Hi everyone. Surrender III is one of my favourite BL novels so far. The story is a kind of an emotional rollercoaster at times, but then again soothing and heartwarming. 

Please note, the novel has a BDSM tag and there is some explicit content, violence, and even rape, so please, check the tags before you start reading.  

This is my first attempt as a translator, so please bear with me. I promise to do my best translating/editing/proofing and will try to update regularly on Thursdays. 

Last but not least, many thanks to Lajna, who generously took me and this project in. I really appreciate your support! 

I hope you guys enjoy this novel as much as I did. Happy reading! 

Taalia

 Chapter 1

In the summer night, after a few muffled thunders, it started raining heavily. The rain flooded the city in an instant, and the hanging neon sign “Beauties welcoming high-profile guests, drunk dreams and soft ambience” was all blurred.

It was Lihao’s sign. As the largest nightclub in K City, the sudden heavy rain did not have much impact on its business. It was like a monster squatting in the city, exuding a seductive charm to attract people seeking pleasure, offering a night of ambiguous eroticism, and greedily sucking money in its pockets.

There was an open window in the corridor on the third floor, and the bright light outlined a dark shadow by the window. It was a young man, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. His burgundy-red hair was particularly conspicuous. His bangs were very long and hung down, almost covering his eyes. He had his elbows on the window frame, quietly watching the rain curtain outside.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and took a puff. The heavy nicotine smoke rushed into the lungs, irritating his throat, and he couldn’t help coughing.

They say that alcohol relieves sorrow and cigarettes dissolve it. He still couldn’t get used to smoking.

The cigarette burned inch by inch between his fingers. They were slender, with distinct joints, and remarkably fair, without any traces of manual labor. The tall and straight figure was wearing the standard white shirt and black vest of a waiter, which looked quite elegant, but unfortunately the red hair in kill Matt style ruined the handsome appearance. He crookedly pinned a golden name tag on his chest with a golden flying eagle on top and the words “Lihao’s third-floor waiter A-Zhou” underneath.

The cigarette was dropped by a customer. It was very strong, not a good brand. The third floor, where he was stationed, received ordinary guests. The consumption was not high, and the tips were very stingy, not comparable to the floors above. Lihao’s structure was very clear. The higher the floor number, the higher the standard. The guests visiting the upper floors spent a lot of money to have fun, and the tips were also generous. It was just that one needed to be more cautious when serving those high-status customers. He had only started three months ago and had no chance of being promoted to an upper floor.

“Tsk, A-Zhou.” A similarly dressed waiter came out of the private room, leaned over, grabbed the cigarette in his hand, took two puffs, and stuffed it back in his hand grinning. “You are quite lazy.”

He frowned slightly and turned sideways to avoid the person’s approach, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out. “Am I doing my job inside or am I standing there as an audience?”

The waiter with the name tag “Xiao Ding” on his chest naturally knew what he meant. He smiled, tilted his head and asked, “Have you heard that there is a new nightclub in Chengnan, quite a big one? A-Qing’s brother is working there. I heard that the conditions are pretty good.”

“Do you want to change jobs?”

“Not changing.” Xiao Ding pointed to the eagle on his chest and said proudly, “K City is Golden Eagle’s territory, and Lihao is Golden Eagle’s establishment. We are all Golden Eagle’s members. Messing with us will only lead to a dead end.”

A-Zhou looked at him, noncommittal. “You sure have a sense of belonging.”

“Of course. The first article of the employee code is to be loyal to the company.” As he was talking, the buzzer in his hand beeped. He frowned and said, “That guy wants to drink and call for a girl, but that’s quite expensive, so he is picking the cheapest of everything. That’s really petty… Ah, forget it. Let’s go in quickly! If you slack off and let Brother Ning catch you, you will be miserable.” He hurriedly returned to the private room to serve his guests.

The rain was still pouring, drenching the entire city. With the raindrops came a cool damp breeze, which scattered the burgundy-red hair hanging over A-Zhou’s forehead, revealing his entire face.

It was a very fair, composed face. The eyes exposed from under the overgrown bangs had an aloof and lonely look, indifferent to the point of being cold, which was incompatible with this place of debauchery.

The buzzer in his pocket vibrated with a monotonous electronic sound. There was a trace of fatigue and boredom in his eyes. He fixed his burgundy hair casually and walked towards the private room he was responsible for. He accidentally caught a glimpse of someone looking at him not far away, and paused. After a moment of surprise, he quickly lowered his eyes, even deliberately lowering his head to let the bangs on his forehead cover his eyes, and said formally, “Good evening, Mr. Tang, and welcome to Lihao.”

The man in the corridor stopped, curled his lips into a smile, approached him and said, “Finish your shift quickly and go out with me for a midnight snack, ok?”

“Thank you, I’m not hungry.” A-Zhou lowered his eyes and said, “I’m going to work, I wish you a good time at Lihao tonight.” After saying that, he walked around the other person but was caught by the wrist. Taken aback, he instinctively shook his hand to break away, but unexpectedly, the opponent squeezed it tightly, not letting go. He raised his eyes angrily and met the other’s gaze.

The rejected Tang Shaocheng wanted to seize this chance to make a move, but changed his mind as soon as he saw his cold expression. He immediately suppressed his anger and slowly released his hand.

After all, there were many other beautiful young men, and the only reason he had been entangled for so long was because of this distinctive cold and proud appearance.

Tang Shaocheng had a clear vision of himself and had always looked down upon the dusty goods in this pleasure den. One night, three months ago, when he went downstairs, he encountered a waiter who entered the VIP elevator. The other person immediately came back to his senses and retreated.

It was this look that fascinated him. Initially, he thought he had him at his fingertips, but after three months, he had used all kinds of tricks and still hadn’t succeeded in getting him into bed. Occasionally accepting to have a meal with him was already a great honor. However, he did not intend to give up.

This A-Zhou really made him curious.

Obviously, he was someone struggling with life at the bottom, yet he was not in the least interested in trying to curry favor with him. Even though his eyes were pretty, they exuded a kind of indescribable coldness. He had a very handsome face and those eyes like clear pools of water could easily break one’s heart, but he was still unwilling to get rid of that kill Matt hairstyle. Obviously, he could rely on him to expand his network and climb up the ranks, yet he was unwilling to attend any gatherings with him, and refused to accept gifts from him. In spite of his obvious financial constraints, when visiting a high-end venue, his dining etiquette was not in the least lacking, and he looked very calm. On another occasion he accidentally saw that A-Zhou had a playful expression in his eyes when he heard the waiter give the name of the red wine wrong.

The more he probed, the more he felt that there was a kind of grace and calmness in A-Zhou’s gestures. This kind of demeanor was more like inborn, bred-in-the-bone, and didn’t match his circumstances. Therefore, he even asked someone to check A-Zhou’s background, but found nothing for the time being.

Beautiful, cold, reserved, and unruly.

He was like a leopard living in seclusion in the mountains, that was difficult to approach and hard to catch, or like a flower, growing on a cliff, proud and aloof, luring people over on a wild goose chase.

Hard to solve riddles were always more interesting to unravel, making him – a puzzle lover – happy.

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I will ask someone to bring some beef from Japan and we can try it together.” 

Tang Shaocheng sometimes thought that A-Zhou was the disdained son of a wealthy family who ended up as a humble and submissive person living off a benefactor. After the initial novelty, he did his best to figure him out, but got more and more frustrated in this relationship. He even admired his own patience.

“Tomorrow I have a night shift and will be sleeping in the afternoon.”

Tang Shaocheng was not surprised at his refusal at all, and persisted, “Then I will come to your assigned room tomorrow night.”

“If Mr. Tang is not afraid of losing face by coming down to this floor to play, I don’t care.”

“Face is nothing compared to you.” Tang Shaocheng smiled. “See you tomorrow night.”

A-Zhou looked at him, dropped the sentence “I’m leaving” and turned back to room 364. The guest inside was drunk. His bloated body was leaning against his almost naked companion Lan Xin as he kept shouting, “One more glass!” Lan Xin flicked the dice on the table, and smiled charmingly, “Boss Zhang, you haven’t finished this glass of fine wine yet. You are a big man, you can’t play tricks on me, a young girl.” She handed the wine glass in her hand over to him. The fat man drank in a daze, muttering and noisy for a while, and was soon completely drunk.

Seeing that he had become unresponsive, Lan Xin smiled, pushed the person aside, and said coldly, “You kiss and touch, but you don’t want to give me a f*cking tip! You give me five hundred yuan and want me to leave with you, bah!” Then she picked up a cigarette neatly and held it in her mouth, yet the lighter couldn’t ignite it. She cursed annoyed and turned her face only to see A-Zhou standing at the door. Her red lips curled up, she crossed her legs and beckoned him over with a finger, “Come on, give Sister a cigarette.”

A-Zhou did not speak. He bent down and picked up the thin red coat thrown on the ground, walked over and put it on her. Then he took out a lighter with the inscription “Welcome to Lihao” from the pocket of his waist coat, lit the cigarette for her, and sat down beside her.

Lan Xin looked at him for a while and then asked, “What? Isn’t Sister good-looking?”

“I’m tired of looking.” 

Hearing his answer, she couldn’t help but chuckle. “You kid really…many people want to eat this old lady’s tofu, but you are an exception. Is it possible that you are really crooked? That Boss Tang has a soft spot for you.” 

“That’s his business,” A-Zhou said coldly.

Lan Xin smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and held the half-smoked cigarette to his mouth. “Take a puff.” Seeing him frown, she withdrew her hand and said, “Ok, I won’t play with you anymore. What about this fat guy? Fuck, I don’t want to be with him here, so fat and disgusting!”

A-Zhou fiddled with the lit ordering device in his hand and said, “Send him to the panoramic suite upstairs.”

“How could he order that…” At this point, Lan Xin seemed to suddenly wake up. Her red lips curled up. “You sure are a bad kid. But if he gets in trouble…”

“He is not a VIP here, no one cares.”

“You’re right.” She pinched the fat man’s face with her bright red nails and smiled. “Who made you take advantage of this old lady? This time I will make your wallet bleed.”

Lihao’s top three floors were top-notch guest rooms of various colors, providing the most “comprehensive” services to satisfy those high-profile guests who were intoxicated in the soft ambience and unwilling to sober up. They were quite expensive, costing tens of thousands. Fatty Zhang was just a small boss. He usually only hid some private money from his wife to fool around. He liked to use his hands and was very stingy, even reluctant to give tips. How would he dare to order such an expensive room? A-Zhou ordered it in his name while he was drunk. When he woke up and started making trouble, he would curse at Lan Xin and himself, but could only swallow down his grievances. As a result, he wouldn’t have any money to come to Lihao any time soon.

“Someone from guest rooms will come to pick him up, so you can get off work,” A-Zhou said.

“Yeah. YuanYuan is still waiting for me at home.” Lan Xin put on her clothes, took out a small mirror from her handbag, drew a wet wipe, and wiped off the lipstick and eye shadows, revealing a clean face that looked soft and gentle without the heavy makeup. Compared with the other escort girls, the 38-year-old was not young anymore, with a lot of fine lines around her eyes, and dull skin caused by the frequent use of inferior cosmetics. Before leaving, she waved and said, “Thank you.”

A-Zhou uttered an “um”. He was indifferent to everyone, but Lan Xin was an exception. She had helped him once, and he was a man who returned the favour.