He Jinxing chuckled nonchalantly, his overly long bangs falling down to block one of his eyes. “I have good news for you.”

“It better be really good news.”

“Gou Yu’s idea coincides with yours. He also wants to build a marine life oceanarium at Jinshan Wharf. He talked about it a lot at noon and wanted me to invest the money for it.”

The land at Jinshan Wharf was the largest project in Jiangcheng’s 20-year development plan, involving a series of issues such as governance and development, marine ecology, and shanty housing renovation… Even a family with assets as vast as the He family could not afford it alone, so the development plan was being jointly negotiated between several leading families in Jiangcheng.

The Gou family was, of course, involved and had a considerable say.

“Oh?” Chen Jinli pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “Well, he’s a famous daughter-slave in Jiangcheng—isn’t his daughter studying at the Marine Biology College of A University in Jiangcheng? He mentioned before that she might apply to my graduate program in the future.”

He Jinxing didn’t say anything.

Chen Jinli looked over the computer screen at the man slumped in his office chair sitting not far away and raised an eyebrow. “And then?”

“What then?”

“How did you reject Gou Yu?”

“…” He Jinxing said “Oh.” A pause. “I didn’t.”

“…”

A rare look of surprise appeared on Chen Jinli’s usually indifferent face. The seaside marine life oceanarium was undoubtedly the best publicity for the protection of the marine ecological environment… But because of its specialized function, the construction cost was huge, and the subsequent maintenance would also be time-consuming and labor-intensive. 

Therefore, before this, He Jinxing had not been very interested in this plan.

In comparison, the legal casino that the Jiang family wanted to build sounded more in line with the orientation of a businessman who wanted to make a lot of money.

Chen Jinli had had many conflicts with He Jinxing over this. When he got angry, he would scold him, “You are so greedy and you stink of money. Why do you want so much money? Do you want a golden coffin when you die?” 

After being scolded until he became numb, He Jinxing reluctantly agreed to consider building a small marine ecological museum.

What’s going on now?

Did Gou Yu speak more eloquently than him?

Or was the sun perhaps rising from the west?

He Jinxing sat in silence. Just when Chen Jinli thought he had fallen asleep, the man suddenly spoke up, “Didn’t you guys put pressure on me a while ago by launching a nationwide competition for jewelry designs for the marine ecological museum?”

Chen Jinli was shocked—

The museum plan has not been finalized yet, but because they were afraid that He Jinxing would go back on his word, they actively built up momentum for the museum first. 

It was really a bit unfair to force the issue… But He Jinxing didn’t say anything at the time. What’s the matter now? Now that the event was over and done, was this guy going to bring up old grudges?

Chen Jinli went on the alert, and then he saw the two long legs that were originally resting on the desk drop to the floor. He Jinxing sat up and said, “Show me those submissions.”

“That’s a trade secret.”

“If you have the guts, don’t ask me for money. I’ve already promised to build you an oceanarium. Why bother talking so much? Just give them to me.”

Chen Jinli’s face darkened as he thought of the marine biology oceanarium. He endured it and typed on his laptop with a dark face, pulled up a folder, then stood up with the laptop and threw it heavily on He Jinxing’s legs.

He Jinxing swiped his fingers across the touchpad twice, his dark eyes calm.

In the end, the sliding speed became faster and faster, and then suddenly stopped.

Chen Jinli stretched his neck to take a look. The design in front of He Jinxing was the silver medal winner in this competition: a necklace pendant.

The main body of the design was a baby whale that was happily spraying water from the spout at the top of its head. Its eyes were inlaid with rhinestones and a pearl was placed on top of the spraying water.

Irregularly shaped saltwater pearls were inexpensive and would only add uniqueness to each pendant.

Although the design was too simple compared to the gold medal winner that would be used to collaborate with a major brand to create high-end jewelry, the overall design of this entry was cute and lively. It should be very popular among young people.

So when the design was handed over to the top management, it was decided that it would be used as a mass-produced peripheral merchandise for the museum in the future.

“I want this design draft,” He Jinxing said.

Chen Jinli: “?”

Chen Jinli: “No.”

He Jinxing: “Your museum has now become a marine life oceanarium. What’s the point of this now?”

As he spoke, he was already sending the file to his email.

What’s stopping museums and oceanariums from selling necklaces to visitors? Have you ever seen an oceanarium without a souvenir shop?

Chen Jinli looked at He Jinxing’s unabashed robbery and felt that this guy was not experiencing a bloodline awakening but was simply returning to his original nature. He immediately reached out to grab the laptop, but the man stretched out his arm a second before he could snatch it away, and with a ‘click’ pressed the Enter key to send the email successfully.

How childish!

Chen Jinli snapped the laptop shut. “What do you need this for?! You suddenly discovered you have a long-lost daughter out there, and now you’re desperate to coax her back home to recognize her roots?!”

He Jinxing didn’t bother to pay attention to him. He glanced at him and slowly took out his cell phone to call Secretary Liu.

The conversation mentioned the non-carat scraps of a pink diamond that had been given to a British duchess as a gift last month, originally part of an antique jewelry purchased at an auction house.

The imperial green jadeite left over from cutting and setting something he bought last time that was just in the warehouse.

He also asked him to find a conch pearl that matched the color of the pink diamond.

He Jinxing hung up the phone. 

Chen Jinli tilted his head and looked at him for a long time before suddenly saying, “Third Jiang told me the other day that you were in love and that you went to such great lengths to find someone in his place. I even asked him if he was daydreaming.”

“…”

“But now it seems to be true,” Chen Jinli walked away from He Jinxing, holding the tablet. “Pink diamonds and pink pearls? Cute little whales? He Jinxing, you can fall in love, but the person you’re dating should at least be an adult. Everyone is equal before the law. Even if it’s you, if you break the law, you’ll go to jail—”

“Shut up.”

The man raised his head and smoothed back his hair. The soft, unruly, black hair fell down again and completely messed up the image of the aloof Mr. He. He turned his head and faced the night view of Jiangcheng outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

“It’s just a small reward.”

“What?”

“For the shrimp dumpling that saved me from starving today.”

“?”

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

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Chapter 34.1 — Can I Not Act According to the Script?
Chapter 34.2 — Can I Not Act According to the Script?
Chapter 34.3 — Can I Not Act According to the Script?
Chapter 35.1 — Little Complaining Miss
Chapter 35.2 — Little Complaining Miss
Chapter 36.1 — I Didn’t Give You A Gift On Your First Birthday
Chapter 36.2 — I Didn’t Give You A Gift On Your First Birthday