Delicate Beauty in the Palm : Chapter 13 - I Make the Rules
Chapter 13: I Make the Rules
Chen Shuyuan swung Lin Quan’s arm, pouting as she acted spoiled, completely justified. “I’m about to graduate, right? I already bought a bunch of clothes last month and maxed out the spending limit Dad gave me.”
Lin Quan pinched her nose. “Don’t give me that excuse. You’re graduating and not even working, what do you need more clothes for? And you still think you don’t have enough?”
“Ugh!” Chen Shuyuan frowned in annoyance. “Mom!”
“Alright, alright, you little troublemaker.” Lin Quan pulled a card from her wallet and handed it over. “You’re still the same—throwing tantrums if you don’t get your way, just like when you were a kid.”
Chen Shuyuan beamed the moment she got the card and gave Lin Quan a hug. “Mom, you’re the best!”
The two had made an appointment for spa treatments.
Lin Quan nodded toward the café. “Let’s grab a drink first.”
Chen Shuyuan nodded but suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure—Chen Die.
She froze for a second and quickly called out, not wanting Lin Quan to see her. “Mom!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Our appointment is coming up soon. You go on ahead to the spa, I’ll grab two coffees and bring them up.”
Lin Quan didn’t object. She glanced at her watch and nodded. “Alright, but be quick. I want mine with milk, no sugar.”
“I know, I know.”
Once she saw Lin Quan head to the elevator on the other side, Chen Shuyuan turned and entered the café.
No matter how much time passed, the memory of that scene at the train station remained vivid in Chen Shuyuan’s mind.
She had grown up envied by everyone—born with a silver spoon, never lacking anything. Then, all of a sudden, she was told she wasn’t the Chen family’s biological daughter, and that her grandfather and father were preparing to bring their real daughter home.
Chen Shuyuan had been young then, but not oblivious.
Especially after overhearing the maids say that once the real daughter came back, over time the treatment between the real and the fake one would definitely change.
They even found out Chen Die’s original family situation—extremely poor, living in what people called a ‘slum’ in the northern part of the city. There was talk that Chen Shuyuan might be sent back.
She was terrified.
So, that day, she rushed to the train station.
She saw Chen Die—the real daughter.
She was wearing a wrinkled short-sleeved top and skirt. The clothes were clean, but even from a distance, you could tell the fabric was cheap. Her dark eyes didn’t seem to belong in the same world.
Chen Shuyuan was filled with disdain and started crying and throwing a tantrum right there at the station entrance.
Lin Quan had doted on her like a real daughter for over a decade—how could she not be moved? She cried too and even considered just pretending they didn’t know the truth and going on as before.
But Old Master Chen was stubborn. He insisted the Chen family’s bloodline must be acknowledged.
Later, Chen Shuyuan often thought that if Wen Liang hadn’t taken Chen Die away that day, she would have been brought back into the Chen family eventually.
Chen Die was taken by that lunatic Wen Liang. When the Chens tried to get her back, they were turned away. Old Master Chen was furious, so angry he almost ended up in the hospital with high blood pressure.
Chen Shuyuan didn’t know what happened after that. She only knew it was eventually swept under the rug.
She breathed a long sigh of relief, but Chen Die’s presence never faded from her life.
They were classmates in both high school and university. Chen Die was too beautiful, always glowing wherever she went. Chen Shuyuan became wildly jealous.
At first, she thought, at least Chen Die was with Wen Liang—someone who wasn’t favored in the Wen family. She wouldn’t amount to much. But a few years later, Wen Liang took control of the entire Wenyuan Group through underhanded means.
Even Lu Chuan, whom Chen Shuyuan had liked for four years and who usually stayed away from drama, actually stood up for Chen Die on the school forum.
Lu Chuan was always gentle but emotionally distant. Chen Shuyuan had thought he was cold by nature.
Yet, for Chen Die, he was willing to get involved.
Chen Shuyuan picked up two cups of coffee. Unable to hold back, she walked over to Chen Die.
She slammed the cups down on the table, some coffee spilling over the rims.
Sunlight spilled across Chen Die’s face as she lounged back lazily in her chair. She slowly lifted her eyes and raised an eyebrow at Chen Shuyuan.
When she did that, it was infuriating—like mockery and disdain were woven into her gaze.
“You’re the one behind all that stuff with Xu Ziran and Fan Yan, aren’t you?” Chen Shuyuan asked from across the table.
Chen Die didn’t bother hiding it: “Who else?”
“You shameless bitch. Don’t you pretend to be some innocent white lotus in front of Lu Chuan. Hiding behind anonymity just to stab people in the back? Two-faced much?”
Chen Die laughed, eyes curving like a fox, dripping with sly charm.
“Well, I had to handle it quickly,” she said with a slow blink of her lashes, “otherwise, if Lu Chuan found out, he’d jump in and defend me again. That wouldn’t be good, right? Everyone would just end up feeling sorry for you again.”
Chen Shuyuan was so furious at her smug, condescending tone she couldn’t even speak. Her chest heaved as she glared daggers at her.
“Stop flattering yourself!”
Chen Die smirked and took a slow sip of her coffee.
Chen Shuyuan: “Aren’t you just Wen Liang’s little plaything? He snaps his fingers and you come running—what right do you have to laugh at others?”
Chen Die’s fingers paused mid-motion, her grip tightening unconsciously.
“You’re just a girl from some backwater village,” Chen Shuyuan sneered coldly. “You’ve been living comfortably these past few years because you’ve been sleeping with Wen Liang, haven’t you? You really think you’re his girlfriend? Why don’t you ask yourself if Wen Huaiyuan would ever agree to let you into the Wen family—”
Before she could finish, she let out a sudden scream.
Chen Die had thrown her cup of coffee straight at her face.
The warm coffee ran down Chen Shuyuan’s cheeks and soaked into her hair, leaving large, blotchy brown stains on her clothes. She looked utterly disheveled.
She froze in shock, her lips slightly parted, droplets clinging to her lashes. She could feel the sticky coffee trickling down her neck, nauseatingly sweet and uncomfortable.
She looked up in disbelief and shrieked, “Chen Die!”
She completely lost it and lunged toward her, only to be shoved back into the chair.
Chen Zhe pressed her palm against her forehead, forcing her down into the chair, her voice mocking from above: “So how come you’ve been living so comfortably these past few years? If Wen Huaiyuan doesn’t approve, worst case, I’ll just go back to the Chen family.” She smiled lightly. “What do you think?”
Chen Shuyuan’s eyes bulged with rage.
At that moment, someone grabbed Chen Zhe’s shoulder from behind and yanked her back hard.
She had been dieting intensely for days, and the sudden movement knocked her off balance. A wave of dizziness hit from low blood sugar. Her arm scraped against a painting frame on the wall, and a sharp pain tore through her skin.
Luckily, someone caught her before she hit the ground.
Chen Die turned her head and saw it was a man. She thanked him softly.
“Are you alright, Yuanyuan?” Lin Quan rushed over with tissues to wipe the coffee from Chen Shuyuan’s face.
Then she stomped toward Chen Die in her heels.
It had been a long time since Chen Die had seen Lin Quan this close.
She never deluded herself into thinking blood ties meant anything—not enough to call Lin Quan ‘Mom.’ Over the years, she had barely thought about her biological mother. But still, something strange and bitter lingered deep down that she could never quite cut off.
She watched Lin Quan approach, her expression furious, raising her hand high—
The slap never landed. The man beside Chen Die caught Lin Quan’s wrist.
He smiled lazily, almost mockingly. “Auntie, we’re still in public, you know.”
Auntie?
Chen Die froze.
Lin Quan realized it too. She glanced around, frowning.
Her voice turned cold. “Chen Die, let me be clear. You are not part of the Chen family. I have only one daughter—Yuanyuan. Don’t go around trying to scare her with your nonsense.”
She paused, then looked Chen Die up and down with a sneer. “The way you are now… you’re no different from that madman from the Wen family. Let me give you some advice—know your place, or you’ll end up offending both the Chen and Wen families.”
Chen Zhe looked her dead in the eyes and smirked. “So you’re the one calling the shots in the Chen family now?”
“Whether I go back to the Chen family or not isn’t up to you,” she said as she stepped closer, tucking her hair behind her ear. “You should know better than anyone that Old Master Chen recognized me as the true bloodline. He even came to ask me to return.”
“And besides—Wenyuan’s largest shareholder right now is Wen Liang. Wen Huaiyuan’s already been sidelined. So—”
Chen Die leaned in close and whispered in her ear: “Chen family or Wen family—whichever I want, it’s my call.”
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