Ch125 - The Unexpectedness of Life

“I do it?”

“Mhm.”

Since he began working, Ji Xiunian had always followed Lu Xu around. He hadn’t tried taking on any orders of his own yet.

Although he hadn’t had too many opportunities to use the work phone he had received, Ji Xiunian had logged into the Grim Reaper Comes Home App countless times, and he was already familiar with the process of taking orders.

【There is a new client about 70 metres from the Kai Cheng Bus Stop on the Fifth Ring of the highway ascending soon. Would you like to take the order?】

Ji Xiunian immediately chose “Yes” and then turned his head to ask Lu Xu if that was the correct action.

“Correct, Nian ge, you’re doing great.” Lu Xu nodded at the screen and couldn’t help but give Ji Xiunian a thumbs-up while smiling.

“I’m not a kid, there’s no need to praise me like that.” Maybe Lu Xu’s praise sounded too natural, making Ji Xiunian feel a bit embarrassed. Taking orders was relatively simple, and Ji Xiunian believed doing it right was just what was expected.

Although he said there was no need for praise, Ji Xiunian’s mouth had involuntarily curved upwards.

The two of them were discussing the new order together when Xu Haoming happened to open the door and see them. He was inadvertently stunned, “Nian ge, Xu ge, why aren’t you coming in?”

From what Xu Haoming could see, the two people at the door seemed to be looking at something together, but he felt that Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian’s interaction was somewhat inexplicable.

Xu Haoming didn’t know why he felt that the two men were a good match. After coming to his senses, he felt like he might have been overthinking.

Originally, he wanted to retract his head, but then that felt like it would seem too deliberate, so he casually came up with this question.

Lu Xu was supposed to return to the dormitory, but now that there was a new order, he naturally needed to go to Ji Xiunian’s place instead.

He handed Ba Mei to Xu Haoming, then smiled naturally and said, “Nian ge and I ordered some takeout as an extra meal. I’ll be back after eating the food.”

“Okay.” Xu Haoming instinctively took Ba Mei and held it in his arms, while also expressing envy towards Lu Xu. “Xu ge, your metabolism is really good. You eat supper every day and don’t get fat.”

Artists had to work hard to maintain their appearance on camera. This was the case even for boys.

Xu Haoming wasn’t chubby in any way, but he had a good metabolism because he was young. If he ate like Lu Xu, it wouldn’t be possible for him to maintain his figure like Lu Xu did.

He always thought that after the competition he would indulge and eat as he wished for two days, but facing Lu Xu now, he could only feel envious.

The client was about to ascend, and Lu Xu didn’t delay. After briefly chatting with Xu Haoming, he returned to the room with Ji Xiunian to “wait for their takeout.”

Xu Haoming returned to the room, holding Ba Mei. The other two inside had heard Lu Xu’s voice, but upon not seeing him enter, they couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t Xu ge come inside with you?”

“He went to mooch off of Nian ge’s takeout. I think he’ll be back after eating.”

“He went to mooch a meal again?” Han Tianyu couldn’t help but be astonished, saying offhandedly, “It seems like either Xu ge is mooching off of Nian ge’s meals or he’s on his way to mooch off of Nian ge’s meals.”

In their minds, if Lu Xu wasn’t in the dorm, he had definitely gone to Ji Xiunian’s place.

Han Tianyu didn’t think too much of it; he merely felt that Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian had a really good relationship.

He raised his hand and gently rubbed Ba Mei’s head, smiling playfully. “You and your owner are really amusing. Both human and cat have gotten Nian ge figured out, right?”

“Mreow…” It was unclear if Ba Mei had understood or not. It merely jumped out of Xu Haoming’s arms and crouched down on the table to lick at its fur.

Song Zhe glanced at Ba Mei, but ultimately didn’t say anything.

“It should be here.”

Lu Xu and Ji Xiunian successfully arrived at Kai Cheng Road and found the bus stop, only to discover the surrounding area was desolate, with only a few signs of people.

This place was located outside the Fifth Ring road, and was somewhat remote.

It was already 10:30 at night and there was no one at the bus stop, there had been no sign of people or vehicles for a long time.

According to the task prompt, the client should have been nearby.

But the terrain here was flat with no obstacles, and there was no sign of anyone in sight.

At first, Ji Xiunian even wondered if there was a problem. As there was no sign of anyone, how could there be a new order?

“Let me check the navigation.” Lu Xu couldn’t find the client either, so he opened the Grim Reaper Comes Home app and followed the red dot over the bus stop, heading towards the wilderness.

The red dot kept flashing, and as they moved, it got closer and closer.

They had arrived at the designated point, but Ji Xiunian still couldn’t see anyone, which made him even more puzzled.

Just as he was about to move forward, Lu Xu reached out and pulled him back, saying, “Nian ge, be careful.”

“Huh?” Ji Xiunian looked down and noticed a well at his feet, but it was too dark to see anything.

“What is this?” Ji Xiunian was initially stunned but then suddenly thought of something, “Is the person in there?”

Lu Xu looked at the navigation and nodded, “Seems like it.”

Late at night…

City outskirts…

Dried-up well…

Ji Xiunian thought for a moment and immediately understood what had happened.

He couldn’t describe the complexity of his emotions, and in this moment, he even hoped he was overthinking things.

However, when he and Lu Xu went down into the well, they found a person huddled at the bottom.

To be precise, the shadow had no physical form, and it was crouching in the shallow water bank at the bottom of the well, looking pitiful and helpless.

Ji Xiunian glanced at the information sent by the system, and his emotions became even more complex. He looked up at the shadow and then spoke in a low voice, “Li Beibei, 18 years old, from Qingshan City. Cause of death, drowning in a well…”

The shadow turned abruptly upon hearing their voices, its expression pale and frightened.

His face was very youthful, and he was just over 1.7 metres tall. Standing in front of the tall and well-built Ji Xiunian, he looked like a little kid.

“You guys…” Li Beibei thought it would be a grim reaper coming to take him after his death, but unexpectedly, it was Ji Xiunian and Lu Xu. Any young person who used the internet would know them. For a moment, Li Beibei didn’t know whether to feel sad for his death, or shocked that he could meet celebrities after death.

Ji Xiunian saw that he was young and looked like a child, so he softened his voice, “We are your exclusive grim reapers, here to accompany you on your journey.”

“Celebrities also do part-time jobs as grim reapers?” Li Beibei was even more confused when he heard this, and tentatively asked, “Am I dead, or is this just a dream?”

“Mn.” Ji Xiunian didn’t know what tone to use to deliver the news of the young boy’s death. He also felt that it was regrettable, but reality was often cruel.

Li Beibei felt somewhat aggrieved and frustrated, muttering to himself, “I’m still so young, how did I die?”

From his name, it could be seen that Li Beibei’s family truly cherished him like a precious treasure, pampering him from childhood to adulthood.

Li Beibei saw himself as an ordinary young person, with average grades. After graduating from high school without getting into his desired university, he had been preparing to find a job.

He didn’t follow his family’s advice to stay in his hometown, instead he had wanted to take a chance in the capital while he was still young.

However, without a diploma and lacking any particular skills, when Li Beibei arrived in Dongcheng, he could only start as a waiter.

Doing the same work day after day made him feel a bit depressed. To dispel the loneliness and confusion of being away from home, Li Beibei often went out with friends to eat and drink.

Today he had gathered with a few friends again, and Li Beibei had drunk quite a bit, to the point of being obviously intoxicated.

After bidding farewell to his friends, Li Beibei took a taxi to this place. The hotel where he worked at was not far from the foot of the mountain. He had wanted to take a shortcut to get back quickly, but he had never expected to encounter a well that posed such a danger.

The water currents in the well flowed in all directions. When he fell in, he couldn’t even struggle, and he was gone in an instant.

Not only that, but his body had also washed away with the sewage, and no one knew where it had gone.

Li Beibei never expected that his first encounter with death would be his own death.

He crouched at the bottom of the well, feeling bewildered, and looked fearfully at the mice and insects crawling on the nearby walls.

Thankfully, just before his emotions were about to collapse, two people came to the well, making Li Beibei feel much more at ease.

“So, now I have to report to the underworld, right?” Li Beibei did want to leave this place, but he was still worried about his family. Since he was young and far from home, his parents asked him to report to them with a message every day to make sure he was safe.

Before this, Li Beibei had always treated it as a chore and had merely sent a simple message to his parents every day. Only today did he think about sending a sincere message to his parents, but he no longer had a chance to do so.

“Ai ai ai, my phone is still in the water. I just bought the new Fruit 11, it cost me two months’ salary…” Li Beibei gazed at the bottom of the water, sighing. Only the heavens knew whether or not what he cared about was the emotions within the phone, or the phone itself.

Soon, Ji Xiunian followed Lu Xu’s example and sent Li Beibei on his way to the Underworld. After sending all the client information, this order would be officially complete.

“Congratulations, Nian ge, you can now handle tasks independently.”

Lu Xu had a smile on his face, seemingly unaffected by the Li Beibei incident.

However, Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but think about the youthful face he had just seen. He glanced at the turbulent water flow and couldn’t help but ask Lu Xu, “Can his body be salvaged quickly?”

Lu Xu pondered for a moment and shook his head, “It will probably take one or two days to discover his disappearance. It’s not easy to search this location…”

In fact, without navigation, it would also have been difficult for them to find the well.

Who would have thought that such a thing would happen to him?

Even if someone suspected the body was in the well, it was quite difficult to salvage and search for it.

After all, rescuers didn’t have precise information like they did, and they couldn’t even be sure if Li Beibei was inside.

If the sewage continued to flush, they might not be able to find Li Beibei’s body at all.

Almost every year, there were incidents of people falling into wells during rainy days, but the underground drainage network was extensive, and many missing people’s bodies were never found.

Just the thought of Li Beibei’s body possibly being submerged there for a long time made Ji Xiunian feel uneasy.

He hesitated for a moment before deciding not to leave immediately and asked Lu Xu if he could help him find the body before leaving.

The young face was just too tender. Ji Xiunian couldn’t save him, but he still hoped Li Beibei could rest in peace.

Lu Xu looked deeply at Ji Xiunian and then nodded in agreement. “If you want to, of course.”

What a relief.

Upon hearing this, Ji Xiunian felt much more at ease, but he was uncertain as to where Li Beibei’s body might be due to the turbulent water flow.

Just as Ji Xiunian was contemplating the feasibility of diving to retrieve the body, Lu Xu pointed in a direction. “His body is over there…”

Without further hesitation, Ji Xiunian walked over to the corner of the sewer, squatted down, and looked down.

Despite being a neat freak, Ji Xiunian didn’t hesitate to reach into the water and pull the body up when he saw the silhouette underwater.

The young body was still lifeless, and even its appearance looked terrifying.

However, Ji Xiunian didn’t care about that and merely arranged the body properly.

Seeing a soaked pack of cigarettes in the body’s pocket, Ji Xiunian took it out and placed it beside the well as a hint for others.

The two of them were clean and tidy when they arrived at the scene of the incident. However, when they returned, they were covered in dirt and even their clothes were filthy.

Lu Xu was fine, except for his dirty shoes. However, Ji Xiunian’s condition was much worse since he personally retrieved the body.

As soon as they returned to his room, Ji Xiunian urged Lu Xu to take a shower, “It was too dirty there. Go and clean up quickly.”

Lu Xu didn’t like the smell either, but when he saw Ji Xiunian’s appearance, he felt that he needed the shower more, so he said, “Nian ge, you should go first. Your clothes are all dirty.”

While unbuttoning his clothes, Ji Xiunian urged Lu Xu, “You go first, and I’ll wash up after.”

After a few rounds of back and forth, Lu Xu made a new suggestion, “Let’s just shower together. After all, your bathroom is spacious, and this way, neither of us needs to accommodate the other.”