If The Moon Won’t Hold You - Chapter 11

When Cen Ning found Zhang Ziyi, she was squatting under the tree and crying out loud.

It was very hot, and she was crying so much that she was sweating all over, even leaving some traces on her thin school uniform.

“Ziyi.”

“Hu hu hu hu–! *sshole, b*stard, hu hu hu……”

Cen Ning stood beside her silently.

Some people could burst out their sadness to their heart’s content, but others could only hold it all within their hearts.

To others, Cen Ning was a cowardly little girl, but everyone had forgotten that although her eyes had gotten red before, she had never really cried freely.

“Tang Zheng, that b*stard! He left without waiting for me, big b*stard!”

“Hkuk…Psd’v cl pye.”

“R’x dsv pye!” Hbydt Hkuk pvsse wr okvb poszzld lulp, “R’x dsv pye clnywpl bl zlqv. Slyzzu, R’x dsv pye yv yzz!”

Hbydt Hkuk dlhla bke yduvbkdt qasx bla. Fbl zkjle Mydt Hbldt yde Uld Lkdt bye yzoyup clld yoyal sq kv. Rv’p fwpv vbyv pbl oyp lmynvzu zkjl bla, kd vbl lulp sq vblpl taswr sq csup obs bye pvlrrle kdvs yewzvbsse, vblu rwalzu lmkpvle yp y dlktbcsabsse zkvvzl pkpvla, vbyv oyp yzz.

“Rp Zyd Dkdtgbk tsdl?” Hbydt Hkuk okrle bla vlyap yde pyke bsyaplzu.

Uld Lkdt dseele.

“Gal usw pye?”

Uld Lkdt rywple: “Ls…”

“Zsw esd’v byhl vs zkl vs xl, Uld Lkdt, R jdso vbyv usw yal pyeela vbyd ydusdl lzpl.” Hbydt Hkuk pvyale yv bla yde pyke, “Rq usw’al pye, vbld fwpv pyu kv, clpkelp vblal’p sdzu wp vos blal yduoyu.”

Cen Ning lowered her head and reached out to pull Zhang Ziyi’s hand: “Let’s go, let’s go back to school.”

“Go back to what school, we won’t even make the last class if we go back now.” Zhang Ziyi sniffed, the pitch of her voice rose, “Hey, why are you pretending to be so indifferent? Just now you were the one who ran the fastest. Oh, it seems that I am the fragile one now, I’m the stupid fool, right?”

Zhang Ziyi was angry.

Cen Ning squeezed Zhang Ziyi’s wrist, and said softly, “I won’t cry.”

Zhang Ziyi: “Why…”

“I’m sad, but I won’t cry.” Cen Ning raised her eyes to look at her, and pulled out an unsightly smile, “Crying can’t solve problems, life will continue on, right.”

“……”

Zhang Ziyi looked at Cen Ning blankly, and suddenly didn’t know what to say.

At this moment, she felt that the person in front of her was different, but she couldn’t specifically say what it was. She only felt that the Cen Ning right now was not the timid and meek Cen Ning she had remembered.

“Let’s go, we won’t go back to school.” Cen Ning took her out of the compound.

Zhang Ziyi: “So where are we going?”

Cen Ning: “It’s hot, let’s go eat shaved ice?”

Zhang Ziyi blinked her big watery eyes, her anger came and went fast: “Shaved ice…okay! Let’s go eat shaved ice, b*stard, made me get so heated!”

Cen Ning smiled lightly: “Yeah.”

Along the way, Zhang Ziyi barked and scolded the b*stard Tang Zheng, and she was not so sad anymore.

And Cen Ning listened silently, occasionally giving her a few expressions of approval. She seemed to be the best listener, but there were a few moments where the sadness and hollowness in her eyes seemed to pour out directly from an angle that Zhang Ziyi couldn’t see.

Life will continue, we must continue to study, continue to work hard, and continue to grow up. However, this does not prevent me from thinking about you desperately.

Right? Yan Xingzhi.

**

When you are in your youth, you will feel that those days are not worth mentioning, so infinitely long.

In those few years, their surroundings had undergone earth-shaking changes. Talking about things faraway, there were panic-stricken catastrophes occurring one after another at home and abroad; just watching the news could make people frightened. When talking about things that were closer, newcomers in the entertainment industry were emerging, the waves of the Yangtze River were pushing forward, and idols were being replaced at a strangely fast speed. If you were to talk about even closer things, then it was that the childish boys and girls were no longer so immature, everyone had grown up a bit.

Some people were rushing north and south amidst changes, and some were struggling to grow up amidst changes.

In a blink of an eye, it was another winter.

It had been almost three years since their parting in midsummer that year.

Recently, a milk tea shop opened next to this prestigious high school in Beijing. The shop was spacious and well-decorated. However, this shop was not just all looks. Those who had drank their milk tea once would definitely come back and buy another cup.

On this afternoon, a girl walked into the milk tea shop hastily.

She was about sixteen years old, and she was wearing the uniform of the prestigious school opposite, but her skirt that was supposed to be over the knee was altered to an inch above the knee.

Each of her facial features were not the most beautiful, but when combined together, it had the ability to render it unforgettable, and at first glance it seemed like she was a brazen girl.

“Oh, it’s so cold. I should have just directly gotten in the car and went home in this weather.” The girl sat down at the round table. She threw her schoolbag aside and took the milk tea that had been drunk on the table. Sipping a big mouthful, she went, “Ah… it’s so warm.”

The clerk at the store front was attracted by her movement. She glanced at their table and walked over with the menu.

In addition to the girl who had just come in, there was a boy and girl at this table as well. The boy and girl seemed to have come a little earlier. They were wearing the same school uniform. The boys was handsome and cheerful. At this time, he was holding a pen and looking at the test paper in his hands.

And the girl looked very refined, she had a small face and big eyes, she was the kind of girl who could arouse people’s desire to protect her.

“Hello, may I ask what you would like to order.”

The carefree girl, who was Zhang Ziyi, propped up her head with her hand and said: “Bring me a milk green tea with pearls, yes… you have to add red beans, you have to.”

“Yes, please wait a moment.” The clerk turned and left.

“Ok.”

Zhang Ziyi then took another sip of the milk tea in her hand. After swallowing it, she looked disgusted and said: “Ningning, why are you drinking this flavor again? It’s not good. I told you that milk green tea is more yummy, why don’t you try it? ?”

Cen Ning, who was sitting across from her, smiled and said softly, “I like this flavor.”

“That’s right, why are you forcing others to have the same preferences as you?” Song Ci put down the test paper, “Look at you saying that it’s not good, why have you drank so much of it then?”

Zhang Ziyi choked: “That’s, that’s because I’m cold, I am just warming up my body, what the h*ll do you know.”

“You speak so crudely for a girl…”

“What are you talking about Song Ci!”

They were all in high school now, but the two of them could still retort each other like they were in middle school. Cen Ning was used to being the peacemaker for the two of them, seeing this, she put the test paper between them, “Okay, don’t quarrel, we’re here to do our homework.”

Zhang Ziyi snorted: “I’m too lazy to quarrel with him.”

Song Ci rolled his eyes.

Zhang Ziyi ignored him and suddenly said, “Eh Ningning, did Grandpa Yan tell you?”

“Huh? What.”

“Did he tell you about how Yan Xingzhi and them are returning? I heard from Xin Zechuan that they will come back from the army during this period.”

Cen Ning’s hand holding the pen slightly froze: “No… he, is really coming back?”

“Yes, the vacation is probably quite long.”

Since leaving three years ago, he seldom returned home. He did come back during the first year for Chinese New Year, but he didn’t even come back last year. Yan Xingzhi had joined the army after attending the military academy. She heard from Grandpa Yan that he was well-recognized by the officers in the army, and that he was especially top-notch out of the newcomers. He was now already going to many different places to complete missions.

Actually, Cen Ning didn’t really understand what he was doing. She just knew that she hadn’t seen him for a long, long time. Now that she had heard the news that he was coming back, she seemed calm and natural on the surface, but she couldn’t suppress the fluctuations within her heart.

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen this well-known senior for a long time.” Song Ci smiled, “Hey, is he still as handsome as before?”

Zhang Ziyi: “Of course, how could Yan Xingzhi grow up to be ugly?”

Song Ci: “Hm…yes, just like Meng Peiyan, they are very unlikely to grow ugly. By the way, I saw a picture of Meng Peiyan from a female senior the other day, and I heard that she is still chased after by many people in college.”

Zhang Ziyi went ‘Che’1 and said, “What’s so great about that?”

“Oh, oh, oh, you’re jealous arent you.”

“There’s originally nothing great about it!” Zhang Ziyi glared at him, “So what if she’s pretty? It’s not like she can capture the heart of a certain somebody, right Ningning? Hey, Ningning? Cen Ning!”

Cen Ning was taken aback: “Huh?”

Song Ci said, amusedly: “Why are you zoning out?”

Zhang Ziyi smiled faintly: “It’s probably because she’s thinking about a certain somebody’s return, thinking about it until she’s gone crazy.”

Song Ci was taken aback, and when he looked sideways, he saw the girl to his side blushing all over, saying basfully: “Don’t talk nonsense.”

For a while, Song Ci seemed to understand something, but he also couldn’t clear his head properly. Wasn’t Yan Xingzhi a relative of Cen Ning?

“What are you talking about…”

At this time, Zhang Ziyi’s milk tea was delivered.

“Nothing, nothing, hurry up and do your homework.” Zhang Ziyi changed the subject abruptly, pulling Cen Ning into the discussion of the test paper.

Song Ci looked at the unfading pink color on Cen Ning’s ears, and pressed his lips together slightly.

After finishing the milk tea, they had also finished going through the test paper.

Later, Zhang Ziyi and Cen Ning separated from Song Ci, and they walked home arm in arm.

“Ningning, look at my skirt. Does it look good?”

Cen Ning and Zhang Ziyi were not in the same class in high school, so she hadn’t paid attention to it at the milk tea store until now when she had made such a gesture. This was when Cen Ning finally saw that the length of her skirt was a little abnormal.

“When did you shorten it?”

Recently, many girls in school had gone to shorten their school uniforms, so it was not surprising.

“I went there yesterday, eh, do you want me to take you there?”

Cen Ning: “…Forget it.”

Zhang Ziyi: “Why, are you afraid of getting reprimanded or what? What are you afraid of? Everyone does this.”

Cen Ning: “I, I don’t place an importance on it.”

Zhang Ziyi snorted, and said earnestly and sincerely: “Ningning, everyone has a love for being beautiful…Well, even if you don’t love being beautiful yourself, don’t you want to be beautiful for your brother Xingzhi?”

Cen Ning was taken aback, and she said embarassedly: “Ziyi…don’t keep saying such things.”

“What’s the matter, boys are visual animals. I don’t believe for a second that Yan Xingzhi is an exception.” Zhang Ziyi went ‘hmph’ and said, “Look at Meng Feiyan and how good she is at dressing up and acting dumb. This kind of woman is popular. You, you need to learn from her.”

Cen Ning: “……”

“Aiya, let’s go, let’s go, how about going to the hair salon on the way to get a new hairstyle? Hmm… do you want to learn how to do your makeup?”

“I do not……”

 “Oh, you don’t need makeup on your face. Your skin is so good! It used to be yellowish, but now you are so fair.”

“…………”

In the end, she didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t argue over Zhang Ziyi, or if she had taken her words to heart, but Cen Ning was really dragged by Zhang Ziyi to go fix her school uniform and hairstyle.

This also caused Cen Ning to be frightened when she went home, and before Wei Pingfang could discover her, she slipped into her room and changed into her home clothes.

“Ningning, you have to maintain your best condition these next few days. Who knows which day you will run into Yan Xingzhi.”

Cen Ning remembered what Zhang Ziyi had said when they had parted, and let down the hair that had just been tied up. Today she had gone to the hairdresser to have her hair fixed up. At the moment, her long hair fluttered, making her face smaller and more exquisite.

Cen Ning looked at herself in the mirror and took a shallow breath.

Boys, were they really visual animals?

The author has something to say:

A chapter where Brother Yan didn’t appear, I miss him.

A chapter where Ningning is slowly becoming beautiful, sending hearts.

–

[Translator’s Note: What does the Chapter name Broken Melon mean? Don’t worry, our lovely author will explain in the coming chapters on the meaning of this name!]