Chapter 69: Let's Get Married

Host: Zhou Chen
Attributes
Strength: 8
Constitution: 8
Spirit: 12
Agility: 7
Remaining Points: 4
Skills:
Paving the Way with Gold: When the host proactively uses money to accomplish something, the success rate increases by fifty percent. Cooldown: Main World: One month; Cinematic World: Limited to one use per world.

After a month of working out, his constitution had not increased, but his strength had gone up by one point. This was primarily because he had signed up for a muscle-building training program at the gym this month.

From the whole-body soreness after the first day of training to being completely used to it now, this month of high-intensity exercise had only yielded a one-point increase in strength, which made Zhou Chen all the more aware of the importance of attribute points.

Although the increase was a bit meager, it still gave Zhou Chen hope, proving that attribute points could indeed be raised through physical training.

Tomorrow was the deadline of the one-month mark. After making his preparations, Zhou Chen lay down on the bed and connected his consciousness with the system.

…………

Zhou Chen sat on a chair, looking at the two people seated across the desk, wearing a somewhat bewildered expression.

He had transmigrated over a dozen minutes ago. The transmutation process was identical to the first time, but what made it different was his identity.

Last time, his consciousness had directly transmigrated into someone else's body. But this time, he found that he had transmigrated with his physical body intact. He knew his own body well and could not possibly be mistaken; it was unequivocally his physical body from the real world.

Zhou Chen was naturally glad to have his real body. After all, how could anyone else's body compare to one's own?

However, because he had transmigrated in his physical body, his identity in this world should not have existed. Yet, the system's formidable capability was unquestionable, as it had directly fabricated an identity for him.

Zhou Chen, twenty-eight years old, a clerk at the Civil Affairs Bureau, unattached with no relatives, both parents deceased, unmarried…………

"This damn system really has some impressive tricks up its sleeve, but making both parents deceased—isn't that a bit too ruthless?"

This identity did not surprise Zhou Chen. Since the system could even manage transmigration, creating an identity was child's play.

Not only that, the memories associated with this identity were deeply engraved in his mind. Compared to the memories of Xia Junshan from before, there were far fewer of them, but this unattached status would save him a great deal of trouble.

Not long after transmigrating, he checked the system interface. There were no other changes, save for an additional system task.

Let's Get Married: Complete a marriage within this world within one year. The bride must be chosen between Yang Tao and Lan Weiwei.

Through this task, Zhou Chen instantly realized which world he had transmigrated into—the world of the television series "Let's Get Married".

What frustrated him, however, was that while he had crammed television dramas for a full month, this particular show happened to be one he had missed. He remembered it being quite popular several years ago and that he had watched it from start to finish back then. But after so many years, he could only recall a vague outline.

Judging from the task requirements, however, this shouldn't pose any real obstacle, as the task did not require him to have deep knowledge of the plot; he merely needed to successfully pursue a woman and get married.

This task genuinely filled him with a sense of irony.

When he was in the real world, he had promised his mother he would find a girlfriend, yet he hadn't taken any action for a whole month. Now, as luck would have it, he was dumped into this world and given a marriage quest—was the system trying to use this as a warm-up exercise to help him find a girlfriend back in the real world?

Although years had passed, Zhou Chen could still recall some details. The two women mentioned in the task, Yang Tao and Lan Weiwei, were both pivotal characters in the series.

Yang Tao was the female protagonist of the show. When he watched the series back then, he had even fancied her for a period, feeling she was a woman thoroughly suited for marriage.

As for Lan Weiwei, she was an important supporting character in the drama and also the female protagonist Yang Tao's best friend.

Despite being best friends, she was a treacherous one who had stolen her best friend's boyfriend and kept it hidden for years. What left him even more speechless was that this woman somehow managed to end up with a happy ending and found a rather decent husband—truly a baffling outcome.

Indeed, on the path of marriage, women always had it much better than men. A woman you found utterly repulsive might well turn out to be a priceless treasure in someone else's eyes.

A choice between two—what was there even to debate? How pathetic would he have to be to choose Lan Weiwei knowing the kind of person she was?

Yet, if he wanted to win over Yang Tao, he first had to figure out the current situation. Had the plot started yet, and if so, to what extent? If the male and female protagonists were already married, then crashing someone else's relationship wouldn't be so easy.

That's right, don't blame him for playing dirty; if Yang Tao were truly married, he would definitely pick up a shovel and tear down the wall to complete his mission.

To figure out the plot was, for him at present, exceptionally simple. Because he was currently a clerk at the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, and in the memories bestowed upon him by the system, he had a colleague named Guo Ran.

In this world, working at the Civil Affairs Bureau, and bearing the name Guo Ran—there could be no mistake; this was definitely the male lead, Guo Ran.

Once he knew what Guo Ran's current situation was, he could deduce the exact timeline he was in with utmost speed.

Before that, he needed to continue working and deal with the couple currently sitting before him.

"You two, have you truly considered this? Once you sign and stamp these papers, you will be officially divorced."

Zhou Chen's current responsibility was handling divorces. The middle-aged man and woman sitting before him had come precisely for that purpose.

Spread out before this middle-aged couple were various documents: identity cards, household registration booklets, divorce papers, and the like...

"We're getting a divorce. We must get a divorce."

The woman slammed the table with a resolute attitude and cried out loudly.

Zhou Chen shifted his gaze to the man. The man and woman appeared to be around forty years old. The man wore a suit, carried a composed demeanor, and looked like a successful professional.

The woman was rather attractive, still retaining her charm, and dressed very fashionably. However, laden with gold and silver jewelry, she gave off a slightly tacky impression.

Ever since sitting down, the man had barely spoken a word, while the woman continually found fault with him. Although the man wore a helpless expression, he did not fly into a rage nor start yelling, showing that he possessed a fair degree of self-restraint.

"Sir, Madam, I must confirm once again: are you certain you wish to divorce? If you are truly resolved to do so, please hand your identification documents over to me first."

Zhou Chen asked again. Though he had never worked in this profession, the memories provided him with the necessary experience, making the handling quite smooth.

Hearing Zhou Chen's re-emphasis, the resolute woman's eyes flickered evasively for a moment before she snapped at the man: "He's talking to you."

The man replied, "Weren't you the one who insisted on coming here to get a divorce? You said you wanted to divorce, so we're divorcing."

"Bang!"

The woman fiercely slapped the table and chided, "What kind of attitude is that? If you weren't so partial, would I have reached the point of wanting a divorce? You are utterly devoid of conscience! From morning till night, I wait on you, cooking and doing your laundry. Have you forgotten who took care of you when you were hospitalized?

And your father—when his retirement paperwork ran into trouble, I ran around for days, begging everyone I could, walking my legs off and talking until my lips were chapped, just to get your father successfully retired. And your mother, ever since the day I entered your family, she has always looked at me with displeasure..."

This woman had quite a tongue on her, rattling on incessantly. The man glanced at Zhou Chen, his face a mask of embarrassment.

"Alright, alright, we're already here, what's the point of bringing all this up? You're the one who wants a divorce from me; I never said I wanted a divorce from you. How did I suddenly become devoid of conscience?"

"It is you! Why is it that you sent your biological daughter abroad to study, but just found some random, mediocre school for my daughter to attend? When you were courting me, you spoke so sweetly about treating both children equally. But over these past few years, has there been any fairness? I won't even mention how your father and mother favor your daughter—after all, she's their biological granddaughter—but why must you be biased too?"

The man grew anxious: "When have I ever been partial? For thirteen years, when have I been partial? Everything Xiao Jie has, Xiao Meng has too—food, drinks, clothes, I've raised them practically like twins. What more do you want me to do?

You say I'm biased for sending my daughter to study abroad while keeping Xiao Meng in the country, but I've already explained it to you: Xiao Meng herself didn't want to go abroad. She said she wanted to stay home and keep you and me company. Since Xiao Meng didn't want to go, I couldn't exactly force her, could I? You're going to divorce me over this? Is it really worth it?"

"Oh, listening to you, it sounds like it's my fault after all? Li Zhennan, Xiao Meng's matter was just the fuse. Do you not know why I'm divorcing you? How much I've endured for your sake all these years, yet how have you treated me? Do you think all of this was simply my duty..."

Zhou Chen, sitting opposite them, finally understood the situation. These two were not the original couple, but rather a reconstituted family. The woman wanted a divorce seemingly because she felt her daughter was being treated differently and because she had suffered grievances over the years without receiving the man's understanding, prompting her to seek a divorce in a fit of rage.

He was hardly surprised by such a scenario. In reconstituted families where both parties brought children from previous marriages, how could problems not arise?

Judging by the man's tone, he didn't seem to be treating them differently; it was just his parents who acted otherwise. But wasn't that entirely normal? Weren't they bound to care more for their own flesh and blood than for an outsider with no blood ties?

Ah, Zhou Chen suddenly recalled his experiences in A Little Life. The situation of this couple bore some resemblance to that of Nan Jianlong and Cai Jujing, though these two were far more open about it.

Listening to the bickering between the two, Zhou Chen could no longer hold his tongue.

"You two, this is an office, not a place for you to quarrel. I don't think this divorce is happening anyway; why don't you go somewhere else and argue at home?"

Fierce as the woman's quarreling was, she clearly had no intention of actually divorcing and was merely putting on a show. As for the man, needless to say, he was gripping his identity card tightly without the slightest intention of letting go. With things standing thus, a divorce would be a miracle.

Both the man and woman looked somewhat embarrassed. The woman nagged the man a few more times before grabbing her document folder and storming out. The man offered a bitter smile and hurried after her.

Zhou Chen felt quite reflective. He had heard people say before that when a couple goes to file for divorce, if they are shouting and screaming at each other, nine times out of ten they won't end up divorced; whereas couples who remain entirely silent throughout the process are the ones destined to part ways.

Still, if one had to work in this environment every day, ordinary people truly wouldn't be able to bear it. No wonder the clerks at the Civil Affairs Bureau frequently alternated between handling marriages and divorces, cycling through the good and the bad so their minds wouldn't snap.