“Well, then you don’t need to queue up,” the officer said as she pointed at a service window at the corner, “You may go through the divorce procedures here.”

“Thank you.”

“Excuse me. Do you know the cooling-off period? The law requires a thirty-day cooling-off period before filing for divorce,” the officer said.

Estelle said gently, “Our cooling-off period happens to end today.”

“Okay. Please follow me.” The officer smiled awkwardly and made a gesture of “please.”

The hall was quite lively, and the people waiting to register for their marriage formed an S-shaped line.

Estelle looked around and found that there were about a hundred people in the hall....