“Oh, a beast in clothing?”

Xu Qinglang was just about to close the door when he happened to see a "guest" in Zhou Ze's shop and came over to joke,

"Brother, your getup is pretty trendy."

Zhou Ze pointed to the tall hat on the middle-aged man's head and asked, "What does this mean?"

"Final judgment."

Xu Qinglang stretched languidly.

"It's like the posthumous titles given to emperors, empresses, and high-ranking officials in ancient times after their deaths, or like the grades of Excellent, Good, Pass, and Average on elementary school report cards at the end of the semester."

"So, this hat is the evaluation given to him by his social network after his death?"

"More or less, it also depends on luck. Ordinary people aren't celebrities after death, so they can't get this thing. Even celebrities rarely get it. In short, it depends on luck, just like you were able to crawl out of hell while ninety-nine percent of other ghosts have to go and reincarnate in peace.

"Oh right, I remember reading that Qin Hui also had a tall hat on his head after death, with the words 'Framed the Loyal' written on it."

"Then Yue Wu Mu's hat would be 'Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty'?"

"Nonsense, a parade with a tall hat is for disgrace, beautiful posthumous titles don't need hats."

Zhou Ze let go, looked at the palm of his right hand, and prepared to open the gates of hell and throw this guy in. This guy had just seen the young girl and acted like a horny wild bull. This guy was indeed a beast in clothing, looking quite refined and scholarly.

"You're going to send me down?" The middle-aged man seemed to have calmed down at this point.

"Otherwise?" Zhou Ze retorted.

"Can you let me finish the last volume of this book?" The middle-aged man took out a piece of ghost money from his pocket.

"Hey, are you trying to fool a beggar?" the female corpse couldn't help but sneer. "Looks like you were a real failure in life. Even your relatives didn't give you much incense offering."

Ghost money given by the dead themselves is different from the ghost money burned by the living. Of course, the amount of ghost money a dead person has is related to the amount of offerings from relatives, but there are some limits. Otherwise, could you just burn enough to become the richest person in the underworld?

The middle-aged man pursed his lips and looked at Zhou Ze with a pleading gaze: "Please."

Xu Qinglang lit a cigarette on the side and didn't say anything. This was Zhou Ze's business, and he didn't want to interfere.

Zhou Ze glanced at the *Outline of Chinese Studies* in the middle-aged man's hand and said, "I've read this book before. In my opinion, there are several obvious errors in it."

"Any book with academic value will have its own errors. Errors are also the accumulation of predecessors," the middle-aged man said solemnly.

"But what's the point of a book that only sings praises?" Zhou Ze retorted.

"In a letter to Zeng Jize, Zeng Guofan said, 'Do not lightly criticize the ancients.' Although you run a bookstore, boss, you're not a scholar.

"Qian Mu wrote this book during the Anti-Japanese War. When writing this book, Qian Mu had already prepared for the worst-case scenario of national subjugation. He wrote this book thinking that if the country were really to fall, someone could still secretly read and savor it late at night, reminiscing about the civilization and heritage of our ancestors.

"Critical and satirical books are naturally more enjoyable to read, but if the country were really to fall in the future, and someone saw this book filled with mockery and criticism, who would still have the heart to long for the old country and China?"

The middle-aged man spoke eloquently, waving one hand holding the book and the other constantly.

Like a teacher on a podium lecturing to students,

Very excited, very invested.

"You're a teacher, right?" Xu Qinglang asked with a smile. "Oh, I mean in your previous life."

"I'm a middle school Chinese teacher," the middle-aged man replied.

"Indeed, a beast in clothing." Xu Qinglang snorted coldly. "I'm going to sleep. Good night, Boss Zhou."

Xu Qinglang waved his hand, left the bookstore, and went back. His swaying figure was very graceful.

Zhou Ze turned his head to look at Bai Yingying, "Did his back view just now look like a pimp from your era?"

"My era?" Bai Yingying thought seriously, then shook her head and said, "Even the courtesans weren't as good-looking as him."

Zhou Ze curled his lips, not too surprised by Bai Yingying's answer.

The middle-aged man sat down again to read, seemingly not in the mood to guess whether Zhou Ze would agree. Reading a little more was the most important thing, perhaps he could savor it a little longer on the road to the Yellow Springs.

Thinking about this guy's restlessness when he saw the young girl earlier, Zhou Ze felt restless for him.

"Boss, I think he's quite knowledgeable," the female corpse said softly.

"The poor scholar your lady used to be involved with, was he also knowledgeable?" Zhou Ze asked.

Bai Yingying nodded.

"That's hard to say." Zhou Ze also found it difficult to quantify, so he said, "Mr. Ji Xianlin wrote in his diary, 'I have no other hope in this life. I only hope to sleep with more women and interact with women from different places.'"

"Scholars are indeed all lecherous," Bai Yingying muttered.

"Men are all lecherous," Zhou Ze corrected.

Bai Yingying looked at Zhou Ze and said coquettishly, "Boss, you have a lot of self-control."

"Go scrub the toilet."

"........" Bai Yingying.

For some reason, Zhou Ze wasn't in a hurry to open the gates of hell and let the middle-aged man in. Instead, he sat down opposite the middle-aged man, took out his phone, and casually browsed the web.

"What's your name?" Zhou Ze asked.

The other party didn't answer, seemingly immersed in the atmosphere of reading.

"If you don't answer, you can't read the book anymore."

"Ren Xindu."

Zhou Ze nodded. Just as he was about to try searching for this guy's name to see his previous scandals, the bookstore door was pushed open again.

The younger sister-in-law had returned.

"What are you doing back again?" Zhou Ze stood up and subconsciously reached out to hold the middle-aged man's shoulder, fearing that this guy would become horny again.

However, to Zhou Ze's surprise, the middle-aged man was still sitting there quietly reading, with no signs of restlessness at all.

Huh, has he learned his lesson this time?

The younger sister-in-law took out her phone and took a picture of the bookstore and Zhou Ze, then sent it, followed by a voice message:

"Sis, I told you I've been reading in Xu Le's bookstore all afternoon, but you don't believe me.

"Okay, okay, I'll go back now. I'll go back right away, okay?

"Seriously, you're disturbing me when I just want to read quietly for a while."

After sending the voice message, the younger sister-in-law stuck out her tongue and breathed a sigh of relief, saying:

"That was close. Luckily, I hadn't had time to take a taxi yet, otherwise, I would have been exposed."

"Don't go to those smoky places at such a young age. It's easy to get taken advantage of."

Zhou Ze still reminded her, even if she wasn't his younger sister-in-law. This was purely a middle-aged man's advice to a younger generation.

"Okay, okay, Xu Le, why are you becoming like my sister?" The younger sister-in-law obviously didn't listen.

"Where's that girl?" Zhou Ze asked.

"She went home. I just watched her take a taxi. Her house is a bit far away. I was originally planning to take a taxi too, but my sister sent me a WeChat message to check on me."

"The money?"

"Of course, the money was taken back to her." The younger sister-in-law said indifferently, "Don't worry, it's just five thousand yuan. I'll pay you back when I get my allowance."

"You'll pay?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Yeah, if I don't pay, will she pay?

"Her father is paralyzed at home, and her mother runs an early morning stall. Life is very difficult for her. I don't want to see her working so hard anymore.

"Also, she was bullied in middle school, so she's so quiet and taciturn now.

"I treat her like a good sister, so I have to take care of her a little more, right?

"Alright, Xu Le, that's it for today. I'll go back first."

The younger sister-in-law waved her hand, pushed open the bookstore door, and walked out.

Zhou Ze sat back down in his chair, looking at his phone for a while, then looking at the middle-aged man who was reading intently.

Then he muttered to himself:

"Did something wrong, was discovered, and then committed suicide by jumping off a building."

The middle-aged man continued to read, as if he didn't hear anything, but his tall hat was so clear and so glaring.

In ancient times, criminals had to have characters tattooed on their faces to indicate their identity and be classified as inferior people. This tall hat was similar in effect.

Bai Yingying worked very quickly. There was no way around it. Originally, she was also a young lady from a wealthy family, but now she had to bow her head under someone else's roof. In addition, Zhou Ze was a bit of a clean freak, which undoubtedly made her workload larger.

"Boss, I'm exhausted."

Bai Yingying took off her coat. She wasn't afraid of the cold either. She came out in just a short-sleeved shirt with a rag in her hand.

She looked very young, but she was well-developed.

"Boss, why doesn't he react when he sees me?" Bai Yingying asked curiously.

"You're a dead person."

"But I'm also very beautiful," Bai Yingying struck a coquettish pose.

"Forget it, you..."

"I've never had a boss who's as disparaging as you," Bai Yingying rolled her eyes at Zhou Ze. "Oh right, did your younger sister-in-law come back again just now? I heard her voice in the bathroom."

"Yeah, came back and left."

Zhou Ze suddenly thought of something.

That's not right,

If the reason the middle-aged man didn't react to Bai Yingying was because Bai Yingying was a zombie,

Then why didn't he react to his younger sister-in-law just now either?

By the process of elimination, it was easy to arrive at an answer:

That was, this guy only had feelings for the girl next to his younger sister-in-law.

The online news reports didn't have photos to protect the privacy of the violated girl.

Some things,

Can't stand thinking about,

Can't stand considering,

Slowly,

Zhou Ze figured out the flavor.

The younger sister-in-law seemed very headstrong, but in reality, she was incredibly open-hearted, like a big silly girl.

"Hey, is that girl your student?" Zhou Ze asked.

The middle-aged man continued to read, not answering.

Zhou Ze directly reached out and grabbed the book from the other party's hand. "I'm asking you a question."

The middle-aged man looked up at Zhou Ze, then nodded.

"Did you ever violate her?" Zhou Ze asked again.

The middle-aged man still didn't answer.

"If you don't answer properly, I'll send you to hell right now," Zhou Ze threatened.

"The book is finished. I can go on my way," the middle-aged man stood up, looking very carefree.

"Are you trying to be Wen Tianxiang?" Zhou Ze said sarcastically.

"No matter what she's like, she's still my student. It's my responsibility that I didn't educate her well," the middle-aged man replied.

"So you're saying that the news report I just read was fake. You didn't violate her, and she deliberately framed you to get the school to compensate her?" Zhou Ze pursed his lips.

Then the matter was easy to imagine. The younger sister-in-law's wallet must have also been stolen by that girl, along with fabricating a reason and getting the younger sister-in-law to give her five thousand yuan.

Would a girl from a poor family who worked a winter vacation take five thousand yuan in tuition fees and run off to a disco to party?

The younger sister-in-law had fallen into her trap.

"Tell me, did you ever violate her?" Zhou Ze reached out and grabbed the middle-aged man's shoulder, asking very seriously.

The middle-aged man was silent for a while, then said, "This is my business. It has nothing to do with you."

"The hell with you, that's my five thousand yuan!"

Zhou Ze really wanted to slap him away, but he held back, raised his hand, and slapped the other party's hat. But when he touched the other party's hat, Zhou Ze felt a burning sensation in his palm, a bit painful.

This hat,

So hard,

Actually caused a slight stinging sensation in the position of his fingernails.

Looking again, even though the entire person was driven and flung out, that hat still stood firmly rooted on the middle-aged man's head.

Zhou Ze thought of what Xu Qinglang had said before: public opinion can melt metal. (众口铄金: Persistent public opinion can make even metal melt.)

This hat,

Regardless of whether it was true or false,

Could not be taken off.