The door opened.
Ye Qing walked in carrying a tray. It held several plates of hot food, two bowls of white rice, and a pot of warm water.
The aroma spread through the room like some invisible bait.
Zhu Zhuqing, sitting at the corner of the bed, twitched her cat ears without meaning to.
Her amber cat eyes were fixed on the food on the tray, and her throat bobbed once.
The sound was so faint it was almost inaudible, but Ye Qing still caught it.
"Don't hold back."
Ye Qing set the tray on the table.
He pulled out a chair and sat down, then served himself a bowl of rice.
"That growl from your stomach just now was loud enough for the next room to hear."
Zhu Zhuqing's cat ears flattened instantly.
She glared at Ye Qing, trying to express some kind of furious, threatening indignation with her eyes.
But paired with her ten-year-old face and those amber cat eyes, the glare had about as much impact as a kitten's hiss.
Ye Qing calmly picked up a piece of braised pork and popped it into his mouth. "Eat while it's hot. It'll get greasy once it cools."
Zhu Zhuqing hesitated for three whole breaths.
Then she made a very wise decision.
Eat first. Figure out the rest later!
She swung her legs off the bed.
Her movements still carried the weakness of someone recovering from a serious illness, but her steps toward the table were perfectly steady.
She sat across from Ye Qing.
She picked up her chopsticks, lifted a piece of meat, and put it in her mouth.
She chewed.
She swallowed.
A flash of light appeared in those amber cat eyes.
Though she still wore the same cold expression, she was clearly picking up food faster and faster.
Ye Qing watched her and silently labeled this catgirl: all bark, soft belly.
After a few rounds of food, the atmosphere had eased considerably.
Zhu Zhuqing still wasn't talking, but at least she had stopped hissing at him.
The wariness in those cat eyes had been downgraded to "possibly a good person, keep watching."
Ye Qing put down his chopsticks. He felt the time was about right.
"My name is Ye Qing. You already know that."
He picked up his teacup and took a sip, speaking as casually as if they were discussing the weather.
"What about you? What's your name?"
Zhu Zhuqing's chopsticks paused.
She lowered her head and looked at the half bowl of rice left in front of her.
Just as Ye Qing thought she was about to lapse into catlike silence again,
"Zhu Zhuqing."
Her voice was very soft, as light as a feather settling on the surface of the water.
The teacup in Ye Qing's hand nearly slipped.
Zhu Zhuqing?
He abruptly turned to stare at the black-haired catgirl in front of him.
The thoughts in his head exploded like fireworks.
Zhu Zhuqing?
The Zhu Zhuqing from the Shrek Seven Devils?
Holy crap.
The catgirl he'd casually picked up in the Star Dou Great Forest was actually one of the main characters?
Wait, wait, wait. He had to sort out the timeline.
In the original story, Zhu Zhuqing had fled the Star Luo Empire for Suotuo City to find Dai Mubai because she couldn't stand being targeted by others.
So had she only recently escaped the Star Luo Empire?
"Do you know me?"
Zhu Zhuqing's voice suddenly turned cold.
At some point, she had set down her bowl and chopsticks. Her amber cat eyes had grown sharp again.
Her cat ears and tail sprang out once more as her Martial Soul possessed her.
She arched her back,
and in an instant, she was back to being a black cat ready to hiss at any moment.
That wariness was just what you'd expect from a cat.
Ye Qing came back to his senses and calmly shook his head.
"No."
His voice was steady. He made no attempt to explain himself, nor did he try to hide his surprise in a panic.
"I just think your name sounds nice."
Zhu Zhuqing's cat ears twitched slightly.
She stared at Ye Qing for several breaths, as if trying to judge whether he was telling the truth.
At last, she slowly withdrew her Martial Soul.
She picked up her chopsticks and resumed eating,
but the wariness in her cat eyes hadn't completely faded.
"Are you done asking?"
She lowered her head and shoveled rice into her mouth, her tone returning to its earlier coolness.
"I have a few more questions."
Ye Qing didn't hold back.
"You're only a Soul Grandmaster. Why did you pass out in a place like the Star Dou Great Forest?"
"Any Soul Beast there could pick you up and eat you like a snack."
"..."
Zhu Zhuqing's fingers tightened slightly around her chopsticks.
"If you don't want to say, forget it."
Ye Qing didn't press her. Instead, he changed the subject. "What are your plans from here? Do you have anywhere to go?"
Zhu Zhuqing was silent for a while before shaking her head. "I have nowhere to go, but I plan to head to Suotuo City."
Just as he thought.
Ye Qing sighed inwardly.
The girl still planned to go to Suotuo City to find Dai Mubai.
Honestly, he didn't have a good impression of Dai Mubai, that scumbag in the early part of the story.
He'd left his fiancée behind in the Star Luo Empire and run off on his own, then spent his time in Suotuo City surrounded by twin sisters.
Only after Zhu Zhuqing found him did he put on the act of a devoted lover.
Disgusting.
But this was Zhu Zhuqing's choice.
As an outsider, he had neither the right nor the grounds to interfere.
"Suotuo City, huh?"
Ye Qing put down his teacup and stood up.
"Okay, then be careful on the way."
"Since you're all right now, I should get going too."
He walked to the door, paused, and glanced back at the black cat still shoveling rice into her mouth.
"If you really have nowhere to go, you can come find me at Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Just give them my name."
Zhu Zhuqing looked up.
A grain of rice still clung to the corner of her mouth, and a complicated emotion flickered in her amber cat eyes.
"Thank you."
Those were the only two words she said, but they were more sincere than everything she'd said before combined.
Ye Qing smiled and stepped outside.
The door clicked shut softly.
Zhu Zhuqing stood where she was, her tail unconsciously winding around her ankle.
She stared at the closed door for a long time.
On the way back to Heaven Dou Royal Academy,
Ye Qing felt even more conflicted than he had when he'd first transmigrated and discovered he was a useless good-for-nothing.
Zhu Zhuqing.
She was one of the Shrek Seven Devils.
She was the second member of the original protagonist group he'd met, after Ning Rongrong.
Had the butterfly effect already begun?
How much would his presence affect the course of events in this world?
Would the Shrek Seven Devils still come together?
He could no longer see the future of this world clearly.
"Forget it. I'll take things as they come."
Ye Qing rubbed his temples.
The more he thought about it, the more of a headache it gave him. He'd be better off going back to find Yanzi.
At least when Yanzi got angry, she only glared daggers at him. She wouldn't give him a headache.
And he could enjoy the comfort of Yanzi's gentle embrace.
But the moment Ye Qing stepped through the gates of Heaven Dou Royal Academy,
his instincts told him something big had happened!
Nearly everyone at the academy had gathered in the direction of the training grounds.
From a distance, the crowd looked like a sea of people.
"What's going on?"
Ye Qing had barely reached the entrance to the training grounds when a bright shout rang out from the stands.
"Ye Qing! You're finally back!"
Ning Rongrong jumped to her feet, her short pink hair tracing an arc through the air.
Yu Feng, Osler, and the Shi Mo brothers sat beside her.
Every one of them looked like someone who'd been constipated for three days and had finally spotted a laxative.
"What's going on?"
Ye Qing walked up to them and glanced across the center of the training grounds.
"Why's there such a crowd today?"
He looked at their woebegone faces and raised an eyebrow. "Did someone come to challenge the academy?"
"How did you know it was a challenge?" Yu Feng's eyes widened.
"Obviously. All of you have 'I just got rubbed into the dirt' written all over your faces. I'm not blind."
Ye Qing clicked his tongue. "Come on, tell me what happened."
Yu Feng and Osler exchanged a look. Both of their expressions were grim.
"It's people from another academy."
Yu Feng clenched his teeth, his voice full of frustration.
"They suddenly showed up today, saying they wanted to 'spar and exchange pointers.'"
"Teacher Qin Ming couldn't refuse, so he accepted."
"And then?"
"Then..."
Yu Feng lowered his head. "I lost."
Osler added without expression, "So did I."
Ye Qing raised his eyebrows.
Yu Feng and Osler were Soul Elders, and both were considered capable fighters among their peers.
For them to lose one after the other, their opponents must have been pretty skilled.
"Our captain should've been up next."
Shi Mo spoke in a low voice. "But he hasn't come back since that day."
"You weren't here either," Shi Mo added.
"So Teacher Qin Ming sent Sis Yanzi out to fight."
Yu Feng pointed toward the center of the training grounds. "She's about to go on."
Ye Qing turned his gaze toward the center of the training grounds.
The two walked out from opposite sides.
One was Dugu Yan.
Today, she wore the Imperial Fighting Team's uniform, her emerald-green hair fluttering gently in the breeze.
On the other side stood a red-haired girl.
Her fiery red hair fell to her waist like a waterfall, and her flame-red dress snapped in the wind.
She was tall and voluptuous, with curves enough to make nine out of ten women question their lives.
A composed smile graced her exquisitely beautiful face.
"Who's that girl?" Ye Qing asked in confusion.
At this point in the original story, there were only a handful of powerful young fighters.
Ning Rongrong said, "She's from the Blazing Fire Academy team. Her name is Huo Wu."