Chapter 233 - 231: The Shortcoming of a Super-Large Family

Chapter 233: Chapter 231: The Shortcoming of a Super-Large Family

After their nap, Xia Yi decided to join Zhang Zhe for his live stream. Ever since she acted as his little assistant last time, she’d gotten a bit hooked.

Zhang Zhe didn’t mind. He was more concerned about something else:

"Now that you’re awake, do you feel any different?"

"?" Xia Yi felt her clothes and shook her head repeatedly. "No."

"Are you hinting at something?"

"Is there any part of your body that used to ache but doesn’t now?" Zhang Zhe asked, being a bit more obvious.

"No, but I do feel more energetic than before. Maybe napping here is more comfortable than at home."

"That’s good, then." Zhang Zhe nodded. ’It seems Xia Yi is pretty healthy, with no hidden ailments, so the effects aren’t obvious.’

’That’s a good thing. It means she has a healthy lifestyle, not even suffering from the lumbar and cervical spine problems common among office workers.’

After preparing with Xia Yi for a while, the afternoon live stream began.

"Bros, before we start the stream today, let’s take a look at some private messages."

"It seems like a few NBA stars have been in the country for promotional events recently, right? That explains why the DMs you guys are sending me have been a little... abstract."

"I have to share them with everyone."

"Some guy asked:"

"He’s obsessed with the idea of a ’one-city player’ and doesn’t want to sign any players who have transferred from other teams. What should he do in this situation?"

"I get what he means, but bros, how should I reply to him?"

[That’s a classic small-market mentality, always wanting to sign rookies.]

[Don’t let loyalty be your downfall.]

[You can only sign them if you can offer a matching salary. Offering a minimum contract and expecting a one-city player is just not how the market works.]

[In this case, you can only go scout for 5-star high school prospects.]

[There’s nothing to be done. The league prohibits playing pickup games. Maybe try other leagues, change your mindset.]

Zhang Zhe looked at the bullet comments and gave a thumbs-up in admiration. "You guys really are experts."

"But then again, you guys aren’t the ones sending these DMs, are you?"

"Anyway, my advice to this guy is: if you’re dead set on a one-city player, then go scout for undrafted rookies. If the salary isn’t high, you can’t be demanding about the player’s talent."

"Some of you guys’ teams don’t have a big budget to begin with, yet you insist on signing a top-tier star like James and expect them to be a one-city player. How is that possible?"

"For the average person, the best you can hope for is someone like Nowitzki, who shares a mutual commitment with you."

"Alright, let’s move on to the next DM."

Zhang Zhe had a ton of private messages in his inbox. He’d pick a few interesting ones to read out loud and wait for someone to request to join the voice chat before getting down to real business.

Sitting beside him, Xia Yi was actually a little confused.

But someone in the bullet comments quickly explained it for her:

The man is the team. A rich one is a big market; a poor one is a small market.

The woman is the player. A rookie is a complete novice, or in other words, a Chu Girl.

As for playing pickup games, no explanation is needed. Just think about it and you’ll get it.

"Here’s a question from a guy that’s very representative. He says:"

"Brother Zhang, my star player, who was with me for three years, signed with a new team just three days after her contract ended. I’m really upset. Can you console me?"

[It’s a commercial league, players coming and going is normal.]

[Only three years? My veteran player of eight years left, and it took me a full year to recover my team’s finances.]

[That’s how it is when you develop rookies. When a big team comes to poach them, there’s nothing you can do.]

[It’s fine, you can just keep signing new rookies.]

"First off, I hope all you guys understand this. After a breakup... sorry, after the contract ends, if they find a new team at the speed of light, there’s no doubt about it. They were already flirting with the other party while still under contract with you."

"They might have even had secret tryouts behind your back."

"In this situation, you can’t change the fact that they’re signing with a new team. It’s basically a commercial league now. Players only care about salary and their position as a starter; they don’t care about feelings."

"For you, this is actually a good thing."

"She left on her own, freeing up your salary cap. Now you can make any moves you want. And most importantly, you avoided any labor disputes."

"A three-year contract ending without any disputes, and she didn’t report you to the league for any violations—that’s already an acceptable outcome. Forcing her to stay would have been meaningless."

As Zhang Zhe continued reading the DMs, he suddenly realized that, at some point, the marriage market had really started to resemble a commercialized sports league.

The main thing is salary, which in marriage translates to the bride price, the marital home, and things like that.

Next is team status, which is the family background of both parties—whether they have siblings, or if the family favors sons over daughters, and so on.

And only at the very, very end do they consider the feelings between the player and the team.

’Thinking about it this way, it’s easy to understand why marriage is so difficult. Because players willing to be one-city players are truly very, very rare.’

Zhang Zhe rode the wave of the NBA’s popularity and chatted with the viewers for a while. It was clear that the audience was highly engaged; the bullet comments were scrolling by without a pause.

However, a girl soon joined for a consultation.

’Time to get down to business.’

"Alright family, let’s pause the DMs for a moment. We have a player... I mean, a sister, who wants to come on the mic and chat."

[Is she a rookie?]

[Then this is the NBA negotiation table. Let’s see what the player option is.]

[Brother Zhang, doesn’t this make you Rich Paul?]

"Hello, sis, good afternoon."

"Good evening, Brother Zhang." The girl was proactive, not only turning on her camera right away but also clearly having done her makeup. She looked like a very clean-cut young woman.

"Sis, why is your face so fair? Are you using a ring light?"

"No, it’s because my room is very white, so the lighting is strong."

"Because I’m a streamer, this is the room where I usually work..." The girl panned her camera slightly, revealing a workstation, a ring light, a camera, and a lot of clothes.

It was obvious she was a streamer who sold women’s clothing.

There were quite a few girls like this nowadays. Zhang Zhe had seen many of them in Qing City. Their streams usually only had a few dozen viewers, so he didn’t know how they made a living.

"Alright, go ahead and introduce yourself."

"Just a heads-up, a woman choosing a public-facing job like streaming is in itself a negative when it comes to finding a partner."

"So you need to be clear about what advantages you have."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Zhang." The girl had good emotional intelligence. "My advantage, really, is me as a person."

"I was born in ’98, I’m 5’6" and weigh 105 pounds. I’m currently a sales streamer with a monthly income of around 20,000 yuan."

"As for my looks, I’m the type who isn’t photogenic, but if I dress up in real life, I’m at a level where people will still hit on me on the street."

"You make 20,000 a month, where are you located?" Zhang Zhe habitually asked about her region. "If you’re in a second or third-tier city, that income... is a bit high."

"I’m near Shenghai, in a place that’s a bit rural, but it’s not far to get into the city."

"Got it." Zhang Zhe nodded. It was like people from Yangcheng living in Huangpu District, people from Shencheng City living in Guangming District, or Yanjing People living in Tongzhou.

She streamed and sold clothes, so her company had warehousing and logistics to worry about. They definitely wouldn’t be located in the city center.

But this kind of job really just capitalizes on one’s youth. She would definitely need to find another path in the future.

Zhang Zhe was just about to ask if the girl had any other core competencies when she suddenly dropped a bombshell:

"Brother Zhang, I have a major shortcoming."

"My father... went inside. He’s still in there right now."