Bringing My Rival Back to Life (Accidentally) - Chapter 10

In an instant, Wu Jiu thought of many things.

At first, Wu Jiu hadn’t fallen into such a miserable situation. As long as he could come and go like Butler Bai, he could still eke out a living in the human world for a long time. However, it was extremely unfortunate that every time he tried to fake his death and return to the underworld, he would be discovered by Zhu Xiao.

On one occasion, he attempted to create the illusion of a fire, deliberately choosing a time when Zhu Xiao was out to set his own house ablaze. Everything seemed perfect: the fire was precisely controlled within his apartment, not affecting anyone else. Even the wind direction had been meticulously calculated to ensure that not even ashes would blow into the neighboring unit. When the walls were almost charred, Wu Jiu was ready to leave the scene. But just at that moment, Zhu Xiao returned.

Zhu Xiao was truly fearless, daring to climb the stairs despite the thick black smoke. Climbing the stairs was one thing, but he also began pounding on Wu Jiu’s door with great force. Wu Jiu had already prepared to extinguish the fire and play dead, but the deafening knocking brought him back to life. Zhu Xiao frowned and asked, “What are you doing in there?” Wu Jiu, feeling guilty, replied, “Frying fish.” After all the trouble, nothing succeeded except for his face being slightly blackened by the smoke. This plan was clearly not working, so Wu Jiu decided to try something else.

Not long after, Wu Jiu took the initiative to lead a team to the outskirts for an inspection, planning to find a slope and pretend to fall to his death. He learned from his previous mistake and chose a dark, windy night, leaving under the pretext of “wanting to take another look at Trench No. 12.” He found a slightly slippery slope and, without even bothering to act, simply slipped and fell after his shoes brushed against the dirt.

However, less than a minute after he fell, he heard Zhu Xiao’s exclamation: “Wu Jiu!” Wu Jiu kept his eyes closed, pretending to be dead. Then he heard Zhu Xiao panting as he ran to his side. In the wilderness, there was no AED, so Zhu Xiao had to perform CPR himself. Wu Jiu endured as Zhu Xiao tilted his head back, lifted his chin, and even removed his shirt. He also endured when Zhu Xiao nearly broke his ribs with the force of the compressions. But just as he was about to master the art of endurance, he suddenly felt something wet drop onto him. Wu Jiu couldn’t continue pretending and immediately came back to life, saying, “I’m alive, I’m alive! Zhu Xiao, stop trying to kill me.” He opened his eyes, but it was too dark to see clearly. He didn’t know if what had just dropped on him was sweat or tears.

He tried to sit up as if nothing had happened, but Zhu Xiao pushed him back down by his shoulders. Zhu Xiao looked down at him from above, his voice as cold as an ice cellar: “Wu Jiu, what are you doing in the middle of the night? If you want to die, find another place. I don’t have time to clean up your mess.”

…

Later, Wu Jiu faked his death many more times, but none of them succeeded for similar reasons. Eventually, when he had no other choice and was backed into a corner, Wu Jiu used the quickest and most absurd reason: sudden death.

As past events flashed through his mind, Wu Jiu refocused on the message Zhu Xiao had just sent in the Yin-Yang Messenger interface.

Zhu Xiao: [Do you think I can bring you back to life just by saying so?]

Wu Jiu seemed to be in a good mood: [What’s so difficult about that? Just wait and see.]

Wu Jiu suddenly thought of something, curled his lips, and typed another line: [Zhu Xiao, do you miss me?]

To be honest, not seeing Wu Jiu was a bit unusual. But Zhu Xiao didn’t think he had reached the point of “missing” him.

Zhu Xiao: [No.]

Wu Jiu: [If you don’t miss me, then why don’t you want me to stay a ghost?]

Wu Jiu: [You do, don’t you?]

If Wu Jiu had a tail, it would be wagging right now: [It’s too boring without me, isn’t it? I knew it. How could that Huang compare with me?]

He was referring to Teacher Huang, a fellow academic in the same field, a laid-back individual content with being the eternal third wheel.

Wu Jiu repeated himself, this time in an affirmative tone: [Zhu Xiao, don’t try to wriggle out of it. You do miss me.]

Zhu Xiao didn’t want to engage in this childish banter and replied with a period.

Wu Jiu took this as a signal of Zhu Xiao’s surrender and said in a reluctantly victorious tone: [Alright, I’ll think of something for you.]

Zhu Xiao didn’t know what method Wu Jiu had come up with, but before Wu Jiu could figure it out, Zhu Xiao was inspired first. It started with Zhang Yue sending over the initial draft of his thesis.

The thesis focused on funeral rites and views on life and death. The draft had many issues, the most prominent being its overly broad focus. Some sentences were also awkward, switching between human and ghostly language, perhaps because Zhang Yue had prematurely used a plagiarism detection tool to revise it. There were a few sentences that Zhu Xiao couldn’t understand at all. Just then, he received a message from Zhang Yue, so he directly asked during a WeChat call.

Faced with Zhu Xiao’s confusion, Zhang Yue replied cautiously, “It means that the patterns on this tomb figurine express the beautiful hope of reincarnation for the tomb owner…”

Zhu Xiao finally understood why he hadn’t grasped it before, “You changed ‘next life’ to ‘afterlife’.”

“Ah!” Zhang Yue was extremely embarrassed, relieved that this was over WeChat and not in person.

Zhu Xiao asked a few more questions and went through Zhang Yue’s thesis. During the process, he suddenly thought of Wu Jiu again. Wu Jiu was already dead, his ashes buried in the cemetery. Would he have a next life?

Before he could ponder further, another call came in. This time it was Zhu Xiao’s mother, Zhang Ruijun. Zhu Xiao’s family lived elsewhere, and she occasionally called to check on his recent situation and gently urge him about his life plans. But this time was different; this time she had an example to use.

“Your cousin is preparing for pregnancy?”

The cousin had gotten married two years ago, and Zhu Xiao had even attended her wedding. He remembered that on the wedding day, the couple was well-matched in both talent and appearance, and their long-term love story, free of quarrels, had drawn many envious glances.

“Yes, she’s even a year younger than you. Unlike you, who doesn’t even have a partner,” Zhang Ruijun sighed, “Mom knows your orientation is a bit special, and I don’t expect you to get married or have children, but life is so long. You need someone to keep you company so you won’t be lonely.”

“By the way, I heard from your aunt that their law firm has a new handsome guy who’s very nice,” Zhang Ruijun said, “and his orientation is the same as yours. Maybe I can introduce him to you someday.”

Zhu Xiao wasn’t interested in matchmaking and vaguely replied, “I’m busy lately,” steering the conversation away. After hanging up, Zhu Xiao returned to Zhang Yue’s thesis draft.

He had intended to make some comments and send it back for Zhang Yue to revise, but he got distracted while reading. Instead of continuing, he printed out the draft. Five minutes later, Zhu Xiao set off for the cemetery with Zhang Yue’s thesis in hand.

First, he asked if Wu Jiu was there and, upon receiving a reply, burned the thesis for him. Wu Jiu had thought it was Zhu Xiao’s latest work and only picked it up after washing his hands and burning incense. Unfortunately, the thesis had many issues and was far below Zhu Xiao’s usual standard. Wu Jiu glanced at the references and even spotted several formatting errors.

Wu Jiu: [Zhu Xiao, this thesis couldn’t possibly be yours, right? It’s really not good. It’s far worse than mine.]

Wu Jiu: [It seems your level has dropped a lot without me.]

Zhu Xiao replied: [It’s written by your student.]

Wu Jiu immediately fell silent. If it was written by his unlucky student, it was no surprise. Wu Jiu felt his reputation in the education field was in tatters: [Why are you showing this to me?]

Teasing Wu Jiu about his role as a teacher was only a secondary goal. Zhu Xiao had a more important question to ask: [When are you planning to reincarnate?]

Wu Jiu was a bit confused: [Ah?]

Zhu Xiao didn’t understand his “ah”: [You don’t need to reincarnate?]

Logically, this should be the top priority for a ghost. Wu Jiu, feeling dizzy, still explained: [These days, with the falling birth rate, reincarnation isn’t easy… Besides, where would I find someone to be reborn into?]

Zhu Xiao paused for a moment, then suddenly asked: [What do you think of my cousin’s family?]

He had carefully considered this question: [They are in good health, with no bad habits, no history of serious illnesses, and no hereditary diseases. Their family is harmonious, with a strong marital relationship. Both are gentle and emotionally stable, love children, and are very patient with them, avoiding any oppressive parenting. Their financial situation is also good, with three houses and three cars, and their household registration is in City A. You can take the college entrance exam or go abroad directly if you wish. Moreover, they only plan to have one child, so you would be an only child if you were reborn into their family.]

Wu Jiu was overwhelmed by the long string of words and felt even more dizzy: [……?]

It took him some time to digest it, and he finally found the key point: [Your cousin?]

Wu Jiu asked with a dark expression: [Zhu Xiao, do you want to be my uncle-in-law?]

Zhu Xiao hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that Wu Jiu mentioned it, he thought it sounded like a good idea and added it to the list of advantages: [Sure. If you like, I can bring you to school when I have time.]

Zhu Xiao’s thinking was very pragmatic—Wu Jiu’s current situation was much worse than when he was in the human world. Just drifting around down there wasn’t a solution. It would be better for him to reincarnate and return to the human world through a legitimate and legal途径.

Wu Jiu realized Zhu Xiao was serious and was stunned by his rigorous thinking. The last time he had seen Zhu Xiao talk so much was at an academic summit. Now, this scene was unfolding in his chat box. And such a rare moment was actually about… persuading him to reincarnate.

Wu Jiu swore that in his many years as the King of Hell, Zhu Xiao was definitely the first person to persuade him to reincarnate.

Wu Jiu said in disbelief: […………Zhu Xiao, you’re really crazy.]

Zhu Xiao: [Not satisfied?]

He didn’t have anyone better than his cousin nearby.

Wu Jiu: [……It’s not that I’m not satisfied.]

Zhu Xiao was always very careful in his choices, and this time was no exception. Wu Jiu could sense that this was already a very good deal. In the underworld, it would probably require a lottery to get such an opportunity.

But…

Wu Jiu: [What I mean is, you don’t need to find me a reincarnation target!!]

“Reincarnation is already taken care of,” Wu Jiu muttered to himself, “He must be desperate to see me!”

He had to find a way to meet Zhu Xiao. If he didn’t figure out a way to meet him soon, in ten months he would become Zhu Xiao’s own nephew by blood!

Bringing My Rival Back to Life (Accidentally) - Chapter 10

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Hate that cliffhanger, don’t you?

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