Tongcheng had become quite famous in recent years. It was not because of its economy or its snacks, but because of its college entrance examination.
For most of the third-year students in the country, the Tongcheng Mock Scroll was comparable to the Huanggang Secret Scroll.
Of course, it did not really affect Zhou Ze. His bookstore had long gotten rid of its dependence on the 'living business'.
It had already upgraded its industrial structure, and was now making money from the dead.
However, the fatty who had visited him last time had found him again.
His purpose was simple. The next semester was the college entrance examination. The fatty was planning to do something big again, which was the pirated secret scroll business.
There must be a lot of twists and turns in it, and there might even be a complicated chain of interest. Zhou Ze was not too sure about it. As a matter of fact, Zhou Ze believed Xu L did not know either.
The reason why the fatty had tried to recruit Xu L last time and this time was because he wanted to use Xu L's connections with his classmates.
Xu L was actually a middleman that both parties were satisfied with.
Although he was silly,
It was the most reassuring.
Piracy was an unavoidable hurdle in the current domestic society. Even the so-called "counterfeit" culture that was derived from it seemed vigorous and vigorous. It even began to gradually break away from the category of derogatory terms and began to develop into a neutral term.
But no matter how one looked at it, it was still against the law. Even though it was a common phenomenon, if one was unlucky enough to be targeted, it would still be a very troublesome matter.
Zhou Ze rejected the fatty. The fatty left gloomily. Before he left, the fatty stood at the door and lit a cigarette. He touched the gold chain that had lost some gold powder.
He cursed.
"Idiot."
Zhou Ze continued to sit behind the counter and read a book. The fatty's visit was just a small interlude in his life.
As usual, the woman sat on a chair after cleaning the bookstore. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. She seemed to be in a daze, but it also looked like she was taking a nap.
Their lives were tainted with an aura similar to the old lady's foot wrapping.
Zhou Ze was pleased. He recalled the thing he had been looking forward to the most in his previous life. It was to live like this, to waste time, to waste time, to read books, and to be in a daze.
He did not need to be prepared to face emergency patients at any time, and he did not need to constantly urge himself to work hard to climb up bit by bit.
She had been lying in the coffin for two hundred years. She had gotten used to the dullness and silence. Now, it was just a drizzle.
Compared to the bookstore's "calm as water", Xu Qinglang was much more motivated. He was rich, and he did not have much pursuit of metaphysics. Instead, he thought about how to rely on his own abilities to earn money and develop.
Because of this, Xu Qinglang was very unhappy with the decadent style of the master and servant next door!
"Look at you, you're as lazy as a dead man every day," Xu Qinglang came over for a cigarette after a busy day as usual and mocked Zhou Ze.
"I'm already a dead man," Zhou Ze waved his hand and exhaled a ring of smoke.
"Look at you. You've lived two lifetimes, but you don't even have much money in your hands. I'm a man with more than 20 apartments, and I'm still working hard."
As usual, after belittling Zhou Ze, he had to flatter himself.
Zhou Ze glanced at Xu Qinglang and smiled. "Are you preparing your dowry?"
"Nothing good comes out of a dog's mouth."
Xu Qinglang raised his head and looked at the night sky (or the roof), "I want to live a more comfortable life when I'm old."
"More than twenty houses in the living world are enough to attract the Ghost Madam to bring you back to get married. You should work harder and earn more money to buy more houses. Next time, you can try to find a female Ghost King who thinks that she's a good match for you. Then, as a Ghost Servant, I'll be able to benefit from you.
Don't forget your friends when you're rich. "
"Hehe," the woman who was dozing off was very cooperative with her boss.
"It's almost 8 p.m., I should get ready," Xu Qinglang said after checking the time.
"What are you doing?" Zhou Ze was surprised.
Normally, Xu Qinglang would go to bed early at night.
"Today is the opening day of the Confucian Temple. The National College Entrance Exam is around the corner in a few months. I have a relative whose kid is taking the exam this year. He asked me to go to the Confucian Temple to burn incense for him."
"You're willing to go too?"
Zhou Ze was well aware of Xu Qinglang's personality. It might be an exaggeration to say that the man was selfish, but he was too lazy to care about anything other than earning money.
"I ate at his house when I was young, and he helped me a lot. Otherwise, I don't even know if I could survive until the demolition, so I have to return the favor," Xu Qinglang said sternly.
"Mm," Zhou Ze nodded.
"Why don't we go together?" Xu Qinglang suddenly invited. "Can you help me get the first incense?"
"Does the Confucian Temple care about the first incense?"
"Heh, it's still a good omen, isn't it?"
"I'm not that strong."
Zhou Ze had witnessed how crazy the people who tried to get the first incense were. He was struggling to hold his ground, unless he used his nails to clear a path. However, he could not possibly knock out everyone around him, right?
"Invite her," Xu Qinglang pointed at the woman, "She's as strong as an ox, she can help me."
The woman frowned. She was about to mock him.
"Do you want to take a walk outside?" Xu Qinglang raised his brows.
The woman immediately swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue and smiled brightly.
She had never left the bookstore in the past few days.
Zhou Ze had no choice but to agree. He was worried about the woman going out on her own. She might be acting like a maid, but there was no telling what was in a man's heart, let alone a zombie without a heart.
Zhou Ze even believed that if he lost his ability one day, the first person to eat his flesh would be the woman who was subservient to him.
The three hailed a cab and went to the Confucian Temple. It was a little exaggerated to say it was crowded outside, but it was still surrounded by layers of people.
It was a pity that all parents cared about their children.
Xu Qinglang met up with the couple outside the Confucian Temple. They were two honest middle-aged men.
It went without saying that their son was not here. Everyone was competing for the omen, yet no one was stupid enough to believe that they could actually graduate with the Confucian Temple. There were not many students around. They were most likely studying at home.
The Confucian Temple in Tongcheng was supposed to wash its doors after the Lunar New Year. As for why they did not do it before the Lunar New Year, it might be because the masters of the Confucian Temple thought it would be a disgrace to compete with the demons during the Lunar New Year.
Therefore, it was better to do it after the Lunar New Year.
The Confucian Temple was deserted, while the Confucian Temple had a lot of followers.
Zhou Ze was clueless about the exact reason and the situation in other parts of the country. Custom was just a strange rule. Who could explain it?
It was similar to how the news about a father-in-law from the neighboring city of Tongcheng kissing his daughter-in-law at his wedding had spread like wildfire on the internet recently. It did not make any sense if it was related to the so-called custom.
"Creak!"
The mahogany door was opened.
The parents waiting outside immediately charged into the Confucian Temple like ferocious beasts.
The woman led the way, followed by Xu Qinglang and the couple. It felt like Zhao Zilong was at the Battle of Changban.
Zhou Ze did not join the crowd. He squatted on the curb outside the temple and smoked a cigarette.
As he was smoking, he was surprised to see the cigarette in his hand suddenly go out.
Zhou Ze lit it up again, but the cigarette he was smoking soon became tasteless.
"Hehe."
Zhou Ze tossed the cigarette to the ground and looked around him. He knew that the cigarette was being offered as incense.
They did not eat the incense, nor did they care about the offerings.
They were doing it all just to smoke a mortal's cigarette.
He had no idea what kind of monster they were.
Zhou Ze did not feel angry at them for stealing my cigarette. He was still a stowaway a month ago, and had only been promoted to a temporary worker half a month later.
He did not feel like he was the one who had risen to the top, nor did he feel like he was the one who had built the road.
Clang!
A gong was heard.
In this night, it seemed so abrupt and so ear-piercing.
Zhou Ze followed the sound.
A short old man walked out from the garden behind the Confucian Temple. The old man was holding a gong in his hand and holding a cigarette in his mouth. He was hopping toward the entrance of the temple.
The old man purposely glanced at Zhou Ze and blew out a ring of smoke, as if he was thanking Zhou Ze for the cigarette.
Zhou Ze smiled too.
He lit up the remaining cigarettes in his hand and placed them on the ground, leaving only one for himself.
The cigarettes on the ground soon went out. The old man jumped even more happily, as if he was more fond of the troublemaking young man. His pocket was bulging, most likely filled with cigarettes.
The old man cleared the path with the gong.
A group of people slowly followed behind him.
They were not the parents who had rushed into the Confucian Temple.
They were a group of people in strange outfits.
The ones at the front were holding feather fans and silk handkerchiefs. They were staggering with pale faces as they followed the old man.
Behind him were two other people with greasy braids. Their gazes were dull, but they still followed the old man.
The rest of them were wearing more modern outfits. The last few were even wearing modern clothes, like ordinary high school students.
However, some of them had pale faces, and some had broken skulls.
Out of professional habit, Zhou Ze quickly deduced that the students at the back had either died from poison or jumping off a building.
One of them looked familiar to Zhou Ze. He remembered seeing his picture on the news a few years ago. The man had committed suicide by jumping to his death after failing to perform well in a mock exam.
The dwarf elder struck the gong as he walked forward. The group of "scholars" behind him were like marionettes following behind him.
They were like a procession in a parade.
They were walking in circles around the Confucian Temple.
Meanwhile, the pedestrians nearby.
Apart from Zhou Ze, no one could see them.
BANG!
A gong was heard.
"There's no need to build a tall building to live in peace. Books have their own houses of gold!" the old man yelled with a hoarse voice.
BANG!
Another gong was heard.
"Don't blame yourself for not having a good matchmaker when you're marrying a wife. Books have their own beauties!"
The old man continued to yell.
After walking around the Confucian Temple three times,
The strange parade slowly disappeared.
A while later,
The parents who had finished offering incense began to walk out of the Confucian Temple.
Their faces were filled with satisfaction.
They were filled with anticipation.