Livestream Matchmaking: My Intel Infinitely Refreshes

[Blunt, but not wrong.]

[I think if you’re talking about money, just talk about money. Bringing feelings into it halfway through is so lame.]

[You want him to borrow 100k to marry you, so how much is your dowry?]

[A guy in the public sector willing to pay an 88k bride price shouldn’t have a hard time getting married.]

[I’m already lost. Sis, do you even know what you’re saying?]

"It’s not that simple. Teacher, please, just let me finish," the woman said, her voice growing anxious. "He actually agreed to the 188,000 bride price."

"He has an older brother. He was going to borrow 50,000 from his brother, then another 50,000 from a classmate, and his parents would give him 60,000. That would be about enough."

"Hold on." Zhang Zhe made a ’stop’ gesture. "Wasn’t it 188,000? How did this head toward 250,000?"

"Did you raise the price again?"

"No, no, that’s for the wedding."

"Okay, so hadn’t you already suckered him in? Why did he wise up at the last minute? You raised the price, didn’t you?"

Zhang Zhe didn’t believe any of the pointless backstory this woman was laying out.

A marriage that requires borrowing money for the bride price is a commercialized marriage. It’s the same principle as buying something.

When a deal has been struck and one party suddenly backs out, there are only two possibilities:

One, the seller suddenly raised the price—jacked it up right on the spot—and the buyer couldn’t afford it anymore, so they had to give up.

Two, the buyer discovered the product didn’t match the description, or it had some hidden flaws and wasn’t worth the original price.

Zhang Zhe didn’t want to assume the worst of this woman.

’So it must be because she raised the price.’

"I didn’t raise the price. The bride price is still 188,000. We started fighting because of the ’three golds’."

[???]

[Now there’s the ’three golds’ on top of it, right?]

[So you mean you talked about the bride price and the wedding, but you hadn’t even gotten to the ’three golds’ yet?]

[The guy was right. This is a bottomless pit.]

[A high bride price is just an obedience test. Good thing that guy wised up, or he’d be under her thumb for the rest of his life.]

"He couldn’t afford the ’three golds’?"

"Yes, he’s really out of money."

"That’s a lie," Zhang Zhe said, waving his hand dismissively. "He can still get a bank loan. He can go sell his blood."

"If all else fails, you could always sell him to Northern Myanmar, right?"

"He hasn’t sacrificed 100% of himself yet."

"But I have a question," Zhang Zhe said, cutting her off before she could speak. "Are you a corpse? If not, may I ask what you have contributed to this marriage?"

"..." The woman didn’t speak.

"Hello? Are you deaf? I’m asking you a question." Zhang Zhe tapped the table. "Your boyfriend has been borrowing from everyone he knows. What have you been doing?"

"Answer my question."

"I... I haven’t done anything," the woman answered in a low voice.

"No, you have. You’ve definitely been telling him you love him, and probably making him all sorts of empty promises."

"Oh, baby, once we’re married, we’ll be so happy. Just try to figure something out..."

[BARF—]

[Host, please stop the psychological attacks, thank you.]

[I can already picture it. This is some next-level BS.]

[That guy is an idiot too, going over a hundred thousand into debt before he’s even married.]

[This girl hasn’t mentioned a dowry once from beginning to end.]

[I’m a parent, and I’d bet this girl has probably never said a single good thing about the guy to her parents. Otherwise, there’s no way the marriage would fall apart over the ’three golds’.]

"Teacher, it’s not like that. I really want to be with him," the woman argued, getting a little emotional. "The bride price is a custom where I’m from. If it’s too low, my parents will be looked down on by others."

"Really? Where are you from?"

"Give me the address. I’ll have someone ask around. If there’s a girl in your area who got married for a bride price of 88,000, can you come back on the stream and apologize?"

Zhang Zhe sounded absolutely certain.

The existence of the ultimate trump card—the "other man"—makes any talk of a bride price a complete joke.

Still want a bride price? When the other man shows up, you should be grateful he doesn’t walk off with your father-in-law’s cigarettes.

What custom? It’s all just an excuse to talk business.

The history of some villages only goes back a few decades, just two or three generations. Go back to our grandparents’ generation—they barely had enough to eat when they got married. Were they talking about bride prices then?

So you’re telling me this so-called "custom" could just materialize in an instant with the post-80s and 90s generation?

In another 20 years, when money isn’t worth as much, is this bride price custom going to become "no marriage without a million"?

What kind of adaptive custom is that?

So, this whole "the bride price is a custom" thing is a lie.

Sure enough, after Zhang Zhe said this, the woman stopped being so stubborn.

She stammered, "But... but my parents are the ones who want such a high bride price!"

"Then just say your parents want it. What’s so shameful about that?" Zhang Zhe laughed outright. He hated it when people put on an act. "What era are we in? Is ’selling’ a daughter really something new?"

"Your situation is simple: if you don’t lower the price, your boyfriend can’t afford you. This deal isn’t going to happen."

"Coming to me is useless. I’m not running some ’get married in the countryside’ program here, and I don’t have a ten-billion subsidy for you to claim."

[Maybe you should try Pinduoduo? Do a group buy for the bride price.]

[If you can’t agree, just let it go. Let that guy off the hook.]

[I agree, there’s no point dragging this out. The guy didn’t even try to haggle. You’re the one who keeps adding to the price.]

"But my boyfriend and I still love each other."

"Stop." Zhang Zhe waved his hand. "Teacher Luo once said, ’If you’re being kept, don’t talk about having an independent personality.’ I’ll give you a saying too: ’If it’s a commercial transaction, don’t talk about feelings.’"

"I’m not a product," the woman retorted. "Teacher, please don’t objectify women, okay?"

"I didn’t say you were a product. You misunderstood." Zhang Zhe chuckled. ’She’s trying to bait me into a fight, but I’m ready for it!’

"I said your marriage is a product."

"Is there a difference?"

"Of course there’s a difference," Zhang Zhe snorted. "If your marriage wasn’t a product, then when your boyfriend was thinking of giving up because he had no money, you had ten thousand other options."

"You could have asked your parents to just give a few quilts as a dowry and lower the bride price."

"You could have bought the ’three golds’ with your own money, since you’re the one who gets to keep them in the end anyway."

"You could have simplified the wedding ceremony to save a ton of money."

"You could have even taken out your own savings to pay for part of your own bride price."

[My wife paid for half of my bride price, and our son is already five years old.]

[A girl buying her own ’three golds’ is totally fine. She might even make a profit on it later.]

[If you met through a matchmaker, being this calculative is one thing. But for a couple who fell in love naturally, it makes no sense to be this calculating.]

[This girl’s family environment is toxic, and she’s got no brain of her own.]

After Zhang Zhe finished speaking, the woman went completely silent.

He called out to her several times, but there was no response.

"It doesn’t look like she disconnected." Zhang Zhe shook his head in confusion. "Miss, I’m disconnecting our call now, okay?"

"If you’re not happy about this, you can go make a post online and put me on blast."

"But I’d advise against it. I’m afraid you’ll just get even more people flaming you!"