Chapter 8

The news brought by Liu Jinbao made Ye Manzhi break out in a cold sweat.

When I looked at the corner where Zhao Zhenhua was, I always felt that it was chilly there.

She silently warned herself in her heart to keep a positive mind and the evil spirits would retreat.

Then, with a righteous look on his face, he said, "Don't say there are no ghosts in this world. Even if there really are ghosts, it's impossible for you to see them in broad daylight!"

Liu Jinbao stammered, "This is too weird..."

"Don't worry, since we can all see him, he must be alive! By the way, how did Zhao Zhenhua die?"

"..." Liu Jinbao felt uncomfortable, but he still answered, "He used to be a transport driver. Last year, he was on a long-distance trip when a local levee burst, and he and his car were swept into the flood. The local government searched for him for two months without success, so they listed him as dead. That's all the police station recorded, and I don't know any more details."

Ye Manzhi thought of the scars on Zhao Zhenhua's face and what he said himself, that he had just returned from another place today. It seemed that they really matched.

Just as the two young people were discussing whether the other person was a human or a ghost, Zhao Guodong, who was a few steps away, had already explained clearly the original intention of getting a marriage certificate with his sister-in-law.

"Er Ni, getting a marriage certificate with Xiao Yue is just a temporary solution. If I don't agree to it, her family will force her to marry someone else! Xiao Yue has come to me for help, and her two children are still young. I can't just watch them be without a mother!"

Guo Erni spat in his face. "What did your parents say before? They said they were going to marry two wives just so you could take care of your nephews and nieces! I was soft-hearted and let your whole family persuade me like a fool, agreeing to let you choose two wives to take care of the children. And what happened? You two actually got married behind my back! Who asked you to take care of the children when you were supposed to marry my brother's wife? Aren't you ashamed?"

"We are really innocent! Getting the marriage certificate is just a formality. We do it to reassure our uncle and aunt-in-law. We will continue to live our lives as usual in the future!" Zhao Guodong explained anxiously.

Liu Jinbao was trembling with fear, but after hearing his words, she couldn't help but reply, "Comrade, this is exactly what you did wrong. You're getting married to someone else now, and if you want to hide from me in the future and run into the woods or get into my bed, that's legal too. What are you going to do to me then?"

Director Mu glared at him, trying to stop him from escalating the conflict. He said to Zhao Guodong, "The new society practices monogamy. There's no such thing as 'one man shouldering two wives' or 'one son supporting two families.' If you have two wives, that's bigamy, a violation of the Marriage Law. We can go to the next police station right now!"

"No, no!" Zhao Guodong waved his hands repeatedly, "I only have one wife, I definitely don't commit bigamy!"

"Oh," Director Mu pointed at the two women and asked, "Which one is your wife?"

Zhao Guodong looked at his wife with a haggard face, then turned his gaze to his sister-in-law with tears in her eyes, his heart as tangled as a mess.

It was wrong for him to get the marriage certificate without telling his wife, but he had no choice because of the situation.

Why.

Sun Xiaoyue met his gaze and called out miserably, "Guodong!"

"..." Zhao Guodong's eyes showed pity. After hesitating for a while, he lowered his head and said to his wife, "Er Ni, how about we..."

Guo Erni didn't respond. She pulled her eldest son over and ordered, "Da Kui, he's no longer your father. From now on, you should call him Second Uncle."

Da Kui knew that it was his second uncle who suddenly appeared at home this morning, smashed a bowl, and said that he wanted to vent his mother's anger.

But his resentment towards his biological father prevailed in his heart. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and yelled, "Second Uncle!"

"What are you shouting about! I'm your father!" Zhao Guodong knocked his son on the head.

According to Ye Manzhi, it must be unpleasant to be called uncle by one's own son, and Zhao Guodong might change his mind.

Unexpectedly, the effect of his own son calling him "Second Uncle" was far less than that of his young wife calling him "Guodong".

Zhao Guodong hesitated for the time it took to smoke a cigarette before saying sullenly, "Erni, consider it my fault. If I divorce Xiaoyue now, she'll have nowhere to live. I'll continue to take care of you and the child. Apart from a marriage certificate, we'll be just like before!"

Sun Xiaoyue covered her face and choked with sobs: "Sister-in-law, don't blame Guodong, blame me if you want to blame someone. I am the one who let you down."

"You really have wronged me! After your husband left, I brought you food and supplies, helped you wash clothes and take care of the children. Sun Xiaoyue, you and Zhao Guodong did this, aren't you afraid of retribution?"

After she finished speaking, Guo Erni slapped her several times without any hesitation. Seeing that her cheeks were swelling up quickly, she used all her strength to slap Zhao Guodong left and right, giving him more than ten big slaps.

After doing all this, she paused to catch her breath, smoothed her messy hair, and said to everyone present: "Street leaders, you have seen the situation between Zhao Guodong and me. He is already married to someone else, so there is no reason to stop me from marrying someone else. I will get the marriage certificate today!"

Zhao Zhenhua, who had remained silent all the time, finally finished filling out the registration form. After hearing her words, he stood up and walked out with the form.

Zhao and Sun, who were beaten black and blue, also discovered his existence at this time.

After seeing his face clearly, Sun Xiaoyue's crying stopped abruptly. She asked in a trembling voice, "Zhen, Zhen, Zhenhua? Is that you, Zhenhua?"

Zhao Zhenhua pursed his lips and said nothing, staring at people with an extremely gloomy and terrifying expression.

Every time he took a step closer, Zhao Guodong and Sun Xiaoyue took a step back, until they were against the wall with nowhere to retreat, and then Zhao Guodong forced himself to smile.

"Zhenhua, when did you come back? We're so glad you're still alive! We all thought you were killed..."

Zhao Zhenhua still said nothing, staring at the two of them with his eyes fixed.

Seeing this, Sun Xiaoyue finally couldn't suppress the fear in her heart and shouted hysterically: "Don't come over, don't come over, ah ah ah, ghost, ghost ah ah ah ah ah——"

Director Mu and others did not know Zhao Zhenhua's background or the relationship between the four people, and were all confused by Sun Xiaoyue's intense reaction.

As one of the few onlookers who knew the truth, Ye Manzhi sternly corrected him: "Comrade Sun, we can't openly promote feudal superstition! Where are the ghosts? Why didn't we see any? There are no ghosts in this world. Don't shout nonsense!"

She looked around blankly, her gaze always avoiding the place where Zhao Zhenhua was standing, as if she didn't even notice that there was a living person there.

Zhao Guodong's legs went weak. He pointed at Zhao Zhenhua and asked, "Can't you see him?"

Liu Jinbao and Ye Manyi sang in unison, and their acting was quite exaggerated.

"Who is it? Who did you two see? If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door. Even if there is retribution in this life, it won't come this soon! Hey, both of you, stand up quickly and stop scaring yourselves!"

In panic, Sun Xiaoyue thought they were the only ones who could see Zhao Zhenhua. She pointed at the "ghost" in front of her, gasping for breath as if a broken bellows was in her throat. When she saw the hideous scar on Zhao Zhenhua's face clearly, she finally screamed, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted...

*

The subdistrict office organized personnel to send the person to the hospital, and Comrade Liu Jinbao, who performed exceptionally well in this incident, was punished to clean the office for two months.

"It was you who started the intimidation, why am I the only one being punished?" Liu Jinbao's baby face was full of resentment.

"What did I say to scare anyone? I told her not to be superstitious, wasn't that right?" Ye Manzhi complained, covering her nose. "But you, on the other hand, said something about ghosts barking at the door and retribution in this life, and scared Comrade Zhao Guodong to the point of peeing his pants!"

Director Mu opened the door at this moment and said, "Liu'er, please mop the floor a few more times. I always feel like there's a strange smell in our office!"

Liu Jinbao: “…”

Once again, he resigned himself to his fate and picked up the mop.

"Also, the matter between the two Zhao brothers is quite complicated. The marriage certificate issued by our street is legally binding and cannot be invalidated at will. Zhao Guodong is suspected of bigamy. Liu'er, please take some time to go to the police station to follow up on this matter."

"Also, we need to tell Factory No. 656 that they can't just issue letters of introduction without authorization. Let them investigate thoroughly internally. If something like this happens again, they'll be held fully responsible!"

"Okay." Liu Jinbao regained his spirit, and the "natural curls" on his head trembled several times.

After Mulan arranged everyone's work for the next few days, she called Ye Manzhi out alone.

"Xiao Ye, you are a neighborhood cadre now. You must be careful about how you speak and act. There are some things that the masses can do, but we can't say or do!"

Ye Manzhi honestly admitted his mistake: "Director, I will pay more attention next time!"

"Well, we also came from a younger generation. It's understandable that young people are upright and like to stand up for the weak, but your status is different..."

Balabala is another lecture.

"It's encouraging to be brave enough to take on responsibilities." Director Mu put on a kind smile. "I was worried before that you were too young to handle mass work, but now it seems that's not the case. There are still some jobs you can try."

Ye Manzhi: “?”

The tone of voice isn't right.

"Our street's civil affairs work not only involves marriage registration, but also divorce mediation. Guangming Street currently has only two couples seeking divorce. One is Hu Deqing and his wife from Yueya Hutong, a feudal arranged marriage. After mediation, both parties agreed to divorce. The other couple is Ye Mantang and Huang Li from your family!"

"Your third brother and his wife are in a free relationship and have no history of abuse. It's a shame for them to get divorced! Our comrades have tried to mediate several times, but the results have been ineffective. However, the reasons Huang Li gave for divorce are untenable, even if they are submitted to the district court."

In fact, as long as Ye Mantang gives up the qualification for government-sponsored study abroad, the problems of the young couple in the Ye family can be solved.

However, Ye Mantang had gone through layers of selection and received several months of training, and was about to go abroad for internship. Even if he personally wanted to withdraw, the leaders of Factory 656 would not agree to his withdrawal at this juncture.

Ye Manzhi sighed, "Director, to be honest, sometimes I want to break one of my third brother's legs, but he's my biological brother, so I just can't bring myself to do it."

Mulan laughed: "Don't talk nonsense."

Ye Manzhi complained in her heart, she was not talking nonsense, this was a good idea that her third sister-in-law came up with.

She had seen it on her third sister-in-law's forehead several times!

In fact, if she and Zhou Mu had not broken off the engagement, it should have been Deputy Director Zhou, the instigator, who should have revoked her brother's place in the Soviet Union.

However, now that the two families have broken off the engagement, if Deputy Director Zhou deliberately targets her brother, it would be suspected of personal revenge, and he would not agree to help cancel the quota.

Mulan patted her hands and said, "This couple's divorce mediation can't be delayed any longer. Xiaoye, you are both a cadre of our street and a family member of both of them. I think you should try this mediation work!"

"Okay, since the director trusts me, I'll give it a try."

Ye Manzhi did not shirk his responsibility and took on the job readily.

She recently thought of a way to keep her third brother here without any side effects.

But it is not convenient for her to show up, and she needs the cooperation of her third sister-in-law.