If The Moon Won’t Hold You - Chapter 17-1

After stepping through the door of the Xin residence, a biting cold wind blew past. Cen Ning shivered, and her thoughts became clearer.

The two were walking back home, one in the front and one behind. When Cen Ning raised her head slightly, she could see Yan Xingzhi’s tall and upright figure. She recalled the scene just now, how he covered her eyes and led her out of the room. She started feeling awkward again, not knowing what to do.

But in this awkwardness, she wondered again, had he…watched this before too? As soon as this thought came to her, Cen Ning tried her best to push it away, but the impact was too great. The more she told herself to not think about it, the more it sank in.

D*mn, why was she thinking about this kind of nonsense? He was not like Tang Zheng’s crooked group of friends, he wouldn’t watch such a thing. Plus, he wasn’t in the room anyway!

That’s right, that’s it!

“What are you thinking about?” Suddenly, Yan Xingzhi’s slightly cold voice sounded.

Cen Ning hurriedly shook her head: “Nothing! I wasn’t thinking about anything!”

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The night was embellished, the area was filled with laughter, and the sparklers were dancing in the air like stars.

“Ningning, come here quickly! My fire is out! Help me light this one!” The girl on the steps was hopping while shouting.

Cen Ning’s eyes curved, and she ran over with the still ignited sparkler, letting Zhang Ziyi borrow the flames.

“Hey, Zhang Ziyi!”

The two girls who were lighting up the sparklers looked over and saw a boy in the courtyard who was a year younger than them throwing a snowball over. Zhang Ziyi couldn’t dodge in time, and she was hit right in the forehead.

“Hahahahaha-” A few boys over there let out a burst of laughter and Yan Xingyao was one of them. He saw Zhang Ziyi crouch down and squeeze a snowball fiercely, and hurriedly grabbed one to prepare to attack.

“D*mn, you dare hit me, do you all wanna die!” Zhang Ziyi was not someone easy to provoke, so she threw two snowballs over with force.

“Yeah, we wanna die, come over, see what you can do!”

“Come over now!”

“No no no…”

After going back and forth, for some reason, they started to “play” with snowballs. Xue Xiaoxiao, who was playing with fireworks, was accidentally injured by Zhang Ziyi, and also indignantly threw herself into the groups of smashing snowballs at people.

Cen Ning was a little confused, but she had always been under the command of “Zhang Ziyi”, so everyone attacked her while also smashing Zhang Ziyi.

Zhang Ziyi: “Ningning! Hurry up! Make snowballs! Watch me kill them!”

Cen Ning: “No, Ziyi…”

“Ah! D*mn Yan Xingyao! Just you wait! Cen Ning! Ball!”

Cen Ning: “Eh? Eh!”

…

When Yan Xingzhi, Tang Zheng, and the others were passing by, they were attracted by this group of “little kids” in the open space. Xin Zechuan crossed his arms and said with a smile, “Are these little devils not cold?”

Tang Zheng: “Hey, it’s fun! I haven’t thrown a snowball for a long time, I…”

Yan Xingzhi: “If you smash someone, you could create a bloody wound.”

Tang Zheng: “…”

Xin Zechuan laughed loudly: “That’s true, if you use the strength of when you train? At night, the threshold of your house will be broken by the parents of these little devils, and the Yan family will take the lead.” When he spoke of the Yan family, he glanced at Yan Xingzhi. By mentioning the Yan family, he was specifically referring to Yan Xingzhi. 

Tang Zheng smiled and said, “There’s no need for the Yan family to take the lead. If I hurt that little girl, Brother Yan would handle me on the spot.”

Yan Xingzhi glanced at him indifferently, and Tang Zheng coughed lightly. He turned his eyes away and looked at the teenage girls running around “with great interest”.

“Dang, Young Lady Zhang is indeed fit for her title, look at her aim.”

“Zhang Ziyi, are you a pig! Where are you smashing it? Why are you aiming it at the face! Ouch, what kind of eyesight…”

“Get more snow, it’s running out, are you trying to feed chickens?”

“Did you not eat enough? Your aim is so terrible! Throw low to get it far!”

Tang Zheng pretended to be an ‘awesome’ guide while watching. Zhang Ziyi was so annoyed that she grabbed one and threw it in Tang Zheng’s face, “You’re so noisy!”

“Ouch–“

Tang Zheng swore while getting snow from the side. Yan Xingzhi’s eyes fell on Cen Ning who was not far away, and there was a rare smile in his eyes.

From where he could see her, she would crouch down to get snow for a while, then throw snowballs toward the opposite for a while. She wore gloves, so it was a bit cumbersome to handle the snow. She had a serious expression though, with an occasional smile on her face.

It was a pure, childish smile.

Thinking about it carefully, this seemed to be the first time he had seen her so happy. She had always been too disciplined and well-behaved.

“Cen Ning!” Not far away, Yan Xingyao carried a large piece of snow and walked towards her.

Cen Ning was startled and ran away.

No matter what, Yan Xingyao was a big boy of fourteen or fifteen years old. He was tall and had long legs, so he caught up with her in a few steps.

As Yan Xingyao was about to catch Cen Ning who was in front of him, she suddenly screamed and slipped to the ground.

“Eh?”

The snow on the ground could be thin or thick, and the part that Cen Ning had just run on to was very thin. There was also a layer of ice on the surface, which was very slippery.

Cen Ning wore a lot of clothes, but it still hurt to fall on the unyielding ground.

“Are you stupid,” Yan Xingyao laughed, “You can’t even run away!”

Cen Ning struggled to get up. As soon as she got up and turned around though, a pile of snow fell onto her head. Originally it would’ve been nothing, just now these b*stards had already played like this. But now because there was an issue with the angle, most of the snow slipped into her collar!

There was a penetrating coldness, Cen Ning shivered from the iciness.

Seeing this, Yan Xingyao laughed again. He squatted down and continued to collect snow. After collecting it and making it into a ball, he wanted to raise his hand and throw it again at Cen Ning, who was sitting on the ground.

But suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist from the side, pushing him hard.

In an instant, the snow smashed forcefully onto his own face.

“Ouch—” Yan Xingyao’s face was hurt by his own snowball, and swear words were about to spew out from his mouth.

But the moment he turned his head stiffly, he saw Yan Xingzhi staring at him sternly, his eyes colder than the icy snow.

Yan Xingyao immediately cowered: “Brother…”

“No sense of propriety.” After Yan Xingzhi spoke, he grabbed Cen Ning’s shoulder with one hand and lifted her up.

Yan Xingyao hurriedly said: “I- we were just playing, she smashed a snowball like this to me too before! She…”

“Does the fall hurt?”

“…”

Yan Xingyao shut up because he discovered that Yan Xingzhi had completely ignored him. He only lowered his eyes slightly to look at Cen Ning. Although Yan Xingzhi’s eyes were indifferent as always, his voice was much softer.

“No, it’s fine.” Cen Ning calmly pulled at her clothes. There wasn’t that much pain, but it was cold!

Yan Xingzhi frowned: “Go back quickly and change your clothes.”

Cen Ning was startled: “Huh?”

“Want to freeze to death?”

Only then did Cen Ning realize that he had seen the snow being thrown into her collar. She hurriedly shook her head, “I, I’ll go back and change it right away.”

After speaking, she carefully stepped on the snow and walked away step by step.

Yan Xingzhi withdrew his gaze from her back, and then he glanced at Yan Xingyao.

Yan Xingyao: “…I’m going to go play.”

But after taking a step, he was grabbed by Yan Xingzhi, and then was pulled back by the collar, “Ehhh… brother?!”

Yan Xingzhi: “Stop bullying people.”

“I didn’t bully anyone! I…” Yan Xingyao’s neck was caught in his clothes. After coughing twice, and seeing that Yan Xingzhi would not let go, he had to beg for mercy, “Okay, okay! I won’t do anything to her in the future, okay?”

Yan Xingzhi sneered.

“Okay, okay leave quickly.” Xin Zechuan came over and pulled Yan Xingyao away. Yanxing Yao glanced at him gratefully and ran away immediately.

“Let me say, this kid is really not on good terms with Cen Ning. He bullies her at home too, right?”

“Not as much.” After Yan Xingzhi spoke, he pondered for a while, and then said, “I don’t know.”

Xin Zechuan smiled: “Of course you don’t know, you haven’t been at home all these years.”

Yan Xingzhi was silent.

Xin Zechuan added: “But compared to this younger brother Yan Xingyao, you are much friendlier to Cen Ning.”

“Am I?”

“Yeah. Who can’t see that you are biased to Cen Ning?” Xin Zechuan put a hand on his shoulder: “But that little girl’s personality is really different from these stinky boys, so it makes sense to pamper her.”

Xin Zechuan’s words seemed reasonable and well-founded, but Yan Xingzhi carefully recalled his words. Was he biased?

“By the way, Tang Zheng’s b*stard matter from last time…ahem, nothing happened, right?”

Yan Xingzhi retracted his thoughts and glanced at Tang Zheng who was fighting with Zhang Ziyi: “What else can there be, what can I say anyway?”

Xin Zechuan touched his chin, and also felt that this matter was embarrassing and tricky.

Indeed, under the circumstances where saying anything is wrong, it is better to say nothing.