The scumbag wanted his life, too!

"A... a stand-in?" Those words hit Bai Ruan like a hammer, and he instinctively looked at Li Luochen.

The other man did look somewhat like him.

Their brows and eyes, their features and face shapes-if not identical, they were at least seventy or eighty percent alike.

Upon realizing this, Bai Ruan wasn't nearly as angry as he had expected to be. Rather than anger, what he felt was that all his previous confusion had finally been explained.

No wonder Feng Yan had wanted to pursue him at first sight.

No wonder Feng Yan always stared blankly at his face.

No wonder Feng Yan wouldn't let him make a sound when they made love.

It turned out there weren't so many mysteries after all. There had been a reason for everything.

Bai Ruan took a deep breath. It felt as though a blunt instrument were gouging out his heart, and as his thoughts grew clearer, the pain only deepened.

Bai Ruan clenched his fingers and let out a bitter laugh. "Feng Yan... so you've been treating me as someone else all along?"

Feng Yan's heart ached for him. He stepped forward again, trying to take Bai Ruan's hand. "Ruanruan, let me explain-"

"Don't touch me!" Bai Ruan raised his voice and took half a step back.

He looked up at Feng Yan, his eyes filled with disgust.

Every moment they had shared flooded his mind. All the sweetness, all the happiness, became sickening in that instant.

After learning that Feng Yan had cheated, Bai Ruan had comforted himself that at least the beautiful memories they shared were irreplaceable.

But now reality told him that nothing was irreplaceable. He was merely a replacement, a shadow onto which someone projected their love for another person.

"Feng Yan, why are you still wasting your breath on him?" Li Luochen stepped forward and took hold of Feng Yan, soothing him. "You want him to give me a kidney, right? It's all right. I can wait."

A kidney transplant?

At this point in the drama, even Tao Zhiyan was shocked.

So this damned scumbag hadn't just deceived Bai Ruan into being his stand-in-he also wanted Bai Ruan to donate a kidney to his true love?!

Bai Ruan went deathly pale at those words.

A kidney transplant?

So... Feng Yan wanted to trade his life for the life of the man he truly loved?

Feng Yan looked surprised as well. He turned to Li Luochen. "How did you know?"

"On my friend's..." Li Luochen stopped halfway through, realizing he couldn't say that.

He had seen an anonymous post on his social feed suggesting that Feng Yan might be cheating, so he had quietly looked into it.

Information on Bai Ruan had been easy to find. It had taken almost no effort to dig up everything.

He had also discovered that Feng Yan had taken Bai Ruan abroad for a medical examination. On top of that, Feng Yan had messaged him before to say he'd found a kidney donor.

Putting it all together, didn't that mean he intended to use Bai Ruan's kidney to keep him alive?

"A friend saw it and told me." Li Luochen took Feng Yan's hand, his eyes full of love, and said with a faint smile, "Honey, the doctor said that if I keep up with my treatment, I can hold on until a donor becomes available. You don't need to rush."

But Feng Yan didn't respond to that. He merely frowned and asked, "So you already knew about Ruanruan?"

Li Luochen was unhappy with how intimately Feng Yan addressed Bai Ruan, but he still nodded. "Not for very long. Just a few days."

"And you investigated him?" Feng Yan pulled his hand out of Li Luochen's grasp, his tone turning hostile. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Li Luochen pressed his lips together. Acutely aware that something was wrong with Feng Yan's mood, he didn't answer.

Why would Feng Yan speak to me like that? Could he... really have fallen in love with this stand-in?

Li Luochen glanced at Bai Ruan and frowned slightly, thinking that he needed to find an excuse to get this menace out of here quickly.

He took half a step forward and shoved Bai Ruan. "Why are you still standing here? Who are you putting on that pitiful act for?!"

Bai Ruan had already been lost in thought, and the shove nearly knocked him over.

Li Luochen frowned, pressing him aggressively. "Don't you realize you're bothering us?"

"Or do you want to hear Feng Yan explain himself?" Li Luochen sneered. "Could you please learn your place?"

Those remarks stirred a little anger in Bai Ruan, too. He rarely insulted anyone, and after struggling for a long while with his face flushed, he finally retorted, "Who are you to speak here? If we're talking about knowing your place, you're the homewrecker!"

Unfortunately, those words did practically no damage.

"I'm the homewrecker?" Li Luochen laughed. He folded his arms languidly and looked at Bai Ruan with utter arrogance. "Love isn't about who came first. The one who isn't loved is the homewrecker. Don't you know that?"

"Besides," Li Luochen shrugged, "even if we're talking about who came first, I was here before you."

Bai Ruan opened his mouth but was left speechless. Even if he wanted to argue, he had no idea what to say.

For the first time, he hated his own personality this much. Someone was walking all over him, and he didn't even know how to fight back.

Whether out of frustration with himself or anger at Feng Yan, Bai Ruan bit his lip.

"Feng Yan, I must have been blind." Bai Ruan looked at Feng Yan and finally said what was in his heart. "From today onward, we're done!"

"Ruanruan!" Feng Yan truly panicked. Afraid of losing Bai Ruan, he stepped forward, grabbed him, and trapped him in his arms. "Let me explain. Let me explain!"

Li Luochen's expression changed abruptly. He went over to pull Feng Yan away. "Honey, why are you explaining anything to this little bitch-"

"Shut up!" Feng Yan flung Li Luochen's hand away, his expression dark with anger. "You don't get a say here."

Li Luochen's eyes went blank for a moment, as though he couldn't believe it. "Feng Yan, what do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." Feng Yan's eyes were pitch-black and vicious. "Get the hell out."

"Me?" Li Luochen stared at Feng Yan in a daze. "You're telling me to get out? Feng Yan, do you know what you're saying?"

"You're... you're telling me to get out for this... this cheap imitation?"

Feng Yan had never spoken to Li Luochen like this before. The instant he realized the man was berating him, his head buzzed, and he exploded. "Feng Yan, have you lost your mind?!"

"It's because of this bitch, isn't it?" Li Luochen clenched his fists and glared at Bai Ruan. "What the fuck are you pretending for?! Want people to feel sorry for you?!"

"You bitch, you sure know how to seduce a man!"

Li Luochen lunged straight at Bai Ruan.

"Enough!" Feng Yan shielded Bai Ruan in his arms and shoved Li Luochen to the floor. Abandoning all trace of his formerly refined demeanor, he pointed at him and warned viciously, "Just fucking try laying a finger on him!"

At the sight of Feng Yan's ruthless expression, Li Luochen trembled with anger, breathing heavily as disbelief gave way to uncontrollable rage.

He got up from the floor and wiped his face with the back of his hand.

"Fine. Fine!" Li Luochen turned to grab his clothes and spat. "Feng Yan, you'd better not fucking regret this!" Then, with his eyes red, he pushed past the two of them and left.

Feng Yan tried to suppress his irritation, then turned back and took Bai Ruan's hand, asking sincerely, "Ruanruan, are you all right?"

"Ruanruan, I was wrong."

"I admit that when I first met you, I thought you looked like him."

Even that morning, Feng Yan had still believed he simply saw Bai Ruan as a stand-in.

But just now, he had realized that wasn't the case.

He even felt that Bai Ruan and Li Luochen had nothing in common whatsoever.

Bai Ruan was like a well-protected house cat. He might get angry sometimes, but he never bared his claws.

He would change himself for Feng Yan, abandon his so-called dignity and boundaries, coax him, comfort him, and learn to make the cheese-baked milk he loved.

Feng Yan had taken only one bite of the cheese-baked milk last time. He could barely remember what it had tasted like.

This time, he finally realized that he didn't want to lose Bai Ruan.

"But it's different now."

Feng Yan turned Bai Ruan by the shoulders and gazed at him tenderly. "I've really fallen in love with you, Bai Ruan. Let's start over."