At this time, unexpectedly, no one seemed to have seen any excitement from this eldest lady of the Gou family. She seemed to be blind and deaf and didn’t care about He Ran and Lu Wan’s close relationship. She had plunged deep into the bitter sea of study. 

At school, she would bury herself in the library; and when she got home, she would bury herself in the study.

[Jiaojiao: But according to the original setting, no matter how hard you try, you cannot shake the encounter between the heroine and the hero—it’s a big plot point. The gears of fate will eventually turn.]

Boom, boom, hammer.

Gou An’s pen tip rustled as she wrote, and she said without raising her head, “Shut your crow’s mouth.”¹

… …

A few days before the exam, He Ran, who has disappeared ever since the family dinner, suddenly popped up and stopped to see Gou An in the library. He watched her writing furiously with a troubled expression.

She just ignored him and treated him as nothing but air.

It wasn’t until other people in the library kept looking sideways at this former ‘celebrity couple’ and now ‘exes’ that He Ran finally couldn’t help it anymore. He lowered his voice and asked, “Do you have to be the number one?”

Gou An stopped writing and looked up at him quietly.

Miss Gou was always lively and full of emotions, but she didn’t speak this time, and her dark eyes looked deep and limpid. Those rounded eyes just looked at him calmly and a bit coldly, making him a little uneasy.

He Ran frowned slightly, and he suddenly didn’t like what he was going to say next but said it anyway, “This first place means nothing to you. A scholarship of three thousand yuan is not even enough to put a bottle of skin care product on your desk.”

But three thousand yuan meant a lot to Lu Wan.

Gou An thought for a while and asked, “He Ran, are here to bargain with me for falsely pretending to be someone else?”

He Ran was speechless and couldn’t nod his head.

“If not, then let me tell you clearly: these past few days, it’s been quite annoying for me to be pointed at and criticized every day,” Gou An said. “If anyone else had said this to me, I might stop because of my kind heart.”

She paused, “But if my fiancé says this to me, it will only make me want to get the first place more. So may I ask, are you here trying to attract hatred for Lu Wan?”

“…”

“Go on, say it.”

“…”

“I’m determined to be number one. It’s useless even if you kowtow to me. Lu Wan and I can each rely on our own abilities.”

Wasn’t it just a matter of owing Lu Wan for what she wrongfully did? If necessary, Gou An could apologize to her—face to face—for the whole imposter thing, and she would pay her whatever compensation she wanted…

But other than that, Gou An didn’t owe Lu Wan anything.

And this matter involved the first encounter between Lu Wan and He Jinxing.

This was the beginning of the plot unfolding, and Gou An could not bear the many dire consequences it would bring—

She didn’t want to go to jail.

Her dad’s office, only her dad could sit in it.

Gou An lowered her head and continued studying, leaving He Ran standing there in a daze.

Somehow, it felt like he was just casually walking on the road and was suddenly hit by a truck that came without warning.

… … advance chapters available @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

He was confused for the next few days, thinking about Gou An’s bland words ‘my fiancé’. This phrase made him feel numb to his toes, and then he thought about when she said ‘both of us’ and ‘each according to our abilities’… He gritted his teeth and couldn’t help but wonder if she meant the exam literally—or was she referring to something else?

Like getting him back?

After all, Gou An would do anything to get him back.

He Ran couldn’t understand how he felt.

He was embarrassed by Gou An, and he did not dare to provoke her again. Young Master He could only watch Lu Wan work hard on a part time job to earn living expenses while still studying hard at night, dark circles under her eyes appearing on her already too-thin face.

He told her many time to stop working and that he could give her money if she needed it. The He family owed her, after all.

But Lu Wan always just smiled and said softly, “It doesn’t matter, I don’t want your money, and that’s not why I saved you in the first place… He Ran, what do you think I am?”

The way she smiled was completely different from the neither humble nor arrogant look in Gou An’s eyes.

… …

As a result, Lu Wan fell ill from exhaustion.

On the day of the exam, she had a high fever, and she felt completely confused.

After taking the exam for the first subject, Lu Wan knew that she had failed. The last question in her exam form was left blank.

Although she took medicine before the exam, it seemed to have no effect and her brain was all frizzed up.

During the exam, Gou An was sitting in front of her, and her pen never stopped after the papers were handed out. Before the exam ended, she stood up expressionlessly and handed in the papers in advance. Lu Wan took a look and saw that the exam papers were filled to the brim with words.

After the exam, Lu Wan slowly packed her things and was the last one to leave the examination room. He Ran called her and was in time to hear her earth-shattering coughs on the phone.

“Sick?” He Ran asked.

“It’s okay,” Lu Wan replied weakly, “I have a little fever.”

There were voices on the other end of the phone. It was He Ran shouting at people in the infirmary and asking someone for help. He seemed to be ready to come to her immediately. Lu Wan didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t refuse.

She really didn’t want to be alone now.

From The Day The Engagement Was Broken translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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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
Chapter 13.1 — He Ran Makes an Official Announcement on Weibo new
Chapter 13.2 — He Ran Makes an Official Announcement on Weibo new
Chapter 14.1 — The Gears of Fate Rumble new
Chapter 14.2 — The Gears of Fate Rumble new

FOOTNOTE:

1. Crow’s mouth is when someone says unlucky things. ↩︎