Chapter 1 A Little Ripple

Zhou Ze woke up.

This event didn't cause much of a stir in the bookstore.

Xu Qinglang was still applying a facial mask and massaging his face.

The old Taoist was still streaming, with the monkey helping him film.

Deadpool continued to sit in the corner of the bookstore, and he wouldn't get up and move unless something was dirty.

Even Bai Yingying was still playing chicken in her room until the game ended, and then she took off her headset and came to Zhou Ze's separate bedroom.

The boss woke up.

Business as usual, because the boss often slept.

You can't blame the store's employees for being so indifferent. If you were in a company where the boss disappeared for half a month or a month without waking up, you would become as lazy... and degenerate as them.

With Bai Yingying's help, Zhou Ze took a shower, changed his clothes, and sat in his familiar spot by the window on the ground floor.

The sun was bright and pleasant, but Zhou Ze felt like he hadn't "awakened" long ago.

He should try to avoid this kind of sudden coma for half a month in the future. Otherwise, people live for a month, but he only lives for two days. Their lifespans are obviously the same, but he always feels like he's losing out.

Most importantly, Zhou Ze was a little afraid to let that consciousness awaken again.

Basking in the warm sunshine, Zhou Ze pondered.

The prerequisite for not letting that consciousness awaken again was that he couldn't fall into an embarrassing and dangerous situation again, a predicament that exceeded his current ability to solve and encounter.

And in order to prevent himself from falling into a helpless and dangerous situation, he needed to know enough to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and avoid trouble.

And the prerequisite for not attracting too much trouble was that he had to be calm enough, learn to avoid trouble, and prevent trouble from finding him.

So,

He still had to be a salted fish.

Being a salted fish was the way to go.

He had to be more determined and thoroughly be a salted fish.

Not seeing, not hearing, not going out.

Basking in the sun every day, comfortably drinking coffee, resolutely not getting involved in things and not letting things get involved with him.

Boss Zhou previously felt that being a salted fish was comfortable and was his choice.

Now, being a salted fish had truly become a survival principle.

However, as soon as Boss Zhou woke up, while Bai Yingying was making coffee for Zhou Ze, trouble came.

Zhang Yanfeng entered.

According to Bai Yingying when he was taking a bath, he had come every two days for the past three weeks, and they had been using the excuse that the boss was on a business trip to fob him off.

This time, Zhang Yanfeng saw Zhou Ze as soon as he entered, and immediately walked over.

Zhou Ze lowered his head, lay sideways on the sofa, closed his eyes, and didn't want to see him.

"Have you seen the news? The excavation work there is over, revealing Japan's crimes in China back then, causing a national uproar." As he spoke, Zhang Yanfeng's expression was a little awkward. "It's just that the Japanese who died tragically in the institute ruins make this publicity a bit awkward."

"Are there any remains of your relatives?"

"It's hard to find. Doing DNA identification one by one would be too much work and too expensive. Moreover, there's a crematorium there, so maybe my relative was burned to ashes long ago."

"It's good that you can see it that way."

"The day the excavation work ended, I dreamed at night that the chains on my feet were gone, as if a knot in my heart had been untied." Zhang Yanfeng said with a smile.

"Congratulations, congratulations."

"By the way, where have you been lately? I've come to find you many times, and your employees all say you're not here."

"I went to borrow money.

You know, it's really hard to run a bookstore on South Street. I have feelings for this bookstore, so I need to borrow money to maintain its operation and existence.

Alas, but I didn't borrow much."

"Um..." Zhang Yanfeng touched the back of his hand awkwardly and said, "That's a pity. I don't have much money, otherwise I would definitely lend it to you."

At this time, Bai Yingying brought Zhou Ze's coffee over and placed it on the table.

Zhang Yanfeng thought it was coffee prepared for guests, said "thank you" and picked it up and drank it himself.

The corner of Zhou Ze's mouth twitched,

His heart was bleeding.

"I'm going out to borrow money, I can't delay, so I won't entertain you."

Zhou Ze directly issued an eviction order.

"Um, I came to you because I have something to do."

I know you have something to do, that's why I'm letting you leave!

Boss Zhou covered his temples with both hands and said painfully:

"Headache, my head hurts so much, money, can't borrow money, bitter, worried, difficult..."

"The matter of money is not urgent."

"..." Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze really wanted to point at the other person's nose and curse.

The matter of money is not urgent?

I believe you are a selfless and good people's policeman, but doesn't your conscience hurt when you say that?

"At first, I came to you for the excavation work, and then because I thought of a case on hand that had been stalled for a long time without progress.

You said before that if I encounter a very suspenseful case, I can come to you and try it out, so I..."

"Did I say that?" Zhou Ze asked immediately.

"You said it, that day in the park."

"That can't be taken seriously, and at that time I had just been arrested by you and put in the detention center. I was intimidated by your official authority, so I just talked nonsense."

"..." Zhang Yanfeng.

The topic seemed difficult to continue.

But Zhang Yanfeng quickly followed up and put the case file on the table, saying: "This is the case file for that case. I brought the parts that I can let you see. If you want to see more details, you can come to my office to see it.

To be honest, I didn't believe in many things before.

I am a Party member, I believe in Marxism-Leninism, and I am a staunch atheist."

Zhou Ze reached out and pushed the case file out, "That's right, you really shouldn't get too close to a swindler like me."

"But *** educated us to rely on and unite all the forces that can be united!" Zhang Yanfeng said righteously, "So, I think you may be able to provide some opinions and guesses on this case."

"I'm not a policeman, just a poor bookstore owner. It's not appropriate for me to participate in your case, right?"

"I can give you the identity of a police consultant."

Police consultant?

The last police consultant is still blind.

Zhou Ze subconsciously looked up at the ceiling. Tang Shi said she was going back soon, and the blind man needed her care.

"To tell you the truth, I don't want to do other things now." Zhou Ze sighed, "The last time at the research institute cost me a lot."

"How about this, I won't make things difficult for you. I'll put this case file here first, and you can look at it whenever you want. Anyway, it's an old case. I'll take my leave first, thank you for the hospitality."

"Check out..."

Zhou Ze shouted,

But Zhang Yanfeng walked out of the bookstore as if he didn't hear it.

The old Taoist who was sitting at the bar and streaming obviously pretended not to hear Zhou Ze's reminder.

What a joke.

You want me to ask a police officer for money?

This humble Taoist is not that stupid!

Zhou Ze felt that his bookstore urgently needed a rectification campaign to correct the unhealthy tendencies of holding positions without doing anything, being greedy for enjoyment, and not doing proper work!

"You're awake, I'm leaving."

Tang Shi came down from upstairs, changed her clothes, and held her car keys in her hand.

"Goodbye."

Zhou Ze waved to her.

She nodded and walked out of the bookstore.

"Boss, have some tea." Bai Yingying brought a cup of tea.

"What about the coffee?" Zhou Ze asked.

"The last cup was just made, and that kind of coffee is all gone now." Bai Yingying replied.

"It's all gone?"

Zhou Ze bit his lip,

His heart,

Ached so much he couldn't breathe.

"What about this case file?" Bai Yingying asked, pointing to the case file on the table.

"Throw it where I can't see it." Zhou Ze glanced at the case file with disgust.

He wouldn't open it to read it, and he didn't want to know what grievances there were, how cruel the murderer was, how pitiful the victim was, or how bad the plot was.

He didn't even want to look at it, he just pretended he didn't know anything.

If he didn't know, he wouldn't feel guilty, and if he didn't feel guilty, nothing would happen, and if nothing happened, there would be no trouble.

He picked up the tea, took a sip, and then picked up his ghost messenger certificate and looked at it. The points on it hadn't increased for a long time, and it had been stuck at a very low level.

Frowning,

Zhou Ze felt that he had been doing nothing but messing around all day, which was really a sin. Now it seemed that he had to think carefully about where to find ghosts to improve his points.

But to be honest, Tongcheng was such a small city, it wasn't realistic to suddenly have a city full of ghosts.

"By the way, where are the sealed Lycoris radiata that I asked you to seal last time?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Oh, that one, Lin Ke came halfway and took the Lycoris radiata away. She found a way to make it into a sealed liquid jar, kept some for herself, and sent the rest back."

Zhou Ze nodded with relief.

He woke up.

Finally, he heard some good news.

At this time, Zhou Ze looked at Xu Qinglang and shouted:

"What's for dinner tonight?"

Xu Qinglang took off the mask on his face, looked at Zhou Ze as if he had seen a ghost. He didn't know how eager Zhou Ze was now for the thing "a hearty meal."

"Okay, I'll go out to buy groceries."

Xu Qinglang looked helpless.

He was completely like a husband who was useless,

A lazy person who stayed at home all day, but he still had to hold his nose and cook for him.

"Accompany me for a walk, I've been lying down for too long."

"Okay, boss."

Bai Yingying helped Zhou Ze walk out of the bookstore.

As soon as he got to the door, Zhou Ze saw a rag-picking old woman groping around the window of his bookstore.

"Go and ask, what is she doing." Zhou Ze said, because it didn't look like the old woman was begging for food. Although she was dressed in rags, her face and hair were very clean and she looked very energetic.

Bai Yingying ran over to ask, and the old woman was talking and gesturing to Bai Yingying.

Zhou Ze supported the telephone pole next to him and lit a cigarette. Before he took two puffs, Yingying came back.

"Boss, I asked clearly, she said she was looking for something."

"Looking for what?"

"Looking for flowers."