Chapter 158: Matchmaking Convention
Seeing Zhang Zhe pull out his business cards, Teacher Wang froze for a moment. But she quickly snapped out of it and started silently packing her things, pretending she hadn’t seen a thing.
’I’ll just have to pretend I didn’t see. Otherwise, I’ll have no way to explain myself when I get back.’
By the time she finished packing, all of Zhang Zhe’s business cards had been snatched up. If Teacher Wang hadn’t intervened, he would’ve been surrounded by the aunties for a while longer.
"So, Sister, I’m heading back now? I’ve completed my task, right?"
"Mm-hmm," Teacher Wang nodded. "We’ll continue next month."
Zhang Zhe stopped dead in his tracks.
"Didn’t you say you were done with the rat race at the agency?"
"Yeah, but I’ve discovered this Blind Date Corner has a lot of potential," Teacher Wang said with a pleased smile. "I’m planning to coax a few more Matchmakers over next month. We’re going to start a new service."
"We’ll charge the uncles and aunties here a fee to revise their kids’ profile cards."
"You’ve been saying all day that the requirements these families list for their children’s partners are vague and don’t make them stand out at all."
"Their kids’ strengths aren’t clearly written either."
"So if I help them write the profiles, wouldn’t that solve the problem?"
Zhang Zhe thought it over. The idea seemed feasible, but the pricing was an issue.
If the price was too high, these uncles and aunties would never be willing to pay.
A big reason the place was so bustling today was because it was free.
But not charging at all, or charging too little, wouldn’t work either. They needed to turn a consistent profit to have the motivation to keep it going.
"Sister Wang, I support you in spirit."
"But if you can find someone else, I won’t come next time. I feel bad for always troubling you."
"Trouble? No, no, no, I’m the one who needs your help," Teacher Wang schemed aloud. "To get this business running, I first need to negotiate a profit-sharing deal with the park."
"That’s not something that can be settled in a day or two. It’ll probably take over half a month to really get it off the ground."
"And your new livestream, I figure in about a month, you’ll have absorbed and converted most of the audience from my old channel."
"When the time comes, you can come back and help me promote it."
"And just like that, my business will be a success, right?"
"Oh, so you just want me to help with promotion," Zhang Zhe said, letting out a long sigh of relief.
He’d been sitting here all day. Now his back was sore, and his mind was filled with a single thought:
’I’m never coming back here again.’
The Blind Date Corner was decent for promotion, but the quality of leads was poor. Their willingness to pay was low. Many were retired or unemployed uncles and aunties representing their children, and much of the information they provided was vague.
It was nothing like his livestream, where people came for consultations themselves. The two couldn’t even be compared.
"If it’s just promotion and I don’t have to work the stall, then no problem. Just let me know in advance," Zhang Zhe agreed immediately, considering how many times Teacher Wang had helped him.
"When the time comes, we could even invite the local TV station to do a special feature on you."
"I’ve even thought of a title for you. We’ll call it—*She Changed the Blind Date Corner*."
"Perfect, perfect. That’s a great idea." Teacher Wang was so happy she laughed, her eyes crinkling into slits.
...
On the way back from the Blind Date Corner, Zhang Zhe shared his day’s experience with Xia Yi, who had just gotten off work.
Miss Xia was very interested and invited Zhang Zhe to go check it out with her next weekend.
"Why not this weekend?" Zhang Zhe was a little confused.
"There’s an event this weekend, don’t you know?"
"What event?"
"The city-wide matchmaking event! I’m going to be a volunteer."
"???"
’A matchmaking event?’ Zhang Zhe vaguely recalled something like that. He seemed to remember it was even being organized by the Zhuyin Marriage Agency.
Lately, most of the agency’s staff had been pulled to work on it.
Someone had mentioned it was Qing City’s largest matchmaking event in the last nine years.
The last time an event of this scale was held was back in 2016. Back then, housing prices were doubling, the assets of Qing City residents had skyrocketed to a jaw-dropping degree, and the desire to get married was at an all-time high.
Plus, tensions between the sexes weren’t as high as they are now.
Although there were still the occasional gold diggers, at least back then, the courts didn’t show any obvious bias in legal disputes, so people didn’t have as many reservations about marriage.
That’s why Qing City held a matchmaking event for ten thousand people back then.
Reportedly, in the quarter that followed, the number of marriage registrations in the city was up 100% from the previous year, a complete doubling.
Bringing the event back this year was probably an attempt to replicate that success and reactivate the marriage and romance market.
But the prospects this time...
’Tsk,’ Zhang Zhe thought to himself.
’The outlook probably isn’t too optimistic.’
"Zhang Zhe, aren’t you going?"
Xia Yi was a little anxious when she realized Zhang Zhe didn’t seem to know about the event.
She had been planning to use this opportunity to introduce Zhang Zhe to her father in person.
Now that Zhang Zhe had his own matchmaking business and was an influencer with a top-ten online following in the local Matchmaker community, he could definitely be considered a promising young man.
"Can you find a way to sign up?"
"I..."
"I want to introduce you to my dad."
When Zhang Zhe saw Xia Yi’s message, his hand trembled with excitement.
He immediately replied, "I’ll definitely be there. Don’t worry."
"I’ll go talk to my boss at the agency first thing tomorrow. Even if I have to pay to pull some strings, I’ll get myself in."
"Okay!"
"I’ll wait for your message tomorrow, then," Xia Yi replied, sighing in relief.
"If you really can’t go, it’s fine. Just let me know, and I won’t go either."
"It’s no problem. Don’t you worry."
After replying to Xia Yi, Zhang Zhe immediately sent a private message to Boss He.
As usual, he didn’t get a reply. Boss He was probably still busy and wouldn’t clear out his messages until the early hours of the morning, right before bed.
Zhang Zhe wasn’t actually worried about getting into the matchmaking event.
Technically, he was still an employee of the agency.
Although it was likely Sister Zhou was scheming to get him kicked out, he was still in the group chat for now, which meant he was still an insider.
An insider from the agency shouldn’t have too much trouble joining the event. If worst came to worst, he could just offer to help carry boxes of mineral water. Nobody would refuse free labor, right?
Still, if he had a choice, Zhang Zhe wanted to participate as a Matchmaker.
An event spearheaded by the city government was a great opportunity for exposure. He just didn’t know if Boss He would do him the favor.
...
It was almost 7:00 PM by the time Zhang Zhe got back to the agency.
He planned to take a good rest before starting his livestream.
But someone wasn’t about to give him the chance.
Before Zhang Zhe could even walk through the door, the door of a Li Auto parked on the roadside suddenly swung open. A burly man stepped out, smiled, and called out to him:
"Brother Zhang!"
"President Hui? Ha ha ha, when did you get here?"
Zhang Zhe looked Hui Zi over. His complexion was clearly much better than the last time they’d met.
’Looks like life’s been treating you well!’
"I left home after your stream ended," Hui Zi said with a smile. Just then, a young woman in a short skirt and a crop top that revealed her slender waist stepped out of the car from behind him.
"Brother Zhang, let me introduce you. This is Lulu."
"She’s a potential match a friend of my mother’s introduced me to. I brought her here specifically to meet you."