Chapter 2 #2
Why did this sound like incoming drama? I didn’t like being in the middle of drama. As a proper drama llama, I liked being on the sidelines, with my popcorn and shades to enjoy the show. I did not want to be part of the performance, thank you very much.
“I told Wu Hua you would call her back.”
“Place the call for me, and both of you stay to listen.”
I was okay with that. I’d need to know how many people were coming in, to start with.
I rounded the desk to punch the number into her landline, then placed the call on speaker.
Wu Hua picked up immediately. Boss greeted her politely, explained who she was, and then started asking all the questions. I stood next to her and took notes.
“Wu Hua, what is your son’s name? The groom.”
“Yan Yichen.”
“I will need to summon him in order to ask if he consents to absolving the marriage, so what is his birthday?”
I noted this information as well. I’d need to find him in the marriage database and note he was available as a match, since he was probably getting a divorce. Hopefully he’d be okay with the situation. I didn’t know how this was going to work out otherwise.
But if he had a living bride, he’d likely never spent time with her. They had to have met at some point, hence the marriage binding. Then again, if he’d never lived with his wife, he might not be very attached to her?
Yes, I realized that sounded like wishful thinking.
“Who all will attend this meeting with you? I must have the daughter-in-law here by all means.”
“We’re all coming,” Wu Hua assured us. “My husband, Haoyu, my younger son, Hao Ran, and my daughter-in-law, Zhou Jia Li.”
“Excellent, that will help us sort this out. Wu Hua, I must tell you, while the dissolvement can be done, it will be painful to your daughter-in-law to have the soul binding severed. She’ll need at least three months to recover, so you must be attentive to her.
She’ll be exhausted and sleep a great deal. ”
“Oh! I didn’t realize. I will prepare for the aftereffects. She is very determined. We all are. We adore her, my youngest son loves her more than anything, and we hope his elder brother will forgive them and let them marry.”
“I hope so as well,” Boss said a little dryly. “Otherwise, this will get complicated. But let us set a day and time for all of you to come in. What day is good for you this week?”
We conferred with the schedule, settled on an in-person meeting two days from now, and Boss ended the call. Then sat back with a huff, her filmy eyes staring ahead.
“I never thought I’d have to do something like this. Such a rare situation.”
Charlotte rubbed her temples. “I’m getting a headache trying to keep up. Uh, so, is summoning the groom to speak to different than the usual potential match summonings? The ones we set up at the altar.”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “You’re thinking of when we set up prospective matches and use bamboo sticks with their information written on them, and red string to bind the bride and groom.
That’s to introduce two spirits together, so you don’t see the ghosts at all.
This time, you’ll be able to see and hear them.
But it means we need to make up a doll, and I don’t know if we have all the materials.
Let’s double-check our inventory first and get an order to Jasha ASAP if we don’t.
Boss, question: Why would the daughter-in-law be exhausted after the binding is severed? ”
Boss shrugged, thin shoulder shifting under her light blue shawl. “The severing will impact her spirit strongly. If the spirit is hurt or strained, the body reacts accordingly. Much like if your mind or heart is ill, it affects the rest of the body.”
Made perfect sense. How many times had I seen or experienced heartsickness over something and felt like I suffered from a cold as a result? “So, is removing a binding something like ripping off a Band-Aid?”
Boss’s thin lips twisted. “If the Band-Aid has been tied to your limb for years and started adhering to skin, sure.”
Double ouch. Yeah, I could see why she’d need time to recover. But— “Wait, I thought breaking a living bond wasn’t possible?”
“It’s not possible for two living souls,” Boss amended, “as it would kill you both to try. But one of them is deceased. Is it perfectly safe even with one dead? Well, no, things can still go wrong. And like I said, she’ll have to recover. But it is possible.”
Huh. I’d learned something today. A little sad it couldn’t apply to me, but I’d much prefer living with Zhen over one of us dying just to get out of the bond.
Charlotte threw up a staying hand. “Real quick question: Did I pick up on it right that the women in this family had different surnames than the men? Why?”
“You did, and remember—adopting the surname of your husband is a Western cultural tradition. In Asian cultures, no one’s name changes. A woman’s surname is hers for life.”
“Huh.” Charlotte seemed baffled by my explanation. To her Western upbringing, it likely did sound strange.
Me, I’d read so much danmei and watched so many Chinese dramas as a teenager, it no longer seemed odd. Just a cultural difference. “Boss, I’m going to look up our groom in the system first and flag his profile.”
“Yes, do that. We might need to find him another bride. If he’s willing to let go of this one.”
That was the question, wasn’t it?