Chapter 166: A Life You Can See to the End
"Brother Zhang, I was born in ’99, so I’m 26."
"I’m 5’6" and weigh about 143 pounds."
"I have a master’s degree and currently work at a state-owned enterprise here in Zhejiang. My monthly salary is 10,000 yuan, and with the year-end bonus, my annual income is around 140,000 yuan."
"My family is from rural Zhejiang. I have an older sister who is already married."
"My parents are factory workers. My dad is a skilled technician, and my mom is just a regular worker. My family doesn’t have many assets, just an apartment in the city worth about 1 million yuan."
"My girlfriend..."
"Bro, let’s not rush to talk about other people yet." Zhang Zhe cut him off. There was a lot of information, so he wanted to take it one step at a time.
"First, let me help you figure out your position in the dating market."
"You’ve already broken up anyway, so you’ll definitely be looking for someone new."
"You’re a bit short, but luckily you’re not overweight. As for your looks, on a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate yourself?"
"A 3, I guess. I’m just an average guy."
"Alright, then your ceiling for blind dates is pretty much set." Zhang Zhe told him, "The best you can do is find an only daughter from your city, whose family owns two apartments and whose parents run a business."
"She’d be average-looking, her body type would be either on the skinny or heavy side but still within a healthy range, she’d have a college diploma or a bachelor’s degree, work as a clerk or accountant at a private company with a low income, have a somewhat submissive personality, and be looking for a man she can rely on."
"If you two find each other agreeable, it could last."
Although the man was from a rural family, they owned an apartment in the city. Combined with his job at a state-owned enterprise, he was actually not that different from a city kid, except that his parents couldn’t offer him much help.
For a typical master’s graduate who gets into a state-owned enterprise, as long as nothing major goes wrong, it’s practically an iron rice bowl.
Admittedly, it’s not easy to get promoted in an SOE without connections, but it’s much better than constantly worrying about being laid off at a private company.
For only daughters from average third or fourth-tier cities, when they can’t land a high-quality guy from within the system, a highly educated man from an SOE is their next best choice.
"Of course, if you can tolerate one or two of her flaws, like a bad temper or being divorced with no kids, her family’s financial situation could be even better."
"Okay, Teacher, hold on, let me write this down." The man’s attitude was very proper. "I might be going on blind dates soon, and now that you’ve laid it all out, I have a much clearer picture."
[Guys from SOEs are the perfect match for middle-class families whose daughters are underachievers.]
[I work at an SOE, and it’s true, you have a huge advantage on the dating scene in a small town.]
[This guy has no flaws besides being a little short.]
[Being from a rural family isn’t a flaw? In his situation, he can only find someone from the countryside, otherwise he’s a Phoenix Man.]
[Guys from SOEs are usually pretty chauvinistic. A lot of young women can’t stand that nowadays.]
"Let me know when you’re done writing."
"Okay, Teacher, almost, almost." The man scribbled furiously on the other end. "I’m done."
"Should I talk about my situation now?"
"Go ahead, talk." Zhang Zhe leaned back in his chair, all ears.
"Ahem, my girlfriend and I were together for about half a year, but our views on spending have never really aligned."
"I’ve spent around 15,000 yuan on her in total. And that 15,000 is purely for gifts, not including normal expenses like meals."
"But she’s really stingy. She’s only spent two or three thousand on me."
Hearing this, Zhang Zhe stood up and wrote a few things on his whiteboard in large letters: "-12,000+" and "ATM Golem."
The guy on the call saw it and gave a couple of awkward laughs.
Now that they had broken up, he realized just how ridiculous he’d been.
But this actually fit the profile of a guy from an SOE: chauvinistic, and in a relationship, he would proactively spend money. The woman wouldn’t even have to ask; he’d just pull out his wallet on his own.
"I admit, I was being a total simp, but I felt like she really liked me, and we were headed towards marriage, so I didn’t think too much about it."
"Then why did you break up?" Zhang Zhe pointed to the whiteboard. "It couldn’t have been just because of the money, right?"
"Of course not. It was mainly because after I started interacting with her family, conflicts kept erupting."
"The first time I went to her house, I don’t know if her family was deliberately putting on airs to put me in my place, or if that’s just how they normally are."
"When we had dinner at her house, there were six of us at the table—me and her, her parents, and her older sister and brother-in-law. But there were only six dishes on the table. It didn’t feel welcoming at all."
"During the meal, everyone just ate on their own, and after they finished, her parents just left the table."
"I just thought it was really strange."
"I’ve been alive for over twenty years; I know that’s not how you treat a guest. I felt like her parents didn’t welcome me."
[Her parents even let you eat at their table. You should be grateful.]
[They obviously don’t approve of you. What’s there to even talk about?]
[Bro, do you absolutely have to get married to this girl?]
[To be honest, this is even more outrageous than that girl from before who threw a fit at her parents’ faces when they were discussing the bride price.]
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the stream chat was full of young people; when it came to table manners, they all sounded like experts. After all, everyone had received at least some education on the topic growing up.
The same was true for Zhang Zhe, which was why he felt the man’s reaction was perfectly reasonable.
"Bro, it’s not like you got her pregnant and then showed up demanding to marry her, right?"
"Of course not! If I were the one in the wrong, how could I have the nerve to make demands?" The man was getting agitated as he spoke. "The crucial part is, my girlfriend couldn’t explain it either, and instead she turned it around on me, saying I was being too sensitive."
"This really isn’t a case of you being sensitive," Zhang Zhe reassured the guy. "Her family simply lacks proper upbringing."
"Don’t put them on a pedestal just because they’re parents and elders."
"There are many middle-aged people who have simply gotten older without any increase in intelligence or social experience."
’Putting myself in the guy’s shoes, the girlfriend’s parents were really messing with his head.’
’He shows up to formally propose marriage, and they don’t even give him a pleasant look. Someone with a shorter fuse would have just turned around and walked out.’
"Besides this, were there any other reasons?"
"There’s one more crucial reason. I did the math."
"The bride price here is 188,000 yuan. The bride price itself isn’t a problem; my parents prepared it for me a long time ago. Then for the wedding, we’re expected to pay for the bride’s side of the banquet and other things. All that adds up to about 300,000 yuan."
"The down payment for a house in the future will be 500,000 yuan."
"That’s 800,000 yuan in total, which would completely drain my family’s savings, plus my own savings from a year of work."
"If we get married, my girlfriend said I have to hand over my salary. It’s like she’s draining my future, too. She said I can just eat at the company cafeteria, and that a 1,000 yuan monthly allowance would be enough for me."
"In other words, my future disposable income would only be 12,000 yuan a year. At that moment, I just felt like life was meaningless."
"Not that much," Zhang Zhe said, shaking his head.
"What?" The man didn’t quite understand.
"I’m saying your disposable income won’t be as high as 12,000. You still have to pay for food. You’d only have a few hundred yuan a month in pocket money."
"Actually, you could survive on that," Zhang Zhe analyzed, rubbing his chin. "It feels about the same as when I was in college. I also had a 1,000 yuan monthly allowance back then."