Chapter 154: Yoga
"I can pay, but I’d like to ask a question first."
"My mom told me that consultations here are free."
"Fine, go ahead and ask." Zhang Zhe was very easygoing. He was also curious to hear what kind of question this woman would ask.
"I actually just went on a blind date a little while ago."
"My mother doesn’t know about this. I know it’s perfectly normal for blind dates not to work out, but my mom is just a bit too sensitive. I’m afraid she’d go to the guy’s house and cause a scene."
"Did you find the guy yourself? Or did a matchmaking agency introduce you?" Zhang Zhe was curious about this. He really wanted to know which agency had set this girl up.
’Aren’t they afraid the guy will come back and cause trouble later?’
"I paid a Matchmaker at an agency to find him for me."
"Does the Matchmaker know your real situation?"
"She does. She told me not to tell the guy about my real job and helped me create a fake resume. My parents’ information was fake, too."
Because she was wearing a mask, the woman spoke with a certain recklessness:
"But I’m real."
"Including my chest, my legs..."
"Because of my previous profession, I’m very good at providing emotional value to guys. The Matchmaker said that with my image, and the fact I don’t act all high and mighty just because I’m good-looking, I already have the foundation to marry up."
[Isn’t your nose fake?]
[What’s the point of a blind date like this?]
[Don’t knock it, you don’t need the household registration book to get a marriage license anymore. This method could actually work.]
[Which agency? Name and shame so we can avoid them.]
As Zhang Zhe listened to her description, he pictured the Matchmaker’s analysis and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.
He took a guess. "The Matchmaker who built your profile, is her surname Jiang or Zhou?"
"Her surname is Zhou. Sir, do you know her?"
"Of course I do. It’s Zhou Chu."
"There are only a handful of Matchmakers in Qing City. The ones who are capable and willing to take your money... I can pretty much guess who they are."
Zhang Zhe casually showed off his connections. Even enemies are connections.
Her words piqued his curiosity. "If you play games like this, how do you end up getting married?"
"The Matchmaker told me there are many ways."
"One way is when you’re out on a trip, you get into a hotel room, find a way to let him have his way with you, and then call the police..."
"No need to elaborate on that trick, we all get it." Zhang Zhe urged her on. "What about other methods? Go on, I could learn a thing or two."
"The second method is to make him emotionally dependent on you."
The woman’s tone grew a little excited, as if she were the inventor of this method:
"I’m very good at providing emotional value..."
"No need to elaborate on that either." Zhang Zhe waved his hand dismissively. "When you get down to it, isn’t that just the same stuff you did as a streamer? Nothing new there."
"Got anything more original?"
"Does spending money on the guy count?"
"Oh? Tell me more." Zhang Zhe nodded in satisfaction. He was finally hearing a new tactic.
In an era of rampant gold-digging, a woman who didn’t ask for money—and even spent it on you instead—was indeed a breath of fresh air.
Zhang Zhe thought about it. Even he wouldn’t be immune.
"That’s the plan I used with my last blind date," the woman explained. "We’d known each other for about twenty days when I told him I was going on a trip to Yanjing with my best friend and asked if he wanted to come along..."
"What are the guy’s family circumstances?"
"His family is probably A8. He’s my age, not working at the moment. He worked in China for two years before, but couldn’t quite adjust, so he went to study abroad in Australia. He just came back this year."
[Hahaha, Brother Liuzi is in for a treat.]
[I don’t believe someone who’s had ’Western food’ in Australia would come back and let you wrap him around your finger.]
[Honestly, for an A8, going to Australia just makes you an average person. A girl who isn’t desperate wouldn’t even look at a guy like that.]
[Here we go, a returned student speaking from experience. An A8 in Australia is just for fun. If your looks aren’t up to par, you can’t get a girlfriend at all.]
"When we went on the trip, I paid for the flights and hotels."
"My best friend and I shared a room, and he had his own."
"I paid for our meals, too."
"At first, he seemed perfectly comfortable spending my money. He never offered to pay for meals or anything. He even video-called his best friend to brag about how awesome he was."
"But on the third day of the trip, he changed."
"Changed?" Zhang Zhe was a bit confused. "Did he turn into a simp?"
"Yeah, something like that. You know how they sell souvenirs at those stalls along the streets in tourist spots?"
"Anything I picked up and looked at for more than two seconds, he’d immediately buy it for me. He also bought me a phone. Later on, when we rented a car and went to Universal Studios, he paid for all of it."
Zhang Zhe felt he was grasping the subtext of the story. He seemed to have crossed paths with this young man before.
There weren’t many second-generation rich kids in Qing City who fit the description.
The essence of the story was that a rather flashy Brother Liuzi got hooked, but then he didn’t play by the usual rules. He seized the opportunity and ran with it, but the woman didn’t handle it well, and they broke up.
"I feel like he’s very repressed."
"He came knocking on our hotel room door in the middle of the night. My friend and I were in the shower at the time, so we didn’t hear him."
"After we got back, he stopped contacting me. I asked him to go out for karaoke, and he replied by asking me if I was just using him as an ATM."
"I really don’t get it..." The woman sounded frustrated, scratching her head through her hat. "I paid for him to go on a trip, covered flights and hotel, and he just bought me a few small gifts. How does that make him an ATM?"
"Are all the guys in the dating market like this now?"
"Well... it might be because he studied abroad and had his eyes opened to the world," Zhang Zhe analyzed. "You know, overseas, it’s easy for two people who are into each other to..."
"You spent money on him, and he spent money on you. In his eyes, that might have already meant you were mutually interested."
"But then you..." Zhang Zhe spread his hands, a helpless look on his face.
’Didn’t see that coming, did you? His playbook isn’t from the China server.’
"Just because we didn’t do... that?" The woman shook her head repeatedly. "I don’t understand."
"Teacher Zhou told me it was because I hinted for him to buy me gifts, and he realized I was after his money. That’s why he said that stuff about being an ATM."
"I don’t think so." Zhang Zhe didn’t quite agree with his former colleague’s opinion. "You said he suddenly started paying for things."
"One possibility is that he suddenly realized you were different from other girls."
"That’s why he decided to spend lavishly to show his interest."
"It was just his way of testing the waters. Even if you weren’t receptive, it shouldn’t have led to him cutting you off, unless..."
"Unless what?" the woman pressed.
"Unless he found out about your current job from someone else and understood that you were just a gold digger."
"No, no." Teacher Wang, who was standing nearby, offered a different opinion. "If he knew, he wouldn’t have called himself an ATM. He would have asked you how much money it would take for you to... you know... with him."
"Only that kind of insulting question would release his pent-up emotions."
"Sister Wang, you have a point." Zhang Zhe nodded, then looked at the woman across from him and said, "Do you want to know the real reason?"
"For 999 yuan, I’ll answer your question."