It was a well-known fact that in the various WeChat groups of various sisterhoods, whenever someone mentioned certain male creatures around them, no one would use their honest names.

Nicknames such as ‘Scorpio’, ‘1.82 meters tall’, ‘American hamburger’, ‘big-chested gege’, ‘Volkswagen Passat’, ‘Porsche’, ‘KFC (because he treated someone to KFC when they first met)’ and so on—all based on certain characteristics or outrageous events—were endless.

That was just what this ‘Uncle Perky Butt’ was!!!!!!

… It was just that no one could admit this to this stunningly handsome yet absolutely terrifying face.

Zhou Yutong was silent for three seconds on the phone before hanging up without hesitation, like an ostrich in the desert, desperately trying to bury its head into the earth’s core.

So the only one left was the ostrich keeper standing there awkwardly, staring at the now hung up phone before her, racking her brains to come up with a good excuse.

She became mute, but He Jinxing was not. In such an outrageous situation, one had to praise him for being worthy of standing in such a superior position. No matter how turbulent the world was, he remained as unmoved as a mountain. It was amazing that the man could still maintain the same calm smile as he had at the beginning. He returned the phone to Gou An.

Zhou Yutong’s nickname in her mobile phone was ‘Shy Yutong’. Although the nickname was embarrassing, thanks to this outrageous nickname, Gou An didn’t think He Jinxing would know who to hold responsible for this.

She put away her phone, and just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief for getting away with it, she heard a calm voice from above her head, “Zhou Chu’s little daughter?”

Gou An: “…”

Zhou Chu was the name of Zhou Yanji and Zhou Yutong’s father.

Gou An couldn’t wrap her head around how they had the guts to give a nickname to someone who could call their fathers by their first name—

She realized this belatedly and was shocked by their lawlessness. Perhaps her wide, round, black eyes clearly showed panic and confusion, and He Jinxing realized that he seemed to have scared her again.

He obviously didn’t say anything.

He originally wanted to say a few words to comfort her.

But the person in front of him asked, “How did you know the chatname I use?” 

He Jinxing thought for a moment and decided to satisfy her curiosity first… He retracted his gaze and turned to walk forward. When the person behind him stumbled and caught up, he told her, “I saw you two at the Yima Racetrack that day.”

…So that five seconds of eye contact was not Gou An’s illusion.

He actually heard them commenting on a part of his body and turned his head.

“…” Gou An’s scalp tingled, deathly afraid that he would say even a single ‘die’. After thinking for a moment, she asked worriedly, “Will the Zhou family go bankrupt tomorrow?”

She asked somewhat seriously, causing the man walking in front of her to smile genuinely.

He turned his head slightly, lowered his eyes and glanced at her; he said with a smile on his lips, “Read less messy novels.”

At this time, the sun was setting, and the afterglow of the setting sun fell on the sparkling sea like an orange falling into mint soda…

The soft light reflected on the man’s angular jaw. Half of his face was hidden in the shadows, but he looked gentler than ever.

Gou An’s gaze was fixed on a tiny spot of light on his chin reflected from somewhere, and she was a little distracted.

“Why are you so afraid of me?”

The man in front suddenly asked without any warning.

Gou An’s mind went blank for two seconds. She turned her head to look at the sea and thought that it would be better to jump in. It might be more convenient to feed the sharks.

“Because you’re an elder,” she said dryly. “Other than that, there’s no other reason. No need to speculate.”

“Oh.” He Jinxing seemed to believe it and raised his hand to touch his chin. “When you had your zhuazhou ceremony, Uncle was only in the second grade of elementary school.”

This was a direct reference to what she had said before.

Also, even if you want to delete those two awful words after the word, don’t use the word ‘Uncle’, thank you.¹

Please.

“…”

“Not really that old, right?”

He turned around and looked at her with a half-smile, and his eyes seemed to really care about this matter, and was inevitably tinged with a bit of seriousness.

The man in front of her had one hand in his pocket. When he turned his head, a strand of hair fell down from his meticulously combed hair…

At least at this moment, he was indeed far from the image of the man sitting at the top-floor office of the He Building, who was ruthless and ruthless, and who was performing the real version of ‘let the Wang Group go bankrupt²‘ every day.

He was certainly not old.

He just felt difficult to approach.

Gou An felt that this was an outrageous question that would get her killed no matter how she answered it. While she was trying to think of an answer that would least deduct favorability points, the bodyguard behind her suddenly sneered.

The two people walking in front both turned around to look at him. He turned his head away with disdain, “Already seven or eight years older, why still pretend to be young?”

The bodyguard—who usually kept silent and seemed not to resist no matter how outrageous the request was, but actually loved to occasionally act in a disrespectful manner—put an end to the meaningless conversation with his sincere comment.

……

Gou Xun did not stay with Lu Wan all the time. After all, he was still young and carefree,  and could not stay. The ship was full of people of the same age and with the same family background as him. They had endless topics to talk about and endless jokes to make, so not long after he got on the ship, he was called away by Zhou Yanji and others.

Ever since the accident at Yima Racetrack, the entire track had been closed and no subsequent competitions were held. Then Gou Xun had to go back to school, so this was the first time he saw Young Master He in person after the banquet where the engagement was formally broken off.

“Is your leg okay?”

He raised his chin at him.

He Ran responded casually, and Gou Xun continued, “Last time I saw you, you were all bandaged up and swollen a pig’s head, I thought you were going to die… Are you really okay? Then why do you look so much thinner now?”

After he finished speaking, the people around him started laughing. Zhou Yanji patted the shoulder of this youngest and most innocent little brother, saying, “When you grow up and experience the double blow of a broken heart and having your credit card suspended, you’ll understand the suffering your good Ran ge is going through today… Know what it means to be starving and cold.”

Gou Xun looked at He Ran speechlessly, “Did my sister make you so miserable?”

Look at this guy. This expression made him look as if he was a completely innocent person in this debacle.

Wasn’t my credit card suspended because of someone’s stupidity?

Now all the elders in my family are obeying your sister’s demands out of guilt!

For a moment, He Ran wanted to say, ‘Don’t use such a calm tone, you might be the next one to be dealt with.’ He opened his mouth, but then remembered that even though Gou Xun had been kicked out of the house at the moment and his credit card was temporarily suspended, he was her younger brother by blood.

He still wouldn’t be thrown away like he himself was thrown away.

He Ran felt overwhelmed with pain but could not express it.

He glanced at Lu Wan, who was standing against the side of the ship not far away, feeding the last bit of bread crumbs in her hand to the seabirds, and casually shifted his gaze back, “You really brought her here.”

The tone was calm, as if he was talking to about a stranger.

“I brought her because I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t bring her.”

This answer was justified.

“…”

Yeah, and your sister will go crazy when she sees Lu Wan. Who knows what she will do when she goes crazy?

He Ran really didn’t know how to persuade this little brother not to commit suicide, so he could only curl the corners of his lips sadly and asked, “What I mean is, you won’t dance the opening dance with Gou An tonight?”

Gou Xun paused, clearly showing a moment of hesitation, perhaps worried that Gou An would be angry at him when she finds out that they really wouldn’t be dancing the opening dance together…

She might be angry; after all, in everyone’s eyes, this behavior did seem a bit like betrayal.

And he did bring Lu Wan on board as a dance partner—

This young master of a wealthy family was somewhat naive, and he could easily imagine himself as a white knight who transcended class to save Cinderella—even though he didn’t necessarily have any such feelings for her…

But that day at home, seeing the guest he invited being attacked by his family, he subconsciously resisted.

As a result, he accidentally did all this.

But once the arrow was shot, there was no turning back.

“Who cares about her?” Gou Xun said coldly, “Let her make a fuss. Anyway, I won’t dance the opening dance with her.”

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

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T/N: Gou Xun doesn’t call Gou An jiejie. He calls her ‘Gou An’ or when talking to other people he would at most say ‘jie‘—like when he asked He Ran if his jie made him miserable. 

Jiejie shows more familiarity and closeness than just jie. 

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 39.2 — What Kind of Lousy Defense?
Chapter 39.3 — What Kind of Lousy Defense?
Chapter 40.1 — People in Jiangcheng are Just so Idle
Chapter 40.2 — People in Jiangcheng are Just so Idle
Chapter 40.3 — People in Jiangcheng are Just so Idle

FOOTNOTE:

1. This makes more sense in Chinese. Gou An (and the He nephews) call He Jinxing ‘Young Uncle’ or ‘xiao shu’. The nickname Uncle Perky Butt uses the more generic term ‘Uncle’ or ‘shushu’. In this way, it wasn’t so obvious that the nickname referred to He Jinxing—it could be any older guy. But now, He Jinxing directly referred to himself as just ‘Uncle’ and it’s stressing Gou An out 😂 ↩︎
2. ‘let the Wang Group go bankrupt.‘ The full phrase is ‘The weather is getting cold, let the Wang Group go bankrupt’. It’s a webnovel phrase that became a popular meme for someone who’s very powerful. ↩︎