“I heard you and A’Ran had a fight at the casino.”

He Jinxing’s voice sounded as light and airy as ever, like having a casual chat, with mild concern for the younger generation.

The little miss in front of him seemed reluctant to talk about it; she frowned and then mumbled a vague “Mm.”

Unfortunately, the person she was talking to didn’t have ‘get away with it’ in his vocabulary.

“Why?”

Because he was tying a bow, a small section of his bent finger knuckle inadvertently brushed against the area above her tailbone and, for just a moment, touched a completely exposed spot.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively flinched forward—

“Don’t move.”

And she halted immediately.

Gou An was very dissatisfied with this feeling that everything was under his control, so from an angle where He Jinxing couldn’t see, she pouted, and her fair cheeks puffed up childishly.

As a result, she gave He Jinxing a very emotional reply, “What if there’s no reason? Do I need a reason to argue with He Ran?”

Such a nonsensical answer would likely have been enough to get any other high-ranking officer of the Hejin fired eight times over.

“Reason?”

He Jinxing patiently weaved the overly soft fabric around his fingertips.

“…” Gou An said, “The borrowing game.”

Sensing that the person behind her had stopped, she turned slightly to the side and found that the person behind her was also looking at her.

Moonlight shone on his profile, and unlike his usual aloof and fake smile, He Jinxing looked more gentle than ever at this moment.

The moment their eyes met, Gou An said with a hint of temper, “Lu Wan and I drew the same note.”

Before he could react, she turned her head away as if to escape his gaze, “The second button on a custom-made shirt costing over 20,000—on this ship, only He Ran can produce a button that would qualify.”

Her tone was full of emotion.

—Yes, that’s right. It wasn’t resentment or cold disgust, but a feeling of ‘it’s so hard when fate always seems to be deliberately arranging for me to lose, but I’m not entirely willing to accept it.’

He Jinxing didn’t know why she used such a strange tone of voice. He subconsciously frowned slightly, but then quickly relaxed his brow.

He lowered his head and continued to carefully tend to the ‘serious business’ in his hands.

At this point in the conversation, there was no need for Gou An to say anything more, and He Jinxing finished the rest of the conversation for her. “It seems that my dear nephew betrayed me without hesitation when you questioned him.”

The voice seemed to carry a slight laugh.

…What are you laughing at!

Gou An really couldn’t laugh; she could only respond with silence.

“Is An’an blaming me?”

Gou An couldn’t bring herself to say ‘no’.

“I didn’t think that much about it at the time,” He Jinxing explained. “Generally speaking, if you want to reject someone, you should give them another goal to strive for, which may make them give up more quickly.”

“…”

Gou An was stunned for a moment.

Subconsciously, she turned around to look at the man behind her—

“Did Lu Wan ask you for your button?”

The man clicked his tongue as his fingertips traced the folds of the bow, clearly displeased that his final touches has been interrupted. He didn’t look up, as if he were truly focused on tidying up that one bow.

“I’m really curious, how did Gou Yu raise his daughter? How come she’s sometimes so slow on the uptake?” He Jinxing glanced at the little miss’ eyes, which were slowly widening in shock. “What makes you think that He Ran’s shirt is more expensive than mine?”

“…”

Before the ribbons were even properly tied, He Jinxing loosened his grip, took a step back, and examined the beginnings of a bow—

A cool sea breeze brushed against her face, but the man remained calm and composed, not at all offended. He even whispered a reminder to her that he wasn’t finished yet and to turn back.

With mixed feelings, Gou An turned around again, her back to the man. As she felt him pick up a piece of smoky pink silk again, she couldn’t help but try to save face. “I didn’t think about it that way. The rule of the game is that I can’t borrow things from Dad.”

“…”

“…”

“I’m not your dad.”

“…”

In the eerie silence, the man finally straightened the bow and admired it to himself, thinking it looked even prettier than the bow she had tied earlier that evening.

“So how did you originally plan to resolve this?”

Huh, what’s going on? Was this the direct atmosphere of a serious negotiation?

Ask questions; cut to the chase and get straight to the point; solve problems.

“Go find He Yuan and get his button,” Gou An said defiantly, stating her plan, which even she found pathetic, “and then adamantly maintain that it’s from a handmade shirt by a royal tailor from England, Spain, or even Dubai, and then force them to admit that it’s actually very expensive, even if they don’t want to.”

“…”

“…”

“So you never even considered coming to me from the beginning?”

As the little miss remained silent, the man’s lips curved slightly, and a smile reached up to his deep black eyes, which were adorned with starlight.

“Well, it’s hard to say I’m not sad.”

His tone remained half-serious, half-joking.

“Don’t tease me.”

“Mm?”

…Because from any perspective, asking you for the second button on your shirt is just too outrageous—

Have you never been to school?

Do you not know that this thing has some special meaning?

And being rejected by you would be even more suffocating!

Gou An opened her mouth but was speechless. Her gaze involuntarily fell on the man’s intact, naturally expensive, shirt collar—something he would never willingly damage himself.

A few seconds later, she looked away, her scalp tingling.

The man seemed completely oblivious to her gaze, saying such things as if he was just completing some task.

But at the end, he didn’t forget to add, “Now you know the whole story?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t be in a bad mood anymore.”

“…”

Ah!

This cat’s tail was finally stepped on.

“You’re talking nonsense.”

Gou An reached out behind her and covered the bow he had tied as if she was covering her private parts—

“I’m not in a bad mood.”

..….

After the stray cat had accidentally let her head be patted by a certain passerby several times, she didn’t really think it was a big deal.

Until one day during a walk, she happened to pass by the passerby’s window and saw him feeding another cat, who was perched on his lap, some canned food.

The cat inside the house knew nothing.

Yet the stray cat outside the window got all puffed up.

Later, the passerby inside opened the window, smiled and greeted the stray cat, and told her, “It’s a stray cat from the stairwell, and this is the first time I’ve seen it. It followed me into the house, and I just fed it a little… So, don’t be in a bad mood anymore.”

Faced with the passersby’s words, the stray cat, who had always restrained her temper and pretended to be obedient, finally couldn’t take it anymore.

She said, “You’re talking nonsense. I’m not in a bad mood.”

…

It was just this. Nothing else.

It was just a possessiveness that arose from nowhere, could not be mentioned, and could not be acknowledged.

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

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A note from the Author:

I know some of you think it’s problematic for the male lead to speak gently when talking to the original female lead, but I’d like to remind y’all that he also spoke that way to that random man who tried to ask An’an for her WeChat in a certain chapter.

The general tone was, “I’m very polite, but if you say one more word, I’ll yell at you.”

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T/N: Oh so I guess the second button does have the same romantic significance in Chinese youthful stories.

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