Chapter 67: Win-win Cooperation
"Born in ’91? So she’s 34?"
"Yes."
"Huh? Brother, isn’t this your first marriage? Are you not planning on having kids? I thought you’d found a 24-year-old."
"Especially since you’re buying a car and adding her name to the house deed."
"A 24-year-old? That’s wishful thinking. With my situation, how could someone like that be interested?" The brother had clearly compromised. You could tell from his tone that he was already in a state of semi-resignation.
[What a character. With demands like that, you’re getting a 34-year-old?]
[What have I stumbled into? A female-oriented web novel?]
[See, sisters? I told you not to settle! Marry at 34 and get pampered by your husband like a young princess!]
[Brother, are you a 1 out of 10 in looks or something? Is she charging you over a million in emotional distress damages for marrying you?]
"A 24-year-old might not be interested, that’s true, but it doesn’t have to be a 34-year-old either."
"What do you see in her? Is it just that she’s a teacher with a stable job?"
"Mhm, yes." The brother was very honest, speaking his mind. "I’m three years older than her. When we get married, neither of us is losing out."
"Looking at age alone, that’s true."
"But..." Zhang Zhe shook his head.
In truth, the brother’s circumstances were a good match for the teacher, but only if you ignored the exorbitant bride price, the car, and the house deed.
He had a car and a house in the county town, with an annual income of 150,000.
Paired with a teacher three years his junior, with no car, no house, and an annual income of less than 100,000.
They were a match.
Although the woman was a bit on the older side, as long as she was healthy, it was still a viable option. After all, the brother, at 37, wasn’t exactly young himself.
"You’re paying way too much for the bride price!"
"It’s not that much. This is how marriages are around here," the brother retorted. "When my childhood friend got married, the engagement gifts and the ’five golds’ were 250,000, the bride price was 180,000, the bride’s family’s 35-table banquet was 100,000, the down payment on the house was 150,000, renovations were 200,000..."
"What I’m paying really isn’t that much."
[Damn, his childhood friend is on another level.]
[Stop spreading rumors. In Jiujiang, we only ask for 88,000.]
[Bride prices in Ganbei are really high, it’s true. It’s better closer to Guangdong Province. My family only asked for 120,000.]
[Guys from the countryside are so easy to fool. A lot of young men these days aren’t willing to pay a bride price anymore.]
"Brother, the customs in your area are certainly impressive. I’ve got nothing to say to that." Zhang Zhe gave a helpless smile. "But, speaking of which, do you know why women demand a bride price nowadays?"
The brother immediately replied, "Because they feel insecure and are afraid the man will scam them out of a marriage, so they want a bride price as a guarantee."
"You’re adding her name to the house deed and buying her a car, and she’s still afraid you’ll scam her?"
"Er..." The brother thought for a moment. "It wasn’t easy for her parents to raise her, so when I marry her, I should show some appreciation."
"Around here, on top of the bride price, some people have to pay an ’upbringing fee’."
"What the hell is an ’upbringing fee’?"
"Compulsory education is free now. The woman you’re seeing is a teacher, so she most likely went to a normal school. How much could it have cost her family to raise her?" Zhang Zhe sighed and asked in return, "Once you’re married, aren’t you going to support her parents in their old age anyway?"
"Brother, you still don’t get it."
"Let me tell you what a bride price really is."
"A bride price like this, one with no accompanying dowry from her side, is essentially compensation a woman demands for giving up her right to marry up."
"It’s a one-time compensation payment to her."
"She thinks she could find someone better, but she can’t right now, so she’s settling for you. Because of you, she’s giving up her chance to marry into a wealthy family, so she needs a sum of money to compensate her for that loss. Otherwise, she can’t accept it."
"It’s that simple."
[That... kind of makes sense.]
[That’s not right, is it? Isn’t the bride price compensation for a woman’s childbirth?]
[The law stipulates that a bride price is a prenuptial gift, not compensation.]
"Just think about it. If she wasn’t a teacher, but a girl from your rural hometown, would she ask you for such a high bride price?"
"In my hometown..." The man thought for a moment before answering, "Some still would, but probably not this much."
"..." Zhang Zhe fell silent for a moment.
’No wonder social science research is getting harder and harder these days,’ he thought. ’Some places just defy all logic.’
It was like trying to discuss human reproduction when some random guy from India suddenly shows up holding a Komodo dragon. There’s just no way to continue the conversation.
"Anyway, that’s the most logical explanation for the bride price that I’ve seen. Otherwise, on what grounds could they demand hundreds of thousands?" Zhang Zhe couldn’t be bothered to explain further, leaving the brother to figure the rest out on his own.
"This is also why I said you’re paying too much for the bride price."
Zhang Zhe said bluntly, "Your partner, a 34-year-old teacher—does she still have room to marry up?"
"Can she still find someone with better prospects than you?"
"She’s been working for at least 12 years now. If she could have found someone better, she would have done it long ago. Right now, you are her best option."
"So on what grounds is she demanding a bride price?"
"Yeah, on what grounds?" the brother muttered, repeating Zhang Zhe’s words.
No matter how many times he asked himself, he couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation.
’Is it because my family is poor? But her family is just average, too.’
’She doesn’t have a car and still commutes on an electric scooter. She’s just counting on me to buy her a Xiaomi so she can save face in front of her colleagues.’
’She doesn’t have a house either; her family still lives in the old part of town.’
’So what exactly gives her the right?’
The only explanation left was his IP address.
"Brother Zhang, I just remembered. The Matchmaker told me she was about to get married once before, through an introduction, but it fell through because they couldn’t agree on the bride price."
"And did the Matchmaker also tell you that what her family is asking for now is already very little? That you’re getting a bargain?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"It’s from our industry textbook, ’The Matchmaker’s 99 Little Lies’." Zhang Zhe couldn’t help but laugh. "Otherwise, how would they convince you to fork over the money? If you don’t pay, how do we get our red envelopes?"
[Hahaha, streamer, aren’t you afraid your peers are going to hunt you down?]
[A matchmaker’s mouth is a deceiving ghost. Never believe a word.]
[It’s better to go to a proper matchmaking agency. At least you can get real information.]
[If you ask me, the brother should, at most, buy her a car—and not in cash. Finance it over three years, at least.]
"I think I’m starting to understand." After being lectured by Zhang Zhe for a while, the brother finally seemed to have gained some insight.
"So, should I go talk to her family again?"
"Brother Zhang, when the time comes, can I use a clip of your stream to persuade them?"
"Sure, you can try. But don’t blame me if you get beaten up." Zhang Zhe suppressed a laugh. "I’m just speaking the plain truth. Her family might get a little heated when they hear it."
"Seriously though, I advise you not to put all your eggs in one basket."
"You can ask the local Matchmakers to help you look for other options."
"What kind should I look for?" The brother was a little lost. "I don’t even know what kind of wife I should be looking for."
"Don’t look for the kind that requires you to be a pay-to-win player."
"Look for someone who can be your partner, someone to build a life with."
"For someone like you, who’s worked hard to build up some savings, the worst thing you can do is throw it all away at once. There are so many people out there just waiting to marry you to fund their ’startup’!"
Zhang Zhe then gave the brother the winning strategy for the current meta:
"The pure pay-to-win model is outdated."
"This is the era of cooperative, win-win partnerships."
"You should find a partner who can work with you to better manage your household, or even your family business. The two of you can boost your income and cut down on costs, building a better and better life together."
"A marriage that costs a million to start has maintenance costs that are just too high. The car breaks down, it needs to be replaced, right? The house gets old, it needs to be updated, right? She loses her income, you have to support her, right? After a while, it’d be a miracle if you didn’t break up."