Chapter 11 Waking Up

Muddled, yet sensing the outside world, but with a heavy, dizzy head. He felt he should be able to fall asleep, but couldn't manage it. This feeling of being half-asleep, half-awake, was the most agonizing.

Zhou Ze had once heard Tang Shi say that she had tried everything to fall asleep. Sleeping pills and anesthetics were child's play, but apart from making herself muddled and her body almost collapse, it had no effect on her sleep whatsoever.

A person who crawled out of hell was like a fish out of water. Without the environment of hell, he was extremely uncomfortable.

His head felt like it was about to explode, as if he was constantly having nightmares, going back and forth in dream after dream. He couldn't say what he had dreamed about, he had forgotten everything, even without the slightest impression. The only thing he remembered was how uncomfortable and painful he felt.

It seemed the drug's effects were slowly wearing off.

Zhou Ze slowly opened his eyes.

Fatigue.

Deep fatigue.

Followed by aches and pains all over his body.

"You're awake."

Xu Qinglang's voice came from the side.

Zhou Ze turned his head and saw Xu Qinglang had just wrung out a wet towel and was wiping his face.

The wound on his chest had been bandaged. It shouldn't be a big problem. The most important thing was that, who knew, that old man Cui had actually poisoned it.

Xu Qinglang also had several bandaged wounds, especially around his neck, which was wrapped in a thick layer.

Zhou Ze was puzzled and asked, "What happened to you?"

"After you killed it last night, the walking corpse suddenly jumped up again. Luckily, I managed to deal with it."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Zhou Ze nodded and sat up in bed, only then realizing that they were still in old man Cui's mud house.

"Old man Cui and that murderous jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampire), they're in cahoots." Zhou Ze said.

"Mm." Xu Qinglang didn't seem too surprised. In fact, when old man Cui used the appearance of the walking corpse to escape, this idea had already become clear.

"How are you feeling?"

"A bit of a headache."

As he spoke, Zhou Ze got out of bed, gently patting his forehead with his hand. His head was still a little uncomfortable.

"Wuu wuu wuu..."

A whimpering sound came. It was the male householder.

"He..." Zhou Ze pointed at the male householder and asked.

"Oh, when you were sitting on the balcony, this kid wanted to chop you with an axe, so I knocked him out, and then I tied him up. I burned some ghost money, so we shouldn't have any trouble for now. After all, we didn't kill those people.

I didn't dispose of the corpses in that house either. I didn't want to overdo it, and besides, it's not that easy to dispose of them."

Hearing this, Zhou Ze got up and walked to the male householder.

Honestly, this male householder deserved sympathy. He had all the elements that would elicit sympathy.

First of all,

He had a mother who loved him even in death,

Who turned into a jiangshi after death to come and talk to him,

His wife and son had also just died,

His two friends had also died,

That "San'er" he mentioned should have been the walking corpse from last night,

And,

He had lost a lot of money last night.

But for some reason, Zhou Ze couldn't sympathize with him.

He reached out and removed the dirty cloth strip from the other's mouth.

As soon as his mouth was free, he wanted to shout "Help!"

But Zhou Ze slapped him.

"Smack!"

"Hel..."

"Smack!"

"Hel..."

"Smack!"

"..."

"Smack!"

With the last slap, the other man was obviously honest, not daring to shout anymore, but Zhou Ze's slap still landed.

The other man suddenly felt very aggrieved.

Me yelling at you to hit me is understandable,

I'm not yelling anymore, I'm admitting defeat, why are you still slapping me?

Zhou Ze was stunned for a moment, then apologized:

"Sorry, I just woke up, I'm a bit grumpy in the morning, I just wanted to slap someone to vent."

"..." The male householder.

He found a small stool and sat down.

Xu Qinglang brought in a plate of vegetable fried rice from outside.

"Old man Cui is too lazy, he doesn't even raise chickens or ducks at home, he can't make anything better, just make do with it."

Zhou Ze took the chopsticks and bowl, and said somewhat awkwardly, "I didn't bring the Bianhua (lycoris radiata) oral solution."

Because Boss Zhou didn't expect things here to get so serious, nor did he expect to be delayed for so long, so he didn't bring his eating utensils.

Xu Qinglang sighed, seemingly having expected this, reached into his pocket,

And took out a bottle of sour plum juice,

And placed it on the table.

Zhou Ze was stunned for a moment, then smiled.

"It's been a few days since I had this stuff, I kind of missed it."

After a mouthful of sour plum juice, taking advantage of the sourness, Zhou Ze began to gobble up the rice, like a prisoner just released from jail.

For some inexplicable reason,

Zhou Ze felt that eating like this, wolfing it down, was more enjoyable. Indeed, some habits, once formed, were hard to change back, whether that habit was good or bad in the eyes of others.

After eating,

Zhou Ze tapped the male householder's head with his chopsticks. Lao Xu hadn't given this guy anything to eat or drink while he was tied up here, but his mental willpower was very strong. After experiencing such a tragedy, he was still able to maintain this tenacious state of life, which was truly admirable.

"What's your name?"

"Sun Kewang."

"When did your mother die?"

"Four years ago."

This man named Sun Kewang showed an unusual level of cooperation at this time. Last night's scene may have flattened all the thorns on his body. Perhaps the moment when he picked up the axe to chop Zhou Ze was the last display of courage, but it was disrupted by Xu Qinglang's timely arrival.

Some things, you can do it once, but not again.

"Four years ago."

Zhou Ze savored this answer.

He believed this should be bloodline revenge. The ancestors who turned into jiangshi came out from underground, and their first reaction was to find their direct relatives to kill. That old woman was the same.

"Where was your mother buried?"

"At the ancestral grave near the village entrance."

"Buried in the ground?"

"Yes, buried in the ground."

Zhou Ze shook his head. If she had been cremated, there wouldn't be so much trouble.

"Envious?" Xu Qinglang asked from the side while drinking water, not forgetting to add insult to injury.

"What am I envious of?"

"Envious that they were buried in the ground, but when you came back, you could only hold your own ashes, unable to admire your own glorious beauty from your previous life."

"Hehe."

"Oh, I forgot, you don't even have ashes."

"..." Zhou Ze.

"Okay, you continue to ask, I won't interrupt."

"It's okay, let's chat for a while. Lao Xu, do you think I'll die first or you'll die first?"

"You're a ghost messenger, so I'll definitely die first." Xu Qinglang replied.

"Then who will hold my funeral?"

"..." Lao Xu.

"Do you prefer rice soaked in bone ash soup, or bone ash curry chicken leg rice?"

"..." Lao Xu.

In the past, Zhou Ze had indeed seen this kind of statement in pulp fiction, saying that the country was promoting cremation to prevent the appearance of jiangshi, which was basically nonsense, but on the other hand, it made a lot of sense, that is, the promotion of cremation did reduce the probability of jiangshi appearing.

If a corpse is turned into ashes, even if you have a big problem, you can't pour some water and mix some cement to reshape your body, right?

"Your mother was buried four years ago, not too late. When the village moved the graves before, didn't you see your mother's ashes?" Xu Qinglang asked.

"I didn't see them."

"How could you not see them? It's understandable if the old graves can't be found, but yours is..." Xu Qinglang suddenly thought of something, "You didn't use a coffin when you buried her?"

Sun Kewang shook his head.

"You're really filial." Xu Qinglang mocked.

In this day and age, burial is illegal in most areas. Some stubborn people who insist on burial also want to pursue a decent burial, but Sun Kewang's approach of burying his mother without even preparing a coffin was really incomprehensible.

"By the way, the most important question hasn't been asked yet, how did your mother die?" Zhou Ze asked.

This was the key to the problem.

It was certain that his mother had a thing for old man Cui. This tunnel was the best proof.

If old man Cui hadn't appeared before, Zhou Ze would have solved the problem long ago.

Sun Kewang hesitated for a moment, and finally answered with difficulty:

"She died of illness."

"Smack!"

Zhou Ze slapped him.

A crisp slap,

An impatient slap,

Which was enough to show that Boss Zhou's morning grumpiness hadn't been vented yet.

"The feeling of slapping you just now was so good, I haven't had enough fun yet, thank you for giving me this opportunity again."

As he spoke, Zhou Ze brought his face close to Sun Kewang's face, pointed to Xu Qinglang next to him:

"Do you think he's so beautiful that he's easy to deceive?"

"..." Xu Qinglang.

Sun Kewang shook his head.

"Smack!"

Another slap.

"Can't speak anymore?" Zhou Ze asked.

Sun Kewang's face was almost swollen from Zhou Ze's slaps.

In the past 24 hours, he had already suffered the most tragic blows, but at this moment, he still had to face Zhou Ze's almost playful torment. He had actually collapsed long ago.

"I can."

"Okay, tell me again, how did your mother die?"

"She died of ill..."

"Smack!"

A slap.

"Continue to answer."

"She... she was... my fault... it was all my fault..."

"Smack!"

"Please don't add emotional embellishments and foreshadowing, get straight to the point."

"I killed her."

Zhou Ze straightened up and stretched.

It wasn't that Zhou Ze was insightful and had already seen through everything, but this guy's acting skills were terrible. When he first answered how his mother died, he was hesitant and stammering. Even those traffic-grabbing little fresh meat actors that are criticized online were better than him.

"Why did you kill your mother?"

"She was pregnant."

Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang exchanged glances.

That old woman, was she in her sixties or seventies?

"Can she still get pregnant at such an old age?"

Xu Qinglang asked Zhou Ze, Zhou Ze was a doctor in his previous life after all, he knew more about it.

"There have been cases of women in their sixties giving birth in China, and there have been cases of women in their seventies abroad." Zhou Ze replied, "But it's very dangerous."

Sun Kewang seemed to have entered a state. His current mental state was a bit crazy. Before Zhou Ze could continue to ask, he gritted his teeth and continued:

"At such an old age, she was still messing around with men, getting herself pregnant, and even told me that she wanted to live with that gigolo, begging me to let her live with him even if we didn't get a marriage certificate or have a ceremony!

Her belly was already big,

Where would I put my face as a son,

I told her to abort the child,

But she refused,

Hahahaha,

So I, with a few of my friends,

Put her…

Put her…

Put her with a blanket,

Smothered her to death!"