After Mistakenly Marking My Ex’s Older Sister, the Disabled Alpha Stood Up - Chapter 28.1

No parent in the world ever wishes for their child to be crippled.

Except Jin Hua.

His heart was swollen with power and greed, like a gluttonous beast that could never be sated.

Now, in his eyes, Yunxi’s disability had become a once-in-a-lifetime “opportunity.”

He had her watched day and night, even her car rides were not spared.

“Are you certain she’s truly crippled now?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Good. Then we can begin the deployment.”

Soon after, he summoned his younger daughter.

“I want you to pull up Yunxi’s recent financial records.”

Jin Yunhan hesitated, her voice carrying a trace of unease.

“Father… I don’t have them.”

Smack!

Jin Hua slapped her across the face.

“How long do you plan to play lapdog for Yunxi? Has she ever once looked at you with any respect? When she climbs to the top, she’ll have you and your mother torn limb from limb!”

“Father… she wouldn’t do that,” Jin Yunhan muttered.

“Heh. Just wait and see. Right now, all she sees is that woman—Yan Qingruo. There’s no room in her eyes for you as a sister.” His laugh was cold, every word sharp with malice and provocation.

Jin Yunhan’s eyes dimmed, sourness twisting inside her, but she said nothing.

“I’ll give you one week. Help me this time, and when it’s over, the future head of the Jin Group will be you.”

Hands clasped behind his back, Jinhua stared at the sunset-drenched sky, his lips curling into a cruel smile and thought:

Daughter… don’t blame your father. If you must blame someone, blame your mother—and blame yourself.

________________________________________

Jin Yunxi lifted her gaze from the computer, her voice soft as she explained:

“I need to work late tonight. I might go to bed a little later.”

In the past, she always worked in the study. But ever since she started sharing a bed with Yan Qingruo, she had moved her laptop to the bedroom. The casualness didn’t suit her, but Yan Qingruo liked it that way.

The woman leaned against her shoulder like a docile kitten, whispering playfully, “Ah Yun, work with me, okay?”

Yan Qingruo opened her own laptop—only to be stopped by a password prompt.

She tried her birthday, Yunxi’s birthday, even their wedding anniversary. All wrong.

Yan Qingruo bit her lip, a little flustered.

Jin Yunxi glanced over, thoughtful, then reached out with her slender fingers and entered a string of numbers.

“Wow, Ah Yun, you’re amazing.” Yan Qingruo’s eyes lit up, her praise full of surprise. Then she asked, “What was the password I set before?”

—The date of their divorce agreement.

Jin Yunxi’s expression darkened. She simply gave the password without explanation.

Yan Qingruo’s shoulder brushed against hers as she playfully nudged her. Yunxi shifted slightly away.

“I need to take a work call in the study. You should sleep first.”

“Can’t you do it here?” Yan Qingruo asked.

“The meeting involves state secrets. No one else can be present,” Jin Yunxi replied.

In the span of less than half a night, Yan Qingruo’s position had gone from closest confidant to excluded outsider.

Her eyes dimmed with disappointment. “Your legs aren’t convenient, Ah Yun. Stay here and take your call—I’ll go to the study.”

Watching her leave, Yunxi snapped her laptop shut with a sharp clack. The memory of that password gnawed at her heart, like an invisible hand squeezing it tight.

Jin Yunxi’s thoughts drifted, unbidden, to Shu Xiyue—that tall, artistic omega with an odd way of speaking but a passable face. Before Yan Qingruo lost her memories, she had liked that type… most likely it was true.

Lowering her eyes, Jin Yunxi sat in silence. There was no meeting. She had lied. The medicine she had carefully hidden away still reminded her of reality.

“Please analyze the composition of this memory-recovery drug.”

“Yes. And I need you to remove all potential side effects.”

She had chosen… to restore Yan Qingruo’s memories.

________________________________________

With that weighty decision set in motion, Jin Yunxi once again threw herself into work. Work had always been her way of surviving hardship.

Only by becoming stronger could she be unbreakable—strong enough to patch over every wound.

But in the shadows, Jin Hua was stirring up storms.

The car following Jin Yunxi did not belong to him alone; it was also the work of rival politicians. They had long resented the speed of her rise—favored by the Queen herself, lifted into power as if by helicopter.

Jin Yunxi was busy—too busy. Her mind was constantly occupied, making deployments, issuing instructions to her subordinates, and handling the Queen’s unpredictable assignments.

To endure, she relied on medicine.

Jin Yunxi knew she was overdrawing her body. But when she looked around her, there was no one she could truly trust. She didn’t want to drag Yan Qingruo into this.

Recently, Jin Yunxi had been trying to shift her feelings back under reason.

If I treat our intimacy only as a way to heal, and keep my emotions in check… maybe when the truth comes out, it’ll be easier to let go.

Yan Qingruo understood her busyness and no longer insisted on sharing a bed every night.

Still, whenever she looked at Jin Yunxi working so hard, a quiet ache stirred in her chest.

Ah Yun didn’t even have time for a proper goodnight kiss—if there was one at all, it was quick and fleeting.

Sometimes, in their moments of intimacy, Jin Yunxi would whisper, just wait, let me finish this first—but waiting often meant she fell asleep at her desk.

During those long nights, Yan Qingruo would bring her homemade meals, small snacks, and delicate pastries. She would watch as Jin Yunxi read through documents while absentmindedly picking up a sugar-free strawberry cream snack.

Those slender fingers pinched the treat, her lips parting slightly as her tongue slowly licked away the pale pink cream.

Yan Qingruo’s gaze was caught—entirely—by that agile tongue. She froze, her thoughts scattering into hazy, forbidden directions, her cheeks warming with blush.

Jin Yunxi noticed, set the snack down, and raised a brow at her.

“What is it?”

Yan Qingruo jolted back, flustered. “N-nothing.”

Jin Yunxi gave her a brief, curious look, then bent over her work again.

By the time she finally finished, exhaustion pulling at her shoulders, she leaned back in her chair—only to meet Yan Qingruo’s tender gaze. The woman’s eyes glistened, like water ready to spill.

Yan Qingruo gently pointed at the corner of Jin Yunxi’s lips.

“What is it?” Jin Yunxi blinked, slightly dazed.

Yan Qingruo put her book aside, leaned in, and with the tip of her warm tongue, licked away the smear of cream on Jin Yunxi’s lip.

It wasn’t even a kiss—yet it jolted Jin Yunxi’s heart harder than one. Like a current of electricity, it shot straight through her chest.

Jin Yunxi’s lips still glistened faintly. She pressed them together, uneasy, her voice tight as she forced her eyes back onto the computer.

“Mm. I need to work.”

After Yan Qingruo left, Jin Yunxi’s hand lingered motionless on the mouse, unmoving for a long while.

From Yan Qingruo’s view, Jin Yunxi looked focused on her screen, utterly unmoved by her teasing.

When Yan Qingruo returned to the TV station, she dropped a pile of printed “resources” onto Lu Ge’s desk with a thud.

“Xiao Ge, you can have all this back. None of your methods worked,” Yan Qingruo said.

She had tried everything—flirtation, teasing words, shameless tactics. But before Jin Yunxi could even react, she herself was already drowning in embarrassment, ready to fling herself into the Rhine.

Hearing this, Lu Ge beckoned her over with a sly wink.

“Then watch me.”

Later, during a work break, Yunxi opened her social feed.

The first thing she saw was Lu Ge’s newest post—complete with a distressed emoji.

【Sigh, my poor bestie. Her partner’s already gone soft just one year into marriage. As inexperienced as a newborn puppy. So lame, really—not impressive at all.】

Married for a year? A little puppy? Awkward? Went limp?

Jin Yunxi’s eyelid twitched. A strange feeling welled up inside her, as though the words carried a hidden meaning.

She frowned, scanning the screen again, still trying to make sense of it when the page refreshed—and a notification popped up: Yan Qingruo liked this post.

In that instant, Jin Yunxi’s hand gave an involuntary tremor.

That very morning, the department heads who came seeking her signature quickly realized that President Jin’s aura was far darker than usual.

Her face was a thundercloud as she sat behind her desk, signing each document without a word. Each stroke of her pen, each turn of a page, carried a sharp edge, as though the papers themselves were sworn enemies.

Not a soul dared to breathe too loudly. Who could have offended President Jin this time?

Yet even after that little post on her social feed, there was no reaction.

Yan Qingruo thought it over. Instead of waiting in vain, why not place herself directly within Yunxi’s line of sight?

Conveniently, the TV station had just approved her annual leave. She simply decided to spend it at the Jin Group headquarters, where Yunxi devoted nearly a third of her time.

But the atmosphere there felt… off.

Jin Yunhan hurriedly avoided her whenever they crossed paths, while Jin Hua treated her with an almost excessive courtesy—so different from before.

As for Jin Yunxi, much of her energy was being consumed by dealings with Queen’s Prime Minister, Wei Allen.

Watching the Alpha busy at her desk, Yan Qingruo stepped forward, gently picking up the report in her hands. In a soft voice, she said, “Ah Yun, let me take a look at this for you, okay?”

Jin Yunxi had been about to hand the report to her assistant. At those words, her hand stilled, hesitation flickered in her eyes, then she nodded. “Alright.”

In her impression, Qingruo’s expertise had never been in finance. She assumed she was only humoring her—giving her something to do to pass the time. What she didn’t expect was that this small, casual gesture would soon make a profound difference.

Yan Qingruo completely overturned her expectations.
________________________________________

During this time, Jin Hua began to stir up trouble, taking advantage of Yunxi’s temporary quiet.

Inside the Jin Group’s boardroom, the atmosphere was thick with hostility. Jin Hua sat in the chairman’s seat, his expression sinister. With a sharp “smack,” he threw a stack of financial statements onto the table.

“I have failed everyone. During my eldest daughter Jin Yunxi’s tenure as acting president, nearly ten million in company funds have gone unaccounted for.”

Feigning righteousness, he urged the board to vote for Yunxi’s removal.

The board erupted at once.

“How is that possible? The company’s finances are tightly monitored!”

“This must be investigated thoroughly—this isn’t pocket change!”

When Jin Yunxi wheeled herself into the room, the scene was already chaos.

Her expression was calm as she fixed her gaze on Jin Hua. “Chairman Jin, condemning me on the basis of a few reports—isn’t that a bit hasty? With the company’s vast operations, occasional accounting errors are hardly unusual.”

Jin Hua sneered. “The numbers have been repeatedly verified. The evidence is solid. As president and secretary-general, you cannot escape responsibility!”

At his signal, his assistant stepped forward with additional files.

“Here are more detailed statements and witness testimonies. Today, you owe the board an explanation!”

With each so-called “evidence” thrown down, the directors whispered among themselves, their words firing like bullets at Yunxi—

“President Jin, tell us: where did the money go?”

“If you can’t explain, how do we face the shareholders?”

Calm and unruffled, Yunxi’s eyes shifted to her silent sister across the table.

“Sister, what do you think?”

Several of the reports in question had been handled directly by Jin Yunhan.

But Yunhan kept her head down, avoiding Yunxi’s gaze.

Yunxi tapped her hand against the armrest. “I asked you a question.”

“Jie…” Yunhan’s voice trembled. “I think Father wouldn’t make such accusations without cause. For such a large sum to vanish, surely we need to give an explanation.”

Yunxi gave a cold laugh. “So you finally show your true colors. Yunhan—you’ve been waiting for this day, haven’t you?”

Yunhan bit her lip, refusing to answer.

The directors moved to a vote. The tide was against Yunxi. Some even demanded she hand over the presidential seal.

“Is this truly the style of Jin Group?”

A clear, ringing voice broke through the tense air, cool as water poured over boiling flames.

All heads turned.

A woman with graceful poise and striking features entered the room.

In an instant, every director’s eyes locked onto her as though drawn by a magnet.

Yan Qingruo, dressed in a fitted white skirt-suit, her long waves cascading over her shoulders, her amber-brown eyes gleaming under the light, spoke firmly:

“President Jin has not embezzled company funds. These allocations were invested into charity projects.”

From her wheelchair, Yunxi watched Qingruo move down the row, distributing evidence, standing against the directors one by one—for her sake.

Something stirred in Yunxi’s heart.

All her life, she had been alone. Branded a curse to her mother, left to carry cold stares and whispers. Yet ever since Qingruo appeared, fate seemed to scatter her small gifts—changing things, just a little.

Was she… allowed someone like this by her side? Someone warm, resilient, tender, yet so full of strength—so utterly new.

She couldn’t look away.

Qingruo spoke with clarity and conviction: “Here are the cooperation agreements, fund breakdowns, and progress reports. President Jin has long championed corporate social responsibility. These projects cover education, healthcare, and environmental protection, greatly enhancing the company’s public image.”