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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Early the next morning, Xiao Chen picked them up to go to Ennan.

Him and his father arrived at almost the same time with the Zhao’s father and son. The four met in the spacious lobby of the office building. Li Shuo and Zhao Jinxin met each other this time and both pretended to say hello normally.

Zhao Jinxin is indeed a little haggard. Although he has cleaned himself up, he still can’t hide his low spirits. Li Shuo shadily ignored Zhao Jinxin’s eyes that had been focusing on him and followed his father step by step.

The two fathers were in a tacit understanding, and they discussed today’s critical market as soon as they met, but the young people behind them were silent all the way.

Zhao Rongtian called all the executives of the branch to the small conference room for a meeting. At the meeting, Zhao Jinxin apologized for his behavior during this period. Zhao Rongtian also scolded him. His words were quite ruthless. Zhao Jinxin kept bowing his head and listening to him. It seems that his attitude is very sincere and several senior executives spoke nicely to him. When the father and son are finally in tune with each other, the matter was over.

Then they started talking about business.

In response to Ennan’s operations in the past six months, Zhao Rongtian gave it a high evaluation, and at the same time expressed his strategic plan to shift the focus of trade to the north.

Li Shuo lowered his head to take notes. He looked up in Zhao Rongtian’s direction to show his politeness, but Zhao Jinxin who was sitting next to Zhao Rongtian, kept his sight fixed on him. It made him feel a little irritated. He used his greatest energy to be professional and tried to focus, but he never looked back at Zhao Jinxin.

The meeting was over. It was almost time for lunch. Zhao Rongtian booked a room in the hotel opposite of the office building and invited the executives to dinner. Since the chairman of the group arrived, the executives naturally tried their best to flatter him and they started to scramble at noon.

Li Shuo sat aside, silently blocking the wine for his father. During the whole meal, only Li Shuo was neither a leader, nor a senior executive, or even a member of the company. The meal created an atmosphere that kind of irritate him, so he ended up drinking a double portion of wine by himself and it soon became a little strenuous on him.

The executives of the personnel department came to toast again. Li Shuo stood up as usual and prepared to drink for his dad. The wine glass that was being delivered to his mouth was suddenly taken away without a trace. Li Shuo was stunned and looked towards where it goes. It was Zhao Jinxin who was standing on the side at the time who took the glass.

Zhao Jinxin smiled at the executives: “Mr. Zhang, my uncle is not in a good health and my elder brother can’t afford to drink too much. I will do the honor for this glass.” After speaking, he looked up and drank a clean glass of wine.

Li Shuo looked at Zhao Jinxin in a daze and Mr. Li is also grateful.

The president himself has block the wine and the subordinates naturally felt difficult to say anything. But these people are not very convinced of Zhao Jinxin. After all, he is a ‘leader’ who is the same age as their own children. Some time ago, they just fell off the chain. When Zhao Jinxin wanted to block the wine, naturally, they would not let it go easily. They all came over one by one, using Mr. Jingli as an excuse to educate Zhao Jinxin.

Zhao Rongtian did not make ends meet, obviously he wanted to take the opportunity to educate his own son.

Li Shuo’s face was a little gloomy. He didn’t appreciate Jinxin’s actions, but he just watched Zhao Jinxin help him to block the wine. If he is not reminded of the fact that he had suffered so many losses due to the man, he would have been moved by Zhao Jinxin’s ‘goodwill’ again. He has no idea what’s his goal behind it all.

The senior executives of various departments all came to pay respect to him. Zhao Jinxin drank half a catty of white wine by himself. The more he drank, the paler his face became. The reddish corners of his eyes made him look fragile and pitiful.

When they’re done drinking, Zhao Rongtian said a few words on the scene and then left the table.

Zhao Jinxin glanced at Li Shuo, then whispered: “Are you okay?”

“Thank you. I’m okay.” Li Shuo nodded blankly, got up, and said to his dad, “Dad, Xiao Chen is waiting downstairs, let’s go home and rest.”

Mr. Li nodded, got up, and patted Zhao Jinxin on the shoulder: “Jinxin, thank you for today.”

“Uncle, you are being too polite with me.” Zhao Jinxin said to Mr. Li, but he always has his eyes directed towards Li Shuo with watery eyes.

Li Shuo pretended not to see. He didn’t know what Zhao Jinxin was scheming at.

“Brother Li.” Zhao Jinxin leaned on the chair and stood up, “Excuse me, can you help me to get to the washroom?”

Li Shuo opened his mouth, wanting to refuse but in front of so many people, he instead just nodded: “Dad, wait for me downstairs.”

Everyone went out one after another until there were only two of them left in the room. Li Shuo closed the door and said flatly: “No need to go to the washroom, just say what you have to say here.”

Zhao Jinxin straightened his waist and looked at Li Shuo deeply: “I drank too much that day. Actually, I am very happy when you came to see me.”

Li Shuo nodded: “I know you drank too much.” Zhao Jinxin, who is usually cunning, wouldn’t say those honest words if he wasn’t drunk.

Zhao Jinxin touched his nose and spoke with some embarrassment: “I was a mess like that at the time… it was all because of you.”

Li Shuo raised his eyebrows: “I’m not responsible for that. What you want to say, please say it quickly.”

Zhao Jinxin took a few steps forward. Li Shuo frowned and unconsciously took a step back. Zhao Jinxin grabbed his arm and said softly, “Are you afraid of me?”

Li Shuo laughed: “What is there to be afraid of?”

“I don’t know but I kinda feel that you are afraid of me.”

Li Shuo looked directly into Zhao Jinxin’s eyes neither humbly nor arrogantly: “You’re thinking too much.”

Zhao Jinxin leaned down, pressed his mouth to Li Shuo’s ear and said: “I really think a lot. Do you want to know what I think about?”

Li Shuo pushed him away and spoke coldly, “I’m not interested to know.” He turned and walked to the door.

“Li Shuo.” Zhao Jinxin called suddenly, “You have won.” This sentence was accompanied by a soft sigh, sounding as if he was bowing to some kind of almighty power.

Li Shuo paused. He didn’t understand what Zhao Jinxin’s thoughtless words meant. He didn’t even want to know. He just opened the door and left the room.

Zhao Jinxin gently wiped the corners of his mouth with his fingertips. A pair of enchanting peach blossom eyes look as if they are brewing a storm that could suck people in. He quietly whispered, “You have won. Now you belong to me.”

Li Shuo walked downstairs in one breath and got into the car waiting outside the lobby.

Mr. Li asked: “How is Jinxin? He is doing okay?”

“Dad, he is doing alright.”

“That kid Jinxin is still quite sensible. I was surprised with his sudden thoughtfulness this time.”

Li Shuo gave a perfunctory “Oh” and feels a little upset with Zhao Jinxin’s sudden change of attitude. In fact, he should have been used to it, he was used to this person’s fickleness.

Mr. Li seems to be caught in his memories: “Jinxin, this kid, has been rebellious since he was a child, and he likes to play some dangerous sports. If you didn’t return to China, he would have grown up with you around. That will surely save Lao Zhao worrying a lot. I can see that this kid respects you very much.”

“Yeah, sure.” Li Shuo looked out the window absent-mindedly.

“By the way, the heir of Hongyun Capital, if you have time, please ask him out to meet with me before I accompany your mother back to the hometown in the next two days.”

“Okay, by tomorrow noon maybe.”

“Okay, please remember to inform Jinxin about it.”

Li Shuo frowned: “Inform him for what?”

“Didn’t Jinxin also want to buy a share? Did he tell you?”

Li Shuo was startled: “…I know nothing of this.”

“No?” Mr. Li didn’t think about it too deeply either. “Oh, Lao Zhao asked me of this. He said that Jinxin is also interested in this project. It happens that our investment ratio is relatively small and if we establish a strategic cooperation with Jinxin, spending your money together, you can take up at least 30% of the shares, and you will have a better say in the project.”

“Dad, we have all signed the contract of intent. So, him joining the investment is not needed at this time.”

“It’s just an intentional contract and no formal contract is signed yet. More investors can still come in. It depends on how you talked with this Hongyun heir. I think there will be no problem with Lao Cui.”

Li Shuo had a headache: “Dad, the basic terms of this project have been set now, and it is too much trouble to add another one at this time.”

“There is no trouble in making money.” Mr. Li disagreed. “With our investment ratio, we can only account for 15% of the shares. It is not impossible to make a lot of money. Isn’t it very boring to make less? The most important thing is, in the future projects, what you said will not have enough weight, and you won’t be taken lightly. It is good for us to have Zhao family participate.”

Li Shuo really couldn’t refute it because everything his father said was right. He couldn’t say it directly that he just didn’t want to have anything to do with Zhao Jinxin, so he had to say, “Dad, don’t you think something is wrong? Ennan joining is meaningless. They can’t make too much money out of it and have less say.”

“Jin Xin may have his own considerations. You have to ask him for details. Anyway, it’s all about making money. What’s wrong? If you think it’s hard to talk with this heir of Hongyun Capital, I will come to talk to him tomorrow.”

The words are already spoken by his father and Li Shuo feels helpless. He really didn’t know what Zhao Jinxin wanted to do.

However, Zhou Jinxing is not easy to deal with. As the largest shareholder of this project, it is impossible to open up investment rights casually. Thinking about this, Li Shuo feels a little relieved.

When he got home, Li Shuo called Zhou Jinxing to communicate about the matter.

Zhou Jinxing knew little about the relationship between Li Shuo and Zhao Jinxin. Li Shuo explained what might happen tomorrow. Zhou Jinxing understood everything. He smiled calmly and said: “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to let others mix in easily.”

Li Shuo felt a little at ease: “Brother, it’s up to you tomorrow. I can’t refute my dad after all.”

Zhou Jinxing smiled: “Okay, leave it to me.”

Li Shuo said goodbye on the phone and was about to hang up.

Zhou Jinxing suddenly said: “Li Shuo, to me, you are my friend. To others, we are partners. Whether for personal or business reasons, I am willing to help you solve some troubles. This is also for the healthy development of our project. So, if you need me to do anything, don’t be polite and tell me straightforwardly.”

Li Shuo smiled and said, “Thank you. I got it.”

Zhou Jinxing paused: “Moreover, this matter is also very interesting.”

“…what’s interesting about it?”

Zhou Jinxing smiled and said, “Nothing. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

After hanging up the phone, Li Shuo flipped through the information he has in his hands. Although he had confidence in Zhou Jinxing, he had no confidence of the extent to which Zhao Jinxin might cause trouble so he had to find out the flaws in some projects in case of emergency.

At this time, his phone rang twice suddenly. Li Shuo picked it up and saw that it was a message sent by Zhao Jinxin. There is no text, only one photo in it. It was the photo taken when the two of them holding Ann and Bee together when they were on vacation in Qiandao Lake. They were both smiling slightly in the photo.

At that time when the photo was taken, there was no barrier or deception between them. It was a really good time.

Li Shuo felt uncomfortable again in his heart.

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Next Update: 2021/10/18