Chapter 571

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Chapter 571: Please Welcome Our First Guest

Blind date.

Something that has existed in human history since ancient times and is part of traditional art.

The normal logic of a regular person is to have free love and then get married. However, throughout the long history of humanity, it has only appeared in large numbers in recent times, with the development of productivity giving rise to ideas like "freedom of love" and "freedom of marriage."

But for most of history, marriage was never a personal matter. The lower-class population got married to form a family and increase their ability to withstand risks because of material shortages. They valued character more than anything else. The upper-class population chose to marry for commercial and political reasons, emphasizing the union of the powerful and must obtain benefits from the marriage.

The foundation of marriage freedom needs to be based on love, and this love must be genuine.

Many people mistake impulse for love and end up paying the debt for a long time.

Love is precious because it is rare.

How many people, when they were young, thought that blind dates were old-fashioned, that using a matchmaker was embarrassing, and that they would definitely find their soulmate.

When I grew up, I found myself still single, and even wanted to complain, "Why doesn’t the country give me a wife?", but I not only accepted it, but also accepted my fate.

I realized that love, this thing, might not come. If there is no love, well, sorry, I better just accept an arranged marriage.

Parental orders and arranged marriages have oppressed love many times due to feudal ethics. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai are the most typical tragedies.

Of course, we can’t say that it’s definitely inappropriate based on just one example.

From the data, a person’s lifetime contacts are limited. No matter how talkative or impressive someone is, the number of people they truly know and become familiar with in their lifetime is no more than one thousand. When we divide it up between men and women, it’s reduced even further. So, when choosing, we can only pick someone from these five hundred people. It’s like selecting a tall person from a group of short people. The chances of finding a soulmate are very low.

Out of seven billion people, there are about fifty soulmates for you, but you may never meet each other in your lifetime.

Unless there is some kind of predetermined fate or until technology advances to a certain level, where we can find a perfect partner through data calculation.

Looking from another angle, the basic requirement for blind dates is having similar family conditions, ensuring equal social status, and it can save a lot of trouble.

The love stories between poor boys and rich girls, or grassroots girls and domineering CEOs, have indeed stood the test of time. But if it’s my turn to be a domineering CEO or a rich girl, it is rare to consider compatibility downwards. Am I not already so outstanding and excellent? Would it be too much to look for someone even better?

People’s eyesight keeps looking higher and higher, unless they are really unable to move up, then they will look down on everyone.

People like this are often impossible to be forced into blind dates or pressured into marriage. Even asking them to go on blind dates and get married is considered a kind of insult.

The Bai family in Jinling City is not considered one of the traditional four major families or eight major families. They haven’t reached the point where they control several conglomerates, which can make the Dragon King smirk.

They are just an ordinary family, without control of the means of production, nor are they capitalists. Besides having a slightly thick family tree, they only have a dozen properties in various areas of Jinling City. It may be attractive to people from other places, but it doesn’t mean much to the locals. Every family has a house.

Therefore, the assessment criteria mostly became about assessing abilities and character.

The social atmosphere in the Ming Country is slightly better than that of Yingzhou, which has just entered the Taisho era, but it is still conservative, treating men and women equally.

Bai Wei was immediately caught up in a blind date as soon as he returned. Although he had expected it in advance, he still couldn’t help but feel flustered.

He really wanted to ask if he could not go, but Bai Xinghui’s attitude was obvious – No, it has already been arranged in advance. If you don’t go, you will embarrass the Bai family. It’s not like you’ll be getting married on the spot, just go and take a look, what’s the big deal? What if you actually like each other?

In this era, there are computers, but no mobile phones yet. Contacting and making arrangements often requires multiple communications and is not easy.

Bai Wei had no choice but to wear formal attire, but he preferred his casual outfit.

Bai Xinghui didn’t say anything this time. She called Bai Panqiu in and they together dressed Bai Wei in formal clothes, which made him both cry and laugh.

He thought that the battle attire for men was a suit, but there were no suits in the East. The alternative was a black robe with cloud patterns, which made him feel like a traitorous ninja in a spy organization.

It was a very traditional outfit, but he wasn’t very accustomed to it.

"It looks great." Bai Panqiu smoothed out the wrinkles on the collar and shoulders. "Brother, you look handsome."

Bai Wei said, "Next time, it would be better to prepare a suit."

"The European style of clothing is not suitable for this occasion." Bai Xinghui thought for a moment and unbuttoned one of the buttons on the collar. "But for a less formal occasion, you don’t need to button up so tightly."

The two sisters tidied up their cousin, then they pushed him towards the garage and drove to their destination.

"Just tell me, who is the person you are going on a blind date with?" Bai Wei asked. "And what are their basic details?"

"He will refuse in various ways."

"I’m young, so why rush to get married?"

"Second Grandfather is worried that you will wander around, and you will return to Yingzhou. It’s better to finalize the marriage early. As for the choice of person, you can rest assured that with my help, it will be someone your brother likes."

"Oh?" Bai Wei sat up straight. "Octuplets?"

"There are quintuplets," Bai Xinghui said. "But you don’t like them."

"Why?"

"Because I don’t like them either."

Bai Wei sat in the car, looking at the bustling traffic outside the window. He whispered, "I’m just bringing my sister home to visit, and you all arranged it so explicitly, blind dates… Ah, it’s the first time I’ve experienced something like this. It feels uncomfortable, like there are spiders crawling all over me."

Bai Xinghui said, "If your brother decides to marry Yagyū Simozi, you can brush off this blind date."

"Oh?"

"My older brother is someone who knows what he wants. If he has truly made up his mind, there’s nothing us sisters can say. But you have to pass grandpa’s test on your own." Bai Xinghui showed understanding.

However, Bai Wei laughed. "You saying that actually made me a bit touched… but you still won’t turn back. What you’re saying is that you don’t really like Simozi, and you especially don’t like people from Yingzhou. And you’re sure that I have no plans to marry her."

Bai Xinghui nodded lightly. "Although she is beautiful, there’s nothing else special about her. If you’re only looking for a pretty girl with good manners as a tutor, without caring about her background or social status, there are plenty of beautiful girls in the Ming Country."

Bai Wei shook his head. "She’s not even of age yet. It’s too early to say these things, you’re all too anxious."

"To delay things means refusing them, in fact," Bai Xinghui said with a sigh. "I understand the pressure my brother is facing, but lifelong decisions cannot be taken lightly. We can’t just accept someone because they’re a little prettier or seemingly pitiful… The same goes for the matchmaking process. Even if we encounter girls from prominent families, don’t be intimidated and remain calm and composed."

Bai Wei interrupted, "Where did you learn that from? You haven’t even experienced it yourself, let alone me."

Bai Xinghui sighed, "It’s different. There’s a shortage of women and an excess of men in the Ming Country these days. Many women are worried about finding a husband. We have to study in advance."

Bai Wei put his hand to his forehead. Is this the social pressure caused by gender imbalance? The rise and fall of a nation is the responsibility of every individual, right?

"Don’t you resist it at all?" Bai Wei asked.

Bai Xinghui said, "Several sisters have already gotten married. The second and fourth sisters have the closest relationship, and they both married the same person. They have a happy life. It’s not so much resistance, but more like not feeling anything. So this blind date will give me some social experience, to prepare for various situations in the future."

Bai Wei was speechless. There is a reason why monogamy doesn’t work in this world. The population can maintain basic stability even with fluctuating birth rates because everyone is accustomed to it. Even if productivity keeps up, the idea of having offspring when reaching a certain age has been ingrained for centuries. As long as the family is happy and has more children, it doesn’t matter if it’s not one man and one woman. One can even think that to solve the population problem, a family of two should have two children and a family of three should have three children. The former sees having one more child as doubling the population, and the latter sees having one more time of giving birth as only half.

Simple number theory.

It is true from a rational perspective, but it’s a different story from an emotional perspective.

However, people are always being pushed forward with the crowd. Bai Wei’s behavior showed reluctance, with 99% of him wanting to refuse and leave quickly, but there was also 1% of him thinking maybe he should give it a try?

"By the way," Bai Wei thought of another question, "I suppose you have arranged more than one blind date for me, right?"

Bai Xinghui said, "Indeed, there is more than one. Blind dates are all about probabilities. Everyone knows deep down that you’re lucky if you find someone decent one out of ten times. If you’re not lucky enough, it might take twenty or thirty times."

"Who can always be this patient?"

"That’s why I needed to carefully choose them." Bai Xinghui confidently said, "These few blind date candidates were carefully selected by me."

"Panqiu, you tell me." Bai Wei chose to ask the honest person.

"Hmm… I think it’s pretty good." Bai Panqiu honestly answered.

Bai Wei said, "Can you show me your personal information?"

"It’s almost here." Bai Xinghui politely refused, "There’s no need to be so impatient, brother."

"I have quite high personal requirements." Bai Wei said seriously, "It’s really hard for ordinary girls to meet my basic requirements."

Bai Xinghui stopped the car, "We’ve arrived."

The blind date location was chosen to be a restaurant by the Yangtze River in Jinling City. You can tell it’s very expensive.

Bai Wei complained, "Are they going all out with this?"

"Big brother, this is the place chosen by the other party, and they also paid for it," Bai Xinghui explained, looking at the time. "We’re not late, let’s go in."

She reached out her hand and pushed open the door. As the door swung open, Bai Wei and his potential matchmaking partner met each other’s gaze.

The former looked confused, while the latter sat uneasily.

Good news is when you know someone;

Bad news is when it’s not a person.