Chapter 15 The True Meaning of Life

For Zhou Ze, nothing was more pleasant than waking up from the embrace of Yingying and the little loli in the early morning, taking a shower, and then sitting in his favorite window seat to bask in the sun.

Kopi luwak,

A neatly ironed newspaper,

Accompanied by the tide of people outside South Street beginning to stir from the early morning,

Watching the comings and goings of people toiling for a living,

While he, separated by a window, stole a half-day of leisure,

This,

Perhaps was the true taste of life.

The old Taoist was cleaning the bookstore; even with the air conditioning running, he was still sweating in the sweltering heat.

The little monkey, wearing a peaked cap and holding a rag, was also helping the old Taoist wipe the tables and chairs, quite efficiently.

Yingying took the dirty clothes out of the washing machine and went upstairs to hang them on the second-floor balcony.

The vitality of the bookstore, coupled with the fragrance of coffee,

Made the boss of the Zhou place himself in the sofa,

Feeling as though his whole body was becoming soft and numb under the caress of the sunlight.

Previously, the old Taoist had asked Xu Qinglang why the boss liked to bask in the sun so much.

Because the old Taoist’s previous boss ran a shop that sold funerary items and also liked to sit on a stool in front of the shop basking in the sun when he had nothing to do, leisurely like an old grandfather.

Xu Qinglang replied,

"Just like cold-blooded animals such as crocodiles need to bask in the sun,

Ghosts,

Have heavy yin energy,

So, when they have nothing to do, they need to bask in the sun more

And absorb some yang energy."

Of course, the old Xu who said this was still upstairs playing his Sleeping Beauty. The last time he took him to the hospital for a check-up, nothing was found. Zhou Ze had originally planned to use his fingernail to stimulate him to wake up.

However, it was still delayed because of the villa matter. The injury on his fingernail hadn't healed yet, which made Zhou Ze temporarily dare not act rashly. An injured fingernail might lead to a decline in his control over the fingernail's precision.

In case he accidentally stuck too deep when stimulating Xu Qinglang,

And directly turned old Xu from Sleeping Beauty into a Loulan mummy, that would be a great pity.

The little loli also got up.

The summer vacation had arrived, and she didn't need to go to school. Wang Ke had left his daughter with Zhou Ze, feeling very relieved, basically ignoring her.

Perhaps,

For Wang Ke, he should now be busy resolving his wife's problems; he really felt a bit powerless to deal with other matters.

Looking at his childhood friend's current life,

Zhou Ze felt even more emotional.

What's the point of a wife?

What's the point of kids?

Being alone,

Is so much better.

Four or five middle school students walked into the bookstore, all boys. This was their third day coming. With the summer vacation, they simply turned the bookstore into their place for studying and recreation.

Anyway, it was a hundred yuan a day. For Zhou Ze when he was in middle school, a hundred yuan was already a lot, but for the kids now, a hundred yuan in exchange for a place to stay for a day was worth it.

Even their parents thought it was worth it, since their kids were going to the bookstore, not an internet cafe.

Zhou Ze watched as these kids found a sofa to sit down and start doing their homework. One was in charge of English, one was in charge of math, and one was in charge of physics and chemistry. Whoever finished would pass it around for the others to copy, so they could finish a day's worth of summer homework in about half the morning.

Next, they would find a book on the bookshelf to read and pass the time until evening before going home to report.

The little loli also took a bath and came out. Today, she was wearing a little princess dress, her hair was loose, a little bit flirtatious, coupled with her petite figure, exquisitely like a doll placed in the most conspicuous position in a toy store.

Seeing her come down, Zhou Ze gave her the middle finger.

Her actual age was already that of a young lady,

Yet she still liked to pretend to be young so much!

Despicable!

This was perhaps a strange cycle. Many girls liked to dress mature when they were young, but after they got a little older, they thought about how to make themselves look younger.

The morning in the bookstore passed by slowly and uneventfully.

However, close to noon, a blond, blue-eyed man walked in. A foreigner had come. Everyone in the bookstore, including those students, looked up for a glance, and then didn't take it seriously. In recent years, people had long been tired of seeing foreigners.

Except for the relevant departments who took it seriously, ordinary people were able to maintain a very indifferent attitude towards this.

"Excuse me, do you provide food here?"

The foreigner's Chinese pronunciation was very accurate and authentic.

"Eat?"

The old Taoist behind the bar was stunned for a moment.

Damn,

Did he really think of this place as a dining hall?

But based on the principle that the customer is always right, the old Taoist nodded and said,

"Yes, yes, we only provide a folk custom set meal."

"Okay, the national is the global, I like it."

The foreigner found a window seat as well, sitting behind Zhou Ze and very close to the five middle school students.

Shortly after,

The old Taoist carried a plate of peanuts, a plate of broad beans, a few pieces of Yunpian cake (云片糕, a traditional Chinese cake), along with tea jerky and yellow wine, arranged a small tray, and delivered it, while reminding him:

"Set meal price, 888."

The foreigner nodded, indicating that he understood.

The old Taoist helped him arrange the small dishes and then stepped back.

These were all meals used to entertain visiting ghosts in the store. Tea jerky, peanuts, and Yunpian cake were all foods that were easy to store. They were purely for convenience. That was all the store had. After all, the cook wasn't here now, and the store employees and the boss relied on ordering takeout for their meals. They didn't have the leisure to cook for guests.

The foreigner nodded while eating, saying it was delicious, and took out his phone to start taking pictures.

After eating half of it, the foreigner took the initiative to start chatting with those middle school students.

However, he had used Chinese before, but this time he used English.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, and you?"

"I'm fine, too."

"………………"

While the foreigner was talking to these middle school students, Zhou Ze heard the foreigner introduce himself as Otterson, saying he was from Iceland.

"Boss, I'm going out to buy some daily necessities."

The old Taoist greeted Zhou Ze, and seeing Zhou Ze nod in agreement, he went out. The previous reminder was nothing more than to let the boss pay attention to the fact that this foreigner hadn't paid the bill yet.

Over here, the foreigner was chatting very enthusiastically with the students.

One could feel that

He was very happy,

Feeling that the Chinese young people were very hospitable.

In Zhou Ze's opinion, the reason why these middle school students were so enthusiastic was just because they wanted to practice their spoken English.

The little loli sat next to Zhou Ze, looking at Zhou Ze, "Can you tell me about the Judge's Pen again?"

Zhou Ze shook his head lazily, saying he had already said it once, and was too lazy to say it again.

"I always feel that things aren't that simple. The Judge's Pen couldn't have disappeared for no reason, and I also secretly searched through their belongings from their lives at both families' homes, but didn't find anything special."

The investigation into the Judge's Pen had already begun after Zhou Ze came back. The old Taoist was responsible for making connections and running errands, but the feedback he got was useless.

Zhou Ze didn't let the little loli investigate, only sending the old Taoist, but after the little loli knew about this, she still secretly investigated it again herself.

"So, do you have a suspected target?" Zhou Ze asked.

"I want to go to the prison to see that husband who was sentenced to prison."

The little loli's suspicious gaze was placed on that person.

"Don't overthink it," Zhou Ze said.

"Don't you think he's suspicious?" The little loli frowned, "Why did something happen to the other three out of a family of four, but nothing happened to him?"

"He's in prison, what do you mean nothing happened to him?"

"Compared to death, what's prison?"

"If the Judge's Pen was in his hands, would he be stupid enough to kill his wife and children and let himself be suspected and go to prison?"

The little loli was stunned,

Thoughtfully,

"What you said seems to make some sense."

Saying that,

The little loli jumped off the sofa, waving her hand and saying,

"Forget it, I don't care anymore, I don't care anymore."

The little loli went upstairs.

"Boss, what's wrong?"

Yingying came over at this time to refill the boss's coffee.

"It's nothing, don't lower yourself to the same level as a child."

At this time, Zhou Ze received a message on WeChat, which was a reply from Zhang Yanfeng:

"If you want to see him, I can arrange it. I just went to see him two days ago."

Glancing at the content of the WeChat message, Zhou Ze silently turned off the screen again.

Bai Yingying also saw the content of the WeChat message,

Secretly pleased,

Feeling that her boss regarded the little loli as an outsider, but didn't regard herself as an outsider.

In fact, Zhou Ze had always been curious about that imprisoned husband, especially after the old Taoist investigated the belongings and found no valuable information, the imprisoned husband's suspicion instantly increased.

Even if he was in prison.

The most crucial thing was still because the Judge's Pen couldn't have disappeared for no reason.

Of course, the reason for deliberately hiding his own investigation from the little loli was also a sign of progress after Boss Zhou put away a little bit of his salted fish mentality.

The Judge's Pen was able to isolate himself and the one inside him at that time. If the little loli got the Judge's Pen first, she would probably have a way to block the control he had over her through the soul blood.

This kind of thing should be kept in his own hands. After all, it wasn't like the Book of Life and Death, which he couldn't use at this time, and the little loli couldn't use either. Whoever used it would be caught, so he could generously leave it to the monkey to take care of.

But the Judge's Pen could be used effectively even by ordinary people.

Continuing to drink coffee and read the newspaper,

The middle school students behind him were still chatting with the foreigner,

About an hour passed,

The old Taoist came back panting, carrying a plastic bag in his hand, which contained some daily necessities.

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Ze asked.

"Boss, my phone seems to have been stolen in the supermarket."

The old Taoist looked like he had lost all his face.

He was also an experienced old hand,

But he could still encounter a pickpocket,

And be successfully robbed,

So embarrassing.

"Go report it to the police," Zhou Ze said.

"Sigh."

The old Taoist nodded helplessly, put down his things and prepared to go out to report to the police.

"I'll report it to the police."

At this time,

The foreigner, Otterson, who had been chatting enthusiastically with the middle school students, stood up and said.

"It's my phone that was stolen, why are you reporting it?" the old Taoist asked in confusion.

Otterson thought for a moment and replied,

"If I report it, it can be found faster."