Chapter 33: The Live Stream is Full of Great Detectives
"Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with working hard to make money."
After speaking, Zhang Zhe glanced at the bullet comments and suddenly panicked.
"Hey, hey, hey, I’m not encouraging you to get into *that* kind of business! This is a positive-energy live stream."
Unfortunately, it seemed Zhang Zhe was too late. The other person had already disconnected from the call.
’She probably heard me, right?’
"Everyone in the stream, please bear witness for me. I’m promoting healthy values. You should all make money through legitimate means and not just think about making a quick buck!"
"Alright, I’m ending the stream... wait, no, Gentle Tornado, are you sure you want to call in tonight?"
Zhang Zhe really wanted to go to sleep, but he felt he owed Tornado.
’Forget it, forget it. I’ll just take one last call.’
"Hey, you’re on. Speak."
"Good evening, Teacher." The woman’s voice wasn’t the least bit gentle—a serious case of false advertising.
Zhang Zhe sighed internally. "Go ahead. What’s your problem? Are you here for matchmaking?"
"Yes, let me introduce myself first."
Zhang Zhe nodded. ’Since she’s being so sensible, I might as well give her a chance.’
’The men and women in the matchmaking market these days don’t have it easy.’
’Especially the women.’
’In the current market, women outnumber men, and many girls can’t even find a decent match.’
Zhang Zhe could only reluctantly, superficially, act as the public’s go-to matchmaking guy.
Before him, others had been given similar titles, like "the public’s lover, Liang Chaowei."
Zhang Zhe felt he was no less deserving.
"I was born in 2000 and grew up here in Southern Jiangsu... My family has a villa here in Southern Jiangsu..."
[No one from Southern Jiangsu says they’re from ’Southern Jiangsu.’ She must be from Su Bei.]
[She says she grew up in Southern Jiangsu, so she’s probably from Wuxi or Changzhou.]
[Bullshit, we people from Changzhou never say we’re from ’Southern Jiangsu.’]
[She’s probably from one of these three places: Nantong, Zhenjiang, or Yangtai.]
[People from Zhenjiang never say they’re from ’Southern Jiangsu.’ She must be from Su Zhong.]
Zhang Zhe swore he only took a quick glance at the bullet comments.
He was originally trying to listen carefully to the woman describe her family’s situation.
But the bullet comments were just too brilliant.
That one mention of "Southern Jiangsu" had started a full-blown argument. Not a single place was willing to claim the girl who was introducing herself, all because her phrasing wasn’t authentic.
And it wasn’t just about the region.
They had analyzed the girl’s family situation, too.
[A villa in Southern Jiangsu is most likely a two-story, self-built house in the countryside.]
[She says she has a villa? Tell her to look it up on the Suzhou Palm Services app.]
[Tell her to show us the property deed.]
The most ridiculous part was that the bullet comments’ analysis almost perfectly matched the intel the system had given Zhang Zhe.
The system’s intel showed that the villa this girl claimed was in her name was, in fact, located in the Su Zhong Region.
’As for why she’d claim Southern Jiangsu, it’s probably because Southern Jiangsu is considered wealthier.’
’If you’re already calling a self-built village house a villa, changing your hometown is perfectly normal too.’
’This is the internet, after all. When you’re out and about, you decide who you are.’
"I’ve never been in a relationship before, so the whole marriage thing feels pretty distant to me..."
"Never been in a relationship before? You were born in 2000, that makes you almost 25." Zhang Zhe was a little surprised to hear that.
’In real life, there are definitely young people who don’t want to date, but this is a Matchmaking Live Stream Room! Someone who doesn’t even want to date suddenly wants to get married?’
’Has she lost her mind?’
Zhang Zhe glanced at the bullet comments, curious to see what everyone else was thinking.
Just then, a particularly jarring bullet comment floated by:
[Never dated? Must be because she’s ugly.]
Zhang Zhe thought that made some sense, so he immediately followed up with a question: "Is the reason you’ve never dated because of your looks?"
"No, that’s not it. I didn’t date because I went to college out of town. I’m a serious homebody, and I don’t want to leave my hometown in the future, so I didn’t want to find a partner somewhere else."
"Guys actually pursued me in college, but I never dated because of that reason."
"I’m not ugly, I’m sure of it. No one has ever told me I’m ugly my entire life, and my family has set me up on blind dates, and things never fell through because of my looks."
After hearing the girl’s explanation, Zhang Zhe didn’t need the system or his audience of detectives to understand the hidden meaning.
’A "serious homebody" = "Looks down on other places and thinks people from outside are poor."’
’Coming from a girl who keeps insisting she’s from "Southern Jiangsu," that’s completely expected.’
’"Not ugly" = "Not good-looking."’
Zhang Zhe had dealt with his fair share of "average-yet-overconfident" girls. The ones who were a 3 in reality would get on a call and dare to claim they were a 6.
’This girl didn’t dare rate herself directly, only hinting that she was good-looking.’
’And the moment Zhang Zhe questioned her, she seemed to get a little defensive.’
’Clearly, she’s really not good-looking. Probably not even a 3.’
Zhang Zhe glanced at the bullet comments again. As expected, everyone was thinking along the same lines.
[If you’re not good-looking, your blind dates naturally won’t be either. Of course they wouldn’t reject you. Otherwise, wouldn’t you go make trouble for the Matchmaker?]
[This girl sounds a bit insecure. So insecure that she’s developed a defensive personality.]
[She probably went to college in Su Bei or Hedong, which is why she looks down on the local guys there.]
[If this girl had even one attractive feature, everyone would be finding all sorts of ways to call her pretty.]
"So what kind of partner are you looking for now?" Zhang Zhe asked, maintaining his professionalism. "Besides being a local from your hometown, what else?"
"I’m not really sure."
"My family introduced me to a blind date. It was last June. We’ve been talking ever since, but I don’t really like him. I don’t really want to interact with him..."
"???" Zhang Zhe couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
"You don’t want to interact with him, so why are you still on a blind date with him? And you’ve been talking for a year?"
"We talked a lot before we met, and it felt pretty good. But after we met in person, I felt really repulsed by him. I don’t want any physical contact with him at all. Even holding hands is something I’d resist."
"So did you delete each other?"
"No, we’re still talking."
"?" Zhang Zhe looked as shocked as if he’d just seen an alien. "You’re repulsed by any physical contact with him, but you still won’t make things clear and just delete him and be done with it."
"Are you sick in the head?"
"I’m not sick! I just don’t know how to handle it. Talking with him is very comfortable. It’s just that... sometimes I feel we’re not a good fit, but other times I feel like we can keep talking..."
"No, no, no." Zhang Zhe couldn’t take it anymore and cut her off. "That thing I just said—it wasn’t supposed to be a question. It should have been a statement."
"You’re sick in the head!"
"For a whole year, you’ve been hesitating about whether to keep talking? The guy is on a blind date with you, he’s not getting paid by your family to roleplay a relationship with you. Aren’t you just playing him? Wasting his time?"
[Great scolding!]
[Something felt off about this woman from the very beginning. Knew there was a problem!]
[She’s just not satisfied but can’t find anyone better.]
[Running into a woman like this is just the worst luck.]
"If I were the guy on the date with you, and I found out this was your attitude—if I knew about this at 10:00 and hadn’t deleted your WeChat by 10:01, it would mean I was just asking for it."
"But I’ve never been in a real relationship! I don’t know how to handle a situation like this."
"Who cares if you’ve never been in a relationship? You’ve been stringing him along for a year, and now you’re playing the innocent victim?"
"Anyone from Southern Jiangsu in the chat?" For the first time, Zhang Zhe was bursting with a sense of justice. "Ask around if any of your buddies have been talking to a blind date born in 2000 for a year with no results."
"If you find someone, tell him to run! Run as far away as he can, and never contact this girl again!"