The Medium 3

Some were running small businesses, squatting on the ground with small pinwheels, bouncy balls, glow sticks, and other children's toys in front of them. Around them were grandparents who had been pulled over by their grandchildren. After haggling, the children played happily with the toys they liked under the care of their elders. Some were selling cold drinks, responding to customers' needs, sometimes skillfully putting whipped ice cream into cones and handing them over, sometimes passing over a cup of icy cold cola. They were extremely fast, and made money quickly as well.

At the music plaza, naturally, there were the most dancers — men and women, seniors in their sixties or seventies, and middle-aged people in their thirties or forties. Graceful melodies and elegant dance moves attracted many onlookers. Mingli was also drawn in, standing by and watching the lively scene. She saw that among these people, a few were headless ghosts happily dancing with their partners. Mingli also saw the long-haired black-robed death reaper dancing with a middle-aged woman. At the same time, the death reaper noticed her and looked very angry, leaving the middle-aged woman behind and disappearing.

Mingli really disliked the long-haired black-robed death reaper — sinister and evil. Wherever he appeared, someone ended up dead. But he seemed to be afraid of Mingli; even though he was angry when he saw her, he didn't do anything to her.

"Come, come—come with me! Right, come with me!" Mingli heard a faint female voice from behind. When she turned around, she saw a woman in red pulling a man toward the road. The red-clothed woman turned back, gave Mingli a strange smile. Mingli was startled—what an ugly face, with purple and greenish skin, and her tongue sticking straight down to her chin.

“Dangling ghost, let her go!” Mingli ran forward, but the red-clothed dangling ghost chuckled and disappeared.

The man stood in the middle of the road, hesitating amidst the speeding traffic.

Mingli ran over and pulled him out of the middle of the road during a lull in the cars.

The strong smell of alcohol hit Mingli's nose as she scolded the man, “Why did you drink so much? Look how dangerous that was!”

The man shrugged off Mingli's hand. “Who asked you to meddle?—Go and call that red-clothed beauty back for me!”

“She's not a beauty, she's a dangling ghost!” Mingli said angrily, looking at the man's behavior.

“Ghost!” the man said, “Why can't I see her? Where's the ghost?”

“If you saw it, wouldn't you be scared to death!”Ming Li saw the ghost in red standing behind the man. 'Go back quickly, stop hurting people here!' she scolded the ghost in red.\ 'Ah! Who do you think you are, sticking your nose into my business! Today, I'll make you feel my power!' The man swung his fist at Ming Li, but the ghost in red touched his spine with a hand, and the man immediately collapsed, powerless, onto the ground.\ 'A scoundrel like this is a real ghost—pervert! Drunkard! Why are you still helping him?'\ 'I'm not helping him. I just don't want you to harm others anymore, so you won't delay your reincarnation as a human!'\ 'Hmph, what's so good about being reborn as a human? I'd rather be an ox or a horse than a human!' the ghost in red said coldly.