"Is this Divorce Certificate fake?"
Lu Zhizhang was very surprised. He held the Divorce Certificate and examined it back and forth for quite a while, even studying the Official Seal from several angles. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see how it was fake.
"Let me see, let me see."
There were plenty of busybodies in the meeting room, all clamoring to inspect it with their own eyes.
"Damn, this Divorce Certificate is really exquisitely made. It looks just like the real thing."
"Come on, have you ever even seen a Divorce Certificate?"
"I haven't seen a Divorce Certificate, but haven't I seen a marriage certificate? They're issued by the same department, and the Official Seals are exactly the same."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A few days ago, my wife got a counterfeit bill in change when she bought something. It looked just like the real thing too. Now I've really had my eyes opened again. Tell me, what's real these days?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Director Li, you're a college graduate who's seen the world. Tell us, where exactly is this Divorce Certificate fake?"
"Hey, whether it's fake or not has nothing to do with us."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What an eye-opener! I'd only heard of fake antiques and fake money. Never heard of fake Divorce Certificates!"
The meeting room stirred restlessly, with tsking sounds rising without end.
Counterfeiting techniques in those days were nowhere near as sophisticated as they would be in later generations, and the streets and alleys were not yet plastered with little ads offering to "make certificates." To forge such a convincing document was truly astonishing.
But Li Ye was not surprised in the least, because what Niu Hongzhang had said just now was, "This Divorce Certificate is invalid," not, "This Divorce Certificate is