A Human Keeper's Guide to Raising Evil Spirits

Xu Huo had someone taking care of him.

More precisely, he was being cared for by an evil spirit.

Here's how it happened.

That night, after listening to a ghost story, he forced himself to stay awake and took a shower.

While he was washing, he saw a figure standing beyond the shower curtain. Its skin was gray as iron, and it was gaunt to the bone. A red cord was tied around its ankle.

Xu Huo remembered a ghost story.

Beyond the shower curtain stood a demon come to claim his life.

Without a second thought, Xu Huo went, "Swish!"

He pulled the curtain open.

Then he asked reverently, "Are you here to kill me?"

But when it came to disappointing him, fate had never let him down.

The demon who had come to claim his life said, "Human, there are three kinds I won't kill: people with mental illnesses, people in depressive episodes, and people who want to die. Which kind are you?"

"..."

Xu Huo, who fit every single category perfectly, darkened his expression and swished the curtain shut again.

After that day, an evil spirit appeared in his home.

The evil spirit cleaned the house, cooked for him, accompanied him to his follow-up appointments, made sure he took all his medication, helped regulate his sleep schedule, and supported his art career.

The evil spirit seemed to be nurturing a climbing rose, not especially showy, withered leaves and shrunken roots.

With no career plans, the broad-shouldered, muscular, sharp-browed and deep-eyed Li Fengxing, who stood 197 centimeters tall and had undergone special forces training, was assigned to the ranks of evil spirits. His job was to devour human souls and ruin human bodies.

Li Fengxing said he couldn't accept that. He'd been a model student since childhood. How could he eat souls raw?

But there was nothing he could do. Those were the rules, so he casually slipped into someone's bathroom and was promptly discovered.

But Li Fengxing saw it.

The person before him was overflowing with negative energy, his mental state hanging by a thread. It was as if one more second would make him collapse on the spot, shattering into pieces that could never be gathered up again.

And his eyes were light-colored.

They held a hint of primitive blue-green, mixed with the lush green of midsummer.

They were beautiful, more brilliant and dazzling than the emerald on the Demon King's scepter. But storm clouds shrouded them, hiding their radiance.

Li Fengxing felt an inexplicable urge.

He felt sorry for him.

He wanted to raise him all over again.

Like a flower.

So he started learning how to cook healthy, delicious meals; how to massage Xu Huo's wrists and ease the tension; how to dress in a way that would win Xu Huo's favor.

Later, when one of his friends found out what had happened, he was stunned. "Aren't you basically doing a succubus's job?"

As Li Fengxing untied his apron, he said, "Why can't a demon be a succubus?"

Then he kissed Xu Huo, curled up on the sofa playing video games.

Content warnings: A high school senior on leave for bipolar disorder, who thinks about dying every day but is in excellent mental shape, is the top. He's young and handsome. The bottom is a tall, 197-centimeter-tall male ghost: rich enough to throw money around, takes charge of everything, and is a gentle, guiding, fatherly type. The top is 185 cm, the bottom 197 cm, so there's a noticeable size difference. A story about nurturing someone, a story about nurturing someone, with the bottom raising the top. The top may go crazy, but he's even more likely to cry. Slow-burn, slice-of-life.

---- Upcoming Novel ----

-- Brother, Please Let Me Have Him --

Cen Zhiqing is an outstanding Host of the White Moonlight System.

He specializes in playing desperate wives and grieving sisters-in-law.

His mission is to become the husband's deceased white moonlight and make him sink into endless remorse.

When her husband neglects him, he acts hurt and sad.

At last, the plot reaches the point where his heart is utterly broken and he can die to leave the small world.

Unexpectedly, before he can kill himself, his husband's good friend comes to see him.

The good friend, eyes bloodshot, pulls Cen Zhiqing into a tight embrace and says in a trembling voice, "Sister-in-law, forget him. From now on, let me take care of you!"

Cen Zhiqing, halfway through killing himself: ?

1. [Wealthy Family Intrigue: Falling for My Brother's Wife]

Cen Zhiqing and Shen Gu are in a marriage of convenience.

A loveless marriage is like duckweed without roots: a gust of wind blows, and it scatters.

Shen Gu is busy socializing every day and has no time to attend to Cen Zhiqing's feelings.

Knowing he is unwanted, Cen Zhiqing quietly stays at home, cooking for Shen Gu and doing his best to play the devoted wife.

In public, they are the closest of couples.

In private, they are strangers, distant as can be.

In the eyes of his friends, Shen Gu has a good wife: beautiful and gentle.

Yan Chen used to think so too.

But when he sees his sister-in-law drinking alone at night, he can't help going over to comfort him.

To his surprise, his sister-in-law cries as he tells him about all the tears and heartbreak he's endured over the years.

It turns out Shen Gu doesn't love Cen Zhiqing at all. He even hurts him on purpose!

Yan Chen's heart aches for his sister-in-law.

He thinks:

If Shen Gu doesn't love him...

Then let me love him instead.

2. [Ruling the Sect: My Beloved Sister-in-Law]

As the Immortal Venerable of Biluo, Cen Zhiqing is noble, radiant, and peerless.

He is like a sacred being, fit only to be admired from afar and never defiled.

Until Cen Zhiqing fails to break through his cultivation bottleneck, and villains take advantage of his vulnerability, destroying all his cultivation.

The Immortal Venerable falls from his pedestal and becomes the sect's useless nobody.

After the New Year, Cen Zhiqing is offered to the Sword Sect's leader as a sacrificial offering to secure peace.

The Sword Sect's leader is aloof and aristocratic. He never wants to spare Cen Zhiqing a glance, and even allows the Sword Sect disciples to bully and insult him.

Cen Zhiqing silently bears every injustice, swallowing his anger.

Zhang Shengwei watches it all.

He believes that after Cen Zhiqing became his cousin's cultivation partner, he should have been allowed to recuperate and repair his spiritual meridians, gradually regaining his cultivation.

Besides, he is the sect leader's spouse. He should be treated with the utmost respect.

And yet they treat him like this...

Zhang Shengwei grows displeased.

His sister-in-law used to gently shell pine nuts for him and quietly listen to the difficulties and obstacles he faced on the path of cultivation.

He shouldn't be trampled on.

Zhang Shengwei grows more and more discontented.

He secretly vows that one day he will tear away the Sword Sect leader's hypocritical mask and take Cen Zhiqing into his arms.

He will make his sister-in-law his own beloved partner.

3. [Brothers at Odds: I Only Love My Sister-in-Law]

Cen Zhiqing is blind.

His family sees him as a disgrace and can't wait to drive him out of the house. Without giving it much thought, they send him to a laid-back prince to be his concubine.

The laid-back prince resents Cen Zhiqing's blindness, saying he can't take care of him.

So he spends his days carousing in the pleasure houses, then comes home and mocks Cen Zhiqing.

No one knows that Cen Zhiqing is only pretending to be blind.

He dutifully plays the concubine and swallows every humiliation.

Even when the laid-back prince ignores and curses him, he still makes him congee and massages his shoulders.

The laid-back prince doesn't care, but the Crown Prince does.

Cen Zhiqing is gentle as jade and extraordinarily talented.

How could Heaven allow someone like him to be treated so cruelly?

The Crown Prince feels sorry for him and begins deliberately drawing close to Cen Zhiqing.

After all, his relationship with the laid-back prince is already dead in all but name. Taking advantage of the situation is only natural.

Cen Zhiqing initially thinks the Crown Prince is getting close to him to win over his family's influence.

But when the Crown Prince sits on his lap, comforts him, and guides Cen Zhiqing's erect member as he slowly lowers himself onto it, Cen Zhiqing has to admit he'd never seen anything like this before.

The Crown Prince seems awfully possessive of his younger brother's concubine.

4. [The Beautiful Widow: Loving My Sister-in-Law Through Grief]

When he was sixteen, his last family member passed away.

When he was twenty-six, his husband died.

Cen Zhiqing is devastated, spending every day in tears.

Why does fate treat him this way?

Why, despite giving it everything he has, can he never get what he wants?

He has lost both family and love.

What does he have left to live for?

Cen Zhiqing is miserable, and the whole world knows he loves Liao Jingtang.

Even Liao Jingtang thinks so.

His own death is part of a plot. To seize the throne of the Demon King, he has to win.

He used to think his wife's silence was simply because he didn't love him, so he deliberately neglected him and never came home. He never imagined that his wife loved him so much.

Seeing his wife sort through his belongings and break down in tears, Liao Jingtang's heart aches.

Seeing his wife living alone in the world, not even knowing when to dress warmly, Liao Jingtang's heart aches all the same.

Just as he is about to seize the Demon King's throne and return to his wife's side, he discovers that someone else has appeared beside his wife.

That person comforts his wife and keeps him company.

The two are so close they seem like the perfect couple.

His wife's tears, his wife's laughter, his wife's love: it seems they've all shifted to that other man.

And that man is a brother with whom he once shared a bond strong enough to risk his life for.

His brother stole his wife.

Changsun Ning often heard Liao Jingtang complain about his useless wife.

He couldn't cook, was hopeless at housework, couldn't tell grains apart, and didn't even know how to wash clothes.

Liao Jingtang didn't like his wife.

He often told Changsun Ning that if only he could get a divorce, he couldn't wait to rush off to his next partner.

With this impression in mind, Changsun Ning happened to meet Cen Zhiqing.

Only after meeting him did he realize that Cen Zhiqing was nothing like the terrible person Liao Jingtang had described. On the contrary, he was wonderful.

Changsun Ning falls for his brother's widow.

Holding Cen Zhiqing, he makes a somewhat humble promise: "I don't need you to do housework for me, and I don't need you to do anything for me. I want you to live comfortably and happily. I can give you everything you want, as long as you love me."

5. [Fake Songbird: Devoted Love for My Sister-in-Law]

Xu Jieran has seen Cen Zhiqing before.

Six years ago.

It was October, at his uncle's funeral, and rain poured down in sheets.

Cen Zhiqing stood in the rain, his black coat whipping in the wind. Rainwater ran straight down from his brow, yet didn't even wet his eyelashes.

His gaze was deep and his emotions distant, as though nothing could catch his eye.

He was like a black drongo perched on a branch: so quiet, yet so full of menace.

And yet a bright red, dazzling, long ruby earring hung from his right earlobe, especially conspicuous in the gloom.

The earring added a hint of sensual allure.

Like bait dangling in a trap, bold and provocative.

Xu Jieran had only just come of age then. He glimpsed Cen Zhiqing once, and afterward he could never forget him.

Until the Cen family's finances collapsed.

Xu Jieran finally got his wish and saw Cen Zhiqing again.

At the time, Cen Zhiqing was sitting on the sofa. His older brother lifted his chin, teasing or perhaps tormenting him, pressing his thumb firmly against Cen Zhiqing's lips.

Xu Zhaohuai was willing to help the Cen family through the crisis, on the condition that Cen Zhiqing become his lover and his wife.

The black drongo drowned in the sea.

The person he liked had somehow become his sister-in-law.

Xu Jieran was unhappy about it.

He roughly turned Cen Zhiqing's face toward him and demanded, "Do you really like him that much?"

Cen Zhiqing's gaze was somber. He didn't answer.

"I'm younger than him, and I'm better than him." Xu Jieran looked at Cen Zhiqing and slowly moved closer. His tone was dangerous, though he lowered his voice. "Are you really willing to spend your whole life having sex with a scumbag?"

Then the door swung open.

"What are you doing in my room?"

6. [Title To Be Decided]

END: [Reunion]

Sister-in-law fiction.

If you don't cherish your wife, brother, please let me have him (sung)

Share your brother's wife, send him over to me to be my bride (sung)

If one day I fall for your wife, and your wife falls for me too (sung)

You don't love your wife, you always say he's too much. Instead of suffering, why not let him come to me? (sung)

Note: By the later parts, all the tops are divorced. There are no illicit relationships!

Reader advisory: Melodramatic, melodramatic, extremely melodramatic. The top's virtuous, gentle persona is an act. In truth, he's a gloomy beauty with a vicious tongue. There are plenty of scenes where the former scumbag bottoms chase after the top and suffer through their comeuppance.

Theme: Stay hopeful about life, and love life.