Twin Images in the Mirror

She was dressed in pure white robes with crimson eyes. She always sat alone on the stone railing and stared at the water in a daze. Mu Linmeng thought that she was born alone, until one day she saw another version of herself in the water - that woman had the same face as hers, but her eyes were colder and gentler than hers, and she reached out to her through a thin layer of water. Before this, Ling Yue had been all her starlight. The eldest son of Ling was wearing purple clothes and a crane cloak, and his deep purple eyes were as warm as aged wine under the lamp. He occupied a seat for her, held an umbrella in the rain, and showered his love on her to everyone. But she gradually discovered that those soups were two portions, one was given to her, and the other was in someone's hands; those lamp shadows came late, and he always hurriedly lit the candles after she appeared; even the hands that fell on her shoulders were stained with other people's rouge in their sleeves. The favor he left her was just a lively show for everyone to see. After singing this part, he changed the scene to coax the next audience. Then she woke up in the water. Nie Qianqian is her reflection, the darkness behind the light, the clarity and obsession that Mu Linmeng dare not admit. She remembered all the moments when she was slighted, and held the heart that was crumpled and then casually spread out for her. They met under the surface of Mirror Lake and looked at each other in the mist of the bronze mirror, like the two fish holding each other head to tail in the Tai Chi Diagram, staring at each other for thousands of years through a thin layer of water. When Mu Linmeng was finally willing to admit that Nie Qianqian's eyes were the only one in the world that would always fall on her, and Nie Qianqian's hand would never let go midway, that was the moment when they truly recognized each other.