Livestream Matchmaking: My Intel Infinitely Refreshes

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: She Didn’t Suffer Any Hardships

Mrs. Xu was old, but her Spiritual Sense was still sharp, and she clearly spotted Zhang Zhe’s subtle movements.

Then again, it was impossible not to see him. He was practically walking right into her face.

”What is he doing?”

Mrs. Xu muted her microphone and shot a questioning look at Boss He, who was standing to the side.

Boss He was just about to explain.

But Zhang Zhe had already spoken up. ”I’m here for a blind date.”

”Didn’t you promise to help me find a partner? There’s no time like the present, so how about today?”

”I see there are over 2,000 people in the livestream. Someone in here has to be interested in me.”

”My, you’re in quite a hurry, young man.” Mrs. Xu smiled kindly. ”I’ve seen people eager to find a match, but I’ve never seen anyone quite as eager as you.”

”Ah Juan said you were so desperate to find a date that you became a Matchmaker yourself. It seems she was right.”

”Young people today are very direct. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and don’t like to hide their feelings,” Boss He added, helping to smooth things over.

Mrs. Xu nodded as she listened.

She was silent for a moment, then pointed to a chair by the door and said to Zhang Zhe,

”Why don’t you come sit next to me?”

”This is the first time someone has sat here to look for a date on my livestream.”

”I’m getting old, but it’s fun to get a chance to try new things like this. Hehe.”

”Come on, come on.”

While Zhang Zhe was moving his chair, Mrs. Xu had already begun introducing him to the ladies in the livestream.

A talented young man and graduate of a 211 university, he previously worked as a programmer in Shencheng City earning 300,000 a year, looks like Liang Chaowei, comes from a dual-income family, is already preparing a marital home, and now works as a Matchmaker at a dating agency.

She made him sound great, but the ladies in the chat were highly skeptical.

[He’s already back in his hometown at 30? Sounds like he got laid off, right?]

[If he were still a programmer, I’d consider it, but a Matchmaker? Forget it. People in that line of work are too cunning.]

[Is Teacher Xu trying to find a wife for her own apprentice?]

[Unmarried at 30? Even if he’s as great as she says, he must have ridiculously high standards and be super picky. Otherwise, he’d be married by now.]

”Should I introduce myself?” Zhang Zhe asked the camera, flashing what he believed was the smile of a sweet, caring guy.

”Go on, go on. The microphone is all yours.” Mrs. Xu, her face beaming with a fond, aunt-like smile, scooted to the side.

The old woman hadn’t introduced people in person for a long time.

Livestreaming on a phone was fine, but for traditional Matchmakers like her, nothing beat doing things offline.

Zhang Zhe’s arrival reminded Mrs. Xu of her earlier years, running around everywhere to connect people. It was no wonder she was being so agreeable.

...

Taking center stage on the livestream, Zhang Zhe showed no sign of stage fright and greeted everyone with confidence.

He was about to introduce himself.

But a small detail on the phone’s screen caught his attention:

Now in a call with [Miss Zixia is waiting for Zizunbao]!

’This woman didn’t leave?’

Zhang Zhe’s eyelid twitched.

’What does this mean? Does she have more questions for Mrs. Xu, or is she planning on having a blind date with me?’

Without overthinking it, Zhang Zhe asked directly,

”To the young lady from the last call, you’re still on the line. Do you have more questions for Teacher Xu?”

The person on the other end finally unmuted her mic. ”I do have one more question I’d like to ask Teacher Xu.”

”You kept emphasizing that we’ve been together for five years, but isn’t there a saying in economics that sunk costs shouldn’t factor into major decisions?”

”What’d she say?” Mrs. Xu couldn’t quite hear and leaned over, wanting Zhang Zhe to repeat it for her.

”She’s saying that the past is the past. The choice she makes now is about taking responsibility for her own future.”

Zhang Zhe’s translation was perfect. When Mrs. Xu heard it, her face fell.

”What? Young lady, did you not hear a word I said earlier?”

”It’s not just about your five years of youth. The fact is, you don’t have better options in the current dating market.”

”Teacher Xu, I have to disagree,” Zhang Zhe objected. ”This young lady is already thinking about making a change. You can’t discourage her.”

”Xiaozhang, don’t cause trouble,” Boss He whispered from the side.

Zhang Zhe shook his head, his expression firm.

’This was one bit of trouble he wanted to stir up.’

If the woman had left earlier, he wouldn’t have said anything. At most, he’d have mentioned it in his old classmates’ group chat so they could all dodge a bullet if she ever entered the dating pool.

But as luck would have it, she was still on the line.

In that case, Zhang Zhe had something to say.

From the moment the woman joined the call, his perspective had been completely different from Mrs. Xu’s and Boss He’s.

’Is my way of thinking flawed, or are these two seniors just out of touch?’

Zhang Zhe wanted to find out.

”Teacher Xu, I’m going to say something you might not like to hear. This young lady has a bachelor’s degree. She’s definitely capable of critical thinking.”

”The fact that she’s seeking advice means she’s capable of letting go of that five-year sunk cost.”

”You think she doesn’t value the relationship, but I think it’s the opposite. She might value it so much that she knows she’s not the right person to build a life with her boyfriend, so she doesn’t want to hold him back any longer.”

”Right, sis?”

[Now you’re calling her ’sis’?]

[I think he has a point. But a man’s words are full of lies.]

[She’s just a gold digger, stop trying to make excuses for her. I’m a gold digger too, I get her.]

[Sis, don’t believe him. He’s tricking you. He’s helping the guy.]

’Xiaohongshu livestreams have bullet comments too? And they look just like the ones on TikTok?’

Zhang Zhe noticed some viewers seemed to have seen through his little scheme.

’But it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to admit it anyway.’

He was just helping a ”sis” analyze her problem objectively.

After he finished speaking, the woman on the call seemed to have a sudden change of heart. She said, somewhat uncertainly,

”Maybe that really is what I think deep down.”

”You have a point, Mr. Matchmaker. I really do feel like I’m not the right person to spend the rest of my life with him.”

”Are you foolish, child?” Mrs. Xu grew anxious. ”How could you not be? You’ve been with him for five years! He’s so stingy, and you’ve suffered alongside him for five years, painstakingly saving up money.”

”And now you’re just going to throw it all away?”

”Yes, I am,” the woman answered decisively.

”I think she’s doing the right thing,” Zhang Zhe said to Mrs. Xu. ”If she breaks up now, she’s wasted five years at most. But if she doesn’t, she might regret it for the rest of her life!”

”That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

”Phew—” The woman let out a long breath. ”I’ll go home and make things clear with him. We shouldn’t hold each other back.”

”Attagirl!” Zhang Zhe gave her a thumbs-up. ”Sis, you can go home and think it over some more. No matter what you decide, I support you.”

”Okay, okay. Thank you, both Teachers. I’ll be logging off now.”

Watching the woman disconnect from the call, Zhang Zhe heaved a sigh of relief.

It was a good thing he was too old to be a Young Pioneer anymore; otherwise, the red scarf on his chest would be fluttering proudly right about now.

Mrs. Xu, however, just sighed. ”That girl is so foolish. Five years of hardship, all for nothing.”

”Hardship? Teacher Xu, I think you’ve got it wrong.” Zhang Zhe shook his head. ”What hardship did she endure?”

”Let me do the math for you.”

”Let’s not count the year they were dating while he was getting his master’s degree—they wouldn’t have spent much money then. Let’s just count the four years they were together while both were working.”

”There are only two ’985’ universities in Zebra Town. Whether her boyfriend got his bachelor’s and master’s from Wuda University or Huake, he was born in ’96 and has been working for four years now. He must work at a major tech firm like the HW Research Institute, where the average annual salary is 300,000. In four years, that’s 1.2 million, yet the guy only saved 500,000.”

”So where’s the rest of the money?”

”In four years, 700,000 was spent. That’s an average of over 170,000 a year.”

”Now let’s calculate the woman’s income. She earns 120,000 a year and managed to save 300,000 in four years. That means she only spent an average of 45,000 per year.”

”They couldn’t have been living completely separate financial lives, right? It’s not like the guy was eating hot pot while she was eating the leftover broth base, was it?”

”They must have been living together,” Mrs. Xu analyzed, based on her life experience.

”So, you see, I don’t think she was suffering at all,” Zhang Zhe said, his expression a little mocking.

”She barely spent a cent of her own money and basically lived off the guy. He had to cover the expenses for both of them and save up for a house. It’s perfectly normal for him to be a bit stingy.”

”Teacher Xu, you might not understand women these days. This one probably wished her boyfriend would spend all of that 500,000 he saved on gifts for her, and then she’d kick him to the curb right when it was time to get married.”

”Xiaozhang, aren’t you thinking the worst of this young lady? As Matchmakers, we can’t just assume people are so malicious,” Mrs. Xu couldn’t help but criticize.

”Teacher, times have changed.”

”Why don’t you take a look at the bullet comments?”

[My wild guess is she’s jealous of a female colleague or a bestie who has a rich and generous boyfriend.]

[’Him being stingy is unacceptable, but me being stingy is reasonable. His family can’t support us much, my family offers no support, conclusion: I deserve better.’]

[We’re all thousand-year-old fox spirits, so why play innocent? This woman just looks down on her boyfriend’s family for being poor and is using ’stingy’ as an excuse right before breaking up.]

[Honestly, this guy sounds pretty good. If you can help find him, Teacher, I’d like to meet him.]