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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Li Shuo fell asleep at midnight and was awakened by a knock on the door the next morning.

“Brother Li, let’s have breakfast.”

When Li Shuo heard Zhao Jinxin’s voice, he covered his head with the quilt, but this did not isolate Zhao Jinxin’s voice from his brain. He also has not been able to completely isolate this person from his heart.

Zhao Jinxin smiled to himself and said, “Brother Li, don’t sleep for long in bed, everyone is up already.”

Li Shuo opened the quilt and sat up: “I see.” He washed, changed his clothes, and went downstairs.

Everyone is already sitting in the dining room. There is a rich breakfast on the table. There are more than a dozen types of dishes. It seems as if the entire hotel’s breakfasts have been moved over there.

“Dad, mom, good morning. Uncle and aunt, good morning.” Li Shuo smiled and sat at the only vacant position which is next to Zhao Jinxin.

Zhao Jinxin smiled and said, “Brother Li slept well, right.”

“Very well, how about you? Do you adapt to the climate here?”

Zhao Rongtian smiled and said, “I didn’t get used to it at first when I got off the plane. It was completely different… from winter to summer. But it’s okay now.”

“Son, where will we go after breakfast?”

Just as Li Shuo was about to answer, Zhao Jinxin rushed to answer: “You go to the sightseeing spots, Brother Li will take me to see the land.” He smiled and glanced at Li Shuo, “Right?”

Mr. Li glanced at Li Shuo, Li Shuo gave him a wink, and then nodded: “Yes.” In front of the elders, it was even more difficult to deal with Zhao Jinxin that entangled him like a snake, so it would be better if he didn’t go.

After they both sent their elders into the car, Zhao Jinxin turned to look at Li Shuo, with a little expectation and excitement in his eyes, like a child welcoming a holiday.

Li Shuo turned around and walked back to the house. He said as he walked, “You know the place. If you want to see it, you go see it yourself.”

Zhao Jinxin chased after him: “I’ve seen it since a long time ago. I know you are not interested in crowded places. Let’s just stay here.”

Li Shuo was noncommittal and when he entered the house, he wanted to just go back to his bedroom.

Zhao Jinxin stood in front of him, smiled and said, “Don’t you want to hear my plan for that piece of land?”

“We have done the planning.”

“The planning of project is constantly changing during the implementation process. I plan to reserve a piece of land, isolate it from the hotel area with some woods, and then build a villa facing the sea for our family’s vacation.”

Li Shuo frowned and looked at him. The warm smile on Zhao Jinxin’s face made him wants to reply with sarcasm, but he couldn’t say it. Moreover, he has scolded this person over and over. No matter how much he told him off, Zhao Jinxin still does meaningless things on his own. Thus, he is too lazy to waste his breath.

“I will reserve a tennis court.” Zhao Jinxin smiled and looked at Li Shuo, “I’m still taking tennis lessons recently. If my strength is too low for you, I won’t be able to play with you.”

Li Shuo didn’t react. He just bypassed Zhao Jinxin and walked upstairs.

“There must be you in my future.” Zhao Jinxin looked up at him and said confidently, “You are in all my plans. Even if there are changes in the process, only you will not change.”

Li Shuo’s Adam’s apple rolled slowly. He quickened his pace and returned to his room.

After closing the door, Li Shuo locked the door again. He then called his assistant and asked him to prepare a loan contract of 200,000 yuan. Xiao Chen also replied to the results of his investigation of Xu Darui. Indeed, as Xu Darui said, during his time in prison, his father died and his wife remarried, taking away his children.

Li Shuo sighed heavily.

Li Shuo stayed in the room until noon. The sun was just right outside and the sea breeze was refreshing, but he wanted to shut himself in the room.

Just then, his door was knocked again.

“Uncle Li, let’s have lunch.”

Li Shuo put down the book that he hadn’t read a few pages at all, feeling agitated in his heart.

“I made seafood dishes, come out quickly and try it.”

Li Shuo hesitated and opened the door. He can’t stay in the room all day, right?

Zhao Jinxin changed into a formal suit, with a black bow tie at the neckline, and he held an identical one in his hand. He smiled and shook it as he wanted to put it on Li Shuo without any explanation.

Li Shuo pushed away his hand: “Take it away.”

“We’ll make it as our date today.” Zhao Jinxin wrapped his hands around Li Shuo’s neck, and put his bow tie on gently and powerfully, “You said you need a bow tie for a date.”

Li Shuo pushed Zhao Jinxin away, then roughly tore off his bow tie, and threw it directly on Zhao Jinxin’s face: “Don’t do any more meaningless things!”

Zhao Jinxin’s gaze instantly lost its energy and became gray. He squatted down, picked up the bow tie, and lowered his head and said in a low voice, “Let’s eat. You won’t refuse lunch, right?”

Li Shuo’s chest heaved twice and he buried his head as he crossed to pass by Zhao Jinxin’s side.

Zhao Jinxin put the bow tie in his pocket, then patted his face lightly, pulling out a stiff smile.

Li Shuo walked to the hall and Zhao Jinxin also followed: “We are eating outside.” He led Li Shuo to the garden.

There is a dining table in the garden. The table is full of various seafood and champagne. It is surrounded by tropical plants. There is soft sand under your feet. The blue sea and pure sky are in the distance. The white tablecloth is swept by the sea breeze. It swaggers with the light leaves in this romantic landscape.

Zhao Jinxin bowed like a gentleman and made a ‘please’ gesture: “Come and taste my dishes.”

Li Shuo looked at that table of delicious food and thinks of how innocent it looks and it would be too wasteful not to eat them, so he walked over.

The two sat facing each other, Zhao Jinxin poured a glass of wine for Li Shuo, and said softly, “It’s great to be able to eat with you. I really want to stay here forever.”

Li Shuo didn’t speak and ate silently by himself.

“Is it delicious?” Zhao Jinxin peeled the shrimp for a while, then used tools to get the crab meat, and put them all in the Li Shuo’s bowl.

Li Shuo gently blocked it with his hand: “You eat yours.”

Zhao Jinxin’s beautiful peach blossom eyes are full of affection: “I like to watch you eat.”

Under that gaze, Li Shuo felt unable to lift his head.

“The seafood here is too fresh. Most of them are boiled, which can retain the original flavor of the meat, but this squid here is fried and dipped in a little salt and pepper to taste better. And this seafood braised egg is a local delicacy. I am still learning for now. This one was cooked in coconut water…” Zhao Jinxin patiently introduced every dish he cooked even though Li Shuo did not respond to him.

Zhao Jinxin said for a long time, his eyes are getting dim: “Uncle Li, can you say a few words to me?”

Li Shuo paused, and said calmly: “I said it earlier, there is nothing to say between us.”

“Isn’t it okay to at least treat me as a normal friend? We used to have a lot of topics to talk about.”

Li Shuo raised his eyes and looked directly at Zhao Jinxin: “Everyone I broke up with in the past can be friends, except for you.” You alone, Zhao Jinxin, make me unable to take it down. And you are the only one, Zhao Jinxin who had trampled on his heart wantonly.

Zhao Jinxin pursed his lips and said dumbly: “You really can’t forgive me. How can you treat me like this? You used to…be so good to me before.”

“I can forgive you.” Li Shuo grabbed the napkin and rubbed his hand vigorously at once, as if he had hatred for his own skin, “I just won’t be with you. If you can stop doing these meaningless things, I can treat you as an ‘ordinary friend’.”

“Then let me watch you be with someone else one day?”

“Yes, will I waste my whole life for you?” Li Shuo said blankly, “I will find someone who can exchange sincerities with me sooner or later.”

“I am sincere to you!” Zhao Jinxin shouted, and he gritted his teeth, “Why can’t you believe me? You think I did all this to trick you into bed with me? Do you think there’s no shortage of those who wants to sleep with Zhao Jinxin?”

“Since there is no shortage of people to sleep with you, can you find…”

“No.” Zhao Jinxin interrupted him, his gaze became a little bit fierce, “I will never look for anyone again. I only want you and I won’t let anyone stay by your side unless I’m dead. ”

Li Shuo threw off his napkin and wanted to get up.

Zhao Jinxin grabbed his wrist and stared blankly at his face: “You haven’t finished eating yet.”

“Let me go.” Li Shuo gave a strong shake, but he couldn’t shake him away.

“You haven’t finished eating yet.” Zhao Jinxin stood up, pressed Li Shuo back into the chair, and took the opportunity to kiss his forehead, “Be good. Let’s eat well.”

Li Shuo waved his hand away and glared at him.

Zhao Jinxin said sadly: “Don’t look at me like this.”

Li Shuo clenched his fists, really wishing to overturn the dining table on Zhao Jinxin.

This is ridiculous. How dared he come and show his consideration after having done all the wicked things in the past? Why should Li Shuo become a dog who can go back to lick the bone he had left behind?!

It’s shameless of this kid to pretend to be so affectionate and pitiful! Shameless!

Li Shuo was pale with anger.

“You used to be so kind to me.” Zhao Jinxin gave a bleak smile, “You are gentle, considerate and attentive. Whenever I say I’m hungry, you will definitely prepare food for me. If there are onions in the takeaway pizza and salad, you will pick them out for me one by one. When I occasionally made some unusual requests, you are not angry. Once I couldn’t find my passport, I was so angry that I went to bed, you didn’t sleep all night, you searched the house and found it for me. ……” Zhao Jinxin’s voice was trembling, “Uncle Li, don’t you like me very much? Why are you willing to treat me this way now?”

Li Shuo only felt sore in his eyes. He bit his lip desperately to keep him awake through the pain.

If you like someone, isn’t it natural to want to do your best to be nice to the that person? the end, it was only him who thought so.

Zhao Jinxin looked at Li Shuo with red eyes: “You are so good, how can I let you go?”

Li Shuo widened his eyes sharply at him, took a deep breath, stood up again, and walked off to his room.

This time, Zhao Jinxin did not stop him.

The four-day vacation was quickly over. They all returned to Beijing together.

Li Shuo felt that the four elders could see that he was deliberately avoiding Zhao Jinxin. His father thought it was because Zhao Jinxin took the project from him and made him dissatisfied. Only his mother knew the truth, but his mother never came to him to talk about it again. He is in fact worried and hope that his mother will never come to him for this matter.

After returning to Beijing, Li Shuo called Zhou Jinxing to inquire about the progress. Zhou Jinxing said that the contract would be signed within two days. At the same time, he drafted the contract between the two of them and sent it to Li Shuo’s mailbox.

Li Shuo now hopes that this will be over and done with as soon as possible.

After hanging up the phone, Li Shuo contacted Xiao Chen again. Calculating the time, Xiao Chen should have met Xu Darui with 200,000 cash and the contract.

Xiao Chen answered the phone and said that the contract had been signed and the money had been given, and then he stopped talking for a little bit.

“What’s wrong?” Li Shuo asked.

“I think he is very hostile and scary.” Xiao Chen said, “Is it true that people who stayed in jail for a long time will become like this?”

“…I’m not aware.” Li Shuo only knew that Xu Darui, who had not happened before the accident, was definitely not like that, but a bold and generous northerner. He asked again, “Did he say anything?”

“He asked me why you didn’t come. I told him you were busy. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t even say thank you. He took the money and left.”

Li Shuo was faintly disturbed. He has heard many similar examples, saying that as long as he borrowed the first time, he might be blackmailed a second time. But he couldn’t bring himself to watch Xu Darui in a destitute state. Probably it is his own conscience and sense of morality that made him this way.

When he first opened his business, he couldn’t get clients. It was Xu Darui who gave him boost to his first business. The two of them were also considered as brothers. He had to miss his old friendship. But his bottom line, this time, he hopes that Xu Darui’s essence has not been changed by his life in prison.

A few days later, Zhou Jinxing gathered everyone together and a new equity division contract was signed.

The four had their own thoughts in minds. After signing the contract, they had a glass of wine together. On the surface, Mr. Cui and Shuo Li did not want to participate in the development at all. Zhao Jinxin and Zhou Jinxing had to compete in the future. This kind of cooperation was full of difficulties at the beginning and was very unwise.

But Zhao Jinxin was still very happy and smiled at Zhou Jinxing.

After drinking, Mr. Cui left first. Zhao Jinxin wanted to ask Li Shuo out to eat. Naturally, Li Shuo would not go. He also left in anguish. Li Shuo and Zhou Jinxing met at a different place and signed the equity transfer contract between them.

The price given by Zhou Jinxing was very good, exceeding Li Shuo’s expectations. Li Shuo was very moved and said sincerely: “Jinxing, this project was very difficult to deal with. Let’s hope we can cooperate again in the future.”

Zhou Jinxing patted Li Shuo on the shoulder and said with a smile: “Me too. I hope I will have the opportunity to cooperate with you again in the future.”

After signing the contract, Li Shuo’s mood was very much conflicted.

Although he avoided the entanglement with Zhao Jinxin because of this project, he didn’t know how he would react since he put Zhao Jinxin in this spot. In fact, he didn’t intend to retaliate, but he did feel very happy that he did.

It doesn’t matter anymore. The sky is high and the clouds are wide, and he doesn’t want to live in the shadow of Zhao Jinxin forever.

A few days later, when Li Shuo was playing chess with his dad at home, Zhao Jinxin called him. Originally, Li Shuo didn’t want to answer, but his mobile phone was put by his side, and his father saw the name of the caller ID at a glance.

He had to pick up the phone and walked into his room for privacy: “Hello?”

Zhao Jinxin’s voice was gloomy and sounded frightening: “Li Shuo, why did you do this?”

“Do you still have to ask why?” Li Shuo said lightly.

“Are you happy when you play me around like this?” Zhao Jinxin suddenly smiled, “Did it make you happy?”

“As it should.” Li Shuo looked out the window quietly, the thoughts in his eyes were very complicated.

Zhao Jinxin was silent for a while, then laughed lowly: “Baby, you really made me angry.”

“So what?”

“…Why are you turning me into a bastard?”

“Zhao Jinxin, you are already a bastard.”

“Yeah, I am. But I really don’t want to let you know how much of a bastard I can be.” Zhao Jinxin’s voice became soft and feminine, “You will find out soon.”

A busy tone came from the phone.

Li Shuo stared at the name of the caller ID and slowly closed his heavy eyelids.

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Next update: 2021/12/06

*Translator’s Note: ZJX is like a male version yandere at the end hahaha