Chapter 257 - 255: The Romance of a Top Academic Ace

Chapter 257: Chapter 255: The Romance of a Top Academic Ace

Perhaps because that girl was still making waves in other live streams, the number of viewers on Zhang Zhe’s stream today had doubled from the usual.

At its peak, it reached 4,000 people.

Zhang Zhe couldn’t resist taking a screenshot to show Xia Yi.

If he managed this properly and converted them into regular followers, he would be considered a mid-tier streamer on Xiaohongshu.

To keep these viewers, Zhang Zhe didn’t dare stop his co-streaming sessions for even a moment.

The moment the last girl disconnected, he took a sip of water and moved on to the next caller.

"Hello, sir. I’m here because of your reputation."

"I heard you graduated from a Project 211 university?"

"Yeah, why?" Zhang Zhe didn’t quite get what she was driving at. ’Why is this girl so focused on education?’

"Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that I’ve consulted other experts before, and I felt they didn’t really understand super-achievers. Since you got into a Project 211 school, you should be able to understand them, right?"

"I can’t." Zhang Zhe shook his head honestly. "Back in school, I was always a stepping stone for the real super-achievers."

"To this day, I still don’t get how there was this one dude who would whack it every single night but still ended up getting into the Special Class for the Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China in his second year of high school."

"Is that even right?"

[Is the streamer serious?]

[It just shows that super-achievers know how to relieve stress.]

[Is the streamer regretting that he didn’t do it enough?]

[Super-achievers usually have some hobbies that are out of the ordinary. It’s a good thing.]

"What does ’whack it’ mean?" the girl asked, completely clueless.

"You don’t need to know. It’s slang."

"Just tell me about your situation. If I’m not mistaken, you have a super-achiever boyfriend, but you don’t know how to move the relationship forward, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"You’re amazing, streamer."

"Sis, no need for the awkward flattery. Just tell me about yourself first."

Zhang Zhe was ready to witness the matrimony of a super-achiever.

The most brilliant super-achiever from his high school, a PhD from Qinghua, had just married a female PhD from the same department last year. Both of them were now dedicated to research at a national-level institute.

He wondered what level this girl’s partner was on.

"I’m from Yanjing. I went to an international high school, then went abroad for my undergrad on a full scholarship to a small country..."

"Don’t rush to the academics, sis. Give me your basic stats first." Zhang Zhe pointed to the whiteboard behind him.

Even for a super-achiever, factors like age, height, and looks had to be considered when it came to marriage.

There was no escaping it.

"Sorry, I got ahead of myself."

The girl gave an embarrassed laugh and continued with her introduction:

"I was born in ’98, an only child from Yanjing. I’m 172cm tall, weigh 132 pounds, and I’d say my looks are about a 6 out of 10."

"I currently work at a securities firm, and my annual income is about 200,000 yuan."

[Brother Zhang, she’s definitely a 6.]

[A beauty with a brainiac. This fits my ’small-town high-achiever’ worldview perfectly.]

[I feel like she could marry up.]

[With her looks, she could definitely star in short-form dramas.]

It had been a long time since Zhang Zhe had seen the bullet comments give such a high rating.

He quickly opened the girl’s Xiaohongshu profile to take a look.

The first post was a vacation photo from the Maldives.

At first glance, she looked a bit like Li Qin, but her figure was much better.

’A 6... That’s fair.’

"You’re the most beautiful girl we’ve had on the stream recently."

Zhang Zhe said to the potential female callers in the audience:

"Any of you ladies out there who think you’re a 6, you can compare yourself to this girl and see where you stand."

"Alright, sis, tell us about your family background."

"My family’s what you’d call ’minor A8.’ My parents have their own business, but it’s not that big."

"We have a house in Yanjing, but we have no plans to sell it."

"Let me state upfront, I’m not an expert on the scene over in Yanjing. But based on my experience, with your profile, you’d be considered an average family at your international high school, right?"

"Yes, my background isn’t exactly outstanding," the girl admitted frankly. "I’m one of those only daughters from Yanjing who is stuck in the middle—not good enough for the top tier, but too good for the bottom."

"You’re quite objective."

Zhang Zhe had a good impression of this girl.

"So, what about your boyfriend?"

"My boyfriend... he’s from out of town."

[This is the stuff!]

[Hahaha, confirmed. A genuine Yanjing native.]

[I was waiting for her to say that.]

[Someone should ask which Banner she belongs to.]

"He’s a classic super-achiever. He got into Qinghua through their independent recruitment program, admitted with a 60-point bonus."

"He won an Olympiad?" That was Zhang Zhe’s first thought upon hearing about the 60-point bonus.

"Yes, but he didn’t finish his degree at Qinghua. After one year, he dropped out and went to UC Berkeley for his undergrad. He worked in the Beautiful Country for a while and then came back to China."

The school the guy graduated from, the University of California, Berkeley, is a top-20 university in the Beautiful Country. In terms of pure academic level, many of its departments aren’t that different from Qinghua or Yanda University back home.

Maybe it’s the difference between an 85 and a 90.

But when it came to reputation, alumni resources, and international recognition, the domestic universities were still far behind.

That was the difference between a 100 and a 40.

For the guy to be able to decisively give up Qinghua for Berkeley—making that choice alone spoke volumes about his own or his parents’ caliber.

"What was his major?"

"Same as me. The finance industry."

"Okay, that makes sense. If he were in CS, there’d be no reason to come back to China." Zhang Zhe nodded. "Is he working in investment banking now?"

"Something like that."

"Annual income... two million? Is it that much?"

"Haha, Brother Zhang, how do you know everything?" The girl started laughing as she spoke. "Are you very familiar with our industry?"

"Not really. But back when I had a job, I met a lot of international students majoring in finance and chatted with them a bit."

Zhang Zhe shrugged, looking completely nonchalant.

[The streamer is such a badass.]

[Damn, he really pulled off that flex.]

[This is good. This way the girl will actually believe what the streamer says.]

[What’s this mean? Do even Matchmakers need to have top academic credentials now?]

Zhang Zhe ignored the bullet comments hyping him up. Looking at the guy’s profile, his curiosity was piqued.

"Go ahead and introduce your boyfriend’s stats too."

"Let’s see how well you two match up."

"Okay, he was born in ’93, is 180cm tall, and weighs about 171 pounds. He works out regularly."

"As for his looks, he’s the handsome-in-a-cute-way type."

"I think he looks a bit like Jin Chengwu."

"How does he compare to me?" Zhang Zhe asked, pointing to his own handsome face.

Aside from Xia Yi, his face was generally considered a 4 out of 10 for a guy.

Miss Xia insisted he was a 5.5, which was one of the reasons her own ratings of people’s looks weren’t trusted.

"He’s... maybe... a little more handsome than you, Brother Zhang."

"Okay, so he’s a 5 or 6-out-of-10 guy. Considering his height, your physical appearances are a good match."

"And his family background?" Zhang Zhe smiled. "For him to study abroad in the Beautiful Country for his undergrad, his family must be something else, right?"

"To be honest, I don’t know the exact value of his family’s assets."

"But I know he’s already bought two apartments in Yanjing on his own."

"What about his parents?"

"His parents are in the government system, and back in their home province, they’re considered pretty high-ranking."

’...’ Zhang Zhe thought for a moment. He wasn’t sure what level "local" meant in her description, but it had to be at least at the Bureau level or higher.

To be able to raise such an outstanding son and then have him return to China for his career, it wouldn’t be surprising if his parents were top-tier officials.

Looking back at the girl’s own profile now... the gap between them was a little too wide.