I was approached by a cat-eared girl.

"hey-hey....."

Upon receiving confirmation, Bai Xiaoqi couldn't help but giggle sheepishly. Chen Shuo reached out and pinched her soft, chubby cheeks. "Don't just giggle like an idiot, call me 'husband' first."

"I won't call it."

Bai Xiaoqi slapped his hand aside, glanced at the little red book a few more times, and then put the marriage certificate into the small handbag on her waist. Inside were not only the marriage certificate, but also the two people's household registration book and ID card.

What do we do next?

“You should say, ‘Honey, what are we going to do next?’” Chen Shuo corrected.

Bai Xiaoqi looked around, hesitated for a moment, and then whispered, "...Honey, what are we going to do next?"

When she called him "husband" in a soft, sweet voice, Chen Shuo felt his bones melt. He was overjoyed and couldn't help but pull her into his arms and kiss her.

Two people were kissing in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau, attracting the attention of passersby on the street, who cast all sorts of glances their way.

After their lips parted, Bai Xiaoqi secretly looked around in his arms. When she saw that everyone around them was watching them, she quickly buried her face in Chen Shuo's arms, her little face flushed and her shy appearance was especially cute.

Chen Shuoqiang suppressed the urge to hug her and kiss her again, and quickly pulled her away from the gazes of passersby.

Once they had walked a little further away, Bai Xiaoqi kicked him in the shin, her face flushed, and said, "With so many people around just now, you have such a thick skin, you don't know any shame at all."

Chen Shuo didn't take it seriously at all and laughed, "I've been shameless for a long time."

Seeing that he was still smiling, Bai Xiaoqi got even angrier and reached out to pinch Chen Shuo hard.

"Ouch..." Chen Shuo winced in pain, his smile fading. He took her small hand in his and said, "Come on, let's go transfer our household registration."

What kind of household registration should I transfer?

"You need to transfer your household registration to our household registration book. Otherwise, you'll be all alone in one of our books, which is so pitiful."

Having managed to retrieve his household registration booklet from home, Chen Shuo naturally planned to get everything done in one day. Carrying his newly obtained marriage certificate, along with the household registration booklet and marriage certificate, the two went to the local police station.

Within the same province or city, it was relatively less complicated. After filling out a bunch of materials, Bai Xiaoqi finally wrote her name crookedly in the application section, and that was it.

Next comes the waiting. In a few days, her household registration will be transferred to her own family's household registration book, along with a brand new ID card.

After finishing their business, the two were no longer in a hurry. They took the bus back to their parents' apartment complex. When they got downstairs, Chen Shuo was still nagging, "When we go upstairs later, you cover for me while I secretly put the household registration book back. Got it?"

"Are we really not going to tell Auntie?"

"It's not that I don't want to tell her, it's that I'll let things play out for a while and then give her a surprise later. You can't hide this kind of thing from her anyway. Besides, have you forgotten that when we came here last time, she said she would help us find an auspicious date and arrange our wedding?"

She's in such a rush, believe it or not, if we just mention it, she'll want to hold a wedding for us tomorrow, and then she'll be pressuring us to have a baby so she can hold her grandson.

"So rushed..." Bai Xiaoqi's voice was soft as she looked down at the diamond ring on her hand. The wedding is tomorrow, the wedding is tomorrow...

.....

"mom."

"Auntie."

Wu Yulan was cooking in the kitchen when she heard the sound and poked her head out. "You're back. You two sit down first. The food will be ready soon."

"Oh..."

Chen Shuo responded, and seeing Wu Yulan shrink back into the kitchen, he whispered to Bai Xiaoqi, "You sit down, I'll go put the household registration book back."

"Ah."

Bai Xiaoqi nodded gently. Seeing Chen Shuo go into the bedroom to put away the household registration book, she walked to the kitchen with her small handbag on her back and said, "Auntie, let me help you."

"No need, your shirt is so white, it would be bad if it got dirty. Just sit in the living room outside, Auntie will be done here soon."

"Let me help you."

As she spoke, Bai Xiaoqi took off her small handbag and placed it on the cabinet next to her, but it seemed that she did not place it properly. The handbag fell to the ground from the cabinet, and the zipper seemed to have been forgotten to be zipped up. Then the marriage certificate inside rolled out with a crisp thud.

"What fell..." Wu Yulan was cooking when she heard the noise and subconsciously looked down. When she saw the little red book on the ground, she stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence.

"???"

When Chen Shuo returned after putting away the household registration booklet, he was stunned by what he saw in the kitchen.

What happened to letting the bullets fly for a while?

How did you find out so quickly?

Chapter 276 It's not like...

An eerie silence fell over the kitchen; the sizzling of the stir-frying vegetables and the chirping of cicadas downstairs seemed to vanish in an instant.

Chen Shuo stared at her with wide eyes, trying to make eye contact with Xiao A Miao. Bai Xiao Qi met his gaze without flinching, her big eyes blinking innocently. Wu Yulan, holding a spatula, glanced at the two of them, then at the little red book on the ground.

After a moment, she bent down to pick up the marriage certificate. When she opened it and saw the photos of the two of them, she looked up again, her face full of confusion.

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Yulan asked somewhat uncertainly, "This, this is for both of you?"

“Yes.” Chen Shuo came back to his senses and stopped staring at Bai Xiaoqi. Anyway, things had already come to this, so there was no point in looking at her anymore.

He simply admitted it openly, paused for two seconds, and then continued, "We were just bored today, so we went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get a marriage certificate."

“That’s true, we’re just killing time anyway…” Wu Yulan nodded in agreement, then suddenly realized, why not get a marriage certificate since we have nothing else to do?

What kind of ridiculous reasoning is this?

After a moment of silence, she looked at Bai Xiaoqi beside her, trying to get her daughter-in-law to give a more legitimate reason, at least not something like having nothing better to do, that would be too far-fetched.

But when Bai Xiaoqi met her gaze, she unconsciously lowered her head, clutching the hem of her shirt with both hands, her face gradually turning red, and she murmured shyly, just like a young wife meeting her mother-in-law.

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting your marriage certificate?" Seeing this, Wu Yulan had no choice but to look away. She stared at the marriage certificate in her hand, still feeling that it was unreal. How could they have gotten the certificate so suddenly? She, as the mother, was not prepared at all.

"Hey, I was just thinking of giving it to you..." Chen Shuo suddenly sniffed, "Mom, the vegetables are all gone!"

Hearing this, Wu Yulan belatedly noticed the distinct smell of lake. Clutching the marriage certificate, she frantically shoved it into Chen Shuo's hand and hurriedly grabbed a spatula to stir-fry, but it was too late to salvage the situation.

"You two go outside and sit down first. Mom will cook a few more dishes tonight. You can call your dad while you're at it and tell him to come back quickly. Never mind, I'll call him myself in a bit."

Chen Shuo picked up the small handbag from the ground, put the things that had fallen out, including the marriage certificate in his hand, back in, and then pulled Bai Xiaoqi out to the living room.

He sat down on the sofa, glanced at Bai Xiaoqi beside him, and asked, "Don't you have anything to say?"

"say what?"

Seeing her blank expression, Chen Shuo was a little unsure of himself. He scratched his head and said, "We agreed to let things play out for a while, but you betrayed the organization and informed on us ahead of time."

"What do you mean by tattling? I didn't put my bag down properly, and the marriage certificate fell out." Bai Xiaoqi was a little flustered, but she tried her best to remain calm and acted with a righteous expression.

"How could it fall out when the zipper is pulled?"

"I forgot to zip it up."

Chen Shuo stared at her for a moment, then finally nodded, "...Okay, I believe you."

"...I feel like you don't believe me."

"It's not just a feeling."

......

In the kitchen, Wu Yulan poured the burnt food into the trash can, washed the pot clean, and then took out her phone to call Chen Jianwen.

On the other side, the academic seminar that Chen Jianwen attended had just ended, and a large group of old scholars walked out of the auditorium. The old man followed the crowd, arguing with a professor he knew as he walked.

Noticing his phone vibrating in his pocket, Chen Jianwen took it out to look at it, gave the other person an apologetic look, and walked aside to answer the call.

"Hey, I haven't finished my meeting yet, I probably won't be back until later." The old man said while making the call, glancing at the professor on the other end, and then added, "Eat your own dinner first, just save some for me."

"Does that matter? If it doesn't matter, then don't drive it. Come back quickly. Your son is already married."

"what?"

The old man was stunned.

He tugged at his shirt tie. "What did you just say? Say it again."

"Your son is getting married. Come back soon and drive carefully."

After a series of busy tones, Chen Jianwen stared blankly at the disconnected phone. He was already married? How come no one had informed him of such a big event?

The professor who had just debated with him saw him hang up the phone, adjusted his glasses, and leaned closer. "Old Chen," he said, "I still think your point was somewhat biased, too objective. 'Everything has a beginning, but few succeed to the end.' The difficulty of reform lies precisely in..."

"Yes, yes, Lao Liu, you're right. Um, I have something to do, I'll be going now."

Chen Jianwen had no time to argue about these things. He waved to the other party and then turned and strode away.

Professor Liu stared at his retreating figure. Had he been convinced so quickly? Something couldn't be right. This old man was probably just giving him the runaround again.

When Chen Jianwen drove back from the provincial capital via the highway, it was already past 7 p.m. The pork rib soup that he had been simmering for most of the afternoon was finally ready, bubbling and steaming, filling the house with its aroma.

Wearing large cotton gloves, Wu Yulan brought out the pork rib soup from the casserole. Seeing Chen Jianwen's travel-worn appearance, she said, "You're back? Quickly wash your hands and get ready to eat."

"..." Chen Jianwen glanced at the people in the room. Weren't they supposed to be getting married? But this didn't look like a wedding scene at all.

"dad."

"uncle."

"Eh, eh..." The old man responded repeatedly, his steps faltering. He suspected that these people were lying to him, their purpose being to prevent him from continuing his argument with that old Liu, but unfortunately, there was no evidence.

Besides, how would they know that they were arguing about academic viewpoints with that old Liu when they weren't even around?

He took off his tie, went to the bathroom to wash his hands, sat down at the dining table, looked at this, then at that, and then at the large table of dishes on the table. He didn't pick up any food, and looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Chen Shuo got up and went to the sofa, took the marriage certificate out of his small handbag, sat back down, and handed the marriage certificate over with a calm expression. "Dad, we just got a certificate, so we're not really married."

"oh...."

Chen Jianwen calmly gave an "oh," took the marriage certificate, and examined the cover carefully as if appraising an antique. He then opened it to look at the photo of the two of them, silently reading each word on it. Finally, he pushed up his glasses and muttered to himself, "It looks real, not a fake."

"Nonsense, there are fakes of this stuff? Can't you see that huge prick on it?"

Seeing his air of expertise in appraising antiques, Wu Yulan had been wanting to say something to him, but upon hearing this, she pointed at the stamp on the item and glared at him, saying, "Fake? Did you go crazy from the meeting?"

Chen Jianwen didn't mind, took it and looked at it a few more times before handing the marriage certificate back, and then got up and walked to the study.

"We're eating, where are you going?"

"I'll go get the wine, we need to have a drink, right?" The old man seemed quite happy, it was hard to tell if it was because the two of them had gotten their marriage certificate, or because he had finally found a legitimate excuse to have a little wine.

Or perhaps both, a double blessing.

"Never mind him, let's eat first." Wu Yulan called out, then reached out and picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs and put it in Bai Xiaoqi's bowl. "Here, Qiqi, you eat this."