He Ran couldn’t utter a single word.

After struggling for a long time, he finally found his voice, “I didn’t know—”

I didn’t know your note was for the same thing.

Before he could finish speaking, Gou An waved her hand, interrupting him, “You don’t need to explain to me. Actually, I don’t care. I wasn’t planning on asking you for this button anyway.”

“…”

So, since she never planned to look for him, he shouldn’t look for her either.

As she spoke, she snatched the note from his hand and was about to walk past him expressionlessly, preparing to leave this inexplicable place called the casino.

But she was grabbed again after only two steps. “I didn’t give it to her willingly.”

“What? Did Lu Wan pin you against the wall too?”

“… No, she said it was my Young Uncle.” He Ran pursed his lips, not looking like he was lying. 

“Young Uncle told her she could come to me for it—although I don’t know exactly what that means, and I didn’t receive any detailed instructions about it, but since Young Uncle said so, I couldn’t refuse.”

After he finished speaking, he was surprised to find that Gou An’s pupils darkened, and he didn’t understand why.

Little did he know that Gou An was now thinking that the male and female leads had indeed gotten together again, and it was her fault. 

Why didn’t she say something back then and just let Tang Xinjiu keep Lu Wan to play this boring game with them?

What exactly was He Jinxing’s tone and manner that prompted Lu Wan to go to He Ran?

Like a god who descended from the sky to save everything?

Yes, that’s how the male lead should be, right?

Her stomach was churning; she couldn’t explain why she had such a strong, strange reaction. Even though, back then, when she first saw Lu Wan get into He Jinxing’s car, her only desire was to see the drama unfold—

Perhaps it was because she has been getting too close to this person lately.

Gou An pursed her lips, ceasing her delusions. She attributed all the fleeting, erratic emotions that swept through her to simply mean that she, like before, disliked the male and female leads being together, as it offered her no benefit whatsoever…

There was no other reason.

Gou An was annoyed. She frowned and tried to pull her arm back, but the other person only increased his grip.

When will this ever end?!

“Let go.”

When she spoke, she found her voice terribly hoarse.

She frowned impatiently and turned around, only to find the person behind her also frowning. 

After thinking for a long time, he realized he had no other options, so he said, “I’ll pay for your treat tomorrow.”

“…”

Gou An chuckled at the absurdity of it and brushed his hand away.

“Late-blooming affection is worth less than grass, Young Master He.”

She paused for a moment.

“Besides, who told you I’ll be treating everyone tomorrow? Wake up, how could I possibly lose to Lu Wan?”

… …

In the VIP room on the second floor of the casino, He Jinxin was playing cards with a group of people.

With one hand supporting his chin, the man, like a cunning fox, smiled faintly as he reminded his opponent, “Chen Jinli, if you keep carelessly feeding me cards like this, your entire year’s bonus will all end up in my pocket.”

Chen Jinli rolled his eyes and threw down a chip worth 90,000 yuan.

He Jinxing accepted three cards, and then casually pushed out a 90,000 chip in his hand, adding a hypocritical remark, “I already reminded you.”

The two other card players opposite him let out a collective gasp, with Master Hong Jiu bursting into laughter, “What’s wrong with A’Chen? Did he just go to the bathroom and threw all his luck away? He hasn’t won a single hand since he came back, and he’s been feeding A’Jin cards the whole time!”

He Jinxing glanced at Chen Jinli, who looked annoyed, with a smile, but didn’t reveal the good show he had seen on the deck earlier.

“What are you smiling at?”

“Don’t be so fierce. I just saved a passerby from seeing some chaotic scenes.”

“You would be so kind?”

“Chen Jinli, you’re really hurting my feelings.”

Just as He Jinxing was considering what good thing to pawn off to Chen Jinli, who was so ungrateful he was about to sell his underwear to him, Secretary Liu pushed the door open and came in.

He put down a pot of freshly brewed tea and whispered something in the man’s ear—

“Young Master and Miss Gou had an argument downstairs.”

In fact, Secretary Liu wasn’t sure whether he should report this childish squabble, which would only disturb Mr. He’s enjoyment…

But for some inexplicable reason, he still said it.

As expected, Mr. He’s relaxed, smiling expression faded, and he pushed the cards away expressionlessly, saying, “Let’s take a break.”

Then he stood up decisively.

Master Hong Jiu, not understanding the situation, just mocked him, “Are you going to the toilet too?” 

He Jinxing answered without changing his expression.

When he got downstairs, the two people who had somehow run into each other and started arguing in this godforsaken place had already vanished without a trace, and He Jinxing’s smile was unusually absent.

It was unknown where they went.

Perhaps the argument escalated to a fever pitch, so they decided to find another place to fight; perhaps they re-discovered their deep affection while arguing and decided to make up and find another place to express their love…

He wasn’t interested in guessing.

He just felt that He Ran and Gou An getting together at this time was completely unnecessary and was simply asking for trouble

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Twenty minutes later.

When He Jinxing found Gou An on the deck, He Ran was already gone, and she was standing alone.

She was standing almost exactly where Chen Jinli and one other person had been talking earlier, her hands behind her back, adjusting the smoky pink bow tied around her waist—

Perhaps because of the angle and she couldn’t rightly see what she was doing, no matter how she adjusted the bow, she wasn’t quite satisfied with it. 

In the end, she angrily grabbed one side and tugged, untying the entire bow, letting the ribbons fall down and hang on the sides of her skirt, fluttering in the sea breeze.

The moonlight was beautiful tonight; its warm glow spilling across the sea, swirling up golden spots that were soon swallowed by the fine foam, disappearing in an instant…

But as the ship sailed past, cutting through the waves, the sea returned to calm, and the moonlight once again shone down without holding a grudge.

He Jinxing stood in the shadows and watched for a while, until the little miss standing alone by the ship’s side impatiently ripped off the tied bow three times and finally stomped her foot hard.

Without needing any reason or even concrete evidence, He Jinxing could tell that she was in a bad mood.

He walked up behind her, and as she leaned against the railing, huffing, he reached out and picked up a ribbon, examining it in his hand.

Startled by someone suddenly approaching from behind, Gou An whirled around and met a pair of dark, intense eyes. She felt like a small animal whose fur had been standing on end and was now forced to hold its breath—

Her fair face quickly flushed red.

She frowned, her tone not exactly welcoming, “Young Uncle, what brings you here?”

“Fresh air.”

He Jinxing flicked her arm lightly with one finger, and she immediately understood. She turned around obediently despite her reluctance.

Thanks to her cooperation, He Jinxing was able to grab the other ribbon.

The soft, smoky pink silk ribbons lay obediently in his hands, to a degree that even he found absurd. He has never in his life touched anything made of such material that so strongly symbolized femininity.

The man stood silently behind Gou An, his gaze lingering on the ribbons in his hand, a rare moment of distraction.

At a distance that was neither too close nor too far, she could smell the scent of his cigar mixed with his cologne—

It was the same cologne as before.

After just one evening, the sweet and pungent smell of blood has faded, leaving behind the lingering woody scent of the base notes, like a piece of century-old driftwood being pulled from the water, burned by the scorching sun.

The open back design of the dress easily exposed a large expanse of snow-white skin to his eyes, perfectly distinguishable under the dim, yellowish halo of the moonlight.

Indeed, they could be easily distinguished.

His memory seemed to have drifted back to a bleak early autumn night a month ago, to the staircase in Endless Night, and the image of a little miss in a similarly-colored short-skirted dress seemed to overlap in his mind with the one before him…

He Jinxing was surprised that his memory has pulled up such a boring image.

This time, however, because he had important work to do before him, the man no longer needed to deliberately avoid looking.

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

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T/N: The trademark of an excellent romance novel secretary is to notice your boss’ emotional state before he even does ☺️

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