After He Jinxing left, only Gou An and He Ran were left in front of the gate of the Gou family’s house.
The ones who were afraid of He Jinxing and have lingering fears about his sudden appearance was obviously not just Gou An.
Even Young Master He, He Ran, who was usually the little bully in their circle, became mute like a mouse meeting a cat when in front of his Young Uncle, with only a few lines said from beginning to end.
Now that the low pressure1 disappeared, Gou An couldn’t help but raise her head and glance at He Ran, and was a little surprised to find that he was staring at her with bitterness and hatred.
“?”
What happened this time?
As they looked at each other, the number symbolizing favorability above He Ran’s head flashed a few times, and then two more numbers replaced it. This new [Favorability: 35] made Gou An feel that she and this broken system must have a cosmic-level kind of grievance between them.
The big hand on her arm tightened silently—just how strong did a young man’s hand get when he played basketball?—until Gou An said, “Hey,” her voice sounding unintentionally coquettish, “He Ran, you’re hurting me.”
He Ran threw her arm away with a cold face.
The force was a bit too strong, and Gou An stumbled back two steps before she could stand firmly; she’d finally broken free from He Ran’s arms. The moisture from the rain hit her face. She shivered and gathered her coat around her.
Seeing her actions like this, He Ran pursed his lips lightly—
Wearing just her nightdress and nothing else, she wanted to run out without a coat. Only when he stopped her did she reluctantly put on a coat. She met his Young Uncle and still didn’t forget to act coy.
Just now he held her, and this woman kept trying to get out of his arms like a loach. And now that the Young Uncle has left, she suddenly knew how to put on her clothes properly and not wriggle around?
The uncomfortable and awkward feeling in Young Master He’s heart emerged again.
“No matter what your thoughts are, don’t talk to Young Uncle again in the future,” He Ran said coldly with no expression on his face.
“Why not,” Gou An disagreed, “You think I’m not qualified? Your Young Uncle doesn’t think so. He liked me very much. Didn’t you hear that he knew that I lied to all of you and he still kindly invited me to be your grandfather’s granddaughter-in-law?”
Of course, he was not ‘kind’.
She’d seen his [Favorability: 10], so there was no way she could lie to herself.
But He Ran couldn’t see it, so she could lie to him.
Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, He Ran’s face became even more ugly.
“Gou An, are you shameless?”
The [Favorability: 35] flashed, and the next second—
[Favorability: 33].
OK.
Dropped again, right?
Go, drop.
Drop hard.
Who are you trying to scare?
Let the rainstorm rage more violently!
Being attacked by this ridiculous green-lettered body-scoreboard, Gou An raised the corners of her lips in a somewhat taunting manner, “Why am I so shameless? Yes, yes, it’s all my fault for pretending to be someone else, deceiving your feelings, and delaying your search for your savior, but haven’t you already found your true benefactor?
“I also apologized to you, and even offered to punish myself—that is, breaking off our engagement—why are you still scolding me? This is in front of my house, you dare to stand there and scold me right at my front door?”
The more Gou An talked, the more reasonable she felt—
She already apologized. She was a good girl who apologized for her mistakes. Why should she be scolded?
Just as she was about to tell Young Master He to stop acting and just quickly take out the agreement in his pocket so she can sign it then they can all immediately get on with their separate lives—she found that He Ran was staring at her and she faltered.
Those eyes were sinister, and she felt a little uncomfortable being stared at.
“What are you looking at?”
“I’ll pretend you haven’t said anything tonight,” He Ran said stiffly. “Gou An, I know you are not happy about what happened with Lu Wan last week, but don’t speak so confidently. After all, you are the person who should feel most apologetic to her in the world.”
“…”
“On the cruise ship last week, I didn’t know that Lu Wan was the one who saved me from the clutches of human traffickers. But now I know the truth. She has had a hard life these years. If she had originally received the He family’s gratitude from the beginning, she wouldn’t have had to work so hard all these years.”
“…”
“And from beginning to end, all you lost was a cat—”
“…”
Hearing these words, Gou An’s lips finally moved.
She knew what He Ran said was right. She really felt ashamed of what she did to Lu Wan because of her own selfishness.
But that’s the one thing he’s not allowed say.
Really not allowed.
After a long while, Gou An just said in a low voice, “It wasn’t just a cat, that’s my Jiaojiao.”
The firm ranking in her family: her mother, her father, Ade (maid), Jiaojiao.
Gou Xun (younger brother, close relative) could only be ranked fifth.
That’s her Jiaojiao.
A stupid cat who only knew how to make his owner open cans of food and then sleep.
Now he’s dead, but he did nothing wrong.
It was her who was wrong.
Jiaojiao was just her cat.
Gou An took a deep breath and looked at the handsome face in front of her, feeling a little weak—
Why must you lump everything together?
I hate you so much.
“He Ran, have you said enough?”
He Ran’s voice stopped suddenly.
Gou An paused for a moment, but she restrained the aggression on her face and replaced it with a calm tone, “I have already expressed my apology, and now let me ask you one last time: didn’t you originally have something to do with me tonight?”
“Gou An, do you really want to break the jar and know the truth?”
“Sorry, us young people are just so full of curiosity.”
He Ran said with a gloomy face, “Tomorrow… no, I’ll tell you when we go back to school.”
“…”
“Anyway, what happened tonight didn’t happen.”
“How many times do you have to emphasize the same words——”
“Don’t cause trouble for Lu Wan anymore, and don’t try to challenge my bottom line again.”
“?”
After He Ran finished speaking, he turned around and rushed into the curtain of rain under the evening light like Shancai in ‘Meteor Garden’2, without giving Gou An any chance to respond.
“…”
Facing the dense silvery rain of the night where it was almost impossible to see the way ahead, Gou An sighed.
“So exhausting.”
Men or something, ugh.
[Jiaojiao: What’s exhausting?]
“Isn’t it tiring to have to entertain the young version of the Domineering CEO and the actual Domineering CEO himself all night long?”
[Jiaojiao: By ‘entertaining’ do you mean being busy without a moment’s rest, and being frequently deducted favorability points all night long?]
“…”
“Close the system. Close the unresponsive systems. Shut down the system. Exit the system. Force quit the program…
“ctrl+shift+esc.”
[Jiaojiao: The password is invalid! The Holy Flame is shining! Meowowow! Jiaojiao is the best!]
“Shut up, fat cat! What kind of serious cat can watch his master being deducted points all night long and only know how to shout slogans after? ‘I saw the ebb and flow of his love’? What a good name—that ebb kept going down! It has plummeted, but when did it go up? When did it go up?? That’s outrageous! Eat less canned food and read more books! What good novel opens with a crazy point deduction in the fourth chapter! Which system novel have you ever seen written like this!”
[Jiaojiao: Didn’t I advise you to stop talking?]
“You mentioned it, but your tone was not persuasive enough.”
[Jiaojiao: Well, after all, it’s really hard to persuade with good words a ghost who’s determined to die.]
“…”
Dammit.
From The Day The Engagement Was Broken translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
T/N: Here’s Shancai breaking up with Daoming Si and about to run off into the rain.
If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️
Chapter 5.1 — A Bottle of Mineral Water He Didn’t Want
Chapter 5.2 — A Bottle of Mineral Water He Didn’t Want
Chapter 5.3 — A Bottle of Mineral Water He Didn’t Want
Chapter 6.1 — Blessing 99
Chapter 6.2 — Blessing 99
Chapter 7.1 — Apologize to Her
Chapter 7.2 — Apologize to Her
Chapter 7.3 — Apologize to Her
Chapter 8.1 — Reluctant
Chapter 8.2 — Reluctant
Chapter 9.1 — The Hero and Heroine Meet
Chapter 9.2 — The Hero and Heroine Meet
Chapter 9.3 — The Hero and Heroine Meet
Chapter 9.4 — The Hero and Heroine Meet
Chapter 10.1 — Don’t Use Honorifics
Chapter 10.2 — Don’t Use Honorifics
Chapter 10.3 — Don’t Use Honorifics
Chapter 11.1 — Young Uncle
Chapter 11.2 — Young Uncle
Chapter 11.3 — Young Uncle
Chapter 12.1 — Conflict During the Welcome Speech
Chapter 12.2 — Conflict During the Welcome Speech
FOOTNOTES:
- Low pressure is generally a good thing in English, but this refers to the weather condition that is perfect for a storm to brew—so it’s unpleasant and suffocating. Meteorologically, high pressure leads to stable weather conditions, and low pressure leads to typhoons. He Jinxing, Lord Yama incarnate and harbinger of storms 😂 ↩︎
- ‘Meteor Garden’ is the Taiwanese (2001) and later Chinese (2018) adaptation of the manga Hana Yori Dango or Boys Over Flowers. Shancai is the heroine and the rain scene is pretty iconic. The story itself is super popular and has been adapted many times over in anime and live action (Japanese, South Korean, Thailand) ↩︎
WHITE MOONLIGHT TRANSLATIONS 
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