Chapter 14 A Dog's Grudge

Doctor Lin got out of the car, and coincidentally, Zhou Ze also walked over. The two had a tacit understanding, not speaking, silently heading towards the other entrance of the mall.

This mall was already "dead." Besides Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang's small shop, only a movie theater and a buffet restaurant remained open.

Of course, limited by the overall situation, the movie theater was probably operating at a loss as well. Usually, not many people went there to watch movies; buying a ticket easily meant having the whole place to yourself.

However, during the Chinese New Year, most people were on vacation, and families going to see movies together became very common, adding a touch of unusual popularity to this movie theater that had already become icily deserted.

But, in Zhou Ze's eyes, this kind of liveliness seemed like a final burst of glory before death.

The building was about to collapse; this could be considered a case where no nest is left intact when the overturned cart crushes the eggs.

Zhou Ze bought the tickets and a couple's combo meal. He checked the time and walked into the theater with Doctor Lin.

Because they were a bit late, and Zhou Ze had bought tickets for the earliest showing, the good seats were all gone. Zhou Ze and Doctor Lin could only sit in the front row.

It wasn't impossible to wait, but there was nothing else to do in this mall, and this movie, "Neon Street Detective 2," was a 2D film, so sitting in the front row wouldn't be a big problem.

Doctor Lin hadn't said much along the way, and now she sat extremely quietly next to Zhou Ze, elegantly crossing her long legs and looking up at the screen.

Zhou Ze handed her the popcorn, but Doctor Lin shook her head, indicating that she didn't want any.

Zhou Ze sighed. For someone who had been a bachelor in his past life, figuring out how to pursue a girl was really an unfamiliar subject.

The movie had some good comedic moments, and Zhou Ze could occasionally laugh. Doctor Lin also laughed from time to time, but her laughter was quiet and reserved, and very beautiful.

But for Zhou Ze, the atmosphere of this movie was somewhat different from what he had expected.

A bit bland, like it was missing salt.

When the movie ended, Zhou Ze and Doctor Lin walked out side by side. It was only seven in the evening, not too late, but after leaving the theater area, the rest of the mall was pitch black.

Doctor Lin remained silent, simply walking along.

Zhou Ze wanted to say something, but he didn't know how.

He was the one who had said he wanted to end things and say goodbye yesterday. If he acted too enthusiastic today, wouldn't she think he was crazy?

"Go to my bookstore..."

"Let's sit for a while at your bookstore..."

The two seemed to be trying to find a way to break the awkwardness, and their thoughts converged.

Back at the bookstore, Zhou Ze found that the noodle shop was closed. The roller shutter door was also pulled down, which was rare. He didn't know if Xu Qinglang was still in the store.

Doctor Lin chose a magazine and sat down in the chair behind the counter. Zhou Ze also took a book, sat next to her, and casually flipped through it.

Two cups of hot tea were placed on the counter, the steam curling upwards.

Zhou Ze suddenly felt like he had no right to mock Xu Le anymore, because he realized that making his first date so literary and so polite was also extremely rare!

So rare that he wanted to slap himself as a reward!

"Not closing up now?" Doctor Lin asked. Actually, she was implying that she wanted to leave. After all, it was late. As long as Zhou Ze closed the store, she could take the opportunity to say goodbye.

"Oh, I usually open for business at night," Zhou Ze said, not picking up on her implied meaning. He was telling the truth.

Doctor Lin was speechless for a moment. She could only smile, gently smooth the hair beside her ear, and continue reading her book.

"Creak..."

The bookstore door was pushed open, and two men and a woman walked in.

The three of them weren't very old, probably in their early twenties. The two men had obviously been drinking, and one of them was quite drunk, his face flushed.

"Boss, do you have water?" the woman asked.

Zhou Ze pointed to the water dispenser on the wall.

The woman poured a few cups of hot water and handed them to her friends, then walked to the counter and asked:

"How much?"

As she spoke, the woman took out her phone, looking like she was going to scan the QR code to pay.

"Thirty," Zhou Ze replied.

"You're really ripping people off, boss. Charging thirty for three cups of water, even during the New Year," the woman said with a smile, but she still scanned the QR code to pay. Then, she turned to her two male companions and said, "Let's rest here for a while, read some books."

They were treating the bookstore as a temporary resting place. Zhou Ze charging 30 yuan was like a minimum consumption fee to enter a teahouse, which was understandable.

"Read books? What books are we going to read?"

The tipsy man shouted loudly,

"I want to read ghost stories, horror novels. Do you have any in this store?"

The man laughed to himself as he spoke.

Zhou Ze sighed, took out two horror novel collections from under the counter, walked to the man, handed them to him, and casually touched him with his fingers.

Yes, he was human, not a ghost.

Tonight's date was already a failure.

If he let Doctor Lin experience another "Night of a Hundred Ghosts" like the last time with those five migrant worker brothers, that would be the end. Zhou Ze didn't want that.

It was good that he was human. He looked cute, even if he was drunk.

Zhou Ze didn't bother touching the other two; it wasn't convenient.

The drunken man sat down, and his two friends, a man and a woman, also sat down on the plastic stools. The three of them played on their phones and casually flipped through the books.

They acted as if the 30 yuan minimum consumption had to be spent in a way that was at least superficially worthwhile.

"What kind of garbage is this ghost story?"

The man threw the book, and it landed next to the water dispenser.

The woman picked up the book and noticed that she had spilled some water when she was pouring it, and the cover and some of the pages were wet.

"Boss, how much?"

"The marked price, discounted by twenty percent," Zhou Ze said, amused. These three young people were quite well-mannered.

Of course, Zhou Ze was hoping that the drunken man would quickly throw all the books on his shelves and get them all dirty, so he could clear out his stock.

The woman reluctantly scanned the QR code to pay, then walked to the drunken man,

"Let's go, don't act crazy."

"This isn't a ghost story at all. The person who wrote this story has never seen a ghost," the drunken man insisted.

Zhou Ze softly "hmm"ed. Yeah, you should have seen a ghost; it's right in front of you.

"I'm not going back, definitely not going back! I'm not planning to sleep tonight!" The man continued to rant, "I see ghosts when I go home, I see ghosts when I sleep. I might as well just stay in this bookstore and read books all night.

At least,

I won't encounter a ghost!"

"............" Zhou Ze.

Doctor Lin put down her book and looked at the drunken man. Clearly, she found this quite interesting.

"Yo, Brother Liu, you have a ghost at your house?" The man who had come in with the drunken man joked.

The woman glanced at him, signaling him not to talk nonsense.

"Screw you! You're the one who has a ghost!"

The drunken man stood up.

"Damn it, that ghost only knows how to torment me every New Year, doesn't care about anyone else. My three brothers, plus one sister, and my parents and grandparents, it doesn't bother any of them, just messes with me!"

"A female ghost?" the male companion asked again.

"If only it were a female ghost. It's a female... dog!"

"Pfft!"

The drunken man's two companions instinctively laughed.

Even Zhou Ze and Doctor Lin lowered their heads and coughed a few times, but it was indeed very funny.

Especially the drunken man's aggrieved expression when he said it wasn't a female ghost but a female... dog.

Baby's got it rough,

Baby's drunk and wants to vent!

"Every New Year, those few days, it comes looking for me! As soon as I fall asleep, it comes, damn it!"

Although the drunken man was ranting, he was still in control of himself. He didn't seem scary, but rather quite amusing.

"It's been coming on time every year for the past seven years, more punctual than my parents giving me New Year's money!" The man hugged his head, squatted on the ground, and started crying. "Damn it, I can't live like this!"

"What exactly is going on? That dog, do you know it?" the male companion asked.

"It was a dog that my family used to keep. Because it took the money my dad put under the bed and chewed it up, my brothers and I killed it and ate its meat."

"That dog must be unhappy, it's back for revenge," the male companion analyzed.

"I just don't know why it's only coming after me? When we killed the dog, it was me, and my brothers, and my dad, and my grandfather!

When we ate the dog meat, the whole family ate together, just as an extra dish for the New Year!

That dog ruined five thousand yuan, it deserved to be eaten!

But why does it only hate me?"

The drunken man almost cried, "I've asked, my brothers, including my dad and my grandfather, nothing's happening to them. Why is it only targeting me?"

"You're drunk, let's go, I'll take you home." The woman helped the man up, signaling the male companion to come and help.

The group walked out of the bookstore.

The liveliness suddenly turned cold.

"What do you think is the reason?" Doctor Lin looked at Zhou Ze, not caring about whether it was true or false, just chatting after hearing a story. "That dog, why is it only messing with him? Could it be that there's something different about him?"

"Are you very interested in this?" Zhou Ze asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes," Doctor Lin nodded.

Zhou Ze smiled. "Actually, it's very simple. If you want to understand a dog's thinking, you have to put yourself in the dog's place."

"How do you mean?" Doctor Lin asked with a smile. "It's hard to empathize."

Yes, how can a person understand a dog's way of thinking?

"A dog's soul returns to take revenge and torment people because it has resentment," Zhou Ze explained. "It should be the same as people."

"Then why doesn't it take revenge on the other members of the family?"

"Perhaps, it's because of that money. The dog was naughty and chewed up part of it, but part of it might have been secretly taken by that guy when he was young.

So the dog feels it's very unfair. It tore up the money, was punished, was killed, its meat was eaten. It feels that's reasonable and justified, it should be.

But why is it that

that person also stole the money, made part of the money disappear, but nothing happened to him?

So it's not convinced. It doesn't take revenge on the other members of the family, it specifically takes revenge on him."

Doctor Lin shook her head, somewhat surprised. "It's just a drunken story told by a drunkard, but after your analysis, it feels like it's a true story."

Zhou Ze walked to where the group had been sitting and found a wallet on the ground. He picked it up and walked to the door of the store.

At this moment, the female companion jogged over.

"I'm sorry, there's a..."

Zhou Ze handed her the wallet.

"Thank you!" The woman bowed to Zhou Ze to express her gratitude. "If this guy went home tonight and lost his wallet and ID, his family would scold him again."

"It's nothing," Zhou Ze waved his hand.

The other party also waved to Zhou Ze, then turned and caught up with her companions ahead.

Under the moonlight,

as the woman ran,

under her coat,

it seemed that there was a fluffy yellow tail wagging gently...