The time for the opening ceremony of the new school year arrived as scheduled.

When the time was right, He Jinxing and Gou An left the Dean’s Office, walking side by side.

On the way, they met a teacher from another department; a tiny, old man from the School of Environmental Engineering next door. He knew He Jinxing but not Gou An. He greeted He Jinxing first and then looked at Gou An, as if was wondering how this little girl could calmly walk beside this noble dragon.

He seemed to have have never heard that Mr. He had a daughter of this age.

“Who is this—”

Gou An smiled at this teacher who had never interacted with her before and said, “Hello, Teacher, I am a sophomore student at the Oceanology Department. Our Department is responsible for this year’s welcome speech. I came here to ask Mr. He review my speech…”

Too much information.

Instead, it just sounded lame.

The little old man from the School of Environmental Engineering obviously also felt that this statement was a bit confusing. What kind of speech from even the most outstanding student representative would need to be personally reviewed by this university sponsor? Was this a comedy sketch?

While this was happening, the corners of He Jinxing’s lips curled up slightly. He stood behind Gou An, playing with a black lighter with his slender fingers. He listened noncommittally as Gou An, who couldn’t seem to wait to clear up the relationship, tried to distance herself away from him.

He allowed the little old man to be confused for a while, and then he casually raised his eyelids, his gaze landing on the young miss in front of him. He said, “’Mr. He’?”

“…”

“What name did you call out just now?”

“…” Gou An, her scalp numb, said bravely, “Ah, Young Uncle.”

He Jinxing then threw the little old man a ‘now do you understand?’ look. “A junior in the family.”

The little old man was obviously still confused for a moment, and then said “Oh, I see”. 

He was indeed still puzzled. They all said that the entire younger generation of the He family could be rounded up to become monks at a temple. Where then did this little niece of He Jinxing come from?

After the two parties exchanged greetings and said goodbye, He Jinxing followed Gou An to the auditorium. Department teachers and some management staff sat in the front row of the auditorium. He Jinxing’s seat was next to the Department Director, and to the right was the University President.

There was a bottle of mineral water in front, and a pink name plate with the simple words ‘Heji Group, He Jinxing’; there wasn’t even a redundant job description.

He Jinxing sat down, and Gou An prepared to go backstage.

Before leaving, she respectfully said to the man who was already seated, “I’m going first.”

The man looked up at her.

“… Young Uncle?”

He Jinxing leaned back in his chair, as if he was satisfied that she finally had the brains to remember this title. He nodded tolerantly and said, “Go ahead.”

The posture of an elder was perfection and could be said to be watertight.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

The opening ceremony of the freshmen welcoming festivities finally began.

Mr. He, who under the original plot was destined to meet the heroine on this day, didn’t seem to be constrained by the plot anymore and seemed disinterested in the proceedings from beginning to end.

Even through the peacock dance which opened the festivities and was clearly stunning, he was only looking at his phone with his head down, not raising his head even once.

Other than that, everything went smoothly.

At about eight o’clock, Gou An’s name was called. As the outstanding student representative of the sophomore year, she went up the stage to give a welcome speech. At this time, the joyful and harmonious atmosphere finally changed. Standing under the spotlight, she could hear the ‘buzzing’ from the audience.

In fact, this matter involving Gou An only fermented within the school and its forum, and it wasn’t like most dog-blood domineering CEO novels where school topics frequently become hot searches through the whole country.

But this thing actually happened in Gou An’s life and circle. Looking down from brightly lit stage, at this moment, she couldn’t see the expression on anyone’s face in the darkness below. 

She swallowed silently and read out the first sentence of the prepared speech.

Although the person standing on the stage was a little nervous and stiff, her back was straight and her face was fair and she looked well-behaved, wearing only light, appropriate makeup. The long curly hair was tied like that of a princess, half of it softly scattered over the shoulders, and the other half was tied up into a small bun, with a cherry-red leather rope for accent, and two licks of disobedient hairs sticking out from the top of the head…

From that point of view, she was pretty and seemed very lovable indeed.

It went smoothly at first, until Gou An was halfway through reading the manuscript and came to the point of ‘ten years of hard studying’…

Whether it was that He Jinxing was an expert at knowing things, or something else (he definitely has a crow’s mouth), someone in the crowd suddenly stood up and shouted. “I don’t know how senior sister can compare having three generations of wealth to studying hard for ten years by a cold window. If social classes can never be crossed, then even if we study hard and live hard, is it just a complete joke in the eyes of rich people like you?”

The person who spoke was a tall and thin boy, still wearing his military training camouflage uniform. He wore thick glasses and looked a bit dull.

Gou An could see him clearly through the big screen behind him. At this time, the school festivities director had given him a close-up.

There was an uproar in the audience.

Some people laughed, some applauded, and even more people ridiculed, “Aren’t you just humiliating yourself by asking her this question?” The contempt behind the words was obvious.

Gou An saw the man sitting in the middle of the audience. At this time, he had raised his head from his mobile phone. He was also looking at her with a pair of dark and deep black eyes, a smile on his lips.

When the two looked at each other, he even crossed his legs lazily.

This posture of ‘here to watch the fun’ couldn’t be more obvious.

Gou An’s heart was beating so fast, like a drum beating against the sky. After a few seconds, she heard her own—now somewhat stiff—voice, “Is it possible that this classmate has studied hard for ten years in order to become the first generation of the so-called third generation businessman?”

The laughter at the scene became quieter.

“When we were children, we would always dream of becoming a scientist, a navigator, an astronomer or a doctor who could help the world. At that time, teachers would never say to us: But kid, your parents are not great people, so you are destined to be mediocre.” Gou An pressed her hands on the speech before her, “The teacher would say: Child, your dream is so great, then you remember to study hard starting from today.”

Class crossing was never impossible.

“You are a student, you study.

“If you are a cleaner, you wipe the glass in front of you.

“If you are tightening a screw, then tighten this screw so that it will be strong for a hundred years.

“If there is no earth-shattering luck coming your way, then do what you should do right now and rely on quantitative changes to produce qualitative changes.”

Gou An couldn’t explain the profound truth, but when faced with questions, her understanding was really just this.

It was like the day she understood that she was just a cannon fodder female supporting character in a domineering CEO romance novel. She didn’t know what to do, and no one told her what to do.

But she was also working hard, hoping to take every step well and stay away from the tragic ending that may still happen in her future.

“Just like I am answering your questions politely instead of throwing the microphone in your face, because I just want to give a good freshman welcoming speech.”

She also hoped that her image as a vicious female supporting character wouldn’t be so deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

At this moment, as her voice stopped, the impetuous atmosphere on the scene paused for a few seconds.

Under the light in the center of the stage, slow and loud applause sounded alone.

Then very quickly, as if everyone had come to their senses, there was a sea of applause.

Gou An heard the system prompt ‘ding’ in her mind: He Jinxing’s favorability level rose to [25].

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

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