[DayTheEngagementWasBroken] Chapter 36.2 — I Didn’t Give You A Gift On Your Zhuazhou Ceremony

The main body of the whale was carved from a stone that was so green that it was almost glass. The whale’s eyes were pink diamonds that refract dazzlingly under the light, showcasing that these small stones were meticulous carved and had excellent grade quality.

The whale was inlaid with tiny diamonds all over its body, and diamonds of the same grade were placed above the whale’s head where it was spraying water. Above the spray was a small, dazzling crown.

On the crown was a conch pearl, which was almost the same color as the pink diamond on the whale’s eyes. As the highest grade of pearl, even above Akoya and Australian whites, the round conch pearl with extremely high luster and flame quality has become the finishing touch of this gorgeous necklace, adding a touch of low-key elegance to it on top of the gorgeous jewels.

Along with the necklace came a stack of certificates. The dark green body of the whale turned out to be imperial green jadeite, though small and not very thick…

But this was VE.

Necklaces made of malachite were still sold by this high-end luxury brands for around 15,000 or 16,000 yuan¹.

“What is this, VE Haute Couture?”

“… This is my first time in this little lounge. Ugh! It turns out they serve guests sparkling water, not Evian! I’m just a local dog, can I touch this bottle of sparkling water?”

“Ahhhhhhhh An’an, what are you doing? Did you win the lottery this year? You didn’t even spend that much money at your own coming-of-age ceremony!”

“No, wait, this design looks familiar to me. Isn’t this the design draft that the Marine Biological Research Institute released two years ago? For the future Jinshan Wharf Museum? I heard that the gold medal winner later collaborated with VE—”

“Is this the gold medal design then?”

Zhou Yutong and Tang Xinjiu were talking to each other as they marveled at the little whale necklace.

Gou An didn’t say anything. She stretched out a finger and carefully poked the little whale pendant, her head buzzing.

Her eyes were almost welded to it, she loved it so much! Something so cute and eye-catching perfectly suited her aesthetic.

……………… If only it really was mine.

However, she restrained herself and just touched the little whale’s crown with one finger. The little miss immediately retracted her finger and put her hands back on her knees properly.

“—When did Dad buy you this?”

Gou Xun’s voice came from the door of the VIP room.

Gou An glanced at him calmly.

Gou Xun raised his hand and tugged at his hair irritably. “Even the suit I will wear is old. Are you going to attend this year’s coming-of-age ceremony this year or me?”

“No one’s attending,” Gou An said coldly. “Your coming-of-age ceremony will be at KFC. They’ll give you a little paper crown, wish you a happy birthday, and then the whole restaurant will applaud you.”

After she finished mocking him, she did not seize this inexplicable opportunity to continue showing off. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to—she really wanted to use this little whale to show off in front of the heroine of the original story, but she never had the habit of showing off things that did not belong to her.

So after saying that, she turned to the salesperson and said, “Sorry, please confirm the order again. I don’t recall having made this order.”

She was pretty sure it wasn’t hers.

Her parents never told her about this surprise; her mom would not hide it from her, and her dad would immediately take credit for anything good he did, so he would not keep this a secret at all.

The saleslady patted her on the shoulder with an expression of ‘Oh, c’mon now, what are you talking about?’ and handed her the order card for customizing the necklace.

The card exuded a faint fragrance, and the name ‘Gou An’ was clearly written in the ‘customized for’ space, but the the person that placed the custom order was a someone with the surname Liu.

Not Dad, not Mom, not any relative she knew.

Gou An only knew one person surnamed Liu: He Jinxing’s secretary.

Gou An: “…”

Blinking in a daze, she looked up at her lively sisters who were surrounding the necklace, constantly exclaiming in amazement, and at Gou Xun who was looking resentful and angry at their parents’ blatant favoritism, and finally at Lu Wan who was standing behind Gou Xun and whispering to comfort him.

Gou An: “It’s really mine?”

Gou An still felt it was a little bit unbelievable and didn’t even dare to touch the necklace immediately.

Goosebumps appeared all over her body. After a brief period of internal chaos, she finally remembered something and picked up her phone.

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: …]

She didn’t know what to say, so she just typed an ellipsis.

Unexpectedly, the person on the other end seemed to be looking at his phone and replied faster than ever before.

[HJX: Have you seen it?]

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: ?!!!]

[HJX: What are you so surprised about? You just said you were in VE, so I thought I’d give you something while you were there.]

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: Huh? ]

Forgive her brain short circuit, she even forgot to ask why.

Fortunately, the person on the other side was considerate enough to give her the answer before she could even ask the question out of embarrassment.

[HJX: As a thank you gift for feeding me lunch that day.]

[HJX: Younger generations should be rewarded for being considerate of their elders. After all, this is a traditional virtue.]

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: This is a bit too expensive…]

[HJX: It’s not bad. Mostly unused scraps from auction houses.]

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: …]

The other party hesitated for about ten seconds and then added.

[HJX: Oh, I did look for the conch pearl specifically.]

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: My mom says, ‘No merit, no reward.’ Well, I can’t just accept valuable gifts from others without a valid reason.]

[HJX: Do you still need a legitimate reason?]

[HJX: As your elder, I didn’t give you anything during your zhuazhou ceremony, so consider this as compensation.]

Gou An: “…………………………………………”

[DON’T BE AFRAID, GOU CAN WIN: You were only in second grade when I was doing the zhuazhou ceremony.]

[HJX: Hmm?]

[HJX: Yeah]

… …

Afterwards, he probably realized that his ‘legitimate reason’ was very bad because no matter how much Gou An bombarded him with messages, He Jinxing never replied to her again.

Whenever she called, he just hung up.

By the time Gou An reacted, she had already been escorted out the doors by a line of people from the store, holding a luxurious white shopping bag without a logo. This was a shopping bag that only customers who bought large-value items in the store were entitled to.

It was the first time she has seen one.

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

T/N: The zhuazhou ceremony is held on the child’s first birthday. Different items—book, pen, abacus, money, etc—are placed before the child to see which one they would pick. It’s supposed to indicate their future career path, personality, inclinations etc. All in all, a happy ceremony for the family, and naturally, elders would give gifts for the baby reaching the 1-year-old milestone.

…

Pearl cultivation have come a long way, even the big metallic-sheened South Sea pearls are now farmed. Conch pearls, however, are always formed naturally (they’re formed from snails, not oysters), making them very rare—about 1 in every 10,000 queen conch snails, and gem quality pearl only 1 in every 10. Unlike most pearls, the are not iridiscent but have a porcelain-like surface. They come in shades of orange, salmon, some yellow, beige, or brown, but the pink ones are considered the best.

Malachite