Winner Takes All

Title: 谁把谁当真 (Winner Takes All)

Author：水千丞 (ShuiQianCheng)

Translator: 月野 見事 (TsukinoMigoto)

Protagonists ：黎朔 (LiShuo), 赵锦辛 (ZhaoJinXin)

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Of course Li Shuo knew that there was no such coincidence. He frowned and said, “Why are you here?”

“For work.” Zhao Jinxin shrugged, but his eyes fell on Leon’s hand holding Li Shuo’s arm.

Li Shuo followed his gaze and looked at where he was staring, then smiled slightly: “I had listened to your suggestion and tried it.”

Zhao Jinxin narrowed his eyes slightly: “How do you feel?”

“Not bad.” Li Shuo smiled at Leon, then said to Zhao Jinxin, “His name is Leon. There are so many Leons in this world, yeah.”

“This can only prove that you have destiny with a ‘Leon’.” Zhao Jinxin looked back at the person beside him, and introduced, “This is my friend, Ken.”

Li Shuo looked at the faintly smiling man who is in his early thirties, handsome and well-dressed, completely the type that Zhao Jinxin likes. He felt his heart twitching but he nodded calmly, “I won’t bother you.” He put his arm around Leon’s shoulder and said softly, “Let’s go.”

Zhao Jin stood up from the sofa excitedly: “Wait.”

Li Shuo stopped in his tracks.

“Are you with Uncle Cui, which room are you in? I’ll say hello.”

Li Shuo took a deep breath, turned around, and said indifferently: “You know my schedule too well, is this also what my assistant told you? If my assistant had such a big mouth, he would have to be dismissed.”

“No, I checked it out myself.” Zhao Jinxin said confidently.

“You…” Li Shuo gritted his teeth, “What do you want to do?”

“The hotel project, we have discussed in depth about it. I have feelings for this project, I want to participate in the shares.”

“Feelings?” Li Shuo laughed out loud, “You used the wrong word, you only have ‘interest’, not ‘feeling’.”

Zhao Jinxin was startled, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he whispered, “I do have feelings.”

Li Shuo smiled coldly: “Mr Cui is in room A8, go by yourself.”

“Where are you going?” Zhao Jinxin stood in front of the two of them, “I’m going to visit the elders while you just left. Isn’t it too rude?”

“I’m just going to take some fresh air. Even if I leave, it does not affect you.” Li Shuo bypassed him and wanted to leave.

Zhao Jinxin grabbed his arm.

Li Shuo said solemnly: “What are you doing? Let me go.”

Zhao Jinxin smiled unscrupulously: “I don’t recognize the way.”

Li Shuo glared at Zhao Jinxin angrily. There were people coming and going in the lobby. He didn’t want to be embarrassed here so he had to say: “Let me go, I’ll take you there.”

Zhao Jinxin released his hand as he said to his friend: “Ken, we’ll be in touch.”

“Sure.” Ken stood up, walked in front of Zhao Jinxin, gently embraced his shoulder, and kissed him unscrupulously on the lips. He then smiled and winked at Li Shuo.

Zhao Jinxin also looked at Li Shuo.

Li Shuo suddenly turned blue and a wave of anger ran wildly in his chest. It was as if he desperately wants to break through the shackles of his flesh and blood and hit the person who ignited the anger. He gritted his teeth secretly. The roots of his teeth were aching. He then turned around and walked towards the room.

Leon quickly followed.

Zhao Jinxin walked beside him step by step and gave Leon a condescending glance. Where Li Shuo could not see, his eyes were full of chilling malice: “You are Zhou Jinxing, aren’t you?”

Leon was shocked by Zhao Jinxin’s malicious eyes: “No, I’m not.”

Zhao Jinxin’s face became distorted.

Li Shuo paused, turned his head to look at Zhao Jinxin, his expression cold: “What the hell did you investigate about?”

Zhao Jinxin stared at him fiercely with sharp eyes: “Checking in at a hotel with someone else yesterday, recruiting a male escort today, your life is really rich and ‘colorful’.”

The blue veins on Li Shuo’s temple jumped suddenly, making his brain hurt. The kiss just now was so natural and familiar. The two have obviously known each other for a long time, but the truly ‘colorful’ person is accusing him of being ‘colorful’? He was completely irritated, clenched his fists, and sneered: “Yes, I enjoy being single, do you have any complaints?”

Zhao Jinxin glared at him, his face was a bit hideous, and red blood gradually appeared in his eyes.

At this time, the door of the room near them suddenly opened. Mr. Cui was walking out of it, and he was stunned when he saw the two of them: “Hey, you…Isn’t this Jinxin? Why are you here?”

Zhao Jinxin returned to normal in an instant and he smiled: “Uncle Cui, it’s a coincidence, I ran into Brother Li in the lobby and he said you are here.”

“Oh, what a coincidence. Why the world is so small?” Mr. Cui smiled ambiguously, “Are you coming to ‘play’ too? You kid, you can play since you are young. Yes, a man, a handsome young man like you, Hahaha, come, come, everyone come in.”

Zhao Jinxin smiled and said, “I must have a few drinks with you today.”

“Whatever you want, come. Xiao Li, everyone come in, I was afraid you’re too drunk so I wanted to look for you.”

As soon as he entered the room, Zhao Jinxin saw Zhou Jinxing and a bad feeling arose in his heart.

“Hey, let me introduce, this is Zhou Jinxing, he’s…”

Zhao Jinxin was startled.

President Cui repeated the words where he introduced Zhou Jinxing to Li Shuo that day towards Zhao Jinxin.

The more Zhao Jinxin listened, the more his eyes darkened. He turned his head and glanced at Li Shuo, then smiled and stretched out his hand towards Zhou Jinxing, “Mr. Zhou, it’s nice to meet you.”

Zhou Jinxing felt something sensitively. With a gentle smile on his face, he shook hands with Zhao Jinxin calmly, “Nice to meet you too.”

Mr. Cui drank a little too much and he didn’t seem to see anything wrong between the two. The waiter Zhang Luo served more wine to them.

Li Shuo sat between Zhou Jinxing and Leon, no longer looking at Zhao Jinxin. Zhao Jinxin was chatting with Mr. Cui while looking in his direction.

Zhou Jinxing glanced at Zhao Jinxin, curled his lips and smiled, approaching Li Shuo and asked, “Is it my illusion? Between you two…”

Li Shuo gave a light cough, pretending not to hear, poured a glass of wine for Zhou Jinxing, “Come on let’s drink, Mr. Zhou.”

Zhou Jinxing smiled and clinked glasses with him.

In order to prevent Zhou Jinxing from asking again, Li Shuo turned to chat with Leon. He deliberately hugged Leon and joked against Leon’s ear.

Leon was also very cooperative, almost half of his body was snuggled into Li Shuo’s arms, and it was unknown whether if he was drinking too much or if he was too excited, his delicate face flushed red.

Li Shuo drank one cup after another, but he felt that the more he drank, the more sober he became, and the more he drank, the duller everything was. He couldn’t figure out what he was doing, and what was the meaning of it all. He was acting like an impulsive and ignorant stinky kid, such a naive, stupid, and chaotic person, is this really him?

He asked himself countless times why he had allowed Zhao Jinxin to turn him into someone he didn’t admire at all, but he also got the answer from his heart countless of times – he just couldn’t control it. His soul seemed to be imprisoned in this shell and he watched as he lost control again and again. Feeling ashamed again and again, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

If this is what true love is like, he would rather not feel it. After all, in the end, he will get nothing but absolute pain and shame.

He gradually felt bored so he stopped talking.

Zhou Jinxing stuffed Leon with a few tips and told him to go out first, then took the wine glass from Li Shuo’s hand and said softly: “Mr. Li, stop drinking. We still have a few things to discuss tomorrow.”

Li Shuo was still indulging in his own world. He didn’t come back to his senses until his hand was empty of glass: “Oh, yes, there will be things to discuss tomorrow, sorry.”

“I don’t think you are in good condition. Why don’t we go back first? I basically didn’t drink so I can drive.”

Li Shuo shook his head: “No, Mr. Cui…”

“I’ll talk to Mr. Cui.” Zhou Jinxing got up and walked to Mr. Cui, bowed his head and said something. At this time, Zhao Jinxin stood up and handed Zhou Jinxing a glass of wine.

Li Shuo frowned.

The music in the room was very noisy. Li Shuo couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but he could see that Zhao Jinxin was smiling and persuading the man to drink.

Li Shuo’s eyesight is very good. Even if the lights are dim, he can see that the smiles on the faces of the two of them are fake. One after another, they look like they were putting on some acting skill on stage.

Zhou Jinxing drank a glass, and Mr. Cui was also excited, pulling him to drink again.

Zhou Jinxing smiled and drank another glass. He then pointed at Li Shuo, get himself away, and walked over.

“Mr. Li, let’s go, I said you are uncomfortable, so I will send you home first.” Zhou Jinxing winked, “I’m tired too, let’s run.”

Li Shuo smiled gratefully and stood up. As a result, his feet became soft and his body swayed. Zhou Jinxing held his waist with one hand and grabbed his arm with his other hand: “Are you all right?”

“It’s okay, I…” something flashed before Li Shuo’s eyes and he felt that his arm had been taken away.

As soon as he raised his head, Zhao Jinxin looked at Zhou Jinxing with a smile: “Mr. Zhou, let’s not bother you, I’ll send Brother Li back.”

Li Shuo wanted to withdraw his hand but he couldn’t move. He said coldly, “I don’t dare to bother you, let me go.”

“What are you being polite with me for?” Zhao Jinxin held Li Shuo in his arms domineeringly, “Let’s go.”

Li Shuo was beside Zhou Jinxing and said coarsely, “Get away from me!”

Zhou Jinxing raised his eyebrows, grabbed Li Shuo’s other arm, and smiled neither humbly nor arrogantly: “Mr. Zhao, Mr. Li doesn’t want to go with you, can you not force him?”

Mr. Cui came over: “What’s the matter? Xiao Li, are you okay?”

Li Shuo took the opportunity to push Zhao Jinxin away, and said with a smile: “It’s okay, I’m a little dizzy, I’m sorry, Mr. Cui, then I will go back first, I’m afraid if I can’t get up tomorrow.”

“Okay, go back first, I will let Jinxin accompany me.” President Cui pulled Zhao Jinxin with him, “Come on, let’s drink.”

Zhao Jinxin’s eyebrows looked like they’re about to be twisted.

Li Shuo caught Zhou Jinxing and whispered: “Let’s go.”

When they got out of the room, Li Shuo leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. He looked panicky: “I’m sorry, Mr. Zhou. I’ve let you seen a joke. I drank too much today, so…”

Zhou Jinxing comforted him and said: “I don’t care, I haven’t seen anything wrong.” He helped Li Shuo up, “Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”

When the two of them got into the car, Li Shuo leaned back on his neck and fell into the passenger’s seat. He took a deep breath and suddenly asked nonchalantly: “Mr. Zhou, you and your wife must be in a good relationship.” He saw Zhou Jinxing smile wider as he was sending text messages enthusiastically, such an expression is by no means for just anyone.

Zhou Jinxing smiled: “We’re okay. He is a very interesting person.”

“……congratulations to you.”

Zhou Jinxing glanced at Li Shuo: “I believe that one day I will also congratulate you like this.”

Li Shuo smiled: “Thank you.”

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Next update: 2021/9/13

*Translator’s Note: I know that previously I used ‘Little Shuo’ or ‘Little Li’ instead of ‘Xiao Shuo’ or ‘Xiao Li’ but I decided to switch back to using ‘Xiao’. I feel that it is more appropriate. Sorry for any confusion.