Chapter 8

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

When she looked again at the corner where Zhao Zhenhua stood, she felt a chill creeping over.

She silently reminded herself to stay righteous and pure in heart—evil spirits begone.

Then, with an air of justice, she declared, “Don’t talk nonsense about ghosts. Even if they do exist, there’s no way you’d bump into one in broad daylight!”

Liu Jinbao mumbled, “But this whole thing is just too weird…”

“Relax. Since we can all see him, he must be a living person! By the way, how did Zhao Zhenhua die again?”

“…,” Liu Jinbao felt uncomfortable but still answered, “He used to be a transport driver. Last year, while driving a long-distance route, he happened to be there when a dam burst. He and his truck were swept away in the flood. The local government searched for him for two months with no result and finally declared him dead. That’s all the police records say—I don’t know the exact details.”

Ye Manzhi thought about the scars on Zhao Zhenhua’s face, and how he’d said himself that he had just returned from out of town—it really did seem to match up.

While the two young people were debating whether he was human or ghost, just a few steps away, Zhao Guodong had already finished explaining why he got a marriage certificate with his sister-in-law.

“Erni, getting registered with Xiaoyue was just a stopgap. If I hadn’t agreed, her family would’ve forced her to remarry! Xiaoyue came begging me. The kids are still small—I couldn’t just stand by and watch them grow up without a mother!”

Guo Erni spat in his face. “What did your parents say before? You’d ‘shoulder both households’—that meant you’d take care of your niece and nephew! I was soft-hearted, like a fool, and let you do it. I agreed to let you help out with both households. And what did you do? You two actually went and registered behind my back! You were supposed to look after the kids—who said you could marry your sister-in-law? Don’t you feel any shame?”

“We’re innocent! The registration was just to give her family peace of mind. Nothing changes—we’ll live like before!” Zhao Guodong was red in the face, trying to explain.

Liu Jinbao, who had just been trembling with fear, couldn’t help chiming in: “Comrade, that’s not right. If you’ve already secretly registered with another woman, then what’s to stop you from sneaking off into the woods or sharing a bed with her? That’d be totally legal now! What’s Big Sis supposed to do then?”

Director Mu shot him a warning look to stop him from making things worse, then said to Zhao Guodong, “We live in a new society. One husband, one wife—there’s no such thing as ‘shouldering two households’ or ‘one son supporting two families.’ If you have two wives, that’s bigamy. It’s illegal. We can go report you to the police station right now!”

“No, no!” Zhao Guodong waved his hands frantically. “I only have one wife, definitely not bigamy!”

“Oh?” Director Mu pointed at the two women. “Which one’s your wife?”

Zhao Guodong looked at his weathered, long-suffering wife, then at his tearful sister-in-law. His heart twisted like a tangled mess.

He knew he was in the wrong for registering behind his wife’s back—but what choice did he have?

Sigh.

Sun Xiaoyue met his eyes and called out sorrowfully, “Guodong!”

Zhao Guodong hesitated, eyes filled with pity. After a long silence, he lowered his head and said to his wife, “Erni, maybe we could…”

Guo Erni didn’t answer. She pulled her eldest son over and ordered, “Daqiu, from now on, he’s not your father anymore. When you see him, call him Second Uncle.”

Daqiu remembered: the man who suddenly showed up this morning, broke a porcelain bowl, and said he was standing up for his mom—that was Second Uncle.

But his anger toward his biological father outweighed any confusion. He wiped away tears with the back of his hand and yelled, “Second Uncle!”

“What are you shouting for? I’m your father!” Zhao Guodong gave his son a light thump on the head.

Ye Manzhi thought: being called “uncle” by your own kid must be a huge slap in the face—maybe that would make Zhao Guodong come to his senses.

Unexpectedly, the child’s “Second Uncle” didn’t hit as hard as the soft cry of “Guodong” from the little sister-in-law.

After agonizing for the length of a cigarette, Zhao Guodong finally muttered, “Erni, I’ve wronged you. But if I divorce Xiaoyue now, she’ll have no way to live. I’ll still take care of you and the kids—everything will be just like before, except for the marriage certificate.”

Sun Xiaoyue covered her face and sobbed, “Sister-in-law, blame me if you want, not Guodong. I’m the one who let you down.”

“You did let me down! After your husband died, I brought you food and clothes, helped with laundry, and soothed your kids. Sun Xiaoyue, you and Zhao Guodong—doing this behind my back—aren’t you afraid of karma?”

With that, Guo Erni slapped her hard, her face swelling instantly. Then, putting her full strength into it, she turned and gave Zhao Guodong a dozen hard smacks across the face.

After finishing, she paused to catch her breath, smoothed her messy hair, and addressed the assembled crowd: “Leaders of the neighborhood committee, as you can see, Zhao Guodong has already married someone else. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be allowed to remarry. I’m registering for marriage today!”

Zhao Zhenhua, who had been silent the whole time, had finally finished filling out the registration form. Upon hearing her words, he stood up and came forward, form in hand.

Only then did the bruised and bloodied Zhao Guodong and Sun Xiaoyue notice his presence.

When they clearly saw his face, Sun Xiaoyue’s sobs stopped abruptly. She stammered in a trembling voice, “Zhen… Zhenhua? Is that you, Zhenhua?”

Zhao Zhenhua pursed his lips without speaking, his gaze dark and frightening.

With every step he took forward, Zhao Guodong and Sun Xiaoyue backed away—until they hit the wall and could go no further. Forcing a smile, Zhao Guodong asked, “Zhenhua, when did you get back? It’s so great that you’re alive! We all thought you were dead…”

Zhao Zhenhua still said nothing, his eyes boring into them like daggers.

Seeing this, Sun Xiaoyue could no longer contain her fear. She screamed hysterically, “Don’t come any closer! Don’t! Aahhh—ghost! Ghost! Aaaahhhh!”

Director Mu and the others didn’t know the backstory or the relationships involved. They were completely confused by Sun Xiaoyue’s intense reaction.

Among the few onlookers who understood the truth, Ye Manzhi stepped forward righteously to correct her: “Comrade Sun, you can’t go around spreading superstitions! Where do you see a ghost? How come the rest of us don’t see it? There’s no such thing as ghosts, so stop yelling nonsense!”

She glanced around blankly, her gaze always managing to avoid the exact spot where Zhao Zhenhua stood, as if she didn’t see the living person standing there at all.

Zhao Guodong’s legs trembled. He pointed at Zhao Zhenhua and asked, “You all… don’t see him?”

Liu Jinbao and Ye Manzhi played off each other in perfect sync, their acting wildly exaggerated.

“Who? Who did you two see?” someone asked. “If you ask me, if you haven’t done anything shameful, you’ve got nothing to fear—not even ghosts knocking at your door! And even if retribution is real, it doesn’t happen that fast! Come on now, get up! Stop scaring yourselves!”

In the confusion, Sun Xiaoyue thought she really was the only one who could see Zhao Zhenhua. She reached out and pointed at the “ghostly figure” in front of her, wheezing as if there were a broken bellows in her throat. When she finally got a clear look at the terrifying scar on Zhao Zhenhua’s face, she let out a scream, rolled her eyes back, and fainted dead away…

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The subdistrict office arranged for someone to send her to the hospital. Meanwhile, Comrade Liu Jinbao—whose “outstanding performance” had stood out during the incident—was penalized with two months of office cleaning duty.

“But you were the one who started scaring people! Why am I the only one getting punished?” Liu Jinbao whined, his babyish face full of grievance.

“How was I scaring anyone? I told her not to dabble in feudal superstition—is that wrong?” Ye Manzhi retorted, holding her nose. “You’re the one who said stuff about ghosts knocking and instant retribution. Poor Comrade Zhao Guodong literally wet his pants!”

Just then, Director Mu pushed the door open and called out, “Liu’er, mop the floor a few more times, will you? There’s still a weird smell in the office!”

Liu Jinbao: “…”

He silently resigned himself and picked up the mop again.

“And one more thing,” Director Mu continued. “The matter with the Zhao brothers is a bit complicated. The marriage certificate issued by our office is legally binding—it’s not something we can just void at will. Zhao Guodong is suspected of bigamy. Liu’er, when you get a chance, follow up with the police station.”

“And also, someone needs to talk to the folks over at Factory 656. They can’t just hand out introduction letters willy-nilly. Tell them to do a thorough internal check. If anything like this happens again, the responsibility’s entirely on them!”

“Got it.” Liu Jinbao perked up again, his naturally curly hair giving a few energetic bounces.

After assigning the next few days’ tasks, Mu Lan pulled Ye Manzhi aside for a one-on-one.

“Xiao Ye, now that you’re a subdistrict official, you need to be mindful of how you speak and act. There are things that the public can say and do—but we can’t.”

Ye Manzhi dutifully admitted her mistake. “Yes, Director. I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Mhm. We’ve all been young once—we understand that young people are upright and eager to fight injustice. But your role is different now…”

She went on with a long-winded lecture.

“But it is commendable to take responsibility,” Director Mu finally said with a warm smile. “I was worried you were too young to handle community work, but now I see you’re actually quite capable. There are some tasks I think you can start trying your hand at.”

Ye Manzhi: “?”

That… didn’t sound promising.

“Our subdistrict’s civil affairs duties don’t just include marriage registration, but also divorce mediation. Currently, there are only two couples seeking divorce on Guangming Street. One is Hu Deqing and his wife from Crescent Alley—a feudal arranged marriage. After mediation, they both agreed to split. The other pair… is your brother Ye Mantang and his wife Huang Li.”

“Your third brother and sister-in-law married for love. There’s no history of abuse or violence. It would be such a pity for them to get divorced! Our staff has tried mediating a few times, but with no success. And frankly, the reasons Huang Li gave for wanting a divorce wouldn’t hold up in the district office or court.”

In truth, if Ye Mantang gave up his government-sponsored study-abroad opportunity, this couple’s issues would disappear overnight.

But Ye Mantang had made it through several rounds of selection and months of training. He was on the verge of heading overseas for an internship. Even if he wanted to back out now, the leadership at Factory 656 wouldn’t let him quit at such a critical moment.

Ye Manzhi sighed. “Director, to be honest, I’ve thought about breaking my third brother’s leg so he’ll have to stay. But he’s my real brother… I just can’t bring myself to do it.”

Mu Lan chuckled. “Don’t say such nonsense.”

But Ye Manzhi wasn’t actually joking. That had been her sister-in-law’s brilliant idea.

She’d seen it written all over her sister-in-law’s face—multiple times.

Had she not broken off her engagement with Zhou Mu, it would’ve been up to Vice Director Zhou—who started all this—to revoke her brother’s Soviet study quota.

But now that the engagement was off, if Vice Director Zhou tried to go after her brother, it’d look like a personal vendetta, and he’d likely refuse to get involved.

Mu Lan gently patted her hand. “This mediation can’t be delayed any longer. Xiao Ye, you’re not only a subdistrict official—you’re also family. I think you’re the right person to give it a try.”

“Alright, since you trust me, Director, I’ll give it a shot.”

Ye Manzhi didn’t hesitate and took on the task readily.

She’d recently come up with a low-risk way to make her brother stay.

But she couldn’t take the lead herself—she’d need her sister-in-law to play along.