11:48 PM.

The man who fell from the heavens had one hand in his pocket, his collar open, and his tie casually stuffed into his pocket with the ends hanging outside.

He probably drank some foreign liquor out of boredom while playing games at the casino tonight, and his lips looked slightly tinged with blood and moisture, unlike his usual pallor.

The overall aura emanating from him seemed more approachable.

—Of course, this was only ‘seemed’.

He Jinxing didn’t look at Gou An but instead looked at He Yuan as if it were a matter of course. There was no deliberate or suggestive look in his eyes—just an elder calmly looking at an ordinary junior.

He lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes obscuring the light within them, and his lips curled up in a gentle smile as he asked, “Hmm? Did I interrupt your conversation?”

He was clearly smiling, but his tone sounded somewhat meaningful.

“Young Uncle,” He Yuan was the first to react. He looked back at the man calmly. “I was discussing with jiejie how to help her complete tonight’s borrowed item task.”

“‘Jiejjie‘.”

The unfamiliar pronunciation rolled on his tongue, but He Jinxing’s smile remained unchanged throughout.

He simply turned his attention to Gou An.

“No matter how many times I hear it, I still think it’s cute. It seems that An’an and A’Yuan are getting along very well.”

The moment her eyes met those calm, dark eyes, Gou An felt a chill run down her spine under the man’s smiling gaze, uncertain what he was trying to say—

In short, it was definitely not the kind of praise that sounded like it did on paper.

The word ‘cute’ coming out of those thin lips was simply terrifying.

Gou An’s fingers twitched, and she subconsciously wanted to touch the neat, symmetrical, smoky pink bow at the back of her waist, which looked like something straight out of an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“But no need.”

Gou An heard her own voice echoing—

“No need, He Yuan!”

As she spoke, under the watchful eyes of everyone around her, she reached into her small purse and pulled out a seemingly ordinary button, which she then tossed onto the borrowed items table.

Seeing the button she threw out, everyone—

Even He Ran, who had been secretly watching the situation, was taken aback.

As everyone knew, it was generally assumed that there was only one button that could meet the borrowed item requirement tonight.

The deer fell at Lu Wan’s hands¹; the outcome should have been clear.

Zhou Yutong pressed down on the button that was circling around on the table, picked it up and looked at it. It also had the logo of that top luxury brand used by the old money, but… why was it a five-hole button?

Zhou Yutong has never seen this button style before. After thinking for a while, she asked, “Don’t haute couture buttons from this brand usually have three holes?”

“How would I know? Special order, I guess?” Gou An said in a rather irresponsible voice. “Probably.”

Zhou Yutong blinked in shock.

This brand’s special order?

How much would you need to spend annually to afford that?

She wouldn’t ask anything else, she just wanted to know: on this ship, besides He Ran, where did you find another person wearing this brand’s custom shirt?

Seeing her puzzled expression, Gou An shrugged.

Just then, He Jinxing spoke up, quite timely, saying in a semi-commanding tone, “It’s almost midnight, everyone head to your places.”

The head of the He family spoke, abruptly interrupting everyone’s investigation.

..….

Everyone was still stunned by this incredible reversal.

Forgive those in the banquet hall, most of whom are still young people just entering high society. 

Compared to their knowledgeable parents, their understanding of luxury goods was limited to the various haute couture items from the more common high-end brands that appeared on the runway every year—those that were readily visible and could be bought simply with enough money.

Loyal Loron’s haute couture was not something they frequently come into contact with.

For not-so-elite families, even their parents’ generation might not be familiar with it.

Five-hole buttons? They’d never even heard of them. If He Jinxing hadn’t interrupted, they would have definitely grabbed Gou An and pressed her for an explanation.

There wasn’t much malice involved; it was just pure curiosity.

The borrowing game ended without incident, with a total of a dozen or so people being fined, but of course, Gou An was not among them.

Not far away, He Ran tried several times to come up and check what was going on with the button that Gou An had handed in, but the host dismissed him with a simple, “It has been checked, and it is indeed compliant.”

The time for the midnight speech was approaching. At this moment, He Jinxing had already stepped onto the stage that had been prepared in advance by several attendants. 

Seeing this, Young Master He had no choice but to give up.

He looked in Gou An’s direction, turning back every three steps, reluctantly going to his seat, appearing so disgruntled he wanted to die.

People were arriving one after another, including spoiled rich kids who were supposed to come of age tonight and young people who were already adults, all scattered around because of tonight’s congratulatory speech speaker—

In the end, there were so many people that the entire banquet hall was packed to capacity.

With fewer chairs, the older people had to stand in the open space.

Standing on the stage in front, He Jinxing seemed to have completely given up on managing his personal image. Compared to the coming-of-age banquet speakers in previous years who had dressed up meticulously, he didn’t even take his tie out of his pocket.

He wasn’t wearing a suit jacket; his shirt collar was open, revealing his prominent Adam’s apple; and soft strands of hair fell across his forehead…

With his shirt sleeves folded and rolled up to his elbows, and one arm supporting him on the podium, the man’s expression gradually became focused under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

His natural authority was never determined by the neatness of his attire; the moment he stood there and uttered the first syllable, the entire banquet hall naturally fell silent, becoming utterly still.

Everyone present looked up at him in unison, knowing that this 28-year-old man was leading all his so-called peers by a wide margin, and even more impressive, it was all thanks to his own two legs.

Even his nonsense was worth listening to. His voice was deep and slow, and even though he was just saying the most official congratulatory speech at first, it was nevertheless inexplicably attractive.

People unconsciously pondered the meaning behind even the simplest expression and the curve of his smile…

Like the most devout believer.

On the stage, the man’s speech gradually went off-script.

The atmosphere gradually improved.

In the focused silence of the banquet hall, where you could almost hear a pin drop on the carpet, Tang Xinjiu suddenly made a confused ‘hmm?’.

Zhou Yutong was staring at He Jinxing, lost in her thoughts, when this sudden sound brought her back to reality.

“What?”

She leaned slightly towards her, ready to listen to her insightful opinions.

Tang Xinjiu leaned closer to her, then lowered her voice and asked in a hushed tone, “When did the button on President He’s shirt… fall off?”

Three seconds of silence.

In a flash, all four eyes, now filled with horror, turned to the person beside them who still hasn’t spoken—

At this moment, Miss Gou was staring blankly at the person on the podium, as if the whole mystery of President He’s missing button had nothing to do with her.

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

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FOOTNOTE:

1. ‘The deer fell at Lu Wan’s hands’. The idiom is ‘in whose hands the deer dies’, a hunting reference that denotes a clear victory for someone. In ancient times, the deer was often used as a metaphor for the imperial throne.
   
   In this sentence, the author was also making a pun as ‘deer’ sounds like’ ‘Lu’ (e.g. the deer fell at my dear’s hands.)  ↩︎