Chapter 45.1: Moonlight

She fell into a daze when she was idle when suddenly the back of her neck felt cold.

Cen Ning wanted to turn back subconsciously, but Yan Xingzhi reached out and patted the back of her head lightly. “Don’t move.”

Cen Ning sat upright, gripping the fabric on her thighs deathly hard.

Yan Xingzhi had no distractions, and he applied the cream very carefully and seriously. He dipped his fingers in the cream and caressed her skin carefully.

“Next time you encounter any danger, run first. Do you understand?”

Cen Ning didn’t move, and when she heard the voice from behind, she responded in a low voice.

After applying cream to her neck, Yan Xingzhi pulled her clothes down a bit more. There was also a thin scar on the left side of her shoulder blade, but fortunately, this was much lighter than the one on the back of her neck.

Yan Xingzhi’s expression did not change. His eyes flickered over the pink scar, as if he hadn’t seen it, and continued meticulously applying the cream.

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Uld Lkdt’p qynl yv vbl xsxldv nswze cl elpnakcle yp vsxyvs ale. Mbl dlnjzkdl oyp nsxrzlvlzu rwzzle esod rypv bla zlqv pbswzela, yde bla ldvkal pbswzela oyp lmrsple. Mbl rkdj cay vbyv oypd’v nshlale zlqv yd yxcktwswp yde yojoyae yvxsprblal.

Fbl rwaple bla zkrp vktbvzu yde nswze qllz bkp qkdtlavkrp pzkekdt ynaspp bla pjkd, nywpkdt y pbweela.

“Eblal lzpl?” Zyd Dkdtgbk pvsrrle yde ypjle.

Mblal olal yzps vos dlya vbl oykpv yde ycesxld yaly. Ms yrrzu xleknkdl, pbl xwpv alxshl bla obszl dktbvtsod vs vbl lde. Mbkp pkvwyvksd dso, Uld Lkdt nswzed’v clya, zlv yzsdl vbyv.

“Lsoblal lzpl!” Uld Lkdt kxxlekyvlzu fwxrle wr qasx vbl psqy cwv eke dsv lhld xydytl vs pvyde qsa y plnsde clqsal clkdt rwzzle cynj cu vbl xyd cu vbl oykpv clbkde bla.

Fbl pzyxxle kdvs bkp nblpv qasx kdlavky. Zyd Dkdtgbk pvalvnble swv bkp byde vs pwrrsav bla pbswzela, yde rwpble bla pzktbvzu swvoyae, “Jl nyalqwz, esd’v awc yzz vbl nalyx R fwpv yrrzkle sd xl.”

Uld Lkdt: “…”

Ebs oyp vs czyxl? Eypd’v kv usw vbyv rwzzle xl cynj?

“Really? nowhere else?”

Yan Xingzhi’s posture at the moment completely encircled her in his arms. As he spoke, the heat tickled Cen Ning’s ears. She was startled, and shrank away as if she had been electrocuted. “Nowhere else…”

“You’re lying.”

Cen Ning remained silent.

With a shallow smile, Yan Xingzhi squeezed her wrist. “Cen Ning, do you know it’s especially obvious when you lie?”

Cen Ning eyesight followed along his arm and saw her tightly clasped fingers. She froze for a moment, then released it suddenly.

“Where else?” This time, his voice was serious and cold.

Cen Ning turned her head to look at him, her eyes falling into his eyes.

It was too close, so close that she was dazed. So close that she didn’t want to listen to her cowardly heart, and so close that she didn’t want to implement Zhang Ziyi’s nonsensical but also reasonable suggestion…

Maybe she should just let it go.

She pulled his wrist away, took his fingers again, and guided his hand to the back of her waist. Yan Xingzhi lowered his eyes and looked at it, understood, and he reached out to get the cream.

“Xingzhi Gege.” Cen Ning said suddenly.

Yan Xingzhi and looked at her. “Hm?”

“When I was a freshman in high school, you quarreled with grandpa in the study.” Cen Ning suddenly said, “I was afraid that grandpa would hit you, so I secretly went out to the window of the study and watched.”

Yan Xingzhi’s breath stagnated.

Cen Ning lowered her eyes and murmured in a low voice, “I heard you say that the relationship between me and you is just a promise from Grandpa. You don’t want grandpa to control you, let alone let him decide your future and your marriage. My existence… was forced.”

Yan Xingzhi put down the cream and turned his head slightly. He looked at Cen Ning, as if he saw the picture she was talking about.

That day, it was snowing heavily, and he and his grandfather quarreled about the special forces matter…

“So, I don’t want to be your reluctance and burden. I, I have long decided not to like you anymore. I don’t know why you say you like me now.”

Cen Ning didn’t intend to say this today. Maybe it was the environment, maybe it was Yan Xingzhi’s breathing and body temperature, or maybe it was his warm gentleness, which was enough to melt her. These may have created a curious coincidence and made her say it out loud.

The variety show on the LCD TV was still playing, laughter, applause, music… Yan Xingzhi took a deep breath, and his heart seemed to be pulled hard by someone, and it suddenly hurt badly.

He didn’t know that on that snowy day outside the window; she was there.

“Cen Ning, what I told my grandfather that day hurt you unintentionally.” Yan Xingzhi frowned, and he didn’t know how to explain it, because he didn’t have a deep memory of that day. All he remembered was that he didn’t let his grandfather interfere with his future. As for Cen Ning, maybe when he first saw her, he thought that his grandfather’s promise was ridiculous, but he never regarded her as an reluctance.

“I just wanted Grandpa to not interfere in any of my affairs in his own way. I don’t want him to interfere, but I can do it myself. It’s not contradictory, right?”

Cen Ning’s pupils shrank slightly. “You—”

“So you think I don’t like you just because you heard those words?” Yan Xingzhi hooked his lips in self-mockery. “It seems that since childhood, I have pampered you for nothing.”

Cen Ning was suddenly startled, and finally, she could only rely on instinct and called out with uncertainty. “Ge—”

“Mhm…” Yan Xingzhi raised his brows, and suddenly interjected, “It feels a little unethical to hear you call me that at this time.”

Cen Ning: “…”

Yan Xingzhi was serious. He stretched out his hand to support her cheek. His eyes were dark and unclear. “After saying so much, can you give me back your heart?”

There was too much information tonight, and Cen Ning’s brain was completely stuck. “What heart?”

There was a sharp look in Yan Xingzhi’s eyes, and he gritted his teeth and spat out, “Xia, Yi.”

Cen Ning was startled. “Him? I have nothing to do with him…”

“Really.” Yan Xingzhi said, “Didn’t you like him very much before?”

Cen Ning was very sincere. After listening, she pondered for a while, and answered, “I’m was trying to like him—”

“You are not allowed to try.”

“…”

The hostility in Yan Xingzhi’s eyes was prominent, and the hand that caressed her chin slowly tightened. “Don’t even try.”

Cen Ning blinked, just trying. She didn’t even start… He didn’t even let her finish her words.

“Did you hear me?”

Cen Ning hesitated and nodded.

It was originally already over. There would be no discussion about ‘trying to like someone else.’

Yan Xingzhi breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t expect that he would unintentionally pit himself from beginning to end. But then again, that year, his feelings were not so clear. She was young, and he just wanted to protect her.

Xin Zechuan said for a long time that Yan Xingzhi favored her. At that time, he thought it was strange. Did he? He just took care of her a little more.

Later, he still didn’t realize when he had obvious feelings for her. Maybe he was on a mission for a long time ago, so when he came back and saw her leaving with another man, he would have those unspeakable depressions in his heart. 

In the end, Cen Ning still let him continue to apply the cream. It had nothing to do with ambiguity, just a concern to solve the crux of the problem.

But after returning to her bedroom that night, Cen Ning could not fall asleep at all.