Chapter 266 - 264: Why Doesn’t Everyone Want to Get Married Anymore?

Chapter 266: Chapter 264: Why Doesn’t Everyone Want to Get Married Anymore?

"There aren’t a thousand people. Only 398 women signed up today," the female student guide next to them explained. "And so far, less than 350 have actually checked in."

"But it’s not just women," Xia Yi said, blinking in confusion. "I see the back few rows are filled with men."

"Huh? What men?" The student guide stared at Xia Yi, her expression one of pure confusion, and scratched her head.

She quickly pulled out her phone to check with the event organizers in their group chat.

A moment later, she corrected herself. "My apologies. The school’s esports club booked this venue for a live viewing party starting at 6 p.m."

"It looks like they came early."

"But don’t worry, Teacher Zhang. Just keep an eye on the time. They won’t cause any trouble, and we’ll give you a heads-up when it’s getting close."

"Okay, no problem then." Zhang Zhe nodded. "What I’ve prepared is less than an hour’s worth of material anyway."

Zhang Zhe weighed the manuscript in his hand. Even after being polished and expanded by an AI, it had only barely scraped past ten thousand words.

It mainly covered two points:

Why We Need Marriage

The Similarities and Differences Between Campus Romance and Marriage

’It was no exaggeration to say,’ Zhang Zhe thought, ’that if a student could truly grasp these two points, they would be able to avoid most of the common pitfalls when choosing a life partner.’

Soon, it was his turn. Amidst the applause of the nearly one thousand students in attendance, Zhang Zhe stepped up to the podium.

"Good evening, everyone. It’s an honor to be here to discuss the topic of marriage with you all."

"First, let me introduce myself. My surname is Zhang. Most people call me Brother Zhang, though some also call me Matchmaker Zhang..."

"Today, I want to start by discussing a question with all of you: Why do we need marriage?"

"Before answering this question, I want to ask everyone another question: Why are so many people unwilling to get married nowadays?"

"If you have any thoughts on this, please raise your hand."

The moment Zhang Zhe finished speaking, nearly half the students raised their hands. This was especially true for the men in the back rows—it seemed like eight out of every ten of them wanted to answer.

"The young woman in the third row, ninth seat, wearing a red shirt and glasses. Yes, you."

Zhang Zhe randomly chose a lucky audience member. "Why don’t you start us off?"

The young woman stood up and laughed before she even said a word. The rest of the audience chuckled along with her, and the atmosphere in the hall instantly relaxed.

"I don’t think it’s that people today don’t want to get married. The truth is, it has *always* been difficult for the average person to marry."

She adjusted her glasses, her eyes glinting with a sharp intelligence.

"You’ve all probably read *Water Margin*, right? Among all those heroes on Liangshan, how many were women?"

"The ratio of men to women was easily over ten to one. Most of the men didn’t have wives."

"And these were great heroes. In ancient times, if you were just an ordinary person with no special skills, how could you expect to get married and take a wife?"

"If that example isn’t direct enough for you, let me bring up another term: ’wife-pawning.’"

"In ancient times, working-class men who couldn’t afford to marry would rent another man’s wife to bear children and do chores. They paid the husband based on the length of the rental period."

"Our living standards have improved now, but in response, the requirements for taking a wife have also gotten higher. So, it’s perfectly normal that a lot of people aren’t getting married."

"I think in a few more years, everyone will probably get used to this situation."

When the young woman finished, she sat down without another word. Her explanation was something that almost no one in the audience, including Zhang Zhe, had anticipated.

’There’s that kind of explanation?’

’But on second thought, it does make some sense. Historically, the population has always boomed during the early and middle stages of every feudal dynasty.’

’If you really look at the timeline...’ Zhang Zhe didn’t dare to think about it any further. He could only sigh. ’Nothing new under the sun.’

’But that wasn’t the point of his lecture. He wasn’t here to argue that low marriage rates were justified.’

Zhang Zhe thought for a moment and gestured to the guy in the back row who was raising his hand the highest.

"The male student in the last row. Go ahead, what are your thoughts?"

The young man stood up, and the first thing he said was, "Teacher Zhang, I’ve seen clips of your livestreams! I’m a bit of a fan."

"Thank you!" Zhang Zhe replied, nodding with a broad smile.

The student smiled and continued, "I think the reason people don’t want to get married these days is actually very simple. It boils down to three things."

He held up three fingers, folding one down as he listed each reason.

"First, men don’t get married because they don’t want to marry a woman like their mother."

"Second, women don’t get married because they don’t want to marry a man like their father."

"And third, nobody wants the children they might have to end up living the same kind of life they’re living now."

As soon as the young man sat down, another young woman shot to her feet.

"I disagree with what he just said. None of those three situations apply to me, but I don’t want to get married either."

"I’m perfectly happy on my own. If I were to find a partner, I can’t guarantee I’d be as happy as I am now, so not finding one is the least risky option."

"I think my situation is the one that’s most common for people today."

"Yeah!" Many of the students in the audience nodded in agreement.

But her point was met with a rebuttal. Another young man immediately stood up. "I don’t think it’s marriage people are afraid of. It’s human nature."

"These days, it’s too easy to get backstabbed by your significant other."

"Think about it. Why were men in ancient times so willing to take a wife? Because they were compensated by the traditional culture of the ’Three Obediences and Four Virtues.’"

"From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, no matter the era, a married woman who had an affair would be punished. But that whole system is a non-starter today."

"The punishments are gone, but the millennia-old tradition of the man being the provider is still here. That’s like being told you’re not getting paid anymore, but you still have to show up for work."

"Who the fuck would sign up for that?"

The young man’s words were pointed. Zhang Zhe could see many of the young women in the audience getting restless, looking like they were ready to jump to their feet and argue the second he finished.

’If this keeps up, it’s going to turn into a debate,’ he thought. ’And it’ll get heated, 100 percent.’

Before the women could have their say, Zhang Zhe cleared his throat. "Ahem. Everyone, I believe it’s my turn."

"I am getting paid for this lecture. If I don’t say something soon, the organizers might not settle my fee."

"Hahaha..." The students roared with laughter, and one by one, they slowly lowered their raised hands.

"I can see that everyone has strong opinions on why *not* to get married. So now, let me talk a little about why one *should* get married."

"The following are my personal opinions and do not represent the views of the event organizers."

"I’ve analyzed hundreds of matchmaking cases, and my current conclusion is that marriage, at its core, is about a man and a woman’s ’need’ and their ’need to be needed’ finding equilibrium."

"A student might say, ’I have no desires, and I have nothing to offer anyone else. Does that mean I don’t need to get married?’"

"Theoretically, yes. But... among these needs, the very first one I’ve identified is S. E. X."

"Marriage offers a way to satisfy your physical urges that is relatively easy and low-risk."

"And based on my observations, in this particular area, men have greater needs in the beginning, while women have greater needs later on..."