He Jinxing took Lu Wan to the hospital, and He Ran didn’t think anything was wrong with it. He was really worried about what happened to Lu Wan. It was good that she could go to the hospital to see a doctor as soon as possible.

He Jinxing took Gou An home, and at that moment He Ran felt like his eyebrows was on fire. It was obvious that there wasn’t much fault to be found when an elder took care of one from the younger generation, but He Ran couldn’t help but think about why Gou An left and followed his young uncle, not even saying ‘goodbye’ to him. 

He wanted to ask his uncle why he was acting so strangely today.

After thinking about it, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

He couldn’t help but knock on the door of He Jinxing’s study that night. It was already midnight. The man was still in full suit with a crisp white shirt, his legs looking long and slender in the navy blue trousers. He had a cigarette lit up and was having a video conference with company executives on the other side of the globe. 

The study was filled with smoke.

When the study door opened, he just raised his eyebrows but didn’t chase the uninvited visitor away. Instead, he asked He Ran to move a chair and sit next to him and listen to the content of the meeting, all without any hesitation——

The Heji Group was wide and global in scope, but there was no TV-style intrigue among the family members. From the oldest generation to the youngest, everyone performed their own duties and worked together to achieve the unprecedented scale it was today.

He Jinxing was indeed the best of his generation. He Ran could see that compared to his own father, his young uncle was decisive in killing and was indeed more suitable to be the family’s head.

He could always learn a lot by following him.

After the video conference, He Jinxing took off the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose. While looking through the minutes of the meeting that his secretary had compiled and sent to him, he asked without looking up, “Is something the matter?”

He Ran said, “Young Uncle, Gou An today—”

“A’ Ran,” He Jinxing interrupted him directly, “I’m telling you, the bowl can hold as much rice as you want… But you can’t eat from the bowl and look at the pot at the same time.”

What he said was not at all like a formal statement an elder would say¹. He Ran looked at his young uncle in a daze—

Suddenly he remembered that He Jinxing was rebellious when he was young. During his time abroad, he had a conflict with Old Mr. He and did not go home for three years.

In those three years, he probably struggled on the dirtiest streets in the western countries. When he established his first company and made his first pot of gold, he did not use a single yuan from the He family.

He Ran admired him very much, so he would always listen to what He Jinxing said.

“If you really like her, I have no objection to you being with that Miss Lu,” He Jinxing said, “As for the Gou family, I will find other ways to appease them.”

The man’s voice was smooth and calm, but He Ran’s eyebrows jumped—

He raised his head with a start and his eyes widened in disbelief: the last time he mentioned Lu Wan’s matter to He Jinxing in this very study, his young uncle had been very angry. He picked up a pen from desk and hit him with it, telling him to get out and stop thinking muddled thoughts.

He Ran didn’t know why he suddenly agreed to dissolve the engagement…

“Young Uncle…”

“Our He family has not much else.” He Jinxing smiled, “Apart from money, the most valuable thing we have is a good number of outstanding young men who can be used to play marriage alliances.”

Indeed, from He Ran, to He Fei, He Wenzong, He Yue… countless young men, the He family has many boys, all manner of brothers and cousins. They could fill the entire living room during the Spring Festival², and it could be considered a high-quality singles party. Any noble family in Jiangcheng with a daughter would be envious of an invitation—

Because of this, Old Mr. He was often happy for only three minutes during the Spring Festival. After giving out red envelopes to these noisy little brats, he often sent them to bark like dogs elsewhere so that they won’t bother him.

Therefore, just as Zhou Yanji and the other melon seed-eating people in the university group chat said, the He family had many others to offer in marriage to Gou An.

It didn’t need to be him, He Ran. It could be someone else.

Maybe even He Jinxing himself.

He Ran was startled by this sudden thought. His heart beat faster. He tried hard to read the picture and see something fishy on his Young Uncle’s face. However, he had only eaten rice for a few years. What ability did he have to do tricks in front of He Jinxing?

In the end, he could only lower his head in frustration, “Young Uncle, I haven’t thought about this enough yet… As you know, I owe Lu Wan a lot. She is also very nice and doesn’t care about my family background or how much money I have. I am always happy when we are together.”

And she wasn’t as annoying as Gou An.

“But,” he paused, “Gou An and I have been engaged to be married for more than 20 years.”

Yes, it was just a matter of having gotten used to it.

A peaceful life together.

This could completely explain his abnormality during this period—

He had originally made up his mind to break off his engagement with Gou An, a pampered young lady who had problems in every aspect, but because she herself had wanted to break the long-established status quo—he hesitated.

That must be the case.

“Since ancient times, childhood sweethearts can’t withstand someone falling from heaven. I believe Miss Gou will accept this reality.”

“…”

Ah, who was coming from the sky?

He Ran stared blankly at He Jinxing’s face.

“Young Uncle, you called her my wife last time by the study door…”

Why has the title changed now?

He Ran was really uneasy.

He Jinxing ignored his dubious gaze, reached out to close the laptop, took off his tie, and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, “It’s clear you don’t care about Miss Gou that much. Otherwise, you would have noticed that she was wearing a short skirt. Without protective gear, you put her on your motorcycle, and there were two long bruises on her legs… it looked like someone abused her.”

He Jinxing rarely spoke such long sentences. He was probably tired from the meeting today, so he mercifully said a few more words and directly scolded his nephew until he was stunned—

He Ran thought for a long time before he realized that the marks on Gou An’s butt and thighs were caused by the hump on his modified bike.

His face turned red then white, and he suddenly understood why—when he asked Gou An that afternoon why she ran away secretly—the latter replied to him with a [?] and added a clearly disgusted sentence: [Otherwise? Should I still have waited for you? I would rather take a taxi to go home.]

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

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T/N: I’m with He Jinxing on this 110%—He Ran clearly doesn’t care about Gou An all that much. It’s not just about wearing a helmet. Had they skidded for whatever reason, Gou An’s legs would have been lacerated by the pavement! And he was going top speed while she was only clinging to him with one hand as she had to use her other hand to hold her short skirt down. He didn’t notice any of that, his mind only on Lu Wan.

On another point, saying ‘she doesn’t care about how much money I have’ sounds very romantic but I love it when a character says ‘my family background and ability to make money is also part of my attraction, so what? I can afford to spoil her, what does that have to do with you?’ 😂🥰

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 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
Chapter 13.2 — He Ran Makes an Official Announcement on Weibo
Chapter 14.1 — The Gears of Fate Rumble
Chapter 14.2 — The Gears of Fate Rumble
Chapter 15.1 — Soft and gentle
Chapter 15.2 — Soft and gentle

FOOTNOTES:

1. It’s either because He Jinxing’s speech pattern is casual, or the words he used isn’t from some classical text—it’s more folk wisdom that a mother would say to her child, and also a kind of street slang for a man with a wandering eye. ↩︎
2. Spring Festival is another name for the Chinese (Lunar) New Year ↩︎