When I was young, I learned "Lantingji Xu" and thought, what is all this writing about? It’s not as poetic or interesting as the neighboring "Tengwang Pavilion Preface."

But after I turned 30, a line from "Lantingji Xu" kept coming to mind: When one is pleased with what they encounter, temporarily gains for themselves, and feels content, they do not realize how close old age is.
When what they have is exhausted, feelings change with circumstances, and they are filled with emotion.
What one delights in, in the blink of an eye, becomes old relics, yet one still cannot help but feel moved by them.
Moreover, life and death follow the natural course, ultimately reaching the end.
The ancients said: "Life and death are also great!" Isn’t that painful?
The core meaning of this passage is:
The things that make you happy and interesting now, over time and as circumstances change, when you grow old, you will find they are not that meaningful. Only life and death are truly significant.
Most young friends do not have this feeling. Only when you get a bit older, and some important relatives pass away, and you welcome the birth of your own new life, can you truly understand this point.
Elders advise everyone to have children, possibly because they have sensed this profound truth.
That’s why they share their feelings with you. But due to the limited cultural cultivation of the older generation, they cannot articulate the artistic conception of Wang Xizhi, only bluntly urging you to have children.
If one day I also reach the age of being an elder, what I truly want to say might be this:
The doll you loved at 1 year old, by the time you are 3, you are already completely uninterested.
The candies you adored at 3, by 8, you might find tasteless, even forgetting you once liked them.
The game console you longed for at 8, by 18, will seem childish, and you won’t even want to pick it up again.
The TV series you stayed up all night to watch at 18, after 30, you probably won’t even click on it with your mouse, and you wouldn’t want to waste time finishing it.
And the house and car you set as goals to buy at 30, when you look back at 50, may not seem as important as you once thought.
Right now, you are still young. You can buy a whole basket of puffed snacks at the supermarket, and your Steam wishlist still has a long list.
You have many places you want to go, many experiences you want to try.
But one day, these things will be like the doll at 1, the candy at 3, the game console at 8, the TV series at 18, and the house and car at 30.
And if you have a child, from the moment you have one, you can relive those joys long forgotten from long ago.
Such happiness far surpasses everything else in your future life.