Chapter 83: A Gilded Chamber for a Hidden Beauty

When Zhao Lina hurriedly unlocked the front door, she found Guo Lin sitting at the computer in the living room, his face dark with anger.

As soon as he saw her come in, Guo Lin urgently waved her over. “Come here quickly. You know more about computers than I do. Take a look at this for me.”

“What happened?” Zhao Lina quickly set down her bag, changed into slippers, and walked over.

Guo Lin gritted his teeth. “There are suddenly a lot of people online accusing me of embezzlement, and saying I’m keeping a mistress—”

Zhao Lina’s heart tightened. Ever since she had gotten involved with Guo Lin, her greatest fear was having their secret exposed. Now that her own job was secure, with a permanent position, a home, and tens of thousands in savings, she dreaded losing everything if the truth came out.

Nervous as could be, Zhao Lina opened the browser and instinctively went to the most popular local forum in Haizhou. In the chat section, her eyes immediately landed on a prominent post: “Guo Lin, Director of Xiling Coal Mine: Corrupt, Abusing His Power, and Preying on Innocent Women. He Deserves Punishment.”

She opened the post, and Guo Lin anxiously scanned its contents with her.

The entire post was divided into three parts. The first detailed how Guo Lin had abused his position for personal gain: controlling personnel appointments at the mine and accepting “gifts” from subordinates; overseeing all procurement and taking hefty kickbacks; monopolizing the sale of processed coal from the washing plant and taking a cut from every ton sold.

The second part accused him of keeping a mistress outside—

The third part claimed he had an improper relationship with a young female teacher at City No. 5 High School.

Having served as a mine director for years, Guo Lin was no stranger to pressure. Though he’d been extremely tense at first, reading through the post, he felt half his worries dissipate.

Then Guo Lin slipped an arm around Zhao Lina’s waist, fondling her as he sneered, “There’s no real evidence here. He says I take bribes, kickbacks, and get a cut from coal sales—everyone at Xiling Coal Mine knows about this. But words alone mean nothing; you need proof. I’ve never feared accusations of corruption—only evidence of it.”

“And as for keeping a mistress—”

“As for the business about me and that teacher from No. 5 High School, it’s pure fabrication. That shows whoever’s behind this wants to take me down, but he doesn’t have the goods.”

Breathing lightly, Zhao Lina whispered in his ear, “Did you offend someone lately?”

“No!” Guo Lin replied between kisses, barely pausing, “Plenty of people would love to see me fall, but I haven’t crossed anyone recently.”

Zhao Lina, bent over, said in a halting voice, “Still, you have to be careful. I think you should find a way to get this stuff deleted from the internet. If someone uses it to cause trouble, you’ll be in a bad spot.”

Guo Lin, buried in her arms and panting, replied, “I’ll get someone to delete it all in a bit. The trouble is, they didn’t just post it on Haizhou sites—they put it up on Pengcheng and Jinling sites too. I doubt I can get it all wiped.”

Zhao Lina said, “Then communicate with your superiors. All this is baseless. Even if they investigate, they won’t find anything.”

“Yeah. I wonder which rat is trying to screw me over. Scared the hell out of me, but after reading it, I feel relieved.”

With that, Guo Lin patted Zhao Lina’s waist. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”

“No,” Zhao Lina pouted, deliberately pushing his hand away, a hint of annoyance in her voice. “You only look for me when you need something. Haven’t seen you in days. Are you avoiding me because I asked about building my family’s house?”

Guo Lin hurried to explain, “No way! I already have the money ready for you. My son was hospitalized after someone beat him up, so I’ve been running to the hospital every day. I just came from there.”

“Yuhang was beaten up?” Zhao Lina exclaimed. “Who would dare lay a hand on him?”

“Don’t mention it,” Guo Lin sighed. His son’s beating was a ridiculous mess: first, Li Mu thrashed him, then Yuhang tried to get revenge but ended up in the hospital after his own cronies turned on him. It was too humiliating to talk about.

Zhao Lina didn’t care much. In her eyes, Guo Yuhang getting beaten was only a matter of time. Years ago, when she tutored him, he’d been arrogant at fifteen, always trying to take advantage of her.

“My mother’s been calling me nonstop. My brother got his girlfriend pregnant and they need to get married, so the family needs money for a house. If you can, please give it to me soon so I can take it home.”

Guo Lin nodded. Zhao Lina had already told him about this, and he’d agreed. A hundred thousand wasn’t much; he could get that kind of money with a snap of his fingers.

“I’ve had the money ready. I’ll bring it to you after work tomorrow.”

“You’re the best!” Zhao Lina finally smiled, her eyes glowing as she led Guo Lin into the bedroom.

…

Guo Lin performed his duties as a man on Zhao Lina for five minutes, but for those five minutes, Zhao Lina had to spend nearly twenty beforehand using every trick she knew.

Thus, half an hour passed. In thirty minutes, a lot can happen. While Guo Lin was finding near-divine pleasure with Zhao Lina, Li Mu and Zhao Kang were exposing his affair online at lightning speed.

Xue Guilan was still at the hospital with her son when she got a call from her younger sister. As soon as she answered, her face tensed, then turned deathly pale, her breathing growing rapid.

Her sister, Xue Guifen, was the head of personnel at Xiling Coal Mine. An uneducated woman with only a middle school diploma, she’d gotten the job thanks to her older sister and brother-in-law. When she heard people discussing her brother-in-law’s scandal online, she rushed home to check, and was so terrified she nearly lost her senses. She immediately called her sister and recounted everything she’d seen.

At first, Xue Guilan thought it was just a smear campaign against her husband, since there wasn’t any solid evidence in the post. But when she heard the name Zhao Lina, her mind went blank—this was serious.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Zhao Lina had tutored her son about three and a half years ago. If someone was just making up rumors, how would they know about such a minor figure from years back?

Xue Guilan remembered that Zhao Lina hadn’t tutored for long—once she noticed the way her husband looked at the girl, and how he seemed overly concerned about her, she dismissed her early.

She’d thought she’d nipped her husband’s emotional infidelity in the bud, but never imagined that from that moment, he’d secretly started keeping that little vixen—

Furious, Xue Guilan pulled out her phone and dialed Guo Lin.

“Where are you?”

“I’m out on some important business.”

“Be home in ten minutes!”

Guo Lin was lying on Zhao Lina’s bed, his big belly exposed, when the call came. He hadn’t even thought of a lie before Xue Guilan hung up.

“That damn woman,” Guo Lin muttered, but still rolled off the bed.

“Leaving already?”

“Yeah. She probably found out about the online posts. I have to go back and explain, or she’ll make a scene.”

Zhao Lina pinched the fat on his inner thigh. “You’re always like this. You show up when you want, then leave right after, never caring about me.”

Guo Lin quickly hugged her, twirling her hair between his fingers. “Next time I’ll spend more time with you, I promise.”

“You said it,” Zhao Lina replied, suddenly as content as a child, her coquettishness making Guo Lin’s heart ache with affection.

This was the side of Zhao Lina he liked best—her special talent.

“I’ll go, then.”

“Don’t forget about my family’s house…”

“Don’t worry, I remember. I’ll bring the money tomorrow.”

At that moment, Guo Lin had no idea that his years of keeping a mistress—seducing his son’s tutor, who had been just a college student at the time—had been fully exposed online, sparking an uproar among gleeful onlookers.

He rushed home to find his wife, Xue Guilan, sitting on the sofa with a frosty expression. Guo Lin’s heart skipped a beat; he sensed that something was very wrong.

“Wife,” he said, lowering his head to change his shoes and muttering, “I don’t know which bastard is out to get me, spreading lies online—what rotten luck.”

Xue Guilan frowned. “Lies? Which part is a lie?”

Guo Lin knew at once she’d seen the online posts and suspected him of keeping a mistress.

He hastened to explain, “That bastard said I have a mistress—”

“Right, you didn’t mess around with the teacher from No. 5 High School—because you messed around with your son’s tutor!”

Guo Lin relaxed at the first half of her sentence, then froze at the second, sweat beading on his forehead.

“Who told you such nonsense? Our son’s so hopeless at his studies, when did we ever hire a tutor?”

“Don’t you play dumb! Zhao Lina from the teachers’ college!” Xue Guilan shouted, her fury palpable. After twenty years together, she could spot his lies instantly.

Guo Lin’s mind went blank. It was over…