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Chapter 266 Why doesn't anyone want to get married anymore?
"There aren't a thousand people. We only have 398 girls who signed up today." The female college student in charge of guiding explained, "So far, less than 350 people have come to check in."

“But there are more than just girls.” Xia Yi blinked and said with some doubt, “I see that the back rows are all filled with boys.”

"Huh? Where did this boy come from?" The female college student stared at Xia Yi with clear eyes and scratched her head.

She quickly took out her phone and checked with the people in the event organizing group.

A moment later she changed her story: "I'm sorry, our venue has been booked by the school's esports club for an offline viewing event after 6 p.m."

"They seem to have arrived early."

"It's alright, Teacher Zhang. Just keep an eye on the time, they won't cause any trouble. We'll remind you when the time comes."

"OK, that's all then." Zhang Zhe nodded: "I didn't even have enough material to talk about for an hour anyway."

Zhang Zhe weighed the manuscript in his hand. This was already edited and expanded by AI, and it still only reached a little over 10,000 words.

I'll mainly talk about two points:
Why do we need marriage?

Similarities and differences between campus romance and marriage

Zhang Zhe believes that, without exaggeration, if a student can understand these two points, they will basically not take any detours in choosing a partner in the future.

Soon it was his turn to go on stage.

Amidst the applause of nearly a thousand students, Zhang Zhe stood on the podium:

"Good evening, everyone. It's an honor to be here to discuss marriage-related topics with you."

"Let me introduce myself first. My surname is Zhang. People usually call me Brother Zhang, but some also call me Matchmaker Zhang..."

"Today I'd like to start by talking to you about why we need marriage?"

Before answering that question, I'd like to ask you a question first: Why are so many people unwilling to get married these days?

"Students with ideas, please raise your hands."

As soon as Zhang Zhe finished speaking, almost half of the students present raised their hands, especially the boys sitting in the back row, eight out of ten of whom wanted to answer.

"The girl in the third row, ninth seat, wearing red and glasses, yes, that's you."

Zhang Zhe randomly selected a lucky audience member: "Why don't you go first?"

The girl stood up, and before she even spoke, she laughed. Everyone else in the room laughed along, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became very relaxed.

"I think it's not that people don't want to get married now, but rather that it has always been very difficult for ordinary people to get married."

The girl adjusted her glasses, a wise glint in her eyes:
"Everyone has probably read Water Margin, right? There were so many heroes on Liangshan, but how many women were there?"

"The male-to-female ratio is definitely more than 10 to 1; most men don't have wives."

"These are heroes. In ancient times, if you were just an ordinary person with no skills, how could you expect to get married?"

"If this isn't intuitive enough for everyone, let me mention another term: 【wife-selling】."

“In ancient times, the working class would rent wives from other men to have children and do housework because they couldn’t afford to marry one. The husband of the woman would be paid according to the length of the rental period.”

"Now, our living conditions have improved, but correspondingly, the requirements for getting married have also increased, so it is actually quite normal for many people not to get married."

"I think in a few years, people will get used to this situation."

After the girl finished speaking, she sat down blankly. What she said was something that almost everyone present, including Zhang Zhe, had not expected.

Is that even an explanation?
However, upon closer examination, it does make some sense. Historically, the population of every feudal dynasty experiences a surge in the early and middle stages.

If we're really talking about timing... Zhang Zhe didn't dare to think about it any further; he could only say there's nothing new under the sun. But that wasn't the purpose of his speech; he wasn't there to argue for the rationale behind the low marriage rate.

Zhang Zhe thought for a moment and gestured to the boy in the back row who had raised his hand the highest:

"Hey, you in the last row, why don't you tell us your thoughts?"

The boy stood up and said, "Teacher Zhang, I've watched your live stream clips! I'm a bit of a fan."

"Thank you!" Zhang Zhe nodded with a smile.

The man smiled and continued, "I think the reason why people don't want to get married these days is actually very simple, there are only three reasons."

He held up three fingers, and gave a reason for each finger he broke off:
"First: Men don't get married because they don't want to marry women like their mothers;"

"Secondly: Girls don't get married because they don't want to marry men like their fathers;"

"Third: Nobody wants to have children after marriage and still live the kind of life they have now."

After the boy sat down, another girl immediately stood up:
“I disagree with what this guy just said. I don’t meet any of the three conditions he mentioned, but I also don’t want to get married.”

"Because I can be very happy on my own, and if I find someone else, I can't guarantee that I will still be as happy as I am now, so not finding someone is the least risky option."

"I think my situation is the most common one."

"Yes!" Many students present nodded in agreement.

However, her statement still drew opposition, and another man immediately stood up and said, "I think what people are afraid of is not marriage, but human nature."

"Getting married now makes it too easy to be betrayed by your partner."

"Think about it, why were men in ancient times willing to get married? Because there was the traditional Confucian ethics of 'three obediences and four virtues' as compensation."

"From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, no matter which dynasty it was, married women who committed adultery were punished. But this system no longer works in our country today."

“The punishment is gone, but the tradition of men supporting their families for thousands of years has been preserved. It’s like there’s no longer a salary, but there’s still work for you to do.”

"Who the hell would do this?"

The boy's words were a bit sharp. Zhang Zhe noticed that many girls in the audience were itching to stand up and refute him as soon as he finished speaking.

If this continues, it will turn into a debate, and it will definitely escalate into an argument.

Before the girls could speak, Zhang Zhe cleared his throat: "Ahem, classmates, it's my turn."

“I’m paid to give this lecture. If I don’t say anything, the organizers won’t pay me.”

"Hahaha..." The students present burst into laughter and gradually lowered their raised hands.

"I can tell that everyone has their own opinions on not getting married, so let me talk about why we should get married."

"The following are my personal opinions and do not represent the views of the organizers of this lecture."

"I have summarized hundreds of blind date cases, and so far, the main reason for marriage is that the needs of men and women and the desire to be needed have reached a consensus."

"Some classmates might say, 'I have no desires and I don't have any merits to others, so does that mean I don't need to get married?'"

"Theoretically speaking, that's true, but among these requirements, the first one I've identified is X."

"Marriage is something you can obtain relatively easily and with little risk when you have a physical need for it."

"Based on my observation, men need more of this in the early stages, while women need more in the later stages..."

(End of this chapter)