Chapter 268 - 266: What Kind of Person to Date

Chapter 268: Chapter 266: What Kind of Person to Date

Zhang Zhe had originally planned to leave some time for questions, but since the conversation was already flowing, he decided to just stick to his original script.

"For the next question, I’d like the ladies in the audience to answer."

"I won’t call on you one by one. Once someone finishes, the next person can just jump in. Feel free to speak your minds."

"My question is:

When it comes to dating, what kind of guys are you looking for?"

"Alright, the floor is open."

After speaking, Zhang Zhe gestured invitingly to a few of the young women closest to him.

His gesture actually worked. One of them stood up and said, "If I’m going to date someone, he has to be handsome."

"Ooooh..." The guys in the audience booed in unison.

"Alright guys, no heckling. Your turn is coming up." Zhang Zhe restored order. "Come on, next lady, please."

"I think he needs to be tall. At least 178cm. It’s not that I’m looking down on shorter guys, you know? It’s just that I need him to be that tall to feel secure."

"I’m different. I don’t care about height, but he has to be willing to spend money on me. He can absolutely, under no circumstances, spend *my* money..."

"I’m with the last girl. I also want a guy who’s willing to spend money on me. Guys these days will promise you the world, but the only way to see if they’re actually sincere is to see if they’ll open their wallets."

"Yeah, she’s right! If you find a boyfriend who’s willing to spend money on you, you won’t be on the losing end, even if you two don’t last."

"Money isn’t actually that important to me, but I hope he has a little muscle. You know, the type who’s just overflowing with manliness..."

"..."

After the young women had all talked at once, Zhang Zhe mentally summarized their points. ’The main standard for most of them is whether a guy is willing to spend money on them.’

’But they don’t agree on the standard for spending. Some think a guy should spend at least half his living allowance on them, while others are fine as long as he buys them gifts often and pays when they eat out.’

"Alright, alright, settle down everyone."

Zhang Zhe motioned for the ladies to quiet down. The wish-fulfillment part of the session was over; it was time for a reality check.

"Okay, for the guys in the audience, please raise your hand if you think you can meet the ladies’ requirements and you’re currently looking for a relationship."

"Don’t be shy. This isn’t a singles mixer. Even if you do hit it off with someone, I’m not going to introduce you."

"HAHAHA..." Amid a wave of rowdy laughter, a few hands went up sporadically among the guys in the back rows.

Zhang Zhe nodded at them. "Thanks for playing along. Let me get a quick count of how many of you there are."

"One... two... three..."

"We have a total of 33 guys with their hands up."

"And now for the interesting part." Zhang Zhe almost chuckled just thinking about what he was going to say next. "We have about 350 women in attendance today."

"Let’s ignore, for a moment, the less-than-moral scenarios like two-timing or stringing multiple people along. Let’s assume that each of the guys who raised his hand will only be in one relationship throughout their entire time at university."

"Of course, I know that’s impossible. I mean, you all look so handsome and charming. I can tell at a glance that none of you are the simple, easy-to-handle type."

"Brother Zhang, I’ll sue you for slander!" one of the guys with his hand up shouted, which made everyone crack up.

Zhang Zhe waved a hand at him. "Alright, alright, I get it. You’re a one-woman man."

"So, assuming all the other guys are as devoted as he is, it means that, based on the standards the ladies just set, only about one-tenth of the women here will be able to find a relationship during university."

"Everyone else will have to stay single."

"So, what do you all do then?" Zhang Zhe looked toward the area where most of the female speakers had been and pointed randomly. "You, miss. Tell us. If that were you, what would you plan to do?"

In truth, Zhang Zhe had no idea who he was pointing at; it was just a general direction.

As it happened, the young woman in that area with the strongest urge to speak took the initiative and stood up.

"I think you just lower your standards. Everyone probably thinks the same way. You’re bound to start with high expectations, right? It’s like university admissions—they admit students from the top down, based on scores and application files."

"If the ’scores’ of the guys in my applicant pool don’t meet my preset cutoff, but I really want to be in a relationship, I’d just pick the one with the highest score from the available pool."

CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. Zhang Zhe applauded lightly.

Following his lead, the other students also gave the young woman who had just spoken a round of applause.

When the applause died down, Zhang Zhe continued in a slow, deliberate tone.

"You all probably think there’s no problem with that, right? I mean, I think it’s fine. It’s quite reasonable."

"But I have one question: How do you calculate this ’score’?"

"Everyone’s tastes are different. Some people like tall guys, but others might think a guy of average height with muscles is a perfect ten. Some people like handsome guys, but others might like ugly guys..."

"Who would like someone who’s ugly?" a girl in the audience retorted from her seat.

Zhang Zhe chuckled slyly. "He might be ugly, but you don’t find him repulsive. He’s reliable and completely devoted to you. And the crucial part is, other women won’t be trying to steal him away. Are you telling me you really wouldn’t like a guy like that?"

This time, no one had a comeback.

"A girl who’s all about looks and a girl who wants a reliable guy to study with at the library—their scoring systems are going to be different, right?"

"Ladies, give me some feedback here!"

At Zhang Zhe’s prompting, most of the young women laughed and replied in unison, "Right!"

"Great. So now, we’ve pretty much figured out the ’how’ of dating."

"To put it bluntly, you use your personal scoring system to rate potential partners you meet—whether they’re of the opposite sex or the same sex. I’m very open-minded, so don’t you worry."

"In short, you give them a score. When you meet someone with a score you’re happy with, and it just so happens they’re also into you, you get together."

"That’s dating as we typically know it."

"So then, why do some women end up with scumbags?"

"And why do some guys, if they’re not careful, suddenly find themselves becoming a total simp, a top-tier doormat who ends up getting massively cuckolded?"

"They were clearly following their scoring systems, and the scores they gave seemed perfectly fine. So where, exactly, did things go wrong?"

"You can all discuss it amongst yourselves for a minute. I need a sip of water."

Zhang Zhe really was getting a bit tired from all the talking. But judging by the fervor of the students’ discussions, it was clear his points had landed well. They might not have been discussing his specific question, but they were almost certainly talking about something related to love and marriage.

A lecture isn’t always about imparting tons of knowledge; sometimes it’s enough just to get people thinking.

"Alright, let’s quiet down, everyone."

"We won’t go around for individual answers this time. I’ll just give you my take on it. The reason is:

Someone’s scoring system is flawed, which means the scores they’re giving out are wrong."

"The most obvious example is when someone trusts their own physical urges too much. For the sake of a pretty face, they inflate the ’looks’ score so high that their entire rating system collapses."

"You’re probably thinking that I’m now going to tell you what the ’correct’ scoring system is."

"Wrong!" Zhang Zhe said with a mischievous grin. "When it comes to falling in love, nobody else’s advice is going to work. Think about it. When you’re head over heels for someone, and your roommate tries to tell you you’re making a mistake, are you capable of listening?"

"Guaranteed, you won’t listen to a word."

"I’m not about to waste my breath."

"What I’m going to tell you is this: for dating, everyone has their own unique scoring system. But for marriage, thanks to years and years of accumulated wisdom being passed down, there’s already a fairly established set of standards."