An hour ago.

In the SVIP box on the fourth floor of Endless Night, there were no messy wine bottles or waiters coming and going. In the quiet room, it seemed that all the furnishings and displays were in accordance with the owner’s preferences: simple and pristine.

“So the next step is the development and management of Jinshan Wharf—“

Chen Jinli from the Jiangcheng Institute of Marine Biology swirled the glass of foreign alcohol in his hand. The amber liquid swayed, and the ice cubes made a crisp sound when they clinked with the glass.

He stopped talking abruptly, looked at the man sitting next to him who showed no reaction at all to his sudden pause, and laughed out loud in surprise.

Hearing his laugh, the man—who had been supporting his chin with one hand and looking blankly at a corner of the private box—finally turned his head and glanced at him lightly.

“What?”

“A’ Jin, you are a little absent-minded today, which is not like you.” 

Chen Jinli and He Jinxing were the same age. They met when they were both in college studying abroad and were quite familiar with each other. At this time, Chen Jinli smiled and said gently, “You rarely phase out when its about business. “

He Jinxing didn’t refute him. Unexpectedly, he just looked at Chen Jinli and after a long while said, “hmm,” noncommittally.

“Did something happen?”

“Everything’s fine.”

A decisive denial.

Chen Jinli couldn’t help but look at He Jinxing a few more times, and he saw that the man’s jawline was tense and he looked defensive.

He Jinxing always talked less when it was not necessary to speak, so in most cases, others didn’t know what he was thinking when he was silent. When he was in college, everyone thought that this god of learning was just thinking deeply all the time…

When he reached a certain age, this silent personality of his lent him an image of someone calm and unshakeable—and one of absolute authority.

No one could have guessed from the man’s serious face that he was actually distracted just now because the waiter came in to deliver their drinks, and when the door opened, He Jinxing accidentally heard the noise coming from the ordinary VIP boxes in the third floor…

He Ran arranged for one those of ordinary VIP boxes as a venue for his birthday.

The young miss from the Gou family was also there. He Jinxing met her on the stairs earlier. The thing she had been carrying in her hand should be a birthday gift—

She was quite good at choosing gifts. A safety helmet, tsk.

He Ran, who was muddled, would probably like it.

He Jinxing’s thoughts were interrupted.

Without any warning, his mind flashed an image of the young miss from the Gou family as she faced him earlier tonight, standing sideways from him with a respectful look on her face.

Putting aside the inexplicable look of fear that she always seemed to sport when facing him, each time Gou An spoke or breathed, the black bow tied behind her neck trembled softly, very lifelike.

“…”

In addition to being good at choosing gifts, she also had good taste in clothes. Her dress tonight suited her very well.

“A’ Jin, if you keep getting distracted, I’m going home.” 

Chen Jinli’s exasperated voice entered his ears again—

“Have some manners, why don’t you? Caught red-handed being absent-minded, instead of apologizing, you openly start daydreaming. Isn’t this outrageous?”

He Jinxing’s eyes flickered, and his pupils gradually regained focus, stopping the sudden fragments of memories. 

He turned his head and smiled at his friend. He said in a tone without an ounce of sincerity, “Oh, sorry.”

Chen Jinli: “…”

He Jinxing said, “Where were we just now?”

Chen Jinli sighed.

He took out several stacks of documents from the file bag he brought with him. He Jinxing didn’t need to look at them personally. Chen Jinli didn’t want to waste any more time with this man who seemed to have taken the wrong medicine today, so he took the initiative to ask He Jinxing to call Secretary Liu to come up…

The man who was replaced by the secretary did not show any dissatisfaction at all. Instead, after Secretary Liu arrived, he stood up with his hands in his pockets and walked out.

“Hey, where are you going?” Chen Jinli asked.

“My nephew is having a birthday party downstairs,” He Jinxing said. “I’m going to check on the young people. I’m afraid they might mess around.”

After saying that, he really left without looking back.

Chen Jinli and Secretary Liu, both with confused looks on their faces, were left behind. The two of them looked at each other, but neither of them expected that He Jinxing turned out to be…

A qualified elder who cared so much about his juniors?

… … advance chapters available @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

In fact, He Jinxing himself didn’t know what he was doing downstairs.

The things that young people played were all things he had done when he was still in school, and he has long found them boring.

Anyway, he was acting as guardian in behalf of his older brother. He arrived at the corridor on the third floor and heard someone scream and some people laughing from afar… The noise made the man frown, and he had the urge to turn around and leave.

… In fact, he did turn around. Going downstairs was just a strange and inexplicable impulse.

Beyond even his own understanding.

However, the moment he turned around, he heard a soft and cautious voice behind him—

“Mr. He?”

His steps paused. He Jinxing subconsciously thought that the only one who could recognize him on this floor and would have the courage (or perhaps be forced out of helplessness) to call out to him was the young miss from the Gou family… 

But he quickly realized that Gou An wouldn’t call him ‘Mr. He’. These days, when she saw him, she could already call him ‘Young Uncle’—

This was, of course, the result of his own painstaking efforts.

He Jinxing slowly turned his head and saw Lu Wan.

He raised his eyebrows. The ‘benefactor’ of the He family looked to be in a somewhat embarrassing state at this time. Half of her body was covered in cream, even her hair was clumped with it, and her eyes were red from crying.

She wrung her hands nervously. Her fingertips, white from the pressure, pinched the edge of her skirt. It was the uniform for one of Endless Night’s waitresses. Her beautiful face was filled with fragile emotions. At first glance, she looked like she had just been bullied.

… He Jinxing didn’t know what kind of things happened around He Ran, but he could probably guess some of them.

If there could be said to be a fatal flaw in these second-generation ancestors who have received elite education since childhood and had experienced no worries about food and clothing since young, it was probably that they were incapable of empathizing with ordinary people—let alone people from the lower city.

This kind of mindset could easily lead to disaster.

“It’s you.”

He Jinxing felt nothing inside, but he still had a sense of responsibility to clean up the mess made by his juniors. He sighed tiredly, “It seems like you’re crying every time I see you.”

He was in a strange mood tonight, which made him sound less cold and grim than usual.

Looking at the little miss in front of him, her tears flowed from her eyes, washing away the milky white cream on her face, leaving a gully…

The scene was indeed pitiful enough to make people feel pity in their hearts.

It was no wonder that He Ran always wavered around her.

He Jinxing stood still, but the girl in front of him, the same age as the eldest daughter of the Gou family, seemed to have gained courage in this instant because she paused—

Then she rushed forward and buried her head in his chest and fell into the unprepared man’s arms.

“Mr. He, please take me away.”

Her fragile voice was like the bleat of a deer, with an unmistakeable pleading trill.

She asked him to take her away.

He Jinxing pursed his lips silently; his face looked amiable, but in fact the gentle atmosphere did not reach his eyes at all—

At this moment, he felt that matters were absolutely ridiculous and thought that the situation was absurd enough to make him laugh.

After all, he didn’t know where the girl in his arms got the courage to make such a request.

The man stood there, reflecting on whether he had been too nosy recently about other people’s affairs so that people now thought that he was a kind and generous person, willing to take care of stray cats and dogs…

From the Day the Engagement was Broken translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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Chapter 19.2 — My Girl
Chapter 20.1 — Why Did You Only Come Just Now?
Chapter 20.2 — Why Did You Only Come Just Now?
Chapter 21.1 — Ye Lang: the Already Captivated Man
Chapter 21.2 — Ye Lang: the Already Captivated Man
Chapter 21.3 — Ye Lang: the Already Captivated Man