Gu Minxuan had to admit that Lin Zhou’s endurance was impressive. To keep everyone from tearing off their masks, she was doing her utmost to restrain herself. He was curious: under what circumstances would Lin Zhou stop wearing that mask, stop enduring because of his status? Where exactly was her bottom line? What kind of woman was she? Did she love money, or was she vain?
“I heard your annual salary is close to a million. Assistant Lin, while we maintain this kind of relationship, I can give you ten times your current salary. How about it?” Gu Minxuan deliberately threw out a more tempting offer. If it were another woman, he wouldn’t even need to name such a number.
Lin Zhou’s gaze turned several degrees colder, yet a pleasant smile curved her lips. The angrier she felt inside, the calmer she appeared on the surface. “President Gu, the terms are very tempting. How about we discuss it again when we get back to the apartment?”
Gu Minxuan was taken aback and, unexpectedly, felt a little displeased. He naturally loosened his grip on Lin Zhou’s hand, suddenly finding it all rather pointless. “Fine.” When he turned away, his expression was far from pleasant. The fact that this could even be discussed disappointed him greatly. He was very disappointed in Lin Zhou.
There were far too many beautiful women who loved money. As the eldest young master of the Gu family, he had no interest in them at all.
Of course, Lin Zhou didn’t see his ugly expression, just as he didn’t see her clenching her fist when she withdrew her hand, or the anger blazing in her eyes.
Lin Zhou rubbed her right hand with some disdain and got out of the car quickly after Gu Minxuan did.
Gu Minxuan stood at the front of the car waiting for her. Lin Zhou walked up gracefully in her high heels. Before Gu Minxuan could react, she turned abruptly, raised her right hand, and slammed a punch into his abdomen. She followed with a spinning kick that dropped him to one knee. Shifting to the side, she hooked his left shoulder, exerted force, and executed a brutal shoulder throw.
Gu Minxuan’s back hurt, his knee hurt, and his abdomen hurt as well. Lying on the floor clutching his stomach, he stared in disbelief at Lin Zhou, who stood before him rubbing her wrist and looking down at him from above.
Her face was icy as she swept a cold glance over the disheveled Gu Minxuan. “President Gu, do you really think that just because I slept with you once, I’d be willing to be your mistress? What kind of blind confidence does that take?”
Gu Minxuan grimaced in pain, yet a smile still crept onto his face. Lin Zhou rejected him and even beat him up, but he was inexplicably happy. At least she wasn’t the kind of woman who would become someone’s mistress just for money.
Still, he insisted on courting death with his words. “Ten million a year, Assistant Lin. Stay with me for three years and you won’t have to work for the rest of your life. Isn’t that good?”
Lin Zhou sneered. “Three years with you?” She laughed at his naivety. “If I needed to earn money that way, wouldn’t Chairman Feng be a better choice?”
Lin Zhou had helped Feng Hexu manage his harem and knew very well that the money he spent on those women was never less than tens of millions. If she truly wanted to earn that kind of money, why wouldn’t she become Feng Hexu’s mistress instead?
When the twenty-two-year-old Lin Zhou met the thirty-seven-year-old Feng Hexu, he had been handsome, suave, and successful, no less impressive than Gu Minxuan was now. He had money and charm in abundance. If she wanted to, why wouldn’t being Feng Hexu’s mistress be an option?
But Lin Zhou was proud. She would rather struggle step by step to build a small home with Chengdu. What she wanted was a lifetime with one person, not a marriage where the wife remained at home while mistresses flourished outside.
Feng Hexu was far too promiscuous. He could only ever be her boss.
As for Gu Minxuan, who bluntly asked her to be his mistress, he was even less worthy.
If not for that night of drunken confusion, there would never have been that moment of absurdity. Having a physical relationship with Gu Minxuan was absolutely impossible for Lin Zhou when she was sober.
The smile on Gu Minxuan’s lips widened. Enduring the pain, he stood up and reached out to grab Lin Zhou, but she took a step back.
“President Gu, was I too gentle just now and made you think I was holding back?” Lin Zhou looked utterly disgusted. If she weren’t thinking about the fact that Gu Minxuan still had to go to work at the company, she would have beaten him until his teeth were scattered all over the floor, preferably leaving him with panda eyes so he couldn’t show his face again.
Gu Minxuan said shamelessly, “You did hold back.” Now he knew exactly where Lin Zhou’s bottom line was.
Such an interesting woman made his heart itch. For the first time in his life, he said something he believed he would never say. “If you won’t be my mistress, how about being my girlfriend?”
Lin Zhou shot him a sideways glance and replied with a fake smile. “President Gu, any relationship that isn’t aimed at marriage is just hooliganism. If money didn’t work, you want to freeload instead?”
Lin Zhou was no longer a twenty-year-old girl. How many rich young masters like Gu Minxuan had she seen by Feng Hexu’s side? How many of them truly dated?
Aside from figures like Feng Hexu, who were successful enough that no one could suppress them, the marriages of other young masters were never truly their own decisions. They had to obey their parents and elders.
Were their marriages free? Dating might be free, but marriage? Don’t be ridiculous. Too many interests were involved. Even if a young master truly fell in love, he might not withstand family pressure.
Lin Zhou didn’t believe in fairy tales of Cinderella and the prince. As the eldest son of the Gu family and the future heir of Gu Corporation, Gu Minxuan’s wife would have to come from a distinguished family. What’s more, who was Gu Minxuan? She had heard that he had never had a girlfriend, yet had many mistresses. She certainly wouldn’t believe that a man who drifted through countless flowers without touching a single leaf would settle down because of her.
Dating was nothing more than an excuse to maintain a physical relationship.
So clear-headed. Gu Minxuan had never met a woman like Lin Zhou, one who neither loved money nor blindly believed a man’s empty promises.
If his mother had possessed even half of Lin Zhou’s rationality, perhaps his fate would have been entirely different. He actually felt a bit envious of her clear-mindedness.
Gu Minxuan fell silent. He truly couldn’t promise her marriage. He had never planned to marry in this lifetime. At least, up to now, no woman had ever made him want to.
If Lin Zhou were willing to give it a try with him, he could also try dating with marriage as the goal.
He hesitated, thinking deeply. Long-held beliefs were shaken without warning, and for a moment, even Gu Minxuan felt lost.
Seeing that he didn’t answer, Lin Zhou snorted coldly and turned to leave. She knew it. Gu Minxuan was simply thinking with his libido. Men who thought with their lower bodies were all trash.
“Lin Zhou, let’s date, with marriage as the goal!” Gu Minxuan shouted after her, clutching his stomach.
Lin Zhou found it laughable. If she believed Gu Minxuan’s nonsense, she’d be an idiot. “President Gu, have you ever dated? Do you know what dating is? Do you know what marriage is? Do you know what marriage means?”
Dating was mutual affection, admiration and love for each other, longing day and night, desire for one another. She and Gu Minxuan had none of that. They weren’t mutually in love, didn’t admire or adore each other, and had no particular longing. Dating? If she foolishly dated him under the banner of marriage just to satisfy his physical desires, then she would be the one with something wrong in her head.