Zhang Ya Extra: Let’s Get a License
Dark clouds shrouded the city, and the sky seemed to be out of reach.
Li Man stood by the window and watched as the rain slid down the glass, leaving a trail.
The clock on the wall ticked, and dreary time flowed silently inside the hut.
”Five thirty, call it a day and get off work.” Li Man stretched, moved the succulent on the windowsill inside, and walked to her desk.
She put the sign on her desk that read Marriage Registry into the drawer and glanced at the few big words on the wall – Administration in accordance with the law, civilized service.
”It’s raining so hard today, there shouldn’t be anyone coming to register their marriage.”
Li Man hummed and started cleaning, she was the only one in the empty marriage registry, the employees of the divorce registry next to her had already left work fifteen minutes earlier.
”Hello, is this the place for marriage licenses?” The door to the room was pushed open, and a mature and magnetic male voice came from the doorway.
With such a nice voice, the person must be handsome as well.
Li Man looked up and there stood a man in a black raincoat at the entrance of the marriage registry.
He was plain looking, but carried an indescribable aura about him.
”Yes, do you …… want to apply for a marriage license?” Li Man carefully sized up the man, it was the first time she had seen someone wearing a raincoat and carrying a heavy hiking bag to apply for a marriage license.
”En, I made an appointment online to come and apply today.”
”Let me check, what’s your name?”
”Chen Ge.”
Li Man typed the word Chen Ge into the computer and saw his appointment request, “I’m about to get off work, let’s make this quick, do you have everything? Both male and female household registers, ID cards, and proof of relationship that you two don’t have direct blood relatives or collateral blood relatives within three generations.”
”All brought.” The man opened his backpack and began to rummage around inside.
Li Man vaguely heard a catcall, and she glanced towards the man’s backpack with some curiosity.
The bag was stuffed with a repeater, comic books, rag dolls, ballpoint pens, and a large white cat.
”Please.” The man handed Li Man two account books and two ID cards to Li Man, “Everything is here, I’ve met the woman’s family and they’re very satisfied with me.”
”Looks like you’ve made a lot of preparations.” When Li Man finished registering the man’s information and was ready to start registering the woman’s information, she suddenly found that the magnetic strip on that ID card was no longer usable, she looked at the name on the woman’s ID card and suddenly realized something.
The man in front of her had come to register his marriage, prepared all the information, and even brought a cat, but the only thing she didn’t see was his girlfriend.
”Wait a minute, sir.” Li Man stopped what he was doing, “You’re here to get married, right?”
”En.”
”What about your girlfriend? How are you going to tie the knot alone?” Li Man smiled bitterly, “You have to be present in person to get married and get a license.”
The clock on the wall ticked, the rain outside the house got heavier and heavier, the man gently pursed his lips and looked up at Li Man: “She’s here, standing right behind me.”
The raindrops pounded against the window, and the air inside the house gradually froze.
”Sir, don’t be ridiculous, you have to have both parties present in person to get married, there’s no way I can help you with it if you’re like this.” Li Man covered her chest, she didn’t know why she was suddenly a little out of breath.
”She really came, we are inseparable, where there is me there is her.” The man’s eyes were clear, and there was a hint of stubbornness in his tone.
Looking at the man’s serious appearance, Li Man held the long demagnetized ID card in her hand, and she suddenly thought of a possibility.
Turning over the woman’s account book, on the page where the woman’s name was printed, there was a stamp from the police station declaring her death, and the time of death was still several years ago.
”Mr. ……” Li Man wanted to say something, but she looked at the man’s stubborn expression and was somewhat moved.
Sweeping her eyes over the man’s backpack, Li Man looked at one item in the bag.
Are these the things that girl once used? Were these things that were kept and treasured memories of the two of them? Was this cat the cat that the girl had kept before she was born?
In an instant, Li Man understood why the man would bring a large pile of things to the marriage registry, and also understood why the man would say that the woman had been with him.
Eyes astringent, Li Man holding the girl’s ID card, she did not know what she should say, whether to comfort the man, or to tell him the cruel truth.
Lips slowly open, think good words Li Man but can not speak, she looked at the front as if a child-like man, the mood is a little complicated.
She barely managed to keep herself smiling, “Sir, you must love her very much, right? How did you two meet?”
”It was she who chased me, the first love letter I received in my life was from her.” The man’s eyes fluttered as if he was reminiscing, “Our first date was at the abandoned school.”
”Abandoned school? First date to an abandoned school?”
”West City Private Academy, where there were her obsessions and past, I stood in the hall where she used to practice dancing, with my back to the mirror and my back to her, and we confided in each other.”
Leman listened silently as an image came to mind.
A quiet night, the two of them reminiscing about the past in their now-abandoned alma mater, where the college was once wonderfully lively, and now only the two of them were left, with their backs to each other, snuggling up, what a poignant love!
”The second date was at the mental hospital, she was dressed in a red dress, stunningly beautiful and flamboyant.”
”A mental hospital?”
”Because of my parents, so that day I ……”
”I see, sorry.” Before the man could finish, Li Mann apologized, she didn’t like to uncover other people’s scars, maybe her parents were another piece of the man’s heart.
”The third date was in a building where I blocked the man who had upset her in the middle of an elevator and taught him a lesson he would never forget.”
”You really spoil your girlfriend, I’m sure she was very happy when she found out about it.”
”She was with me at the time.” The man looked tender, remembering the elevator in the Weird Tales Society building that was wrapped in black hair.
”That scene must have been very romantic and cozy.” Lyman felt that the man in front of him was practically a boyfriend.
”The fourth date was at the underground corpse vault at the Forensic Science Institute, she was injured but didn’t tell me, she sat quietly with me and seemed to sneak a hug.” The man’s voice was very nice, husky with a mature flavor, he was reminiscing about the past, and that faint feeling even made Li Man subconsciously ignore the underground corpse vault as a special date location.
”The fifth date was on the roof of a building in a small town, that day was very similar to today, it was raining heavily outside, and I was leaning against her.”
Compared to the abandoned school, the mental hospital, and the underground corpse vault, the normalcy of this date’s location was a bit disconcerting to Lyman, “Did you confess your love to her that day?”
The man nodded softly, “I stood at the highest point of the town and shouted the words of my heart to that strange world, I don’t believe there is anything more romantic in this world than being inseparable for a lifetime.”
”Wow.” Li Man had heard many people’s stories, but none of them were as shocking as Chen Ge’s, probably because she had seen the death certificate on the account book and already knew the outcome in advance, “And then later?”
”And then …… “Chen Ge gently inhaled a breath, “She fell asleep, and it took a long, long time to wake up, so I just kept waiting for her.”
The death certificate on the account book at this moment seemed like a steel needle piercing into Li Man’s heart, her tears unconsciously surged to her eyes.
Lowering her head, Li Man pretended to look for something and secretly wiped her tears as the computer covered her face, the end of the story she already knew.
No one spoke in the room, after a long time it was the man who broke the calm, his hand gently resting on the empty seat next to him as if there was his girlfriend sitting right there, “Our sixth date ……”
It didn’t matter what the man said afterward, Li Man knew that this man had trapped himself in the prison called love after his wife’s accident, and he thought his girlfriend was still on earth.
Because of his deep love, he refused to believe the fact that the other person had left.
Hands clasped together, fingertips white from gripping, Li Man wanted to tell Chen Ge the truth, but she just couldn’t bear to say it.
She buried her face behind the computer and entered all the information on the application form, she wanted to help the man in front of her fulfill a dream, but when she pressed the OK button, the computer popped up a page where the household registration information did not match.
The girl had died many years ago, and there was no such person in the household registration data.
Reality poured over Li Man like a pot of ice water, she looked at the man’s face that was stuck in memories and bit her lip: “Sir, we don’t have all the data here, the system is being upgraded, there’s no way we can help you with this for the time being, you can come back in a week.”
Li Man wanted to help the man in front of her, even if it was to make a similar, not legally valid little red book herself.
”Okay, then, please.” The man slowly got up, packed up all his things and headed out, as he walked to the door, he suddenly took off his raincoat and propped it over his head, as if there was another person standing next to him at this moment, “Zhang Ya, don’t get too far away from me, it’s raining heavily.”
Li Man saw very clearly in the room, there was no one else under the man’s raincoat except himself.
Looking at the man’s far away back, Li Man wiped the corners of her eyes, “Maybe this is love, falling in love with you, being loyal to you, being heartfelt to you, and terminating in you.”