In his local area, whether male or female, being unmarried at the age of thirty-six is a relatively rare and unconventional thing. However, in Shenzhen, there are plenty of men like Lu Shaojie who are still unmarried at this age, and even among women, this isn't an uncommon situation. Of course, in Shenzhen, a vibrant city that is far from aging, people nearing forty like Lu Shaojie still don't count as old but are still considered part of the young generation.
"Men at twenty are futures, men at thirty are hot commodities, men at forty are present goods, and men at fifty are clearance items..." These words, which were popular a few years ago, are still remembered by many. Is it really true? Of course not. "A man's age is not the issue; it's the size of his wallet that matters." This is a classic line from a TV drama, truly hitting the nail on the head with humor.
Women, almost entirely creatures of intuition, judge things based on their feelings, especially when it comes to men, who are judged solely on how they feel. No matter if Lu Shaojie wants to be handsome or wealthy, all these methods fundamentally follow the feelings of women. Once women lose their feelings for a man, it's as if he ceases to exist, as if men are merely the product of women's feelings.
When women are young, they focus on whether a man is handsome. As Lu Shaojie has matured somewhat, he values whether a man is successful in his career, yet no one can clearly define what success or a career really means. Can supporting a family be considered a career? Is a man earning an annual salary of 100,000 yuan considered successful?
Lu Shaojie borrows a popular internet phrase: "It's all nonsense," ultimately stemming from the ingrained feelings in women's minds. To put it plainly, these feelings are nothing more than products of face-saving projects. So-called careers and successes, aren't they just about having money and material foundations? Just because we use fancy-sounding words to label these "feelings," does that make them real achievements? Heaven knows, earth knows, do women know? Who really knows?
When a thirty-six-year-old man encounters women of different ages, the simple desire for a down-to-earth life becomes complicated by various women's feelings. If Lu Shaojie meets a woman who is extremely self-centered and feels superior, things become even more off-kilter and unpredictable.
It's said that nothing is absolute, and there are indeed wise women in the world. Whether or not one meets them is another story. For Lu Shaojie, meeting such a woman would be a blessing after three thousand years of waiting; if not, he will continue moving forward.
At thirty-six, I, Lu Shaojie, am still on the road...