Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 46 - Drowning in a Pig Cage
Chapter 46: Drowning in a Pig Cage
After hearing him say ‘me too,’ Chen Die was suddenly overcome by a deep, soul-stirring sense of destiny.
She was done for.
She had completely fallen for Wen Liang—there was no way out now.
Wen Liang bent down and pulled Chen Die tightly into his arms, one large hand pressing gently against the back of her head.
Buried in his embrace, Chen Die finally let herself cry.
The feeling of running back into her destined path was just too beautiful.
Wen Liang patted her head twice, more than happy to accept her tears, and even had the audacity to gloat a little: “You’ve liked me for so long—happy now?”
As if she was the one taking advantage of him.
Chen Die wanted to curse at him, but the lump in her throat blocked the words. Not wanting to fall apart completely, she could only raise her fists and land a few solid punches on his chest.
Wen Liang chuckled lowly, grabbed her shoulders, and gently pulled her back to look at her. Then he lifted his hand to wipe away her tears.
His fingers pressed softly, and after wiping her tears, they slowly slid down to her lips. His eyes darkened slightly, brushing her lips with a look she couldn’t quite read.
Chen Die flinched back, licked her lips, and mumbled softly, “I’m wearing lipstick.”
Wen Liang ignored her. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pushed her gently until her back hit the wall. He stood close in front of her, his shadow falling over her under the light.
Chen Die looked into his eyes and suddenly seemed to realize something. Without even thinking, she blurted out his name: “Wen Liang—”
He responded quietly, then leaned down and tilted her chin up.
Their breaths mingled—just a little closer and their lips would touch.
Wen Liang’s voice dropped, raspy and low. His breath warmed her skin as he said, “Let me kiss you for a while.”
And before Chen Die could react, he lowered his head and captured her lips in a kiss. He practically bit into it—his movements rough, urgent, somewhere between restrained and utterly unrestrained. He licked and bit her lips without holding back.
It hurt. Whatever warmth and tenderness she’d felt earlier instantly vanished under the pain. Chen Die frowned and pushed him away in irritation. “Do you even know how to kiss?”
“Hmm?” Wen Liang still had her pinned against the wall, his voice hoarse. “You gonna teach me?”
That question caught her off guard—she didn’t know how to respond.
Why did this suddenly feel like it was spiraling straight into R-rated territory?
Chen Die was speechless, but Wen Liang didn’t wait for an answer. He gently patted her back, coaxing, “I’ll be gentler.”
Gentler, my ass!!
What even is that supposed to mean?!
Her face was burning. Wen Liang was already lowering his head again.
This time the kiss landed softly on her lips, filled with restraint, tenderness, and a kind of quiet possessiveness. When Chen Die started to run out of breath, Wen Liang finally pulled away.
She took a deep breath.
He looked at her, smiling. “I’m not going back tonight.”
“?” Chen Die blinked up at him in confusion. “Don’t you have to go to the hospital?”
“I already took care of everything that needed handling. Fu Wanmei will handle the rest.” Wen Liang ruffled her hair. “Besides, Wen Huaiyuan probably wanted Wen Qian and Fu Wanmei by his side anyway.”
Chen Die had initially thought it wasn’t really appropriate to let Wen Liang stay over the same day they’d made up. But after hearing that last sentence, she didn’t have the heart to send him away—her heart ached too much.
Are you trying to win sympathy on purpose?!
Why say something so heartbreaking!!
Chen Die sighed quietly and murmured, “Okay.”
And just like that, everything escalated at rocket speed: one minute after making up, they kissed; five minutes later, they were heading into the bedroom.
It wasn’t until she heard the water running in the bathroom that Chen Die snapped back to reality.
This was a mistake.
A huge miscalculation.
She walked right into his trap.
Her first reaction was to go around the house and double-check that all the curtains were drawn perfectly tight. If anyone managed to snap a photo of a man in her place, she’d be trending on social media for the next three days straight—no peace at all.
It had been a long time since they’d shared a bedroom, and Chen Die felt awkward as hell.
She hadn’t even mentally prepared herself when Wen Liang walked out.
He had a towel wrapped low around his waist, his upper body bare. His muscles were well-proportioned—not overdone, just sleek and beautiful. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, and water droplets trailing down his spine, disappearing at the edge of the towel.
Chen Die stared, subconsciously swallowed, her pupils shrinking—then raised her hand and slapped it over her face.
“You perv!”
“What are you so shy about? Haven’t you seen it before?” Wen Liang stepped forward and pulled her hand off her eyes. “I don’t even have clothes to change into. I got all sweaty today—I can’t wear those again.”
“......”
Still, this is a bit too much, isn’t it?
Chen Die rolled her eyes and pulled a fresh bathrobe from the wardrobe, tossing it to him. “Put this on.”
Wen Liang let out a low chuckle.
He thought she was being dramatic, frowned slightly, and couldn’t be bothered to argue. He simply tugged the towel at his waist—just yanked it right off. Chen Die screamed and spun around immediately. “Pervert!”
“You’re the one who let me into your bedroom, and now you’re calling me a pervert?”
Wen Liang casually slipped into the bathrobe, tied the sash, then glanced at Chen Die’s back. “Alright, you can turn around now.”
Chen Die had been doing fine, but that one lazy line— ‘turn around now’ —made her cheeks flush with heat.
God, I’m regressing
She couldn’t stay in that bedroom a second longer and turned to walk into the bathroom.
Wen Liang’s clothes were already tossed in the laundry basket—on top of hers, which were still damp with sweat. The everyday messiness of it all somehow felt... incredibly warm.
She leaned against the bathroom door, staring at the basket for a while, then bent down, gathered all the clothes, and threw them into the washing machine.
After blow-drying her hair and taking off her makeup, she looked at herself in the mirror. She hesitated, then dabbed on a light layer of lip balm before heading out.
Wen Liang was already lying in bed.
Her bed wasn’t exactly small, but compared to the one in the master bedroom of their Western Suburb villa, it was definitely more cramped. With Wen Liang sprawled out on it, the space felt even more suffocating.
She crept to the edge, lifted a corner of the blanket, and carefully slid in.
Wen Liang took up more than half the bed, but showed no intention of making space. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest, lowering his head to kiss her again—as if he were addicted to it.
The washing machine hummed in the background.
While kissing her, Wen Liang’s hand rose to her ear, gently stroking and teasing the lobe with his fingers.
Chen Die kept shrinking away, but he pressed her back into place—her whole body started to burn.
It wasn’t until a long while later that Wen Liang finally let her go. He looked down at her and teased, “Feels that good?”
“......”
Chen Die, flustered and embarrassed, kicked him in the stomach. “Go hang the laundry!”
The washing machine had finally finished, spinning everything dry.
It was Wen Liang’s first time hanging laundry—his first time even dealing with a washing machine this up close.
He walked out onto the balcony with a pile of clothes in his arms. The cold wind howled around him, and he was only in a bathrobe. The clothes felt even colder against his hands.
Wen Liang hurriedly hung everything up, doing a half-hearted job of it. He clipped Chen Die’s dress with a clothespin and left it hanging lopsided, then rushed back into bed.
The cold wind had left a chill clinging to him. He wrapped his long arms around Chen Die again and buried his cool face in the warmth of her neck.
Slowly, his body warmed back up, but he didn’t move from that position.
Chen Die waited a moment, then slowly lifted her arms and wrapped them around his back.
Her voice was barely above a sigh. “Wen Liang.”
“Mm.” He responded quietly.
Chen Die said, “From now on... I’ll treat you well, okay?”
Wen Liang let out a soft laugh into her neck, then opened his mouth and gently bit her collarbone. He held her for a long time after that, not moving at all.
It wasn’t until Chen Die’s neck started to feel sore that Wen Liang finally released her, turned off the light, and then rolled back over to hold her again.
That night, they didn’t go further. No escalating intimacy, no pushing boundaries.
Wen Liang just held her the whole night.
Chen Die woke up with a layer of sweat on her skin. The air conditioner had been running, the blanket was thick, and Wen Liang’s tight embrace only added to the heat.
She woke once in the middle of the night, overheated, and tried to quietly peel his arm off her. But the moment she did, Wen Liang immediately snuggled back up to her.
And not just snuggled—his hand slid lower, landing on her hip.
Her nightgown had ridden up in her sleep, and he easily slipped his hand up her back.
Is he doing this on purpose?!
Chen Die opened her eyes wide in the darkness and looked at Wen Liang carefully. He seemed fast asleep—maybe dreaming—his brows furrowed slightly.
Chen Die didn’t push him off anymore, but she also didn’t dare move.
Wen Liang was dreaming.
It was like a carousel of memories, a mix of flashing images.
Shen Yunshu lying on the bed talking to him, then passing away, her arm falling limp at her side.
The argument with Wen Huaiyuan after he brought Fu Wanmei and Wen Qian back to the main house.
His own defiance and arrogance—and the fear and ridicule others held toward him.
And then later, in his sophomore year, he spent two years in the military camp, where the training was intense and overloaded every day. A few of the scars on his body were from that time.
The final scene of that memory: his two years of military service ended, and Wen Liang stepped off the train and walked out of the station.
At the bus stop, he saw Chen Die squatting down.
The billboard above glowed with white light, casting it down on her. She was wearing a school uniform skirt, hugging her knees, squatting on the ground. The hem of her skirt touched the pavement and was a bit dirty.
The wind blew by, gently lifting the edge of her skirt.
Wen Liang turned his head and saw the Chen family members on the other side, and remembered the rumors he’d heard not long ago.
Then he looked back toward the girl at the bus stop.
She looked very clean, and very beautiful. Her eyes were downcast, staring at the ground. Her dark lashes cast a fan-shaped shadow under her eyes. She had a delicate, oval face and very fair skin. She seemed completely unaware of the conversation happening among the group of people nearby.
Wen Liang kicked a small stone in front of him.
The stone rolled a few times, landing by the girl’s white shoes and lightly bumping against them.
Immediately, she looked up.
Their eyes met.
In that moment, Wen Liang felt as if a beam of light had pierced straight into his eyes—it was so intense he could feel the heat even on his eyelids.
The next morning, Chen Die woke up before Wen Liang.
She opened her eyes and stared at the face beside her for a full ten minutes before she snapped back to reality.
She actually slept with him.
Wait, no—technically, she slept with him again.
The two of them were lying on a bed that could barely be considered a double bed. It was a bit cramped, especially for Wen Liang.
He might’ve been slim, but he had a tall, broad-shouldered build, and curled up on this little bed, with Chen Die’s girly red-and-white polka dot blanket covering him, it really did feel like he was the one getting shortchanged.
Chen Die couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and poke his face, but then—she froze.
Wait a minute. Wait wait wait wait wait WAIT—
WHERE THE HELL IS THIS DOG MAN’S HAND??!
In an instant, Chen Die felt a surge of static electricity run up from her toes to the top of her head, her whole body sizzling like it had just been flash-fried.
This is unbelievable.
First day of dating and he’s already getting handsy?!
If this were ancient times, he’d be dunked in a pig cage!
Acting purely on instinct, she grabbed two of Wen Liang’s fingers, flung his hand off her in disgust, and bolted for the bathroom.
The moment she threw off his hand, Wen Liang stirred awake.
He clicked his tongue, lazily raised an arm to cover his eyes, and dozed for a bit longer before finally getting out of bed—well after Chen Die had left.
She had already finished washing up and was applying makeup. When the bathroom door opened, she glanced sideways at him, then calmly looked away. “Your clothes should be dry. Go get changed.”
Wen Liang’s gaze lingered for a few seconds on the blush creeping up the back of her ears. He smirked faintly and turned to get his clothes.
A moment later, he came back in.
Chen Die was doing her eyebrows.
Wen Liang wore a white dress shirt. The top two buttons were still undone, revealing a glimpse of his collarbone and the dip of his throat. He walked over and wrapped his arms around Chen Die from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
Chen Die froze. She felt something... and instinctively arched forward to put a little distance between them.
Her brows knit together slightly. “Wen Liang.”
“Mm?” he responded lazily, eyes still closed.
“Don’t press up against me,” she muttered, uncomfortable.
Wen Liang chuckled, his tone vague and teasing: “It’s morning.”
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