The borrowing game officially started at 9:30 pm.

At the command of the host holding the lottery box, everyone rushed forward and scrambled to take paper slips from the box.

Gou An was squeezed to the back of the crowd. 

With such pitiful competitiveness, as the Stupid System Cat said, it was a good thing that this was a domineering CEO novel so at least she could get a female supporting role. If this were a post-apocalyptic novel, she would probably become cannon fodder who would starve to death before the first episode.

By the time she was able to pull out a pink slip from the box, the hectic period has already passed. The clear-eyed host, seeing that she wanted to throw the slip back in and change it, hurriedly lifted the microphone and shouted, “Ms. Gou, no regretting your action!”

Everyone turned to look at her. Gou An’s face flushed with embarrassment. She backed away and hid in a corner. She opened the note and took a look: [Person I want to sleep with].

……………………Damn it, Zhou Yutong!

Gou An folded the note and began to calculate the balance in her bank card, facing the fact that her wallet was bound to bleed a lot at the bar tomorrow.

At this time, the culprit herself came over, reached out and snatched the note from Gou An’s hand. She opened it and took a look, her eyes rolling this way and that, and then, while no one was paying attention, she threw the white note in her hand to Gou An.

“Let’s exchange.”

Gou An: “!”

There was such a good thing??

Zhou Yutong covered her mouth and laughed. “After tonight I will be an adult, naturally I have to have fun!”

Gou An opened the white note in her hand: [The second button of a men’s shirt worth more than 20,000 yuan.]

Zhou Yutong said, “This was written by Tang Xinjiu. It was originally just the second button on a men’s shirt… What a fool! If you ask any waiter for something like that, wouldn’t they just give it to you? What’s so difficult about it? So I asked her to add the extra condition.”

“You really are a devil.”

“I’m a genius at playing ambiguous games. You know nothing.”

As she spoke, she pushed Gou An towards the door.

“Go quickly! I’ve checked. Lu Wan and you both got the exact same note. I’m sure Tang Xinjiu only wrote two of the same thing. You two are destined to be enemies!”

Gou An: “…”

No, it’s the gears of fate turning and ruthlessly crushing my beautiful face.

Gou An subconsciously looked up and found that Lu Wan and Gou Xun were standing together. It seemed that the original heroine had found Gou Xun first. At this time, the young man smiled bitterly and shook his head, holding up the brand logo on his collar to show her—

In general, luxury ready-made shirts only cost a few thousand dollars. Since he was kicked out, he didn’t have the money to get a custom-made shirt especially for his coming-of-age party, and before that, he had no use for one.

“Don’t look at your younger brother. A shirt worth over 20,000 yuan isn’t something anybody would wear! It could only be couture, and there are only a few brands of couture!

“Looking around, it seems He Ran is the only one our age wearing this tonight… As for the second button on his shirt, there’s only one! So, the ultimate showdown begins! If you lose this fight, I’ll blow your head off!”

“…”

Look for He Ran?

“I’d rather treat people tomorrow.”

“I’m begging you, show some promise!”

Gou An was directly pushed and kicked out of the banquet hall.

…

Half an hour later.

Gou An was perfunctorily responding to her friends’ urging, ignoring their constant texting of He Ran’s coordinates, and wandering around the yacht like a ghost.

[SHY GROUNDHOG¹: Can you please hurry up! Lu Wan is about to get there first!]

This was fifteen minutes ago.

In fact, Zhou Yutong’s worries were really unnecessary.

Because tonight, Lu Wan had no intention of asking He Ran for his shirt button. Ever since he officially announced Gou An as his young wife, then broke off their engagement because of the incident at Endless Night, they had not spoken to each other again.

Whether they met at school or just now at the banquet, they were under the same eaves by the window, yet Young Master He looked at her as if she were a complete stranger, and his eyes just glanced at her lightly.

Lu Wan didn’t know what the note He Ran got said, so she couldn’t directly propose to exchange borrowed items with him.

Lu Wan didn’t know what to do. She thought that if things really didn’t work out, she could just disappear tomorrow night. Although it might seem like cheating, it was just a game after all, and she hadn’t wanted to participate in the first place, and those second-generation rich kids wouldn’t really hold it against her.

It’s decided.

Having made up her mind, Lu Wan felt much more relaxed and unknowingly wandered down to the lowest deck.

Not far away was the casino in the main cabin of the ship. Security personnel in suits and ties guarded the door and confirmed the ID card of everyone entering to ensure that they were adults.

The front was magnificent and golden, and from time to time, the sound of dice rolling or slot machines running could be heard… There was no telling how many people were spending huge sums of money in there. Lu Wan has never seen one before. Although she wanted to go in and take a look, she turned her back to the world she had no part of at all.

She walked around and onto the deck, hoping to find a place to get some fresh air and kill time. However, as soon as she stepped onto the deck, she heard a commotion ahead.

To be precise, there were two people arguing——

“Will you come with me?”

The voice was female, with a bit of coquettishness and willfulness. She didn’t know which family she was from, but she was clearly used to ordering people around.

“Impossible.”

The male voice that answered was a bit more mature, neither humble nor arrogant. Although the rejection was decisive, he didn’t seem angry either. It seemed that the two of them were familiar with each other…

And their status was equal.

“Okay, then I’ll just invite someone else.”

“…”

“I’m going.”

“…”

“I’m really going!”

This time, the voice was higher, with a hint of tears in it. After a long moment, the male voice remained silent. The female voice cursed, “Chen Jinli, you’re a bastard!”

Who doesn’t know Chen Jinli? He’s the youngest senior figure at the Institute of Marine Biology and a friend of He Jinxing. Although he’s not in business, he’s also a very important figure in the port city of Jiangcheng.

Lu Wan actually dreamed of winning a slot in his postgraduate degree program.

She had been standing there, a bit confused, when she was suddenly confronted with gossip about such a person.

The sound of running feet could be heard, and only the corner of the person’s white dress could be seen. This was probably the heroine of the gossip, now running towards her after failing to get something…

Lu Wan was startled. She really didn’t want to be involved in such gossip and attract the dislike of some rich young lady, making trouble for herself. She hurriedly tried to find a place to hide, but she seemed to be out in the open.

Just as she was getting anxious, a hand reached out from the side, grabbed her elbow and dragged her into the shadowy corner of the cabin.

Lu Wan was startled and was about to struggle when the scent of cologne that seemed to live in her memory entered her nose. She forcibly suppressed the urge to scream in her throat.

When she looked up, she saw the man’s perfect jawline.

In the dark night, He Jinxing was not wearing a coat, but only a suit and shirt, with his tie slightly untied, revealing a faintly visible Adam’s apple.

As he breathed, his Adam’s apple rolled slightly, and Lu Wan’s heartbeat also began to beat violently at this tiny movement.

The man’s large hand loosened its grip immediately after dragging her into the darkness.

At this moment, the two of them were hiding in an extremely narrow nook, forced to be very close due to physical limitations. Lu Wan was worried that her heartbeat would be heard, she was so nervous. At this moment, the girl who was still cursing had already run past them with her head down.

As she was about to peek to get closer look, a voice sounded above her head.

“Keep your head turned and don’t look.”

Lu Wan followed his words subconsciously. In fact, because she was too nervous, she didn’t even see who the person was.

The footsteps gradually faded away, and Lu Wan came back to her senses slowly this time.

“Mr. He?”

Her voice was soft, as if she was afraid of waking someone up.

When his name was called, He Jinxing seemed to come back to his senses. He lowered his head and glanced at the girl who was so close to him. There was no ripple in his dark eyes, only the usual smile was on his lips again, “It’s you.”

His tone was light, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or not.

All that remained in her ears was the sound of waves crashing against the ship’s hull and the rolling waves. The starring hero of this gossip who had been scolded also turned around with a gloomy face and walked back towards the casino…

As soon as his figure disappeared, the deck returned to silence and no one made a sound for a while.

He Jinxing left the shadows immediately—

The aura that originally enveloped Lu Wan was instantly withdrawn.

Her heart felt empty, and she involuntarily followed him for two steps, and the two of them returned to the open space on the deck.

“You little brats,” He Jinxing asked, “are you playing some weird game now?”

Lu Wan simply told the man the rules of the borrowing game.

The man kept his head tilted, looking at the choppy sea, his fingertips resting on the edge of the railing, tapping rhythmically.

His eyes looked a little careless——

After Lu Wan finished explaining, he slowly said ‘ah’ to indicate that he understood, and then fell silent, who knew what he was thinking.

Until Lu Wan called him again.

He lowered his head and looked at the beautiful girl in front of him. His expression was as gentle as she remembered.

Lu Wan’s heart skipped a beat, her throat clogged with nervousness. Her eyes fell on the second button on the man’s shirt.

After a pause, as if she had made a great decision, she said, “Mr. He, can you give me the second button of your shirt?”

After she finished speaking, it was as if everything in the world had lost its voice.

There was only her heart beating like a drum.

He Jinxing didn’t seem surprised at the bold request made by the person in front of him.

After only a brief pause, the smile returned to his face.

“Sorry.”

Although he was apologizing to a junior, the expression on his face held no trace of guilt. Under the moonlight, all she could hear was the man’s gentle voice.

“No.”

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

---

T/N: I’ve never encountered this trope in c-novels other than here, but in Japanese manga/anime, the second button of a guy’s shirt is wrought with romantic undertones as it’s the one closest to the heart ❤️

At graduation, students would come up to their boy crush and ask for the second button of their uniform. Or the boy would give it to the one he likes. It’s a form of confession, and because you are now bound for separate paths after graduation, also a way of letting go of one’s feelings without regret.

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! ☺️

FOOTNOTE:

1. In case you’ve followed this story from the beginning, you may notice that I changed ‘SHY YUTONG’ to ‘SHY GROUNDHOG’—which is actually what the text originally said. I used ‘SHY YUTONG’ before to make it clearer who was the chat speaker. But I realized the text referred to her as ‘groundhog’ every now and then and you wont have the context so I reverted it to ‘SHY GROUNDHOG’.
   
   On hindsight, it seems to be a nickname pattern for the author. Lu Wan is ‘deer’, Ye Lang is ‘wolf ge‘, and Zhou Yutong is ‘groundhog’. ↩︎