Time: June 11, 2005, 5:10PM.
Location: Chunnan City, outside the Qingshui neighborhood, next to the road.
The Grim Reaper from the future lowered his hand, confirming the time on his watch again—no issues there.
According to what the natal chart had read just before he’d left, he only had to wait a few more minutes before seeing the person he was about to meet coming from the other side of the road.
It was raining.
The Grim Reaper hated the rain. If he’d paid more attention to the weather before he left, he probably wouldn’t have chosen this time.
After a while, the rain kept getting heavier and heavier. The Grim Reaper’s black robe was drenched and his hair was soaked through. The rainwater dripped down the tips of his hair and rolled down his neck, feeling colder than his actual body temperature.
Vehicles were rushing past. The pedestrians on the street lessened. The rainwater carried the faint smell of yellow magnolias, which was quite fragrant.
The Grim Reaper frowned in disgust. He didn’t like anything overly sweet.
At this point in time, the protagonist he had crossed the space-time continuum to meet arrived late—a little boy.
The Grim Reaper had come back from the future to this point in time just to take him away in advance.
On the opposite side of the road, the sidewalk traffic lights were flashing. They reflected in the puddles, appearing dreamy and colorful.
The boy was holding a small red umbrella with ears. Wearing a pair of yellow rain boots, he jumped step by step, looking much like a poisonous little mushroom.
It was pretty common to see children in this sort of outfit, but not every child in this outfit enjoyed stepping in puddles.
Little Mushroom wasn’t paying attention to the crosswalk at all. He only cared about stepping in the puddles. Every time he stepped into a puddle, he giggled happily. He was playing so much that it took him a long time to walk across the zebra-patterned road.
Around the moment he finished walking, the countdown to the red light ended, and a turning vehicle roared past him.
“Hey kid, are you looking to die?” Even from a distance, the owner of the car could be heard scolding.
Just a little more, and this Little Mushroom would’ve died on the spot.
This was an instance of death.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf Xglw Efjqfg mtbrf atlr rqfmlolm alwf ab mgbrr atf rqjmf-alwf mbcalceew ab olcv atlr Olaaif Zertgbbw: olnf sfjg-biv Jtl Aljsjc.
Within every individual’s natal chart, there were many instances of death in their lives. For example, they could have missed a bus that would’ve otherwise caused them to die, they could have avoided a falling flower pot, or maybe they were robbed at knifepoint on the road…In most cases, the exact time of death could not be chosen by people themselves.
Jtl Aljsjc kjr j rqfmlji mjrf.
Dfmjerf Jtl Aljsjc nbiecajglis mtbrf tlr bkc vfjat vjs lc atf oeaegf.
Lf mtbrf ab rjmglolmf tlr bkc ilof, rjnlcu akfcas-atgff ilnfr atja rtbeiv’nf vlfv klat tlw lc bcf ofii rkbbq. Lf kjr akfcas-rfnfc sfjgr biv ja atja alwf.
Half an hour before his death, he had argued with an auntie because he’d cut in line, and also caused a kid to cry because he’d stolen their cotton candy. After all that, he even slowly smoked a whole cigarette in the no-smoking area, even cursing at a few security guards.
In short, he was detestable and vulgar, not at all near the definition of a good person.
On one hand, the Grim Reaper was very curious about him.
On the other hand, natal charts did not allow there to be such a slip-up.
The Grim Reaper had to return to a suitable instance of death to change the future. He had to let those twenty-three lives that should’ve ended end on time.
Five year-old Chi Jiayan was too frightened to move. Impatient horns honked at him one after another, causing quite a ruckus.
Seeing this, the Grim Reaper sent out a trace of his spiritual power, prompting Chi Jiayan to move. Unexpectedly, as soon as his spiritual power was released, the other party turned his small face to look in his direction.
He quickly walked over to the Grim Reaper.
“Who are you? Why are you wearing a mask?” he said in his soft, childish voice.
Chi Jiayan stared at him with a pair of big, watery eyes. His small was was white and tender, as if he was a glutinous rice dumpling just out of the pot. His pupils reflected the tall figure of the Grim Reaper, also reflecting the white mask on the Grim Reaper’s face. With a face full of such ignorance, how could there possibly be a trace of the badness that was in his grown-up appearance?
The Grim Reaper’s brow furrowed under his mask.
He’d miscalculated. He had forgotten that this person was a speech spirit, so he was naturally able to spot someone from another world.
“Did you not bring an umbrella?” Chi Jiayan raised his head and asked. “Do you want to walk with me?”
The Grim Reaper said indifferently, “No need.”
“But you’re soaked through.” Chi Jiayan blinked.
The Grim Reaper looked at himself in embarrassment.
Although he was engulfed by a cold aura and wore a scary mask, nothing could change the fact that he was quite pitifully drenched all over, dripping water from the tips of his hair.
One tall and one small figure stood facing each other in the rain for a while. The air was filled with the aroma of yellow magnolias, which was refreshing.
Chi Jiayan sighed a little, lowering his head to look for something.
Since Chi Jiayan was still very short as of now, when he lowered his head, from the Grim Reaper’s perspective, he could only see the red umbrella and the tips of his rain boots. The pair of ears on the top of the umbrella were constantly being knocked down by the rain, but they kept bouncing back up again. They were stubborn and indomitable, just like their owner.
“Gege, squat down a little.” Chi Jiayan raised his head and beckoned with his little hands, the handle of the umbrella resting on his shoulders.
The Grim Reaper: “…”
“Squat down,” repeated Chi Jiayan.
The Grim Reaper crouched down.
Unexpectedly, his hair was rubbed with a handkerchief Chi Jiayan was holding in his hands.
“Mommy said that if you don’t open an umbrella on rainy days, you’ll catch a cold.” Chi Jiayan smiled, showing a pair of adorable dimples on his cheeks. “Jiajia will wipe for you, and you’ll be dry soon. If you’re dry, you won’t catch a cold, so you won’t have to go to the hospital for a shot. Shots hurt a lot.”
“I won’t catch a cold.” The voice of the Grim Reaper had a bit of a metallic quality to it.
Chi Jiayan didn’t question why. He nodded firmly. “Mm!”
Chi Jiayan also had a scent about him.
The Grim Reaper caught a glimpse of a yellow magnolia hanging around his neck. The beige flower was tied with a red string going through it, representative of the love his elders had for him.
From nowhere came the mewls of a kitten, barely discernible through the pitter-patter of the rain.
Chi Jiayan stopped what he was doing. His round eyes widened all of a sudden. “A kitty?!”
The Grim Reaper had heard the meow, too.
Oh, also, the Grim Reaper hated cats.
On his black robes, there was a gold embroidered animal totem that started to tremble violently.
Chi Jiayan didn’t notice the sudden chill in the air. He stuffed his handkerchief into his pocket, and running through the rainwater, he followed the meows to a strip of bushes beside the road. There was a cardboard box in the shrubs that had completely collapsed after having been soaked by the rain. Inside was a dying black kitten, whimpering softly.
“Hurry!” Chi Jiayan waved from the bushes. “Gege, there’s a kitty over here.”
The Grim Reaper stood unmoved.
Chi Jiayan threw away his small umbrella to investigate further. After a moment, he came out holding a kitten with blood dripping from its abdomen.
His appearance was a bit silly; leaves were sticking out of his head, mud streaked his fair face, and he looked as panic-stricken as if he was facing a great enemy.
“Gege, the kitty’s hurt!” Chi Jiayan cried tearfully. “We have to take it to the hospital!”
The Grim Reaper said, “It will die soon.”
He wasn’t kidding; the aura of death was completely surrounding the kitten.
“I’ll save it!” As soon as Chi Jiayan said this, he turned around and ran. “There’s an animal hospital up ahead!”
He had run off too quickly, and since he was childish, he had forgotten to take his umbrella. Just now, he had been so serious about catching a cold in the rain, but now, he had completely forgotten.
The little red umbrella overturned in the rain. A gust of wind blew by, blowing it far away.
Chi Jiayan ran for a while before stopping to beckon behind him. “Gege! Hurry! Let’s save it together!”
The Grim Reaper narrowed his eyes.
He was reminded of the day Chi Jiayan died, twenty-two years later.
TL Note: Thank you for reading my first ever TL! Enjoy your stay in this short but comfy novel :^)
Ah, it’s just the beginning but I already find this novel cute and interesting >///<
Jiajia is soooo umfff adorable little bubu 😭♥️♥️♥️ my heart clenches loving this already <333
I love kids, but I don’t like when children feel sad
Thank you for your translation 💜💜💜💜
So sweet of him!🥰….Interesting starting ♡
Jiajia soooooo cute 🥰
Oh, I like it already. And I find it funny that this grim reaper hates cats but death from Mort (discworld series) likes them.