Chapter 128 Movie and Dog

Doctor Lin got out of the car, and Zhou Ze happened to be walking over. They seemed to have a tacit understanding, not saying a word, silently heading towards the other entrance of the mall.

This mall was already "dead." Besides Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang’s small shop still being open, only a movie theater and a buffet restaurant remained.

Of course, limited by the overall situation, the movie theater was probably operating at a loss. Not many people went there to watch movies on weekdays; buying a ticket easily meant having the entire theater to oneself.

However, it was the Chinese New Year holiday, and most people were on vacation. Families coming out to watch movies together became common, adding a touch of unusual popularity to the movie theater that had already become icily deserted.

However, in Zhou Ze's eyes, this kind of liveliness seemed like a final burst of glory.

The building was about to collapse; this could be considered a case of no intact eggs under an overturned nest.

Zhou Ze bought the tickets and a couple's combo. After checking the time, he walked into the movie theater with Doctor Lin.

Because they arrived a little late, and Zhou Ze had bought tickets for the most recent showing, good seats were all gone. Zhou Ze and Doctor Lin could only sit in the front row.

It wasn't that they couldn't wait, but there was nothing else to do in this mall. Besides, this movie, *Neon Street Detective 2*, was a 2D film, so sitting in the front row wouldn't be too much of an issue.

Doctor Lin hadn't said much along the way. Now, she sat extremely quietly next to Zhou Ze, gently crossing her long legs and looking up at the screen.

Zhou Ze offered her the popcorn, but Doctor Lin shook her head, indicating that she didn't want any.

Zhou Ze sighed. For someone who had been a bachelor his entire previous life, how to woo a girl was truly an unfamiliar subject.

The movie had some good jokes, and Zhou Ze occasionally laughed. Doctor Lin also laughed from time to time, but her laughter wasn't very loud, very subtle, and very beautiful.

But for Zhou Ze, the atmosphere of this movie was still somewhat different from what he had expected.

A little bland, like it hadn't been salted.

When the movie ended, Zhou Ze and Doctor Lin walked out side by side. It was only seven o'clock in the evening, not too late, but after leaving the movie theater area, the rest of the mall was pitch black.

Doctor Lin remained silent, just walking along.

Zhou Ze wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say.

He was the one who had said yesterday that he wanted to end things and say goodbye. If he acted too enthusiastic now, would she think he was crazy?

"Go to my bookstore..."

"Sit a while at your bookstore..."

The two seemed to be trying to break the awkwardness and thought of the same thing.

Back at the Late Night Bookstore, Zhou Ze found that the noodle shop was closed, and the rolling door was pulled down, which was rare. He didn't know if Xu Qinglang was still in the store.

Doctor Lin chose a magazine and sat down in the chair behind the counter. Zhou Ze also took a book and sat next to her, flipping through it casually.

Two cups of hot tea were placed on the counter, wisps of smoke rising from them.

Zhou Ze suddenly felt that he had no right to mock Xu Le anymore, because he found that he had made his first date so artistic and so polite that it was rare!

So rare that he wanted to slap himself as a reward!

"Not closing up yet?" Doctor Lin asked. Actually, the unspoken meaning was that she wanted to leave. After all, it was evening, and as long as Zhou Ze closed up, she could say goodbye smoothly.

"Oh, I usually open for business at night," Zhou Ze said, not catching her meaning. He was telling the truth.

Doctor Lin was momentarily speechless, and could only smile, gently smoothing a strand of hair by her ear, and continue reading her book.

"Creak..."

The bookstore door was pushed open, and two men and a woman walked in.

The three weren't very old, in their early twenties. The two men had obviously been drinking, and one of them was quite drunk, his face flushed.

"Boss, do you have water?" the woman asked.

Zhou Ze pointed to the water dispenser on the wall.

The woman poured a few cups of hot water and handed them to her friends, then walked to the counter and asked,

"How much?"

As she spoke, the woman took out her phone, seemingly preparing to scan the QR code to pay.

"Thirty," Zhou Ze replied.

"Boss, you can't rip people off like this during the New Year. Charging thirty for three cups of purified water," the woman joked, but still scanned the code and paid. Then she turned to her two male companions and said, "Let's rest here for a while and read some books."

They were treating the bookstore as a temporary resting place. Zhou Ze's 30 yuan charge was like a minimum consumption fee for entering a teahouse, which was understandable.

"Read books? What books?"

The tipsy man shouted loudly at this moment,

"I want to read ghost stories, horror novels. Do you have any in this store?"

The man laughed to himself as he spoke.

Zhou Ze sighed, took out two collections of horror novels from under the counter, walked to the man, handed them to him, and casually touched him with his fingers.

Yes, he was human, not a ghost.

Tonight's date was already a failure.

If he let Doctor Lin experience another "Night of a Hundred Ghosts" like the last time with those five migrant worker brothers, that would be the end. Zhou Ze didn't want that.

Being human was good, they were cute to look at, even if he was drunk.

Zhou Ze didn't bother touching the other two, it wasn't convenient.

The drunk man sat down. His two friends, a man and a woman, also sat down on plastic stools. The three of them played on their phones and flipped through books casually.

They figured the 30 yuan minimum consumption fee should at least look worthwhile.

"What kind of crap are these ghost stories?"

The man threw the book, which landed next to the water dispenser.

The woman picked up the book and found that some water had spilled out when she poured water earlier, and the cover and some of the pages were wet.

"Boss, how much?"

"Marked price, twenty percent off," Zhou Ze said, amused. These three young people were quite well-mannered.

Of course, Zhou Ze hoped that the drunk man would quickly throw all the books off his shelves, and get them all dirty, so he could clear out his stock.

The woman paid with some resignation and walked to the drunk man,

"Let's go, don't go crazy."

"This isn't a ghost story. The person who wrote it has definitely never seen a ghost," the drunk man insisted.

Zhou Ze gently "hmm"ed. *You should have seen a ghost. It's right in front of you.*

"I'm not going back, I'm definitely not going back! I don't plan to sleep tonight!" The man continued ranting drunkenly. "I see ghosts when I go home, I see ghosts when I sleep, I might as well stay in this bookstore and read all night.

At least,

I won't encounter a ghost!"

"............" Zhou Ze.

At this moment, Doctor Lin also put down the book in her hand and looked at the drunk man. Clearly, she found this quite interesting.

"Hey, Brother Liu, you have ghosts at your house?" the man who came in with the drunk man joked at this time.

The woman glanced at him, signaling him not to talk nonsense.

"Screw you! You're the one with ghosts at your house!"

The drunk man stood up,

"Damn it, that ghost only knows to mess with me during the New Year. It doesn't care about anyone else. We have three brothers, plus a sister, plus my parents and my grandparents, it doesn't bother any of them, just me!"

"A female ghost?" his companion asked again.

"If only it were a female ghost, it's a female dog!"

"Pfft!"

The drunk man's two companions subconsciously laughed.

Even Zhou Ze and Doctor Lin lowered their heads and coughed a few times, but it was indeed very funny.

Especially the drunk man's face full of grievances when he said it wasn't a female ghost but a female dog.

*Baby's heart is bitter,*

*Baby's drunk and wants to confide!*

"Every New Year, for those few days, it comes looking for me! As long as I go to sleep, it comes, damn it!"

Although the drunk man was ranting, he was still in control and didn't seem scary. Instead, people found him quite amusing.

"It's been coming on time every year for the past seven years, more punctual than my parents giving me New Year's money!" The man hugged his head and squatted on the ground, crying. "Damn it, I can't live like this!"

"What's going on? That dog, do you know it?" his companion asked.

"It's the dog my family used to raise. Because it took out the money my dad put under the bed and chewed it up, my brothers and I killed it and ate its meat."

"That dog must be unconvinced, coming back for revenge," his companion analyzed.

"The hell I know why it only looks for me? When we killed the dog, it was me, my brothers, my dad, and my grandpa!

When we ate the dog meat, the whole family ate together, just treating it as another dish for the New Year!

That dog ruined five thousand yuan, it deserved to be eaten!

But why does it only hate me?"

The drunk man almost cried, "I asked my brothers, including my dad and my grandpa, nothing happens to them, why does it only target me?"

"You're drunk, let's go, I'll take you home." The woman helped the man up, signaling his companion to help.

The group walked out of the bookstore.

The liveliness suddenly turned to desolation.

"What do you think, why is that?" Doctor Lin looked at Zhou Ze, not caring about the truth or falsehood, just chatting idly after hearing a story. "Why does that dog only mess with him? Does he have something special about him?"

"You're very interested in this?" Zhou Ze asked, surprised.

"Yes," Doctor Lin nodded.

Zhou Ze smiled, "Actually, it's very simple. A dog, if you want to understand its thinking, you must first put yourself in its place."

"How so?" Doctor Lin asked with a smile, "It's hard to empathize."

Yes, how could a person empathize with a dog's thinking?

"The dog's soul comes back for revenge, to mess with people, because it has grievances," Zhou Ze explained. "It should be the same with people."

"Then why doesn't it take revenge on the rest of the family?"

"Perhaps, it's because of that money. The dog was naughty, and chewed up some of it, but some of it might have been stolen by this guy when he was younger.

So the dog felt it was very unfair. It tore up the money, was punished, was killed, and had its meat eaten. It felt that was justified and should be.

But why,

Did that person also steal the money, get rid of some of it, but nothing happened to him?

So it was unconvinced. It didn't take revenge on the rest of the family, it specifically went to take revenge on him."

Doctor Lin shook her head, somewhat surprised, "It was just a story from a drunkard's drunken words, but after your analysis, it feels like it's a true story."

Zhou Ze walked to where the group had been sitting and found a wallet on the ground. He picked it up and walked to the door of the store.

At this moment, the female companion came running over.

"I'm sorry, there's a..."

Zhou Ze handed her the wallet.

"Thank you!" The woman bowed to Zhou Ze to express her gratitude. "If this guy goes home tonight and loses his wallet and ID, his family will scold him again."

"It's nothing," Zhou Ze waved his hand.

The woman also waved to Zhou Ze, then turned to catch up with her companions ahead.

In the moonlight,

As the woman ran,

Under her coat,

It seemed like a furry yellow tail was swaying gently...