Ming'er ignores the strange pang in his chest as he follows the guy to an empty seat.
Ming'er places his sweater paw over his chest to soothe the dull ache throbbing under the two or three layers of clothes that he was wearing.
Ming'er frowns slightly.
/What was that?/
As poor as his memory may be, Ming'er is pretty sure that he doesn't have a heart condition.
In fact, Ming'er is in perfectly good health, a polar opposite to Mingyi.
Ming'er also rarely fell sick as compared to his brothers due to his strong cultivation abilities.
As such, Ming'er doesn't understand what is that weird feeling, and why it seems to be biting away at his heart.
/Maybe it's the delayed shock from waking up in this strange world without any warning./
"Yuying."
Ming'er blinks when he hears his new name.
He follows the direction of the voice and sees the guy sitting at a table about a few metres away from him.
"Are you alright?" the guy chuckles, "This is the second time that you've zoned out in a day."
"Oh," Ming'er admonishes himself internally for zoning out again as he scrurries over to take a seat across the guy.
"I thought that you were looking at food or something, so I went ahead to sit down first," the guy continues.
"But you've just been standing there, staring off into space for the past two or three minutes!" the guy exclaims.
"I know," Ming'er groans as casually as he can, as though he's talking to a good friend whom he has known for many years.
It comes out of Ming'er naturally when he pictures Chen Jun, being the mother hen that he is, nagging away at him.
Nevertheless, Ming'er feels strange talking to one of Yuying's friends as an unsuspecting stranger who'd woken up in her body without any sort of warning.
Ming'er feels like he's a fraud or something.
/I feel like an imposter./
Ming'er furrows his brows as he thinks about this.
/Then again, that's pretty much what I am now./
/Whether I like it or not./
Ming'er sighs internally.
/I wonder where the real Yuying is right now.../
"I-I"ve just been a little off since this morning," Ming'er murmurs as he rubs his eyes, trying to sell his act.
Ming'er is tempted to climb up onto the table and yell at the top of his lungs that he's stuck in a stranger's body in a foreign world.
However, Ming'er manages to hold himself back, for obvious reasons.
"I just probably didn't get enough sleep or something." he grunts.
"Well, you definitely don't look like you've gotten a good night's sleep," the guy mutters, sounding less jovial and more serious now.
"Haven't you been drinking the pack of herbal tea that I'd sent you?" the guy asks, "It's supposed to help you sleep better."
/This guy sent Yuying a pack of herbal tea?/
Ming'er widens his eyes slightly as he takes in this new piece of information.
The guy smiles softly at Ming'er as though he meant everything to him.
"You should drink them, you know," he says quietly, "After all, I know how much you like staying up late to write your stories."
"And immediately after that," the guy continues, "I know how you'll rush to finish up the assignments that you've procrastinated doing."
The guy winks.
"I tell you time and time again not to leave your work until the very last minute," he scolds playfully, "But you never listen."
Ming'er blinks.
"You're always stories first, school second," the guy adds, "You're always doing things in that exact order."
Ming'er furrows internally.
/Stories? What stories?/
/And what assignments?/
/This guy seems to know Yuying very well./
Ming'er unconsciously chews on his bottom lip as he evaluates the guy in front of him.
/Either he's a massive creep/
/Or he's a massive simp./
/Or both./
Ming'er doesn't know why, but the pang in his chest is starting to throb slightly again.
/Damn, he must be really into her./
/Who the heck sends gifts like a pack of herbal tea to someone that they're not courting?/
Ming'er gasps internally.
/Wait...don't tell me.../
/Is this guy actively courting Yuying...?!/
Ming'er is so shocked by this revelation that he starts to cough violently.
The guy immediately furrows his brows in concern as he takes Ming'er by the hand.
Ming'er coughs even harder at this unexpected and aburpt action.
"Hey, hey, easy there," the guy soothes as he rubs Ming'er's hand comfortingly, "Have you been coughing a lot as well?"
Instead of replying, Ming'er coughs even more at the guy's touch.
"You're coughing really badly," the guy frowns, "Haven't you been taking the box of lemon-flavored lozenges that I'd sent you?"
Ming'er coughs twice as violently as he has been coughing upon hearing this.
/He gave her a box of lozenges too...!/
Ming'er pounds his chest with his fist as he wills himself to stop coughing.
/Alright, I think I have my answer./
/This guy is a certified simp./
"Did you catch a cold or something?" the guy asks in concern, "Is that why you're wearing so many layers of clothes?"
Ming'er clears his throat, still reeling from his aggressive coughing as he shakes his head.
/What's he gonna say next, huh?/
/"Haven't you been taking the bottle of flu medicine that I sent you?"/
"I-I'm alright," Ming'er stammers in a rather unconvincing manner, "Like I said, I'm just feeling a little off today..."
"I can ask the auntie at the stall to pack your noodles up as takeaway," the guy offers, "We can go up to your room and eat instead..."
"No!" Ming'er immediately exclaims, not realizing how overly-adamant he sounded.
/First, he buys her stuff, and now, he wants to go up to her room?!/
/Who does he think he is?!/
Ming'er scoffs internally.
/As if showering Yuying with gifts isn't enough!/
/Does he think that I don't know what he's trying to do?!/
/Scandalous!/
/There's seriously something wrong with the people in this world!/
"I mean," Ming'er corrects himself, "I'm fine, really. Look, I'm going to eat my noodles now..."
Ming'er then picks up his chopsticks to prove his point.
He shudders at the thought of being alone together in the room with the guy.
/How dare he suggest to go into Yuying's room when they're not even married yet...!/
/I don't even think they're officially courting, for crying out loud! This guy just seems like he's trying too hard.../
/What a simp.../
Ming'er thanks his lucky stars when the guy doesn't insist on going up to Yuying's room.
"Alright then," the guy hums as he picks up his chopsticks to eat as well, "But let me know if you're feeling unwell, alright?"
"Okay," Ming'er murmurs quietly.
/Yeah, right./
Ming'er then brings the chopsticks to his mouth and slurps up some of his noodles.
Ming'er scruches up his nose. It's rather underwhelming - while it's not too bad, it doesn't taste as good as the noodles back in his world.
Ming'er takes the opportunity to glance at the guy while he's eating his food with his head bowed.
/Hmm.../
/I still don't know who this guy is.../
/I don't even know his name.../
Just then, Ming'er spots a keychain dangling from the guy's keychain.
It's a fiery, mystical-looking dog surrounded by some clouds.
Ming'er squints at the keychain.
He's seen an ink painting of this particular dog back at Qilin Academy.
It looks just like a...
"Tian Gou?" Ming'er wonders aloud.
Just then, the guy looks up.
"Yes?" he asks.
Ming'er almost stumbles out of his chair and rolls around on the floor laughing.
(A/N: "Tian Gou" means "Heavenly Dog" in Chinese. It is a mythical Chinese creature that resembles a dog and is thought to eat the sun or the moon during an eclipse. It also sounds like the Chinese word for "simp".)
/No way...!/
/Is this guy's name actually.../
/...Tian Gou?!?!/
"T-Tian Gou?" Ming'er repeats dumbly. He just wants to make sure that he isn't hearing things or going crazy.
"Yes, Yuying?" the guy asks, "Are you alright? Are you feeling unwell?"
Ming'er tries his best to hold himself back from clasping a hand over his mouth.
He's on the verge of snorting with laughter.
"I-I'm fine," Ming'er squeaks, tears forming at the corner of his eyes.
/I can't believe that his name is actually Tian Gou...!/
/It suits him so much...!/
"Are you sure?" Tian Gou asks in concern as he sets his chopsticks down, "You're tearing up."
/Heavenly dog.../
/Simp.../
/...heavenly simp.../
Ming'er snorts so loudly that the noodles that he'd eaten almost shoots out of his nostrils.
"Yuying!" Tian Gou exclaims.
"Are you sure you're really okay???"
"I-I'm okay," Ming'er insists and pulls back slightly when he realizes that Tian Gou was about to reach out to wipe his tears away.
"I-I'm just so happy to be eating these noodles again," Ming'er sniffs, "It's been so long since I had them."
Ming'er pats himself on the back for the nice save.
"Really?" Tian Gou quips, "I've never seen you eat these noodles before."
Ming'er freezes slightly at this.
"R-Really...?" he stammers.
"Mmhmm," Tian Gou hums, "This is my first time seeing you eat them. You always say that you can't take spicy food."
Ming'er scoffs internally at this.
/Excuse me?/
/This noodles may be called spicy beef noodles, but they're not the slightest bit spicy!/
/In fact, they're relatively bland!/
Ming'er huffs.
/Really, Yuying?/
/You can't even take these noodles?/
/Weakling!!!/
"My nose is kinda blocked today," Ming'er reasons as he takes another bite out of his noodles, "I figured that some spicy food would help clear them."
"Okay, that makes sense," Tian Gou hums as he nods, "Well, I hope it's working."
"It is," Ming'er lies as he takes another spoonful out of his noodles.
As bland as the noodles may be, Ming'er is famished.
Besides, it wasn't like Ming'er has any palace maids or eunuchs in this world to order around, to tell them to get him a fresh bowl of noodles.
Just then, Ming'er feels something buzzing in his pocket.
Ming'er is confused for a moment when he realizes that it's the mysterious-looking box that he'd been fiddling with earlier.
Ming'er sees the painting-like illustration of the middle-aged woman with blonde hair and blue eyes on the screen again.
/Oh, it's that woman again!/
/She must have something to tell me!/
Ming'er remembers that he has to press the green circle to talk to her.
And so, he presses it.
"Yvonne!" Professor Williams exclaims on the other end in English, "Where are you? You were supposed to be here five minutes ago!"
Ming'er doesn't understand anything that Professor Williams was saying. He knew that she was talking about something earlier, but he still hasn't figured out what it was.
Tian Gou puts down his chopsticks as he looks at Ming'er with a concerned expression.
However, Ming'er doesn't notice as he's trying to gather all of his remaining brain cells to understand what Professor Williams was talking about to no avail.
"Are you on your way?" Professor Williams asks from the other end.
Ming'er realizes that she's waiting for a response when she paused like she's expecting an answer.
"Y-Yes...!" Ming'er replies with pretty much the only English word that he knows once again.
"That's good to hear," Professor Williams says, "Please hurry up, alright? See you!"
She then hangs up the phone, leaving Ming'er even more confused than ever.
/What was she talking about?/
"Oh, that's right!" Tian Gou suddenly exclaims, "You're supposed to meet Professor Williams at the humanities building and help her with her English research project today!"
Ming'er immediately understand what Professor Williams had been talking about when Tian Gou unintentionally translates it for him.
/What?/
/I'm supposed to meet and help a professor?/
/With her English research project?/
Ming'er shudders internally.
/But I don't speak any English...!/
"I'll walk you over the humanities building," Tian Gou offers, "I'll just say that you were late because you were helping me with my assignment and lost track of time."
Ming'er holds back his urge to roll his eyes.
/This is truly simp behaviour./
However, even though he didn't say it, Ming'er was secretly grateful to Tian Gou for offering to walk him to the humanities building.
After all, Ming'er has no idea where that place was.
"C'mon, let's go," Tian Gou chirps.
"You're already running late."