Chapter 15: Broken Melon

Wine had been clearly poured for all three girls, but Yan Xingzhi only stopped Cen Ning from drinking. In fact, it was not a big deal, but everyone present remembered about the relationship between Yan Xingzhi and Cen Ning that they had almost forgotten.

“Oh, brother Yan is protecting his wife.” Probably because they had drunk too much, everyone was bold and dared to say anything.

Zhang Ziyi fanned the flames while watching the commotion. Hearing this, she hurriedly replied, “That’s right, he is so biased! I’m also underage, but he didn’t stop me!”

“Hahaha, if you didn’t mention it I would’ve forgotten ir already, Brother Yan has a little wifey at home!”

“Hey, hey, let’s not embarrass Cen Ning. How about we give all of Cen Ning’s wine to Brother Yan to drink, do you all agree?”

Cen Ning’s ears turned red when she heard the conversation.

In fact, she should have been overjoyed, but her heart was as clear as a mirror. She knew that the person next to her was not interested in her at all, and the promise of the older generation was just a joke to them all.

“Stop, don’t talk nonsense.” Yan Xingzhi put down the wine glass in his hand, raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at the person who had just been handing out the wine, “When did you get so bold, daring to give them wine, wait and see how much trouble you’ll get into when you go back.”

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After walking inside the building, there was a large living room. Several girls were sitting there chatting. Just when Cen Ning arrived at the door, she heard Xue Xiaoxiao’s voice echoing from inside.

“How senseless are those people, what century is it, why are they still talking about the matter between Cen Ning and Brother Xingzhi? Who doesn’t know that Cen Ning was accepted into Yan’s house because Grandpa Yan took pity on her, as if they will really get married?”

“That’s right,” said a girl, “but everyone was just joking, they weren’t being serious.”

Xue Xiaoxiao: “Hmph, we didn’t take it seriously, but that Cen Ning took it seriously. Seeing brother Xingzhi treating her well, I bet you she is over the moon.”

“If she really does take it seriously then she’s just foolish, she doesn’t know her place.”

“Brother Yan is a little cold, but he’s very nice, so it’s not surprising that he would take care of a little sister living at his home.”

“Okay, okay, let’s not talk about her anymore, Xiaoxiao, she’s actually quite well-behaved, why are you targeting her like that?”

Xue Xiaoxiao: “I’m not targeting her, she originally never fit in with us anyway. Besides, brother Xingzhi and sister Pei Yan are a match made in heaven. Why did she come in—”

“Xiaoxiao.” Cen Ning heard a slightly cold female voice, it belonged to Meng Peiyan, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Xue Xiaoxiao’s voice became weak: “I didn’t.”

Meng Peiyan did not speak, keeping a straight face. The girl beside her smiled and said, “Peiyan, this time I support Xiaoxiao, she really didn’t talk nonsense.”

……

The sounds of happy chatter echoed from inside, Cen Ning stood there for a while, and then backed out again.

She switched to find another exit, thinking that she could go upstairs to find Yan Xingzhi and then ask him when they would go home. If he wasn’t going home, then she would go home first by herself.

Yan Xingzhi indeed had drank too much. He laid casually on the sofa in the room, with the back of one hand on his forehead, and fell asleep. When Cen Ning went in, she saw such a peaceful scene. She called him softly, but there was no response.

Cen Ning lightened her pace and walked slowly to the sofa: ” Xingzhi Gege…Ge?”

He was breathing evenly and smelled a bit of alcohol. Cen Ning squatted down in front of him and stared at his face for a while.

When he closed his eyes, those cold and sharp eyes no longer existed, and he looked much gentler.

“Yan Xingzhi.” Cen Ning suddenly muttered lightly.

Without stuttering or stumbling, this was the first time she had called out his name completely. Unfortunately, he was sleeping.

However, if it weren’t for him sleeping, she wouldn’t have been able to call it out.

Cen Ning smiled gently, feeling an inexplicable throbbing in her chest.

These three words had circled her tongue thousands of times in her heart, but when she really spit it out from her mouth, it turned out to be such a heart-pounding feeling.

The room was quiet, only leaving the sound of the two of them breathing. Cen Ning looked at him greedily, the love and sadness intertwined within her eyes, and it seemed like they were about to overflow.

She was such a person, who was not good with her words, was timid and sensitive, and could hide all her love and hatred in her heart. Xue Xiaoxiao was right, even though she had lived in this magnificent world for all these years, she knew in the bottom of her heart that she did not fit in.

What others had was what they originally already had, and what she had had been given out of pity by others, and they did not really belong to her.

Maybe one day, she would leave such a world.

She was willing to leave such a world, but she was not willing to leave a world that had him in it.

“I don’t like Song Ci.” Cen Ning remembered what he said when he was at the gate of the residence earlier, and lowered her head sadly, “How could I like someone else.”

No one could answer her words, Cen Ning looked at Yan Xingzhi, feeling a little discouraged. Why couldn’t she say anything in front of him every time, what if she had just told him that she actually liked him earlier?

Cen Ning shook her head and let go of this terrifying thought.

He clearly didn’t have feelings for her in that way. If she did that, it would only push him away further.

She felt so conflicted. Cen Ning reached out to push him, but stopped a few centimeters away from him. Her hand went up slowly, hesitated, and lightly pressed against his face.

Hm… warm, a little soft.

Cen Ning maintained this action, and her gaze finally stopped at his lips. The lines of his lips were sharp, and when he pursed them lightly, he carried a sense of oppression as if he were in a high-level authoritative position.

Cen Ning stared blankly, not knowing whether her thoughts were too chaotic tonight, or whether the smell of alcohol was too provocative. By the time she had made a move, her body had already followed her heart and she had leaned forward. She pressed her lips upon his lips.

Very light, very stiff, and fleeting.

Cen Ning was slightly startled, and instantly jumped back to her original position.

The recoil was too strong, and she directly bumped into the tea table behind due to inertia. She felt the pain instantly in the back of her head, but she didn’t make a single sound, staring at Yan Xingzhi’s lips as if she had seen a ghost.

What had…she just done?

Cen Ning was stunned for a few seconds, then immediately got up from the ground and rushed out of the door.

As soon as the door closed, before she could catch her breath, she saw a person walking down the stairs.

“Cen Ning.”

Cen Ning looked at Meng Peiyan who was a little puzzled, and tried to calm down her heavy breathing.

Meng Peiyan: “Why are you here?”

Cen Ning: “I…”

“Is he in there?”

Cen Ning shook her head, then nodded immediately.

Meng Peiyan frowned, stepped forward, and reached out to push the door of the room.

But at this moment, Cen Ning suddenly held down on the doorknob.

“…”

“He, is sleeping inside.”

Meng Peiyan was expressionless: “Really, I’ll go in and find him then.”

“He’s sleeping.” Cen Ning didn’t let go and repeated it again.

Meng Peiyan was obviously a little surprised by Cen Ning’s obstruction. Most of the people here would humbly yield to her, how could she let Cen Ning stop her?

And Cen Ning herself didn’t expect that she would dare to block Meng Peiyan’s way. Her heart was beating like a drum, but she didn’t intend to let go. She had heard everyone else’s words. Her and Meng Peiyan barely had any interactions, but at the moment of intersection, she automatically included her in her “enemy” blacklist.

Both of them had unfriendly feelings for each other, so the two were stuck in such a stalemate, and even the atmosphere was a little awkward.

“What are you guys doing here?” At this moment, Xin Zechuan’s voice broke the “silence” over here.

Meng Peiyan looked back at him, but said nothing.

Xin Zechuan: “Peiyan, Xiaoxiao was looking for you downstairs just now.”

Meng Peiyan sneered, turned her head and went downstairs.

Xin Zechuan was dumbfounded, not knowing why she had suddenly lost her temper: “Hey, what’s the matter?”

Cen Ning shook her head: “I’ll leave first.”

Xin Zechuan: “What about Xingzhi?”

“He’s sleeping inside.”

“Then you might as well stay. Old Zhang has tidied up a few rooms today already, you can sleep with Ziyi.”

Cen Ning: “Is it okay not to go back?”

“It’s okay.” Xin Zechuan smiled, “I let your family know already, there’s nothing to worry about staying at my place. Go, let Old Zhang take you to rest.”

“Well…Thank you.” After saying that, Cen Ning went downstairs in low spirits.

When Xin Zechuan saw that Cen Ning was gone, he raised his eyebrows and pushed the door into the room.

“Hey…you scared me.” Xin Zechuan looked at Yan Xingzhi sitting upright on the sofa, and closed the door, “Weren’t you sleeping?”

“I woke up.”

“Oh, then sleep in this room today, it’s too late to go back now.”

Yan Xingzhi pressed the space between his eyebrows, but did not speak.

“Why, you’re drunk?” Xin Zechuan sat next to him, “That makes me more determined to not let you go home now. If your Old Master¹referring to his grandfather were to see this, he would definitely say that I’m poisoning the soldiers of our motherland.”

Yan Xingzhi: “…Where’s Cen Ning?”

“That girl, don’t worry, I have arranged it all properly for you, I even asked Old Zhang to take her to the bedroom.”

Yan Xingzhi: “Mhm.”

Xin Zechuan leaned back and said casually: “Speaking of which, this girl has changed quite a lot. I remember that she used to be thin and small, looking quite pitiful. But now she looks a lot better, eh, you haven’t come back for so long, it must have been more shocking for you to see her for the first time in a while compared to me, as I have seen her around here and there.”

Yan Xingzhi remembered what she looked like after getting out of the car when he had returned on the first day, nodded and said, “Indeed.”

“I heard Tang Zheng say that a lot of people are chasing after her at school, right?” Xin Zechuan joked, “It seems that you can rest assured, this little girl really doesn’t have to be your responsibility anymore.”

Yan Xingzhi gritted his back teeth, frowned and glanced at Xin Zechuan.

Xin Zechuan didn’t notice, just saying to himself: “Thinking about it, a little girl like her definitely has a better impression upon the boys around her age. Your type of cold ‘elder-like’ man is scary to even look at, how could she like that haha.”

After a pause, Yan Xingzhi stretched out his hand and pulled out a cigarette from the tea table, half puzzled and half dissatisfied.

“Are you a young girl, how do you know she doesn’t like that?”

Xin Zechuan: “…”

The author has something to say:

What the h*ll do you know@XinZechuan——from Yan Xingzhi’s device

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[Translator’s Note: OMOOOOOOOO first kissu! By the way, sorry guys, I’m only going to upload once a week for now. Thanks for your support!]