Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 40 - @WenyuanGroupOfficial Weibo
Chapter 40: @WenyuanGroupOfficial Weibo
Chen Die’s chin hurt from his bite, and with both hands pinned down so she couldn’t move, she could only lift her leg to kick him.
But Wen Liang seemed to predict it in advance, easily trapping her legs as well.
Now, Chen Die was like a little shrimp on the chopping block, completely at his mercy.
She had no idea how things had escalated to this point.
Clearly, it was Wen Liang who shamelessly came looking for her, yet now she was the one pinned down in a mess, her mouth aching from his bites.
He really was like a dog.
Wen Liang sat on her, casually holding both her wrists in one hand. Then he asked, “Where’s your phone?”
Chen Die glared at him, not wanting to talk.
Wen Liang wasn’t bothered. He glanced around, then pulled her phone out from under her head, unlocking the screen. “What’s the password?”
“You interrogating me now?” Chen Die tried moving her wrists, clearly annoyed.
“No, just want you to behave,” Wen Liang said with a carefree smile. “With that temper of yours, I should tie you up every time I talk to you, save myself from getting slapped again.”
Chen Die fumed, “Get lost.”
Wen Liang tsked. It was a four-digit code, and he casually tried a few combinations.
He tried both of their birthdays. No luck.
His expression tightened slightly as he recalled the year they met and some key dates, but the system still showed ‘incorrect password.’
“One more try before it locks,” Wen Liang said, shaking the phone.
Chen Die replied, “Why should I tell you? Did you ever tell me your password?”
“If you wanted to see it, I’d just register your fingerprint,” he replied nonchalantly.
“…” Chen Die was speechless. “Why do you even want to check my phone?”
“To take myself off your block list.”
Chen Die wriggled her arms. “Let me go, I’ll enter it.”
Wen Liang glanced at her, then let go. Chen Die finally freed herself, took the phone, and typed in the code.
Wen Liang looked over. “9523 — what does it mean?”
“Not telling you.” She paused, then removed his number and WeChat ID from her block list. “There. Happy? Now leave. If someone sees you, there’s no way to explain it.”
“You didn’t use to kick me out,” Wen Liang said, watching her.
Chen Die shot back quickly, “You didn’t use to need kicking out.”
Silence fell between them. After a while, Wen Liang sighed, reached up to pinch her neck gently, and said in a weary, compromising tone, “Can you stop making me mad?”
Who was making who mad!
Chen Die instantly geared up for battle, but before she could say anything, he continued, “I’ve never chased anyone before, don’t even know how to do it right. Don’t keep stabbing me with your words.”
Chen Die clapped sarcastically, full of rebellion: “Wow, amazing. So you’re chasing me? You should’ve said something — I thought you were trying to kill me just now.”
“…”
“Kissing me before you even manage to catch me?” She wiped her lips with the back of her hand hard. “At this rate, you’ll be rounding all the bases in a couple of days!”
But the second she said it, Chen Die realized something was wrong.
Not only had they already rounded all the bases, but it was originally her bold initiative that made it happen.
She looked up and sure enough — met Wen Liang’s meaningful gaze.
“......”
Big mistake.
Fortunately, a call came in just then. Wen Liang answered it and, after hanging up, said to her, “If you get cold, let me know. Try to sleep early — I’ve got some things to take care of.”
With that, he stood, lifted the tent flap, and left.
Chen Die pulled the tent flaps tightly shut again, took off her coat, and finally lay down.
Outside, only the wind could be heard, but her heart wouldn’t settle.
She raised her hand to her lips, her heart pounding. Shock and anger had just passed, but now her chest felt like something was about to leap out.
She lay there, her mind spinning with thoughts.
Then her phone buzzed again. It was a message from Wen Liang, now freshly added back as a contact.
[Wen Liang: Teach me how to chase someone I like.]
[Wen Liang: After tomorrow’s shoot, want to head back to Yan City together?]
Someone he liked…
This damn man, sometimes he acts like a dog, sometimes like a person.
Chen Die swiped her screen again, and the password input interface popped up.
9523.
She had been using this password for a long time. Her first phone had been bought by Wen Liang, and since she didn’t really have any secrets, setting a password was just for fun.
Her first password had been Wen Liang’s birthday, but she used it for only half a day before realizing it was too easy to guess, so she changed it.
She thought for a while about what the new password should be.
There were plenty of options — her own birthday, or something more obscure — but she had been determined to have it be something related to Wen Liang.
Later, Chen Die figured that since both she and Wen Liang used the 26-key pinyin keyboard, to make it less obvious, she’d base the password on the 9-key layout instead.
“Wen Liang” was 95;
“Chen Die” was 23.
And so, 9523 became her password — and had remained so for years.
So long that she eventually used fingerprint unlock and hadn’t typed the four digits in a long time. It was only when Wen Liang asked just now that the memory rushed back.
Chen Die didn’t know exactly what it was about Wen Liang that held such a strange allure for her.
But she just couldn’t forget him. As long as he was around, no one else existed in her line of sight.
So, maybe it was worth giving each other another chance.
Chen Die held her phone, staring at the two messages he’d sent for a long while before replying.
[Chen Die: Okay.]
The next morning, sleeping in a tent was never comfortable. Chen Die woke at six and unzipped the flap to step outside.
After freshening up, the other three started getting up as well.
Ran Liming stretched as he came down the stairs. “Did you sleep well last night?”
“There’s no way to sleep well in a tent,” Chen Die shrugged.
Ran Liming laughed, “True. If your luck’s still that bad next time, I’ll swap rooms with you.”
Chen Die waved her hand casually. “You might as well join forces with me to get Lin Qingye into the tent instead.” Just thinking about it made her annoyed. “Can’t believe that game let him freestyle lyrics on the spot. No way he’s actually putting that line into his new album.”
Li Cong, who was also nearby, chuckled along.
He was a singer too and had known Lin Qingye for a while. They were in the same company, so he was familiar with the progress of Lin Qingye’s new album.
He chimed in, “Definitely not. All the tracks for his album were finalized ages ago — it’s about to release.”
“......”
Just as she thought.
Chen Die walked to the counter to grind herself a cup of coffee. She had to admit, this kind of slow-paced variety show was actually pretty relaxing — aside from having to sleep in a tent.
“Do you guys want coffee?” she asked.
Li Cong raised his hand, “Sure.”
Chen Die poured him a cup and brought it over. He thanked her.
She lazily cradled her own cup and settled into the hanging chair by the floor-to-ceiling window, glancing around. “Where’s Lin Qingye?”
Li Cong tilted his chin toward the backyard, teasing in a low voice, “Sneaking in a call to his girlfriend.”
Chen Die followed his gaze.
The backyard was beautifully decorated in a Nordic style. Around a stone bench were all kinds of greenery and flowers, with scattered fallen leaves covering the bench.
Lin Qingye was casually sitting on the leaf-covered stone bench. The winter sunlight poured down, making him look utterly relaxed, a bit of a lazy smile on his face.
Chen Die turned her head away and took a sip of coffee.
Falling in love really was a nice thing.
But she couldn’t picture what it would be like to be in love with Wen Liang.
He was hard and rigid from the inside out — didn’t even seem like someone capable of dating.
Later that morning, after brunch, the production team sent them their next mission: to go to the local market and buy ingredients.
So Chen Die and Li Cong went together while the other two stayed behind to prep the fire outside.
The list of ingredients was full of rare items or ones with unfamiliar scientific names. It took Chen Die and Li Cong quite a while to track them all down, with plenty of laughs along the way.
By the time they got back, Ran Liming and Lin Qingye had already set up the grill.
In addition, near the camera setup, beside the main and assistant directors, sat a man.
Wen Liang.
Chen Die gave him a glance but didn’t say anything, following Li Cong over to help out.
“Come on, put the meat straight on the grill,” Ran Liming, who clearly had grilling experience, took the lead — flipping, basting, and finally handing over the first skewer of grilled chicken wings to Chen Die. “Ladies first.”
“Thanks,” she said.
Ran Liming looked at her expectantly. “How’s it taste?”
Chen Die took a bite and gave him a thumbs up. “Impressive.”
As everyone prepared the ingredients, they chatted casually and ended up talking about the recently popular movie <Hairpin Flowers>.
Li Cong asked, “What was the final box office number? Almost two billion, right?”
Chen Die smiled. “Not quite. 1,9 billion.”
Ran Liming laughed and teased himself, “I’ve acted in several movies, and all my box office numbers combined still don’t match your one film.”
They continued preparing lunch and chatting around the table.
Under Li Cong’s lead, everyone exchanged WeChat contacts. The other three were more senior and had crossed paths with each other at various events before, so they were already connected. But Chen Die didn’t have many friends in the entertainment industry on her WeChat.
She added all three of them and set notes for each.
The conversation naturally circled back to <Hairpin Flowers>, and before long, someone brought up Qi Cheng.
He was a hot topic lately. For the sake of variety show content, Li Cong steered the conversation toward Chen Die. She had answered many related questions in recent interviews, so she handled it smoothly.
“Oh right,” Ran Liming said, “speaking of Qi Cheng, there’s a funny story. His debut role was actually alongside me — I played his older brother.” He took a swig of beer. “The production team accidentally left a close-up of his phone screen in the final cut, and his number got leaked. He got harassed for ages.”
Li Cong laughed. “Then what?”
“He changed his number — what else could he do? But the last four digits of the new one just happened to be the same, and his die-hard fans actually guessed it again. Who knows how many combinations they tried?”
“9523?” Li Cong glanced at his contacts list as he said it.
Ran Liming shot him a sideways glare and asked seriously, “Are you a little slow?”
Li Cong quickly realized what he’d said and clapped his hands together above his head, “Please bleep that out — definitely can’t let that air.”
The first episode of <Three Meals a Day> only lasted for two days and one night at each filming location. By that evening, the shoot had wrapped up.
Everyone said their goodbyes and left.
Since the shoot was overseas, Fang Ruan hadn’t accompanied her this time.
Chen Die was looking down while walking out with her luggage when she unexpectedly bumped into someone.
Wen Liang stood in front of the set. He lightly tapped her forehead and then casually took her suitcase from her hands and carried it to the car.
The production crew all pretended not to see anything, especially considering the gossip flying around online.
Chen Die followed Wen Liang to the car.
“Zhu Qicong’s not here?”
“He had some things to deal with back at the company,” Wen Liang said as he put the suitcase in the trunk and got into the driver’s seat.
Chen Die opened the passenger door and got in.
The car smoothly made its way to the airport. Along the way, Fang Ruan called to ask when she’d be back. After answering, Chen Die hung up.
Then, out of the blue, Wen Liang broke the silence.
“Your phone password… is it related to Qi Cheng?” he asked.
Chen Die was stunned. “Huh?”
Wen Liang: “9523.”
He’d been sitting behind the main camera the whole shoot and had heard everything clearly. When ‘9523’ was mentioned, his heart sank a little.
He had never considered the possibility of Chen Die and Qi Cheng.
Even after she broke things off with him, it never occurred to him that she might be with someone else.
Chen Die immediately realized what he was thinking.
Who could’ve guessed the password she’d carefully crafted just happened to be the same as the last four digits of Qi Cheng’s phone number?
And seriously — who uses phone numbers as passwords?
But she didn’t want to tell Wen Liang the real story behind those numbers either.
So she rolled her eyes slightly and looked out the window. “…Not telling you.”
Wen Liang glanced sideways at her but said nothing. They remained silent all the way to the airport. When they arrived, he took out her luggage again and, without waiting for her, strode ahead.
Chen Die had the strong sense that his bad mood had everything to do with that number.
Was he… jealous?
But seriously, who was chasing who here?
He’s the one who wanted her back — and now he was acting all sulky over a dumb misunderstanding?
She was the one being pursued, okay!?
Annoyed, Chen Die stayed rooted to the spot, not bothering to catch up.
Luckily, after a few steps, Wen Liang stopped. He turned back to look at her.
The girl stood stubbornly in the middle of the airport, expression indignant. Thanks to being abroad, no one recognized her, so she didn’t care how obvious she was being — and it looked like she was seconds away from turning and storming off.
Wen Liang was practically worn down to the point of having no temper left.
He walked back over to her with the suitcase in hand, lowered his head slightly, suppressing his irritation. “Are you coming or not?”
“Oh, Mr. Wen, such a fiery temper. How could someone like me be worthy of walking with you?” Chen Die snatched her suitcase back from his hand. “Go back by yourself.”
Wen Liang looked at her helplessly for a while, then finally lowered his stance. “I wasn’t angry at you.”
“You didn’t say a word, got out of the car and walked all the way ahead — how’s that not being angry?” Chen Die said calmly. “Mr. Wen, your way of pursuing someone is really… unique.”
“......”
Chen Die’s mouth really could kill someone with rage and still walk away unscathed.
Wen Liang let out a long sigh and reached out to pinch her chin, only for Chen Die to quickly slap his hand away.
“My bad,” he admitted, pausing briefly, before finally losing a bit of his patience. “But damn it, I just feel pissed. Why is everyone trying to link you and Qi Cheng together now?”
“Well, plenty of people are also linking me with you,” Chen Die said fairly.
But Wen Liang clearly wasn’t satisfied with that answer — he let out a cold laugh.
“......”
“So what’s up with that phone password?”
Chen Die: “I just randomly made it up. It’s been like that for years. Nothing to do with Qi Cheng.”
Only then did Wen Liang’s mood ease a little.
With the tension dissolved, they returned to a more friendly state. While Wen Liang went to get the plane tickets, Chen Die went to the restroom. When she came back out, he was already there, ready to lead her toward the boarding gate.
“It’s boarding time already?”
“Yeah.”
Their seats were next to each other in business class. It wasn’t too crowded, and they were seated in the front row.
Chen Die hadn’t slept well in the tent the previous night and had been following the show’s filming schedule all day. As soon as she sat down, she started to feel drowsy.
“Sleepy?” Wen Liang turned his head and asked softly.
Chen Die rubbed her eyes and yawned. “En.”
“Then get some rest.” Wen Liang asked the flight attendant for a blanket and gently covered her with it.
Chen Die fell asleep quickly. Half-asleep, she vaguely felt someone tucking the blanket around her, the cool pads of their fingers brushing lightly over her neck.
Such a gentle touch.
When she woke again and opened her eyes, the plane’s window shade was half-drawn, and it was dark outside.
She shifted slightly and suddenly realized that her head was resting on Wen Liang’s shoulder. His arm was wrapped around her, holding her gently — they looked like a very affectionate couple.
…She didn’t drool, right?
That was her first thought. She immediately wiped the corner of her mouth. Luckily, it was dry.
Wen Liang noticed her stirring and woke up too. He glanced at his watch, then lightly patted her shoulder. “Still three more hours. Go back to sleep.”
So Chen Die fell back asleep quickly.
By the time they landed at Yan City Airport, it was already 10 PM. Chen Die was awakened by the flight announcement, still dazed and too sleepy to read the signs. She just followed Wen Liang.
Wen Liang found their familiar suitcase at baggage claim, walked over, and ruffled her hair, smoothing down the tuft that had been messed up while she was sleeping.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Chen Die followed him outside.
Wen Liang looked down at her again and couldn’t help but pinch her cheek. “Why are you so sleepy?”
Chen Die tilted her head to dodge, her voice muffled with exhaustion. “Haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
They walked side by side down the terminal corridor.
They hadn’t gone far when, suddenly, loud cheers erupted around them. Chen Die, drowsy, took a second to react and looked up in a daze — then froze in place.
…She had fans waiting to greet her at the airport.
She actually had fans greeting her now.
And not just a few — a lot. They stood in an orderly fashion behind a barricade, holding up banners and screaming her name.
Okay. But that wasn’t even the main point.
The main point was — standing beside her right now was her rumored boyfriend.
Chen Die looked up and met Wen Liang’s gaze.
Wen Liang, on the other hand, reacted like usual, completely calm. He nodded toward the fans. “Go say hi. I’ll wait for you in the car.”
With that, he pushed her suitcase forward and walked ahead.
Chen Die stared at his back for a moment, then turned and headed toward the fans.
Chen Die chatted with her fans for a while, answered a few of their questions, then waved and said her goodbyes: “It’s really late, everyone should head back and get some rest. Be careful on the way home!”
Wen Liang’s car was parked just outside the airport. When Chen Die walked out, she spotted it and quickly got in.
Zhu Qicong was in the driver’s seat. Very tactfully, he asked, “Miss Chen, shall I take you back to the villa in the western suburbs?”
Chen Die: “?”
This assistant had clearly been corrupted from spending too much time with Wen Liang.
Wen Liang turned his head slightly, his gaze calm and gentle. “Coming back?”
“No. Take me to Lifan Xinyuan,” Chen Die replied.
Wen Liang didn’t press the issue and told Zhu Qicong to drive to Lifan Xinyuan.
There weren’t many cars on the elevated road from the airport at this hour. The streetlights flashed past rapidly, the orange glow stretching out into a long, straight line in the distance.
About half an hour later, the car pulled up in front of Lifan Xinyuan.
Wen Liang got out and took her suitcase down.
“I’ll carry it up for you.”
“No need.” Chen Die took the suitcase handle. “There’s an elevator. It’s not heavy.”
The neighborhood was quiet. The streetlights stood dutifully, casting light onto the bare tree trunks, which still had small red lanterns hanging from them since the Spring Festival.
“Lingling.”
Chen Die looked up and blinked. “Hm?”
“Now that more people know and like you, you should consider living somewhere more secure and private.”
Chen Die wasn’t buying it. “I was planning to. Once I’ve got some free time, I’ll move to a new place.”
Wen Liang lowered his eyes and gave a faint, somewhat helpless smile of compromise. “Consider coming back to live with me. If you don’t want to live together, I can move elsewhere.”
Meanwhile, photos of Chen Die and Wen Liang leaving the airport together had already been posted by ‘WenDie’ CP (couple pairing) fans in the ship’s fan forum. In the photo, Chen Die still looked half-asleep, her makeup nearly gone, leaving her nearly bare-faced. Beside her, Wen Liang was pushing her suitcase.
[Sister Die looks so soft and cuddly!!!]
[AHHHHH our angsty-love CP is actually giving us sweet moments!]
[They’re both so good-looking I can’t take it — they met up and I’m obsessed!]
[Go get her, Mr. Wen!]
[Who wouldn’t love our Sister Die?]
[Wen Liang is seriously so handsome… respect to our Sister Die for keeping it together!]
The post, initially shared in a CP forum, was soon discovered by others, picked up by gossip accounts, and quickly went viral on the trending topics list.
In addition to that photo, some sharp-eyed netizens noticed the car Chen Die got into afterward.
Previously, during some fan ‘archaeology,’ people had dug up posts about Chen Die’s university days on the school forum. One notable post was titled: <Does anyone know if our school’s Chen, the campus belle, has a boyfriend? My roommate wants to confess.>
Several replies followed:
[Confessed, got rejected.]
[+1 for rejection.]
[+2.]
[+3 on behalf of my bro.]
[She has a boyfriend. My ex tried confessing and got that exact response :)]
Soon after, someone posted a photo of Chen Die getting into a car after class.
Now that same photo resurfaced and, after matching the license plate, it was confirmed — Wen Liang was that mysterious university boyfriend.
[WHAT!!! They’ve known each other that long?! If WenDie CP doesn’t end up together, who else could?!]
[I just re-read that old post — Sister Die was such a good girl, rejecting all those confessions because she had a boyfriend!! I wanna squish her!]
[The Chen Die in that post feels totally different from the one in recent videos. CP fans, before you get too excited, maybe look into what really happened between them. What if there were real issues?]
[No one’s trying to morally pressure them. Most fans are just shipping for fun. Marketing accounts are the ones blowing things up. Regardless of the romance, we all love Sister Die.]
[Honestly, based on the pics, Sister Die still seems to rely on and trust Mr. Wen. I wouldn’t rule out a reconciliation for our angsty couple.]
[Not gonna lie, I wanna see them on a reality show for celebrity couples.]
At this point, the comment section was still peaceful.
Even Chen Die’s fans who only supported her work were just leaving gentle reminders: “Let’s focus on her acting and not her private life.”
But gradually, things started to spiral.
Accusations of Chen Die using this for publicity started gaining traction.
Some even pretended to be fans, claiming they had witnessed Wen Liang and Chen Die not arriving together at all — that Chen Die had deliberately approached Wen Liang afterward, leading to the scene the fans captured.
That Wen Liang was being used as a tool in Chen Die’s game.
The rumors were fanned by familiar tabloid rhetoric: ‘The entertainment industry is terrifying,’ ‘she’s calculating,’ ‘manipulative,’ ‘playing the PR game.’
Chen Die had become too popular — and in the shadows, countless people were itching to drag her down.
At midnight.
The official Weibo of Wenyuan Group suddenly liked the viral post that confirmed Wen Liang was Chen Die’s university boyfriend.
Just as people were wondering if it was a slip of the finger, two minutes later, the official account posted a statement:
@WenyuanGroupOfficial: Quoting our Chairman — this matter has nothing to do with Miss Chen Die. The Chairman is simply pursuing her.
The public: “…Wait. That’s a move now???”
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