Livestream Matchmaking: My Intel Infinitely Refreshes

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Focus on Your Career, Marriage Isn’t for You

Thirty years ago, it was still common for rural families to have many children.

Back then, the prevailing belief was that having more siblings meant they could all support one another.

But since the implementation of the family planning policy, families with more than three children have become exceedingly rare. This young woman, however, was on another level—she had four younger siblings.

”How old are your younger siblings?”

”My sisters are in first grade, and my brothers just started kindergarten.”

”There’s such a big age gap between you?” Zhang Zhe was a little surprised.

’She’s 22, studying to upgrade her associate’s degree to a bachelor’s, and her oldest sisters are only seven? The timing makes it sound like her parents went all out having kids after the two-child policy was introduced, doesn’t it?’

The two-child policy was introduced in 2016, making it about nine and a half years ago.

Subtract a year and a half or so for pregnancies, and the ages lined up perfectly.

’I’m guessing the family just wanted a son for their second child at first. Over in Hedong, especially in the rural areas, there’s still a bias for boys over girls. It’s pretty normal to want a son after the two-child policy was introduced.’

’They just didn’t expect to have twin daughters.’

’Three daughters was definitely not an option. The family throne would have no heir, so they had to keep trying. Luckily, they finally got their wish and had twin sons.’

Things are much better now than they were thirty years ago, so it probably wasn’t that hard for a rural family to support five children. The problem was that for this eldest daughter on the call with Zhang Zhe, her prospects in the dating market were completely shot.

You could tell just by looking at the bullet comments.

[Girl, run! Go live somewhere far away, or your siblings will trap you for life!]

[Honestly, for your parents in a rural family to have so many kids... they have zero sense of responsibility.]

[If a Matchmaker introduced me to a girl like this, I’d demand a refund.]

[Let go of your hero complex. Respect her fate.]

[To be honest, if I met a girl like this while out getting a foot massage, I’d be afraid she’d latch onto me.]

Although the audience’s words were harsh, Zhang Zhe felt they had a point.

There were two options now:

A: A gambling dad, a sick mom, a brother in school, and a broken her.

B: A rural family with four younger siblings waiting for her to support them.

’Honestly, if I had to choose, Option A has a slightly better outlook than Option B. You can ignore the gambling dad. In the first case, she only has to help two people; in the second, she might have to help up to six, including her parents.’

This comparison made it clear just how bad the girl’s situation was.

But she herself seemed completely unaware.

After explaining all this, she immediately asked Zhang Zhe, ”Brother Zhang, I came on to ask, what are my upper and lower limits when it comes to blind dating?”

”Miss, are you pretty? On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate yourself?”

”I guess... a 3? I’m just average. Not good-looking, and my figure isn’t great either.”

”Then your upper limit is easy to analyze,” Zhang Zhe said with a sigh. ”It mainly depends on your tolerance.”

”Huh?”

”You don’t get it, right? Let me be blunt. Can you accept a partner with a minor disability, or someone who’s divorced with a kid, or someone who’s very ugly?”

Zhang Zhe was being extremely realistic:

”In short, he has a major flaw that makes people in his own social class look down on him, forcing him to ’date down’ in the dating market.”

[She’s still a young girl, hasn’t even graduated from college, and the host is telling her to find a disabled person?]

[Classic bullet comment generalization. Brother Zhang clearly also said divorced with kids is an option.]

[The host’s advice is terrible.]

Zhang Zhe glanced at the bullet comments. ’This audience isn’t very bright. The girl asked for her upper limit. If you don’t aim for the upper limit, then you don’t have to tolerate a partner’s major flaws, right?’

’To put it bluntly, it’s about accepting their flaws in exchange for greater personal wealth and a better family background.’

’Especially for a young woman, if she’s willing to go for it, swallow her pride, and put up with it, marrying up is possible. Of course, the risks are also significant.’

”Is that really my upper limit?” the woman asked in disbelief. ”Then... then what’s my lower limit?”

”The lower limit is simple. Just find someone who matches your own circumstances. He’d also be from a rural family with multiple children, but his family’s financial situation would be slightly better than yours. Maybe his father is a bricklayer or runs a street stall, and they have their own house in the countryside.”

”If you marry him, you can’t expect to get rich. You might even have to go work in a big city together. The good thing is, he’d be an honest guy, not a player. He won’t provide much emotional value, but you can build a life together...”

In Zhang Zhe’s mind, this was the minimum the woman should settle for; anything less would be a bad deal for her.

[Damn, I think I just saw this girl’s entire life flash before my eyes.]

[My parents are just like that. They worked hard their whole lives, got lucky and made some money in business, drifted through several cities, and have finally settled down.]

[There must be a lot of men born in the 70s from rural areas like that, right?]

[Thinking about it this way, isn’t her family basically a full 30 years behind the times?]

After hearing Zhang Zhe’s words, the woman hesitated.

”But Brother Zhang, I have a blind date set up by a Matchmaker right now, and he seems a little better than that.”

”How much better? Better than the upper limit I just described?” Zhang Zhe was a little surprised.

’The system didn’t give me any major alerts, just a piece of [Low-Value Intel] that said:’

’This girl’s parents are pushing her to get married. She thinks that marrying early will help ease her parents’ burden, since there are still four little mouths to feed.’

’She came on the stream for advice simply because she’s unwilling to just find some local guy and marry him. She’s afraid of repeating her mother’s fate...’

’The system didn’t mention any other strengths she has, though.’

”Is the man’s family well-off?”

”Yeah, he went out to work right after high school. He’s in business with his dad and is already starting his own projects. He makes around 200,000 a year.”

”He has an older sister, but she’s already married. Now his family is pushing him to get married, so he’s started going on blind dates...”

The woman went on and on.

It seemed to be her first blind date, and she was taking it very seriously, so she had gathered a lot of details.

[Why would a guy like that be interested in her?]

[Honestly, she must have hit the ancestral lottery.]

[With his income and family background, why would he date a girl just upgrading to a bachelor’s? He could find a teacher with a full bachelor’s degree in his town.]

[This guy’s just looking for a short-term fling, right?]

Zhang Zhe’s opinion aligned with many of the viewers. Even if this guy was introduced by a dating agency, it didn’t seem like he was serious about finding a wife.

’He’s just like those scumbags who use dating agencies for short-term hookups. These are the types who can’t pick up girls at bars or clubs and are super sexually frustrated, so they use the excuse of blind dating to play with young women’s feelings.’

Zhang Zhe was 80% confident in his speculation.

But he couldn’t rule out the 20% chance of a rom-com-style twist.

So, the advice he gave was very pertinent:

”This guy being willing to go on a date with you doesn’t mean he’s willing to marry you.”

”From my perspective, he’s just after your young body.”

”Your looks, your education, and your family background hold no real attraction for a potential partner like him.”

”The only thing he’d find valuable is your young womb.”

”Ah...?”

”My womb?” The woman was shocked that Zhang Zhe would be so blunt.

”Yes, you heard me right.” Zhang Zhe nodded with certainty. ”Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that he is genuinely looking for a wife.”

”So your best course of action is to not give yourself to him easily. And especially, do not get pregnant.”

[The host is on point!]

[I came over from Xiaohongshu. Isn’t this host a misogynist? Seems like it was all just for hype.]

[For real, with her situation, he can only be after her body.]

[Sigh, honestly, she sounds so naive. I feel like she won’t be able to escape her fate.]

”Compared to blind dating, I’d actually recommend you take a different path,” Zhang Zhe said after a moment of thought. ”Focus on your career.”

”I know you’re just upgrading your associate’s degree and might think a career is difficult, but even if you’re just making bubble tea, you can become a store manager in five years. Once you have a career, you’ll have more options than you do now.”

”But I’m not very smart...”

”That’s fine. When I was working in Shencheng City, I met people who were much dumber. Finding a job is a lot easier than finding a partner. Once you have a job, you might not even need to go on blind dates. You can find someone in your daily life.”

”Okay, I will.” The woman seemed to have taken his words to heart. ”Thank you, Brother Zhang.”

”Then I won’t look for a partner for now. I’ll focus on my career first.”

”Alrighty, then I’ll disconnect you from the call!”

”Wait, wait, wait, Brother Zhang, I have one more question for you,” the woman said, sounding distressed. ”If I don’t get married, the people in my village will gossip about me. What should I do?”

”Do you really care what they say?”

”Yes, I’m really afraid of being talked about.”

”That’s simple. If you really can’t stand it, just slaughter the village.”

”Oh...” the woman replied instinctively, before she processed what she had just heard. ”Huh?”