Livestream Matchmaking: My Intel Infinitely Refreshes

"Eighty?"

"That’s right. Same price as picking your lock."

"That’s pretty expensive."

"Yeah, but what you locksmiths charge isn’t cheap either."

"True, but we don’t get much business. Everyone’s using facial recognition locks these days." The middle-aged man sighed. He looked a little hesitant, but not for long.

He beckoned to Zhang Zhe. "Here, give me your WeChat QR code."

"I want a paid consultation."

"You really want a consultation?"

"For real. For something like this, I have to ask a professional like you. I’m afraid I’ll mess things up if I try to figure it out myself."

The man’s expression was grave, his tone earnest.

You could tell he was an impatient man. The moment he saw Zhang Zhe, a professional Matchmaker, he couldn’t hold back his thoughts any longer.

He probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if he didn’t get some answers.

Zhang Zhe silently accepted the payment, then sat down next to the man on the steps by the door.

The man expertly offered him a Honghuangshan cigarette.

"I don’t smoke." Zhang Zhe shook his head. "And don’t you light up either. I don’t want to breathe secondhand smoke."

"So, what’s your question?"

"Alright." The man quietly put the cigarette away, then pulled up a photo of a middle-aged woman on his phone and showed it to Zhang Zhe. "This is the woman a relative set me up with for a blind date."

"Help me analyze her. What do you think?"

"Should I marry her?"

"Sure." Zhang Zhe had expected this. He took the phone for a look and expertly rated her. "With makeup, she’s a 4.5. A little better than average."

"She’s a bit on the heavier side, but she’s well-dressed and put-together. Looks like she’s about thirty, right?"

"Thirty-four," the man answered curtly. "Divorced, with a four-year-old son."

"Huh?" Zhang Zhe turned to look at the man.

’You’re really going after a divorced woman with a son?’

’And, I have to say, the guy really does look like a total sucker.’

"What about you, man? Are you single or divorced?"

"Same here. Divorced. But my son is ten."

"How old are you?"

"Thirty-nine. Born in ’86, Year of the Tiger." The man was a bit superstitious. "She’s a Sheep. A fortune-teller said our zodiac signs are a great match."

"Who still cares about the Chinese zodiac these days? Even Song Xiaobao knows to use star signs."

"Analyzing that is useless."

Zhang Zhe wasn’t here to have a heart-to-heart with the man; this useless information was irrelevant.

"Listen to me, man. With blind dates, you have to focus on the core issues."

"First, tell me why you’re even going on this blind date. Is it because you can’t hold it in anymore?"

"That’s not it. If I can’t hold it in, I just take care of it myself." The man was surprisingly honest. "It’s mainly because my mom’s getting old, and it’s getting hard for her to look after my kid. She’s been telling me to find someone else while I’m still young."

"Why not just hire a nanny?"

"A nanny isn’t the same as a mother."

"True." Zhang Zhe nodded. "A stepmother might be even worse than a nanny. The odds of a stepmom abusing a child are much higher than a nanny doing it."

"So, as a Matchmaker, is your advice that I should just give up?" The man knew Zhang Zhe had a point, but he wasn’t ready to quit. "But this woman’s situation is really good."

"If I turn this one down, I probably won’t find anyone this good again."

"Then you’re just lusting after her body," Zhang Zhe said bluntly.

The man, probably not used to people speaking to him so frankly, retorted in a fluster, "No, it’s not that! My ex-wife was even better looking than her."

"Then you’re after her money?"

"Not really. She doesn’t have that much money."

"Then what’s so good about her situation?" Zhang Zhe asked, crossing his arms. "You’re not in it for her looks, and you’re not in it for her money. So you just want to help her raise her son?"

"In that case, why don’t you just go adopt a child?"

"Bro, if you’re not going to be honest, I can’t analyze this for you." Zhang Zhe made a move to stand up. "I’ll refund you ten bucks. Let’s just call it a day."

"No, no, no!"

"I’ll tell the truth!" The man grabbed Zhang Zhe’s calf. "It’s a bit of both. The looks and the money."

"Okay, that’s perfectly normal. You should’ve just said so from the start."

"In that case, I’m keeping the ten bucks. Let’s continue the analysis."

"I’ve seen her photo. Everyone’s taste is different, so I won’t comment on her looks."

"What about the money?" Zhang Zhe asked. "Is she rich?"

"Not super rich, but she owns her own clothing store. The business is doing very well. My relative told me it makes more money every year."

"Can you even make money running a clothing store these days?" Zhang Zhe looked skeptical. "I’ve only ever seen clothing stores shut down and go out of business. I haven’t heard of many that are actually profitable."

"My relative told me," the man explained, simply and bluntly.

"Fine. What else besides the clothing store?"

"She also has an apartment downtown. Her ex-husband gave it to her in the divorce."

"How much is the apartment worth, roughly?"

"I don’t know. My relative told me."

"Okay, anything else?"

"I think she also has a house in her hometown."

"How much is the house in her hometown worth?"

"I don’t know."

"And your relative told you that too, right?" Zhang Zhe could already guess the answer.

"Yes. My relative told me everything about her."

"So are you the one on the blind date, or is your relative?"

"Me, of course."

"If it’s you, then why haven’t you taken the initiative to find these things out for yourself?" Zhang Zhe said with a frown. "Man, this is a blind date. You’re preparing to get married."

"You even asked me about my profession just for a lock-picking job, but when it comes to something as important as marriage, you’re just going to take your relative’s word for everything?"

"Well..." The man took out his phone and glanced at it. "It’s a little late. My relative is probably asleep by now."

"So, should I ask him tomorrow and come back to you once I get the details?"

"No need for all that trouble."

Zhang Zhe waved his hand. An eighty-yuan consultation didn’t include overnight service.

He opened up Xiaohongshu and showed the man Granny Xu’s account. "I’m actually a streamer."

"I have to go live as soon as I get home."

"How about this? Why don’t you have your blind date connect with me on the stream?"

"I’ll ask her directly myself."

"Huh?" The man sucked in a sharp breath. "This... She might not be willing to do that, right?"

"Just try. Ask her right now. What if she agrees?"

Zhang Zhe could see that the man was simply captivated by her looks. He was probably smitten the moment he saw her photo.

Thankfully, his previous failed marriage had left him with a shred of sense.

Enough sense to think of paying a professional Matchmaker for a consultation.

And paying to find Zhang Zhe would turn out to be one of the best decisions the man had ever made in his life.

Although the consultation fee was a mere eighty yuan, considering the woman would grant him at least 1 happiness point for connecting on the stream, it wasn’t a bad deal for Zhang Zhe.

"So, what should I say to her?"

"Just tell her you paid 8,800 for a professional Matchmaker to help with your compatibility assessment."

"That expensive?" The man looked at Zhang Zhe, a new sense of awe in his eyes.

"That’s right. 8,800 is the official list price. That’s what I charge."

’When you’re out and about, you make your own status. Zhang Zhe wasn’t about to say he worked for free, was he?’

"Okay." The man nodded and contacted the woman from the blind date, repeating what Zhang Zhe had told him.

A moment later, he shook Zhang Zhe’s arm excitedly.

"She agreed! And she sent me a 200-yuan red packet, saying she wanted to chip in for the consultation fee too."

"Great. Go ahead and transfer her share of the fee to me." Zhang Zhe displayed his payment QR code. "I’m heading home now. Remember to join the stream in half an hour."