Moonlight falls into my arms

"You, you stand up first." Ruan Li stepped back, her eyes looking somewhat lost and her eyes welling up with tears.

Her gaze fell on the man in front of her. She saw Jiang Yuci clench his hands tightly, his knuckles turning white, his former composure completely gone.

"I..." Jiang Yuci didn't say anything more.

Ruan Li turned her head to the other side, interrupting him: "Stand up and talk."

"I..."

"I won't listen unless you stand up."

Jiang Yuci stood up without saying a word.

Ruan Li's rented apartment was a rather small loft. When Jiang Yuci stood up straight, the space felt much smaller.

“I have a photo to return to you; it’s yours.” Ruan Li pulled the yellowed photo out of a small cabinet.

Jiang Yuci's gaze, however, lingered on the photograph on the table.

I didn't notice it before, but I'm seeing it now.

The picture above shows Cheng Yu dressed as a maid, and Ruan Li making a big heart shape with their hands, both of them smiling brightly.

Jiang Yuci knew that there was too much of an age gap between him and Ruan Li. He could take good care of Ruan Li, but he couldn't play with her and become one of her friends like other children her age.

Ruan Li stood up and handed over the photo, saying, "Here, take this back."

Jiang Yuci's eyes fell on it, his gaze lingered, and finally he gently took it.

This is indeed his stuff.

Jiang Yuci looked at Ruan Li. He thought that after he learned that this was the person he had been longing for for ten years, he would be so excited that he would not be able to say a word.

But actually, standing in front of Ruan Li, he felt more guilty.

He has wronged Ruan Li.

“Ruan Li…” Jiang Yuci looked down at the blurred outline in the photo.

Seeing his deep, affectionate gaze fixed on the photo, Ruan Li felt a wave of bitterness wash over her.

"If all you want today is an explanation, then I'm telling you, we've broken up." Ruan Li turned her head away from Jiang Yuci.

"Why? Do you like Cheng Yu? Or do you feel...unhappy being with me?"

"Jiang Yuci, look at this photo in your hand! You haven't forgotten the person you've liked for ten years!"

Jiang Yuci's gaze froze, and he vaguely understood something from Ruan Li's words.

“What do you take me for? A substitute? I’m not.” Ruan Li stood in front of him, looking up at him.

I'm suddenly feeling a bit tired.

"Could you sit down over there?" Ruan Li tilted her head and nodded at the sofa.

Jiang Yuci, as if possessed, listened to her and sat down.

Then Ruan Li stood in front of him, looking at him: "Do you think I don't know anything? I heard you. You kept me in the first place because I look like her, didn't you? In that case, am I supposed to shamelessly stay by your side?"

“Ruan Li…”

"Go back, go away. I've made myself clear to you. The reason is simple: I like you, but if you're with me because you can see someone else in me, then there's no point in us being together."

“Ruan Li...”

"Get up," Ruan Li instructed.

Jiang Yuci stood up, but before he could speak, Ruan Li placed both hands on him and pushed him out the door.

"Go home and don't come looking for me again. I won't be going back to Yuncheng."

“Ruan...”

"You're not allowed to speak."

She was also afraid that she might not be able to resist the temptation and abandon her principles to be with Jiang Yuci.

She can't be such a spineless person.

Jiang Yuci grabbed the hand that was pressing against her and pushing her away, but Ruan Li couldn't break free no matter how hard she tried.

"Ruan Li, have you never considered that you might be her?"

Ruan Li's eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Meow..." A head peeked out from the cat's bed, its round cat eyes staring at its two owners.

Jiang Yuci suddenly felt incredibly wronged; Ruan Li knew absolutely nothing.

When she saw the photo Zhao Manman gave her, she actually thought that the person in the photo was someone else, and that she was using her as a substitute.

This is just...frustrating.

"I said, from beginning to end, I only like you, I only love you."

Jiang Yu closed the door that Ruan Li had already opened halfway.

"You are her, that's why I can't tell the difference. I always feel that you have her shadow in you. Because you are her, because you are Ruan Li, that's why I was attracted to you and fell in love with you."

Ruan Li stood there dumbfounded, her mind blank.

“Wait a minute…” Ruan Li glanced at him, then picked up his hand and pried the photo out of his palm.

She squinted at it. "What you just said means..."

Is it just one of those clichéd plots about mistaken identity and a fake stand-in who is actually the first love with a brainless twist?

"I thought you chose to leave because you didn't love me."

Jiang Yuci thought of what she had just said.

She said she kept her because of her looks, and Jiang Yuci did admit it.

But if it weren't for Ruan Li, none of these illusions would have occurred, and he would never have fallen in love with anyone other than Ruan Li.

Jiang Yuci had a lot to say, but didn't know where to begin with Ruan Li. However, Ruan Li pushed him away first, her head bowed, saying, "Wait, wait..."

Ruan Li opened the door and pushed Jiang Yuci out, saying, "Wait a minute, wait outside."

Just as Ruan Li was about to close the door, she looked up and said, "Don't go."

Jiang Yuci blocked the door: "Why?"

Ruan Li's brain felt like it had been fried to a crisp, and it was still steaming.

"I, I, I need to think about this myself. I need to calm down."

boom!

The door closes.

Ruan Li leaned against the door, holding her head in her hands.

They discovered that they couldn't find the haphazardly tangled end of the thread.

She ran to the desk, and half of her slipper flew off.

Barefoot, I stood in front of the desk, grabbed a piece of drawing paper, and picked up a pen to write.

1. I thought Jiang Yuci was using me as a substitute, so I left him.

2. Jiang Yuci came to me and explained that he had only ever loved me.

3. Jiang Yu said, "I am her."

4. Jiang Yu said that because I am Ruan Li, he will fall in love with me.

Ruan Li looked at the first statement, examined the three statements below, and crossed out the first one. Therefore, the first statement was wrong, and she had misunderstood Jiang Yuci.

Ruan Li crossed out the number two again. How could that be? Jiang Yuci clearly has someone he's liked for ten years.

Ruan Li looked at the third one again, her mind blank for a long time, as if it had rusted.

She looked beyond three to four, because she was Ruan Li, and that's why he would fall in love with her...

!

Ruan Li's heart skipped a beat, and a nascent idea finally emerged from her muddled mind.

Therefore, the person Jiang Yu loved for ten years was also named Ruan Li.

Ruan Li wrote down a line of words.

The older sister Jiang Yuci had a crush on during her student days was me.

Ruan Li was stunned for a moment, then ran out to open the door. Her only slipper flew away, and she stood barefoot at the door.