Chapter 193 - 191: A True Awakening
"..." The female guest tilted her head and glanced at Zhang Zhe, then at the men on blind dates at other tables. After a moment of thought, she said, "Whatever. They might not be into me, but I’m not into them either."
"That’s the spirit." Zhang Zhe nodded. "It’s great that you can think that way."
"Matchmaker, you’re not being sarcastic with me, are you?"
"Why would you think that? I’m telling you the truth, sis."
Zhang Zhe put on an innocent expression while fiddling with his phone, avoiding the woman’s gaze.
On WeChat, Xia Yi was filling him in on the gossip about this female guest, Number 88.
She really was a hot-tempered beauty.
Smashing a car was the kind of thing most people wouldn’t do unless they were drunk, because it was an easy way to get yourself thrown in jail.
In the time that followed, a few more men who hadn’t been over before, lured by her beauty, came over to try their luck with the pretty woman.
They didn’t even bother to wonder why so many other men had just left.
Unsurprisingly, every single one of them got shot down.
Zhang Zhe barely had to say a thing; the woman herself drove them off with her sharp tongue.
It seemed that after the last few blind dates, the woman’s conviction had only grown stronger:
She had to find a master’s degree holder who was decent-looking, didn’t mind her family background, and was willing to pay a 400,000 bride price.
And ideally, the man also had to be able to tolerate her foul temper.
It wasn’t that finding someone who met these requirements was impossible, but this was a matchmaking event for people within the system. If such a man really existed, it would never be her turn.
On the marriage market, a man willing to tolerate a woman’s bad temper was considered the perfect pushover. For parents who had raised a spoiled princess, he was the ideal son-in-law—some families were even willing to take a loss just to marry their daughter off to him.
As a kindergarten teacher, she simply couldn’t compete.
As expected, she left without getting a single guy’s WeChat contact.
Zhang Zhe initially thought it was a shame. A woman this attractive, and he couldn’t find her a match. What a waste.
But on second thought, the demands this woman was making were bound to be hard to meet. At home, she had been spoiled rotten by her parents. Then, out in the world, she had cashed in on her pretty privilege and was continuously coddled by the men around her.
Now that she wanted to get married, what man with better prospects than her would be willing to put up with all that?
’Impossible. Truly impossible.’
She could only go out and find guys who were completely obsessed with looks. Some men would give their life for a pretty face. This woman was better suited to go and ruin them.
Zhang Zhe shook his head to himself.
’Seems like it’s no great loss after all.’
’Better focus on the last matched woman.’
Zhang Zhe kept his eyes fixed on the entrance where the female guests appeared. This time, he quickly identified his next client, because the woman was jogging straight towards him.
She waved as she approached, calling out, "Brother Zhang, it’s me, it’s me!"
She acted as if they were old friends.
"Brother Zhang, I’m a fan!" the woman said, catching her breath after sitting down. "I watch your livestreams all the time. Almost every day."
"Look, I’ll show you. I follow you on Xiaohongshu."
[PLANTED FAN!]
[WHERE’D HE FIND THIS ACTRESS?]
[I’M SO JEALOUS. THIS SIS IS GOING TO BE TREATED SO WELL. BROTHER ZHANG SPOILS HIS FANS.]
[BROTHER ZHANG, CAN YOU HOOK A SISTER UP? THIS IS A MATCHMAKING EVENT, I DON’T WANT TO SEE HER THIS HAPPY.]
"Alright, alright, I believe you," Zhang Zhe said with a smile, telling her she didn’t need to pull out her phone to prove it.
To declare herself a fan of a matchmaker in a setting like this held a lot of weight. It wasn’t something you could fake.
There was no need for verification. Even if she had just followed him a moment ago, Zhang Zhe would acknowledge her as a true fan.
The woman’s looks were very average. Without makeup, she was maybe a 2.5 out of 10.
The main issue was her smile; it revealed unstraightened teeth, which lowered her score a bit.
Fortunately, she wasn’t overweight, which was a key point.
Zhang Zhe figured that, if she was lucky, some of the guys who’d struck out earlier might come over to talk to her later.
’Since no one’s around right now, I’ll help a sister out and look at her profile first.’
The woman was tactful and waited quietly.
This was a 34-year-old woman from the countryside, who hadn’t been in many relationships and had a younger brother.
She was in decent shape: 163 cm tall and weighing 47 kg. In an era where most people were overweight, this was a small advantage.
After all, looking at the kindergarten teachers here at the event, quite a few were on the chubby side, probably because the food at their schools was too good.
"You have an apartment in Qing City? Did you buy it yourself?" Zhang Zhe asked with a hint of skepticism, glancing at her monthly salary of 4k.
’Don’t tell me she’s a successful entrepreneur?’
"My younger brother helped me with the down payment."
"I just have to make mortgage payments of a little over 1,000 a month."
[A BROTHER LIKE THAT EXISTS? UNBELIEVABLE.]
[FINALLY, A "SISTER-SUPPORTING DEMON"! HAVEN’T SEEN ONE OF THOSE IN YEARS.]
[IF THE BROTHER IS SO AWESOME, WHY DIDN’T HE FIND A BROTHER-IN-LAW FOR HER HIMSELF?]
[WITH HER CURRENT SETUP, SHE CAN LIVE COMFORTABLY EVEN WITHOUT GETTING MARRIED.]
"Is your brother much better off than you?"
"Yes, he’s a programmer. He bought his own apartment in the provincial capital, he’s married, and even has a child." The woman’s voice filled with obvious pride as she spoke of her brother. "He married an only daughter from the provincial capital. It feels like he’s truly escaped the countryside."
"That makes sense," Zhang Zhe nodded. He didn’t dwell on the topic of her brother. For someone with her profile, having a single, working-class brother didn’t add much to her value.
Her age and family background were what they were. You couldn’t expect her brother’s family to chip in hundreds of thousands when she got married, could you?
"Counting the mortgage and the money you owe your brother, how much debt do you have right now?"
"In total, it should be around 400,000."
"..." Zhang Zhe did a quick mental calculation. If this sister relied only on her fixed salary, it would take her eight years to pay it off, and that’s if she didn’t eat or drink.
"Sis, trying to marry off your debt is not the way to go!"
"You’ve watched my livestreams, so you should know what I mean, right?"
[ARE THE WOMEN IN THIS STREAM REALLY THIS BAD OFF? I’M GOING TO HAVE THE HIGH GROUND IN MY NEXT ARGUMENT.]
[SHE’S PROBABLY JUST HERE FOR THE DRAMA. I BET SHE’S NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT HER OWN PROBLEMS.]
[WHAT ELSE CAN THIS WOMAN DO BESIDES MARRYING OFF HER DEBT?]
[BROTHER ZHANG, JUST FIND HER A RICH HEIR!]
[THE GUYS IN QING CITY ARE DISCERNING, HUH? AS IF A RICH HEIR WOULD GO FOR SOMEONE LIKE HER.]
"I didn’t know before, but I know now," the woman said, nodding. "Right now, I’m living in the apartment myself. If my future husband has his own place, I can sell mine and pay off all my debts."
"If he doesn’t have an apartment, I’m also willing to discuss paying off the mortgage together."
"That’s a good way to think." Zhang Zhe started to see the woman in a better light. "In any case, it’s hard to find a normal partner when you’re going on dates saddled with debt."
"So tell me, what kind of person are you looking for now?"
𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
"I hadn’t really thought it through before," the woman said with an embarrassed smile. "I used to be obsessed with looks."
"But I know better now. On the matchmaking market, people obsessed with looks belong at the kids’ table."
"I’ve relaxed my standards on appearance, but I really can’t compromise on age. I just can’t accept anyone over 40."
"Also, I can accept someone who’s divorced, as long as they don’t have kids."
"As for income, if he doesn’t have an apartment, he needs to make 10,000 a month, and he can live in mine. If he does have an apartment, a monthly income of 7,000 is fine."
"Other than that... I don’t really have many requirements. As long as the guy isn’t too overweight, doesn’t have any bad habits... I can even tolerate a bit of a temper."
"Mm-hm. And have you been able to find someone like that?"
"No, I can’t," the woman complained. "I’ve already lowered my standards just like you said, but I still can’t find anyone suitable."
"Did I not lower them enough? Or is it you, Brother Zhang, hiding all the good ones from me?"