Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 15 - Miss Chen Has Run Away From Home
Chapter 15: Miss Chen Has Run Away From Home
Wen Liang didn’t stop, just shifted into a more comfortable position and kept kissing her, murmuring a vague “Hm?”
Chen Die kicked her leg a few times in protest. Only then did Wen Liang click his tongue, push himself up with his arms on either side of her, and look down. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m graduating soon,” Chen Die said softly, looking at him.
Wen Liang was silent for a moment. Then he sat up, grabbed his cigarette pack, lit one, and leaned lazily against the headboard, a half-smile on his face. “And?”
She replied quickly, “And the contract will expire.”
Wen Liang exhaled smoke, his face shrouded in the pale haze.
His eyes dropped, and his voice turned cold. “Chen Die, not everything is up for discussion.”
“I’m serious,” Chen Die said, biting her lip. Suddenly, she didn’t dare meet his gaze and turned her head away. “Wen Liang, being with you is exhausting.”
It was all so vague, like wind or clouds—impossible to hold onto.
“You want to break up with me?” he asked coolly.
Chen Die nodded.
He scoffed lightly. “Then why are you still in bed with me?”
Her heart pounded heavily a couple of times, and then her pulse became erratic, like it was about to leap out of her throat.
She had imagined how Wen Liang might react when she said she wanted to leave.
Maybe he’d rage, unwilling to lose control over her. Or maybe he’d just nod calmly and let her go. But she hadn’t expected this.
So calm, yet so mocking.
Her pride deflated like a balloon pricked with a needle. Chen Die sat up and threw off the blanket, ready to leave.
As soon as her hand came into view, wrapped in stark white gauze, Wen Liang’s eyes caught it.
His expression immediately darkened. He grabbed her neck and pulled her back—her head hit the pillow, and her body bounced twice on the mattress.
“What happened to your hand?”
Chen Die stayed silent.
Wen Liang’s voice dropped cold and sharp, filled with the threat of a storm. “Who did it?”
“Lin Quan,” Chen Die said honestly.
“Who?” He didn’t recognize the name right away.
“Chen Shuyuan’s mom.”
Wen Liang didn’t ask why. He just sneered and stubbed out his cigarette. “The Chen family’s like a damn ghost that won’t go away.”
He pulled over her right hand, the one wrapped in gauze, paused, then unwrapped it to reveal a three-centimeter-long gash. He frowned again and simply threw away the blood-stained gauze. “I’ll rewrap it for you tomorrow.”
Chen Die’s eyelashes trembled. She didn’t understand why he suddenly calmed down.
Then Wen Liang pulled her back into his arms, holding her tightly around the waist, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck like a soothing gesture. “Alright, stop fussing. I came home late and now you’re picking a fight. I’ll settle the score for you tomorrow.”
He lay down, pulled the blanket up, his voice low and tired: “Go to sleep. Stop messing with me.”
It slowly dawned on Chen Die—Wen Liang thought everything she said was just her being upset after getting mistreated outside and taking it out on him. He didn’t even care to ask what happened after she met Lin Quan.
He was too self-centered, too arrogant, to understand why the girl who once followed him without hesitation would now want to leave.
Chen Die opened her mouth, wanting to speak again, but the bitter tightness in her throat hit like a wave, and she could only stay silent.
The next day.
Wen Liang had a bid meeting to attend. When he left, Chen Die was still asleep, so he asked Aunt Zhang to help rewrap her hand later.
At the bidding venue.
Two large construction projects were up for bid—both lucrative. A lot of companies showed up.
“Mr. Wen, these are profiles of the competitors,” Zhu Qicong handed over the materials.
Wen Liang skimmed through casually and set them aside.
He always struck fast and precise with the projects he wanted, with enough presence to snatch meat from a tiger’s mouth—no one could beat him. Zhu Qicong had seen that ever since Wen Liang took over Wenyuan Group.
Soon, the host came on stage to announce the bid, followed by order-based presentations. Wen Liang sent Zhu Qicong up to speak.
Wen Liang had long set his sights on the hot spring resort project in this round. Their proposal was thorough, and the price was aggressive enough to shake the confidence of other bidders.
Sure enough, they won the bid swiftly.
“Mr. Wen, should we head back to the office now?” Zhu Qicong asked afterward.
“There’s a second round, isn’t there?” Wen Liang said calmly. “No rush.”
The second project opened for bidding.
The competition heated up.
Chen Ke raised his bid: “5.54 billion.”
A wave of murmurs spread through the room, but no one else raised their paddle.
Wen Liang narrowed his eyes and looked toward Chen Ke.
The only son of the Chen family patriarch, current chairman of the Chen Group—and Chen Die’s biological father.
The host began the countdown.
Wen Liang casually lifted his paddle. “5.8 billion.”
The room was stunned. Heads turned to look.
He had just won a project in the previous round, and now he was throwing out 5.8 billion? Most companies had their capital tied up in projects. Where was he getting all that liquidity?
Even Zhu Qicong was surprised.
He had already found it odd that Wen Liang didn’t leave after the first round. Now he realized—he was dropping 5.8 billion on a project they hadn’t even planned for.
“Mr. Wen,” he leaned in slightly and spoke in a low voice, “we haven't calculated the profit margin for this project.”
Wen Liang replied carelessly, “Profits are created, not estimated.”
Chen Ke raised his paddle again: “5.9 billion!”
Wen Liang countered immediately: “6 billion.”
Chen Ke was fuming, while his advisory team buried their heads to recalculate, clearly hesitant.
Not long after, the gavel struck three times—Wen Liang had won the bid.
No outsiders knew about the situation between the Wen and Chen families.
The Chen family considered it a disgrace, and Wen Liang couldn’t be bothered to explain, so no one knew that Chen Die was actually the real heiress of the Chen family—and that she was now living with Wen Liang.
After the bidding event ended and people began to leave.
Chen Ke walked straight toward Wen Liang.
The Chen Group had been determined to win this project and had already poured significant resources into it. They never expected Wen Liang to swoop in halfway through.
Spending 6 billion on that project was more likely to result in losses—and worse, it might disrupt the company’s entire financial operation.
“Mr. Wen.” Chen Ke stood in front of him.
Wen Liang lifted his eyes slightly.
Chen Ke said, “We’re all in business, Mr. Wen. Was it really necessary to do something that harms others without benefiting yourself?”
Wen Liang chuckled, “Hurting others, sure—I admit that. But who said it’s not beneficial to me? Instead of talking to me, perhaps you should go home and ask Mrs. Chen what she was doing yesterday.”
Chen Ke froze, looking completely bewildered, clearly unaware of what Wen Liang was referring to.
Wen Liang took a step closer and said in a low voice, “Do me a favor and tell Lin Quan—if she dares to upset Chen Die again, it won’t just be about snatching a project.”
After that, he glanced at Chen Ke with a half-lidded gaze and turned to leave.
Zhu Qicong hurried after him, completely confused.
Throwing 6 billion into an unplanned project on impulse was completely out of character for Wen Liang.
And how had Chen Die gotten tangled up with Mrs. Chen again?
But one thing was clear: this money was spent purely to vent Chen Die’s frustration.
Truly—spending a fortune just to win a smile.
It was clear now: the queen’s position was rock-solid. In all these years, Zhu Qicong had only ever seen Chen Die dare to act willful around Mr. Wen.
Once in the car, Zhu Qicong drove them out of the underground garage and headed toward the company.
Suddenly, from the back seat, Wen Liang, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, asked, “You have a girlfriend, right?”
Zhu Qicong almost thought he was hearing things. Since when did Mr. Wen ask such… human questions?
“Yeah, I do. We were college classmates.”
Wen Liang asked, “Do you guys fight?”
“Sometimes,” Zhu Qicong answered cautiously. He then remembered how he’d been working overtime nonstop preparing for this bid, and added, “She gets upset when I come home late from work.”
Which just so happened to fit Wen Liang’s line of thinking.
Wen Liang turned his head slightly. “What do you do?”
Zhu Qicong finally understood the reason behind this sudden conversation and chuckled helplessly, “I coax her. Dinner, a gift—usually that does the trick.”
Wen Liang fell silent, lips pressed together in thought. Then he said, “Don’t go to the office. Go home first.”
Zhu Qicong caught on and turned at the next intersection, heading toward the villa in the western suburbs.
He hesitated for a second, not sure if Chen Die would be home at this hour, so Wen Liang pulled out his phone and called her.
No answer.
He frowned, eyes narrowing.
The car pulled into the courtyard.
Before Zhu Qicong could fully park, Aunt Zhang came rushing out of the house. She glanced toward the car, and as Wen Liang stepped out, she hurried over to him.
She was holding a piece of paper.
On it was Chen Die’s handwriting: Aunt Zhang, I’ve left. Please take care of your health.
Flustered, she said quickly, “I was just tending to the flowers in the back garden and thought I’d wake Miss up afterward. But when I went upstairs, I saw this.”
Wen Liang stood beside the car, eyes cold and sharp. “Where did she go?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Aunt Zhang was practically gasping for breath. She hesitated for a long time before finally blurting out the last part: “I think Miss really ran away from home… There’s a lot less clothing in her wardrobe.”
----------
If you like my translation, please support me by buying me a coffee:
0 comments: