Lu Suan died at the hands of Lu Wan, the outcome should have been clear.

Every year at midnight on the first night of the coming-of-age banquet, there must be a congratulatory speech for the heirs. In previous years, this task was completed in turn by the elders of several families. This year, He Jinxing returned, and the person who gave the congratulatory speech was naturally and undoubtedly the new head of the He family.

It was approaching midnight, and the borrowing game was finally coming to an end.

When Gou An hurried back to the banquet hall, it had been rearranged. The podium was placed at the front, with dozens of chairs neatly arranged below.

A lot of people had gathered in the open space behind the chairs.

Standing in the brightly lit banquet hall, Gou An was not surprised to realize that many people had indeed completed their assigned tasks and returned - some had already touched up their makeup in the dressing room or even changed into a dress, radiantly preparing to welcome the day when they would declare themselves adults in the social circle.

She was not at the bottom because Zhou Yutong, who had obviously returned empty-handed, had already been standing in the banquet hall.

Zhou Yutong's eyes were a little red, the hem of her white dress was a little messy, and one of the decorations on her high heels was missing, but she didn't seem to care about her disheveled image at all.

Raising her hand and scratching her head, the girl who was just about to enter adulthood still said with a smile: "He didn't come with me and scolded me... Hate it, I'm going to treat you tomorrow!"

Gou An stared at her for a long time but couldn't find out who she had invited.

Another two or three minutes later, He Ran walked slowly into the banquet hall with his hands in his pockets and an expressionless face. He glanced at Gou An from a distance, then stood aside with a sullen face.

Zhou Yanji, holding a pair of red high-heeled shoes that she had borrowed from some sister, climbed onto his shoulders with a smile, "Where's the person?"

He Ran, with a face that said "I'm too lazy to talk so much nonsense", slapped his paw away and said, "I'll treat you tomorrow, drink more if you have the guts."

His voice was quite loud and the people around heard it. They all laughed and said, "What did Young Master He take? There were things that you couldn't borrow, and now you have come to this day!"

Few people could tell that his words were as bitter as if they were soaked in traditional Chinese medicine. As one of the few people who knew about it, Zhou Yanji looked at Gou An from a distance...

Completely grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, I'm not gloating - why are you so honest? You can just bring someone back to get away with it."

He Ran had a cold face and kicked him.

“You only know how to be loyal when you lose something,” Zhou Yanji said.

It was natural for He Ran to kick him again.

When her brother was being kicked for talking nonsense, Zhou Yutong heard the conversation between her brother and Young Master He. She could guess with her toes what Young Master He had gotten. He moved his lips and turned back.

She looked at Gou An.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"The second button of He Ran's shirt is missing." Zhou Yutong sighed, looking at Gou An with the eyes of a cold-blooded female devil, "You took someone's button, and then refused to go back with him as someone you love... Is the adult world so cruel?"

"I didn't take it."

"ah?"

"I said, I didn't take He Ran's button."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Wan came back. The pretty girl silently placed a button of a custom-made shirt with the loyal loron brand logo on the borrowing table.

This Spanish brand with a century-old history is a famous symbol of old money. The price of ready-made clothes is expensive and the threshold for customization is high. Most people only need to buy a few ready-made clothes...

Only a handful of people would wear its custom-made clothes.

Zhou Yutong blinked blankly, opened her mouth in disbelief, and after a while, she squinted her eyes slightly and went to the borrowing table to confirm -

You can't go wrong, one of the classic representatives of Royal Loron's custom shirt buttons is the brand's patented three-hole button.

Looking back at Young Master He's open collar, Zhou Yutong was silent for a moment.

"Men are really all dogs."

She patted Gou An again and said, "Okay, it's okay. I'll treat you all together tomorrow!"

Gou An waved his hand, "Save this for Young Master He."

Zhou Yutong: “?”

Just as the girl was staring at Gou An in confusion, wanting to ask her "Do you have any other tricks besides He Ran?", the door of the banquet hall was pushed open from the outside, and this time it was He Yuan who came in.

After running around all night, the boy didn't look tired at all and still had the same smile on his face. He casually threw a rose-shaped brooch (it was unclear whether it was a real diamond or a cheap one) on the table for collecting designated items, then turned and walked towards Gou An.

"elder sister."

When he called Gou An, the smile on his face had become even brighter, "When I went to look for the brooch, I saw Brother He Ran gave the button to a girl."

The tone of voice couldn't be described as a complaint, but more like a notification.

After he finished speaking, he turned around and looked around, and finally his eyes fell on Lu Wan, "That girl... She's quite pretty."

It was just a light compliment, but it was obviously just a casual remark. His eyes were indifferent, and even when he was complimenting, he didn't stay on Lu Wan for even a second...

Rather than saying that he noticed the original heroine, it would be more accurate to say that he was more puzzled as to why He Ran gave his button to this passerby instead of to Gou An.

This look of not taking the original heroine seriously at all——

No wonder this little brother who suddenly showed up didn't have any so-called friendship level. To the heroine, he should be just a useless passerby.

Gou An instantly felt a sense of closeness with him. He opened his mouth to say something when he saw He Yuan put his hand on his tie knot and tugged at it.

Gou An: “Huh?”

Seeing her bewildered face, He Yuan smiled, revealing a white canine tooth, and said cheerfully, "I didn't bring it up right away because I was worried that you might have someone you like who wants the button, and I was afraid that it would delay your hunting - since there isn't anyone, I'll give you my button."

He spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, and immediately stated Gou An's original plan.

The only variable was that she hadn't even had time to collude with him to insist that the shirt was valuable.

Seeing that Gou An was hesitant to speak, the boy lifted his shirt with one finger, bent down, and leaned close to her ear: "It's okay, my shirt is also valuable."

His tone was like that of a primary school student who had bought a small cake with his scrimped-and-saved pocket money on his way home from school, intending to share the treasure with his sister.

Gou An was amused by his tone.

Didn't even ask how much he was worth.

"——Why are you still standing here?"

A familiar voice sounded not far away from me, and at the same time, the sounds around me became quieter.

Gou An saw He Yuan's light-colored eyes flicker, and his smile tightened slightly.

She turned her head subconsciously and saw He Jinxing entering from the gate at some point and coming to their side.

Without choosing the right time or considering the atmosphere, he could easily interrupt anyone's conversation by just opening his mouth.

It was eleven forty-eight at night.

The man who fell from the sky had one hand in his pocket, his collar was open, and he had taken off his tie and casually stuffed it into his pocket, revealing excess fabric hanging outside his pocket.

The aura he exudes seems to be more approachable.

——Of course it just seems, “seemingly”.

He Jinxing did not look at Gou An, but looked at He Yuan as a matter of course. There was no deliberate or suggestive look in his eyes. He just looked down on others as an elder would look at an ordinary junior, habitually.

He lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes hiding the light in his eyes, the corners of his lips curled up, and his words were gentle enough: "Hmm? Did I interrupt your conversation?"

She was clearly smiling, but her nasal voice sounded somewhat meaningful.

"Uncle." He Yuan was the first to react. He looked back at the man calmly, "I'm discussing with my sister about helping her complete the search mission tonight."

"'elder sister'."

This word with a strange pronunciation rolled on the tip of his tongue, and during this time, the smile on He Jinxing's face did not change at all.

He just turned his attention to Gou An.

"No matter how many times I hear it, I still think it's a cute name. It seems that An An and A Yuan are having a good chat."

The moment Gou An looked into that pair of calm dark eyes, his entire back of the neck began to go numb under the man's smiling gaze. He didn't know what this man wanted to say -

In short, it is definitely not the kind of compliment that it sounds like now.

The word "cute" sounded terrifying coming from those thin lips.

Gou An moved his fingers and subconsciously wanted to touch the neat and symmetrical smoky pink bow on the back of his waist, which was as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"Need not."

Gou An heard his own voice ringing out——

"No need, He Yuan!"

As she spoke, under the gaze of everyone around her, she reached into the small gold purse she carried with her, then took out a seemingly ordinary button and threw it on the borrowing table.

Seeing the buttons she threw, everyone——

Of course, everyone, including He Ran, who had been secretly paying attention to the developments here, was stunned.

As we all know, everyone agrees that there should be only one button that meets the requirements tonight.

Lu Suan died at the hands of Lu Wan, the outcome should have been clear.

Zhou Yutong pressed down the button that was jumping around on the table, picked it up and took a look. It also had the logo of the luxury brand that only old money could buy, but... a five-hole button? Zhou Yutong had never seen this style of button before, and thought for a while, "Doesn't the high-end couture of this brand have three holes?"

"How should I know? SO (*special order), right?" Gou An said in a noncommittal voice, "Probably."

Zhou Yutong blinked in shock.

This brand of SO?

How much does it cost per year to have that? I don't want to ask anything else. I just want to know where you found the second person wearing this brand of custom-made shirt on this ship, besides He Ran? Facing her puzzled expression, Gou An shrugged.

At this moment, He Jinxing spoke up and said in a semi-commanding tone: "It's almost midnight, everyone go back to your seats."

The person in charge of the He family spoke, abruptly interrupting everyone's investigation.

Everyone was still immersed in this shocking reversal.

Forgive me for letting you know that most of the people in the banquet hall are still young people who have just entered the social circle of the upper class. Compared with their well-informed parents, their understanding of luxury goods is still theoretically limited to the various high-end custom-made products that appear on the catwalks every year and can be bought with money.

Royal Loron's haute couture is not something they come into contact with often.

Not so top-tier families, or even their parents’ generation, may not necessarily do so.

What five-hole button? They had never heard of it. If He Jinxing hadn't interrupted them, they would have caught Gou An and asked him about it.

There's not much ill intention, just pure curiosity.

The borrowing game ended without any major incidents, and in the end, the fines totaled more than a dozen, but of course, Gou An was not included.

Not far away, He Ran tried again and again to check what was going on with the button that Gou An handed in, but was always sent back by the host with a sentence, "We've checked it, and it's correct."

The time for the midnight toast was approaching. At this time, He Jinxing had already boarded the podium that had been set up long ago with several followers. Seeing this, Young Master He had no choice but to give up.

He looked in the direction of Gou An, looked back every three steps, and returned to his seat unwillingly. He looked so upset that he wanted to die.

At this time, people's deadlines have come one after another. Tonight, the second-generation rich or the young people who have already reached adulthood need to come here one by one because of the speech given by the speaker tonight.

In the end, there were so many people that they actually filled the entire banquet hall.

There were not enough chairs, so the older people stood in the open space.

Standing on the podium at the front, He Jinxing seemed to have completely given up on managing his personal image. Compared to the coming-of-age ceremony banquet speakers in previous years who dressed up in a formal manner, he ultimately did not even take the tie out of his pocket.

He was not wearing a suit jacket, and his collar was open, revealing his prominent Adam's apple. His hair fell softly across his forehead...

With his shirt sleeves folded up at his elbows and one arm resting on the podium, the man's expression gradually became focused as he was being watched by everyone.

Natural majesty is never determined by whether one's clothes are neat or not. When he stood there and uttered the first syllable, the entire banquet hall naturally quieted down and became completely silent.

Everyone present looked up at him at the same time. They knew clearly that this 28-year-old man was leading all his so-called peers by a large margin with his own legs.

What he said was worth listening to, even if it was nonsense. His voice was low and gentle, and at first he was just reading the most official speech, but it was inexplicably attractive.

They would involuntarily think seriously about the meaning of even just a smile from him...

Like the most devout believer.

On the podium, the man's speech gradually became impromptu.

The atmosphere gradually improved.

In the atmosphere of the entire banquet hall being so quiet that one could hear a pin drop on the carpet, at this moment, Tang Xinjiu suddenly uttered a confused "hmm".

Originally Zhou Yutong was staring at He Jinxing, wondering what he was thinking. She was wandering in the sky in broad daylight, but at this moment, she was brought back to her senses by his move.

"What?"

He leaned slightly towards her, ready to listen to her opinions.

Tang Xinjiu also leaned towards her, then lowered his voice and asked blankly, "When did the buttons on Mr. He's shirt fall off?"

Three seconds of silence.

The two of them "swish" and turned their four eyes in horror to the only person beside them who didn't speak -

At this moment, Miss Gou was staring at the person on the podium expressionlessly, as if the entire unsolved case of Mr. He's missing button had nothing to do with her.

(End of this chapter)