Chapter 1 The Man's Choice

The man was silent, lost in thought for a moment.

Zhou Ze had initially believed he would transform into a vengeful ghost, much like the souls of the victims burned alive in his bookstore by the delivery boy.

The existence of a ghost, once transformed into a vengeful spirit, solidifies its obsession, completely severing the path of reincarnation, with the only outcome being dissipation.

It’s somewhat like a person taking a dose of stimulants a hundred times greater than normal in a short period; of course, they’ll be high as a kite, but after the high, it's time to prepare the shroud.

However, the man before him seemed rather calm.

Very lost, very bewildered, very helpless, and also very conflicted.

He turned to look at the Confucian Temple behind him and sighed, "So, to the sages, I, who grew up reading their books, am no different from those down-and-out failures of the imperial examinations?"

He had thought himself unique, that fortune was on his side, even the ghost judges couldn't determine his fate, but in the end, it was all just his own high self-regard.

In truth, he should have realized it sooner; otherwise, he wouldn't have been detained here for hundreds of years, wandering around aimlessly, without even self-awareness, simply following the night watchmen around the Confucian Temple, generation after generation.

The man looked at Zhou Ze. "Do you think I deserve to die?"

Zhou Ze didn't answer.

"I had a friend, surnamed Liu, who, upon learning that the late Emperor had hanged himself on Coal Hill, led his entire family to commit suicide in their home to follow the late Emperor."

The man spoke softly,

"The day before the incident, he had a granddaughter, only thirteen years old, who secretly ran to my mansion, seeking my protection; her mother was a concubine, seeking a chance for her to live.

Then my old friend came to my door himself and took his granddaughter away.

In the end, the Liu family, more than twenty people in total, all hanged themselves for their country, and that little granddaughter was stabbed to death with a treasured sword; she didn't want to die, but she still died."

The man smiled. "Do you think that was right?"

This time, Zhou Ze didn't remain silent but said, "She shouldn't have died."

"Yes, she shouldn't have died, so I believe that whether to live or die, everyone has their own considerations; I knew my family didn't want to die, my children didn't want to die, so I had to grit my teeth and live, to keep living.

I'm not just living for myself, I have to live for them, this whole family.

Furthermore, during my tenure in the subsequent dynasty, I saved countless lives and reduced a lot of bloodshed.

It's like how Li Shimin knew that after the Xuanwu Gate incident, he was destined to leave an indelible stain on history, so he worked hard to be a wise and good emperor.

That was my mindset back then.

I always felt that doing more good deeds, saving more people, even if I couldn't die for my country, at least keeping my useful body to do things beneficial to the country and its people, would be a way to compensate for my faults."

The man said a lot; clearly, he was unconvinced.

Ancient scholars called themselves disciples of the sages because they read the sages' books and learned their principles, but now it was very clear that the figures in the Confucian Temple had branded him as an unfilial son.

He had been a high-ranking official of the previous dynasty, but the treatment he received after death was the same as those who failed the imperial examinations and committed suicide in the Confucian Temple.

This already illustrated the sages' attitude.

Zhou Ze slowly crouched down, looked at the man before him, and thought for a moment before saying, "What you just said sounds a bit familiar; less than a hundred years ago, someone said something similar.

His name was Wang Jingwei.

He became a traitor during a time of national crisis, aiding the enemy, glorifying it as a policy of saving the nation through a roundabout route."

The man opened his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but didn't know where to start.

"You went from being an Imperial Censor in the previous dynasty to a high-ranking official in the subsequent dynasty; there's no need to make excuses for yourself anymore.

The most essential reason is actually very simple:

The water was too cold."

Upon hearing this, the man revealed an expression of shame and anger, glaring at Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze spread out his hand, his nails growing out, and then he drew a circle with the mark on his right palm, opening the Gate to Hell.

"Please, what you want is a dignified exit, isn't it? Walk in yourself.

If I personally grab you, then even that last bit of dignity will be gone."

The man stood up, walking forward step by step, and before stepping into that door, he gave Zhou Ze one last meaningful look:

"Do you think the water is cold?"

"It's good to have a clear conscience."

The man revealed a look of contemplation, then shook his head, not knowing whether he had figured it out in the end, but he still took that step and entered the door.

Zhou Ze waved his hand, the door vanished, and everything here ended.

It seemed he also had to thank that official for swallowing all the scholar ghosts nearby, saving Zhou Ze a lot of trouble.

"Boss, is it over just like that?" the female corpse said with great disappointment. "I thought you were going to beat him up."

"Whether I beat him up or not is meaningless." Zhou Ze took a deep look at the Confucian Temple not far ahead and said, "Besides, the sages in the Confucian Temple have already detained him here for hundreds of years; the punishment has already been given."

Bai Yingying pouted. "Looks like these clay statues in the Confucian Temple are somewhat useful after all; they're not all blind."

"Yes, they detained the soul of that former dynasty's Imperial Censor here because they felt that this Censor wasn't one of their disciples, doing shameless things, losing their face, and needing punishment.

They punished him,

And then, the dynasty changed, the Ming became the Qing, many things changed, but the Confucian Temple was still the Confucian Temple, and these sage clay statue masters still enjoyed the incense offerings of the new dynasty."

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

"Boss, you're getting more and more philosophical; are those clay statues in the temple good things or bad things?"

Bai Yingying still remembered that last time she helped someone grab the first incense stick and entered the Confucian Temple, she had a feeling of being "stared at," which was very uncomfortable.

"Just a thing, I guess."

They took a taxi, and it was already ten o'clock when they returned to the bookstore, but generally, this was Zhou Ze's real business hours.

Probably because there were fewer ghosts during the day and more ghosts active at night.

He had earned a bit of hell money these days, but after sending out the video last time, Zhou Ze burned a lot of hell money to avoid trouble.

That video, of course, couldn't be used as direct evidence, but as long as it made the relevant parties aware of the truth of the matter and put in some effort to investigate seriously, the truth wouldn't be hard to uncover.

That video was just a trigger; it couldn't be used as real evidence.

Zhou Ze didn't read a book but wore headphones listening to music, casually flipping through some news, while Bai Yingying was sitting behind Zhou Ze playing games on her phone.

The master and servant, each enjoying their own pleasures; in the eyes of the man next door who was more beautiful than a woman, this was a sign of depravity!

The bookstore door was pushed open late at night, and a girl walked in, leading a Corgi dog.

A familiar girl, a familiar Corgi.

Zhou Ze stood up and poured her a glass of water; as the first VIP customer, she deserved this service.

Zhou Ze also leaned in to take a look;

The person was alive,

The dog was also alive.

It was indeed rare for a living person to enter his bookstore late at night.

"Boss, my dog has been found, you know."

"Congratulations," Zhou Ze said.

The Corgi dog excitedly circled Zhou Ze twice, then ran wildly toward Bai Yingying.

Bai Yingying was playing Honor of Kings, and was startled by this dog, and immediately glared at it, the Corgi dog was immediately dumbfounded.

As the saying goes, dogs look down on people, but in reality, dogs can see things that people can't.

Immediately, the dog collapsed on the ground, and shit and urine came out in one go.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Boss, I'm so sorry." The girl immediately stood up, preparing to clean up.

"It's okay." Zhou Ze signaled the girl to calm down, and then said to Bai Yingying, "Clean it up."

Bai Yingying put down her phone and went to the bathroom with a resentful face to get a mop and a rag.

"Boss, your bookstore's business hasn't been doing well, right?" The girl pulled her dog back to her feet and didn't allow it to run around.

Of course, this guy didn't dare to run around either, not even daring to breathe loudly.

"Just getting by," Zhou Ze said.

"Last time, thanks to you telling me the dog's location, I was able to find the person who took it and pay to redeem it."

"How much did you spend?"

"More than ten thousand, they refused to return it, saying it was raised by them, but after negotiating the price, they still returned the dog to me."

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Boss, I think you can add more things to this bookstore, like these chairs, they're really uncomfortable to sit on, you can change them to sofas."

If I had the money, I'd like to change them too.

"How about I invest and you fix this place up?" The girl stroked the dog's head and said to Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze knew that she simply wanted to repay him, so it wouldn't matter even if she lost money playing around, but Zhou Ze couldn't agree.

He couldn't ask her, "Do you mind receiving hell money as a dividend?"

Hell money that can accumulate merit when burned?

When that Taoist priest said this to him, Zhou Ze regarded him as a fool,

Um,

So Zhou Ze didn't want to be regarded as a fool by the girl in front of him either.

Just then, a "laugh" came from the noodle shop next door, followed by Xu Qinglang, wearing pajamas and in a seductive posture, running out, coming to the bookstore next door, and shouting to Zhou Ze and Bai Yingying who was wiping dog poop:

"I won, I won the lottery, one hundred thousand!"

Xu Qinglang was very happy, and when people are happy, they always want to share; the only place he could find living people nearby was the bookstore next door.

However, it seemed like the two in the bookstore next door weren't living people either…

"Congratulations, congratulations," Zhou Ze congratulated.

"Tsk tsk, buy me a bag, Boss Xu." Bai Yingying took the opportunity to get some lucky money.

"A small thing, a small thing." Xu Qinglang began to feign modesty, and then, seeing that there was actually a young and beautiful girl next to him, he immediately became even more reserved and said:

"It's only one hundred thousand yuan, after tax, it's only eighty thousand, it's just a bit of pocket money, for someone like me who has twenty-something resettlement houses in the Shiqiao District, it's just a drop in the bucket, it doesn't really have any impact on my life."

"Shiqiao District?" the girl asked.

"Yes," Xu Qinglang replied.

Shiqiao District was close to the city center, and the house prices there were higher than in other places, so naturally he could be more smug, oh no, he could be more subtle.

"Oh, that should be my family's neighborhood."

"Your family lives there too?" Xu Qinglang smiled even more brightly. "Maybe we can go out for coffee together sometime?"

"My family doesn't live there."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, the company that demolished your house and compensated you with resettlement housing should be my family's company."

"............" Xu Qinglang.