Chapter 151: The Money to Buy a House for Younger Brother
When Zhang Zhe saw this detail, his first reaction was: Are Mercedes SUVs that expensive? Why single it out?
But he quickly realized what it meant. She owned a Mercedes G-Wagen, estimated to be worth over a million yuan—about the same as a standard apartment in Qing City.
That meant the woman had at least three million in assets to her name.
That kind of money might not seem like much online, but in the real world, it definitely meant she was an ordinary girl who was doing quite well for herself.
He looked at the woman’s profile from the top:
[Born in ’96, height 160cm, weight 52kg. Owns two properties and a Mercedes SUV. Currently works at a local media company with a high annual income. From a single-parent family; father deceased, mother lives alone. No burdens...]
The woman’s requirements were simple and just like most others at the matchmaking corner: she was looking for a local man with property and a stable job, from a similar family background.
"Ma’am, what does your daughter do for work?" Zhang Zhe asked the beaming woman.
"She’s a livestream seller."
"What kind of products does she mainly sell?"
"..." The woman was taken aback. "I don’t know about that."
"Then do you know where her livestream channel is?"
"..." The woman shook her head. "I don’t know that either."
"Huh?" another woman nearby asked bluntly. "Is she really your biological daughter? You don’t even know her livestream channel?"
"My next-door neighbor’s kid became a streamer, and I made sure to get his channel info. I even send him free little hearts when I have time."
"As a mother, you’re way too careless."
[These old folks at the matchmaking market are way too blunt, aren’t they?]
[That woman probably has a daughter of her own, which makes the one asking a potential competitor.]
[That’s normal. The battles between women have always been like this.]
[I get the feeling she’s the kind of streamer who’d be embarrassed for her family to see her work.]
[Maybe she sells intimate products. I see them on Douyin all the time. They just stand there in a tight dress, looking super hot.]
"I asked, but she won’t tell me."
"My daughter is too independent." The woman’s expression was a bit helpless. "Whenever I ask, she just says I don’t understand anything and tells me to stay out of it."
Zhang Zhe watched this silently, a suspicion forming in his mind.
’To put it bluntly, perhaps the "product" this livestream seller is peddling is herself.’
The thought was a bit dark, and he certainly couldn’t say it out loud in front of the girl’s mother.
"Ma’am, how old was your daughter when your husband passed away?" Zhang Zhe continued to inquire about her family’s circumstances. "What was your financial situation like back then?"
"My husband died when my daughter was only five years old."
"Sigh, he had a cardiovascular disease. He was constantly in the ICU or a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and his medicine was incredibly expensive. By the time he passed, I had sold our house in the city and had to move back to my hometown with my son and daughter."
"Ma’am, you’ve really had it tough," Zhang Zhe said with a look of admiration.
"Did you ever think about finding someone else afterward?"
"I did think about it, but it was really hard. Most men would run for the hills when they saw a woman like me with two kids."
"You have a son, too?"
"That’s right."
"Then why wasn’t he mentioned on the profile?"
"He’s not mentioned, no. But we also didn’t write that she’s an only daughter, did we? So doesn’t that amount to the same thing as saying she isn’t one?"
[Flawless logic.]
[Can’t argue with that. It’s the streamer who’s too naive.]
[Making the potential match guess your family’s situation, huh? How interesting.]
[It’s definitely a younger brother. If it were an older brother, they’d have written it loud and clear.]
"Ma’am, you shouldn’t play these little games. It’s pointless. It’s not like someone sees your profile card and marries her on the spot. They’re going to ask for all the details in the end anyway."
"Hiding things like this will only lower their impression of you."
"Okay, I’ll know for next time." The woman nodded, but she answered so readily, almost as a reflex, that Zhang Zhe knew she hadn’t taken a word of it to heart.
Seeing the woman’s smiling face, any normal person would think she was being sincere.
But that clearly wasn’t the case. She put so much sly thought into just writing a profile card; Zhang Zhe was now starting to doubt whether she was truly ignorant of her daughter’s line of work.
"Ma’am, is your daughter the older sister or the younger sister in the family?"
"The older sister, of course."
"Oh, so she’s a Voldemort. No wonder," an old man nearby remarked with a sigh.
His comment had a pretty wide AOE, and one of the women who felt targeted immediately retorted:
"Don’t you have a sister? Was your family a one-child family? Did your sister never help you? How dare you say something like that?"
In the ’60s and ’70s, single-child families were relatively rare.
After getting married, many older sisters would bring their husbands along to help support their own families. However, the husband’s side was usually a multi-child family as well and also needed help from siblings, so the concept of a "Voldemort" wasn’t very common back then.
Everyone had siblings, and as long as favoritism wasn’t too extreme, people would help each other out in times of trouble. Naturally, neither the husband nor wife would hold any major grudges.
The woman’s words were meant to call the old man out, but an old timer is an old timer for a reason. He shot back directly:
"My older sister didn’t ask for a single penny of a betrothal gift when she got married. If you’ve got the guts, have your daughter do the same."
[Nice! A killing blow!]
[If my ex-girlfriend hadn’t demanded a betrothal gift, I would have been totally willing to help her younger brother.]
[Seriously. Demanding money and favors... you want to have it all, don’t you?]
[In the past, there were no betrothal gifts, but there were engagement gifts, right? Except they were just some inexpensive presents.]
The woman wanted to fire back at the old man, but she probably couldn’t find the words, so she turned back to Zhang Zhe and said:
"My son is already married."
"He bought an apartment in the provincial capital. He and his wife both have stable jobs. If anyone needs help, it would be him helping his sister."
"He bought a place in the provincial capital? Did he earn it all himself?"
"Yes. Given our family’s financial situation, we couldn’t have helped even if we wanted to."
"What does he do for work? To have such a high annual income?" Zhang Zhe pressed. "Ma’am, surely you know what your own son’s job is, right?"
"He’s a sales representative for China Unicom. His annual income is 150,000 yuan."
"With that salary, can he really afford to buy an apartment in the provincial capital?" Zhang Zhe was skeptical.
"Maybe he has other sources of income he hasn’t told me about. He probably doesn’t want me to worry."
"That makes sense," Zhang Zhe nodded.
’The mother was starting to lie to herself.’ He wasn’t going to get any more useful information out of her.
Normally, he wouldn’t be so concerned about a prospective match’s family, but this family’s situation was a bit different.
Anyone who had actually worked and earned their own money knew just how hard it was for someone from a rural family to build up three million in assets.
This young woman most likely didn’t have a high level of education.
Because according to her mother’s logic, if her education wasn’t listed, it meant it was average and not worth mentioning.
Low education, no family support, relying purely on herself. At 29 years old, she had bought three properties, and it’s even possible she helped her brother buy his apartment in the provincial capital. Either she really made it big as a livestream seller, or she was in *that* kind of business.
Zhang Zhe was leaning toward the latter.
Because if it were the former, wouldn’t she tell her mom all about it? Let her show off in front of friends and family?