Chapter 17 Cemetery

Tongcheng has become somewhat famous in recent years, not for its economy or its snacks, but for its college entrance examinations.

For most senior high school students across the country, the Tongcheng mock exam papers are comparable to the Huanggang Secret Papers.

Of course, these things originally had no impact on Zhou Ze; his bookstore had long since shed its dependence on "living people's business."

It had already completed its industrial structural upgrade and transformation, making money off the dead.

However, the fatty who had come to him last time found him again.

The purpose was simple: the next semester would be the college entrance exam semester, and the fatty intended to make another big splash by doing a pirated version of the secret exam paper business.

There should be many twists and turns involved, even extremely complex chains of interest, which Zhou Ze wasn't very clear about. In fact, Zhou Ze believed that Xu Le wouldn't be clear about it either.

The reason why the fatty intended to pull Xu Le into the partnership both last time and this time was entirely to make use of some of Xu Le's classmates' connections.

Xu Le, in the middle, was actually an intermediary who satisfied both parties.

Silly and naive,

but the most reassuring.

Piracy is an unavoidable hurdle in contemporary domestic social life, and even the so-called "Shanzhai" (imitated brand) culture derived from it, seems to be booming and flourishing, even gradually moving away from the category of derogatory terms and developing towards neutral terms.

But after all is said and done, it is still illegal. Although the current atmosphere makes this phenomenon almost ubiquitous, if you are unlucky enough to be targeted, it is always a troublesome matter.

Zhou Ze refused the fatty, who left somewhat dejectedly. Standing at the door, the fatty lit a cigarette, touched his gold chain that was losing its gold powder,

and cursed:

"Stupid."

Zhou Ze continued to sit behind the counter reading his book. The fatty's visit was nothing more than a small interlude in his life recently.

The female corpse, as usual, cleaned the bookstore and then sat in her chair with her eyes closed, leaning against the wall, as if in a daze or dozing.

The two of them lived a life that had taken on the atmosphere of an old woman's foot binding cloth.

Zhou Ze was content. He recalled that the thing he had most looked forward to in his previous life was living in this way, wasting time and loafing around, reading books, and spacing out.

He didn't have to be ready to deal with emergency patients at any time, nor did he need to constantly urge himself to work his way up.

As for the female corpse, she had been lying in her coffin for two hundred years, and had long been accustomed to boredom and silence. Now, this was just a drizzle.

Compared to the bookstore's "still waters," Xu Qinglang was much more energetic and enterprising. He was wealthy and didn't actually have much pursuit in metaphysics. Instead, he was thinking about how to make money and develop through his own abilities.

Therefore, Xu Qinglang was very unhappy with the decadent style of the master and servant next door!

"Look at you, you're lazier than a dead person every day." Xu Qinglang, as usual, came over to smoke a cigarette after finishing his day's work and incidentally poured some ridicule on Zhou Ze.

"I am a dead person to begin with." Zhou Ze waved his hand and exhaled a smoke ring.

"Look at you, a person who has lived two lives, and you still don't have much money in your hands. I am a man with more than twenty apartments, and I am still working hard."

As usual, after belittling Zhou Ze, he had to boast about himself.

Zhou Ze glanced at Xu Qinglang and laughed: "Are you preparing your dowry?"

"Filthy words come from a dog's mouth." Xu Qinglang raised his head and looked at the night sky (the roof), "I want to live more comfortably when I retire in the future."

"Twenty-odd yang-realm houses have already attracted a ghost mistress to carry you back in a bridal sedan to get married. If you work harder, make more money, and buy more houses, next time, maybe some ghost queen or something will think you are a good match for her. This ghost messenger can also benefit from you.

Don't forget your old friends when you become rich."

"Heh heh." The female corpse, who was feigning sleep, cooperated with her boss.

"It's almost eight o'clock, I have to prepare." Xu Qinglang said, looking at the time.

"Prepare for what?" Zhou Ze was a little surprised.

Under normal circumstances, Xu Qinglang would rest very early in the evening.

"Today is the day when the Confucian Temple opens. Isn't it only a few months until the college entrance exam? I have a relative in my hometown whose child is taking the college entrance exam this year, and they asked me to go to the Confucian Temple to burn incense for him."

"You're willing to do this kind of thing?" Zhou Ze knew Xu Qinglang's nature. It would be an understatement to call him indifferent and selfish, but he was generally too lazy to pay attention to things other than making money.

"When I was a kid, I ate at their house and was helped by them. Otherwise, I don't know if I could have lived long enough to see the demolition. So I have to repay this favor." Xu Qinglang said seriously.

"Mm." Zhou Ze nodded.

"How about going together?" Xu Qinglang suddenly invited, "Help me grab the first incense?"

"Does the Confucian Temple care about the first incense?"

"Hey, it's always a good omen, isn't it?"

"I'm not strong." Zhou Ze had seen how crazy those people who grabbed the first incense were. His body really couldn't take it, unless he used his fingernails to clear the way, but he couldn't knock everyone around him down, right?

"Just ask her." Xu Qinglang pointed to the female corpse, "She's as strong as an ox, help me withstand a wave."

The female corpse frowned, preparing to retort.

"Do you want to go out for a walk?" Xu Qinglang raised his eyebrows.

The words on the female corpse's lips immediately disappeared, and her face instantly bloomed with a smile.

She hadn't left the bookstore for a single step these days.

Helpless, Zhou Ze could only nod in agreement. He didn't trust the female corpse to run out alone. Don't be fooled by her current appearance as a considerate maidservant. You can never know what's in a person's heart, let alone a zombie without a "heart?"

Zhou Ze even believed that if his abilities disappeared one day, the first one to eat his flesh and blood might be this female corpse who was now so servile to him.

The three of them took a taxi to the Confucian Temple. It would be an exaggeration to say that there were mountains of people outside the Confucian Temple, but it was surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside.

Ah, the hearts of parents all over the world.

Xu Qinglang met up with his relative's couple outside the Confucian Temple, two middle-aged people who looked very honest and kind.

Their son, of course, didn't come. Everyone was here to compete for a good omen, but no one was really crazy enough to believe that it would really guarantee success in the exam. Basically, there were no people of student age to be seen on the scene; they should all be studying at home or something.

The Tongcheng Confucian Temple was "cleaned" after the New Year. As for why it wasn't done before the New Year, it might be that the masters and gentlemen in the Confucian Temple felt that competing for incense with those demons and goblins during the New Year would be demeaning.

It was better to do it after the New Year,

to let them see how deserted and lonely they were, while his place was crowded with believers, showing off his class.

As for the specific reasons and how things were in other parts of the country, Zhou Ze didn't know. The meaning of customs is just inexplicable rules; who can explain them clearly?

Just like the incident of the son's wife at a public wedding in a neighboring city of Tongcheng that had been making a lot of noise on the Internet recently, which could even be linked to so-called customs, there was even less reason to explain it.

With a "creak,"

the mahogany door was opened,

and for a moment, the parents waiting outside transformed into "ferocious beasts" and rushed into the Confucian Temple.

The female corpse took the lead, Xu Qinglang followed closely with his relatives' couple, with the momentum of Zhao Zilong at Changban Slope.

Zhou Ze didn't join in the fun; he just squatted on the curb outside the door smoking a cigarette.

As he was smoking, Zhou Ze unexpectedly discovered that the cigarette in his hand had suddenly gone out.

Zhou Ze relit it, but the cigarette he smoked next suddenly became tasteless.

"Heh heh." Zhou Ze threw the cigarette butt down and looked around. He knew that his cigarette had been taken as incense by someone.

Not eating pure incense, not caring about offerings,

just for a puff of mortal smoke,

who knows which demon or goblin it was.

Zhou Ze naturally didn't have the anger of "Damn, how dare you steal my cigarette?" He was still a stowaway a month ago, and only became a probationary worker half a month later.

He didn't have any of the domineering aura of "When a dog gets promoted to heaven, even the chickens and dogs go with him" or "I own this road."

"Clang!"

A gong sounded,

so abrupt and so ear-piercing on this night.

Zhou Ze looked in the direction of the sound.

In the flower garden behind the Confucian Temple, a short, dwarfish old man walked out. The old man was holding a copper gong, had a cigarette in his mouth, and was hopping out.

The old man even glanced at Zhou Ze, opened his mouth, and exhaled a smoke ring, as if to show his thanks for Zhou Ze's cigarette.

Zhou Ze also smiled,

and lit all the remaining cigarettes in his hand, placing them one by one on the ground, leaving only one for himself to smoke.

Soon, the cigarettes placed on the ground went out. The dwarfish old man jumped even more happily, seemingly becoming more and more fond of this junior who knew how to handle things. His small pocket was bulging, presumably full of cigarettes.

The dwarfish old man cleared the way with his copper gong,

and behind him, a group of people slowly followed.

Not the parents who had just squeezed into the Confucian Temple,

but a group of people in bizarre costumes.

The first few were wearing feather fans and silk scarves, staggering, with pale faces, following the old man's footsteps and slowly moving forward.

After them were two people with greasy braids, with dull eyes, still following the old man forward.

After that, the clothes of some people became more and more modern. The last few were even wearing modern clothes, no different from ordinary high school students.

However, some of them had pale green faces, and some had shattered skulls.

Out of professional habit, Zhou Ze quickly analyzed that the last few students had either died from taking poison or jumping off buildings.

There was one that Zhou Ze found a little familiar. He seemed to have seen his photo when he was browsing the news a few years ago. Because of a poor performance on a mock exam, he jumped off a building and committed suicide due to pressure.

The dwarfish old man walked forward while striking the copper gong. The "scholars and students" behind him followed them like puppets on strings.

They were like a parade,

circling around the Confucian Temple.

And the nearby pedestrians,

except for Zhou Ze, no one could see them.

"Bang!"

With a gong sound,

"Living in peace doesn't require high-rise buildings; books contain houses of gold!" the dwarfish old man shouted in a hoarse voice.

"Bang!"

Another gong sound,

"Marrying a wife doesn't require a good matchmaker; books contain faces like jade!"

The dwarfish old man continued to shout.

After walking around the Confucian Temple three times,

this bizarre team slowly disappeared.

Soon after,

the parents who had finished offering incense began to walk out of the Confucian Temple.

Their faces were filled with satisfaction,

with anticipation,

with the earnest hope that their children would become dragons.