Chapter 116: Household Registration Book

"Stop, stop, stop!" Yangyang immediately panicked, his little face filled with terror. "I'll talk, I'll talk, isn't that enough?"
"It was all Real Man Hao'er who made me do it! He taught me the shape-shifting incantation, he told me to crawl into your belly!"
"Strictly speaking, I'm a victim just like you! If you want revenge, you should go to him—the one responsible for all this!"
At the critical moment when his life was seriously threatened, Yangyang betrayed Real Man Hao'er without a second thought, shifting the blame with remarkable ease.
"So my master really was behind all this," Chang Yu muttered, realizing the truth. "Next time I see him, I must confront him face to face!"

Ding-dong—
Just as Chang Yu was drowning in his worries, the doorbell rang.
He opened the door to find Katerina standing outside.
“I’ve brought you the ID card. Yangyang’s transfer procedures are all settled,” she said, then glanced past Chang Yu and saw Yangyang tied to the bed in the bedroom.
She looked at the kitchen knife in Chang Yu’s hand, then back at Yangyang tied up. Katerina fell silent; even the air seemed to freeze.
After a long pause, Katerina finally broke the silence. “Perhaps you two should handle your family matters. I’ll give you some privacy?”
She didn’t even consider rescuing me!
Women really can’t be counted on!
Yangyang realized the situation was hopeless and screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice like a slaughtered pig: "Katerina! Katerina!"
"Come save me! Chang Yu... Chang Yu has lost his mind!"
Yangyang struggled desperately against the ropes, looking for all the world like a kidnapped child trying to escape his captors.
"By the way, do you need any help?" Katerina addressed her question to Chang Yu, not to Yangyang.
That single question chilled Yangyang to the core.
"Oh heavens, you pair of treacherous villains!" Yangyang wailed in despair. "This is child abuse! I'm going to take you to court!"
"No need, the truth has already come out," Chang Yu said politely, inviting Katerina inside.
He took the ID card and household registration booklet from Katerina.
The ID card was an ordinary second-generation resident card, with Yangyang’s photo and ID number, and the address was Chang Yu’s current residence.
Opening the household registration booklet, he saw that it listed not only his own name and information, but also Yangyang’s.
Name: Chang Xiaoyang
Gender: Male
Age: Five
Relationship to head of household (Chang Yu): Adopted son
"Name, gender, age—I get all that. But why is he listed as my adopted son?" Chang Yu asked Katerina, putting the booklet down.
Honestly, if the relationship had been listed as eldest son, second son, youngest son, or even... eldest daughter, Chang Yu wouldn’t have minded.
But adopted son... that stung a little.
After all, he was his own flesh and blood, only to end up officially as an adopted child. That didn’t sit well with Chang Yu, and he figured Yangyang wouldn’t be happy about it either once he found out.
“There was no other way,” Katerina explained.
“You’ve never been married, you don’t even have a girlfriend—where would a biological son come from?”
“How could you possibly explain Yangyang’s origins to the police station or the neighborhood office?”
“Are you really going to tell them you gave birth to this child yourself?”
“And you can’t explain to outsiders how someone not even twenty years old could have a five-year-old child.”
“Would that mean you had him before you were fifteen? That would be a bit too scandalous, don’t you think?”
“Yangyang appeared out of thin air in this world. There’s no birth record or any information about him in the SkyNet system.”
“To the authorities, he’s a person with no legal identity whatsoever.”
“Unless you register your relationship as adoption, there’s no way for you two to appear on the same household booklet—not even with the Disaster Investigation Bureau’s authority.”
“I understand,” Chang Yu said, pressing his lips together unconsciously. “Adopted son it is. As long as I know he’s my real child, that’s enough.”
“All I need is to give him legitimate citizenship, so he can move freely in the human world.”
“Also, according to the records, Yangyang is now a five-year-old boy,” Katerina reminded him. “That means he’s old enough for kindergarten.”
“Ordinary families would have already sent a five-year-old to school. Yours can’t fall behind.”
“Well...” Chang Yu hesitated, feeling that kindergarten would be quite expensive and instinctively wanting to avoid the topic.
Seeing his indecision, Katerina began quoting proverbs:
“There’s a saying: ‘No matter how tough life gets, never let the children suffer; no matter how poor, never skimp on education.’”
“If you want Yangyang to win at the starting line, you have to be willing to spend, willing to invest.”
Chang Yu: ???
Katerina cleared her throat. “Education is a hundred-year plan; it determines the rise and fall of a nation and reflects the level of civilization in society.”
Chang Yu: !!!
“This is a people-oriented society, and economic prosperity depends on highly educated talent,” Katerina continued.
“Especially now, with our country’s rapid development, education should be a priority.”
“Making sure every child can go to school, and go to a good school, is a responsibility for all parents who value education.”
Chang Yu...
This penchant for lecturing really is just like Katerina.
"Um... I'll think about it," Chang Yu said, taking a deep breath. His head was starting to ache.
“While ensuring children’s basic living conditions, we should also cultivate in them the spirit of hard work and independence,” Katerina concluded.
“And to foster that spirit, we must first guarantee their basic right to education.”
There it was—back to the main point.
"I'll seriously consider it," Chang Yu promised Katerina solemnly.
No matter what he truly thought, at least on the surface, there was nothing to nitpick.
"I know it’s not easy raising a child alone," Katerina suddenly sighed, her tone softening.
"One person earning, two people spending—it's normal to have financial difficulties."
"So... if you ever need help, just ask. I can help you."
“No, no, no!” Chang Yu shook his head like a rattle drum. “We’re fine, we don’t need any help.”
For some reason, the first thing that came to Chang Yu’s mind when Katerina mentioned help was those two sets of children’s clothes worth nearly thirty thousand.
He almost forgot: unlike himself, a penniless youth, this girl barely older than him was a bona fide heiress.
The kind who could casually gift a child clothes worth more than half his savings as a greeting present.
Why is Katerina being so nice to me? Chang Yu wondered.
Does she have some ulterior motive?
His smile became especially ingratiating, afraid Katerina would bring up the matter of those clothes.
If she really did mention the thirty thousand yuan for children’s clothes, would he pay her back or not? Or just... not?
For a young man barely scraping into the lower middle class, this was a truly difficult decision!

...

“Learning to shoot requires not only persistent, rigorous training but also a great deal of talent,”
In the spacious underground shooting range, Katerina was teaching Chang Yu the techniques of marksmanship, holding her silver ladies’ handgun as she explained.
“Often, shooting depends on instinct. Without the right feeling, it’s hard to hit what you aim for.”
This was a shooting range deep beneath a remote military base in northern Songjiang, far from the bustle of the city, equipped with comprehensive, professional facilities.
Inside were all kinds of firearms and ammunition, as well as a scoring observation system and automatic target reporting devices.
Combining traditional shooting with modern technology, this place turned what would otherwise have been dull training into something efficient and engaging.
Ordinary people had no access to such a place; it was a restricted-range for military training. If Katerina hadn’t brought him, Chang Yu would never have guessed such a facility existed in this out-of-the-way corner of H City.
In fact, Chang Yu should have started practicing here days ago, but on the way with Katerina, they’d run into a big salmon...
So his training time had turned into a demon-slaying showtime.
“The standard grip looks like this: both hands on the gun, arms level, eyes aligned with the sights,” Katerina demonstrated.
“Keep your breathing steady, don’t let your arms shake. Any physical deviation will result in a miss, causing the bullet to stray.”
A serious girl is the most beautiful.
At this moment, as she taught Chang Yu, Katerina was nothing if not earnest.
The result was... instead of listening attentively, Chang Yu’s mind began to wander.
He stared in a daze at Katerina’s spirited, heroic beauty, becoming utterly entranced.
He had no attention for the lesson; everything she said went in one ear and out the other.
All he could think about was her dazzling, commanding presence.
Chang Yu admitted it: he’d been smitten from the first day he met Katerina. This woman was destined to be a hurdle he could never overcome in his life.
“Are you even listening to me?” After talking for quite a while, Katerina finally noticed Chang Yu’s absent-mindedness.
“Forget it... No matter how much theory you learn, you need hands-on practice to truly master shooting.”
She picked up a black short-barreled handgun from the table and loaded it for him, bullet by bullet.
“This is a single-shot pistol made by Colt. It’s lightweight, has low recoil, and is perfect for beginners.”
Chang Yu’s eyes were immediately drawn to the pistol in her hand.
It was an exquisitely crafted, elegantly antique weapon.
Unlike Katerina’s compact gun, this one was obviously larger and fit better in a man’s hand.
“Before you start, you need to disengage the safety—otherwise you can’t pull the trigger,” Katerina said, demonstrating by flicking off the safety with her finger.
“Understood.” Chang Yu carefully memorized the safety’s location and her motions.
“See the fixed target up ahead?” Katerina pointed toward the distant bullseye. “Aim for the red center and fire.”
Chang Yu carefully took the Colt from Katerina, making sure never to point the muzzle at her or himself.
He’d never fired a live round in his life, but he did know some basic gun safety rules.
The most important: never point the muzzle at anyone—accidents can ruin lives in an instant.
The pistol in hand, Chang Yu felt as if he had become a different person.
(The chapter ends.)