Chapter 68 Making Friends

Doctor Lin quickly walked into Zhou Ze's room. This time, she was sure that there was definitely something wrong with this quadrangle courtyard. Previously, there were only three people in the courtyard: herself, Zhou Ze, and the old man. Now, a large group of people had suddenly appeared in the old man's room next door, drinking and chatting so lively at night. How could that be possible?

Moreover, the words they were saying were obviously hinting at something.

"A-Ze, there's something wrong with this courtyard. Let's leave."

Zhou Ze put down his phone and yawned. To be honest, he was indeed tired, but he couldn't fall asleep without Yingying by his side. It was most painful to need sleep both physically and mentally but being unable to drift off.

"I just heard a lot of people talking in the room next door," Doctor Lin continued.

"It's okay, it's okay."

Zhou Ze waved his hand. "You were frightened yesterday. Just rest for a few more days and you'll be fine."

In fact, after being in close contact with ghosts, living people would inevitably be affected to some extent. It was a bit like being infected with a similar magnetic field, allowing them to see and hear things they normally couldn't. After a while, when the magnetic field dissipated, they would be fine.

Cow's tears had a similar effect.

Doctor Lin picked up a towel and helped Zhou Ze wipe his body. Zhou Ze seemed to be enjoying it, but judging from her technique, Doctor Lin's skills in serving people were indeed not as good as Yingying's.

After wiping him down, Doctor Lin put down the towel, bit her lip, and said, "I didn't hear it wrong. If you know something and want me to stop thinking about it, I can stop thinking about it."

Zhou Ze nodded.

Doctor Lin didn't say anything more. She took off her coat, lay down on the bed, but turned to her side, her arm propping up her head.

From Zhou Ze's perspective, he could only see her back, a slender yet voluptuous curve, which was very tempting.

In fact, women with a bit of meat like this were more attractive.

Zhou Ze continued to scroll through his phone. Anyway, he couldn't sleep and was bored. He could only blame that swindler, Lao Dao. If Lao Dao had arrived now, with the help of the monkey, his injuries would recover faster.

The old man's plaster was indeed quite effective, and he still felt a slight coolness in the wound area, but it was still not as good as the monkey's mud.

Doctor Lin's breathing gradually became steady, and he didn't know if she had fallen asleep or not.

But slowly, the sound next door began to grow louder and louder. There were sounds of drinking games, boasting, and even a man pinching his throat to sing Huangmei Opera.

It felt like someone had placed ten televisions next door, each playing a different program.

Zhou Ze saw Doctor Lin's body tense up, and she subconsciously covered her ears with one hand.

She wasn't asleep.

And for her, it was indeed too difficult to fall asleep while being neighbors with a group of those things.

Zhou Ze knocked on the wooden plank by the bedside with the corner of his phone and scolded, "It's late at night. Have some manners. Don't disturb others' rest."

After Zhou Ze shouted, the noise immediately stopped, and it became as quiet as a graveyard.

Zhou Ze continued to play with his phone.

He didn't know how long he played, but his phone was always connected to the charging cable, so he wasn't afraid of running out of power. It was two o'clock in the morning in the middle of the night.

Zhou Ze couldn't hold it in any longer.

Actually, he had wanted to go during the day.

He had been holding it in until now.

He looked at Doctor Lin, who was still lying on her side, and reached out to support the edge of the bed, preparing to get up, but his injuries were indeed a bit serious. Zhou Ze couldn't support himself, and he fell back with a "creak."

Doctor Lin turned around, looked at Zhou Ze, and asked directly, "Want to go to the toilet?"

Zhou Ze nodded.

Doctor Lin helped Zhou Ze off the bed, and they walked out of the room together.

There was no toilet in the quadrangle courtyard room. There was a separate small room diagonally opposite, which was a rural-style outhouse. It had a wooden frame on top for people to sit on, and below was a pit or a large jar.

In fact, the old man didn't seem to be short of money. His monthly allowance was probably quite a lot, and Doctor Lin had also been invited to visit the old man's collection room, which contained many very good collectibles. Selling one or two of them outside could easily buy an apartment.

Zhou Ze held onto the wall with one hand, and when he was about to unbuckle his belt with the other hand, Doctor Lin directly reached out to help Zhou Ze unbuckle his belt.

This surprised Zhou Ze a little. At this moment, Doctor Lin was really like a wife serving her sick husband. Everything was so natural, without a trace of affectation.

However, at this moment, a very unfriendly voice came.

"Need any help?"

It was the old man's voice.

The old man had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet.

Doctor Lin, who had just squatted down to unbuckle Zhou Ze's belt, heard this, looked up, and looked at Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze really wanted to shout "Continue!" "Don't stop!"

But he gritted his teeth and pretended to be very calm and said, "Let him do it."

Doctor Lin was a little worried and looked at Zhou Ze.

"He can't possibly push me into the cesspool, right?" Zhou Ze smiled. "I know what I'm doing."

Doctor Lin nodded and walked out of the toilet. The old man walked in.

"It's quite a coincidence. When people get old, they don't sleep soundly at night and wake up easily. That thing also has problems. It's not as good as you young people. Always frequent urination, urgency, and incomplete emptying."

With the old man's help, Zhou Ze finished relieving himself. The old man propped Zhou Ze up with his arm, with his back to him, so Zhou Ze could free his hands to turn on the faucet, which avoided embarrassment.

The old man helped Zhou Ze out of the toilet, and Doctor Lin was waiting outside, ready to take over Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze shook his head. "You go back to rest first. I'll go to the old man's room to chat."

The old man was stunned when he heard this, but he still nodded and said, "Okay."

This old man was similar to Lao Dao, using dialects from all over the place. Lao Dao had traveled all over the country when he was young, and the old man was probably the same. He had joined the army to fight when he was very young, so his accent was naturally mixed.

Entering the old man's room, the room was a bit small, because there was a large black curtain dividing the room into two halves.

Zhou Ze only saw the old man's bed and a tea table. That was all that could be put here.

The old man settled Zhou Ze on the bed and brewed a pot of cool tea for Zhou Ze.

"Open the curtain and let me take a look," Zhou Ze said.

"There's nothing to see. It's not suitable to see these things late at night."

"I want to see," Zhou Ze insisted.

"Alright, if you want to see it, I'll let you see it. Actually, there's nothing shameful about it."

The old man seemed to be interested as well. He stood up, walked to the black curtain, and then forcefully lifted the curtain.

With the curtain lifted, a high platform with six steps increasing in height in succession was revealed, and on the high platform, there were spirit tablets placed densely.

There was also a table under the shelf, on which were placed offerings such as old yellow wine and preserved meat, and two incense candles were burning there.

"Very lively," Zhou Ze said.

The old man was very excited, rubbing his hands excitedly, and said, "I don't know why, but I just like you, kid."

*You've said that many times today.*

"I just wanted to have you come to my house to sit and stay."

The old man picked up the yellow wine from the offering table, took a sip, smacked his lips, and his interest became even higher. He pointed to the spirit tablets on the shelf and said, "Come, let me introduce you.

This is our Company Commander Chen. I was still young at that time and only knew to call him Company Commander Chen with everyone else. I don't know his full name. He sacrificed himself in 1945. He was hit by a Japanese mountain gun, and his body wasn't even collected completely. It's a pity that the Japanese surrendered that year, and he didn't see it.

This is Wang Gouzi, Zhao Sanquan, Wu Wazi, also from my platoon, sacrificed when advancing into Dabie Mountain. Our regiment was responsible for blocking the rear.

This is Zhou Zhou, Sun Decai, Qin Liangyou, sacrificed in the Huaihai Campaign. That battle, tsk tsk, was a terrible fight.

This is Zhao Peng, Sun Zhigang, Zhai Dazhuang, Ge Shufeng... they sacrificed in Korea. Do you know about the American napalm bombs? When I went out to find them at the time, they were all roasted. Damn it, even now I remember the smell of roasted human flesh, which made me afraid to eat meat for ten years afterwards. Of course, it wasn't so easy to eat meat at that time.

This is Zhu Houquan, this is..."

The old man said many, many names in one breath, including where these people had sacrificed, and whether they were in the same platoon or company as him at the time, etc. He said it all in great detail, which meant that he had always kept the information of these dead comrades in mind and had never forgotten it.

And Zhou Ze sat on the bedside, nodding constantly, feeling a little awkward that he couldn't get up because of his injuries.

In fact, Zhou Ze had seen that the old man couldn't see. He couldn't see that the room was actually densely packed with people.

Everyone was either sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall, sitting by the table with offerings, picking their ears, reading something, or dozing off.

Whenever the old man introduced someone's name, that person would raise his head, look at Zhou Ze, and smile kindly, as if they had met and gotten to know each other.

Zhou Ze also responded with a smile and nodded.

The old man finished the introductions, and his throat seemed a little hoarse. He picked up the yellow wine on the table and took another sip.

"Happy, how is it, young man, are you scared?

Let me tell you, with our lineup, even a ghost messenger wouldn't dare to enter this door!"

"..." Zhou Ze.

The old man breathed a sigh of relief and sighed, "Young man, I really fucking like you!"

"..." Zhou Ze.

"Don't laugh at me for saying this, just like what I said during the day, I never flinched when fighting back then, and I always rushed to the front when charging, but damn it, I just couldn't die. It was always my comrades who fell beside me. Sometimes, after a battle, I was the only one left in the whole platoon.

I don't understand why I couldn't die and lived until now, and I'm still living quite well. I can easily make money by fiddling with antiques and stuff."

"A life of wealth," Zhou Ze said.

This was a truly wealthy life. If the old man hadn't joined the army and had gone into business or done something else, he would definitely have risen up and become successful.

"Hehe, fuck a life of wealth. I understand it now. My comrades sacrificed one by one, and I didn't die. It was God who wanted me to live and build a home for them, so that everyone could have a place to gather after they sacrificed.

In the past, we couldn't afford to drink or eat meat. Now that the conditions are better, we can eat meat, drink wine, and snore while sleeping without worrying about marching the next day. I'm alive for this purpose."

Zhou Ze looked at the old man and said nothing.

Zhou Ze also looked at the crowded people in the room. To be honest, this was the first time that Boss Zhou didn't look at these ghosts with the eyes of someone looking at performance figures.

"Don't laugh at me, I've gotten older in the past few years, and I don't sleep soundly, so I drink some yellow wine every night before going to bed.

Hey, it really works.

Every night after I fall asleep, I dream of my former comrades. Everyone sits around the table together, drinking wine, eating meat, and chatting wildly. It's so fun, it's like they really live in my house!"