Ch112 - Seniors One, Two, and Three

Before Grim Reapers went out into the field, they usually went through arduous training and various exams before they finally earned their business licences.

However, Ji Xiunian was fundamentally different from other Grim Reapers. In addition to the fact that the Eastern District was short-staffed, it was certainly possible for this approval process to be expedited.

Lu Xu smiled as he thought about this. No matter how he looked at it, he had a new colleague now.

He replied to the Grim Reaper Bureau first, reporting the events that occurred last night, before sending a message to Ji Xiunian about the good news—

[ss-Lu Xu: Nian ge. Your licence has been approved. You can officially go out into the field now!]

Ji Xiunian was a bit confused by the message, and immediately replied—

[Ji Xiunian: Wait. Even a back-up Grim Reaper needs to have a licence?]

[ss-Lu Xu: If you have the papers, then you’re an official Reaper. When paying out salaries, please look forward to my fair and equal treatment.]

Although this was supposed to be a happy situation, thinking about his internship experience so far made Ji Xiunian feel like it was happening a little too fast—

[Ji Xiunian: Um… Don’t Grim Reapers have an intern period? I’ve only been on one case, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to do things very well on my own.]

Ji Xiunian really did not want to be rushed onto the chopping block to start work.

On one hand, he really did not have any kind of experience, and this service for the departed was quite an important one in someone’s life. He did not want to let anything slip just because he was not familiar with how things worked.

On the other hand, the one who had motivated him to decide to accept being a Grim Reaper was Lu Xu, and he really wanted to be together with Lu Xu.

No matter what happened between the two of them, at least it still counted as alone time with him when they went to work together.

Ji Xiunian thought this was quite logical. It wasn’t that he was too scared. Ji Xiunian himself would never allow someone who was not completely independent to go off on their own.

[ss-Lu Xu: Aiya, don’t you worry, Nian ge. I’ll guide you until you’re ready to be on your own. We’re not rushing for anything. Let’s work on getting you familiar with the job, only then should we consider adding more to your workload.]

[Ji Xiunian: Mhm. I’ll be counting on you, then.]

Along with that message, he also sent a short-legged cat emote.

Ji Xiunian found it difficult to act cute, and was still not quite used to it with Lu Xu. He rarely used things like these cute animal sticker packs. When Lu Xu saw this, he somehow thought of a joke he had seen on the internet—

[ss-Lu Xu: Nian ge, where did you get this sticker pack from?]

Rumour had it that if a man suddenly started using cute stickers, then it was most likely because he was talking with other young girls, and that was where he got them from.

[Ji Xiunian: I got it from Yan Qing. He has a lot of them. If you like them, I’ll send you more of them.]

Both Ji Xiunian and Tang Yanqing were quite manly men. When Lu Xu imagined their serious faces sending cute stickers and emotes, he could not help but smile.

There was still a bit of time before their night-time break. Lu Xu told Ji Xiunian to get some rest and recharge his batteries. After all, they had to take care of some important matters later tonight.

Filming daily episodes was always much easier than public performances.

Tang Yanqing had sat down in the director’s studio to look through all of the content they had filmed so far in order to plan future programs.

The third public performance required a guest to help out, and the namelist was already laid out before him. When he saw Yu Manman’s name right there, he knew that he had come to the right place.

Lu Xu was the first artist that Yao Guai Entertainment had signed on in a long time. Whether it was Bai Ze or the other artists, they all probably took very good care of their newbie.

Yu Manman had even come on the show as a vocal instructor because of Lu Xu, so she would certainly come again.

The thought of being able to interact with the person he liked caused Tan Yanqing’s emotions to surge within him.

He pulled out his phone and opened WeChat, then sent a message to Ji Xiunian-

[Tang Yanqing: Manman will be coming in the day after tomorrow. How are your preparations for our plan?]

He waited for a while with no reply from Ji Xiunian, so Tang Yanqing just assumed he was sleeping and paid it no mind. He composed himself and started preparing for tomorrow’s filming.

On the other side, Lu Xu had waited for his dorm mates to fall asleep before sneaking out toJi Xiunian’s room.

Coincidentally, he was going from bed to bed.

For the sake of today’s certification ceremony, Ji Xiunian had specially put on a formal suit. It was a lake blue western style suit tailored to fit him.

Ji Xiunian had just gotten dressed when he heard a noise from behind him. When he turned around, he saw Lu Xu lying on the bed, cheek resting in the palm of one hand, looking at him with interest. “Nian ge, you look super handsome in a suit!”

Being praised by the person he liked was a very joyful thing, and Ji Xiunian could not help but smile, but he still retorted with a question of his own, “So you mean I’m not handsome when I’m not wearing one?”

Lu Xu hurriedly sat up, chuckling as he explained, “No, no. Nian ge is handsome no matter what, even when he’s not wearing one!”

That sounded a little…

“Oh, you…” Ji Xiunian laughed, then asked Lu Xu, “I’m ready now. Are we good to go?”

“We can leave whenever.” Lu Xu stepped forward and stretched his hand out to Ji Xiunian. “Let’s go, Nian ge. I’ll take you to HQ now.”

Up to this moment, Ji Xiunian had felt that this experience was entirely surreal. He never thought that something like this could be reality.

For a lot of people, death was dark and something not to be talked about. Even Ji Xiunian had assumed in the beginning that Grim Reapers were associated with the colour black. Never would he have thought that it was quite different from the image in his head.

The spacious and bright office hall along with the standard working environment didn’t seem any different from the ones in the realm of the living.

The  Grim Reaper Bureau staff were all not human, but their clothing was bright and glamorous. Other than the fact that their complexions were a bit paler than living beings, they all looked as normal as any other office workers.

Ji Xiunian moved forward as he was overcome with emotion, but was suddenly stopped by the sound of someone greeting him. “Ya, hello Mr. Ji.”

This voice was somewhat familiar. Ji Xiunian looked towards the direction of the voice and saw a woman around forty years old greeting him.

“You are?”

Ji Xiunian vaguely felt that this woman was a bit familiar, but he couldn’t think of where he had seen her before.

The woman’s face held a smile and she introduced herself to him. “Mr. Ji, it’s me. The year before last I came to clean your house twice. It’s been a long time, so it’s natural that I didn’t leave an impression on you.”

Now that she had mentioned it, Ji Xiunian seemed to have a vague recollection of this. “Were you the housekeeper who broke my set of porcelain china?”

“…” The woman was a little ashamed, but still nodded and acknowledged it. “It was me. I’m really sorry about that. It was just that my main job is harvesting souls, so I’ve never done house chores and such for work. But it was because of this opportunity that I got to meet you…”

Back then, in order to investigate whether or not Ji Xiunian was a stowaway, the organisation had sent three people over.

The woman had been the first. She had wanted to use a lower status to stay by Ji Xiunian’s side in order to make a decision quickly, and then disappear silently.

But she would have never even dreamed that she would have a day her plans were overturned.

Her performance in the bureau was considered highly ranked and her work skills didn’t need to be questioned. Before she met Ji Xiunian, she had brainwashed herself into thinking that he was a dangerous presence, and that she had to be careful.

But just as this belief had formed, she had accidentally broken Ji Xiunian’s complete collection of porcelain china.

Even though she was a grim reaper, she still needed to repay others after breaking their things.

The woman was originally heartbroken that she had to pay before she had even started working, and even imagined all the ways Ji Xiunian would scold her after seeing the broken porcelain.

But Ji Xiunian had always been a gentle person, and he cared even less for matters regarding money. When he saw the housekeeper auntie drooping her head, Ji Xiunian had guessed that it would be about this matter.

He didn’t say anything harsh to the housekeeper, and his first reaction wasn’t to ask about the porcelain. Instead, he asked her, “What happened, did you get hurt?”

Ji Xiunian was already handsome, and he still had no imperfections even this close up.

The woman only felt that her vision was blinded as she looked at him. She was stunned by Ji Xiunian’s beauty. Such a good looking person didn’t scold her after encountering something that would make others fly into a rage, and instead he genuinely worried for her. The woman immediately decided that Ji Xiunian was definitely not a stowaway.

This recognition meant that she couldn’t continue investigating.

No matter how suspicious the organisation was, the woman insisted that Ji Xiunian was such a magnificent person and could not be a stowaway.

Finally the bureau had no other options, and could only switch to another person.

Of course, these past events couldn’t be revealed to Ji Xiunian, but now that she had seen him again with the identity of a grim reaper, the woman knew that her decision at that time had been correct.

“Your client has ascended to heaven. Please go take care of it to avoid any other issues…”

The Grim Reaper Is Home app suddenly sounded a reminder. The woman suddenly remembered that she had a client to serve. “I’ll go first, when there’s a chance I hope we can sit down and have a good chat.”

Seeing her rush out in a flurry, Ji Xiunian realised that the more he discovered about this place, the more he felt that the Grim Reaper bureau seemed to be a harmonious place.

The two of them continued forward. Before they could get very far, a person shouted, “Nian ge!”

This voice was even more familiar than the voice he had just heard. Ji Xiunian turned around and saw a youth in his early twenties standing there. The gaze looking towards him was full of surprise.

Ji Xiunian opened his mouth, and asked with some hesitation, “I Love Nian?”

“That’s me, that’s me, I didn’t think Nian ge would actually remember my name. This is too moving! If not for the fact that the circumstances don’t allow it, I would want to take a picture together for them to see heehee…”

This “I Love Nian” was one of Ji Xiunian’s steadfast fans. Since he became a fan, he had been chasing all of his events around. Many of the photos on the internet were taken by him, and he was quite skilled at chasing celebrities.

To be honest, “I Love Nian” also had originally accepted the bureau’s task.

The two seniors before him had failed, so he had become the Grim Reaper Bureau’s hope.

“I Love Nian” wanted to use the identity of a fan to investigate Ji Xiunian, but the more he chased his events, the more he thought that Ji Xiunian was very gentle. The more pictures he took of him, the more good-looking he thought he was. It was too good being the fan of someone who was both popular and had no scandals.

“I Love Nian” didn’t need to sleep, so he was always chasing celebrities and editing photos 24 hours a day. Because he was good at editing and he participated in every event, he slowly became a very significant fan.

It happened that he was also enjoying himself. Every day, other than harvesting souls, he edited photos and steadily produced an output of high definition, beautiful photos. When the number of fans increased, he even produced a fanbook for Ji Xiunian, as if he were a real fan.

After they sent the fan off, Ji Xiunian suddenly looked towards Lu Xu, a trace of urgency in his eyes. “They all failed their tasks, so the bureau finally sent you over right?”

nao: jxn is working THREE jobs where’s his work life balance