The Cheating Game

Seme-focused. Xie Huaizhi x Jiang Jinbai

"Xie Huaizhi says there are three grades of con artistry: swindling money, swindling power, and swindling hearts."

"I asked him which grade he belonged to. He just smiled, wiped the tears from the corner of my eye, and told me I wouldn't have to cry for him anymore."

/

People call Xie Huaizhi a ruthless fixer with no bottom line, but he prefers to call himself a con artist.

Forging identities, manipulating people, and faking mergers and acquisitions: Xie Huaizhi can get a rich heiress to mortgage her property for him in three weeks, or use a fake contract to make off with tens of millions before disappearing.

He never feels guilty. After all, the greedy who look down on everyone else have to pay a price. Then he sets his sights on Jiang Jinbai, the most doted-on young master of the Jiang family.

When they first meet, Jiang Jinbai is a cocky, free-spirited young man who does whatever he pleases. The moment they meet, he drunkenly shoves a black card into Xie Huaizhi's hands. "Stay with me for three months. Use this card however you like."

Xie Huaizhi puts an arm around his waist and raises an eyebrow. A week later, he has swindled twenty million yuan out of him.

A wineglass crashes to the floor, scattering shards everywhere and reflecting the fury in Jiang Jinbai's eyes. He grabs Xie Huaizhi by the collar and says through clenched teeth, practically laughing with rage, "Xie. Huaizhi."

Xie Huaizhi smiles and answers, then helpfully buttons up his shirt and says unhurriedly, "Young Master Jiang, conning someone out of their feelings breaks the rules of the trade. Please forgive me."

/

After that, everyone knows Xie Huaizhi is Young Master Jiang's sworn enemy. They chase each other around and never get along. Even the tabloids know to use headlines like: "Young Master Jiang grits his teeth and tears off his mask, while Mr. Xie smiles as he drinks poison and insists on giving him a taste."

That is, until the Jiang family empire collapses two years later.

A rival forges documents and gets Jiang's father killed, then uses insider trading to short the group and drive Jiang's mother to jump from a building. When news of the bankruptcy spreads, the young master who was once the center of everyone's attention can do nothing but curl up in a cold, damp basement.

As Jiang Jinbai clutches his collar and stares blankly, the door is suddenly kicked open.

Xie Huaizhi tosses aside his coat, bends down, and pinches Jiang's chin, his expression thoroughly amused.

"Come to laugh at me?" Jiang Jinbai sneers, then bites down hard on the web of Xie Huaizhi's thumb. "Get out."

A bead of blood trickles down Xie Huaizhi's pale wrist and into the corner of his mouth. Xie Huaizhi grabs him by the throat, rubs his thumb over the reddened bite mark, and smiles. "Such a sharp tongue."

"Don't get the wrong idea, darling. I just spotted a deal that's guaranteed to make money."

"Jiang Jinbai, seeing as you paid me twenty million in tuition, I'll teach you a new game..."

"A game of reshuffling the deck."

/

Not starting this one right away. Probably a story about sworn enemies who turn into lovers after one tries to swindle the other's money, not his body, and accidentally gets pulled in himself.

Theme: There is genuine feeling and true love in this world.