“Brother Niu Qi, I know you’re the best among the ghost messengers…”
Throughout the journey, the short figure either asked Niu Qi questions or tried to flatter him, causing their progress to be slow and halting until they reached a pool of water. Behind the pool, six paths diverged, each glowing with bright white, red, yellow, green, blue, and a faint black light.
The short figure, Wu Xiaopei, squatted by the pool, watching the fish. Niu Qi pulled out a time mirror, checked the time, and approached Wu Xiaopei, handing her a piece of cake from his pocket. “Xiaopei, in a quarter of an hour, you need to walk into the red light by yourself. Remember to finish the cake Granny Meng gave you before you go, or she’ll scold me for not doing my job properly. That stuff isn’t available in the human world, and you can’t take it with you to reincarnate.”
“Oh, I’ll eat it. Granny’s so good to me, of course, I’ll eat it!” Wu Xiaopei reached out to take the cake from Niu Qi, but accidentally kicked a small stone, stumbling forward into Niu Qi. The cake slipped from his grasp and fell into the pool.
Seeing the cake fall, Niu Qi pushed Wu Xiaopei aside and frantically stirred the water with both hands, trying to retrieve the cake. The more he stirred, the murkier the water became, and soon the cake was lost from sight.
“It’s over! It’s over! It fell into the pool. Now Granny Meng will skin me alive! Oh no, you fish better not eat it! If you do, you’ll have to reincarnate, ah—” Niu Qi wailed.
“Splash!” Huh? What was that sound? Niu Qi heard another object fall into the pool and peered in, puzzled. “Ah! The time mirror, the time mirror! How did the time mirror fall in too?!”
Now, almost bending into the pool, Niu Qi’s hands moved even more frantically. As he searched, he suddenly realized something was amiss and quickly stood up, looking around.
“Ah! She’s gone, she’s gone! Xiaopei is gone!” Niu Qi hurried to check the six paths, his large bull eyes fixed on the red path. There, at the end of the red light, Wu Xiaopei’s silhouette was rolling away like a ball, getting smaller until it disappeared.
