[Photo/China Daily]

"The marriages among people in this trade are mostly blessed," he says. "We have seen too many departures between life and death, and learned to cherish each other."

Li started posting his fictional stories on an online forum tianya.cn in 2011, and soon received enthusiastic responses - millions of clicks and thousands of replies.

"At first, I wrote my stories about the crematory house just to kill time," Li recalls. "Then many readers asked me to write more, so the short stories ended up as a novel."

Li has now quit the job and become a businessman; writing is his part-time hobby. His first book was done without a plan in advance, and Li doesn't have the next one fixed in his mind. "Maybe the next book will also come up in a way I never expected," he says.

His book was published in Chinese in 2012 and sold more than 10,000 copies.

Sharing thoughts on life and experiences with the dead, Li's novel has thrilled some readers while touching their hearts. One reader told Li that he once had thoughts of committing suicide but changed his mind after reading Li's posts online. "He said he realized the value of life, joking that he didn't want to see me that early," Li adds.