“We’re having a second party after dinner tonight at the bar below deck. Do you want to come?” Xu Ke turned to He Yuan, “You can ask An’an to bring you in. That way, you don’t have to worry about them not recognizing you and not letting you in.”

As she spoke, she covered her mouth and smiled, as if she was a little proud of herself for indirectly mocking this unknown person in front of her, who was not in the mainstream at all, knew no one in the upper class circle of Jiangcheng, and had no foothold.

He Yuan maintained a polite smile.

In a way, his personality looked more like his young uncle——

The smile barely reached the bottom of his hazel eyes.

He moved his lips and was about to refuse, when he suddenly heard the person next to him say, “Want to drink? Why not drink now?”

No one had time to react to what happened next. Gou An took the unopened champagne that was placed as decoration on the waiter’s tray next to them.

Ye Lang standing behind her felt that this scene looked familiar and raised his eyebrows.

She shook the bottle quickly and vigorously, then flicked her thumb—

The cork flew out and hit Xu Ke’s face, leaving a red mark.

As she covered her face in astonishment, screaming in pain, the bubble-filled champagne splashed all over her face and white dress!

The sudden commotion attracted everyone’s attention. As everyone looked over in shock, Gou An quickly placed the remaining half bottle back on the stunned waiter’s tray. “It seems that drinking on the ship has become a regular activity for me.”

“Gou An! You!”

Xu Ke peeled back her drenched hair, feeling embarrassed and angry, speechless with rage. She wanted to pounce on Gou An and fight her to the death.

At this time, He Yuan and Ye Lang, who were standing next to them, moved at the same time, but Ye Lang deliberately slowed down after glancing at He Yuan’s movements, allowing him to gently pull Gou An’s wrist and put her behind him.

“Miss Xu, you’d better go and get ready.” He looked down at his watch. “The dinner is about to begin. I’m sure you don’t want to miss the opening dance, such an important moment.”

His voice was light and his eyes fell on a few stunned attendants not far away.

When that cold gaze swept over them, the attendants reacted almost immediately. They rushed forward and helped Xu Ke, who was now in a disheveled state, out of this place.

After the commotion, the banquet hall fell into silence for a short time. Everyone here was worldly-wise, and after a few seconds of calming down from their surprise, the hall immediately returned to its original liveliness.

He Yuan gently held Gou An’s wrist, tilted his head and asked her if she wanted to go to the bathroom to tidy up. Gou An gently shook her head.

“I’m sorry, you’re such an excellent person, but I made you be looked down on by those nitpicking people.”

This was the second time she said something similar tonight—

It seemed that Miss Gou was not very popular in Jiangcheng.

The boy’s eyelashes trembled, then drooped to cover his light-colored pupils.

“No.” The little lamb’s eyes bent in a smile, like two crescent moons. “Objective things cannot be changed. No matter what they say, these will not disappear.”

“What a great attitude.”

“As long as there is one happy thing happening in a day, it is a good day. Today’s happy thing is already happening, which is that I can dance with jiejiie soon.”

Ah, the sugar content was really excessive.

Gou An’s eyes lit up immediately, “I’ll dance with you tonight until the party is over.”

“It’s a deal.”

… …

This small group was isolated and seemed to be completely undisturbed by the outside world. The atmosphere was harmonious and everyone was chatting happily.

Another group not far from them fell into a strange silence.

“Who the hell is this?”

Staring at the boy standing not far away who was handing Gou An a wet wipe then holding her hair up to help her wipe off the few drops of champagne that splashed on her body, Gou Xun finally broke the silence, unable to bear it any longer.

“Out of nowhere, this unknown person suddenly appears and starts calling other people’s sister, ‘jiejie‘!”

As the only slightly mature member of this group, Jiang Zaiye glanced at Gou Xun speechlessly, “What are you shouting about?”

Gou Xun didn’t know what he was shouting about…

Anyway, when he saw Gou An directly attack Xu Ke for a strange boy, he was completely shocked… The boy was obviously tall and strong, and as he stood behind her seemed to be well protected.

Then he turned around and protected her…

If one didn’t know, one would think they were very close relatives!

“They’re even going to dance the opening dance together! When was this decision made? It’s inexplicable! Why would my jie dance the opening dance with some random guy from the He family?”

“Now you know to call her ‘my jie‘ all the time,” Zhou Yanji sneered.

Jiang Zaiye said expressionlessly, “Anyway, you already have a dance partner. It’s understandable that your sister is accompanying someone else. Why are you so anxious?”

Gou Xun choked.

Turning around, he found someone with an even uglier expression next to him. “What random guy? This is my cousin, my Second Uncle’s son, born in the He family manor. His name is He Yuan… 

“He was abroad before, why is he back now?”

When Zhou Yanji heard he was from the He family, he immediately remembered that although He Ran and Gou An’s engagement was cancelled, the engagement agreement between the two families still existed. Alarm bells immediately went off in his heart, “You didn’t know he was back?”

He Ran shook his head with a sullen face. He was silent for a moment, then cursed.

“So your cousin likes to recognize random sisters?” Gou Xun asked, “Don’t you guys have a sister of your own?”

Indeed they didn’t.

What kind of lousy defense are you trying to mount here?

He Ran glanced at him in confusion, casually placed the champagne flute on the tray of a passing waiter, pursed his lips, and said, “I’ll go ask.”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

When He Ran found He Jinxing, he was chatting with a senior executive of a securities company. The man’s eyes fell on his nephew, who had a very unhappy expression on his face, and he almost immediately understood what was going on with him.

“Excuse me, I have talk to someone.”

After politely dismissing the person who had been chatting with him, he immediately heard this young man in front of him go straight to the point, “Don’t tell me He Yuan is the person you and Grandpa found to replace me in this engagement.”

When He Jinxing heard ‘He Yuan’ mentioned, he raised his eyelids and glanced at the young man and woman standing together not far away—

At this time, no one knew what they were talking about, but Gou An held out her cake to He Yuan.

He Yuan accepted it with a smile, without hesitation.

He Jinxing unobtrusively withdrew his gaze and said, “It’s just an opening dance.”

Before He Ran could breathe a sigh of relief, he added, “Anyway, whether it’s him or not, it has nothing to do with you. There’s no need for any resistance.”

He Ran choked for a long time. Although he knew that it was useless to say this to He Jinxing, he still blurted out in a fit of rage, “What if Gou An really likes him!”

He thought that he would be mocked again and hear some cold words, but he didn’t expect the man in front of him to slowly frown.

But soon enough, his brows relaxed again and he returned to his initial calmness.

But the gentleness on his face has disappeared;  the man’s dark eyes were bottomless, and his tone became inexplicably cold and hard, “If they really like each other, then that’s their business.”

He Ran was speechless.

He was speechless for a long time but still felt unconvinced.

“Anyone can do it, but why He Yuan? You and Grandpa arranged for He Yuan to come without telling me!”

“…Is there an obligation to inform you?”

He Ran didn’t care at all about the mocking smile of the person in front of him; he was now in an uneasy state.

“During the summer vacation two years ago, he was less than 1.74 meters tall,” He Ran said bewilderedly. “I don’t have anything to worry about had he maintained this height. After all, 1.74 meters seems a little short—but it’s only been a while. How tall is he now? 1.82 meters, right? He feels only a little shorter than me…”

His nephew kept muttering like Xianglin Sao, whose child was taken away by a wolf.

He Jinxing said ‘Hmm’, feeling the beginnings of a headache.

His eyes uncontrollably slid towards the two people standing  not  far behind the tall, muttering young man—

The boy, who had grown eight centimeters taller than anyone expected in two years and had just arrived today, was completely unaware of this. He brought a macaron from his cake to the lips of the much shorter jiejie in front of him, and she readily opened her mouth and took a bite.

“After all, I can’t predict everything.”

He Jinxing heard his own voice say calmly.

“So, stop talking nonsense and stop complaining.”

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

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The Author has something to say:

He Jinxing: Do you think I’m not surprised that he grew eight centimeters in two years?

… …

T/N: Xianglin Sao is from the tragic short story ‘The New Year’s Sacrifice’, set in 1911, and talks about the societal restrictions that women face. She was a 25-year-old widow who was originally thriving as a servant in an educated household in the city. Her mother-in-law planned her kidnapping, took her earnings, and sold her as wife to a rural man. She initially resists but finally accepts her fate and bears the man a son. Her husband dies, and her son was tragically taken by a wolf; she wanders around muttering, looking for him. As a twice widowed woman, she is now considered ‘unlucky’ and is shunned by society. She ends up a beggar.  

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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