Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 11 - Beg Me
Chapter 11: Beg Me
Early the next morning, Chen Die was woken up by a phone call.
At that moment, Wen Liang was still asleep. She was used to sleeping with her back to him, while his chest was pressed against her back, and his arm rested around her waist over the blanket.
The call was from Xia Ying.
“Hello?” Chen Die's voice was still groggy.
Xia Ying whined, “Hudie…”
“What's wrong?” Chen Die squinted and smiled. “You still remember to call me? Haven't you been glued to your boyfriend these past few days?”
Xia Ying suddenly started crying.
Chen Die froze, instantly awake. “What happened?”
Through sobs, Xia Ying said, “Xu Zhiran is a complete jerk!!”
Chen Die sat up.
Her sudden movement made the mattress bounce slightly. Beside her, Wen Liang furrowed his brows and let out a grunt, his arm instinctively pulling her back.
Chen Die patted the back of his hand and lowered her voice. “Stop messing around, I'm on the phone.”
Wen Liang kept his eyes closed, but he stopped moving.
Xia Ying, seemingly unaware of what was happening on Chen Die's side, continued crying, “I checked his phone yesterday and found out that Xu Zhiran and Fan Yan have been together for three months already! And they even got accepted into the same school!”
The amount of information was overwhelming.
Xu Zhiran was Xia Ying’s boyfriend, who was about to study abroad.
And Fan Yan… That name sounded vaguely familiar.
Chen Die was momentarily confused. “Fan Yan is…”
Before she could finish asking, Xia Ying gritted her teeth and said, “That b*tch who's always hanging around Chen Shuyuan!”
Chen Die frowned. She didn’t like Fan Yan either—always acting high and mighty just because she was close to Chen Shuyuan, constantly causing trouble.
“I don't even want to go to the graduation assembly today,” Xia Ying hiccupped as she cried. “Those two disgusting people will definitely be there. It’s so humiliating!”
“Why wouldn’t you go? There’s no way the mistress should be the one holding her head high,” Chen Die lifted the blanket and got out of bed. “I'll go with you.”
After hanging up the phone, Chen Die went to the bathroom to wash up. She had just finished applying toner and lotion when Wen Liang pushed the door open and walked in.
His voice was still raspy from sleep. “What happened?”
“My friend’s boyfriend cheated on her,” Chen Die said as she dabbed moisturizer on her face. “And there's a graduation assembly this morning.”
Wen Liang gave a nonchalant ‘Mm,’ clearly uninterested. He picked up his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth.
He was quick. By the time Chen Die was halfway through her makeup, he had already finished freshening up and left the bathroom.
Glancing at the time, she hurried up, applied a final swipe of lipstick, changed out of her pajamas, and rushed downstairs.
Wen Liang was sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast.
“I'm skipping breakfast—I'm running late,” Chen Die said.
“I’ll drive you,” Wen Liang said, looking up at her. “Come eat first.”
“I really can't. I also need to lose weight soon for my role.”
“Come here.”
“......”
Without his approval, the driver wouldn’t take her to school anyway. Chen Die hesitated for two seconds before reluctantly sitting down. She barely ate a few bites before noticing Wen Liang had finished his meal, so she put down her spoon and followed him outside.
Zhu Qicong was already waiting outside.
He wasn’t exactly a driver—more like one of Wen Liang’s assistants. Normally, unless there was an important event, the driver would handle transportation.
Having Zhu Qicong personally driving this early in the morning meant it was an exhausting job.
The car pulled up outside the school’s auditorium.
Chen Die spotted Xia Ying immediately—her eyes were red and swollen.
She knew how Xia Ying and Xu Zhiran got together. He had chased after Xia Ying for half a year, yet now he turned around and got tangled up with another girl.
Heartless.
She couldn’t help but glance at Wen Liang.
The man had his eyes closed, resting lightly. His brows were slightly furrowed, his expression distant and indifferent.
Haha.
Chen Die rolled her eyes dramatically, got out of the car, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
She grabbed Xia Ying’s hand and led her through the back entrance of the auditorium. Inside, the crowd was packed, the entire graduating class filling the school’s largest lecture hall.
The back rows were already full, so they walked toward the front.
As luck would have it, Xu Zhiran and Fan Yan happened to be walking up the steps toward them.
Chen Die’s gaze swept over the two of them indifferently, showing no reaction.
It was Fan Yan who had an arrogant and disdainful expression, chin raised high as she tightened her grip around Xu Zhiran’s arm. As their shoulders brushed past each other, she deliberately let out a contemptuous huff through her nose.
Acting like a mistress was something to be proud of now?
Chen Die had had enough. She grabbed Fan Yan’s arm and slammed it down onto a nearby table. Caught off guard, Fan Yan stumbled backward, her hands scrambling for support—before a sharp slap landed across her face.
Slap!
The noisy auditorium fell into complete silence.
It wasn’t just because of Chen Die’s slap. It was because, at that very moment, the dean walked in—followed by a tall, handsome man.
Chen Die looked up and froze.
The man’s expression was calm, his gaze landing directly on her without hesitation. He took in the situation in front of him, then raised an eyebrow in mild amusement.
Chen Die: “…”
Why was Wen Liang at the school?
Before she could react, the dean’s furious voice rang out. “Chen Die! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Fan Yan was still in shock. Chen Die’s movements had been too fast, without any warning. It wasn’t until the dean’s outburst that Xu Zhiran finally snapped back to reality.
He quickly helped Fan Yan up, frowning at Chen Die. “Why did you hit her?”
Chen Die chuckled lightly, her voice perfectly carrying through the quiet auditorium. “Why did you cheat?”
“You—!” Xu Zhiran’s face twisted with embarrassment. Unable to argue back, he quickly pulled Fan Yan behind him for protection and, in frustration, raised his hand toward Chen Die.
“Dean.”
A deep voice interrupted. The man standing beside the dean, exuding an aura that made him impossible to provoke, had finally spoken.
Just a single word, spoken with a faint hint of amusement, carried enough weight to make Xu Zhiran hesitate—his hand frozen mid-air, not daring to strike down.
Wen Liang smiled. “Please, handle this first.”
The dean stormed over.
“You're about to graduate, and you're still making a scene?! Do you not want your diploma?!” He jabbed a finger toward both sides. “Chen Die! You’re an outstanding graduate, yet you’re publicly bullying your classmate? Isn’t this too much?!”
Beside her, Xia Ying sniffled, her red-rimmed eyes filled with tears. She tried to suppress her sobs, but they kept slipping through. “Professor, this isn’t Chen Die’s fault.”
She wiped her nose, eyes cast downward, as fat tears splashed onto the floor. “I-it was my relationship with Xu Zhiran that caused this. It’s my fault for not realizing he has no morals… for not seeing that he and Fan Yan have been together for three months already—before we even broke up.”
The murmurs among the students grew louder.
Xu Zhiran and Fan Yan’s faces turned alternating shades of red and white.
Chen Die glanced at Xia Ying, then suddenly had an epiphany.
She took a deep breath and, in perfect coordination with Xia Ying, played the role of a pitiful, wronged woman. “Professor, I was in the wrong too. My temper got the best of me, and I acted impulsively.”
She sniffled as if about to cry.
The auditorium erupted with voices supporting them, throwing judgmental glares at Xu Zhiran and Fan Yan.
Looking utterly pathetic, Chen Die softly continued, “Relationships are a matter of free will. Xia Ying and I shouldn’t have resorted to violence just because he cheated. I just hope that Fan Yan doesn’t feel the need to show off in front of us… You and your boyfriend are a match made in heaven—both ugly. Trust me, no one else wants him.”
The dean, initially thinking Chen Die was sincerely apologizing, only realized at the end that she was completely mocking them!
Even Xia Ying’s earlier crying was all part of the setup!
And it worked like a charm.
The entire auditorium burst into laughter, students whispering and pointing at Xu Zhiran and Fan Yan. When Chen Die delivered her final sentence, the hall erupted in uncontrollable laughter.
Who would believe the tears of someone who spent four years perfecting their acting skills?
To make things worse, Wen Liang was still standing there. The dean’s face darkened as he glared at her. “Chen Die!!”
Chen Die, feeling much better after venting, responded casually, “En.”
“Do you even want to graduate?! Stay back after the assembly!” the dean snapped.
The graduation assembly itself was straightforward.
It covered the usual updates about postgraduate studies, overseas opportunities, and job placements, followed by details about the upcoming graduation ceremony on Friday.
After the earlier incident, Xia Ying was completely over Xu Zhiran. Any lingering feelings had turned into pure disgust—so much so that she couldn’t even cry anymore.
She couldn’t believe she had wasted three years on him.
“Ugh.” Xia Ying leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “At least we coordinated well enough—it wasn’t too embarrassing.”
“What’s there to be embarrassed about? The only ones who should be ashamed are them,” Chen Die said lazily, resting her chin in her hand. “Honestly, even that slap was too light.”
Xia Ying suddenly laughed. “You’re my queen.”
The dean finished presenting the final slide of the PowerPoint and began introducing the man sitting beside him.
Many students in the audience had already sneaked quite a few photos.
Chen Die lazily lifted her eyes.
“This is Mr. Wen Liang, President of Wenyuan Group. He will be overseeing a five-year university-enterprise collaboration with our school, primarily aimed at nurturing talent in the cultural industry. Those who make meaningful contributions and innovations will have the opportunity to directly join the mid-to-senior management of Wenyuan Group’s newly established cultural entertainment sector.”
The dean clicked his mouse, and a phone number and email appeared on the large screen behind him. “This is Mr. Wen Liang’s contact information. If anyone is interested, feel free to reach out.”
Xia Ying, who had been too annoyed by Xu Zhiran to pay attention, finally looked up at the stage—and immediately froze.
“Hey, hey! Isn’t that the handsome guy we saw at the bar the other night?!”
Her eyes widened as she glanced at the screen. “He’s so good-looking. If his contact info is out there, won’t he get bombarded with messages?”
Still traumatized from her past experience, she muttered, “I wonder if he has a girlfriend. If he runs into a ‘Fan Yan 2.0,’ that’d be such a mess.”
Chen Die chuckled. “That’s probably not his personal contact. It’s most likely his assistant’s.”
“Huh?”
Chen Die licked her lips. “Just a wild guess.”
“Sounds about right.” Xia Ying nodded. “A big company like his probably has an HR department handling all this.”
The graduation assembly soon ended. The students, having lost interest long ago, quickly got up and left.
“What about you, Hudie? The dean’s definitely going to scold you.” Xia Ying frowned.
“It’s fine. Not like it’s my first time.” Chen Die smiled at her. “Don’t you have something to do? You should head back first.”
With that, she grabbed her phone and walked down the steps toward the front row.
Most of the students had already left. Soon, only Chen Die remained in the massive auditorium.
She stopped in front of the dean.
The dean shot her a glare before turning to Wen Liang. “Mr. Wen, how are you getting back?”
“No rush. I’m waiting for someone,” Wen Liang replied casually.
The dean asked, “Waiting for someone? A student from our school?”
Chen Die peeked up slightly.
“Mm.” Wen Liang tilted his chin slightly in her direction. “Don’t mind me, Dean.”
In other words—go ahead and start scolding her.
Chen Die: “…”
The dean adjusted his glasses and began, “Chen Die, I understand that those two students acted immorally, but that doesn’t justify resorting to violence.”
“Mm.”
“Especially in front of the entire school! And right in front of Mr. Wen! Do you realize how this affects our school’s reputation?!” The dean slammed his hand on the table. “You could’ve just admitted your mistake, but no—you had to put on an innocent act just to mock them!”
Off to the side, Wen Liang leaned back in his chair, lazily smirking.
The dean instantly felt even more humiliated. This school-enterprise partnership had barely begun, and on the first day, the company president had already witnessed students arguing and causing a scene.
“Don’t you find this embarrassing, Chen Die?”
Chen Die knew that the fastest way to get this over with was to go along with it. She nodded obediently. “Embarrassing. I deeply regret it.”
The dean finally let out a breath. “Alright, now apologize to Mr. Wen.”
Chen Die: “?”
“Why?”
“Because you damaged our school’s reputation!”
“…”
Chen Die lifted her gaze toward Wen Liang.
The man’s expression carried a hint of amusement. His eyes trailed slowly from her legs up to her face, taking his time before finally raising an eyebrow and meeting her gaze.
He had no intention of stepping in to help her.
In his eyes, she could see two words: Beg me.
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