Chapter 123: A Master’s for an Associate’s

Chapter 123: Chapter 123: A Master’s for an Associate’s

"Don’t be so quick to answer. I’ll give you a few options."

"One, her parents are faking it and are actually playing good cop, bad cop with her;"

"Two, she has mental problems—she just went crazy;"

"Three, she has someone else backing her up, like another man."

[Definitely 3.]

[1, 2, and 3 look hard to choose from, but if it were A, B, and C, you always pick C.]

[I’m a girl, and I think that woman just doesn’t want to get married anymore.]

[Sis is right. If she’s still acting crazy after both sets of parents have agreed, she definitely doesn’t want to marry him.]

Genuine mental illness is pretty rare these days.

Zhang Zhe was convinced this guy’s girlfriend must have had some kind of psychological safety net to fall back on to completely sabotage the marriage talks.

The man didn’t answer right away. He carefully considered the options Zhang Zhe had given him.

Finally, he let out a long sigh.

"I think it’s probably because of her best friends."

"She has best friends, too?" Zhang Zhe frowned. "Bro, you should have said so earlier. I was already starting to suspect you were being cuckolded."

"So what’s the deal with her friends?"

"It’s her childhood friends and some classmates. When they got married, their betrothal gifts plus the ’three golds’ were all around 300,000."

"But their situations are different. Her friends are all only daughters, but she has a younger brother. Her family’s assets are all meant for her brother..."

After the man finished his explanation, Zhang Zhe was finally able to piece together the full picture.

Simply put, the man didn’t want to pay the betrothal gift price of an only daughter, while the woman felt she had to keep up with her peers.

Their perspectives were completely different and irreconcilable.

Once he understood the whole story, Zhang Zhe couldn’t quite comprehend the man’s thinking.

"What else do you need advice on? You’re not actually thinking of trying to win her back, are you?"

"I..." The man admitted it. "I am actually hesitating about whether to try and get her back."

[Bro, are you sexually repressed or something? Or did she put a hex on you?]

[I’m a girl, and I don’t recommend you two continue. Your core values are completely different.]

[Run! She’s the type who loves comparing herself to others. If one of her friends marries someone richer later on, just wait for your green hat.]

[It’s true that it’s not great for you to be calculative about her not being an only child, but she’s acting even less human than you are.]

[Another young couple’s relationship shattered over a few tens of thousands of yuan.]

"Don’t be ridiculous, man." A contemptuous look appeared on Zhang Zhe’s face. He couldn’t understand what was wrong with guys these days, what they had been conditioned into.

"You don’t still think your ex-girlfriend was just being emotionally unstable when she threw a fit in front of your parents, do you?"

"She did it on purpose."

"If she were really just emotionally unstable, in a situation where she was so obviously in the wrong, she or her family would have come to your family to explain things long ago."

"If you go try to win her back now, are you just asking to be humiliated again?"

Zhang Zhe’s point of view was endorsed by most of the audience.

A couple could throw whatever tantrums they wanted in private, but for the woman to have a baseless meltdown during the first formal meeting between both sets of parents, when the two families were discussing marriage, was a clear signal that the relationship was over.

Her attitude couldn’t have been more obvious.

And the guy still wanted to win her back? That was just being a masochist.

"Is it really hopeless?" The man was still hesitant. "But we’ve been together for over a year."

"Is a year really that big of a deal?"

"Just stay in the stream and don’t go anywhere. Wait for a few more people to come on mic, and you’ll realize your problem is nothing."

[Hahaha, for real, your situation is nothing.]

[Bro, you can definitely find someone better.]

[I get the feeling this guy is a ’good little boy’ to his parents, with very little life experience.]

[You should spend more time on Xiaohongshu. Otherwise, you’ll never know how treacherous people can be.]

...

Zhang Zhe was quite confident in the XXN in his livestream chat.

There were explosive stories almost every day.

In comparison, the last guy seemed like he was here for a pure love story.

Many men and women on blind dates started arguing right from their first meeting over things like the betrothal gift.

"Hello, hello. Hi there, miss."

"Hello, Teacher." The young woman’s voice was a bit languid. "Let me introduce myself. Like the guy before me, I’m also from Ji Province."

"Born in ’99, an only daughter from a rural family, currently a master’s student at a 985 university."

"Right now, I’m hesitating between continuing on to a Ph.D. or getting a job, because I’ve already received an offer from a big tech company."

"Ahem, sister." Zhang Zhe cleared his throat. "We may share a last name, but I’m not Zhang Xuefeng. You’re asking the wrong person for academic advice."

"This is a matchmaking livestream."

"Right, I do want to ask about marriage. I want to know if I continue with a Ph.D., will my marriage prospects be higher?"

"That depends on your major."

"My major is information management. I’m currently focused on information visualization and big data network analysis. I won’t go into more detail, as it might reveal my personal information."

"It’s fine, even if you do." Zhang Zhe waved his hand dismissively. "Not many people here know anything about intelligence studies."

"I don’t understand your field either, but it sounds like it would be easy to find a high-paying job. If you start working right after your master’s, your ceiling for marriage and relationships might be lower than a Ph.D.’s, but the average level will be higher."

"It’s your decision."

[By the time she finishes her Ph.D., she’ll be of advanced maternal age.]

[Why are there so many master’s and Ph.D. students in this stream? Are there any vocational school grads?]

[The tour guide from before was a vocational school grad. The host advised her to get on the ’twilight romance’ track.]

[If she works for a year and then starts going on blind dates at her age, she’ll be a top-tier candidate in her social class, no doubt.]

"I understand. A master’s degree is probably better for matchmaking."

"Teacher, I also wanted to ask... I actually have a boyfriend right now, but I don’t know if he’s the best I can do at my level."

"Haha, alright." Zhang Zhe thought to himself, ’Good thing that last guy stuck around.’

’Isn’t this a real piece of work? She has a boyfriend but still comes on stream to ask about her matchmaking prospects.’

’Men... you should never overestimate a woman’s moral bottom line.’

"My boyfriend was born in 2000. He has a vocational college degree, is 178 cm tall, and is kinda cute."

"His parents divorced when he was very young."

"He lives with his mother."

"His mother never remarried after the divorce. His father remarried when he was in middle school and had another daughter."

"The gap between our situations is pretty big, right?"

"Heh." Zhang Zhe didn’t rush to answer her question. Instead, he asked one of his own: "Where did you two meet? A bar near campus?"

[She’s his sugar mama, otherwise how would a vocational student meet a master’s student?]

[This guy must be tall, rich, and handsome.]

[She only mentioned one good thing about him: that he’s ’kinda cute’.]

[Sis, this kind of guy is fine for just dating. Don’t get too invested.]

[I think the gap between a master’s and a vocational degree is just too big. Besides physical intimacy, they probably have nothing in common to talk about.]