you can eat them later…”

Zhou Ze felt the same strong disgust rising deep in his gut when the thought of noodles crossed his mind. He began to vomit again.

Lin Wanqiu frowned.

“Should we go to the hospital?”

“No, I’m fine. I won’t be eating.”

Zhou Ze waved his hand and struggled to his feet. He went to the basin to rinse his mouth and wash his face.

The dinner did not end well.

The parents-in-law and sister-in-law slept on the ground floor, while Zhou Ze and Lin Wanqiu’s room was on the first floor.

Zhou Ze took a shower, but he did not change into new clothes as he had no idea where his clothes were. He went to the first floor in the same clothes with wet hair. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he realized Lin Wanqiu was taking a shower.

Zhou Ze stood in front of the door for a moment. He smacked his lips looking at the reflection of the alluring body on the door.

A man would easily lose his calm in a situation like this, but a man would also feel grateful too.

“Thank you,” Zhou Ze murmured in his heart.

It was the first time that Zhou Ze had given the poor devil Xu Le his approval after claiming his body. Even though the man had left him with such a complicated relationship, his wife was really gorgeous.

Zhou Ze pushed open the door of the bedroom with slight anticipation and excitement, but his expression soon darkened as he bit his lips.

He immediately had the urge to drag Xu Le out and whip his corpse a thousand times even though he had just complimented the man.

The bedroom was extremely huge. It had a huge bed, but besides the bed was a mattress!

Even an idiot would know what it meant!

Was the man out of his mind? Was he retarded? What was the point of him being a live-in son-in-law?

Zhou Ze took three deep breaths and quietly laid down on the mattress.

Time to sleep, it was useless to think any further.

He would figure out a way to earn some money and go somewhere else. He would get rid of the complicated relationship by asking for a divorce or something. He had just come back to life, there were still quite a lot of problems he had to face.

Lin Wanqiu was done showering, and was wearing blue sleepwear. It was rather oversized, and looked very loose on her.

Zhou Ze was lying on the mattress, and subconsciously swallowed on seeing her.

“Wake up,” Lin Wanqiu said.

“Mmm?”

“The bed is yours, the mattress is mine,” Lin Wanqiu said.

“…” Zhou Ze silently moved to the bed.

Lin Wanqiu turned off the light and laid down on the mattress. Perhaps it was the compromise she had made, as she was unwilling to sleep in the same bed with Xu Le.

Zhou Ze let out a sigh, and proceeded to sleep.

——

Half an hour later, Zhou Ze was still awake. He rolled to one side.

An hour later, Zhou Ze was still awake. He rolled to the other side.

Three hours later, it was already in the early hours of the morning, yet he was still awake.

His eyelids were heavy, but he just could not sleep.

Lin Wanqiu was breathing steadily on the mattress. She had to be fast asleep.

Zhou Ze swore that he was not having difficulty sleeping because he was too aroused by the fact that a beautiful woman was sleeping right beside him.

He was extremely worn out, since so many things had happened in a day, but he just could not fall asleep. Zhou Ze opened his eyes and stared at his hands.

He had used the hands to save the little girl’s life. The girl had not woken up, but her vital signs had returned. There was still hope that she would regain consciousness.

Was it a special ability that he had acquired after paying a visit to Hell?

Or was it something that the old man had given him when the old man scratched his hand during the deathbed struggle?

Either way, he was quite satisfied with his new ability. Imagine how many lives he could save with these hands as a doctor? The power had surpassed the current understanding of medical science. His reputation could easily precede that of Hua Tuo and Bian Que. Every professional was hoping that they could surpass their ancestors, not because of money or fame, but mere passion.

{TL Note: Hua Tuo and Bian Que were famous physicians in China’s history.}

Zhou Ze suddenly felt his arms twitching, followed by incredible pain.

Zhou Ze inhaled deeply and curled up on the bed. The pain was still there, and it was worsening!

Zhou Ze was in such pain that he began to break out in cold sweat. He went down the bed and left the room.

He went to the washroom. He did not turn on the light, but just sat on the toilet bowl. He could see blue veins across his arms, all the way to his fingertips. The blue veins were the source of the pain, as if something was knocking on his bones.

-Damn it, what the heck is going on!?-

Zhou Ze’s face was contorted in pain. The pain was torturing him greatly. He even had an urge to find a knife and chop his hands off. He recalled the scene of lying in the coffin, waiting to be cremated. He also remembered how he was walking numbly toward destruction in Hell.

-Is it a curse?

-Is it a punishment?

-Why am I being punished?

-What did I do wrong?

-Is it because I’ve come back to life without permission?

-Is it because I’m supposed to be dead?

-Or…is it because I’ve used the power to save someone’s life?

-Yeah, that must be the reason.-

Zhou Ze took a deep breath. Did he break some kind of rule because he had used the power to save someone, so he was being punished for it?

Did that mean if he went and killed the little girl now, it would get rid of the pain?

A black mist thickened in Zhou Ze’s eyes, but he was totally unaware of it.

Mister, you shouldn’t smoke in the hospital…

The little girl’s voice appeared in Zhou Ze’s mind. Zhou Ze shook his head vigorously.

-No, I’ve already saved her!

-I won’t regret it, never!-

—

“Mum, aren’t you done yet?”

“I just came in, use the washroom upstairs.”

“Fine.”

The sister-in-law went up to the first floor. She was already at her limit. Seeing that the light of the washroom was not on, she pushed the door and went inside straight away.

Zhou Ze lifted his head and looked at her.

She looked back at Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze’s eyes were filled with a black mist. They looked extremely terrifying, like the eyes of a demon that had just crawled out of Hell, wild and full of hatred.

“AHHHHHHH!!!!!” his sister-in-law screamed at the top of her lungs and fell to the ground.

She stared at Zhou Ze; Zhou Ze stared back at her.

Zhou Ze discovered that her sleepwear was wet. There was a puddle of an unknown liquid on the tiles too…

Did he just give her such a fright that she even wet her pants?