My Black Moonlight Wife Says She Loves Me - Chapter 5

“Honey, why don’t you go out? I need some time alone.”

Ruan Nianning glanced at her, sensing something different about Huo Jianan today. Usually, Jianan would avoid her when going to the bathroom, not wanting her to see her mobility issues. But today, she had asked Nianning to help her.

It was this request that revealed Nianning’s complete lack of experience caring for people with disabilities.

While Huo Jianan was easily fooled, Grandma Huo, Xu Weiyi, was a different story.

Grandma Huo was shrewd and perceptive, having seen through countless people. How could she believe Nianning’s professed love for her granddaughter when she lacked even basic caregiving skills? Not even ghosts would buy that.

“Okay, I’ll be right outside. Call me if you need anything.”

Huo Jianan hummed in acknowledgment. “Could you open the curtains for me? I hate feeling cooped up.”

Suppressing her surprise, Ruan Nianning smiled and said, “Sure,” before walking over to draw back the curtains.

A flood of sunlight streamed through the glass, instantly transforming the room into a bright and radiant space. In this golden light, the girl on the bed propped herself up on her hands.

Her palm-sized face, partially hidden by her falling hair, appeared even more delicate. Sunlight illuminated her pale complexion, revealing the soft, downy fuzz on her cheeks, making her look tender and fragile, like an unripe peach, radiating a sickly vulnerability.

Watching her struggle to support herself with her hands, even sitting up seemed to require immense effort. Ruan Nianning recalled the difficulty Huo Jianan had getting in and out of bed earlier.

She had long known about Huo Jianan’s leg disability, but she had never truly grasped the daily hardships faced by disabled individuals. For a healthy person like herself, getting into bed or using the restroom were as natural as breathing, yet for Huo Jianan, these simple tasks were like facing eighty-one trials.

A sharp pang of guilt pierced Ruan Nianning’s heart.

Huo Jianan was just a frail, disabled girl. Back then, she had still been a child. Perhaps she shouldn’t have targeted her, shouldn’t have shamefully exploited her.

But the moment she thought of her mother’s death, Ruan Nianning’s fingers curled into a tight fist. The flicker of remorse in her eyes vanished, replaced by the perfect, wifely smile.

“Honey, could you get my phone for me?”

“Of course,” Ruan Nianning replied, retrieving the phone from her handbag on the sofa and handing it to Huo Jianan.

“Thank you,” Huo Jianan said, reaching out to take the phone. She never expected Ruan Nianning to lean in, closing the distance between them. The star’s beautiful face, radiating celebrity charisma, was now inches away.

Huo Jianan was bewildered. What is she doing?

Ruan Nianning pressed her hands against Huo Jianan’s shoulders, her sweet breath washing over her. Before Huo Jianan could react, Ruan Nianning leaned in and kissed her.

Huo Jianan: “!!!”

The soft, slightly damp lips pressed against hers, teasingly grinding and occasionally sucking and nipping.

Huo Jianan’s mind exploded with a buzzing sensation, her heart pounding wildly. She stared blankly at Ruan Nianning’s tightly closed eyes, at her trembling eyelashes, her own eyes wide with shock and confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Ruan Nianning chuckled softly, slowly opening her eyes. The corners of her eyes, tinged with pink, tilted upward, alluring and naturally seductive. A hint of seduction flickered in her brown eyes.

Huo Jianan’s heart pounded even harder. “N-nothing…” Her hesitant reply gave Ruan Nianning an opening. The other woman immediately parted her lips, deepening the kiss.

Huo Jianan, who had been single for over twenty years, froze completely, stiff and dumbfounded, passively letting Ruan Nianning take the lead. After a few seconds of paralysis, her brain finally rebooted. She pressed her hands against Ruan Nianning’s shoulders and broke the kiss.

Ruan Nianning gazed at her with misty, bewildered eyes, genuinely puzzled this time. “What’s wrong, Jianan?”

Huo Jianan adored kissing her. Usually, when she threw a tantrum, a single kiss was enough to pacify her. If Ruan Nianning initiated the kiss, Huo Jianan would cling to her, kissing her fiercely until she could barely breathe, refusing to let go.

“I, I…” Huo Jianan suddenly realized that pushing away her newlywed wife—the very woman she had starved herself to marry—would seem utterly bizarre.

“I’m thirsty. I want some water,” Huo Jianan quickly blurted out, seizing on the truth of her parched throat.

Ruan Nianning smiled faintly and rose to pour her a glass of water. Huo Jianan felt her face burning as she frantically accepted the glass and gulped down the water, avoiding Ruan Nianning’s gaze.

Watching Huo Jianan’s uncharacteristically docile and bashful demeanor, Ruan Nianning couldn’t help but smile. Her rosy cheeks, now flushed like a ripe peach, made her look endearingly childlike. It was the first time Ruan Nianning had witnessed this tender, girlish charm in Huo Jianan.

But the moment Ruan Nianning remembered that Huo Jianan was the daughter of her enemy, the faint smile vanished.

After Huo Jianan finished drinking, Ruan Nianning poured another glass of water and placed it on the bedside table, within easy reach.

“I’ll be outside. Call me if you need anything,” Ruan Nianning said, closing the door behind her but leaving a slight crack. This way, anyone outside could hear Huo Jianan’s voice and rush in to help if needed.

As soon as Ruan Nianning left, Huo Jianan let out a long sigh and touched her cheek. It was burning hot, almost cooked.

Her first kiss, preserved for over twenty years, was gone just like that.

Huo Jianan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Regardless, she and Ruan Nianning were now wives. It wasn’t strange for Ruan Nianning to show affection through physical intimacy, especially since she was a top-tier celebrity, a stunning beauty who perfectly matched Huo Jianan’s aesthetic. Being kissed by such a beauty wasn’t exactly a loss.

The only problem was that this beauty was a wolf, here to devour her.

The word “devour” made Huo Jianan’s face flush with embarrassment. She quickly shook her head, reached for the glass of water on the bedside table, took another sip, and began slowly scrolling through her original body’s phone.

She absolutely loved fingerprint unlocking. With a tap of her fingertip, she accessed the phone’s home screen and began browsing.

The original owner didn’t have many friends. One was Grandma Huo, but their conversations were nothing like those between a grandmother and granddaughter. Instead, they resembled interactions between a superior and subordinate, with Grandma issuing instructions and Huo Jianan always responding with “Okay” or “Yes, ma’am.”

It was exactly like a subordinate who was annoyed with their boss but didn’t want to waste time arguing.

The other friend was Ruan Nianning, whose WeChat contact name was “Ningning Baby.”

Opening the chat revealed a flood of saccharine messages. Yesterday’s conversation was brief, likely because it was the wedding day and both parties were busy. Huo Jianan scrolled through the chat history from bottom to top.

“Baby, our wedding is in just three days! Are you excited? I’m so excited I can’t sleep at night! I love you!”

“The weather forecast predicts a temperature drop in a week. I’ve asked the designer to select a shawl to match your wedding dress. You can put it on right after the vows.”

“Here’s a sketch of the custom-made wedding dress from CL. Do you like it? If there’s anything you want changed, I’ll have them adjust it! I can’t wait to see you in your wedding dress—you’ll look absolutely stunning! You’re already so beautiful!”

Huo Jianan sighed silently. Even through the screen, she could feel how genuinely good the original owner had been to Ruan Nianning. But Ruan Nianning seemed to genuinely not love her back, her replies mostly consisting of “Okay,” “I like it,” “Whatever you decide is fine,” and “I love you too.”

Scrolling further back, she found messages from when Ruan Nianning was filming on set:

“Did you receive the bird’s nest I sent? Remember to have Xiao Zhu stew it for you and eat it every day.”

“I’m visiting you tomorrow, but I won’t go to the set. We’ll just have dinner together, and then I’ll head back.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I should have trusted you. I promise to always trust you from now on.”

Sorry? Had they had a fight?

Huo Jianan scrolled back a few more pages and found a barrage of angry messages from the original owner:

“Ruan Nianning, why aren’t you answering my calls?! What are you doing? Are those gossip headlines true?”

“Are you really messing around with that Wei kid?”

“You b1tch! How can you betray my love for you?!”

“I know you look down on me because I’m crippled. You only ever wanted the Huo Family’s money!”

Flipping further back, Huo Jianan discovered that the original owner’s doubts, anger, and mania would erupt periodically. Any delay in Ruan Nianning answering her calls, any smile Ruan Nianning showed to someone else in a published photo, any speculative media report—even a still of Ruan Nianning making eye contact with the male lead—would send the original owner into a frenzy. Like a madwoman out of control, she would indulge in malicious speculation and hurl vile insults.

Two days later, after cooling down, she would grovelingly apologize.

A cycle of fervent devotion, paranoid suspicion, hurtful accusations, and desperate pleas for forgiveness.

Huo Jianan had no doubt about the original owner’s intense love for Ruan Nianning, nor did she doubt the suffocating pressure this possessive, distrustful love had placed on Ruan Nianning.

Before transmigrating into the novel, Huo Jianan might have dismissed the original owner as deranged and insane. But after spending half a day as a disabled person, Huo Jianan sighed deeply. Others might not understand, but she felt it viscerally.

Her inferiority complex, her hypersensitivity, her paranoia—all stemmed from her paralyzed legs.

After closing the chat window with the other person, Huo Jianan opened Meng Xi’en’s. The original owner had deeply trusted Sister Meng, confiding in her about everything—from the gifts she bought for Ruan Nianning to their arguments, Grandma’s scolding that day, and the games she had cleared.

They were more like inseparable best friends, or at least the original owner saw her as both a sister and a close friend.

Who could have imagined that this very sister, the one the original owner trusted most, would conspire with her beloved wife to seize the Huo Family’s assets?

Huo Jianan sighed heavily again. Betrayed by both family and love, the original owner had truly been a pitiful soul.

The sunlight streamed through the window, warming her face and body. Huo Jianan threw back the covers and rolled up her pant legs, letting the sun bathe her legs.

Her legs were unnaturally pale and weak. Four years of paralysis had caused severe muscle atrophy, making it clear at a glance that these were not the legs of a healthy person.

Huo Jianan leaned forward, touching the unfamiliar legs and gently stroking them. Even though she felt no sensation, even though the sunlight warming the legs brought no warmth to her skin, Huo Jianan’s eyes showed no trace of disgust.

Now, she was the owner of these legs.

Massaging her disabled limbs, Huo Jianan gazed out the window. The sun shone brightly, and the blue sky remained as radiant as ever.

The world wouldn’t change simply because her legs were paralyzed and immobile.

Just as the sun continued to rise in the east and the river flowed from west to east.

She withdrew her gaze, focusing on her sickly legs, and smiled softly as she continued to gently massage them.

Since she had transmigrated and taken the place of the original owner, she had to live on—and live well. As her book-loving friend had said, “So what if Huo Jianan’s legs are paralyzed? She’s a heiress! You can’t have all the good things in life!”

Indeed, one couldn’t have all the good things in life.

Huo Jianan: My first kiss was stolen by my wife! Waaah!

Ruan Nianning: Why are you crying? Am I not pretty enough?