Under the moonlight

Chen Zhi gave Zhao Meng a wink, and Zhao Meng looked at Huang Meng, staring at the cup in his hand with a faint smile on his lips.

When Chen Zhi mentioned the name Chen Xinxin, he remembered her. Back then, she and her friends would always play around and laugh without restraint in class, seemingly without any worries.

It was around that time that Zhao Meng began to notice Huang Meng. Middle school regulations required girls to have short hair. Huang Meng's hair was naturally curly, and even after cutting it short, her still-childish round face looked adorable and charming against the backdrop of her curly short hair.

Zhao Meng glanced at Huang Meng, then at Chen Zhi, who quickly understood his meaning and said to Huang Meng, "Hey, we still have the contact information of all our old classmates. We used to get together often in high school and college. After we started working, we saw each other less often, but I still make sure to meet up with them for a meal whenever I go to X City."

"Really? Do they all work in X city?" Huang Meng was clearly excited when she heard Chen Zhi's words.

“Yes, they all stayed in X City, including Xie Huihui. She got married last year, and I even went to her wedding. We even talked about you!” Chen Zhi continued, as if he had caught on to what Huang Meng cared about.

"Talking about me? Who? Xie Huihui?" Huang Meng asked, her eyes wide with surprise and delight.

Zhao Meng noticed her subtle expressions. It turned out that those years were so important to her; she was so excited just talking about the people from that time.

"Yeah, I remember when we were in school, she always called you 'sister.' When she got married, she even said that if you were here, she would have to toast you, haha~" Chen Zhi was telling the truth.

Huang Meng smiled at him, but the joy and excitement from before had vanished from her face, replaced by melancholy and sorrow. "Oh, is that so? That's a real pity~"

Seeing her sudden drop in mood, Chen Zhi didn't know what he had said wrong, so he quickly looked at Zhao Meng.

"Alright, let's eat quickly, stop talking." Zhao Meng gave Huang Meng a deep look and said in a deep voice.

"Oh, right, hurry up and eat, I was so happy I forgot, haha~" Chen Zhi laughed awkwardly twice, but seeing that Huang Meng only gave a perfunctory laugh and Zhao Meng didn't even laugh, he quickly stopped laughing.

While eating, Chen Zhi kept glancing at Huang Meng and Zhao Meng. The two of them were eating peacefully, but he wasn't paying attention. His mind was racing, unsure how to proceed with the plot, when Huang Meng suddenly asked, "By the way, Chen Zhi, we've been talking about others. What about you? What made you decide to come back and do business?"

Upon hearing Huang Meng's words, Chen Zhi exclaimed in his heart, "That's great!" He quickly put down his chopsticks and said seriously, "Well, it's a long story. As you know, I'm not good at studying. I barely managed to graduate from junior college. My family wanted me to go into business with them, so I came back and opened a teahouse."

"Hmm, that's not bad. What's the name of your teahouse? I'll visit it sometime."

"Yes, yes, it's called Yin Yi. Come visit sometime!" Chen Zhi said with a smile.

"Then how did you and Zhao Meng get in touch?" Chen Zhi's smile froze instantly. This wasn't the scenario he had envisioned. He hadn't even acted out the "chance encounter" with Zhao Meng yet, so why was she asking him so directly? Had he given himself away?

"Huh? Oh, this, this..." Chen Zhi scratched his head while glancing at Zhao Meng.

"Qiqi, do you remember? Chen Zhi was loitering near my neighborhood once when some boys were harassing Qiqi. He stepped in and took a beating from them to help Qiqi." Zhao Meng said frankly, looking at Huang Meng.

"Oh, I see. Qiqi must be in college now!" Huang Meng knew, of course, that Qiqi was his sister.

"Yes, she's in this city, but she's also someone you can't trust; she's always causing trouble." Zhao Meng said, also feeling a headache as he mentioned his sister.

"Haha, still talking about her? Aren't you even more likely to cause trouble than her? Have you forgotten the stab wounds you got..." Huang Meng suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Perhaps it was seeing Chen Zhi and talking to him about many old stories, or perhaps that matter had always been weighing on her mind, and given the slightest opportunity, she spoke it out without any hesitation.

Seeing her suddenly stop talking and lower her head to pick at the food in her bowl, Chen Zhi and Zhao Meng exchanged a glance. For Chen Zhi, this was perfect. He didn't even need to try to set the stage; Huang Meng had brought up the topic herself. He looked at Huang Meng with expectant eyes, waiting for her to continue.

Zhao Meng's expectations differed from Chen Zhi's. He looked at Huang Meng with delight. Sure enough, she still remembered that incident. Could that mean that she was still thinking about the past and her former self?

"Well, then, between the two of you, is there no longer any barrier between you?" Huang Meng felt two pairs of eyes staring intently at her. She knew that she had already spoken, and there was no use in pretending to be an ostrich now, so she might as well just say it directly!

“Yes, after that incident, Chen Zhi came to the hospital to see me a few times, but at that time my knife wounds had not fully healed, and my mother was afraid that he would upset me, so she didn’t let me see him.” After Zhao Meng finished speaking, he looked at Chen Zhi with such an open and honest look that even he doubted himself.

Wasn't it because he was sitting on the bed, and as soon as he saw me, he grabbed a pillow and threw it at me, tearing the wound until it bled, that his mother wouldn't let me go to the hospital again?

Chen Zhi looked at Huang Meng and quickly nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, I already told you about that incident that day. I was tricked by that guy Jing Hong. He promised me that he would just teach them a lesson, which is why I took them to the entrance of Zhao Meng's residential area. It turns out they just wanted to use me to lead them to his house."

As Chen Zhi spoke, his voice gradually lowered. Even though Zhao Meng no longer held it against him, this matter would always be a thorn in his side.

"Since he doesn't care, you shouldn't think about it anymore. Besides, he treats his own sister like his own life. If you help Qiqi, you're helping him too, and you're even." Huang Meng saw that Chen Zhi was a little dejected and quickly comforted him.

"Yes, Kiki has praised you to me more than once!"

After Zhao Meng finished speaking, he kicked Chen Zhi's chair. This startled Chen Zhi. He could make amends to Zhao Meng, but he dared not think about apologizing to Qi Qi.

"No, no, what's there to praise! You, you must have misremembered!" Chen Zhi said guiltily.

He still doesn't dare to tell Zhao Meng the truth about the message Qiqi sent him on her first day of college. If Zhao Meng finds out, he definitely won't let him off the hook!

Zhao Meng looked at him, then at Huang Meng, "So, you were there that day too, right?"

Huang Meng was stunned for a moment when she heard his words, but then she understood what he meant by "that day".

Yes, I'm here.

Huang Meng had imagined countless times what it would be like for Zhao Meng to talk to her about that day. Maybe it would be in class, during an ordinary morning reading session after his injury had healed; maybe it would be on the playground, during another relaxing physical education class; or perhaps it would be on the bus home from school, since they were going the same way.

But none of these scenarios came to fruition because of her sudden transfer to another school. Their story, like an unfinished tale, was marked by ellipses, and they missed out on so much...