The person calling him was none other than Wu Mingwei's cousin, Zuo Jinhui.
When Chuntao was hospitalized in the county town last time, Zuo Jinhui had been a great help.
The day before Chuntao was discharged, she had asked him to go over to her house to help make coal briquettes.
Zhou Zhijun never expected that Zuo Jinhui would say something like that to him.
Looking at Zuo Jinhui in front of him, Zhou Zhijun felt a bit awkward. "Sister Jinhui!"
As soon as he spoke, Zuo Jinhui quickly walked up to them.
Zuo Jinhui's gaze lightly flicked over Li Chuntao. Then she looked at Zhou Zhijun, "Brother Zhijun, is this the one who was hospitalized last time..."
Zhou Zhijun nodded, "Yes, Li Chuntao. Thanks a lot for your help last time!"
Chuntao also remembered Zuo Jinhui's kindness and quickly greeted her with a reserved smile, "Sister Zuo!"
Zhou Zhijun didn't want to get tangled up with her; he was in a hurry to get to the courthouse.
"Sister Jinhui, we still have things to do, so we'll be leaving first!" After saying that, he stepped forward.
Chuntao smiled at Zuo Jinhui and said softly, "Sister Zuo, we are leaving first!"
Unexpectedly, Zuo Jinhui stepped forward quickly, grabbed Chuntao's arm, and asked in a low voice, "Where are you guys going? Do you need my help?"
Chuntao hurriedly said, "No need... no need."
Zuo Jinhui quickly took out a pen and paper from her canvas cross-body bag, hastily wrote a few words, folded the paper into a neat square, and stuffed it into Chuntao's pocket.
"Pass this to Brother Zhijun, make sure he reads it!"
Chuntao's heart suddenly sank. "Okay!" she said, turning around to chase after Zhou Zhijun.
The two hurried all the way to the police station, saying they wanted to register for a household registration book.
Unexpectedly, the staff member said, "You didn't bring the old household registration book from your family? We can't process a household separation without it!"
Zhou Zhijun was taken aback. "You didn't mention that yesterday?"
The staff member was a bit impatient. "You didn't ask yesterday, did you?"
Chuntao gripped the hem of her shirt, her voice weak. "Comrade, I... I live far away, could you please do us a favor!"
"These are strict rules!"
The clerk didn't even lift his eyes. "Go back and bring your family's old household registration book. Without it, this cannot be done!"
As soon as these words came out, Zhou Zhijun and Chuntao's hearts skipped a beat, feeling a chill run from their heads down to their toes.
The Li family didn't want Chuntao to leave the Wang family in the first place. Getting the household registration book from them would be harder than climbing to heaven.
Zhou Zhijun quickly stepped forward. "Comrade, without the household registration book, if we go to the village brigade to get a certificate, would that work?"
"No! It must be the household registration book, a certificate is useless!"
Chuntao stood to the side, her heart feeling sour and bitter.
Meanwhile, on Wang Lanhua's side.
Aunt Zhou had to put in a lot of effort before Wang Lanhua finally gave birth to the child, and it was a boy. Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang were so happy they couldn't stop grinning.
Wang Lanhua was a married daughter, yet she had given birth in her maiden home, which was a major taboo. Grandma Shen only now realized this and began to feel afraid.
If Liu Cuilan found out, she would definitely turn the world upside down!
"Dazhuang, hurry, we need to head back quickly!"
Because of the difficult labor, Wang Lanhua had long exhausted her strength. At this moment, she lay on the bed limp as a puddle of mud, having no energy left to care about Chuntao's affairs.
Li Dazhuang didn't dare to delay. He found an old cotton quilt to spread on the handcart, and hurriedly pulled Wang Lanhua and the newborn baby away.
Along the way, neither Li Dazhuang nor Grandma Shen spoke.
Aunt Zhou had told them not to get involved in Chuntao's affairs. At that time, they had readily agreed, but now they were having second thoughts.
Chuntao was staying at Zhou Zhijun's house. Once Wang Lanhua recovered her strength, she definitely wouldn't agree to it, so they still had to get involved.
When they reached the entrance of Li Village, Li Dazhuang suddenly stopped, looked at Grandma Shen and asked, "Grandma, why haven't I seen Chuntao?"
Wang Lanhua's difficult labor had scared them quite a bit, so how could they have cared about Chuntao? Li Dazhuang suddenly remembered that Chuntao seemed to have never returned after going to find the midwife.
Questioned by him like this, Grandma Shen also instantly came to her senses.
That's right, Chuntao said she was going to the neighboring village to find the midwife. She had been gone for half the day and hadn't returned? And they hadn't seen Zhou Zhijun either.
Grandma Shen's heart tightened. She quickly gave Li Dazhuang a look, telling him not to mention Chuntao again, lest Wang Lanhua hear it and make a scene.
On the other side, Zhou Zhijun pulled a dejected Chuntao along as they slowly walked out of the police station gates.
Seeing her lonely expression, Zhou Zhijun felt a pang of heartache.
"Tao, don't worry. No matter how hard it is, I will definitely help get it done. Once we get the household registration book, we'll get our marriage certificate!"
Get a marriage certificate? Hearing him say this, Chuntao's small face instantly turned red, and her heart grew even more flustered.
It was already late afternoon. The two didn't dare to delay and planned to go to the station to take a large tricycle back, and then go to the Li family to ask for the household registration book.
But before they even reached the station, the originally clear sky suddenly turned gloomy.
The next second, bean-sized raindrops came crashing down with a pitter-patter.
"Oh no, it's raining!" Zhou Zhijun quickly grabbed Chuntao's hand and ran to an abandoned doorway by the roadside to take shelter.
Summer brought a lot of rain, falling without warning. Looking at the downpour, the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon.
Zhou Zhijun sighed in his heart; they wouldn't be able to go back today.
But on second thought, it was fine if they couldn't go back. Tonight, he could get properly intimate with Chuntao.
Last time when they sold pigs on Wanggang Street, they were able to find a remote little inn to stay for a night.
But this was the county town, where things were managed much more strictly than in the countryside. Without a marriage certificate, he didn't know if they would be allowed to stay together.
Zhou Zhijun secretly calculated in his heart, turned his head to look at Chuntao beside him, and said in a gentle tone, "Tao, the rain is too heavy today, we can't go back. Let's stay in the county town for one night and take the early bus back to the village tomorrow morning."
She knew Zhou Zhijun too well. He hadn't done that for quite a few days, and now saying they should stay in the county town for a night, he definitely wanted to...
Thinking of those shameful scenes, Chuntao's cheeks instantly flushed red.
Seeing her shy and bashful appearance, Zhou Zhijun felt an itch at the tip of his heart, as if countless little ants were crawling on it.
He leaned down, close to her ear, his voice extremely low, with a bit of roguish ambiguity in his tone, "Tao, did you miss me too? Tonight, let's find a hostel to stay at..."
"Annoying!" Chuntao's cheeks burned even hotter. She gave him a light push, her tone full of reproach, but her eyes were as soft as a pool of spring water.
Zhou Zhijun took the opportunity to grasp her small hand, involuntarily increasing his grip slightly, and chuckled, "You, you just say one thing and mean another!"
After an unknown amount of time, the torrential rain finally gradually stopped. By this time, the sky had completely darkened.
The two had a bowl of beef braised noodles in a small restaurant, then went to a nearby, inconspicuous little hostel.
The landlady of the hostel was a woman in her fifties with shrewd eyes. She looked Zhou Zhijun and Chuntao up and down, then slowly asked, "One room or two?"
Zhou Zhijun straightened his back and said seriously, "Sister, we are husband and wife. We came to the county town today for some urgent business and left in such a hurry that we forgot to bring our marriage certificate. Do you think we could stay in one room?"
The landlady's gaze swept over Zhou Zhijun's face, then landed on Chuntao beside him, who was blushing deeply and keeping her head down in silence. A flash of understanding crossed the landlady's eyes; she already knew what was going on.
She shook her head gently and said in a flat tone, "The county has been doing strict inspections lately. Without a marriage certificate, you absolutely cannot stay in the same room. That's the rule, and I daren't break it."
Zhou Zhijun felt a wave of disappointment, but the landlady suddenly changed her tune and said with a smile, "However, I can give you two adjacent rooms.
That way, you can look out for each other at night. If anything happens, you just need to call out and the other will hear."
Zhou Zhijun's eyes instantly lit up, and he nodded hastily. "Great! Great! Thank you so much, ma'am. Two adjacent rooms it is!"
The landlady quickly registered their information, collected the money, and handed them two brass keys.
"The two rooms at the end of the hallway on the second floor, 208 and 209. They are both single rooms. You can go on up."
"Thank you, ma'am!"
The two took the keys and hurried up to the second floor.
Zhou Zhijun took a cold shower in the cramped bathroom, then went back to his room and lay on the bed.
His mind was completely filled with the image of the delicate, bashful little woman in the next room.
In the next room, Chuntao lay on her bed after taking a shower. She turned on the fan, but it couldn't blow away the heat in her body.
In her mind, the image of Zhou Zhijun from last time surfaced over and over again.
In her daze, Zhou Zhijun's hushed voice suddenly came from outside the door. "Tao, open the door."
Chuntao shuddered all over, as if pricked by a needle. She sat up abruptly from the bed, her heart pounding even harder.
"Tao..." Zhou Zhijun's voice drifted in again.
Chuntao wanted to open the door, wanted to throw herself into his arms, but the landlady's words echoed in her ears again.
As Chuntao hesitated, another soft knock came from outside, making her restless.
She tiptoed to the back of the door, where she could clearly hear Zhou Zhijun's heavy breathing outside.
And her own breathing became erratic and chaotic.
After hesitating for a moment, Chuntao finally couldn't hold back and gently pulled open the latch.
The moment the door was pulled open a crack, Zhou Zhijun flashed inside.
Before Chuntao could react, his boiling hot body pulled her into a tight embrace, pinning her firmly against the door.
