Chapter 65: Warning! A Lifelong Partner-Level Has Appeared
"Have you ever been in a relationship?"
"No."
"You’re twenty-seven and you’ve never been in a relationship? No wonder you don’t get it."
Zhang Zhe found it hard to imagine what kind of person he was on a call with—someone who was twenty-seven and still had zero relationship experience.
’From the sound of her voice, she didn’t seem like an overweight girl whose vocal cords were being strained. In fact, it had a cool, mature quality to it—quite a contrast.’
"What does this have to do with being in a relationship?" Xia Yi asked earnestly. "I remember you analyzing blind dates before, and you said that romance and marriage are two separate things."
"You remembered that wrong. What I said was, ’Romance and blind dates are two paths heading in opposite directions,’" Zhang Zhe explained. "Both paths can lead to marriage; they just approach it from different directions."
"Matching family backgrounds is very important for blind dates."
"But for romance, that factor carries a little less weight."
"Matching family backgrounds is important for a stable marriage. Having a strong emotional connection is also important for a stable marriage. Therefore, a strong emotional foundation can offset differences in family background."
"Make sense?"
"I understand, but..." Xia Yi said with a frown. "A nail technician and a civil servant... isn’t that too big of a gap? I feel like this is just an impulse driven by hormones. They’ll get sick of each other in six months or a year."
"Isn’t that just a waste of their youth?"
"There are people who get married through blind dates and divorce within a year or so, too. Is that not a waste of youth?"
"Some people don’t even make it to the wedding. They get engaged, and the guy gets sent to prison. That’s a minimum three-year sentence right there," Zhang Zhe said, correcting her line of thinking. "What you’re really worried about is just that you think that girl isn’t good enough for your cousin."
"But if you’re really that worried, why don’t you find an opportunity to meet the girl?"
"It’s perfectly normal to have a meal together and help your cousin size her up."
[Brother Zhang gets it. She’s a nail technician *now*, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be one for her whole life, right?]
[The chances of someone remaining pure in that kind of environment are slim, but you should definitely meet her before jumping to conclusions.]
[They just started dating, why is her family worrying so much for no reason? Just make sure they don’t travel abroad. It’s perfectly safe within the country.]
[Sis, let’s talk about you instead.]
"That makes sense." Xia Yi nodded and said directly to her cousin, "Next week, I’m treating you two to dinner."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean, ’huh’? The professional Matchmaker said so. You don’t trust him?"
"I trust him, but, Sis, why don’t you worry about your own blind dates first?" Her cousin suddenly addressed Zhang Zhe on the stream. "Brother Zhang, my sister is something else. You should hurry up and analyze her."
"No problem!" Zhang Zhe made an OK gesture.
’This pair of cousins is pretty interesting.’
"Alright, young lady. Let’s continue."
"Your personal details..."
"I’m a kindergarten teacher," Xia Yi said calmly. "But I have tenure, and I currently work at a local public kindergarten."
"I have a bachelor’s and master’s in early childhood education from a top-tier ’211’ university."
"My annual income is around 120,000. My family has a car and a house, but neither are in my name. My situation is basically... I’m comfortable, but not wealthy."
"Marriage seems a bit far off for me."
"That’s about it."
[A tenured kindergarten teacher? That’s seriously a dream job.]
[Around here, public kindergartens don’t offer tenured positions anymore. The only way to get one is to take the exam for a post in a rural town.]
[A woman with a master’s degree working as a kindergarten teacher... with those two buffs stacked, her standards must be sky-high.]
[Sis, you must really like kids, right? So why not get married and have some of your own?]
Since she was being so serious, Zhang Zhe adopted a more serious attitude as well.
He began to analyze her situation in earnest. "Are you an only child? And what’s your family’s approximate net worth?"
"I’m an only child. My family’s assets would be considered A7."
"How’s your parents’ relationship?"
"They’re great. My mom’s a teacher and my dad is a civil servant. They’ve barely argued my whole life."
"So, do you look forward to marriage yourself?"
"A little, but not a lot." Xia Yi said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It might be because of my classmates and colleagues. Their experiences with marriage haven’t shown me a very positive side to it."
"But seeing my parents makes me feel like marriage is a good thing."
"Oh, so you’re..."
Just as Zhang Zhe was about to start his analysis, he saw something strange.
A red dot suddenly popped up in the video call window.
At first, Zhang Zhe thought it was a red exclamation point—a sign that the system was feeding him intel.
But the red dot throbbed, getting bigger and bigger, and gradually revealed its true shape—it was actually a red heart.
It was silently, rhythmically beating.
Zhang Zhe rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was just tired.
’A red heart popping into view... this was just too absurd.’
But no matter how he rubbed his eyes, that red heart was still there.
DING—
[Congratulations, Host. Of all the blind dates to date, the most suitable partner for you has appeared!!!]
’So the heart was a system notification.’
’System, you bastard, did you have to be so dramatic?’
Just as Zhang Zhe was about to make a snarky comment, the system’s next message appeared.
[Current Compatibility: 90 points]
[Reward: 5 Happiness Points]
[Your blind date, Xia Yi, has reached the level of "Lifelong Partner," second only to "A Match Made in Heaven." Do not miss this opportunity!]
[Xia Yi’s father is the second-in-command of XXX in Qing City. This has innumerable connections to your current profession as a matchmaking streamer. Marrying her would be a tremendous boost to your career.]
[Xia Yi herself is a highly-educated, financially independent woman with well-grounded values. Furthermore, thanks to her mother’s influence, she is an excellent cook who specializes in local cuisine.]
[Xia Yi has almost zero relationship experience; someone merely had a secret crush on her in high school. She has a certain longing for love and marriage, but requires the Host’s guidance.]
[...]
Seeing the sheer volume of intel from the system, Zhang Zhe knew the system wasn’t messing around.
Usually, when he ran into oddballs, the system would just drop one high-value piece of intel—always the most important and negative stuff—and then smugly vanish.
At most, it would just give a "Danger" warning.
But now that this 90-point target had appeared, the information was flowing like a flood. The system had listed everything short of the "big red flower" award the girl named Xia Yi had won in preschool.
’Is there really something so special about her?’
Zhang Zhe remained skeptical. ’A twenty-seven-year-old kindergarten teacher who’s never been in a relationship... even if her dad is some big shot, does that automatically make her my lifelong partner?’
[Advancing the relationship will result in a huge reward for the Host. Adding her on WeChat will instantly reward 10 Happiness Points.]
"Young lady, I have a clear picture of your situation now."
"What do you think of me?" Zhang Zhe asked, being incredibly direct. The system’s reward was just too good to pass up.
"Huh? Brother Zhang, what do you mean?"
"I think, given my own situation, I’d be a good match for you."
Zhang Zhe pointed to himself and quickly ran through his own stats, which were displayed in the top-right corner of the screen.
[What’s the streamer doing?]
[Whoa, Brother Zhang, are you serious?]
[First time I’ve ever seen a Matchmaker hit on a client directly. Now I’ve seen everything.]
[Then again, I think the streamer’s original reason for starting this channel was to find a blind date for himself.]
"It’s fine if you’re not interested in me."
"Just add me on WeChat first," Zhang Zhe said with a smile. "You can tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll help you find him."
"Really?" Xia Yi teased. "What if I said I wanted an A12?"
"A billionaire with a hundred billion? Hold on, let me take a look."
"Okay, found them. There are twenty-six people in the country who fit that description. Add me on WeChat first, and I’ll go ask the two President Mas and President Lei if they’re interested."
"Hahaha, alright," Xia Yi said, laughing. "Then I’ll have to trouble you to organize a matchmaking party for hundred-billionaires, Brother Zhang. I’ll contact the media, and we can dominate the headlines for a month."