Chapter 196 - 194: Hurry Up and Go Live

Chapter 196: Chapter 194: Hurry Up and Go Live

"Rest assured, sir." Zhang Zhe nodded, offering a simple guarantee.

Even though marriage is much more modern these days, in the eyes of the older generation from traditional, public-sector backgrounds, the concept of "marrying a daughter off" still carried significant weight. It felt like they were truly giving her away.

"Alright, step aside, then." Father Xia waved his hand. "I have to go up and present the awards now."

Zhang Zhe quickly stepped aside. At the same time, a DING~ rang in his mind.

[Congratulations, Host, on successfully meeting the girl’s father. Current stage progress: 50%. Have the girl introduce you to her mother to complete this stage of the mission.]

[Keep up the good work, Host!]

’This stupid system is such a pain...’ Zhang Zhe had thought he’d already completed the mission, but it turned out he still had to meet Xia Yi’s mother.

But that was bound to happen sooner or later, so Zhang Zhe wasn’t worried.

Seeing Father Xia go up on stage to present the awards, he quickly contacted Xia Yi to update her on the day’s events.

Unfortunately, Xia Yi’s kindergarten had an event that evening, so she and her colleague Lanlan had already left.

The two could only settle for a sweet voice call:

"Zhang Zhe, did my dad just squeeze your hand? He has an iron grip. He didn’t hurt you, did he?"

"Not at all. Your father just has a firm handshake."

"Don’t try to fool me. My dad was clearly squeezing hard. But you didn’t even flinch. Were you just toughing it out?"

"Don’t worry, I can handle a little pain." Zhang Zhe chuckled and whispered a slightly cheesy line, "It’s the price you pay for trying to run off with his daughter, right?"

"Hee hee, honestly, my dad can’t wait. He’s wanted me to get married for ages. That way, he can finally hold his head high at his workplace."

"Actually, when it comes to us, my dad is the easy one. The real challenge is my mom."

Xia Yi mumbled a few more words, but Zhang Zhe couldn’t quite make them out. In the end, she asked:

"What about you, Zhang Zhe? Do your parents want to meet me?"

"Anytime you want." Zhang Zhe thought back on his parents’ attitude. ’If they really met, his mom would probably pass the bracelet his grandmother gave her right to Xia Yi.’

’He was just worried Miss Xia wouldn’t be able to handle that level of enthusiasm.’

"Let’s do next weekend, then. This weekend, I want to come to your Zhuyin Marriage Agency and learn how to be a Matchmaker."

"Sure. I can even get you a Matchmaker’s work ID..."

Zhang Zhe knew this was Xia Yi’s way of getting to know him better. After all, Miss Xia didn’t have a system; she had to gather all her information on her own.

’This was actually a good thing. A person who takes responsibility for themselves will also take responsibility for their marriage.’

Anyone who’s been in a relationship knows that during the honeymoon phase, you want to know everything, right down to which kid your partner had a crush on in kindergarten. That thirst for knowledge about a new love is endless.

...

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Zhe greeted a few old acquaintances from the Zhuyin Marriage Agency and handed them his business card.

They were all part of his network. If they ever grew unhappy with their old employer, they might choose to come work for him instead.

As for those he didn’t know well, he just gave them a casual "see you around," figuring it was good just to be a familiar face.

After returning to his own marriage agency, he took a short break and began preparing for his evening livestream.

His follower counts on Douyin and Xiaohongshu were growing steadily, with the latter growing a bit faster.

This was because his videos on the former platform were constantly being reported and either taken down or shadowbanned. The reason for the reports was absurd: they claimed his videos were "vulgar."

’If they were really that vulgar, would they only be getting this little traffic?’

Zhang Zhe really wanted to find whoever was reporting him and give them a good thrashing.

’But on second thought, the person on the other end could be a forty-year-old, 200-pound woman. He’d be no match for her in an offline brawl.’

’Ah, forget it. Best to just go live. If that person hates his video clips so much, stumbling upon his actual livestream would probably make them keel over from sheer rage.’

’Nowadays, you can get "virtually assaulted" through the internet, but you can’t be "virtually angered to death" yet. Zhang Zhe had to exploit this bug before it got patched and stream as much as possible. Otherwise, he might not get the chance later.’

...

At 7:30 p.m., "Brother Zhang of Qing City’s Matchmaking" went live.

Back in his Xiaohongshu livestream room, watching the familiar scrolling comments, Zhang Zhe suddenly felt a sense of peace. ’It’s much better in my own little room,’ he thought. ’So much more freedom than at those offline events.’

[Brother Zhang, you’re back from the event?]

[Where was the event held? I’m from Qing City, how come I didn’t hear about it?]

[Bro, you don’t know because you’re not in that circle. Don’t ask. You’ll just feel worse if you find out the answer.]

[Get someone on a call already! The girls on Xiaohongshu are getting impatient!]

[Call me first, I paid for a consultation slot!]

Seeing a comment about a paid order, Zhang Zhe quickly checked his dashboard. Sure enough, there was a sales record.

It was only a small 9.9 yuan order, but the customer is king. Since they’d paid, he had to let them on the call.

"Alright, ’Ah Zhai Jiang Forever Happy,’ if you’re in the chat, send a request to join the call."

"Bro, I gotta say, your vibe is... a little intense." Looking at the guy’s username and profile picture, Zhang Zhe was pretty sure he was dealing with an otaku.

’I just need to see if he plays Genshin Impact and ask for his weight, and I’ll be able to determine his exact otaku level.’

"Heh heh, Brother Zhang." The guy on the call started with an awkward chuckle. "I’m just a harmless ’rat person,’ a total otaku."

"I wanted to ask for your advice... in my situation, should I even bother trying to get married?"

"No problem, bro. We’re all ’rat people’ here. Why don’t you start by telling me about your situation?"

"Okay, so I’m from Yangcheng. My parents are from Funan. They brought me over in the early 2000s when they came here for work. They opened a Hunan restaurant, and we’ve been living here ever since."

"But my official residence is still registered back in our hometown..."

"Whoa, slow down, bro. Let’s just follow the order on the form."

Zhang Zhe felt the guy was just rambling, which made it easy to miss key information.

Sticking to the form was the most reliable way:

"Age, height, weight?"

"I was born in 2000, so I’m 25. I’m 175 cm tall and weigh 60 kg. A little underweight, you could say."

"Looks-wise, I’d say I’m a 4 out of 10 with makeup."

"I have a bachelor’s in Business Administration. Right now, I’m a warehouse administrator at a small local company, earning 6,000 a month. The job is pretty relaxed, though."

"I’m an only child. My parents run a restaurant. Our family’s total assets are probably around ten million yuan. We have one apartment, but it’s in my dad’s name."

"I’ve never been in a relationship, because I have basically no social skills."

[His stats are pretty good, actually.]

[Back in his hometown, he’d be considered a rich kid.]

[Bro, why do you have a camera in my house? Your profile is exactly like mine!]

"With a profile like yours, you could easily find someone through matchmaking." Zhang Zhe could tell the guy had no confidence, so he encouraged him directly, "If you can’t get married, it just means you hired an incompetent Matchmaker."

"Forget Yangcheng, you could go next door to Shencheng City and still find someone easily with your profile."

"Uhm... that’s not really it," the guy quietly refuted. "I’m a bit of a shut-in and a huge otaku. I’ve been on several matchmaking dates, and the women always have a very low opinion of me."

"Then just find different people," Zhang Zhe said nonchalantly. "You’re still young. Start by looking for someone you actually like."

"What kind of girl are you looking for?"

"Right now, I’m kind of thinking about finding a girl from the cosplay scene. I feel like they’re the only ones who could accept an otaku like me."

"???" Zhang Zhe looked shocked. "Kid, don’t. You’re better off going to Dongguan to party every night, or going to Macao to ’see the world.’ Just don’t date a cosplayer."