Chapter 181 - 179: The One-on-One Blind Dates Begin
After hearing Zhang Zhe’s suggestion, Xiaolu didn’t hesitate for a second. He went straight to the event organizers.
A moment later, he returned with a middle-aged man and got in line behind male guest number 120.
’Xiaolu must have found a minor leader,’ Zhang Zhe thought, because he noticed that Boss He wasn’t particularly deferential when speaking to the man.
That meant he wasn’t on the same level as Father Xia.
He was probably the person actually in charge of things for the event organizers.
If something went wrong on-site, he’d be the number one scapegoat.
The line slowly moved forward, and the two soon found themselves in front of the pretentious girl.
Xiaolu took the initiative and extended his hand. "My apologies, I was impulsive earlier."
"Let’s shake hands and reconcile."
"Heh, reconcile my ass."
The woman crossed her arms, sneered, and turned her head, refusing to even look at Xiaolu.
Xiaolu didn’t care at all and continued speaking.
"It’s fine if you don’t want to shake my hand, but other people are innocent. Don’t take your anger at me out on them."
"Here, you go ahead, sir."
Xiaolu stepped aside, letting the middle-aged man behind him move forward.
This minor leader was quite something; he actually extended his hand.
Unsurprisingly, he was humiliated by the woman.
"What’s there to shake hands about?"
"Go on, go on, just keep moving. The sight of you is annoying."
"What are you looking at? You got a problem?" the woman said, pointing impatiently at the leader behind Xiaolu. "What’s the matter? You think this matchmaking event is only worthwhile if you get to touch a girl’s hand, is that it?"
"Coming to a blind date at your age? You’re just trying to take advantage of people, aren’t you? I can see right through you."
"A matchmaking event is probably the only place you can grope girls..."
Those words were a low blow. Hearing them from a distance, even Zhang Zhe couldn’t help but frown.
Even the least well-off men present were from the government system at the township level. Back on their own turf, they were all men of some standing.
Who could possibly tolerate such an insult?
It was only because this was a public event, where everyone wanted to save face and avoid a conflict with someone like her, that someone hadn’t slapped her already.
Even Zhang Zhe, an onlooker, found it unacceptable. Naturally, the middle-aged man who was being directly attacked couldn’t stand it either.
But you had to hand it to him for being a leader. The middle-aged man didn’t get angry. He even calmed Xiaolu down, telling him to stay cool.
Then, he glanced at the number tag on the woman’s chest and immediately made a call to summon someone.
A moment later, a middle-aged woman, likely a supervisor from the woman’s workplace, came running over with hurried little steps.
Without much effort, she deftly escorted the woman away from the scene.
Judging by the woman’s dejected expression as she left, the outcome wouldn’t be good for her. A written self-criticism would probably be the least of it.
After that rotten apple was removed, the rest of the event proceeded without a hitch. The effect of making an example of her was obvious.
Everyone present was now polite and agreeable, and soon it was time for the second-to-last segment:
"One-on-One Chats."
It was Zhang Zhe’s turn to go up.
...
As the most crucial part of the event, to ensure the effectiveness of the "One-on-One Chats," only 30 female guests appeared at a time.
The 120 women were brought out in four groups, so the male guests wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the choices.
This also gave each man at least four chances to choose, greatly increasing the probability of a successful match.
Furthermore, this arrangement guaranteed that each female guest would be randomly assigned her own dedicated Matchmaker, which made it sound like the chances of success were very high.
Soon, the first wave of 30 women took the stage.
Zhang Zhe was matched with a public kindergarten teacher named Tong Hui, born in ’95, unmarried at 30.
She was a nursery teacher, but she wasn’t a tenured civil servant; she was an employee hired directly by the kindergarten.
Judging from her age, it was clear this woman wasn’t very ambitious. She had simply found a job at a kindergarten, a job characterized by low pay and a simple work environment.
Zhang Zhe glanced at her profile. Her looks were average, and her figure was average, but her family background was good. She owned two properties in her name, and her parents had pensions, so she basically had no burden of caring for them in their old age.
A woman with good qualifications is never short of suitors. On the earlier public-facing profile, this young woman had received six votes.
She was already considered a decent catch.
But the men who voted for her clearly hadn’t considered what her requirements might be.
Zhang Zhe looked at the requirements she had filled out:
"I hope the man is a Qing City local, has a car and a house, and preferably, his parents are deceased. He must be at least 5’11" tall, weigh no more than 165 pounds, and have an annual income of no less than 300,000 yuan."
Reading these conditions was enough to make one’s vision go black.
The Zhuyin Marriage Agency’s statistics showed that among the men at this matchmaking event, fewer than fifteen were over 5’11" tall.
And only two had an annual income of over 300,000 yuan: one was a landlord who collected rent, and the other was a part-time novelist.
The total number of people who met all her requirements was, naturally, zero.
At an event like this, a Matchmaker looking to make a name for herself would, of course, want to create as many successful couples as possible.
With this woman’s requirements, it would be a miracle if she found anyone.
So, before the men started to enter, Zhang Zhe felt it was necessary to have a talk with Tong Hui.
"Miss Tong, your requirements are too high. Could you lower them a little?"
"I can’t." Tong Hui shook her head quickly. "These are the standards for a partner I’ve thought about for years. How can I just change them?"
"Fine, don’t change them. But I have to tell you," Zhang Zhe said, pointing to the stage at the top official sitting next to Father Xia, "I’ve done the analysis. Of all the men here in the government system, he’s the only one who meets your requirements."
"So, should we go have a chat with him?"
"Huh?" The woman was clearly stunned. She sat frozen on her stool, mouth agape, as if time had stopped.
"Hey, wake up." Zhang Zhe waved a hand in front of her face. "Let’s go."
"No, no, no! Matchmaker, if you’d just said that from the start, I would’ve known my conditions were a problem!"
"Then let’s lower the requirements. As long as the man is four inches taller than me, that should be fine. I’m 5’3", so looking for someone who is 5’7" isn’t too much to ask, right?"
"Not at all, but the 300,000 yuan annual salary has to come down too."
"I can’t do that." The woman shook her head, covering her mouth as she whispered to Zhang Zhe, "That income isn’t high. I’m not looking for a base salary; I’m looking for total income."
"Who in the system relies on just their base salary these days? As long as their total income reaches that number, it’s fine."
"My cousin is a city inspector. His salary is only 90,000 a year, and he’s only been working for a year, but last year he bought his wife a Tesla in cash. I want a nice car, too."
"Impressive," Zhang Zhe said, at a loss for other words. Because if that’s how she was putting it, then he couldn’t argue with her logic.
She could ask for a government employee with an annual income of a hundred million, and it wouldn’t matter. She only cared about the money; she didn’t care if the man ended up in the slammer.
At least she’d lowered the height requirement, which meant finding someone was now actually possible.
Zhang Zhe didn’t press her further. He took out his phone, preparing to start a livestream.
He hadn’t originally planned to livestream himself; he had been thinking about getting exposure on the TV station’s broadcast.
But he had just seen Sister Zhou next to him pull out a gimbal, and when he asked, he learned that the matchmaking event was encouraging Matchmakers to livestream.
Thanks to Zhang Zhe, the leadership at the Zhuyin Marriage Agency had realized the importance of livestreaming. Plus, the organizers of this event also wanted to expand its influence, so everyone tacitly agreed that livestreaming was a good thing.
The only rule was: the camera could only be pointed at the Matchmaker themselves.
The man and woman would sit on either side, off-camera, kind of like those online card-dealing streams.𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺