Livestream Matchmaking: My Intel Infinitely Refreshes

He’d said it would take half an hour, but Zhang Zhe made it home in just ten minutes.

With this extra bit of time, he planned to carefully study the system’s reward.

’An Illusion-Breaking Pill?’

If only he’d had this sooner. Right after graduation, Zhang Zhe would never have fallen for that damn HR department’s bullshit—all that crap about "flat management structures" and a "fast track to a manager position in three years." It was all a lie.

It was all a scam to lure in wage slaves.

’Taking it now is a few years too late, but it’s better than nothing. Might as well use it.’

Zhang Zhe chose a peaceful-looking position on his bed, lay down, and then clicked to consume it.

His body gave a slight twitch, and then... everything became utterly dull and uninteresting...

"That’s it?" Zhang Zhe sat up. "Fifty Happiness Points for *this*?"

He glanced at his balance. He had 55 points left.

Of those, 50 points were a reward from the system for confirming his status as Xia Yi’s "exclusive matchmaking partner."

He was 45 points away from unlocking the next item.

[Congratulations, Host, on the successful agreement with your matchmaking partner.]

[Your reward has been issued.]

[Continue to advance the relationship. Next mission: Have dinner with your matchmaking partner at the best restaurant in the city. Successfully convince her to go Dutch on the meal and agree to continue the matchmaking dates.]

[You will be rewarded based on the woman’s level of satisfaction with going Dutch on the date. Maximum reward: 100 Happiness Points.]

"Huh? Have I become Brother AA?"

Zhang Zhe looked at the system prompt and gave a helpless laugh.

’I knew I shouldn’t have watched those Brother AA matchmaking videos. The system probably got the idea from TikTok.’

Following Brother AA’s playbook, the most effective way to get your date to go Dutch is to borrow a Mercedes.

Most older women on the matchmaking scene are willing to go Dutch with a rich guy. They figure if a wealthy man does that, it shows he has principles and is testing her character—that he’s serious about finding a partner.

But a poor guy trying to pull the same stunt?

Total turn-off!

Don’t even think about it!

Who wants to date a cheapskate like that?

Keep it up and I’m calling the cops to report you for harassment!

The method itself wasn’t wrong, but Xia Yi would never fall for it. Zhang Zhe trusted his system; it wouldn’t set its host up with a gold digger.

If you marry a gold digger, your marriage is doomed unless you’re a human money-printing machine.

’Maybe I can just be direct with Miss Xia?’

Zhang Zhe nodded, thinking his idea made sense. On their date the day after tomorrow, he’d just tell her upfront he wanted to go Dutch.

...

After dealing with the system’s affairs, it was about time.

Zhang Zhe hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door.

He began his evening livestream.

Perhaps because Teacher Xu had ended her stream a little late today, Zhang Zhe found over a hundred viewers already waiting when he went live.

[This is the evening-shift streamer I was telling you all about.]

[A male Matchmaker? Is he any good?]

[He’s better than nothing. You can’t even get a spot in Teacher Xu’s stream.]

[Who knows if Teacher Xu will even be on tomorrow? This guy will have to do.]

"What’s going on? Did I miss something?" Zhang Zhe saw the bullet comments flying by and sensed that something had gone down on Mrs. Xu’s earlier stream.

"She got swarmed by a mob of ’little fairies’."

"And I thought it was something serious. For that old lady, isn’t that just a walk in the park?"

"What? Her own granddaughter was leading them?"

"Well, damn..."

Zhang Zhe hadn’t realized he was logging into more than just a regular Xiaohongshu account; he was stepping onto a domestic battlefield where the smoke had yet to clear.

According to the bullet comments, Mrs. Xu’s granddaughter had just returned from studying abroad. The moment her plane touched down, this underachiever—who couldn’t even pass the entrance exams for a university in her own country—suddenly had an awakening!

She’d grasped the "power of gender," was spoiling for a fight, and led her girl squad to raid the stream.

Mrs. Xu was caught off guard. At first, she thought they were just overseas students looking for matchmaking advice, so she gave them a serious analysis and patiently tried to counsel them.

Instead, she got shot down again and again.

She got so angry she was about to slam her fist on the table.

Finally, when she discovered her own granddaughter was there making trouble, she completely lost it...

"Didn’t any of you tell Granny Xu to log off? You don’t need to air that kind of family business in public."

[I did, but the chat was moving too fast. She probably didn’t see it.]

[Toward the end, the old lady totally lost it. She called her son and daughter-in-law home, saying she was going to righteously disown her own family.]

[I got here late, I only saw the final family confrontation.]

"A family tragedy, it seems."

So the viewers had stuck around just to watch the drama unfold. The crowd probably thought there’d be a round two and couldn’t bear to leave.

Zhang Zhe had no intention of profiting from someone else’s misery, so he decided to drop the subject.

It was time to get back to his real work.

"Is the person who bought my 8,800-yuan consultation package here?"

"Send a message in the chat so I can find you."

Amidst the flood of bullet comments, Zhang Zhe picked out a likely account. He clicked on the profile picture. A 34-year-old woman. Yep, that was her.

He accidentally saw the woman’s profile page.

Sss—

’Is that a Korean manhwa stepmom dress?’

’No wonder the locksmith hesitated.’

’Question the master, understand the master, never become the master.’

Zhang Zhe rarely used Xiaohongshu, so he didn’t know where this fell on the spectrum of acceptable content. But judging by the post’s title, which called it "the good stuff you can’t post on your Moments," it seemed to be fine.

"Alright, you can join the call now."

"Hello?"

"Hello, Teacher." The woman’s voice was a little husky, not raspy, but with a rich, smoky quality to it.

"Is this your first time here?"

"Yes, my first time."

"Then please start by introducing yourself. I’ll see if there’s anything I need to pay special attention to."

"Don’t you know my circumstances, Teacher?" the woman asked, sounding a little surprised. "Didn’t the man explain them to you?"

"Oh, right. I did get paid."

"Let me jot some of it down first."

"What I know so far is you’re 34, divorced with a son, you own a clothing store, and have an apartment in the city center..."

As Zhang Zhe spoke, he wrote this information on the whiteboard behind him:

"What’s your current annual income?"

"Between the clothing store and my side hustles, probably around 200,000."

"And your family situation? Parents, siblings?"

"I have a younger brother." The woman was clearly a pro at this, immediately adding an explanation, "But my brother’s already married. My parents bought him an apartment, paid in full, in the provincial capital, so there’s no ’Voldemort’ situation."

"Your parents bought your brother a house, paid in full, for his marriage." Zhang Zhe jotted down this key point. "What about you? What did they buy you?"

"Well... nothing, as of now."

"Are you not on good terms with your parents?" Zhang Zhe probed.

’What’s the biggest fear when it comes to blended families?’

’Besides the trust issues between the new husband and wife, the biggest fear is that their original social connections will bring along messy, hard-to-solve problems.’

’For instance, unresolved disputes or lingering entanglements with an ex-husband or ex-wife;’

’Or, for another example, financial and debt issues with their original families...’

’When you marry a divorcée, you’re the newcomer. Taking on her son is already a pain. If you have to take on her debts and feuds as well, then there’s really no point.’

"We actually get along fine. Going back to my parents’ house to eat or stay over is no problem, but I don’t expect them to give me any financial support."

"I’m a fairly independent person."

[High EQ: "I’m a fairly independent person." Low EQ: "Everything goes to my brother; I’m not in line for anything."]

[Her parents just favor sons over daughters. She sounds like she’s from a rural area.]

[I’ll bet she moved to the city from the countryside. Only they would make a big deal about buying an apartment outright in the provincial capital.]

[I’ve been on Xiaohongshu for three years and have yet to see a single divorced woman with a kid get remarried.]

"Independence is a good thing."

"What’s the approximate value of your property and car right now?"

"Two properties, worth about 6 million in total. The car is in the hundred-thousand-plus range. I used to have a luxury car, but the maintenance, repairs, and everything else were too much of a waste, so I traded it for this one."

"?" Zhang Zhe listened, and something felt off.

’Thirty-four, has a son, family that favors sons over daughters, likely from a rural family that provides no financial support... How is this woman so good at making money?’

’Properties worth 6 million? And she used to have a luxury car?’

’Don’t tell me she got rich from her divorce. Or did she hit it big with a startup?’