Midnight Bookstore

Plato once proposed a very famous basic philosophical proposition, Zhou Ze felt that… it would be more appropriate to add another one.

And that was:

“Who am I?

Where am I from?

Where am I going?

Am I being cheated on?”

Zhou Ze believed that this question would make Old Zhang think for a long time. It could even make Old Zhang suffer from premature hair loss.

The reason why Zhou Ze threw out this question was because of his people-oriented attitude. It was a kind gesture of caring for his subordinates.

Old Zhang didn’t think for long. The doorman opened the door, and everyone got into the car. They drove in, turned a corner and stopped in front of a row of townhouses.

“It’s this one.” said one of the patrol officers.

“Go knock on the door.” Officer Chen gave the order assertively.

With her stature, even the bureau chief had to be polite to her when she came to Tongcheng’s territory.

Moreover, Old Zhang had seen her instantly and mercilessly refuted those leaders who said that she had to care about public opinion and social repercussions in the meeting room.

The two patrol officers went to ring the doorbell. After waiting for a long time, no one opened the door.

“He’s not at home?” Old Zhang was puzzled. “Or did he leave to look for the child?”

“I don’t think so. There are two cars parked by the roadside outside the house. They belonged to the Zhu family. One is Zhu Chenhao’s car, whilst the other is his wife, Wang Jiali’s car. If indeed he left for work or to look for the child, he probably would have driven out.”

“You’ve memorized the license plate number?” Zhou Ze asked in surprise.

Officer Chen stretched out a finger and tapped her forehead, indicating that it was all in her mind.

But she had only taken Zhang Yanfeng’s phone and looked at it casually.

What a terrifying woman… whoever was with her… if he went out to have a tryst and stood in front of her, she would probably be able to analyze the height of the mistress and the position she liked.

“Also, the French window in the living room behind the fence has been opened.” Said Officer Chen as she pointed in that direction,

“The girl fainted while walking on South Street. I’m starting to suspect that the child might not have gotten separated from an adult in the family.”

“This is because regardless of whether it involves child abuse or not, it’s impossible to just watch the child get separated. We’ve been in the pharmacy for so long, and no one has come looking for us.”

“So?”

“So, I think the child ran out on her own. She walked aimlessly to South Street. From here, it’s not far from South Street. In addition, the child’s physical condition is not good, and it’s hot today, so she fainted.” Officer Chen paused and continued:

“I’ve seen the child. She’s already numb and has been abused for a long time. She’s even used to it. She shouldn’t have been like other children who ran away from home because they were beaten and scolded.”

“So?”

“So, I think something might have happened to this family.”

Officer Chen looked at the few officers who were standing next to him and said, “When you go in later, be careful and try not to destroy the scene.”

“Destroy the scene?” Zhou Ze felt that it was a little ridiculous.

Holy sh*t… you can tell that there’s a crime scene just by standing at the door?

Was it that magical?

Zhou Ze did not know that Officer Chen was the mastermind behind the old master’s case. With the thinking of an ordinary person, he was able to complete the narrative of the case based on normal logical thinking through the real paranormal phenomenon.

As everyone entered, they made sure to be careful. They did not forcefully break down the door, nor did they call for the property manager to open the door. Instead, they entered through the French windows. When they entered, everyone tried their best to walk close to the windows.

After entering the house… Zhou Ze suddenly frowned. He smelled a faint fragrance drifting around the house. This fragrance was a little strange. It seemed to be similar to the scent of the Resurrection Lily, but it was not the scent of the Resurrection Lily.

It was faint but very fragrant. It was also very refreshing and did not seem like sandalwood.

In the living room, everything was normal. It was cleaned thoroughly. The furnishings inside also revealed a simple style, reflecting the owner’s taste.

Everyone walked to a room at the corner of the living room. This seemed to be the source of the fragrance.

“You guys, go upstairs and take a look at the other rooms.” Officer Chen said to a few of the officers.

“But, we don’t have a search warrant…” said one of the officers with some hesitancy.

Entering this house was already a little against the rules. Moreover, those who lived in this high-end neighborhood had backgrounds and statuses and were different from those who were forcibly demolished. If they broke into their home, there might be a lot of trouble in the future.

“You’ve seen what the child looks like. We didn’t break into a house. Now is not the time to apply for a search warrant. We received a call from the person who reported the case…” As she spoke, Officer Chen pointed at Zhou Ze. This was also the reason why she insisted on bringing Zhou Ze along.

“Now, we are here to investigate the suspected child abuse case. What we are facing is the home of the criminal suspect. Are you satisfied with this explanation?”

The officers immediately stopped talking and followed the orders to go to the other rooms and upstairs to search, even though they did not know what they were looking for.

Officer Chen put on a pair of gloves and opened the door. As the door was pushed open, the fragrance became even stronger.

Zhou Ze stood at the door and looked inside. He found that this room had been completely remodeled. It was not a guest room at all, but a small temple cubicle.

Inside there was a statue of the child-giving Guan Yin, the statue of Guan Yin had her arms opened, she had a kind face, she paid attention to the suffering of the world.

On the sacrificial table in front of the statue, there were seven oil lamps.

The smell just now was emitted by the oil lamps. Moreover, something must have been added to it, which was why the smell was so strange.

There was also a picture in front of the sacrificial table. In the picture, there were two ancient people with tall hats holding shackles in their hands. In front of them was a doll. It was a male doll.

This was because this picture was drawn with a brush. However, the physical characteristics of the male doll were described in detail, so no one would have mistaken the gender.

“I’ve seen this drawing before.” Officer Chen frowned. “This is a drawing of a ghost giving away a child.”

The two men looked at each other, there was a very absurd emotion in their hearts.

We can give away a child?

Why didn’t we know that we had this function?

“This is local folklore. According to legend, there was a family of great benevolence. They always wanted a boy to inherit the family business, but this family had always given birth to a daughter.”

In that era, it was a very serious matter if there were no males to pass on the incense.

A daughter of this family knew that her father and the other great-aunts were worried about this because she felt deeply guilty as a daughter and felt that the guilt was all on her.

Therefore, she mutilated her own body every night, hoping to atone for her sins.

Later, she was taken by the two ghosts and sent to be reincarnated as a boy.

“One of the concubines of this great benefactor finally got pregnant and gave birth to a boy, and the story ended on a happy note.”

“This story is twisted,” Zhou Ze said with a sigh.

“Many stories in ancient times are like this. I saw that there was a sign at your door saying, “I heard it in vain, so I heard it.”

“You must have read Ji Xiaolan’s ‘Notes of Yuewei Cottage’, right?”

Zhou Ze nodded.

“There are a lot of things about the three virtues, the four virtues, the three principles, and the five norms. Many of the stories and the author’s comments are views that the public can not accept and will be heavily criticized.”

“Just like the stories in this painting, the daughter self-mutilated herself and was judged by the author to be filial and worthy of praise.”

“Even the two idiots were moved.”

“…” Zhou Ze.

“…” Zhang Yanfeng.

As she then clapped her hands, Officer Chen stood up straight and smiled:

“Perhaps this can explain why that girl had so many scars on her body and suffered such severe abuse.”

“Are you saying that this family abused the girl because they wanted to have a son?” Zhang Yanfeng found it unbelievable.

“Never underestimate the bottom line of ignorance and selfishness.”

“This has nothing to do with poverty, wealth, and education.”

The three of them walked out of the house, and a few other policemen ran over.

“Report, there’s no one in the house.”

“There’s no one upstairs either.”

“Could it be that they ran away when they saw the police car?” Officer Chen frowned.

“But that shouldn’t be the case.”

The child abuse incident had already been committed, which meant that this family was crazy and paranoid. How could such a family be scared away by a police car?

However, the car was at home, and the French windows were open. The girl had run out by herself, where did this family go?

“Let’s investigate. Zhu Chenhao and Wang Jiali, go to their work units and ask around. Also, check the surveillance cameras in the neighborhood. Plus, I saw the family photo in the living room just now. This family should be a family of four. There are also old-fashioned women’s shoes placed in the shoe cabinet by the door. That means Zhu Chenhao’s mother should also be living in this house with her son.”

Zhang Yanfeng nodded immediately and picked up his phone to make a call.

Zhou Ze stretched himself. Since the culprit and the reason had been found, the only thing left was how to punish this scumbag of a family.

After all, they were a family, a couple, and an old woman. Although he didn’t know where they had gone, perhaps they were visiting relatives? Perhaps they were out shopping? Maybe they didn’t drive for other reasons?

Zhou Ze shook his head, forget it, with Old Zhang and such an awesome female police officer here, he didn’t need to use up his brain cells.

Zhou Ze stood in front of the sofa in the living room, spread his arms, and casually leaned down, this was how he sat on the sofa in the study room, if he laid out a standard GE you, it would be a day for salted fish.

But… this time… when Zhou Ze sat down on the sofa, the leather sofa was like the surface of the sea that had sucked enough water and was being squeezed, it began to crazily spray out what it had absorbed into its “Body”.

“Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!!!”

A mist of blood began to spray out from the inside of the sofa onto the smooth and tidy floor tiles of the living room, staining them with a blinding crimson…