Dark clouds enveloped the city, and the sky seemed to be within reach.
Li Man stood by the window and watched the rainwater slide down the glass, leaving trails behind.
The clock on the wall is ticking, and the dull time is flowing quietly in the hut.
"It's 5:30, call it a day." Li Man stretched, moved the succulents on the window sill into the house, and walked to his desk.
She put the sign on the table that said Marriage Registration Office into the drawer and glanced at the big words on the wall - Administration according to law, civilized service.
"It's raining so heavily today, so no one will come to register for marriage."
Li Man hummed a song and started cleaning. She was the only one in the empty marriage registration office. The employees at the divorce registration office next to her had already left work fifteen minutes early.
"Hello, is this where you can get your marriage certificate?" The door was pushed open, and a mature and magnetic male voice came from the door.
With such a nice voice, he must also be very handsome.
Li Man looked up and saw a man wearing a black raincoat standing at the door of the marriage registration office.
He looks ordinary, but he has an indescribable temperament about him.
"Yes, you... want to apply for a marriage certificate?" Li Man looked at the man carefully. This was the first time she saw someone wearing a raincoat and carrying a heavy mountaineering bag to apply for a marriage certificate.
"Well, I made an appointment online to come in today."
"Let me check, what's your name?"
"Chen Ge."
Li Man entered the word Chen Ge into the computer and saw his appointment application: "I'm about to get off work, let's make a quick decision. Have you brought everything? The household registration books, ID cards of both men and women, and you
There is no proof of direct blood relationship or collateral blood relationship between the two of them within three generations."
"I brought them all." The man opened his backpack and began to rummage inside.
Li Man vaguely heard a cat meow, and she looked into the man's backpack curiously.
Stuffed in the bag were a repeater, a comic book, a rag doll, a ballpoint pen, and a big white cat.
"Sorry to trouble you." The man handed two household registration books and two ID cards to Li Man: "All the things are here. I have met the woman's family and they are very satisfied with me."
"It seems you have made a lot of preparations." After Li Man registered the man's information and was about to register the woman's information, she suddenly found that the magnetic stripe on the ID card was no longer usable. She looked at the name on the woman's ID card and said,
Suddenly I realized something.
The man in front of me came to register for marriage, prepared all the documents, and even brought a cat, but he didn't see his girlfriend.
"Wait a minute, sir." Li Man stopped what he was doing: "Are you here to get married?"
"kindness."
"What about your girlfriend? How can you get married alone?" Li Man said with a wry smile: "You must be present in person to receive the marriage certificate."
The clock on the wall was ticking, and the rain outside was getting heavier and heavier. The man pursed his lips slightly and looked up at Li Man: "She's here, standing behind me."
Raindrops hit the windows violently, and the air in the house gradually solidified.
"Sir, don't be ridiculous. Both parties must be present in person to get married. I can't help you with it like this." Li Man covered her chest. She didn't know why she was suddenly out of breath.
"She is really here. We are inseparable. Wherever I am, there is her." The man's eyes were clear and there was a hint of stubbornness in his tone.
Seeing the man's serious look, Li Man held the long-demagnetized ID card in her hand, and she suddenly thought of a possibility.
Opening the woman's household registration book, the page with the woman's name was stamped with the police station's seal announcing her death. The time of death was several years ago.
"Sir..." Li Man wanted to say something, but she looked at the man's stubborn expression and felt a little moved.
Scanning the man's backpack, Li Man looked at the items in the bag.
Are these things that the girl once used? Are these things that have been preserved and treasured memories of the two of them? Is this cat the girl's cat before her death?
In an instant, Li Man understood why the man brought a lot of things to the marriage registration office, and why the man said that the woman had always been with him.
With eyes aching, Li Man held the girl's ID card. She didn't know what to say, whether to comfort the man or tell him the cruel truth.
Her lips slowly opened, but Li Man couldn't say what she wanted to say. She looked at the child-like man in front of her with a complicated mood.
She forced herself to keep smiling: "Sir, you must love her very much, right? How did you meet?"
"She was the one who chased me. The first love letter I received in my life was from her." The man's eyes wandered, as if recalling the past: "Our first date was at the abandoned school."
"Abandoned school? Going to an abandoned school for your first date?"
"Xicheng Private Academy, where she has her obsession 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 talked to each other."
Li Man listened silently, and a picture emerged in his mind.
In the quiet night, the two of them were reminiscing about the past in the abandoned alma mater. The college used to be beautiful and lively, but now only the two of them are left, back to back, leaning on each other. What a sad and beautiful love this is!
"The second date was in a mental hospital. She was wearing a red dress. She was stunningly beautiful and flamboyant."
"Mental hospital?"
"Because of my parents, that day I..."
"I understand, I'm sorry." Before the man finished speaking, Li Man apologized. She didn't like to uncover other people's scars. Maybe her parents were another pain in this man's heart.
"The third date was in a building. I blocked the man who had made her unhappy in the elevator and gave him a lesson she would never forget."
"You really dote on your girlfriend. I think she will be very happy when she finds out about this."
"She was by my side at that time." The man looked gentle, remembering the elevator wrapped in black hair in the Ghost Stories Association building.
"That scene must be very romantic and heart-warming." Li Man felt that the man in front of him was a boyfriend.
"The fourth date was in the underground charnel house of the Forensic Medical College. She was injured but didn't tell me. She sat quietly with me and seemed to have hugged me secretly." The man's voice was very nice, hoarse.
With a mature charm, he was recalling the past, and that faint feeling even made Li Man subconsciously ignore the special dating place of the underground charnel house.
"The fifth date was on the rooftop of a small town. That day was very similar to today. It was raining heavily outside, and she and I were leaning against each other."
Compared to abandoned schools, mental hospitals and underground charnel houses, this date place made Li Man a little uncomfortable: "Did you confess your love to her that day?"
The man nodded slightly: "I stood at the highest point of the town and shouted out my heart to the strange world. I don't believe there is anything more romantic in the world than being inseparable for life."
"Wow." Li Man has heard many people's stories, but none of them are as shocking as Chen Ge's story. Maybe it's because she saw the death certificate in the household registration book and already knew the cause of the result in advance: "What happens next?"
"Later..." Chen Ge took a gentle breath: "She fell asleep and it would take a long, long time to wake up. I have been waiting for her."
The death certificate in the household register pierced Li Man's heart like a steel needle at this moment, and tears welled up in her eyes unconsciously.
Lowering her head, Li Man pretended to be looking for something. She secretly wiped her tears while the computer covered her face. She already knew the ending of the story.
No one spoke in the room. After a long time, the calm was broken by a man. His hand gently rested on the empty seat next to him, as if his girlfriend was sitting there: "Our sixth date..."
It doesn't matter what the man said next. Li Man knew that after his wife's accident, he trapped himself in a cage called love. He thought his girlfriend was still in the world.
Because of my deep love, I refuse to believe the fact that the other person has left.
Holding her hands together, her fingertips turning white, Li Man wanted to tell Chen Ge the truth, but she really 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 that did not match the household registration information.
.
That girl died many years ago, and there is no such person in the household registration data.
Reality was like a basin of ice water poured on Li Man. She looked at the man's face that was lost in memories and bit her lips: "Sir, the data here is incomplete and the system is being upgraded. We can't help you with it for the time being. Please give it a try."
Come back next week."
Li Man wanted to help the man in front of him, even if he had to make a similar little red book that did not have legal effect.
"Okay, I'll trouble you." The man stood up slowly, packed up all his things and walked out. When he walked to the door, he suddenly took off his raincoat and held it over his head, as if there was someone standing next to him at this time.
Looking at another person: "Zhang Ya, don't stay too far away from me, it's raining hard."
Li Man could see clearly in the room that there was no one else under the man's raincoat except himself.
Looking at the man's retreating back, Li Man wiped the corners of his eyes: "Maybe this is love, falling in love with you, being loyal to you, being sincere to you, and ending with you."