Rebirth on the Doors to the Civil Affairs Bureau

C20 He's My Man

In my previous life, I watched a Japanese drama called Late Night Canteen.

In a small stall open all night, people came to the stall to eat and tell their stories to the chef and the diners, seemingly at ease with this because they knew they won't see each other again after dawn.

(T/N: This is a real Japanese drama called Midnight Diner, a Korean drama adaptation also happened, if anyone want's to check it out.)

Buses are the same. Strangers who don't care about your joys and sorrows all crammed into one vehicle. Even if you show your ugliest face, it'll only be some stranger's interesting anecdote to them.

You can lower your guard and cry unabashedly without worrying that it'll come back to haunt you someday.

"Why are you doing this to me? We've been together for 8 years, from 23 to 31 years old, and you're breaking up with me now?" The woman was crying into her phone behind Yu Dong.

Yu Dong saw the woman's tearful face from the window's reflection.

"What do you want me to tell my mother? My mother's only wish is to see me marry." The woman cried out, "You want me to try again? Who can I look for? How do you start over in your thirties? How can anyone want a woman my age?"

"I said I wanted to get married 3 years ago and you kept saying you were going to marry me, but the timing wasn't right. Now you say you don't want to marry me, I gave you my youth and now you're going to throw me away?"

"You're saying we were barely happy together? So why did you force yourself all these years?"

"Even if you don't like me, I want you to marry me. You've made me waste so many years..."

Looking out the window to the familiar radio station, Yu Dong got out of the bus.

As the bus drove away, Yu Dong saw the distressed woman from the window.

"Hello everybody this is FM9666, you're listening to Midnight Phantom, this is DJ Fish Jelly." Yu Dong said the familiar words into her headset and said, "Before I officially start tonight's program, Fish Jelly would like to play a song for a certain person! A sad woman!"

"When I took the bus to get to the station, a lady had just broken up with her boyfriend of 8 years. Her best years of 23 to 31 year's old were wasted on this man." Fish Jelly continued with some emotion, "What struck me the most was when she said that she was already in her thirties, how can she start again? Who would want her?"

"I immediately thought of this song."

Yu Dong picked up the guitar she had borrowed from the next room and sang 'The 30-Year-Old Woman.'

The song hadn't been published yet, so Yu Dong could only sing it. She particularly prefers Tan Weiwei's cover.

Yu Dong gets emotional every time she hears this song because the song depicts the psychological journey of most older women.

At the end of a song Yu Dong put down the guitar said: "Everyone will experience their prosperous twenties, but will also be inevitably pushed towards their thirties. Life is a one-way street, no one can resist time."

"Some people receive their happiness early and meet the right person at the right age. But there are also a lot of people who'll be missing out, or will never meet their destined person. If you're a 30-year-old woman who isn't married, don't lose heart. Every woman is a flower, delicate and each with her own charm. There is always someone who can appreciate her."

"Even if you haven't met them yet, it doesn't matter. Just as their woman isn't the only person in a man's life, marriage and love shouldn't be the only thing that matters in a woman's life. We should always strive to be beautiful for ourselves, society won't wait for you if you simply stop and cry."