Chapter 1 The Bookstore's Plight

A week had passed, and the movie theater remained closed. Reopening anytime soon was impossible, and it was likely the cinema would be abandoned altogether. It had been losing money to begin with, so there was no point in making a big show of reopening.

As a result, the commercial center was effectively dead.

Zhou Ze hadn't contacted Doctor Lin during this time; they maintained a tacit understanding of non-interference, living their own lives. His in-laws had called a few times, though, questioning why he hadn't been home and accusing him of getting too big for his britches.

Eventually, Zhou Ze simply blocked their numbers.

The headache was that the money to open the bookstore had come from his in-laws. He was beholden to them, but Zhou Ze still couldn't figure out how to make money so he could open his own store and truly be independent.

Xu Le had left him with a terrible foundation.

Several media outlets had contacted him, hoping to interview Zhou Ze about his courageous act of heroism and promote the positive energy of the new era, but Zhou Ze had declined them all.

He wasn't interested in fame. As the saying went, a tall tree attracts the wind. Given his identity and role, becoming a celebrity would only lead to more uncontrollable dangers.

Business had been slow that week, with daily sales of less than a hundred yuan, not even enough to cover rent and utilities. But Zhou Ze didn't care much.

What he did care about was that Xu Qinglang next door hadn't opened his shop in a week.

Zhou Ze hired an unscrupulous locksmith to open the lock and searched the place, but he couldn't find any sour plum juice. The kitchen in the back was spotless and tidy.

It was frustrating.

A man with twenty-some properties and a handsome face,

If he suddenly saw through the world and decided to chase the wind freely,

He would be very hard to find.

As a result, Zhou Ze's week had been quite miserable.

Chili oil,

Aged vinegar,

Dark soy sauce,

High-concentration orange juice – he had tried everything. Although they allowed him to eat something, they left him feeling bitter and miserable, nowhere near the effect of Xu Qinglang's family's sour plum juice.

At night, Zhou Ze would squat alone in front of the bookstore, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his eyes occasionally glancing at the shop next door, a picture of loneliness.

Four or five pagoda incense sticks burned by the roadside in front of the store, lit by people from the shopping mall. According to custom, they were welcoming the God of Wealth, even though they knew it was unlikely that even the God of Wealth could save the mall. But they had to go through the motions.

What if a miracle happened?

Occasionally, Zhou Ze would look behind him or at the glass in front of him.

The vengeful spirit of the man in the black suit was steadily taking shape. Tonight was his seventh day, and he should be almost complete.

The manifestation of a vengeful spirit was an incredibly small probability. Moreover, ordinary vengeful spirits could, at most, make you trip while walking or bite your tongue while eating. A spirit capable of making you catch a minor illness requiring a couple of days on an IV drip was considered an impressive feat.

The kind of rampant, murderous vengeful spirits seen in movies simply didn't exist in reality. Otherwise, the mortal realm would have long descended into chaos.

Even Zhou Ze, who had already possessed a body, was being so discreet.

How dare those scraps without physical bodies come out and show off?

This week, Zhou Ze had spent his free time reading, spacing out, trimming his nails, and checking to see if the vengeful spirit behind him had become any clearer.

It was like… raising a child, experiencing the weight of paternal love.

Dad loves you.

Dad is waiting for you to grow up.

Zhou Ze could clearly sense the emotions of the being behind him. His greatest hatred wasn't directed at the cause of the fire, but at Zhou Ze himself. He was resentful, angry, expectant, and waiting.

Perhaps,

In his eyes, his seventh day was the moment of his revenge.

Interesting.

Zhou Ze flicked his cigarette ash. After he took shape, Zhou Ze would teach him why the flowers were so red.

Zhou Ze didn't think he was wrong to save people, nor did he think the man in the suit was wrong to hate him.

He had encountered a similar incident before: someone was drowning, and someone went down to save them, but the drowning person grabbed the rescuer so tightly that they both drowned.

Generally speaking, when rescuing someone from the water, you had to approach them from behind and hug them. If you approached them from the front, you could easily be mistaken for the last straw.

Of course, understanding was one thing,

But understanding wouldn't be a reason for Zhou Ze to allow the man in the suit to run wild in his bookstore at midnight tonight.

During the day, Zhou Ze ordered takeout and chatted with the new delivery guy. He learned that the delivery guy who had saved people last time had become famous. He was not only attending various awards ceremonies but also receiving internal praise and rewards from the company. He now had a nickname: "The Most Handsome Delivery Guy." He was still delivering takeout, broadcasting live while he did so, and his popularity was very high.

While pouring aged vinegar and eating his meal, Zhou Ze casually browsed Weibo and found the delivery guy trending on the hot search list.

A week after the incident, from the initial handling and summary to the current positive energy development and promotion, the topic was at its hottest and most discussed point. The impact of this event wasn't limited to Tong City; it had spread throughout the country.

At eleven o'clock that night, Zhou Ze watched the man in the suit slowly become more solid while watching a movie called *That Demon Within*, a film from a few years prior by the well-known director Dante Lam, starring Daniel Wu and Nick Cheung.

The door of the bookstore was pushed open, and the delivery guy, wearing his uniform and holding a selfie stick, walked in.

"This is a bookstore I often come to. After my busy day of delivering takeout, I come to this store to read. It's not for knowledge or anything; I just like reading."

With that, the delivery guy took a copy of Wen Tiejun's *Eight Crises* from the bookshelf.

This book was about the various economic crises in modern China. The delivery guy opened the book and sat down on a plastic stool, reading with great interest.

Zhou Ze remembered that the last time he came, he had read two parts of *Battle Through the Heavens*.

"Okay, that's it for today's livestream. I want to read quietly for a while. Everyone, get some rest. Thank you for being with me today." The delivery guy bowed to the phone screen.

A bunch of subscription cards, airplanes, and rockets appeared on the phone screen. His popularity was indeed terrifyingly high.

Turning off his phone, the delivery guy closed *Eight Crises*, stretched, looked at Zhou Ze, and said,

"Boss, let's go out for a midnight snack. My treat."

Zhou Ze shook his head and pointed to the computer screen in front of him.

"What are you watching?" The delivery guy leaned closer, looked at the screen, and laughed. "I've seen this movie. *That Demon Within*, right?"

"Yeah." Zhou Ze nodded, and glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen. It was almost twelve o'clock.

The baby behind him was already impatient.

"No reporters interviewed you?" the delivery guy asked.

Zhou Ze shook his head.

"You should have accepted the interview. That way, your bookstore business would have been much better."

"I like peace and quiet." Zhou Ze said insincerely, putting on an act.

Money was important, but life was more important.

"Watch the movie later." The delivery guy seemed to have taken a liking to Zhou Ze. After all, they were companions who had rushed into the fire together.

Perhaps,

There was a sense of mutual appreciation.

"Did you know that *That Demon Within* is based on a true case? The original protagonist in reality was named Tsui Po-ko," Zhou Ze said.

"Hey, I really didn't know that." The delivery guy smiled shyly. "It's just a movie; who pays attention to that?"

"Yeah, that's true." Zhou Ze closed the computer and stretched. "It's so late. What do you want to eat?"

"Anything's fine."

"Then I'll order takeout."

"No, let's go out to eat. My treat. What good stuff is there in takeout? Let me tell you, some restaurant kitchens are just unbearable to look at. And some businesses don't even have a physical store. They just rent a broken house and do it themselves. Tsk tsk, I wouldn't dare to eat that stuff."

"I see." Zhou Ze nodded. "By the way, do you know what happened to Tsui Po-ko?"

"If you tell me, I'll know, right?"

"He killed his colleague, stole the money, and then lived freely, even appearing on TV shows, liking to show off and be famous." Zhou Ze touched his nose. "A very complex person. He enjoyed being on camera."

The delivery guy was silent for a moment, then changed the subject and said, "Boss, are you going out for a midnight snack or not?"

"I don't want to. Don't you see how many pagoda incense sticks there are in front of my store? They've been smoking me all day. I've lost my appetite."

Pagoda incense sticks were those large incense candles that were taller than an average person, layered like a pagoda, very thick, and could burn for a long time.

"Hehe, there's no smell in your store at all." The delivery guy pointed to the central air conditioning above Zhou Ze's bookstore. "Over there, is that an air purifier?"

"Yeah, installed with the air conditioning. And I'm used to spraying some air freshener in the bookstore, after all, I have to create a reading atmosphere, right? I don't offer coffee or pastries, I can only offer some nice smells."

"So, Boss, you're still not giving me face." The delivery guy pretended to be angry. "We've been through life and death together."

Zhou Ze raised his hand, curious. "So, I've always been curious about one thing."

"What is it?"

"That day, I didn't smell anything at all. It's hard to smell other outside smells in my store, almost impossible. That day, how did you smell the fire?"

The delivery guy was stunned for a moment, his expression a little unnatural, but he didn't take it seriously and said, "I've always had a good nose since I was a kid. My grandma said I had a dog's nose. I was very accurate at finding hidden snacks in the house when I was a kid."

"Do you know what day it is today?" Zhou Ze asked again.

"What day is it?"

"The seventh day."

"The seventh day?"

"That's right, the seventh day... of those seven people who died in the fire!"