Please, mature women, have some self-respect. I just want a raise and a promotion.

Lin Zheng stared at the blurry photo in the Nanshan project documents. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. It looked like Liu Kaishan, the low-profile vice president of the head office.

Zhang Wenshan's downfall at the Nanshan project was not simply due to corruption; there must be a much larger chain of interests behind it.

Lin Zheng secretly took a picture of the photo and saved it, already having a plan in mind.

He has just taken over a stalled project, and the foundation is not yet stable, so he must proceed cautiously step by step.

I had just put the documents away when my phone vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Lin Xiaoyu.

At 8 PM, at the usual place, I'll give you a copy of the secret accounts Zhang Wenshan didn't hand over back then. It's very important.

Lin Zheng felt a surge of warmth in his heart; Lin Xiaoyu was taking a risk to help him.

If Zhang Wanquan finds out, the consequences will be unimaginable.

He replied quickly: Okay, I'll be there on time.

At 7:50 p.m., Lin Zheng arrived at room 666 of the Huaiyang Hotel ahead of schedule.

He deliberately went around to the back door to make sure he wasn't being followed before pushing the door open and going in.

Lin Xiaoyu had arrived. She was wearing a beige silk dress, her long hair loosely tied back, her neck slender and graceful, and a faint scent of gardenias wafted in the air.

There was an encrypted USB drive on the table, which Lin Xiaoyu pushed in front of him.

"This contains all the shady dealings of the Nanshan project, as well as records of private transactions between Zhang Wenshan and Liu Kaishan. Keep it safe and don't let anyone else know about it."

Lin Zheng held the USB drive, his fingertips touching her warm hand, and the two of them paused simultaneously.

An ambiguous atmosphere quickly spread in the small private room.

Lin Xiaoyu's cheeks flushed, her eyes darting away, yet she couldn't help but look at Lin Zheng's muscular chest.

What she saw on the balcony last night was like a needle piercing her heart, keeping her awake all night.

Zhang Wanquan was in poor health, and the doctor had explicitly forbidden her from having sex for a year. She was at the age when she was most sexually active, and she had been suppressing her desires for far too long.

Lin Zheng, being young, strong, and composed, also saved Zhang Wanquan's life.

This sense of security and hormones was something she had never experienced before with Zhang Wan.

"Lin Zheng..."

Lin Xiaoyu's voice was as soft as a feather.

Do you think I'm shameless?

Lin Zheng's heart softened, and he reached out and gently took her hand.

"I understand you, you're just too lonely."

Lin Zheng's words struck a chord with Lin Xiaoyu, touching the softest spot in her heart.

She could no longer hold back and suddenly threw herself into Lin Zheng's arms, her warm tears falling onto his shirt.

"I lived like a widow for three years. Old Zhang had a woman outside and only cared about power. He rarely cared about me."

"That night, on a whim, he asked me to go to a hotel, and even medication couldn't help."

Lin Zheng gently patted her back. Her soft body pressed against him, and her faint fragrance filled his nostrils, making him feel hot all over.

Lin Xiaoyu looked up at him with teary eyes, her lips trembling slightly, and leaned closer.

The moment their soft lips touched, they both felt as if they had been struck by lightning.

Lin Zheng could no longer restrain himself. He leaned down and pressed her onto the sofa, his large hand slowly moving upwards along her slender waist.

Lin Xiaoyu trembled slightly, letting out a suppressed moan, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, responding passionately.

The silk dress slipped off her shoulders, revealing her fair and delicate skin, which shone so brightly under the warm lights that it was hard to open one's eyes.

Just as things were getting more intimate, a familiar set of footsteps and a man's voice suddenly came from outside the private room.

It's Zhang Wanquan!

Lin Zheng froze, his blood rushing to his head.

Lin Xiaoyu was so frightened that her face turned pale. She pushed Lin Zheng away abruptly, frantically pulled up her skirt, and hurriedly tidied her hair and clothes, her voice trembling.

"It's Old Zhang! What's he doing here!"

Lin Zheng quickly calmed down and whispered, "Hurry up and straighten your clothes. He shouldn't notice us."

Lin Xiaoyu nodded, quickly wiped away her tears, straightened her clothes, and walked to the door with a forced calm.

"Honey, what brings you here?"

Zhang Wanquan, holding a document in his hand, smiled and said, "I happened to be in a meeting nearby. I remembered you said you were going to deliver some documents to Lin Zheng, so I came to see if you two had finished talking. Let's go home together."

"We just finished talking and are getting ready to go back."

Lin Xiaoyu's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible panic.

Lin Zheng nodded to Zhang Wanquan, appearing calm on the surface, but his heart was pounding.

If Zhang Wanquan discovers that he and Lin Xiaoyu are having a secret rendezvous in a private room, he will lose all his support and projects, and he won't be able to stay in the entire Haidong City. He might even be falsely accused and thrown into jail.

Zhang Wanquan nodded in response and left with Lin Xiaoyu.

After the two men walked away, Lin Zheng slumped on the steps, panting heavily, his back completely soaked in cold sweat.

He took out his phone and saw a message from Lin Xiaoyu.

"Zhang Wanquan didn't discover our secret. You should leave now. I'll contact you next time."

Lin Zheng gripped his phone tightly, feeling both surprised and frightened, yet also experiencing a strange, indescribable thrill.

He had just stepped out of the hotel when his phone rang.

After the call connected, Zhang Xiaoli's panicked voice came through.

"Zhang Wenhai and Chen Kexin have completely fallen out."

"He reported to the head office the evidence that Chen Kexin had embezzled the compensation money for the deceased and forged your signature."

"Chen Kexin has gone mad too, she's exposed Zhang Wenhai's womanizing and embezzlement of project funds!"

Lin Zheng looked at the message and couldn't help but smile.

But he felt things weren't that simple. How could two people who were perfectly fine suddenly start tearing each other apart? It didn't make sense.

After ending the call with Zhang Xiaoli, Lin Zheng hailed a taxi and headed to the company.

At this moment, the office building of Tenghua Group's subsidiary is in complete chaos.

The head office investigation team arrived again, splitting into two groups and heading straight to the project department and the secretariat. The atmosphere in the entire company was extremely tense.

As soon as Lin Zheng entered the building, he saw the employees whispering to each other, looking flustered.

He remained calm and quietly entered the development department office.

Inside the office, Zhang Xiaoli was already waiting for him.

Upon seeing Lin Zheng return, she immediately approached him.

"Lin Zheng, you're finally here! That was terrifying!"

Zhang Xiaoli lowered her voice and recounted everything that had just happened.

It turned out that not long after Lin Zheng left after receiving Lin Xiaoyu's call, Zhang Wenhai went directly to the head office with evidence to report that Chen Kexin had concealed a worker's death accident and embezzled compensation money in the Nanshan project three years ago.

Upon learning this, Chen Kexin broke down on the spot and rushed to the head office, where she exposed all of Zhang Wenhai's secrets.

The two completely broke off relations and publicly hurled insults at each other in the office building lobby, spewing profanities and revealing all the company's dirty secrets from years past.

Zhou Xia is now panicked and is hiding in the temporary office, afraid to come out for fear of being implicated.

Zhang Xiaoli was still shaken: "Zhang Wenhai is a madman. He wants to die, but he wants to drag everyone down with him."

Lin Zheng couldn't help but laugh after hearing this.

"When dogs fight, they get all messy."

"The fiercer they fight, the better it is for us."

He had long anticipated that Zhang Wenhai and Chen Kexin would eventually fight to the death for the president's position.

I just didn't expect it to come so quickly and so completely.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Lin Zheng felt that something was not right.

Although Zhang Wenhai was ruthless, he was always cautious in his actions.

It's impossible to expose such fatal evidence without absolute certainty; that would be tantamount to cutting off one's own escape route.

Unless... someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes.