Chapter 1 The Beginning

The man remained silent, lost in thought at this moment.

Zhou Ze had originally thought he would turn into a vengeful ghost, just like the souls of the victims who had been burned to death in his bookstore by the delivery boy's arson.

Once a ghost becomes a vengeful spirit, its obsession completely solidifies, permanently cutting off the path of reincarnation, with the only outcome being dissipation.

It's a bit like a person taking a hundred times the amount of stimulants in a short period of time, getting high as a kite, and then, of course, preparing to clean up the mess after the high is over.

However, the one before him seemed somewhat calm.

Very lost, very confused, very helpless, and very conflicted.

He looked back at the Confucian Temple behind him and sighed, "So, to the sages who grew up reading their books, am I actually the same as those failed candidates of the imperial examination?"

He originally thought he was unique, originally thought he was blessed with luck, even the ghost judge could not determine his fate, who knew, in the end, it was nothing more than his own high self-regard.

In fact, he should have understood this long ago, otherwise he would not have been detained here for hundreds of years, in a daze all day long, not even able to possess self-awareness, only able to follow the generations of watchmen circling the Confucian Temple.

The man looked at Zhou Ze: "Do you think I deserve to die?"

Zhou Ze did not answer.

"I had a friend, surnamed Liu, who, after learning that the late emperor had hanged himself on Coal Mountain, led his entire family to commit suicide in their house to follow the late emperor."

The man spoke softly.

"The day before the incident, he had a granddaughter who was only thirteen years old, secretly ran to my mansion, hoping to seek my protection, her mother was a concubine, and wanted to beg for a chance to live.

Then my old friend personally came to the door and took his granddaughter away.

In the end, the Liu family, more than twenty people, hanged themselves for their country, and that little granddaughter was stabbed to death with a precious sword. She didn't want to die, but she still died."

The man smiled, "Do you think this is right?"

This time, Zhou Ze didn't remain silent, but said, "She shouldn't have died."

"Yes, she shouldn't have died, so I think that whether to live or die, everyone has their own calculations in their hearts. I know my relatives don't want to die, and my children don't want to die either, so I have to grit my teeth and live, to live on.

I'm not just living for myself, I have to live for them, this whole family.

In addition, during my tenure in the later dynasty, I saved countless lives and reduced a lot of killings.

It's like Li Shimin, after the Xuanwu Gate incident, knew that he was destined to leave an indelible stain on history, so he tried his best to be a wise ruler and a good emperor.

I had the same mindset back then.

I always felt that doing more good deeds and saving more people, even if I couldn't die for my country, but at least keeping a useful body to do things that would benefit the country and its people, would be a way to make up for my mistakes from another aspect."

The man said a lot, obviously, he was not convinced.

Ancient scholars called themselves disciples of the sages because they read the books of the sages and learned the principles of the sages, but now it is clear that the ones in the Confucian Temple have branded him as an unfilial disciple.

He was originally a member of the Nine Ministers' aristocratic family, but the treatment he received after death was the same as those who failed the imperial examination and committed suicide in the Confucian Temple.

This already shows the attitude of the sages.

Zhou Ze slowly squatted down, looked at the man in front of him, thought for a while, and said, "What you just said sounds a little familiar to me. Less than a hundred years ago, someone said almost the same thing as you.

His name was Wang Jingwei.

During the national crisis, he became a traitor, working for the enemy, and calling it 'national salvation through a roundabout route'."

The man opened his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but not knowing where to start.

"You went from being an official in the previous dynasty to one of the Nine Ministers in the later dynasty, so you don't need to make excuses for yourself anymore.

The most essential reason is actually very simple,

The water's too cold."

Hearing this, the man showed a look of shame and anger, glaring at Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze spread out his hand, his fingernails growing out, and then drew a circle, guided by the mark on the palm of his right hand, and the gates of hell were opened.

"Please, what you want is a dignified exit, right? Just walk in yourself.

If I have to catch you personally, then you won't even have that last bit of dignity."

The man stood up and walked forward step by step. Before stepping into that door, he gave Zhou Ze one last deep look:

"Do you think the water is cold?"

"As long as your conscience is clear."

The man showed a thoughtful look, then shook his head, not knowing whether he had figured it out or not, but in the end, he still took that step and entered the door.

Zhou Ze waved his hand, the door disappeared, and everything here ended.

He also seemed to have to thank that official for swallowing all the scholar ghosts in the vicinity into his stomach, which saved Zhou Ze a lot of trouble.

"Boss, is it over?" the female corpse said with great disappointment, "I thought you were going to beat him up."

"Beating him up is meaningless." Zhou Ze took a deep look at the Confucian Temple not far in front of him, and said, "Besides, the sages in the Confucian Temple have already detained him here for hundreds of years, they've already punished him as they should."

Bai Yingying pouted, "It seems that these clay figures in the Confucian Temple are still a little useful, they're not all blind."

"Yes, they detained the soul of the former dynasty official here because they felt that this official was not their disciple, did something shameful, and lost their face, so they needed to be punished.

They punished him,

Then, the dynasty changed, the Ming dynasty became the Qing dynasty, a lot of things changed, but the Confucian Temple is still the Confucian Temple, and these sage clay figure masters are still enjoying the incense offerings of the new dynasty."

"............" Bai Yingying.

"Boss, you're becoming more and more philosophical now. Are the clay figures in the temple good or bad?"

Bai Yingying still remembered that the last time she helped someone grab the first incense and entered the Confucian Temple, she felt an uncomfortable feeling of being "watched".

"They're just things, I guess."

He took a taxi and returned to the bookstore at ten o'clock in the evening, but this was usually Zhou Ze's real business hours.

Probably because there are fewer ghosts during the day and more ghosts are active at night.

He had earned some hell money these days, but after the last video was sent out, Zhou Ze burned a lot of hell money to avoid trouble.

That video, of course, couldn't be used as direct evidence, but as long as the relevant parties knew the truth of the matter in their hearts, and then spent some effort to investigate seriously, the truth of the matter would not be difficult to find out.

That video was just a lead, it can't be used as real evidence.

Zhou Ze didn't read a book, but listened to music with his headphones on and casually flipped through some news. Bai Yingying was sitting behind Zhou Ze playing games on her phone.

The master and servant were enjoying themselves, which, in the eyes of the man next door who was more beautiful than a woman, was a sign of depravity!

The door of the bookstore was pushed open late at night, and a girl walked in, leading a corgi dog.

A familiar girl, a familiar corgi.

Zhou Ze stood up and poured her a glass of water. As the first VIP customer, she deserved this kind of service.

Zhou Ze also leaned closer to take a look.

The person was alive,

The dog was also alive.

It was really rare for a living person to enter his bookstore in the middle of the night.

"Boss, my dog has been found."

"Congratulations." Zhou Ze said.

The corgi dog excitedly circled Zhou Ze twice, and then ran to Bai Yingying as if it was having fun.

Bai Yingying was playing a game and was suddenly disturbed by the dog, so she glared at it, and the corgi dog was immediately stunned.

As the saying goes, dogs look down on people, but in fact, dogs can see things that some people can't see.

Immediately, the dog slumped on the ground, and its poop and pee came out all at once.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Boss, I'm so sorry." The girl immediately stood up and prepared to clean up.

"It's okay." Zhou Ze motioned for the girl to be calm and not impatient, and then said to Bai Yingying, "Clean it up."

Bai Yingying put down her phone and went to the bathroom with a look of grief to get a mop and rag.

"Boss, your bookstore's business hasn't been very good, has it?" The girl brought her dog back to her feet and didn't let it run around.

Of course, this thing didn't dare to run around, and didn't dare to breathe loudly.

"Just passing the days." Zhou Ze said.

"Thanks to you telling me the location of the dog last time, I was able to find the person who took it away and redeem it with money."

"How much did you spend?"

"More than ten thousand, I guess. The person refused to return it, saying that she raised it, but after agreeing on a price, she still returned the dog to me."

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Boss, I think your bookstore can add more things. For example, this chair is really uncomfortable to sit on. You can change it to a sofa."

If I had money, I would also like to change it.

"How about I invest in it? You can fix this place up nicely." The girl stroked her dog's head and said to Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze knew that she just wanted to repay him, so she didn't care even if she lost money playing around, but Zhou Ze couldn't agree.

He couldn't ask her if she minded receiving hell money for dividends, could he?

Hell money that can be burned to accumulate merit?

When that Taoist said this to him, Zhou Ze regarded him as a fool,

Well,

So Zhou Ze didn't want to be regarded as a fool by the girl in front of him.

At this moment, a "laugh" came from the noodle shop next door. Then, Xu Qinglang, wearing pajamas and striking a charming pose, ran out, came to the bookstore next door, and shouted at Zhou Ze and Bai Yingying, who was wiping up dog poop:

"I won, I won the lottery, one hundred thousand!"

Xu Qinglang was very happy. When people are happy, they always want to share. The only place he could find living people nearby was the bookstore next door.

However, it seems that the two in the bookstore next door are not living people either...

"Congratulations, congratulations." Zhou Ze congratulated.

"Tsk tsk, buy me a bag, Boss Xu." Bai Yingying took the opportunity to get some lucky money.

"It's nothing, nothing." Xu Qinglang began to pretend to be reserved, and then saw that there was actually a young and beautiful girl next to him, so he became even more reserved and said:

"It's just one hundred thousand yuan, after tax, it's only eighty thousand. It's just some lucky money. For someone like me who has twenty or thirty resettlement houses in Shiqiao District, it's just a drop in the bucket. It doesn't really have any impact on my life."

"Shiqiao District?" the girl asked.

"Yes." Xu Qinglang replied.

Shiqiao District is located near the city center, and the prices of houses there are higher than in other places, so naturally he can be more proud, oh no, he can be more subtle.

"Oh, that should be my family's community."

"Your family also lives there?" Xu Qinglang smiled even more brightly, "Would you like to go out for coffee together sometime?"

"My family doesn't live there."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, the company that demolished your house and compensated you with resettlement houses should be my family's company."

"............" Xu Qinglang.