CH 5

For the Grim Reaper, the meaning of “very soon” meant rotating his watch around and making another time-space jump, which only took a few minutes, give or take.

He chose Chi Jiayan’s second death instance—at the age of thirteen, Chi Jiayan almost drowned to death. At this point in time, Chi Jiayan’s parents had both died due to an accident when climbing a mountain, and his grandfather was long gone. He was the epitome of loneliness. The Grim Reaper decided to choose this time to take him away, if only to leave a minimal impact on the future. 

Chunnan City developed well in the last ten years. There were many high-rise buildings everywhere, and villas built specifically for the rich sprung up like mushrooms after the rain.

Chi Jiayan’s grandfather left several pieces of property after his passing, all of which fell into the hands of Chi Jiayan’s uncle. The other party was so rich that he also bought a house in the villa area. On the other hand, Chi Jiayan, whose parents both passed away, lived a relatively poor life. He was only occasionally helped with funds, mostly out of familial obligation.

This time, the culprit of Chi Jiayan’s drowning was his older cousin, Chi Rui.

“Jiajia, are you done changing your clothes?” Chi Rui and a group of his friends had changed into swimsuits, sitting under a parasol cracking jokes with each other. 

This group was made up of young men who had just reached adulthood. If they weren’t nouveau riche, then they were fuerdai. Their hobbies included picking up girls and gambling. From head to toe, they were overflowing with the hormones of adolescent troublemakers. Everyday, the insides of the brains were filled with good-for-nothing thoughts; they only needed to say a few lines before profanities would start breaking out.

Just as the question was finished being asked, the rose-patterned partition in the brick wall behind them parted to reveal a slender figure.

The Grim Reaper stood not too far away, unreactive. At this point in time, Chi Jiayan was no longer the five year-old little dumpling. In this time and space, eight years already passed, which was enough time for an ignorant little round-faced milky baby to become a handsome young boy.

“I’m here,” the young boy said.

This young boy was none other than thirteen year-old Chi Jiayan.

Chi Jiayan wore a white T-shirt and swim trunks. Compared to that group of eighteen and nineteen year olds who had their chests out, he looked much more conservative. He already started to look a bit like the prototype of the twenty-seven year-old version of himself that the Grim Reaper had seen. His skin was fair and clear, his brows and eyes were pure and limpid; he was a healthy sproutling.

“Where’s Qiuqiu?” Chi Rui stretched his neck out to peer behind Chi Jiayan. “Didn’t I tell you to bring Qiuqiu with you?”

“There’s too many guys here, so it wouldn’t be good for Qiuqiu jie,” Chi Jiayan replied. 

“What’s that mean?”

“Qiuqiu jie didn’t come.”

One of the hooligans on the side with bleached hair booed. “Yo Chi Rui, didn’t you say that your lil’ bro was going to bring her for sure? And here I thought it was someone powerful enough to bring out Her Royal Highness.”

Chi Rui’s face darkened. “Chi Jiayan, why do you think I called you here? If it wasn’t for your ability…do you really think I’d have any use for you? Every month, my dad tells you to go to the bank yourself to get money. Don’t you know why he doesn’t give it to you himself?” 

Chi Jiayan pursed his lips. His long eyelashes shadowed his pupils, showing no emotion.

“Don’t clam up!” Chi Rui walked over and shoved him. “You disaster, tell me, what use are you good for?”

Chi Jiayan seemed to be stung by the word “disaster”. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he still apologized. “I’m sorry.”

Seeing the two cousins argue like this, the bleached-hair hooligan interjected. “Let’s stop; it’s no fun arguing with a kid. You, Jiajia, hurry up and call Yu Xiaoqiu over. We prepared a lot of events today, all for her. When she sees them, she’ll be moved to the point of tears.” 

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“Qiuqiu jie has a dress rehearsal today,” Chi Jiayan responded. “She can’t come.” 

“It’s just a dress rehearsal, how could it be more important than a date?” The bleached-hair hooligan took off his sunglasses and came closer. “Or is it because you have a crush on Yu Xiaoqiu that you don’t want your bro to steal her?”

Chi Jiayan’s face instantly flushed. It wasn’t that he had a crush on Yu Xiaoqiu, it was just that he wasn’t used to people asking him such questions. Those kinds of thoughts never crossed his mind.

“I don’t—”

He’d barely spoken when Chi Rui stood up and kicked Chi Jiayan into the pool. “You wart frog who just wants to eat swan meat—you’re fucking asking to die!” 

This pool was built with the deep end being 1.8 meters. As soon as Chi Jiayan fell in, the top of his head disappeared.

He couldn’t swim in the first place, immediately struggling in every which way, water entering his mouth and nose. He tried his best to cry out, but each time he opened his mouth, the water would cause him to almost suffocate.

The huge splashes coming from the pool caused those on the edge to burst out laughing.

“Help…me…” Chi Jiayan floated up only to promptly sink back down. “I can’t…” 

“Hahahaha, your little bro looks like a chicken laying eggs, flopping around,” the bleached-haired hooligan said.

Chi Rui’s face darkened. He knew Chi Jiayan couldn’t swim.

The rest of the group saw that he had no response, and were therefore even less likely to jump in and help. They even thought that bullying such a weakling was kind of entertaining.

“Help me—” 

The water rushed over his head again.

The Grim Reaper stood beside Chi Rui, his shadow reflected on the water.

He was wearing his mask, dressed in all black, expressionless.

It was a perfect instance of death. 

A chill settled around the swimming pool, and even the commotion around it stopped immediately. Save for the sound of Chi Jiayan’s splashing and choking in the water, the surroundings were eerily quiet.

“Damn, does it suddenly feel cold.” A fuerdai stretched out his arms, goosebumps forming on his skin.

“You better not be scared,” the bleached-haired hooligan laughed. “This kid’s just pretending. He won’t drown.”

Chi Jiayan was still struggling in the pool. He was running out of strength, his conscience fading. 

Across the edge of the light blue water, he seemed to notice a lofty figure wearing all black robes, donning a mask, staring down on him from above.

“Gege,” he called out with difficulty.

The Grim Reaper’s brow furrowed behind his mask.

In his hand, there seemed to still be the lingering sensation of five year-old Chi Jiayan’s body warmth. 

That little dumpling had a pair of clear eyes without any impurities. No matter what he would grow up to be like in the future, that version of him from minutes ago was still the one who had spent a part of his life walking through the rain with the Grim Reaper.

“Chi Rui, does he really not know how to swim?” someone asked.

Chi Rui clenched his jaw, veins popping up on his forehead. He thought Chi Jiayan was calling for him.

The Grim Reaper knew that in a few seconds, Chi Rui would jump down himself and drag Chi Jiayan out. This was just a harsh prank out of retaliation rather than an actual attempt to kill Chi Jiayan. However, this death instance was really too perfect. As long as the Grim Reaper planted a bit more malevolence in Chi Rui’s conscience, Chi Jiayan’s death would become a reality. 

One move would let the dust settle.

Chi Jiayan’s struggle to survive stopped.

Gege, help me…I don’t want to die.

The voice from the speech spirit’s heart, uttering a desperate cry, was received by the Grim Reaper word for word. 

As the Grim Reaper hesitated, Chi Rui muttered a curse and jumped into the water with a splash, fishing Chi Jiayan out in a few strokes.

There was a violent fit of coughing. Chi Jiayan was out of breath, and he couldn’t stop gasping, sounding quite ghastly.

The gang of hooligans were all spooked, only now realizing the gravity of the situation—it turned out this little brat really couldn’t swim. No matter how ruthless they were, they didn’t want to kill anyone.

Chi Rui had never considered apologizing, nor did he feel sorry. He even felt that he wasn’t done venting his anger. 

He knew that Chi Jiayan had some special skills, that sometimes his words had power. His mother once asked Chi Jiayan to guarantee her victory in mahjong, winning several days in a row. He had already said he would bring Yu Xiaoqiu over today, so he believed Chi Jiayan would. Who knew this brat would dare not follow suit?!

Chi Jiayan was an odd existence within their family. Nobody wanted anything to do with him because he really was a disaster. Besides his grandfather’s passing, even his parents were gone. But because he happened to be useful, in order to save some face, Chi Rui’s family helped him out from time to time.

“Next time I tell you to do something, you’d better listen.” Chi Rui stood menacingly.

The onlookers commented, “That’s right; you’d better be ready. Think of his passionate feelings for Yu Xiaoqiu.” 

A few people laughed wickedly, and a few others said, “Consider it a discount, let Chi Rui give you some things, hahaha…”

How could Chi Jiayan not know what they were talking about? He coughed until his chest hurt, speaking shakily, “Give up. I won’t bring Qiuqiu jie here.”

Chi Rui was furious. “Fine. Don’t you fucking dare show up on my doorstep again, you bad omen.”

After saying this, the group turned to saunter back into the house. 

Speaking softly, Chi Jiayan said, “Chi Rui, unless you learn how to respect people, you’ll never find someone in your entire life who will like you.”

Chi Rui’s back froze, but the others didn’t know why. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s right Chi Rui, don’t stoop to his level,” some of them said.

Chi Rui swiveled his head and said incredulously, “You’re cursing me? You’re fucking cursing me? I’m your elder brother.” 

Chi Jiayan stood up, water dripping from his body, cutting quite the sorry figure.

He smiled, sweet dimples forming on his face, but disappointment and hardness appearing in his eyes. “Yeah. I curse you. I curse you so that you’ll never find love in your life.”

Chi Rui’s face paled.

The friends in the group didn’t know the severity of the matter, but fearing a fight would break out, hooked their shoulders over Chi Rui to steer him into the house. 

The sun was scorching. Chi Jiayan put away his smile, and after standing there for a moment, turned around.

This time, he genuinely smiled. His eyes were pure as he faced the Grim Reaper. “Gege, you’re here.”

The Grim Reaper stood not far away, head to toe in black, silent.

He didn’t know what overcame him. His hesitation had caused him to miss that perfect death instance. 

The gold embroidered totem on his robes was restless because such a slip-up had never appeared in thousands of years.

The Grim Reaper, the most heartless god in this plane of existence.

“Last time you said we’d meet very soon, but I waited for eight years,” Chi Jiayan complained, unsatisfied.