The Creator's Grace (GL) - Chapter 12
The light clinking sound of thin wine glasses touching.
Chi Yu finished the wine in her hand, subtly eyeing Ran Jin.
Ran Jin was flushed from her neck to her forehead, her ears a vivid, almost dripping red. Her usually guarded eyes were now glazed over by the alcohol, misty and a little slow to react as she stared at the thick wine in her glass.
“Sister Ran, why didn’t you drink?” Chi Yu asked.
“I’m sorry, I don’t hold my liquor well.”
Ran Jin looked about eighty percent drunk. The strained, deliberate way she spoke, carefully articulating each word to avoid revealing her state, showed she was far beyond just tipsy and nearing complete intoxication.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to drink it myself then,” Chi Yu said nonchalantly.
Ran Jin’s slender fingers held the stem of the glass, gently swirling the wine.
Before the wine clinging to the sides could slide back down, she raised the glass and took a tiny sip.
Chi Yu was a little surprised.
“Can I drink it slowly?” Ran Jin asked, her voice soft and seeking Chi Yu’s permission.
Seeing Ran Jin struggle to open her eyes and stay alert, Chi Yu moved the wine glass away from her.
“Don’t drink anymore, you’re already drunk.”
Chi Yu’s goal was for Ran Jin to be just drunk enough to let her guard down, but not so drunk that she was incoherent and unable to answer questions.
Looking at Ran Jin’s slightly bowed head, Chi Yu couldn’t tell if she was still being completely obedient or if she was turning the tables, using an extreme method to escape the inevitable confrontation.
“Sister Ran?” Chi Yu said, holding Ran Jin’s hand. “Are you okay?”
Ran Jin looked up, her eyes remarkably clear. She watched Chi Yu for a moment, her voice a little airy but very controlled. “I’m fine.”
“Let’s go home. I’ll call Butler Chen to drive.”
Chi Yu’s phone was in her right pocket. Just as she was about to let go of Ran Jin’s hand, Ran Jin seemed to realize she was being held. As if she had been burned, she immediately pulled her hand back.
Chi Yu found it odd and chuckled. “Am I poisonous? Why are you so scared of me?”
Ran Jin looked flustered by the comment. She folded her hands on the table in front of her, sitting ramrod straight, like a model student listening intently.
The cuffs of her sleeves were neatly fastened with cufflinks, and the fair skin on the back of her hands was slightly pink from the alcohol.
Chi Yu discreetly observed her while on the phone with Butler Chen.
Ran Jin seemed to have sobered up a bit, her brow slightly furrowed with a hint of annoyance. Butler Chen arrived shortly.
Chi Yu held her coat in her arms and told Ran Jin they should go to the parking lot together.
She stood up and took two steps, then noticed Ran Jin hadn’t followed. She turned to see Ran Jin still by the table, struggling to push herself up. She took a slow, deliberate step forward, the tip of her high-heeled shoe lightly scuffing the floor. She moved with the cautiousness of someone walking a tightrope blindfolded.
She was truly drunk; she wasn’t angry, just forcing herself to stay composed and not show any weakness.
Chi Yu walked back, holding her coat with one arm and linking the other through Ran Jin’s to help her stand.
She didn’t want to touch this woman at all, but this was a good opportunity to get the truth out of her.
Chi Yu decided to take her straight back to the Chi family home.
Facing the house where she had lived for six years might make her emotional in her drunken state.
“Let’s go, lean on me,” Chi Yu whispered in her ear, trying to make her tone sound sincere and gentle.
Chi Yu didn’t know that Ran Jin’s ears were very sensitive and wasn’t thinking about it in that way at all.
Ran Jin, already overwhelmed by dizziness, was suddenly struck by the warmth of Chi Yu’s breath on her ear. Her heart seemed to be in Chi Yu’s hand, squeezed with great force. Her legs went weak, and her body involuntarily swayed into Chi Yu’s arms.
“Careful.”
Chi Yu instinctively caught Ran Jin, holding her securely in a full embrace.
Her coat dropped to the floor.
The cold scent of Chi Yu’s perfume filled Ran Jin’s senses. Ran Jin struggled for a moment, quickly broke free from her embrace, and stood steady.
Chi Yu said something, possibly teasing her about her low alcohol tolerance. Ran Jin didn’t hear it clearly, but Chi Yu’s low laughter was so close it seemed to burrow directly into her heart.
Ran Jin tried to pull herself together, bending down to help Chi Yu pick up her coat while creating some distance between them.
“Don’t fall,” Chi Yu said, taking the coat she handed her.
“Let’s go.” Ran Jin opened her eyes wider, motioning for Chi Yu to go first.
“Are you sure you can walk on your own?”
“Yes,” Ran Jin said, her voice short and firm.
Chi Yu didn’t try to help her again and walked toward the entrance.
Butler Chen was standing by the car. He saw that Ran Jin was walking unsteadily, and when she got into the car, she had to hold the door to awkwardly slide herself in. Butler Chen asked worriedly, “Miss Ran, what’s wrong?”
“She had a bit to drink,” Chi Yu said, sitting next to Ran Jin and closing the car door. “Let’s go.”
Butler Chen, in the driver’s seat, asked, “Second Miss, where are we going?”
Chi Yu knew that Ran Jin hadn’t been staying at the family home recently. After her breakup with her sister, she had moved to an apartment.
“Home. The Chi family residence.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Butler Chen was always a steady driver, but the road conditions were bad tonight. After getting on the highway, traffic came to a halt.
After letting the cold air in from the open window for a while, Ran Jin’s stomach and head had just started to feel a little better, but the constant jolting of the car made her feel violently sick again, and her face turned pale.
“Sister Ran, are you feeling unwell?” Chi Yu asked. “Do you need to vomit?”
“Mmm…” Ran Jin clenched her fists, curled up, and closed her eyes, her face as white as paper. The sound wasn’t an affirmative answer but a breath held in a state of great discomfort.
Chi Yu took a bag from the glove compartment. “If you need to vomit, use this.”
“Thank you…” Ran Jin clutched the bag, still holding it in.
Chi Yu thought to herself, As expected of you, you can really endure.
When they finally arrived at the Chi family villa, Butler Chen opened the car door, and Ran Jin immediately got out, leaning on the small stone lion by the steps and dry heaving.
Butler Chen asked worriedly, “Did Miss Ran drink a lot? I’ll get someone to come help her.”
“No need,” Chi Yu said, holding Ran Jin’s arm with one hand to prevent her from falling, her eyes never leaving her. “You can go park the car.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Butler Chen left.
Chi Yu saw that Ran Jin had been dry heaving for a long time without throwing up, which she knew was even more uncomfortable than just getting it out.
“If you can’t get it out, let’s go inside,” Chi Yu said coldly, pulling her up and leading her into the house.
Ran Jin was so dizzy she couldn’t walk on her own and had to lean on Chi Yu.
Chi Yu took her a few steps, and when they reached the sofa, she dropped her onto it.
Ran Jin half-sat and half-slumped, her eyes tightly closed. She slowly leaned toward the armrest, curled up, and lay on her side on the sofa, trying to handle the spinning in her head and the nausea in her stomach.
Because of her position, her phone slid out of her pants pocket and fell onto the rug.
Chi Yu picked up her phone.
“Oh, Second Miss?” Aunt Su came out after hearing the noise, her gaze flitting between Chi Yu, who carried the cold of the night, and Ran Jin, who was slumped on the sofa. She didn’t know what was going on. “Miss Ran is here too?”
“Aunt Su, you should go to bed early,” Chi Yu said with a sweet smile to her. “Let the other maids and helpers rest as well.”
Aunt Su keenly sensed the veiled threat in the Second Miss’s smile, making her feel uneasy. She replied, “Second Miss, you should go to bed early too,” then immediately left and told the other two maids in the villa to hurry back to their rooms and not to wander around.
In the empty living room of the villa, only Chi Yu and Ran Jin were left.
Chi Yu held Ran Jin’s phone and pressed the side button. The screen lit up, showing notifications from various business apps and a pile of WeChat alerts.
But because it was locked, she couldn’t see the specific content.
Chi Yu expressionlessly entered her sister’s birthday. The password was incorrect.
Of course.
She crouched down in front of the sofa and patted Ran Jin’s face.
“Ran Jin.”
Ran Jin struggled to open her eyes. Her gaze was weak and unfocused, and she quickly closed them again.
It seemed she was sleeping soundly, which was good.
Chi Yu held her shoulder and called her name again.
She opened her eyes once more, and the phone was successfully unlocked.
Ran Jin didn’t notice anything. She closed her eyes again, her brow tightly furrowed, burying her face further into her bent arm.
Chi Yu stood up, called Ran Jin’s name a few more times, and after confirming she wasn’t responding, she stepped aside and quickly opened WeChat.
A large number of red dots appeared in the WeChat list. Chi Yu quickly scanned it. Besides more than a dozen work-related group chats, there were also many individual conversations.
Without even clicking on them, she could see from the previews that most of the conversations were about business at Chi Corporation. Only one person had sent voice messages.
Chi Yu didn’t recognize the profile picture. The WeChat name was “Revolutionary Road,” and the profile picture was a gun.
Road…
Lu Siqing? It was that police officer.
Chi Yu walked into the bathroom and opened the chat with Lu Siqing.
She wasn’t worried that Ran Jin would find out the voice messages had been listened to in the morning. She had a plan.
There were six unread voice messages in the chat history with Lu Siqing.
Further up, besides the call duration records, there were no traces of voice or chat history.
It was obvious that Ran Jin had deleted the messages she had already read.
This made Chi Yu even more curious about the secrets hidden in her conversations with Lu Siqing.
She clicked on the unread voice messages.
[“You don’t like listening to me now, anyway, hmph.”]
[“But you have to be mindful of your own body. I’ve been terribly busy because of you. If you get sick again, I won’t have time to take care of you.”]
Ten minutes later, another message came:
[“Why aren’t you replying to me? Are you mad?”]
[“I’m the one who should be mad, okay? These past few days, because of you, I’ve got the same dark circles under my eyes as you.”]
[“Okay, okay, don’t be mad. I know I’ve been a little too chatty lately, but it’s only because I care about you, you know? I’ll be back tomorrow. Aren’t you happy?”]
The last one was:[“Still not talking to me?”]
Even though Chi Yu hadn’t been in a serious relationship, the hints of affection and concern in these voice messages weren’t the kind you’d find between normal friends.
Ran Jin had someone else all along, yet she had confidently said that her breakup with her sister was a mutual decision.
Her sister’s last call before she died was to her. She must know the truth, yet she told me that my sister, who was stabbed twelve times, had committed suicide by cutting her wrists.
Ran Jin had been lying to me all along.
Chi Yu braced her hands on the sink. In a fit of rage, her chest ached intensely.
These disgusting voice messages from the person with the last name Lu completely ignited the anger Chi Yu had been suppressing.
She quickly walked back to the living room. Ran Jin was still curled up on the sofa, asleep but not resting easy.
Chi Yu grabbed her shoulder directly, flipped her over, and squeezed her neck.
Killing Ran Jin right here and now to avenge her sister was the most direct and satisfying method. Why bother with any more pretense?
Chi Yu’s mind and heart were filled with hatred.
She would make Ran Jin pay for what she had done!
Ran Jin coughed. Still controlled by the alcohol, she was in a great deal of pain. Tears slowly welled up in her closed eyes, wetting her eyelashes.
When Ran Jin was sober, Chi Yu wouldn’t have been able to so easily overpower her, leaving her no room for resistance.
But now, the unconscious Ran Jin was like a fish on a chopping block, at her mercy.
Memories of Ran Jin picking her up from school, waiting in the wind, frost, rain, and snow, desperately tried to flood into Chi Yu’s mind, urging her to stop.
Chi Yu pushed these insincere memories out of her consciousness.
She was going to kill Ran Jin here, kill her.
But…
Ran Jin was not a suspect. If Chi Yu killed her here, she wouldn’t be able to escape the law. She would have to pay with her life.
If she and Ran Jin died together, the Chi Group, having lost its leader, would completely fall apart.
And the truth of her sister’s death would be buried forever because of her momentary impulse.
This was not the ending she wanted.
Chi Yu slowly loosened her grip.
No. She couldn’t let her get off so easily.
Chi Yu knelt on one knee on the sofa, breathing heavily.
I need to take back everything that belongs to the Chi family, ruin Ran Jin’s reputation, and let her die filled with guilt.
This was the ending she truly deserved.
Chi Yu slowly came back to her senses from her extreme emotions. After thinking it through, she was about to let go.
Just then, Ran Jin slowly opened her eyes.
Chi Yu didn’t look away and met her gaze.
Ran Jin coughed softly. She couldn’t remember the terrifying dream she just had. She felt a pair of hands around her neck, slender fingers pressing her jaw and extending behind her ears.
When Chi Yu’s face came into focus in her slightly opened eyes, she didn’t struggle at all. She smiled, half-awake.
Perhaps because of the alcohol, her smile was a little alluring, a look Chi Yu had never seen before.
What surprised Chi Yu even more was that Ran Jin raised her hand, took Chi Yu’s wrist, and gently rubbed her hot, smooth cheek against the back of Chi Yu’s hand, cautiously and with a lingering reluctance.
T/N: Tsk… If only Chi Yu knew the truth, her sister is bla bla bla…