Chapter 194 - 192: Really Have to Take Care of a Child
[Case closed. The sis got played by Brother Zhang.]
[Her standards really aren’t that high. Maybe there are just too few suitable guys in a small town.]
[I guess you could call her a "woke" sis, but she’s just too old.]
[If she were five years younger, she could be married within a month, provided she doesn’t demand a high bride price.]
"Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your standards. It’s just that finding someone might be a bit slow."
"Let me interview you for a second. How are you feeling right now?" Zhang Zhe was a little curious about her current state of mind.
"Right now... I feel a little regret."
"I started going on blind dates when I was 27. I actually met a really great guy early on. He had a government job, was a good person with a great personality, and his parents were very happy with me."
"But just as we were about to get married, he told me... he couldn’t perform in that department."
"..." Zhang Zhe felt like he’d heard this story somewhere before.
’Are there really that many impotent men these days?’
"I broke up with him right then. Part of it was because he couldn’t perform, but the main reason was that he’d kept something so important from me the entire time."
"Before you found out about his... inability, you must have thought he was especially respectful of women, right?"
"Yes, yes, exactly!" the woman replied quickly. "He really was a great guy, but at the time, I felt his deception was a matter of principle."
"After that, I kept going on blind dates but never met anyone suitable."
"Around the beginning of this year, I went on a date with a younger guy, also a civil servant. It turns out he works under my ex. That guy is a manager now, a pretty high-ranking one, and he’s married."
"He tells everyone they’re child-free."
"I immediately felt this wave of regret. If I hadn’t been so impulsive back then, if I’d just thought about it a bit more, I should have just said yes to him."
"SIGH—"
[You don’t regret it, you just know you can’t get married off and are starting to see your life flash before your eyes.]
[Sis, trust me, if you had married him, you’d be regretting it right now too.]
[You have to trust your initial choice.]
[This woman can’t possibly think a sexless marriage can be happy just because the conditions are good, right? I don’t think she’s all there.]
"This story tells us something." Zhang Zhe let out a long sigh. "Self-castration really works. When a man clears his mind of worldly desires, it’s easy to get ahead in his career."
"Otherwise, he might not have become a manager."
"Huh? Is that really how it works?" The woman’s tone was slightly baffled.
"Of course. And sis, you don’t need to have regrets. People always romanticize the path not taken. If you had married him, the long-term lack of a marital life might have led to divorce anyway."
Seeing that she was a genuine fan, Zhang Zhe decided to stop beating around the bush and told her directly:
"You only regret it because you lost the chance to be a manager’s wife. If all these years had passed and that man was still just a minor employee, you would absolutely not be regretting it."
"..." The woman was a bit reluctant to continue this line of conversation.
This way of putting it was a little too cruel for her.
She tried to change the subject:
"So, my current standards... if there’s nothing wrong with them, can I still find someone? I’m already 34. If I don’t get married soon, I’ll be hitting menopause."
"It’ll be tough," Zhang Zhe said with a shrug of his hands. "You really don’t have much of a competitive edge."
"Those divorced men around your age, say 35, with no kids—their probability of remarrying is already low. Many of them are more interested in short-term flings, which means they’re looking for young, beautiful women."
"You can’t compete with those 23 or 24-year-old girls, even if they’re some tattooed punk."
"If you’re in a hurry to get married, you’ll have to accept a divorced man around 40 with a child."
"The good news is, you get to be a mother without the pain."
Zhang Zhe painted a very precise picture. Only this demographic of men would allow this woman to get married before she turned 35.
"But being a stepmother is so hard," the woman said, scratching her head. "I don’t have much confidence in myself."
"Right. So you need to add another condition: besides owning a home, the man’s income must also be over 8,000 a month."
"Add your income to that, and the family will have a monthly disposable income of 10,000. That would be a very comfortable life."
"You’re already poor yourself. If you find another poor man who also has a kid, you’ll definitely end up fighting over petty things every day."
"You won’t be able to make the marriage work."
"When the child is still young, money can solve a lot of problems."
[Little kids are the easiest to handle. It’s when they hit puberty that they get difficult.]
[A divorced guy with no kids will look for a young girl, not a 34-year-old.]
[At your age, having your own kid would be a struggle anyway. You might as well do what Brother Zhang says and be a mother without the pain.]
"Does he have to have a kid?" the woman was still struggling with the idea.
"Of course not. You can find one without kids, but it’ll be slow. You’ll have to get lucky."
"I can only tell you this: a man with a child devotes many times more energy to his family than other types of men."
Zhang Zhe couldn’t say any more, or he’d be suspected of teaching a woman how to take advantage of an honest man.
But the reality was that in a small city, men who needed to raise a child were willing to contribute the vast majority of their income to the family.
Assuming the single father has already gotten his life in order, a stepmother joining the family is like investing capital to become a shareholder in a small business that’s already turning a steady profit.
As long as you aren’t a problem yourself and don’t cause trouble, the chances of getting a positive return are very high.
"You can look for an unmarried man, too, but you’d better relax your conditions and look for an ordinary office worker from a rural family."
"You’ll have to lower your financial expectations a bit, because the median salary for corporate employees in our city is only 5,500."
"5,500? Isn’t that just a little bit higher than mine?"
"A little bit? No, no, no, it’s 37% higher," Zhang Zhe said. He knew women weren’t generally sensitive to numbers, so he did the math for her.
"That much?" The woman didn’t believe it. She took out her phone to calculate it herself and found that he was right.
In fact, he was lowballing it. If you deducted basic living expenses, the money a man could save might be double what a woman could, or even more.
"In that case, could I ask for a higher bride price?"
"Of course, you can. You could even do this." Zhang Zhe offered an idea: "Set a deadline, say, six months. Within those six months, whoever meets your requirements and offers the most money, you marry him."
"That way, you absolutely won’t lose out."
"Huh?" The woman was stunned. "Isn’t that just selling myself?"
[What else? Why do you think a man would give money to a 34-year-old bird?]
[This girl has one thing going for her: at her age, the men who’d go for her are the ones who genuinely want to get married and are more willing to invest.]
[Sis, you can’t ask for a penny less, or the man won’t cherish you.]
[To put it bluntly, she’s still just trying to use marriage to solve her financial problems.]
"Our country doesn’t allow human trafficking. What you’re talking about is a normal demand," Zhang Zhe said with a smile. "But when you go out there, whatever you do, don’t tell people you’re my fan."
"I can’t afford that embarrassment."
"..." The woman gave an awkward laugh. "Sorry, Brother Zhang, I’ve embarrassed you. It’s just... it’s really hard to change my way of thinking overnight."