Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 18 - Ex-boyfriend
Chapter 18: Ex-boyfriend
After dinner, Wen Liang made a trip back to the western suburbs.
Aunt Zhang had children of her own and didn’t live there regularly—she’d leave after making dinner. Now that Chen Die was gone and Wen Liang didn’t come home anymore either, she just came by each day to do a routine cleaning of the villa.
By the time Wen Liang got home, she was already gone.
The large house was empty and quiet. The living room was neat and orderly, exactly the same as usual.
Chen Die had lived in the western suburbs for the past six years, but now that she was gone, the house didn’t look any different at first glance. Realizing this, Wen Liang frowned slightly.
He tried to recall.
The only things that had really belonged to Chen Die in this house were the clothes, shoes, and bags in the wardrobe, the bottles and jars on the bathroom sink, and some schoolbooks from her student days.
Now, only the expensive designer items Wen Liang had gifted her were left in the closet— she hadn’t taken them.
Those were things he gave her on occasions like birthdays or New Year’s. Though he called them ‘gifts,’ they were never chosen with much thought. For someone like him, giving luxury items was the easiest and most thoughtless option—most were just picked out by his assistant and sent over.
Suddenly, he recalled the first time he ever gave Chen Die a gift.
She had been attending the high school he arranged for her for about a month, and during that time, Wen Liang had barely come home.
On one rare visit, Aunt Zhang had casually mentioned that Miss Chen was participating in a school event. Her classmates had encouraged her to perform a dance on stage, and she seemed quite worried about it, afraid she wouldn’t do well. Lately, she’d been staying after school to practice and had been coming home late.
Wen Liang hadn’t thought much of it at the time and soon forgot about it.
But the next day, he passed by a store and noticed a pair of ballet flats in the window—satin, with ribbon ties.
He bought them, and when he drove back to the villa, he happened to see the driver dropping Chen Die off.
The young girl still seemed shy around him. She’d just come from the school dance room, her bangs damp with sweat sticking to her forehead, her cheeks flushed.
Wen Liang glanced at her and turned to enter the house.
Chen Die followed behind. She’d seen Wen Liang no more than five times before, but from how people around her talked and acted, she knew he wasn’t easy to approach. She didn’t dare disturb him and quietly greeted Aunt Zhang before preparing to head upstairs.
“You can’t see me?” Wen Liang suddenly spoke. Though he wasn’t even looking at her, his voice carried a commanding tone that left no room for question.
Chen Die stopped, turned back, and slowly walked over to stand beside him, as if being punished: “Brother Wen Liang.”
That last word, ‘brother,’ was so soft it was nearly inaudible.
She was too embarrassed to say it with the usual cutesy double syllables. She always just said ‘Brother Wen Liang’ once, plainly.
Wen Liang tossed the bag in his hand onto the table.
A white bag with a simple outline of a ballerina on the front. The drawstring was the same silky material as the ballet shoe ribbons—very delicately packaged.
Chen Die didn’t react right away and just stood there.
Wen Liang tilted his chin slightly. “Open it.”
She followed his words step by step, pulling open the drawstring. Inside was a rectangular box with a picture of ballet shoes on it.
She suddenly realized what it was, her eyes went wide, and she quickly turned to look at him.
Wen Liang maintained his usual calm expression, unmoved.
She opened the box, and inside was indeed a pair of beautiful, delicate dance shoes—so lovely she barely dared to touch them.
“These are for me?”
Wen Liang raised an eyebrow. “Who else would wear them, me?”
She let out a small laugh, gently lifted the shoes, touched them, then quickly put them back in the box and closed the lid. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him.
“Thank you.” Her cheeks were a little red, and she bit her lip before softly saying again, “Brother Wen Liang.”
That was probably the happiest she had ever looked receiving a gift from him.
Later on, when she thanked him, she would only smile faintly—those bright, lively little expressions gradually faded away.
Wen Liang went upstairs and entered the guest room—before their relationship had soured, Chen Die had always slept here. Later, her university textbooks were also stacked in the room.
The moment he stepped in, he saw the shoe rack next to the wardrobe.
The dance shoes sat there, all alone.
She hadn’t taken them.
There weren’t many things in this house that truly belonged to Chen Die.
She probably never really saw this place as her home.
After six years, she had taken everything with her in just a single suitcase.
In the end, Wen Liang didn’t sleep at the western suburbs villa.
She was already gone—sleeping in the bed they once shared would just feel pathetically sentimental. The very thought disgusted him.
He woke up in his downtown apartment.
And got a call from Wen Huaiyuan, telling him to come home for lunch.
Wen Huaiyuan was still displeased about the last bidding incident, but with his health deteriorating day by day, he lacked the strength to properly manage the company anymore.
Wen Liang acknowledged him with a brief reply and drove back to the main residence for lunch.
The servants were momentarily stunned to see him return. After a brief pause, someone finally called out, “Young Master.”
“You’re here.”
Although Wen Huaiyuan had been ill for quite a while, his voice remained deep and steady.
“Mm,” Wen Liang responded.
Wen Huaiyuan turned to a servant and said, “Go call Madam and the young master downstairs for lunch.”
Wen Liang pulled out a chair and sat at the dining table.
“You haven’t had a meal at home in a long time,” Wen Huaiyuan said. “You should come back and join us more often.”
Wen Liang had heard such polite words too many times before—he didn’t even have the energy to feign a response anymore.
Soon, Wen Qian and Fu Wanmei came down the stairs of the duplex.
Fu Wanmei was dressed in a refined suit. The moment she saw Wen Liang, her expression turned cold. Wen Qian, however, greeted him cheerfully, “Brother.”
Fu Wanmei walked straight to the table without even glancing at Wen Liang, completely ignoring his presence.
Wen Qian tugged lightly on her sleeve and whispered, “Mom, don’t be like this.”
Fu Wanmei let out a cold snort.
The meal hadn’t lasted long before Wen Huaiyuan finally got to the point. “A-Liang, what’s going on with that project in East City? Can the company manage the funds?”
“We can,” Wen Liang said simply, without elaborating.
“I heard you snatched that project from Chen Ke?”
Fu Wanmei sneered, her tone sharp and mocking: “He even dared to run off with Chen Ke’s daughter. What can’t he do?”
Wen Huaiyuan frowned. In his view, that whole affair had been a stain. His own son, acting like some thug, had taken that young, underage girl into his own home back then—and from that point on, the Wen and Chen families had been at odds.
Wen Qian tried to smooth things over. “Mom, brother already knows it was wrong. Let’s not bring up the past.”
“What do you know?”
“It’s true. Brother already broke up with that woman.”
Wen Huaiyuan was stunned. “What happened?”
“I saw her on the news,” Wen Qian explained. “She’s on some TV show now. People are still talking about it.”
Wen Huaiyuan didn’t follow entertainment news and frowned as he looked at Wen Liang. “What’s going on?”
“It is what it is,” Wen Liang replied flatly, his tone void of emotion.
Wen Qian glanced at their father’s face.
As soon as Wen Huaiyuan learned that Wen Liang and Chen Die had broken up, his expression relaxed visibly.
Trying to play the role of the respectful younger brother, Wen Qian added helpfully, “But that woman’s in the entertainment industry now, always in front of the camera. If she says something that hurts Brother’s reputation, wouldn’t that be bad? Maybe we should give her some money to keep quiet.”
Wen Liang found it laughable.
Fu Wanmei and Wen Qian—one played good cop, the other bad cop. It was obvious they were just trying to impress the old man, hoping he’d hand over his remaining shares to the younger son.
“Wen Qian.”
Leaning back in his chair, Wen Liang said just two words, and the tension in the room instantly thickened.
The dining table fell silent.
Wen Liang fixed his gaze directly on him, his eyelids lowering into a faint crease. “You think I need advice from you?”
Wen Huaiyuan slammed the table. “Wen Liang! That’s no way to talk to your brother!”
Wen Qian turned pale, mouth opening as if to speak, his face full of grievance. Just as he was about to say something, Wen Liang cut him off coldly. “Shut up.”
His expression remained calm, but his gaze was chilling.
Wen Qian had been spoiled since childhood. Even though Fu Wanmei had taught him to be scheming, when it came to actual presence and authority, he was nowhere near Wen Liang’s level.
Wen Liang had lost his mother at a young age and was never favored at home. He moved out early and grew into the sharp, rebellious figure he was now.
Fu Wanmei shot a glare at Wen Huaiyuan.
But before he could say anything else, Wen Liang stood up and walked out of the house.
The surrounding servants exchanged nervous glances—none dared to speak, let alone stop him.
The three people at the table remained frozen until they heard a loud slam as the door shut behind Wen Liang. Wen Huaiyuan sighed and finally waved his hand. “Eat, let’s eat.”
Meanwhile, Chen Die was getting along well with Fang Ruan these days.
Tomorrow, she would officially join the filming crew. The set was at the film and TV base in Yan City.
“Check if you’re missing anything,” Fang Ruan urged.
Chen Die had rented a small apartment after moving out of Xia Ying’s place. She was lazily sitting by the couch and replied, “If I forgot something, I’ll just come back and get it. It’s so close anyway.”
“They’ll be filming nonstop—how will you have time to come back and get anything?”
Only then did Chen Die finally move her precious self and start checking her luggage, sitting cross-legged on the fluffy carpet.
Fang Ruan sat beside her, unable to resist her gossipy curiosity. “So, what’s really going on between you and Mr. Chen?”
Lately, people at the company had been speculating too.
According to HR, it was Mr. Chen Shao who personally called her in for an interview.
While it wasn’t surprising for someone with her credentials to get signed, the fact that they both had the surname ‘Chen’ made things feel a bit more... intriguing.
“Just a superior-subordinate relationship,” Chen Die answered quickly.
Fang Ruan rolled her eyes. “Are you his sister or something?”
Chen Die didn’t even blink. “If I were his sister, would I be living here?”
“…”
Hard to argue with that.
Fang Ruan was convinced.
She flopped backward onto the couch and lay there staring at the ceiling. Just then, a phone rang. She grabbed it and tossed it to Chen Die.
Chen Die glanced at the caller ID—her eyelashes fluttered slightly.
“Aunt Zhang,” she answered.
“Oh, Miss!” Aunt Zhang sounded surprised she’d picked up. After a long pause, she finally said, “You need to come back, please! Young Master returned to the main house and is furious right now. Only you can calm him down!”
Chen Die took a sip of water, eyes lowered. “I’m not going back, Aunt Zhang.”
“Miss, I’ve watched you and the Young Master all these years. Whatever’s going on, can’t we just sit down and talk it through? Clear up the misunderstanding?”
“There is no misunderstanding between us.”
As Chen Die looked up, she met Fang Ruan’s burning, gossip-filled gaze.
“…”
She got up, walked into the bathroom, locked the door, leaned against it, and whispered, “Aunt Zhang, what do you think the relationship is between Wen Liang and me?”
There was silence on the other end.
Chen Die gave a soft laugh. “See? Even you can’t call it a romantic relationship.”
Aunt Zhang fumbled for words. “Eh… it’s not exactly like that…”
“Let him be mad. He doesn’t lose control like he used to—nothing serious will happen. Don’t worry.”
Chen Die ended the call and walked back out, only to be greeted by Fang Ruan’s curious stare again.
Even though she hadn’t heard the other end of the call clearly, that one line—“I’m not going back”—was already enough to stir the imagination.
Fang Ruan said, “You’re not secretly some runaway heiress, are you?”
To be fair, it wasn’t such a wild guess. There was something about Chen Die—her temperament, her bearing—that screamed she wasn’t raised in an ordinary household.
Chen Die gave her a sideways glance. “Why don’t you just go ask Chen Shao yourself?”
Fang Ruan gasped. “Calling the boss by his full name? You must be his sister—case closed.”
“......”
The next day, Chen Die officially joined the film crew.
Since she lived in Yan City, she was one of the first main actors to arrive.
“Here she is, our leading lady!” Director Feng Zhi liked her a lot—he immediately rallied the crew to give her a warm round of applause when she entered, which made Chen Die a little shy.
After heading to the dressing room to change into costume, she sat in front of the mirror to start her makeup.
Soon, Qi Cheng and Wang Yunxi arrived as well.
This film was a female-led coming-of-age story. Early on, Chen Die’s look wasn’t particularly flattering—intentionally styled that way. Wang Yunxi’s role, on the other hand, was even more exaggerated in appearance.
Once Wang Yunxi finished her makeup, she immediately went live. Her livestream quickly filled with excited fans:
[Ahhhh, Sister, I’m here!!]
[You look amazing!! The hair accessories—are you filming already?!]
[Is Brother Qi there too??]
Wang Yunxi smiled and responded, “Yes, today’s the first official day of filming.”
She turned the camera toward Qi Cheng, who warmly greeted the fans.
The film’s official announcement had already introduced Chen Die as the female lead.
Viewers soon spotted her in the background of Wang Yunxi’s stream—Chen Die was also getting her makeup done, but her early-film styling was clearly ‘uglified.’
Especially when standing in stark contrast to Wang Yunxi, who was in bright, ornate clothing.
[That cooking show filter really did too much. Look how Sister Yunxi’s beauty totally crushes the new girl.]
[Ugh, crying again today over Yunxi’s goddess face.]
[Why is Yunxi just a supporting character to a rookie?]
[+1. And our Brother Qi, too? He’s doing romantic scenes with a newcomer??]
Wang Yunxi was happily reading through the live comments when the dressing room door suddenly opened. The director walked in.
“Let me give you all a formal introduction—this is the producer of our film.”
Feng Zhi stepped aside, and a young man walked in behind him. His voice was smooth and cheerful: “Hello, everyone, I’m Lu Chuan.”
Chen Die: “?”
Wang Yunxi stood up in surprise. “Director Lu is producing? I loved the two films you directed—I cried every time I watched them.”
Lu Chuan gave a modest smile. “Thank you.”
Then he nodded politely to the group, apologized for the interruption, and walked straight over to Chen Die.
“Nervous?” he asked.
“Not really.”
Wang Yunxi’s phone was still livestreaming, and the chat exploded.
[What’s going on?? Chen Die has serious connections—she knows Lu Chuan?!]
[They went to the same school.]
[Someone go search online—there were rumors about her a while back, and Lu Chuan personally stepped in to clear them up. Their relationship must be pretty good.]
[Chen Die… I’m jealous. She gets the romantic BGM with Brother Qi and has someone like Lu Chuan on her side. Being pretty really does open all doors.]
[Honestly, people shouldn’t judge—Chen Die’s styling still works. She looks down-and-out, but beautiful.]
[I thought she looked good, too! But everyone else was calling her ugly, so I stayed quiet…]
Wang Yunxi grew increasingly annoyed. She quickly said goodbye to her fans and ended the stream.
With Lu Chuan on set, Chen Die felt noticeably more at ease during filming that day.
He was a director who really knew how to explain scenes—just a few lines from him helped Chen Die fully grasp her character’s mindset.
And with her natural acting talent—something her teachers had always praised in school—and the additional company training she’d received.
Everything went smoothly.
Her scenes for the day wrapped up, and the rest of the shoot focused on Qi Cheng and Wang Yunxi. The director went off to arrange the set.
Since Lu Chuan was the only person on the crew she actually knew, Chen Die naturally gravitated toward him.
He was watching footage from earlier.
Chen Die leaned over to take a look.
“Not bad,” Lu Chuan complimented.
Chen Die smiled. “Your direction was good.”
Lu Chuan chuckled, paused the video, and turned his head to look at her. “When did you start being so polite with me?”
Chen Die thought about it. “I feel like I’ve always been polite with you.”
After watching a few more takes, Chen Die asked casually, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier you were coming on as producer?”
“I wasn’t planning to at first. Director Feng asked me a few times, and since one of my other gigs got canceled, I figured I’d come. Also…” He paused slightly, then added softly, “You’re here too.”
Chen Die immediately sensed something odd in his tone.
Then he followed up with, “I heard you and your boyfriend broke up?”
If she couldn’t pick up on it now, she’d have to be clueless.
Her friend Xia Ying had once teased her, saying Lu Chuan probably liked her—but Chen Die never thought much of it. Sure, Lu Chuan was always nice to her, but he was nice to everyone, so it never seemed like anything special. Plus, he’d always known she had a boyfriend.
But this question? This was a fastball straight down the middle.
“Yeah.” Chen Die nodded. “How’d you find out?”
“Saw it on the school forum.”
“You still check the forums?” she laughed, surprised.
“Only occasionally,” Lu Chuan smiled too. “But you’re kind of a campus celeb—there’s always something about you on the homepage.”
Chen Die’s lips curved into a faint smile, but she didn’t say anything more.
Then Lu Chuan suddenly asked, “So, are you single now?”
Chen Die didn’t play coy. She didn’t believe in that kind of ambiguous back-and-forth. They were adults—being straightforward made things a lot easier.
“If you keep talking like that, I’ll get tormented to death by Chen Shuyuan,” she said.
Lu Chuan hadn’t expected that response and burst out laughing.
“Nothing is going on between me and her.”
“But she’s been into you for four years.”
Lu Chuan sighed. “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” Chen Die laughed. “That’s all you have to say?”
“Don’t laugh. It’s actually been kind of frustrating for me.”
“Why?”
Objectively, Chen Shuyuan was attractive, came from a good family, and didn’t crazily chase after him—she played the ‘long-term support role’ with remarkable patience.
“I made it very clear she’s not my type. But she still stuck around for four years. I guess… maybe it’s the guilt—knowing I can’t reciprocate makes me feel bad sometimes.”
Lu Chuan really was a gentleman, through and through.
Chen Die suddenly thought of her own relationship with Wen Liang. She could kind of relate now.
Just then, Fang Ruan walked over holding Chen Die’s phone from the lounge. “You have a call.”
The screen showed an unfamiliar number—no contact name—but Chen Die recognized it instantly. The moment she saw it, her heart skipped a beat.
Lu Chuan noticed her hesitation. “Who is it?”
“My ex,” Chen Die said lightly.
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