Half an hour later, Gou Xun realized that his statement was indeed a bit redundant.

Gou An certainly didn’t throw a tantrum just to get the chance to dance the opening dance with him—

Because when she reappeared on deck, her arm was hanging from the elbow of a little brother who appeared from nowhere.

The boy who looked like a mixed-race child was definitely about the same age as Gou Xun. He had baby fat on his face and still looked quite childish.

He wore a well-fitting, light brown, tailored suit, and a pair of matching leather shoes. His young face wasn’t handsome, but it gave off a lively vibe, with cute freckles under his eyes…

He has natural curls and was as docile as a 1.8-meter-tall lamb. He tilted his head and chatted happily with the person beside him, calling her ‘jiejie’.

While talking to him, Gou An reached up and straightened his slightly crooked bow tie. With her eyes downcast, she showed a gentleness and friendliness that Gou Xun has never seen before.

… …

“Who is that?”

“He Yuan.”

“Oh? Is that the He family substitute?”

“Hey, he seems to be better than I thought… Didn’t someone say before that he was a short, ugly, loser?”

“What’s the point? Compared to He Ran, he’s still far behind. He’s just a discarded child. Look at him, he’s not that good-looking. He only looks good because of his clothes—”

“Gou An is so miserable. She has to be with someone like this. This person will really replace He Ran to complete the marriage contract… If I were her, I would rather dance the opening dance with Gou Xun. This is so embarrassing.”

“—Jiejie, they’re all looking at me.”

Gou An gently tugged at the collar of this child who was leaning forward slightly to help her adjust his bow tie, turning his slightly turned body back to normal.

“Ignore them. They don’t hate you or think you’re bad. They just want to laugh at me… Don’t move.”

The little lamb in front of her was He Ran’s cousin, He Yuan.

Gou An was a little surprised when she saw He Yuan for the first time in the lounge because he looked quite different from the photo.

She originally thought that she would dance politely with an ordinary kid and then disperse on the spot, but she didn’t expect that the person who came in from outside the lounge and called He Jinxing ‘Young Uncle’ was some foreign, oddly sweet kid.

… As we all know, foreign desserts contained excessive sugar.

He was dressed appropriately and had just the right youthfulness. His eyes were clear when he looked at people, his eyelashes were very long and thick, and the freckles under his eyes make him look like an oversized doll.

He certainly wasn’t as good-looking as He Ran or He Jinxing, and because he went abroad too early, his Chinese wasn’t very fluent, but most of the time, he was smiling and looking at people with his big, twinkling eyes…

He definitely fit the role of everyone’s dream ‘younger brother’.

When he saw Gou An, he didn’t call her name or exchange false greetings. Perhaps because he had lived abroad for so long, he was used to different things. He gave Gou An a polite hug and said in Chinese—which was halting but not strange in pronunciation, “Thank you for taking care of me tonight, jiejie.”

“…”

Gou An’s eyes filled with tears. She thought that the marriage contract could be postponed. How about exchanging Gou Xun for He Yuan? Who wouldn’t like a child who would call out ‘jiejie’ so obediently?

Because the child was overly polite and had excessive sugar content, Gou An, who had been perfunctory at first, now actually wanted to take care of him. So she took He Yuan around and introduced him to some people in her social circle.

The group of daughters from wealthy families were naturally shocked. It was rumored that He Yuan was unremarkable, with a height of no more than 1.74 meters. Who was this little cutie in front of them who was obviously over 1.8 meters tall?

After chatting, they discovered that this little brother was not the abandoned fool as rumored. In fact, no matter what everyone was talking about, he could always keep up with the conversation, and when he took over the topic, his speech was natural, without exaggeration or extension, and the tone was just right…

It was obvious that the knowledge and education received abroad were not inferior.

“Are you leaving again this time now that you’ve returned home?”

“I applied to several universities a year in advance. If no one wants me, I’ll go back.” He Yuan raised his hand and rubbed his short hair, which he hasn’t deliberately taken good care of but nevertheless looked very soft. After sighing with a pitiful look, he changed the subject, “But someone should want me, because I’ve won some awards.”

He spoke somewhat incoherently but answered seriously enough, which only aroused these sisters’ warm love. Everyone smiled and praised him for being very good. Zhou Yutong, as a talkative person of the same age, asked him about the awards he had won, and then made a series of ‘wow’ and ‘wow’ sounds based on his answers.

“You’re really good, then. Hasn’t that equestrian award always been won by Europeans?”

“Yeah, it’s good!”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

The atmosphere was originally good, but there were always some ignorant people who would insist on coming to cause trouble.

Xu Ke came out from somewhere and took Gou An’s arm as if they were on good terms. “An’an, are you dressed up like this tonight just to dance the opening dance with this new little brother?”

The tone was strange in its familiarity.

Gou An was stunned at first, thinking that this person usually wanted to avoid her when she saw her so why did she suddenly come up to her like a sticky candy today?

Then she realized that this person mentioned something about being ‘dressed up’, probably because she was trying to get revenge for her brother whom Gou An had rejected.

Goosebumps appeared on the place where Xu Ke touched. Gou An silently pulled her arm back and resisted the urge to wipe it with something.

Xu Ke smiled and extended her hand towards He Yuan, “Hello, I’m Xu Ke.”

He Yuan did not respond immediately. Although he had been very polite tonight, at this moment, he simply stared at the hand stretched out in front of him and the next thing he did was look at Gou An who was standing next to him.

It was like a puppy waiting for its owner’s command to shake hands with a stranger.

This boy, who knew which side to stand on quickly and decisively, was very well behaved.

Gou An smiled. “He Yuan, what’s wrong? She is greeting you.”

The little lamb heard the instruction, and with a flicker of ‘I don’t like it’ in his eyes, he stretched out his hand—it looked like a handshake, but in fact, his fingertips just barely touched the other person’s hand quickly and then immediately moved away.

Xu Ke sensed it. She looked at Gou An beside him and also retracted her hand. “Wouldn’t you like to introduce yourself?”

“He Yuan,” the person said the name himself.

“Oh, I know,” Xu Ke said. “You’re He Ran’s cousin.”

As expected, as soon as the words fell, the young man in front of her frowned.

Teenagers of this age have a strong sense of independence and self-esteem. No one liked to be mentioned in the format of ‘so-and-so’s so-and-so’. Even being ‘He Jinxing’s nephew’ would make him feel uncomfortable not to mention an inexplicable cousin.

Xu Ke continued, “I’ve heard about you before. You weren’t a good student, so you were sent abroad in elementary school and have never come back? Oh, I understand. Haha. My Dad is also worried that I won’t be able to get into a good graduate school, so he’s thinking of spending some money to buy me a place in a prestigious university in the UK—”

“Xu Ke.”

Gou An interrupted her expressionlessly, “He didn’t provoke you, so why do you have to pick on him?”

Such a straightforward statement made everyone around look at each other in confusion; Zhou Yutong stuck out her tongue.

Xu Ke slowly opened her eyes wide. “I’m not looking for trouble!”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, I just feel that we haven’t seen new faces in Jiangcheng for a long time. It’s very refreshing!” Xu Ke nodded. “Although, because He Ran is here, he may have to go back to his original home soon. But if he and you are settled, maybe he won’t have to leave?”

Gou An was silent for a moment and couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed that everyone knew that the He family had intentionally or unintentionally given her a person of similar age as a possible match.

Even if Old Mr. He hadn’t intended that and really just wanted to ask Gou An to accompany his grandson to have a good opening dance for the coming-of-age ceremony—

Everyone still kept speculating.

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

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T/N: What is this? An update?? 👀

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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