Chapter 190 - 188: My Single-Parent Family is Different
The male guests slammed on the brakes, but the stool Zhang Zhe had been sitting on was still knocked around several times.
Once most of them had come to a stop, Zhang Zhe did a rough count. At least forty male guests had swarmed his station.
And none of them showed any intention of leaving. No one saw the crowd and decided to switch lines; they all looked dead-set on not leaving until they’d had a shot at a date with the beautiful woman.
They all worked in the public sector, and no one thought they were any worse than the next guy. Besides, matchmaking here didn’t cost anything and the success rate was abysmally low anyway. So why not shoot your shot with a pretty girl and have a little fun?
After all, at a regular matchmaking agency, a Matchmaker would charge an introduction fee for a woman who looked this good.
Beautiful women were a premium resource no matter where you went.
However, this also meant that a large number of Matchmakers were now in the same predicament Zhang Zhe had been in before:
They had no male guests at their tables and a long forty-five minutes to get through.
’So many people with nothing to do. Maybe...’
𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Zhang Zhe whipped his head around, looking for a kind soul willing to help him share the load. This was a perfect opportunity to get some face time and display one’s inner kindness and virtue.
As it happened, the idle Matchmakers were all looking right at him.
But the subtle smiles on their faces made it clear they had no intention of helping. The fact that they were trying not to laugh out loud was a courtesy in itself.
There was nothing to be done. Zhang Zhe was no longer one of Zhuyin Marriage Agency’s own. If they helped him, they risked getting on Sister Zhou’s bad side. It was definitely better to just sit back and enjoy the show.
"Matchmaker, can we start now?" the woman’s gentle, fresh voice sounded by his ear. "But there seem to be a few too many people."
’Heh, and you call this "a few"?’ Zhang Zhe’s intuition told him this girl was putting on a sweet-and-innocent act, but with looks like hers, it was perfectly understandable.
With so many guys, having them go through one-on-one matchmaking was completely unrealistic. It would run Zhang Zhe ragged.
Each round of this event was only forty-five minutes long. Extending the time for this one woman was unadvisable.
Anyone who has organized a large-scale event knows the biggest taboo is letting a segment run overtime for personal reasons, because the higher-ups for the next part of the event are already waiting.
If you make the bosses wait, or cause them to be late for a meal, then no matter how well you run your event, that one flaw will overshadow everything else.
’Looks like I’ll have to weed some of them out first. Most of these guys aren’t suitable anyway.’
Zhang Zhe’s mind raced.
’If I’m the one who decides who’s in and who’s out, there’s going to be a huge backlash. No one wants to lose face in front of so many people.’
’I have to make them back down on their own.’
’Looks like it’s time for one of my... cruder methods.’
Zhang Zhe gave an inward nod, returned to his spot, positioned his phone for the livestream, and explained to his viewers:
"We’ve got a bit of a situation here. The ratio of male to female guests at my station has reached a staggering 40-to-1. The original one-on-one matchmaking isn’t going to work, so we might have to change things up."
[1 vs 40? Is this a fan appreciation festival?]
[Is Brother Zhang helping the emperor choose an imperial consort? So many men for one woman!]
[I get it! This is the all-male version of *If You Are the One*!]
[I want to know what the woman’s deal is. Give us the details, streamer!]
"The woman’s situation is simple," Zhang Zhe explained nonchalantly. "She’s a solid 7."
The viewers in the chat had it right. This situation was basically the same as *If You Are the One*.
Zhang Zhe was now the bald host and relationship expert, all in one.
These forty-odd guys all had their lights on.
It meant they all had a great first impression of the woman.
So, the next step was for the woman to introduce herself.
"Matchmaker, can we start?" the male guest who had snagged the first seat asked, getting impatient.
"Hey man, I know you’re in a hurry, but just hold your horses."
"There are people even more eager than you. Why don’t you take a look behind you?"
"I’m not looking." The male guest shook his head. "Let’s just start. I feel like she and I are a good match."
"Hahaha, alright. But first, let me get the details on the woman for you."
"And for the rest of you guys in line, listen up. This way we won’t have to go through your profiles one by one later. That would be a pain."
"Okay, Ms. Chen." Zhang Zhe looked at her registration profile and started with the pointed questions. "Do you currently have a permanent post?"
"I’m asking the questions the men are most concerned about. Please answer them directly and honestly."
"..." The woman froze, the smile slowly fading from her face. "Not at the moment. But I have high standards for myself and I’m always improving. I’ll have a permanent post soon."
"Okay, it’s great that you have high standards for yourself. As long as you don’t have equally high standards for your partner."
Zhang Zhe was laying it on thick, but he wasn’t sure if the other guys in the room could read between the lines.
The concept of being "strict with oneself, lenient with others"—some women might live by that, but it was highly improbable.
When a woman at a matchmaking event talks about what she’ll be "in the future," she’s usually just looking for an excuse to make demands that don’t match her current reality.
For example, an overweight girl will say, "I’m trying to lose weight," and then demand that her partner can’t be fat and might even need to have an eight-pack.
"You upgraded your associate’s degree to a bachelor’s, so why do your requirements for a partner start at a master’s degree?"
As Zhang Zhe asked this, he glanced over at the men waiting nearby. Some of their expressions had already soured.
These were the guys with bachelor’s degrees.
However, Zhang Zhe’s next words gave them renewed hope:
"From a matchmaking perspective, I’d suggest you don’t insist on a master’s degree. A bachelor’s degree is already quite impressive."
"No, I can’t do that." The woman shook her head firmly. "I am constantly improving myself, and I will definitely upgrade my education in the future. It’ll help me get a permanent post, too."
"If a man’s education is too low, he won’t be able to keep up with me."
[LMAO]
[How about you get into grad school first before you start spouting this crap?]
[A classic case of "I’ll be amazing in the future, so I have these demands right now."]
[What’s with this nonsense? She sounds insane.]
"Okay, I get how you think now."
Zhang Zhe could barely hold back a smile as he called out her entire strategy:
"So you think you’re going to be better in the future, and that’s why you’re looking for a husband for your future self, right?"
"That’s right," the woman replied without a shred of shame. "I believe in my own abilities. If a man doesn’t believe his partner will improve, then there’s no point in getting married, is there?"
"Then you should also believe that we men will improve after marriage," one of the men in line couldn’t hold back any longer, following her logic. "I have a bachelor’s degree now, but I can go to grad school in the future, too."
"We’re not the same," the woman said, shaking her head. "Your jobs in the public sector are so busy you don’t have time to improve yourselves. I have a classmate who works in the public sector, and we can’t even get together more than a few times a year."
"I gotta hand it to you, your logic is pretty clear," Zhang Zhe said, giving the woman a look of reappraisal. ’Being able to wield a double standard that smoothly is its own kind of talent.’
"But let me ask a question for the guys here: you’re already 28, are you really planning to go to grad school?"
"Exactly. That’s why I don’t want someone from a poor family—not the type where both partners have to work every single day just to make ends meet."
"Since you brought up family background," Zhang Zhe said with a barely perceptible smile, "let’s talk about yours, then."
"You’re from a single-parent family, right?"
[Well, that explains everything.]
[A lot of the guys should have left by now, right?]
[She’s from a single-parent family and still has this many guys after her? Now I believe she’s a solid 7.]
The chat was guessing that the men would leave immediately after hearing she was from a single-parent home, but that wasn’t what happened. This information had been on her public profile all along.
So of course, these men already knew.
Besides, the woman was savvy. She immediately added an explanation, "But my single-parent family situation is different from others."
"How is it different?" Zhang Zhe asked, his curiosity piqued. "Have your parents divorced multiple times, or was it a fake divorce?"