Chapter 38 Life is Like a Dream
You truly are a heartless man, High Official, touching and flirting with me;
And then you turn around and deny everything, even taking your anger out on me because of your wife.”
The female corpse wept and muttered to herself, her voice filled with sorrow and misery. Coupled with her white dress, now little more than rags, she appeared even more pitiful.
People often say that those who live to be seventy or eighty years old become like foxes, but this female corpse had lived for two hundred years, experiencing countless changes.
Zhou Ze ignored the female corpse's "cries" and turned to look at Xu Qinglang.
“Can you kill her?” Zhou Ze asked.
“…” Female corpse.
Xu Qinglang shook his head, then nodded.
“What do you mean?” Zhou Ze asked.
“The baleful aura within her is a problem. If she self-destructs at the last moment, releasing the aura, it will definitely affect innocent people nearby,” Xu Qinglang explained. “That would be very troublesome.”
“Mm-hm.”
The female corpse chimed in, abandoning the idea of trying to appeal to Zhou Ze's emotions. The most ruthless are those who are unfeeling. Clearly, Zhou Ze had landed on her blacklist.
“But she wouldn't dare to do that either, otherwise her soul would already be in hell. If she causes any harm in the living world, she will be punished in hell.
So, it's still possible to kill her.”
Xu Qinglang had a cigarette in his mouth. Before, he had been panicking like a quail about to be violated, but now that Zhou Ze, with his cosmic power, was by his side, he could relax, watch the fun, and make sarcastic remarks.
“Don't kill me, don't kill me! She is her, and I am me. We are two different people!”
The female corpse quickly shouted. She could tell that the two men before her really wanted to solve her problem once and for all.
All sentient beings have a survival instinct, and the female corpse was no exception.
A thousand sails pass by the sunken boat, ten thousand trees flourish before the withered tree.
The female corpse was not actually Madam Bai. In a sense, she was an independent life, a “spiritual intelligence” born from Madam Bai’s body after two hundred years. However, the female corpse and Madam Bai were still inextricably linked.
Xu Qinglang was right. The female corpse dared not do anything excessive in the living world. Even in death, she would not choose to act recklessly and cause Madam Bai in hell to suffer punishment.
Zhou Ze squatted down in front of the female corpse. “Then what did you mean just now? Were you just playing around?”
The female corpse nodded.
“Heh.” Zhou Ze chuckled. Thinking about it now, he was still a bit too “young.” He had just become a ghost messenger and lacked experience, which was why he had agreed to Madam Bai's request.
“Is there any way to restrain her?” Zhou Ze asked.
“Extract a strand of her zombie soul blood, and you can control her. But she has to be willing to give it to you voluntarily,” Xu Qinglang suggested from the side.
The female corpse suddenly raised her head, her eyes flashing with intense hatred as she stared at Xu Qinglang, as if, at this moment, Xu Qinglang was her greatest enemy.
“Either die, or hand over the soul blood. Your choice,” Xu Qinglang said with a smile.
“You... choose,” Zhou Ze said, looking at the female corpse. Clearly, he agreed with Xu Qinglang's suggestion.
Zhou Ze was a neat freak. He didn't want the female corpse to suddenly come down and clean his cup with her tongue again.
“Okay, I'll give it to you.” The female corpse took a deep breath, as if burying her resentment and anger. Then, she closed her eyes, and a strand of something that looked like a red earthworm emerged from the center of her forehead.
Zhou Ze reached out and pinched the thing with his fingernails, then pulled it out and placed it in his palm. It was somewhat warm, wet, and slippery.
After handing over the soul blood, the female corpse's spirit immediately became very weak. She was almost fainting, barely managing to stay upright.
“Clean yourself up in the bathroom and then go lie down upstairs. From today onwards, you are not allowed to step out of the bookstore without my permission,” Zhou Ze warned.
“Yes, High Official.” The female corpse lowered her head, her posture very submissive. With her soul blood in the other party's hands, she had no choice but to submit.
…………
“Thump.”
Zhou Ze threw the bottle of medicated wine onto the table. He was clearly applying the wine to Xu Qinglang, but it sounded like he was doing something disgusting.
“Apply it yourself.”
“Don't be like that. You weren't injured, but I was thrown against the wall. I have so many bruises. Don't you have any sympathy at all?” Xu Qinglang became more and more agitated as he spoke. “Zhou Ze, have you noticed that I've been having bad luck ever since you came here?”
“That's fate,” Zhou Ze said, refusing to take the blame. “By the way, that incantation you recited just now sounds very familiar.”
*Tiandi wuji, Xuanxin zhengfa.* (Heaven and Earth are boundless, the Xuanxin Righteous Art).
“It's from a TV series. I thought it sounded good, so I used it. It doesn't actually help with spellcasting at all,” Xu Qinglang admitted honestly.
“Like adding background music for yourself?”
“Heh…” Xu Qinglang rolled his eyes, picked up the medicated wine, and started applying it himself. “There's some plum juice in the kitchen. Take it back with you. I won't open tomorrow morning. I need to rest.”
“I'm going back to rest.” Zhou Ze got up, took the plum juice, and said goodbye. After returning to the bookstore, he went straight upstairs to the second floor.
The female corpse had obediently washed herself clean and was lying in the freezer, wearing Zhou Ze's clothes.
The white shirt was a bit big on her, and the bottom hung down, covering the curve of her buttocks. She wasn't wearing pants, and her legs were crossed inside, her eyes alluring.
Zhou Ze reached out and knocked on the freezer, saying, “I remember Madam Bai said she died before she got married.”
Therefore, Madam Bai should have been a virgin, but the female corpse in front of him seemed a bit promiscuous.
“That's because she didn't tell you that she had an affair with a poor scholar before marriage. Her father found out and thought it was a disgrace to the family, so he forcibly drowned her.”
“Oh, so she's an experienced old driver?”
“Of course. Do you know how much thought and effort she put into making me not look as terrifying as a drowned person?”
“Women, in the end, love beauty.” Zhou Ze shook his head. “Sleep.”
After saying that, Zhou Ze placed a pillow next to the freezer and lay down.
With the female corpse next to him, the coldness emanating from her made him feel very comfortable, even more pleasant than lying in the freezer.
………………
The sun was shining brightly today. The female corpse was kneeling on the bookstore's tiles, wiping the floor with a rag, while Zhou Ze carried a plastic stool outside the shop and sat in the sun.
It wasn't until noon that Xu Qinglang opened his shop and came out. He took a cigarette from Zhou Ze, glanced at the scene inside the store, and said with a smile:
“Trained her well.”
Zhou Ze continued to squint, enjoying the sunlight.
Xu Qinglang exhaled a smoke ring, then seemed to remember something, saying:
“Your signboard is pretty good, quite high-class. It makes my place next door look shabby. I'm thinking of getting a custom signboard too.”
“Trying to be cultured?” Zhou Ze said with a smile.
“Can't I?” Xu Qinglang raised an eyebrow. “If I put out my twenty-odd property ownership certificates, who can say I'm not cultured?”
Zhou Ze shook his head helplessly.
“Come on, give me some advice. I think your 'Guwang ting zhi, ru shi wo wen' (Take it with a grain of salt, thus have I heard) is pretty good. I'm thinking of having the horizontal inscription on my signboard be 'Rensheng rumeng' (Life is like a dream). What do you think? Sounds impressive, right?
But for the couplet, I'd like to have something related to 'eating,' so it fits my restaurant, right?
I haven't thought of anything good yet. Do you have any suggestions?”
Zhou Ze pondered for a moment, then said, “You really want to hear it?”
“Tell me,” Xu Qinglang urged.
Zhou Ze looked at the female corpse in the room and said:
“People eat earth their whole lives,
Earth eats people once.
Horizontal inscription:
Life is like a dream.”