A Guide to Raising Kids for a Workaholic Grim Reaper

A genuinely sweet, adorably clueless, gluttonous office drone and rookie grim reaper vs. a fake little puppy: a cold, taciturn boy raised under her care who has fallen on hard times.

Content warning: The secondary couple follows a BL storyline, but it doesn't interfere with the main plot and is only briefly mentioned. If that's a trigger for you, please don't read. (I'm very sorry.)

After Liu Xu died, she arrived in the Underworld, where the professional salesman Black Impermanence conned her into becoming a grim reaper. Poor at learning? No problem, she could start from scratch. Once she'd completed her training, Liu Xu began taking on soul-collecting assignments, and her life as an overworked office drone began. Every day she rushed among all kinds of corpses, just to earn enough to eat.

Who could have guessed that, while collecting souls, she'd run into Fu Ling, a lonely, sweet little flower, and Bu Lang, a haughty little “princess”? Kids that good-looking couldn't possibly be without family, right? Liu Xu was greedy and lecherous, and while she was alive, she raised two children. One was a thoughtful little sweetheart, and the other was a sweetheart with a drafty roof.

As the little sweethearts grew up, one of them went from being a little puppy to a little wolfdog, and his attitude toward Liu Xu began heading in a rather strange direction...

The first time Fu Ling rebelled was over the jade pendant around Bu Lang's neck, because Liu Xu had given it to him and not to Fu Ling.

“What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours. You're a liar.” He looked utterly aggrieved, head bowed and eyes full of tears, clutching his sleeve in his pale little hands as he choked out the words.

Liu Xu was nearly melted by his cuteness, and her guilt shot through the roof. For a moment, she had no idea how to explain that Bu Lang was the reincarnation of the previous King of Hell, and the pendant was a magical artifact...

Liu Xu nearly cried. “You just play favorites!”

Liu Xu rubbed her forehead... A sweet little flower who got jealous was not easy to placate at all.

But now, who was this man clutching his future wife's money, bursting with possessiveness, and forcing her to marry him? Had she really raised her sweet little flower all wrong? Her own sweet little flower had turned into a big, bad wolf and was coming after her.

Not that she was necessarily against it...

Preorder novel: A Little Spoiled.

1. Because of her family situation, A Qi moved into a new place by herself as soon as she graduated. She hired Shen Xuan, a security guard, to supervise the renovations.

A Qi was flirtatious and loved teasing people, with the temper of a pampered little princess. Shen Xuan was honest, reserved, and taciturn. That chaste-looking face of his was just what the spoiled princess liked.

One day, A Qi had just gotten her driver's license and needed to make a long drive home. She suddenly thought of Shen Xuan and decided to hire him to help her.

“Available for a job?” A Qi stopped him outside the security company, smiling at him with a teasing tone.

“Yes.” Shen Xuan didn't dare look at her, his eyes darting away. “What kind of job?”

“Driving.”

“W-what?” He might have gotten the wrong idea, and for a moment he lost his composure.

A Qi realized what had happened and couldn't help laughing. She reached out and poked his chest, deliberately teasing him. Watching his flustered expression, she grinned mischievously. “Brother Xuan, you sure know a lot.”

2. Under A Qi's relentless advances, Shen Xuan gradually opened up to her and took her to meet his family. To their surprise, Shen's mother took A Qi seriously as her future daughter-in-law.

Shen Xuan knew his family was poor and that he wasn't good enough for his princess. He was also afraid she'd suffer if she stayed with him, so he tried to explain things to his mother.

But A Qi, quite unlike her usual spoiled self, looped her arm around his and said with striking affection and utter seriousness, “If Auntie likes me so much, should Brother Xuan and I go register our marriage?”

Shen's mother was naturally overjoyed, but Shen Xuan grew troubled...

In private, A Qi grabbed him by the collar and straddled him. Her little face was menacing, and her smile was edged with gritted teeth. Pressing close to his ear, she asked in a sweet voice, “Is being with me such a hardship for you?”

Theme: Enjoy life, but remember to keep yourself in check and treat everyone around you equally.