Chapter 186 - 184: Waterloo
In Zhang Zhe’s opinion, this guy’s criteria for a partner were almost entirely for his son’s benefit.
All one could say was that there was nothing wrong with him getting custody.
But Ms. Tong, his date, didn’t understand. She was a bit stubborn and insisted on getting a clear answer:
"I know what you mean, Matchmaker."
"That’s why I didn’t ask him; I’m asking you. Besides, can’t I ask on behalf of the other women?"
"You can ask, but you should really ask the man himself. He’s right here."
Zhang Zhe looked at the man on the date:
"Why don’t you explain it yourself? I feel like you’ve thought this through very clearly."
"Heh heh, okay." The man flashed his signature gummy smile.
"I’m not looking for a divorcee with kids, because mothers are always partial to their own children. I’m a father myself, and I’m partial to my son, so I know a woman with her own kids can’t be a fair stepmother."
"I don’t want my son to be mistreated, so I’m not looking for someone with kids."
"And as for those who got divorced and didn’t take their kids, they’re even more out of the question."
"My ex-wife was like that."
"She didn’t want custody back then. It made me suspect I’d been cuckolded and that my son wasn’t mine. Thankfully, I got a paternity test in the end."
"Ever since then, I’ve known that a woman who has a child but doesn’t want custody is just afraid the kid will get in the way of her fooling around after the divorce. You definitely can’t marry a woman like that."
"They definitely can’t be good mothers."
[This guy is being a bit absolute.]
[Is it possible you really were cuckolded, but just got lucky that the son is yours?]
[It could also be that the woman’s circumstances were poor, so she couldn’t win custody from the man.]
[I work at a courthouse. In 70% of the divorce cases we see, the kids go to the mom, and the dad pays child support.]
[Honestly, it’s not a bad way to screen people. It helps him avoid landmines.]
Although Zhang Zhe wasn’t looking at the live comments, his thoughts were perfectly in sync with the audience’s.
The man’s screening logic wasn’t wrong.
Sure, some women might not get custody for objective reasons, not necessarily because they want to keep partying. But this situation was like women with tattoos.
Is a woman with a tattoo automatically a bad girl?
Not necessarily.
Some top students from Qingbei get tattoos, too. Maybe they were young and naive, or maybe they just wanted to express their individuality. In short, the reasons are complex.
But from a matchmaking perspective, you have to consider efficiency.
For a trait where you’d need to spend a long time together to determine if the person is truly "a lotus emerging unstained from the mud," simply filtering them out is the most cost-effective method.
"I get it." The woman nodded after hearing the man’s explanation. "You’re just looking for another nanny for your kid."
"If that’s the case, why don’t you just hire a nanny? Why even get married? After all, in your eyes, your child is the most important thing in the world."
"Well..." The man gave a slight laugh and looked at Zhang Zhe.
He clearly couldn’t explain himself. He realized the woman had a point, but it definitely wasn’t the whole story.
A child’s stepmother is definitely different from a nanny.
But he couldn’t quite articulate what the difference was.
"If hiring a nanny solved everything, then no one would need to get married."
Zhang Zhe thought the man was a decent guy. Figuring that a guy who smiles a lot can’t have terrible luck, he decided to help him explain:
"By your logic, if a stepmom is just a nanny, then if they got married and hired a nanny, would the stepmom be redundant?"
"Is that possible?"
"The emotional investment and energy a nanny and a stepmother put into a child are different. When the child grows up, the way they give back will also be different."
"Plenty of stepmothers raise their stepchildren as if they were their own flesh and blood. A nanny could never do that."
"And to be honest, since you’re a preschool teacher, this shouldn’t be an issue for you, right? Isn’t your job basically doing a nanny’s work with a real mother’s heart?"
The moment Zhang Zhe said this, not only Ms. Tong, but even the women at the neighboring tables couldn’t help but look over.
Because he was spot on.
Very few preschool teachers could truly be considered "teachers." Most of them, like Ms. Tong, were more like daycare providers.
And the work they did really wasn’t that different from a nanny’s.
In fact, if you just looked at the pay, it was even worse than a nanny’s.
"Alright." The woman nodded helplessly after hearing Zhang Zhe’s explanation. Given her profession, she really had no counterargument.
"Then I have another question."
"What was the reason for your divorce?"
"Conflicts between my mother and my wife." The man was still smiling, but it was obviously a bit awkward. "After my dad passed away, my mom’s temper got really, really bad. She fought with my ex-wife all the time, and toward the end, they were even about to get physical."
"I was caught in the middle and didn’t know what to do."
"So you chose to divorce?" the woman said with a frown. "Why? As a husband, you didn’t even stand up for your own wife? You two were supposed to be a family."
"Right, Matchmaker?"
"True," Zhang Zhe nodded. "But it also depends on the nature of the conflict and who was at fault."
"The bond between a mother and son versus a marriage... that’s an age-old dilemma. Not even a god could solve it, so we can’t really hold it against this gentleman."
"But that’s not important anymore. It’s not something you need to worry about."
"Right. My mother has already passed away, so there won’t be any more mother-in-law conflicts," the man said, nodding helplessly.
"Okay, then I have no more questions."
The woman seemed relatively satisfied with the man’s situation. She took out her phone, ready to add him on WeChat to continue their chat.
Zhang Zhe held up a hand to stop her.
The woman had been asking all the questions so far, and the man hadn’t taken the initiative to speak. It was his turn now.
"To our male guest, do you have any questions?"
"I don’t have any questions," the man said with a smile. "I just want to tell her that my situation is a bit different from other men. I’m a bit withdrawn."
"If we get married and want to build our relationship, you don’t need to be good to me. Just be good to my son. If you’re good to him, I’ll naturally be good to you."
[This guy really is a good father.]
[Of course he’s a good father, otherwise he wouldn’t have fought for custody.]
[I feel like this guy’s life is a bit heavy.]
[In that case, a preschool teacher seems like a good fit for him. She can help take care of the kid.]
[Can a preschool teacher really take care of a child? She’s tired after a long day at work, then has to come home and keep looking after a kid. How is that any different from working overtime?]
"What he means is, his son is his emotional bedrock," Zhang Zhe helped explain. "If you marry him, you’ll probably have to get his son to accept you first."
"Yes, yes, yes," the man nodded eagerly. "That’s exactly what I mean."
"It’s just managing a kid, right? No problem," the woman said nonchalantly. For a daycare provider with nearly 10 years of experience, she didn’t see it as an issue.
After the two of them added each other on WeChat, there was no one left in front of the woman.
She had gotten 6 "votes" online, but only 3 men showed up in person.
The other three guys were probably catfished by her online photos.
Still, she had already gotten two WeChat contacts, so neither Zhang Zhe nor the woman felt the empty seat was a big deal.
Zhang Zhe could take a short break and chat with the "bros" in his livestream chat.
When this 45-minute round of speed dating ended...
Zhang Zhe and the other Matchmakers only got a 3-minute break before the second wave of women took the stage.
When Zhang Zhe saw the woman he was matched with, his vision went black.
’Damn it, is my career’s Waterloo coming this soon?’